by Rabbi Jonathan Biatch

Editor’s Note:  This post is the second of two about Congregation Emet VeShalom.  Read the complementary post.

The double air-kiss; you’ve gotta love it!  It is a European custom becoming more widespread in Israel, and it’s quite contagious.  You’ve seen it: once on the right side, then once on the left.  By the conclusion of my first worship service at Emet VeShalom, I had received many such kisses of warmth and friendship.  I quickly learned that the relatively small size of Emet VeShalom says nothing about its welcoming spirit, or its obvious passion, or its members’ love for liberal Judaism.

Some of those qualities drew me toward the congregation when first I met Sharon Mann five years ago on a brief visit to her synagogue.  And since then, notwithstanding the ups and downs of the temple realities to which Sharon refers, and despite the challenges of life in a country whose very existence is of daily concern, the spirit of community at Emet VeShalom remains strong.

The congregants know the worship backward and forward, and they help guide the service leader through the worship.  The mother tongues of the members are Hebrew, English, and Spanish, and it is wonderful to hear each of the three languages used during announcements and the informal parts of the service.  And some of the music, ably provided by a talented keyboardist, includes many tunes that would be very familiar to American Jews, such as Debbie Friedman’s Mishebeirach (with Hebrew lyrics!) or Moshe Rothblum’s Veshamru.  There are many new ones, too; be ready to be pleasantly surprised!

It is obvious that the adult members of the congregation have passed on their Jewish passions to their children.  During each service, the children participate in the prayers: sometimes with laughter—as tweens and teenagers will do—but always with joy.  And when I share Shabbat meals with the members, the children demonstrate a clear commitment to progressive Judaism by their knowledge of and presence for table rituals, and their respect for the way progressive Jews celebrate Shabbat.

In my second d’var Torah I spoke of the human, spiritual need to expand the definition of “Shabbat rest” that is free of the religious coercion so commonly experienced here.  I spoke of activities such as traveling to visit relatives, watching a favorite movie, or eating at a special restaurant (there are many restaurants open on Shabbat in this part of the country).  Many members expressed appreciation for the encouragement to enjoy these contemporary forms of Shabbat observance.

This is clearly a congregation infused with the spirit of liberal Judaism!

In addition to serving some of the needs of Emet VeShalom, my Israeli sabbatical time consisted of performing other volunteer work in the Western Galilee, as well as living for five weeks in a kibbutz that sits 500 meters from the Lebanese border.  Even during these cautious times here, the nation exudes that familiar Israeli confidence of living life completely despite the uncertainty of what the next day will bring.

In evaluating my time with Emet VeShalom, one thing is clear.  Small Israeli progressive congregations are at a financial disadvantage.  The economics of Israeli synagogue life are quite different from what they are in America, and until the government of Israel funds equally all expressions of Judaism, we who are outside of Israel can and should help.

We can join as auxiliary members of these small communities.  Congregational groups visiting Israel can spend time with members—not only on Shabbat, by the way—to get to know our Reform cousins.  And rabbis who visit alone or with a group can volunteer for one, two, three, or more Shabbatot.  They will be glad they did, as was I.

As a member of the Reform rabbinate, I feel privileged to benefit from all the experiences of a sabbatical.  I thank my home congregation, Temple Beth El, Madison, Wisconsin, for their consideration and affection.  And I thank Emet VeShalom for hosting me in such a warm fashion.

Rabbi Jonathan Biatch is the spiritual leader of Temple Beth El, Madison, Wisconsin.  He is an ordainee of Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion and a member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

by Sharon Mann

Editor’s Note:  This post is the first of two about Congregation Emet VeShalom.  Read the complementary post.

Reform Judaism and religious pluralism, which are taken for granted in the United States, are not axiomatic in Israel. As a member of Emet VeShalom—a Reform congregation in Nahariya, a peripheral area of Israel eight miles from Lebanon’s border—I know maintaining a non-Orthodox congregation is fraught with challenges. At present, one major challenge facing ours is that we do not have a rabbi serving as spiritual leader of our community. Our members are facing this challenge by stepping up and taking on the different roles of leading our Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday evening) services on a weekly basis, in addition to many of their other voluntary activities for our congregation.

Our Ritual Committee Chairperson and President work tirelessly to keep our congregation going and flowing from week to week by arranging a monthly schedule of participants. Each week, one person acts as leader of the services (or “coordinator,” as we refer to the position); one or more act as chazan (cantor), and a third member gives the drasha (discussion of the weekly Torah portion). Still, as Emet VeShalom is a relatively small congregation, it is not easy to fill all these roles and provide the spiritual nourishment that all seek at services.

Therefore, in March, I was surprised and delighted to receive an email from Marla Gamoran, founder and executive director of Skilled Volunteers for Israel, informing me that an American Reform rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan Biatch of Temple Beth El, Madison, WI, was planning to be in our area during his sabbatical and wanted to volunteer with our congregation. I was gratified to learn of Rabbi Biatch’s desire and put him in touch with our Ritual Committee Chairperson to discuss how he could help us. Rabbi Biatch quickly committed himself to leading services and giving the discussion of the Torah portion for three consecutive Friday evening services. He also volunteered to give a lecture in English to the English-speaking members of our congregation.

To my knowledge, Rabbi Biatch’s volunteer work with us at Emet VeShalom is the first of its kind here. His contribution to our congregation brings together two concepts that we as Reform Jews hold dear, namely tikkun olam (repair of the world) and strengthening connections between Jews in Israel and the Diaspora. We are blessed by his presence and the spiritual leadership he is sharing with us. He made such a wonderful impression at the first service he led that at its conclusion our community coordinator said, “We already miss him!”

In his d’var Torah on the portion Emor, Rabbi Biatch spoke about taking advantage of opportunities in life that we can declare as “holy.” He gave us several examples, including the opportunity to sanctify time and personal and communal relationships. We are learning from his example. At Emet VeShalom, we are joyful and appreciative that Rabbi Biatch chose to sanctify and dedicate his time and skills to enrich our congregation and our lives in Nahariya.

Sharon Mann made aliyah 20 years ago and lives in Nahariya, Israel. She is an active member of Emet VeShalom.

Here are just a few of the recent stories from across the webosphere that speak directly to (and about) Reform Jews. What Jewish stories have you been reading recently? Leave a comment and let us know!

• “Modern-Day Rabbi Must Be CEO, Teacher, and Spiritual Leader at Once,” Forward
  Are rabbis the new CEOs? Anne Cohen reports that “expectations have changed.” Rabbis are now required to read a spreadsheet as well as the Gemara. They need to be accessible, media-savvy public speakers; business-oriented entrepreneurs; fundraisers; program generators, and in touch with popular trends. To prepare rabbinical students for the challenges ahead, seminaries are reassessing their curriculum to focus more on professional development and pastoral skills than ever before.

• “Let There Be War at the Wall,” Haaretz
  In this op-ed, RabbI Eric Yoffie writes that his first reaction to the ugly confrontation at the Western Wall on Friday was to be appalled and sickened. “But on reflection,” he says, “I’ve changed my mind: I welcome the war that the ultra-Orthodox have chosen to launch.  As offensive as these actions were, there are multiple reasons to expect that good might emerge from the nastiness of recent days.”

• “Almost Half of Israeli Jews back Women of the Wall,” Times of Israel
  Forty-eight percent of Israel’s Jewish population, including 64% of its secular citizens, support the Women of the Wall organization in its bid to enable alternatives to traditional prayer services at the Western Wall, according to a poll released Sunday. Only 26% of those who described themselves as traditionally religious supported the movement; none of the ultra-Orthodox respondents supported the movement.

Here are just a few of the recent stories from across the webosphere that speak directly to (and about) Reform Jews. What Jewish stories have you been reading recently? Leave a comment and let us know!

• “His Father’s Murder Drives a Rabbi’s Pursuit of Gun Control,” New York Times
  This piece is actually a couple of weeks old, but it deserves ongoing attention. Rabbi Joel Mosbacher’s father was shot to death in a petty robbery in 1999. “I’ve carried this story with me, this anger, every day for the last 14 years,” says the rabbi, who serves Beth Haverim Shir Shalom in Mahwah, N.J., and now advocates for stricter gun laws.

• “Can a moderate chief rabbi transform the Israeli Rabbinate? Not likely,” JTA
  Israel’s Chief Rabbinate controls marriage, divorce and conversion for all Israeli Jews, secular or religious, and changes to the way the rabbinate handles these matters cannot be made unilaterally. Rabbi David Stav, a Modern Orthodox rabbi in the running to be Israel’s next Ashkenazi chief rabbi, has cultivated an image as the liberals’ solution to a rabbinate dominated by the Haredi Orthodox, and he is waging a public campaign in advance of the chief rabbi elections that has won him a strong base of popular support.

• “Jewish ‘Women Of The Wall’ Plan Further Court Battles Over Prayer Rights At Western Wall,” Huffington Post
  Women seeking equal prayer rights at the Western Wall are planning a further challenge to Jewish Orthodox tradition at the site after a court ruling bolstered their cause. The Women of the Wall hopes to have its members read from a Torah scroll at the Jerusalem site, a ritual reserved under Orthodox practice for men only, when it holds its monthly prayer session there on May 10, says activist Anat Hoffman, leader of Women of the Wall.

• “AJWS CEO Ruth Messinger sees God as a ‘force for justice,’” The Jewish Week
  As part of The Jewish Week‘s “God Talk” series, Alfredo Borodowski,executive director of the Skirball Center for Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-el, interviews Ruth Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and a member of the URJ’s Faculty of Expert Practitioners. In 1988, Messinger left a 20-year career in politics, including Manhattan borough president, for AJWS, which supports human rights for marginalized people around the world.

• “To stay afloat, shuls merging across denominational divide,” JTA
  In areas with waning Jewish populations, Reform and Conservative congregations are merging, combining customs and sharing sacred spaces to preserve local Jewish life. Some synagogues in financial straits have stopped one step short of a full merger, opting to share facilities revamped for the needs of communities with a range of practices and beliefs.

by Ben Zemmel

I wanted to take just a moment to extend my gratitude and thanks to all those that made possible a free ten day trip to Israel. I use the word “trip” loosely as it was so much more than just a vacation with a tour.

It was perspective.

Perspective into a society and culture that, on the surface, differs so much from our own due to the geopolitical climate. I was happy to find, however that digging a little deeper revealed no loss of passion or zest for life that can be overshadowed by the daily rigors of protecting one’s livelihood and country.

To not only see but experience that passion and zest in the diverse food culture, the beauty of the landscape, and the cultural identity of each Israeli is something to truly treasure.

Kesher makes sure that one doesn’t just see the country and the people but truly interacts with them. One can go through those ten days touching, tasting, smelling, and listening to the daily hustle and bustle of Israeli life. But the feelings generated by doing that with thirty nine strangers and eight Israeli soldiers are things I cannot vocalize. They are treasured memories and lifelong acquaintances that create a global connection beyond anything one could learn in school or from the news.

Thank you to Kesher for keeping us on track and to the eight soldiers who took time off from defending their country so they could show us its better half.

by Micah Lapidus

Jewish day school sustainability is about more than survival. It’s about maintaining a diverse, vibrant, dynamic, healthy, growing school community. The best way to achieve day school sustainability is by ensuring that we’re fully engaging our human resources.  What does it look like to fully engage our human resources? Here’s a case study.

My school, The Alfred and Adele Davis Academy, Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School, is a school that loves Jewish music. Jewish singing permeates our school, most noticeably at holiday celebrations and at our weekly Kabbalat Shabbat gatherings. When I came to Davis five years ago I began writing and composing Jewish music—it seemed like a natural thing to do given my musical background and the role of music at Davis. Our head of school and I decided it would be awesome if we could utilize my songwriting knack to shine a light on Davis’ love for Jewish music. The result is The Davis Academy’s first album of original Jewish rock: Be a Blessing.

Just as The Davis Academy decided to engage my musicianship, I quickly learned that the success of the music project was contingent on my engaging others within the Davis community. I engaged our middle school principal, Jamie Kudlats, who happens to be a professional keyboard player with a singing voice like Jackson Browne. (Imagine Paul Simon’s nephew at the mic.) I engaged our fine arts director, Kendrick Phillips, who sounds uncannily like Stevie Nicks and brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm to everything she does. I also engaged our middle school music teacher, Bob Michek, who drummed with a band in the 90’s that opened for Winger among others on the New York club scene. Be a Blessing engaged many students, first as vocalists and later as visual artists. We even engaged our front desk receptionist, Janice Durden, who is the president of her church choir and can belt out a gospel tune like no other.

Be a Blessing features 13 original songs and a 16 page color booklet. Inside the booklet are 26 pieces of original student artwork that exist independently as 2×2 canvases that were created for the album. The student artists engaged with the songs on the album as inspiration for their art work which in turn became the packaging for the album. The graphic design of the album is stunning because we engaged our visual arts teacher, Rebecca Ganz.

One of the songs on the album is called, “Kol Yisrael.” It is based on the teaching, Kol Yisrael areivin zeh l’zeh (“All Israel is responsible for one another”). For this song we engaged our entire student body and many of our parents and grandparents to create a choir of voices more than 1,000 strong. You can see us all singing on the fabulous music video for this song:

Deep engagement builds community. It empowers people. It lets people know that they are valued and their school needs their talents, creativity, passion, and expertise. Engaging members of The Davis Academy for Be a Blessing demonstrates Davis’ commitment to remaining a diverse, vibrant, dynamic, healthy, growing school community.

In this paradigm, every Jewish day school and every Jewish institution, is inherently sustainable.  Every Jewish day school has their own version of: musical rabbi, Jamie, Kendrick, Bob, Janice, and Rebecca. Every Jewish day school has multiple areas of passion and expertise. Every Jewish day school has talented and energetic students. The question is: Are we fully engaging who we already have?

Rabbi Micah Lapidus is the Director of Jewish and Hebrew Studies at the Alfred and Adele Davis Academy in Atlanta, GA.

Originally published at PEJE Blog