"God says to the snow, 'Fall on
the earth...'"
Job 37:6
December 14, 2007- Tevet 5,
5768
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford,
Connecticut
Special
Occasion? Sponsor a Shabbat Bulletin, (sent every
Friday morning via e-mail),
the Shabbat Announcments (Distributed each Shabbat at the Temple)
& the
Shabbat-O-Gram. Sponsor all three publications for only
$72
All sponsors will be
acknowledged at the beginning of each of these announcements
and also listed
in our Bi-monthly Bulletin. Call Mindy in the office at 322-6901
Send your friends and relatives the gift of Jewish awareness -- a
Shabbat-O-Gram each week, by signing them up at www.tbe.org.
To be removed from this mailing list, sent
e-mail request to office@tbe.org. If you have signed
up and are not receiving our e-mails, check your spam filter to make sure that
TBE is not being “spammed out.”
From last week’s
Hanukkah celebration
(thanks to photographer Mark
Plotzky)
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
Just
the Facts
The (Occasionally) Ranting Rabbi
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities
Ask the Rabbi
Spiritual Journey on the Web
The Beth El Bar/Bat
Mitzvah Commentary
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Joke for the Week
Quote for the Week
““I try to maintain hope – or at least
the memory of hope – when I am consumed with fear or despair. I believe that hope is part of the will to
live: it allows peop0e to choose forms of treatment that are painful, risky and
promising; it enables people to fight fear with enthusiasm for family and
friends, for books and ideas.
- Paul Cowan z’l, journalist
JUST
THE FACTS
Mazal tov to Dana Gordon (and parents Ellen and Bruce),
who becomes Bat Mitzvah this Shabbat morning.
Candle lighting: 4:09 pm on Friday, December 14, 2007 (one minute later
than last week!!!!). For Havdalah times, other Jewish
calendar information, and to download a Jewish calendar to your PDA, click on http://www.hebcal.com/. To see the festivals of other faiths as well,
go to http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/. The United Synagogue has updated its candlelighting information. To learn more, click here.
THE FULL SERVICE SCHEDULE NOW APPEARS ON THE
SEPARATE TBE ANNOUNCEMENTS E-MAIL
Shabbat Services: 6:30 Friday night in the
chapel
Morning Minyan: 7:30 Weekdays, 9:30 Sundays
TO ENSURE A “GUARANTEED MINYAN” FOR THE DAY OF
YOUR YAHRZEIT – GO TO THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER AT WWW.TBE.ORG
AND THEN NOTIFY OUR OFFICE.
Reminder
of our “No School No Shul” policy: On days when Stamford public schools are
cancelled or delayed, morning minyan is officially cancelled (but on days when
school is cancelled because of snow anticipated to fall much later, sometimes people
show up for minyan anyway). On Sunday,
when our religious school is cancelled because of
weather, minyan is also cancelled.
Friday night and Shabbat morning services are never
cancelled, but people are asked to use their own good judgment on days when
the weather is very bad.
Torah
Reading For Shabbat Morning
Parashat Vayiggash (The story of Joseph continues)
1: 44:18-20
2: 44:21-24
3: 44:25-30
4: 44:31-34
5: 45:1-7
6: 45:8-18
7: 45:19-27
maf: 45:25-27
Haftarah Ezekiel
37:15 - 37:28
Was Judah Maccabee a Black Belt?
So
often we hear about intolerance at this time of year. Here’s
a story with a very happy ending, courtesy of Maureen Leffand:
Hi Rabbi Hammerman:
Happy
Chanukah to you, Mara and the boys.
During this "December
dilemma" time, we are usually faced with
non-Jewish people not including Chanukah in their wishes/festivities, etc. I would like to bring something to your
attention.
Sensei Hunko
of the Tiger Schulmann Karate school
in Ridgeway Center has consistently included
Chanukah in their school festivities.
Each year for at least the last 5 years, Sensei Hunko
and his team have a menorah on their front desk. They usually ask one of the Jewish students
(most times it is Danielle) to stop by the school each night and say the prayer
and light the candles.
While Danielle is saying the
prayer and lighting the candles, Sensei Hunko brings
all activities to a halt. Classes are stopped and all children are required to move to the
front of the school and remain quiet during the lighting of the candles. All adults in the front of the school usually
fall into place with the children.
While I have personally
thanked Sensei Hunko for this very visible inclusion
of Chanukah, I thought it might also be nice for him to receive a note of
appreciation from you - - a leader in the Jewish community. I think his efforts should
be recognized on a greater scale than just my saying thanks.
I realize how busy you are during
this season but I know how much Sensei Hunko and his
team would appreciate this recognition.
Regards,
And so I wrote
to Sensei Hunko…
Dear Mr. Hunko,
I’ve heard from
a congregant of mine of the warm and respectful way that you have included the
celebration of Hanukkah into your school activities. I know that your gesture of asking Jewish child to lead in candlelighting
each night of the festival not only instills in those children a sense of self
esteem and pride, but it also helps you to accomplish many of the
character-building goals that central to your school’s philosophy. I just wanted to make sure that you know,
from another professional trying so hard to instill those same values in
children, how much I appreciate what you are doing.
My best wishes
to you and all who work with you for a joyous holiday season.
Sincerely,
Rabbi
Joshua Hammerman
Below you’ll find
some recent comments on a recent study of vital importance to synagogues.
I’d be interested
in hearing your reactions.
EMERGENT JEWISH COMMUNITIES and their
PARTICIPANTS:
Preliminary Findings from the 2007 National Spiritual Communities Study
Over the past few years, we have seen an important new
phenomenon in Jewish life: the creation of dozens of independent minyanim,
spiritual communities, alternative worship services, and emergent
congregations. This rich array adds diverse opportunities for worship,
learning, social justice work, community-building and spiritual expression. We
knew very little about the thousands of people associated with these new
endeavors. Who are they? What are their concerns? How do they feel about the
communities they're creating, joining, and building? Why do they participate?
To answer these questions, the S3K Synagogue Studies
Institute, in collaboration with Mechon Hadar, conducted a survey designed by the prominent
sociologist Steven M. Cohen in partnership with Rabbi Elie
Kaunfer and Shawn Landres. Our goal was to find out
more about the participants, members, partners, and "acquaintances"
of these new spiritual communities. The results of this work
is the first ever portrait of the interests, values, and concerns of a
critical innovative turn in American Judaism.
As many
congregations continue to struggle with engaging younger members in synagogue
life, synagogue leaders are continually asking, “What do American Jews want?”
Recent survey findings from the “Spiritual Communities
Study” are providing some answers. The survey of some 80
emergent spiritual communities was conducted by Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion sociologist Steven Cohen on behalf
of the S3K Synagogue Studies Institute and Mechon Hadar.
The findings of these emergent spiritual communities confirm that
there is a healthy desire for spirituality, prayer informed by excellent
quality and good music, and deep community, marked by sharing Shabbat and
holiday meals together on a regular basis. The study also affirms that people
are looking for opportunities for serious engagement. Individuals want to bring
their volunteer gifts to the synagogue and to utilize them without bureaucratic
barriers. (Many synagogues have felt the positive results of such engagement
and empowerment through STAR’s Synaplex™
Initiative.)
Can these two communities, the community of emergent spiritual
communities and mainstream synagogues, find a common meeting place? I believe
that they could benefit from each other, for mainstream synagogues have
infrastructure that these emergent communities often lack and conversely, these
emergent communities, just by their presence, could supply some energy to
mainstream congregations. And the existence of multiple minyanim
under the same roof is not an entirely new idea—think “Library Minyan”
from decades ago or today’s Tikvat Yisrael. Acknowledging that there is skepticism about
this possibility from both sides, let’s think for a moment about what it might
take.
Synagogues would have
to abandon their current dues model with emergents
and come to other, affordable financial arrangements.
They would have to be
willing to accept them on their terms—that means everything from governance
models to different models of prayer.
They would have to
warmly embrace their presence and not just begrudgingly accept them as a
revenue stream.
And what of the benefits for synagogues?
Some of these emergent
communities don’t meet weekly, so synagogues may enjoy some greater involvement
on off weeks or in other synagogue activities.
They would have another
model that could stimulate learning in how prayer is done and how grass-roots
organizing works well with younger people.
Over
time, they might co-sponsoring some events and celebrate holidays together.
They would sharpen
their self-understanding of the other activities which
they do well, not offered by these emergent communities.
They would have the
pride in doing what one generation has always done for the other—reaching out
and extending a helping hand.
These findings should not come as a great surprise to those who
are, work with or read about Gen X’ers and Millenials. Denominational leaders
who dismiss these powerful spiritual centers as ephemeral fads are engaging in wishful thinking. If synagogues don’t find a way to engage
them, they will continue to create the models that fit who they are.
Sustainable collaborations happen when people raise mutual
interest a notch higher above self-interest. Here, self-interest and mutual
interest are compatible. Synagogues and emergent minyans can each gain by
exploring what it would mean to collaborate. And participants in the synagogue
and emergent communities know that mutual caring for the future of the American
Jewish is in our common interest. Despite the tensions
that some may see in initiating a series of discussions around collaboration
between these two communities now, the possibility of a “win-win” situation is
potentially great.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Hayim Herring
From
the blog “Jews By Choice” – read the entire article at
http://jewsbychoice.org/2007/12/02/judaism-without-synagogues/
Judaism without Synagogues
A new generation of Jews, educated in day schools and more Jewishly literate than the
generation that gave birth to it, is starting a new trend that’s as old as the
hills: Do-it-yourself Judaism.
Tired of the creaky, bureaucratic and spiritless feeling of most
synagogues, they’re getting together and leading their own worship services,
according to this
story in the New York Times.
A Judaism without synagogues may also be a Judaism without (as
many) rabbis. The Rabbinic tradition, which codified and preserved Judaism
through centuries of Diaspora, has also helped calcify it into a carbuncle of a
tradition, sealed in a dry and didactic anal retentiveness, with the result
that the rabbinate has become both creator and guardian of an increasingly
arcane and divisive form of spiritual practice. My feeling from talking
to Jews in London – who, by and large, are more observant, more literate,
and yet more politically divided as a community — was that there’s an aching
need to move beyond arguments about who’s Jewish, or who’s more Jewish, and
toward something where everyone can learn, celebrate, and care without being
categorized.
This is reminiscent of the chavura movement that began in the ’60’s, but
it’s focused less on rebellion and more on the revived interest in liturgy and
in a more spiritual experience.
One reason Do-It-Yourself Judaism makes sense is that younger
people are so mobile that joining a synagogue, a more formal investment in a
community, doesn’t make sense. If you might be moving in a year or two, why
plunk down those dues? If you’re rootless, why act any different?
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunties
Beth El Cares:
Inreach and Outreach
2007 CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER AT ST. LUKE’S AND PACIFIC HOUSE
This year, Beth El Cares will be continuing a long standing tradition of
serving dinner at
St. Luke’s and Pacific House
on Christmas Eve.
To make these dinners a success we need volunteers to sign up to donate:
Cranberry Sauce (cans or homemade)
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Casseroles
Tossed Salad with Dressing on the Side
Cooked Vegetables
Fresh Fruit
Dessert
Rolls and Butter
Breads (Banana, Cranberry)
Soda, Coffee, Tea, Sugar, Artificial Sweetener and Milk
Paper Goods (plates, silverware, hot and cold cups, and napkins)
Thank you to Rosemarie Licari of Court Square Café who has generously agreed to provide most of the
turkeys, stuffing and gravy,
and to
Suzanne Horn Stone who is also preparing a turkey.
If it’s easier for you, make a Monetary Contribution towards the above
items and we’ll do the shopping.
Make your checks payable to Temple
Beth El Cares and note in
the memo area “Beth El Cares/Xmas Eve dinner”.
Please send your checks to the
office by Thursday, December 20.
PLEASE BRING YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TEMPLE ON
MONDAY, DECEMBER 24 BETWEEN 9 AM AND NOON.
TBE’s Own Doug Jossem
- “Team in Training”
Friends and Family,
In September of 1995 my mother sat me down to
discuss a decision that she had to make. She had been thinking for days
of what to say and how to say it. She looked me in my
eyes and said that the doctors have given her a year to live and that she had 2
options: She could live out the year with the inevitable outcome, or she could
try an experimental drug that might get rid of the cancer/leukemia--but if the
drug didn’t work, she could potentially die within a month. As she
was explaining these options to me, and before I could even speak, she said she
wanted to try the experimental treatment so she could have the chance to live
and see me grow up. Unfortunately she passed
away one month later and her 5 year struggle ended. We were both too
young!
This is a decision that no parent should have to make and that no
child/sibling/relative/friend should ever have to face. Because of this,
I’m an active member of Team in Training, a group that works diligently with
the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to cure blood
cancers. Team in Training also operates in conjunction with
other cancer organizations to facilitate research and to coordinate studies.
The group trains individuals like me for endurance events such as
marathons, century bike rides and triathlons. $.75 of every dollar I
raise up to $4,600 goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, and the remaining
$.25 goes to the organization for training and maintenance. After the
$4,600 is reached 100% of every dollar I raise goes
directly toward saving lives.
Since I’m not a doctor, I felt very helpless in fighting this disease,
but this organization has given me strength and hope that we can all do
something to beat it. I have now completed 2 triathlons with Team in
Training, and we have helped save many lives.
I know that most of you can’t imagine me as a triathlete,
but on April 27th 2008 I will partake in my 3rd
triathlon. This event consists of a 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike ride, and a
6 mile run. It’s an extremely difficult undertaking, and I train the
entire winter for this and for this cause.
I am asking for your help to sponsor me and
support the efforts of these organizations. All donations are 100% tax
deductible–even more incentive to submit before the end of the year. To
make a donation (it’s quick and easy), please click this link: www.active.com/donate/tntnyc/tntnycDJossem1
I wrote this
comment a few years ago and I still stand by it today. It explains
exactly why I’m so passionate about this:
My mother
never saw me graduate from high school, never saw me on my first day of
college, she will never see me get married or see any grandchildren. I am
doing this because I don't want anyone else to miss out on
all the joy that life has to offer. This is a terrible disease, one that
I hope I can help end.
I hope I can
inspire you all to take action and participate in supporting this cause. Thank
you all for your help and support, it means the world to me.
Doug Jossem
Doug Jossem
125 East 87th
street
Apt 6F
NY, NY 10128
201-686-5707
Bar/Bat
Mitzvah Projects:
From Dana Gordon
Dear Friends
and Family,
Part of
becoming a Bat Mitzvah means being a mench or doing
good deeds for others in need. Temple Beth
El requires kids to do a community service project for their Bnai Mitzvah. For my
mitzvah project, I am collecting new games, crafts, and gift cards (less than
$10 in value) to donate to the office of Joseph McNamara, MD of Pediatric
Hematology/ Oncology Associates, P.C. where I have been a patient the last 5
years.
Five years
ago, I was diagnosed with Auto Immune Thrombocytopenia
Purpura (I.T.P).
My body thinks my blood platelets are the enemy and destroys them. I’m extremely lucky because at Dr. Joe’s
office I receive an intravenous treatment to help my body maintain a safe
number of blood platelets. Every time I
receive an infusion I see kids of all ages who aren’t
as lucky as I am because many of them suffer from pediatric blood cancers. At the end of your each treatment, you get
the joy of choosing a toy from the toy closet.
I would like to be a part of that joy by helping to restock the toy closet
at the doctor’s office.
Please bring
new and unwrapped games and toys for donation and place them in the box that is labeled “Dana’s Toy
Drive” in front of the office or bring them to
services on the morning of December 15, 2007 when I will be called to the Torah
as a Bat Mitzvah.
Thank you
very much for your support and generosity.
Sincerely,
Dana Gordon
For more
information about I.T.P., visit the platelet disorder support
association at www.pdsa.org
The Highest
Level of Tzedakkah
According
to Maimonides’ Eight Levels of Tzedakkah,
the highest level is to provide a person with employment.
.
A Tribute to Ann Gorman
Ann Gorman passed away this past week after many years of
courageously fighting various ailments that made it increasingly more difficult
for her to talk and breathe. But her
mind was always as keen as anyone’s, and she always
asked me the most challenging questions. E-mail provided a great outlet for her to send
me those questions.
At her funeral, I read some of the questions that she
used to e-mail me, and now, in her memory, I include one brief exchange. All her queries provoked critical thinking;
some were also good for a good natured laugh or two.
-----Original Message-----
From: AnnieG1@aol.com [mailto:AnnieG1@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 02,
2003 11:19 PM
To: Rabbi@tbe.org
Subject: just a quick question
Hi Rabbi Hammerman,
Welcome back, hope you had a
wonderful vacation.
Just a quick
question.
Why is cow's milk is considered dairy and human milk
considered pareve? (I have a niece who had a baby in February and
recently asked me that question.) Thank you.
Ann Gorman
Dear Ann
A great question: My initial
understanding leads me to say that pareve isn't the operative term here
so much as "a-kosher." So tell me, for a cannibal, would
human flesh be fleishics? It comes down to the fact that when we
are speaking of milk and meat, we're talking about kosher animals only.
Breast milk, as I understand it, as a product of the human body, does not come
under categories of kashrut (nor do other human excretions -- i.e. , if you’ll
pardon my being a bit ‘gross,” you don't have to wait three hours between
having meat and swallowing phlegm or the excretions of one’s nose). If a
woman has a ham sandwich, does that make her breast milk unkosher? Evidently not.
Good stuff to ponder -- I'll
have to check into this more. Thanks!
jh
http://www.anvari.org/fun/Ethnic_Jewish/Snow_Jewish_Facts.html
Little-Known
Facts About Snow in Jewish Tradition and Lore
Many traditional Jewish congregations
refuse to count snowmen in the prayer quorum.
Medieval Jewish mystics practiced rolling in the snow to purge themselves from
evil urges. They were the first snow angels.
Moses Maimonides, 10th century physician to the
Egyptian Khalif, prescribed snow as a cure for the
hot Cairo
summers.
The elders of Safed have 36 different words for snow
-- but none for snow removal.
During 3
particularly cold Sinai winters, the Israelites were led by a
pillar of snow.
It is forbidden to write in the snow on the Sabbath. (if you are
interested in this topic, see http://dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?PageIndex=34&ClipID=806
and http://dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?PageIndex=34&ClipID=793)
– halachot on writing on
Shabbat and on walking on snow - jh)
Following the
great Jerusalem blizzard of 1900, Zionist
visionary Theodor Herzl
proposed the "Uganda
option."
According to some rabbinic authorities, one must wait six hours between going
out in the snow and in the rain.
On snowy days, the procession of King Solomon's immediate
family was pulled by 2,800 reindeer and 1,200 huskies.
Israel's national hockey
team participated in the 1992 Winter Games, dominating both the Olympic
village and concession area.
On January 9, 1896, a snowball from St. Patrick's elementary
school landed in Mrs. Manischewitz's kitchen,
inspiring her to invent matzo ball soup.
Rabbi Boruch Leff, "Mystical White Snow."
Few
experiences in life compare with waking up in the morning after a snowfall and
looking outside. The sight is stunning, the landscape glorious and beautiful,
and the feeling one has is nothing less than sublime. Only after modernity with
its high-powered engines, tampers with winter's wonder, does the snow become
filthy and unpleasant.
Where
does this feeling of awe come from? What is this unique creation -- snow --
that only appears in the winter?
First, another question. Why are all the biblical
holidays crowded into the spring and summer? Wouldn't it have made more sense
to space the holidays more evenly throughout the calendar year?
The Maharal, the great 16th century philosopher, comments that
the Jewish calendar can be divided into two sections.
Half of the year, from Passover until Sukkot (spring through summer), has the
force of spiritual Ohr (light) as its primary
power, while Choshech (darkness) rules the
fall and winter months.
The
implications are clear. The season for Spiritual Light is the spring/summer,
and it is only then that one can actualize the greatest amount of spiritual
energy. Fall/winter is a time for Spiritual Darkness and is not ideal for
tremendous spiritual growth. In fact, the Maharal
actually describes the winter as being "outside of the realm of
time." This is because winter does not offer growth, neither
agriculturally nor spiritually, thus in a certain sense the winter cannot be
acknowledged as being part of any "real existence" due to its lack of
spiritual developmental value.
We can
now understand the uneven arrangement of the biblical calendar. The holidays
mentioned in the Torah all take place during the
spring/summer months, because it is then that the potential for a real,
profound, spiritual growth exists due to the power of Ohr
(light). God wanted us to actualize growth during the summer and then to
maintain that growth during the winter.
More - http://www.aish.com/spirituality/kabbala101/The_Mystical_White_Snow.asp
Spiritual
Meaning of Snow
by Rabbi Simon Jacobson
http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=275&o=2109677
Who has not been awed by the beauty of the city or countryside
covered in snow? The serenity and whiteness of snow attracts us. We sense the
purity of snow when we wake up in the morning and the streets, which are so often filled with grime, are all covered with a white
blanket of snow. Snow is a great equalizer - no matter how big the building, or
the car, whether a Lexus or a Hyundai, they’re all covered equally by the snow.
Snow has the ability to cover over the impurities of life and remind us of our
own purity.
So snow is heaven speaking to us - speaking to us through purity,
speaking to us gently and gradually on our terms. Snow is the
intermediary stage between heaven and earth; ice is a little closer to the
level of earth; sleet is in between snow and ice. Thus every weather condition
sends us a message and lesson - whether it’s
rain, snow, ice, sleet or hail.
The Beth El Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Commentary
Matthew Schwartz
on Mikketz
I want to
tell you about my uncle Paul. My Uncle,
who is mentally challenged, is 37 years old and has
been living away from his parents since the age of 12. He is able to live
alone with supports from his life coach that helps him with planning his day
with time, meals, and money.
Even though Paul doesn't have a
concept of time and money, somehow he always manages
to call me on my birthday and he also will buy me a birthday present. The
gift is not always age appropriate, but his heart is always in the right
place.
Paul works as a bagger at a local Shaws supermarket. People are constantly amazed at how self
sufficient he is.
In my portion, Joseph goes from
being a prisoner in jail to the second most powerful person in the land of Egypt.
This teaches us that everyone deserves to live in dignity, even the one
at the bottom of the totem pole.
Everyone makes a contribution. I bet people all
line up at the register where Paul is bagging, because he must the best bagger
in the store!
Since this is Hanukkah, I’d like to
share with you a Hanukkah theme that also relates to Paul. This holiday teaches us the importance of
standing up for yourself and others.
Paul is trying to be a normal person in society. He simply wants to fit in. From time to time, people try to take
advantage of him. But he’s learning how
to stand up for himself. Sometimes
it’s as simple as learning how to say “no.”
Also, my haftarah contains a famous
verse that really reminds me of Paul:
“Not by might, not by power but by My spirit,
says the Lord of hosts.”
Paul has taught me a lot about strength
of spirit. I’ve also learned that from
one of my favorite activities, which is skiing.
When I do Moguls, the hardest part is not the execution of the jump, it’s telling myself that I can do it. Similarly, every day of his life, Paul needs
to tell himself, “I can do it.” The same
thing can be said about becoming bar mitzvah. It’s all about getting up here and saying, “I
can do it.”
Because Paul
has taught me so much, he’s inspired my mitzvah project, which is to bring
awareness to people about others who are less fortunate and different than themselves. It could be physical, mental,
religious persecution, or racial differences. My goal is to make people
aware, more sensitive, and next time confronted with these differences they are
more respectful and tolerant.
One thing I would like to accomplish
shortly is to shadow my Uncle Paul for at least a whole day. In doing
this I will see and experience how hard everyday simple tasks are for
him. It will give me the opportunity to appreciate how easy we have it
and how challenging it is for him. I’ll
also be supporting Vista, Paul’s
community. Vista
is a unique, community -based educational program for young adults with
neurological disabilities. Paul receives life skills instruction,
counseling, and support services that allow him to succeed in work and live in
a community.
As I grow up
and mature, I will always be there for my uncle. I hope that my heart will always be in the
right place and that I will always help those who are less fortunate than I. Paul will always
help me to remember that.
“Keeping Kids
Healthy”
Tune into
channel Thirteen/WNET on Friday, December 14, at 2:30 pm, and repeated on
Saturday morning, December 15, at 6:30 am (that's what Tivos
are for...). It's the second half of a
2-subject show: Premature Babies: Good Things Come in Small Packages / Circumcision: Is It Right for Your Child?
The program
features participants in the “Learning and Latte” monthly dialogue: Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Rev. Ann Schmidt and Dr.
Behjat Syed, as well as Dr. Harry Romanowitz.
The “Keeping
Kids Healthy” series is produced by Montefiore Medical
Center in association
with WNET, channel 13. TBE congregants Susan Berger Sabreen
and Richard Sabreen are executive producers of the
series. Their website is http://www.keepingkidshealthy.org/
Some GOOD NEWS from Israel 21c, www.isrealli.org,
and other sources
The secret weapon of the stars -
Israeli bodyguards
It seems like that behind every famous Hollywood
celebrity is... an Israeli bodyguard. Lindsay Lohan,
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and even Mel Gibson are
just a few of the stars who are employing highly-trained, and totally discreet Israeli security specialists. More...
Global
Democracy | Israel's EcoOcean
charts the deep 'green' seas
A custom-made ship built by Israeli non-profit organization EcoOcean
enables scientists from all over the world to study marine life in the
Mediterranean in an effort to improve the marine and coastal environment. It's been used to help dozens of marine-related projects get
off the ground, from monitoring marine pollution to studying uninhabited
islands off the coast of Africa. More...
Technology | Going electric with the 'Energy
Tower'
A team of Israeli scientists at the Technion has pioneered
a new environmentally friendly energy source called the Energy Tower that not
only produces huge amounts of inexpensive electricity, but may also reverse the
very process of global warming itself.. Ideal for desert climates, the
researchers have already identified 40 potential locations around the
world. More...
Health | Study: Gene determines if you're generous
Philanthropists may be naturally generous because of their genes, say researchers
at Hebrew University. They discovered that people
who possessed a certain DNA variability were more
likely to be more open with their pocketbooks and their hearts. More...
now for the rest
Prime source: Daily Alert of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks Begin in Jerusalem
- Herb Keinon and Khaled
Abu Toameh
The long-awaited launch of Israeli-Palestinian bilateral final-status
negotiations began Wednesday in Jerusalem.
One Israeli diplomat, describing the atmosphere at the meeting as
"tense," said the sides had widely different ideas of what the
meeting was meant to accomplish. While Israel saw the
meeting as "a festive resumption of the peace process" that would
deal with procedural issues about how to move the process forward, the
Palestinians saw it as a forum for airing grievances. "This was supposed
to be the kickoff of the post-Annapolis process," one Israeli official
said. "But if every time we meet there will be nothing but a discussion of
current events, we will get nowhere." The two sides agreed to hold another
meeting at the end of the month. (Jerusalem
Post)
Israel's Security Cabinet Weighs IDF Action in Gaza
- Barak Ravid
Israel's security cabinet
met on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Gaza. Senior security officials told the
cabinet that there has been a marked decline in Palestinian support for Hamas
in Gaza, due to
Israeli sanctions. The cabinet told the defense establishment to continue its
pinpointed activities in Gaza
against Hamas and other militant groups responsible for firing rockets and
mortars. A total of 970 rockets and 1,200 mortar shells have
been fired at Israel
from Gaza since
the start of 2007. Since May 2007, 158 Palestinian militants have
been killed and 173 injured in IDF operations in Gaza. (Ha'aretz)
See also IDF Chief: Gaza Operation Unavoidable
- Roee Nahmias
The current situation in Gaza cannot continue,
and ongoing Kassam rocket attacks on Israel may force the IDF to launch a large-scale
operation there, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday at a
conference hosted by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv
University. "You
cannot defeat a terror organization without eventually taking control of the
territory," he said. "The only reason we have been successful in
Judea and Samaria
is because we control the area." While the current limited army operations
in Gaza impair the capabilities of terror
organizations, they would never completely curb all attacks against Israel. (Ynet News)
See also Palestinian Rocket Fire at Israel from Gaza Continues
Palestinians in Gaza launched two Kassam rockets into Israel Thursday. (Jerusalem Post)
Al-Aqsa Brigades Fire on Israeli
Bus in West Bank
Fatah's armed wing, the Al-Aqsa
Brigades, announced on Tuesday that they had fired at an Israeli bus near Kedumim, east of the West Bank city of Kalkilya. (Maan News-PA)
Misreading the Iran Report
- Henry Kissinger
The new NIE holds that Iran
may be able to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon by
the end of 2009 and, with increasing confidence, more warheads by the period
2010 to 2015. That is virtually the same timeline as was suggested in the 2005
National Intelligence Estimate. It is therefore doubtful that the evidence
supports the dramatic language of the NIE summary and, even less so, the broad
conclusions drawn in much of the public commentary.
If my analysis is correct, we could be witnessing not a halt of
the Iranian weapons program - as the NIE asserts - but a subtle, ultimately
more dangerous, version of it that will phase in the warhead when fissile
material production has matured. The NIE does not reject this theory; it does
not even examine it. (Washington
Post)
American Intelligence
- Claude Moniquet
No fewer than 16 U.S.
intelligence agencies have just told us that the Iranian nuclear program really
is not so dangerous. Before rolling out the peace banners, though, it's worth
looking at the agencies' track record in getting these
sorts of "estimates" right. As a matter of fact,
U.S.
intelligence services have so far failed to predict the nuclearization
of a single foreign nation. But on the possible nuclearization
of a regime that sounds fanatic enough to use this doomsday weapon, the NIE is
suddenly to be trusted?
The NIE has little in common with intelligence as it is understood by professionals. Through this sleight of
hand, the intelligence services effectively sabotaged the Bush administration's
efforts to steer its allies toward a tougher position on Iran. Paris in particular won't
be amused about what appears almost like a betrayal. President Nicolas Sarkozy took a great political risk when he turned around
French foreign policy and became Europe's leading opponent of a nuclear Iran. The
report also betrays a rather naive view of the nature of the Iranian regime.
Are the mullahs' intentions really so hard to discern? The writer, a former
field operative for the French foreign intelligence service, heads the European
Strategic Intelligence and Security
Center. (Wall
Street Journal)
Former National Security Council Head: Israel Has Concrete
Evidence that Iran Is Developing a Nuclear Weapon
- Yaakov Katz and Herb Keinon
Outgoing National Security Council head Ilan Mizrahi claimed Tuesday that Israel
had concrete evidence that Iran
was developing a nuclear weapon. Its unprecedented development of long-range
missiles was also an indication that it aspired to nuclear capability and
planned to project its power throughout the entire Middle East and South Asia. "The evidence that we in the State of
Israel have is such that I have no doubt that Iran is advancing toward a
[nuclear] weapons program," said Mizrahi, who in
the past served as deputy head of the Mossad. "I cannot provide more
details, but I am convinced that they are moving toward a military
program."
Turning to the Palestinian issue, Mizrahi
said, "I don't think it will be possible within a year to reach an
agreement on the core issues with the Palestinians." Regarding the
possibility of Israel
talking with Hamas, Mizrahi said, "The Israeli
interest, in my mind, is to strengthen the pragmatists and to stop the radicals....Any Israeli agreement of dialogue with Hamas will weaken
the pragmatists." (Jerusalem
Post)
What Abbas Can Do
- Editorial (Jerusalem
Post)
- Palestinian
Prime Minister Salaam Fayad said on Monday that
he would be seeking a $5.6 billion, three-year aid package at a donors conference next week.
- Between the
signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 2002, the Palestinians received
over $4 billion in aid, according to the World Bank. This amounted to $214
per capita, which is more aid than any other people in the world received.
After the Oslo Accords dissolved into a terror war, the Palestinians
actually received more assistance, and even more since Hamas' rise to
power.
- Clearly, as
Quartet envoy Tony Blair himself recognizes, any new money earmarked for
the Palestinians must be tightly linked to
crackdowns on corruption, to establishing the rule of law, to dismantling
armed gangs and to economic cooperation with surrounding countries,
including Israel.
But even this is not enough.
- The PA that Abbas controls is still teaching, believe
it or not, that the "Palestine"-to-be will be in Israel's place, not Israel's
peaceful neighbor. On Nov. 28, the day after the Annapolis
conference, official PA television broadcast a map of all of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza covered with a Palestinian flag. A
month earlier, PA television repeatedly broadcast a song that described
Palestine as including Jerusalem, Acre, Haifa, Beersheba, Ramle, the Galilee, and Tiberias
[- all parts of today's Israel].
- Abbas may not control Gaza, or even much of Fatah, but he does
control his own official media. There is no point to throwing more money
at him if he does not take minimal steps to show that these funds will not be put toward a state dedicated to Israel's
destruction.
- Ending the
incitement against Israel
in the PA-controlled media would mark a vital step toward creating an
atmosphere in which Abbas could begin to impress
upon his own people the legitimate sovereign rights of the Jewish state
and the consequent need to compromise with it.
See
also Where Is the Issue of Education for Peace in the Olmert-Rice-Abbas Initiative? - Dore Gold (ICA/JCPA)
Poll: 82% of American Jews Believe Arabs Seek Destruction of
Israel (American Jewish Committee)
According to the 2007 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion,
82% agree that "The goal of the Arabs is not the
return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel,"
while 12% disagree.
37% can envision Israel
and its Arab neighbors settling their differences and living in peace, while
55% disagree.
36% said Israel
should be willing to compromise on the status of Jerusalem in the framework of a permanent
peace with the Palestinians, while 58% disagree.
The survey, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, polled
1,000 self-identifying Jewish respondents on Nov. 6-25.
Israel: Myths and Facts
Joke
for the Week
A Jewish Guide to Shoveling Snow
http://www.uscj.org/Koach/kocfeb04joke.htm
Ehud Barak - "You must shovel most of the
driveway, but the exact dimensions of shoveling will be determined in
discussions with our neighbors. No, wait, you can shovel only in places where
snow had previously fallen, but you cannot shovel in places where no snow had
fallen - wait, don't do any shoveling until you hear from me!"
Yossi Sarid - "You should not shovel any
part of the driveway, since you really do not have any valid historical or
legal claim to the driveway, and it will soon be given back to its rightful
owners.
Artscroll Hilchos Sheleg ("Laws
Regarding Snow; Ashkenaz version, chapter 5) -
"First approach the snow with the proper kavanah,
meditating on the concept of snow removal. Recite the "...Who commanded us
concerning the shoveling of snow" benediction," then take three steps
back, bend the knees slightly with feet together, then look at the snow, lift
shovel and dig, turning right and then left, bend knees fully, take three steps
forward and deposit snow deliberately. Repeat until done, then recite the Sheheheyanu benediction, go indoors and have a hot drink,
remembering to say the Shehakol brocha
(see Artscroll Hilchos on
Drinking Hot Liquids)..."
Tikkun Magazine -
"What right do we have to violently take snow from its rightful resting
place? Snow has rights: each snowflake is a unique individual, and we have
absolutely no right to do anything with it. Let the snow decide for itself what
it wishes to do, and then if it wishes to be shoveled,
do so humanely.
Rashi
- "Snow, this is a form of solid precipitation that
clings to one's beard if you remain outside too long in the winter season.
(Old French: neige).
Shoveling is a Rabbinic precept, based on the verse in
Isaiah 1:18-"If your sins be like scarlet, they will turn as white as
snows"
birthright israel -
"It does not matter how the shoveling is done, but the very act of a young
Jew shoveling snow for ten consecutive days, under proper supervision will have
a lifelong impact on Jewish identity."
Meir Ben-Meir (Israeli Water Commissioner) -
"Just shovel the snow as fast as you can, and
ship it here. We are running out of water fast! Is anyone listening to
me?"
Rabbi David Hartman
- "Snow is a potent force in the world which unites all Jews. It falls on
us all, regardless of religious denomination and belief, and is therefore
instrumental in our understanding of Jewish unity and diversity. In fact, just
this week, I was explaining the significance of snow to the Prime Minister,
President Weizman, President Clinton, and His
Holiness the Pope, who had asked my opinion."
The Late Lubavitcher
Rebbe (from an epistle to a disciple)
- "Shoveling snow is a distraction from our efforts to bring Moshiach, may He come soon, when in any case there will be
no snow to shovel. So leave it and let it melt. If the Messiah does not come by
Shavuos, the snow will have miraculously disappeared
anyway."
Previous Shabbat-O-Grams can be accessed directly from the archives on our web site (www.tbe.org)
To be removed from this mailing list, send an e-mail request
to office@tbe.org
