RJ Blog

by Susan Fritsch Cohen The following poem was written by Susan Fritsch Cohen on a recent trip to Israel with Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation. Of the trip, Susan said, “Our congregational trip had a transformative effect on me – it solidified my connection with Israel and with the community I traveled with, and that inspired me to write.” She read the poem during her adult Bat Mitzvah service while in Israel.

By Persephone Rivka and Sophie Vener In permaculture, Bill Mollison advises all gardeners and farmers to live in a tent on their land for a year before they start their design for one reason: observation. When immersed in a place, one can best observe important elements such as the amount of rainfall, where the water flows, the minimum and maximum temperatures, how the plants, animals, and humans interact on the site, the wind direction, sun-path and shading, micro-climates and the general topography, the resources on hand, the skills and knowledge of the people present, the physical and fiscal boundaries, and [...]

by Rabbi Ira Youdavin My plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport last Wednesday evening, four days before I would be joining the Jewish Council for Public Affairs National Leadership Mission, and 72 hours before the first night of Hanukkah. The early arrival was different from my usual pattern. Normally, I speed from the airport to some meeting, with a quick meal, shower and sometimes a few hours of sleep squeezed in. On this trip, I wanted to spend some quality time with friends in Jerusalem and also in Tel Aviv, a city I visit only infrequently. That whirlwind would begin [...]

Michtav M’Yerushalyim November 19th, 2012 Dear friends and family members, We begin with a word of thanks to the incredible number of you who have called and/or written – to express solidarity with Israel as well as your concern for our personal well-being.  This ‘connectedness’ means the world to us. We will in particular forever treasure a call from one of our grandchildren who said: “Saba and Savta. I checked with Mom. She said that it’s OK if you need to leave Israel for you to come and stay with us.” Another grandchild called to ask how we were doing [...]

by David Leichman and Rabbi Miri Gold A dream became a reality when the Israel Association of Baseball (IAB) received an invitation to participate in Qualifier 1 for the 2013 World Baseball Classic in Jupiter, FL. The World Baseball Classic is sponsored by Major League Baseball (MLB) and takes place every four years. The next Classic is set for March 2013 in Phoenix. MLB made the decision to add four teams to the twelve, including Team USA, which was already qualified from four years ago. The MLB “Heritage Rule” states that players have to be either a citizen of the [...]

Sukkot is celebrated in Israel in many of the same ways we celebrate it here in the United States. The Sukkah is built, the lulav is shaken, meals are shared and communities spend time together. See how the Reform congregations in Israel are celebrating the holiday this year!

Long before Israel gained independence, the city of Jaffa was a bustling port. Today, it swarms with multi-national populations, whose tenuous coexistence is constantly on the brink of conflict. The ones who suffer most from this situation are the weaker populations – the children, the youth and the elderly. The participants in the IMPJ pre-army Mechina program in Jaffa volunteer in this unique mosaic in an attempt to assist its weaker populations.

This is an excerpt from a recent op-ed by Rabbi Gilad Kariv, executive director of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism, published in Yedioth Ahronot on August 2nd. I recently received an explanation from the service manager of an El-Al flight regarding the PR system on the airplane. A list alongside the control box detailed numerous languages used for the announcements on the flight. Only one language was missing from the list: Israel’s second official language, Arabic. Neither was Arabic to be found on the safety cards placed in the pockets of the seats, or in the airline’s [...]

by Rabbi Gilad Kariv Earlier this month, over a million Israeli Muslim citizens celebrated Eid el-Fitr – the holiday that ends the month-long Fast of Ramadan. At the same time, we began our month of mercy and forgiveness, and with it, the many preparations prior to the New Year. In less than one month’s time, on the first days of the New Year, we will read the story of the birth of Isaac and his complicated relationship with his brother Ishmael. Scholars who have dealt with the inherent difficulties of this story, have posited that after the death of Sarah, [...]

By Rabbi Stacey Blank What can Tisha B’Av mean today? Tisha B’Av is not a day ordained by G-d in the Torah, but rather it is an observance that was created by people in reaction to an event: The destruction of the First Temple.  This was a tragic and traumatic time for the Jewish people and the leaders felt a need to create a new ritual – to help people recover from the trauma, to integrate the experience in order to move on, and  later on, to commemorate the experience to preserve the memory.

By Adam Ross He was waiting for one of his commanders to pick him up. I was waiting to go to sleep. Yet another 3 hour shift of guard duty, but this time I was assigned to the back entrance to the base, which leads to the firing ranges. I don’t mind that spot so much because the drivers that are going back and forth between the base and firing ranges usually give me a sip of their Coke, or slip me a chocolate bar while no one’s looking. There are also people walking by, always up for a little [...]

By Laura Ben David Harvey Brooks, a former congregant of Temple Emanu-El in Tucson, Arizona, is accustomed to large crowds cheering for him, but when he landed in Israel as a new Oleh on a Nefesh B’Nefesh Aliyah flight in August 2009, the welcoming crowd of singing and flag-waving guests touched him in a more profound way.

The following is a letter of congratulations written to Rabbi Miri Gold by Rabbi Robert Leib of Old York Road Temple-Beth Am in Abington, PA. Feel free to share your own messages to Miri in the comments below,  or on ARZA’s Facebook page! Dear Miri, On behalf of our entire congregation, most especially those who have met and heard you, personally, we extend our sincere CONGRATULATIONS to you on your long-awaited victory!! We are all so thrilled for you and the extraordinary patience, courage, strength and optimism you have displayed over the course of so many years.

By Rabbi John Rosove In my introductory remarks to the Peter Beinart-David Suissa debate at Temple Israel of Hollywood last Wednesday evening (May 16), I said the following to help give political context to what we would be hearing from each speaker: In a thoughtful piece published this past week, Professor Shaul Magid of Indiana University, wrote that the response and rancor around Peter Beinart’s book “The Crisis of Zionism” represented four broad groups in the American and Israeli communities – the ideological left and right and the pragmatic left and right. A brief word about each: Those in the [...]