Finding Comfort June 18, 2010 (4 Comments) by JanetheWriter Originally posted on JanetheWriter Writes... As I continue to walk the mourner's path, I am comforted by many things: the extraordinary outpouring of affection and care from family and friends, the sage rituals and rhythms of Jewish tradition, and, indeed, by my mother's own words and wishes. Earlier today, I went in search of her ethical will to my sister and me, which, as anticipated, I found safely tucked away in a box of keepsakes in my hall closet. Although it includes no date, I would guess, based on context, my mother wrote it sometime in late 1995 or early 1996, and in its words, I found her richest legacy to me: My dearest children, For some time now, I've wanted to write an ethical will, one in which I could set down my thoughts and values for you. After all, we try to put our financial estate in good order, so how about our ethical estate? I've always told you the only thing of value you can leave behind is your good name, so why not talk about that? At the Kallah last week, I took a class in writing an ethical will, and it impelled me to start what I had been putting off for a long while. You, Jane and David, Amy, and Daddy are the most precious parts of my life and I include you David, because married to our child, you become our child. At your mother's house after her funeral, Lilac told me that your mother always said she never had to worry about you because "Jane's family would always look after you," and she was right. We do so not out of obligation, but because we care about you, you care about Jane and we all care about each other. read MORE Filed Under: Jewish Living | Lifecycle

Kugel Capers May 14, 2010 by Barbara Lerman-Golomb Originally posted on A Life in Many Small Parts...Blog I nearly lost a friendship over the recipe for my Nana's kugel--the sweet noodle pudding that can be served on its own or taken up a notch if served with a dollop of sour cream. My friend and I got into an argument about sharing the recipe. She insisted that my grandmother would want the world to know how to make her kugel. In other words, spread the wealth. My thinking was (and I might add, still is), that private ownership of Nana's recipe is like a shared secret between us and it's not bad for my ego either. When I'm invited to a potluck or communal gathering, and I present Nana's kugel, the accolades come flying, reminding me of why I keep the recipe under wraps. My Nana came by her craft honestly. Her parents owned a kosher restaurant, "Cohen's," originally in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, then in Philadelphia. My great-grandfather was the front man, commandeering the restaurant while sipping a glezel tai (a glass of tea)--placing a sugar cube in his mouth, pouring some tea into a saucer and sipping it. He was known for his "attitude" towards the customers, but they put up with his antics because they loved my great-grandmother--and her cooking. Since everything had to be made fresh, she was busy in the kitchen until three AM and then up again at six AM to continue cooking. My Nana had the same patience and stamina as her mother when it came to food preparation, particularly around the holidays--standing on her feet for hours until nearly 90, taking meticulous care--never compromising on the integrity of her food. Why? Because when it comes to Jews and food, as Tevye would say, it's all about "tradition." read MORE Filed Under: Jewish Living

Food, Ethical Food! November 30, 2009 by Rachel Cohen Legislative Assistant, RAC (Originally published on The Jew and the Carrot) As Jews, we have always cared about the food that we eat. Some of us choose to embrace traditional notions of kashrut - and many of us do not - but we can all agree that our food, and how we get it, plays an important part in our lives. That's why Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, opened one section of his 2009 Biennial Shabbat sermon with these words: "Jewish history begins with a Jew - a new Jew, the first Jew - saying to others: come, eat with me. And ever since this first Jewish meal, Jews have believed that eating matters." These words have never been truer than they are for us today. Our Jewish values - caring for our neighbors, being good stewards of our earth and its resources, valuing our family and our community - all point to the need to think critically about the way we eat. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Jewish Living

D'var Acher: Bringing Heaven Down to Earth November 2, 2009 by Deborah Niederman, R.J.E. (Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah) Rabbi Moffic suggests that our human actions, as exemplified by Abraham and Sarah's modeling of "welcoming guests," hachnasat orchim, can "bring heaven down to earth." He suggests that the ethical way Abraham and Sarah approach this mitzvah imbues it with special meaning, and quoting Rabbi Soloveitchik, reminds us that God does not have separate standards for our ritual and ethical acts.   Many of the rich stories that follow in this very same parashah challenge the ethical nature of humanity and God's hopes for God's Chosen People. "For I have selected him [Abraham], so that he may teach his children and those who come after him to keep the way of the Eternal, doing what is right and just. . . ," (Genesis18:19). And what does it mean to keep the way of the Eternal? It means to act in an ethical manner to do what is right and just. And so, in pleading with God to save Sodom and Gomorrah in the very next story in this parashah, Abraham takes an ethical stance and questions God's own justice: "Must not the Judge of all the earth do justly?" (Genesis 18:25). Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut tells us Abraham's pleading fails, "not because his moral stance is faulty but because his premise is wrong: There are not enough righteous people in the cities who could make a difference" (The Torah: A Modern Commentary, rev. ed. [New York: URJ Press, 2005] p. 121).  We are reminded that it takes the impact of a courageous band to bring about change and that if there are not enough righteous people, they will perish with their neighbors as do all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.  read MORE Filed Under: Torah

D'var Torah: Ethics versus Ritual November 2, 2009 by Evan Moffic (Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah) One of the great modern teachers of Judaism, Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, zichrono livrachah, urged Reform Jews to ritualize the ethical and ethicize the ritual. Rabbi Wolf's point was that Jewish tradition does not differentiate between ethical and ritual law. (See essay "Back to the Future: On Rediscovering the Commandments," in Duties of the Soul, eds. Knobel and Goldstein [New York: UAHC Press], 1999, p. 20). They are deeply intertwined and mutually reinforcing. This argument has its detractors, and it surely does not characterize the views of the founders of Reform Judaism in nineteenth-century Germany and America, who saw ritual practices as the husk surrounding the Jewish kernel of ethical monotheism. Yet, for Reform Jews exploring traditional practices and developing new ones, the notion of creating rituals that convey an ethical message is an appealing one. We see this trend, for example, in the blessing for pursuing justice produced by the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism (see www.rac.org/pubs/saresources/cards) and the creation of new liturgies that address issues of discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.    read MORE Filed Under: Torah

Paying It Forward vs. Paying In Full August 18, 2009 (3 Comments) By JanetheWriter God said, "Let the water beneath the sky be collected in one place, so that the dry ground may be seen!--and so it was.  And God called the dry ground Earth, and called the collected waters Seas.  And God saw that this was good."  Genesis 1:9-10 When God uttered those words, God didn't then go on to say, "Only those who own the dry ground where it joins the Seas may--without paying a fee--walk endlessly in the foam that laps at it, bask in the sun that beats down upon it and frolic in the rolling green swirls that rise and fall on their way to meet it."  The Eternal may as well have.  And so it was that during our family's recent vacation at Point Pleasant Beach, we paid daily for access to the sandy beach and the warm ocean swells--$7 for adults and $2 for children.  (Yes, I understand that lifeguards on a clean and safe beach come with a price that often must be shared among public, private and government entities.  And, indeed, we paid a price...perhaps just not all of what was due.) read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Jewish Living

Teachable Moment July 28, 2009 (8 Comments) by William Berkson President Obama said he hoped the confrontation between Cambridge policeman James Crowley and Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates would prove to be a "teachable moment." But it's hard to find any light on what we are supposed to learn. One lesson from our tradition is that when we approach a situation that can escalate into conflict, we should use techniques to defuse conflict, and to promote cooperation. One of these techniques is in Ecclesiastes, and another in Proverbs: "The mouth of the wise charms, but the lips of a fool are his undoing."(Eccl 10:12) "A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger." (Prov. 15:1) Modern psychology has in fact found that these techniques are of critical importance in interpersonal relations. Marriage researcher John Mordechai Gottman found that the best predictor of divorce is not how often a couple argues, but rather whether arguments escalate. And he found the couples who handle conflict successfully have the skill of "a soft start up" and a mollifying, rather than angry, response to an upset spouse.    read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Jewish Living

What are we teaching our children? May 4, 2009 (3 Comments) by Marge Eiseman Last week, at the Yom HaAtzma'ut celebration, I was busy selling my wares in the little shuk. When the concert started, all the people left, and I finally got up to take a break, I looked over at the little food court that was next to me, and all the bistro tables were left dirty - even though the garbage cans were five feet away. A couple of days later, I saw a woman with a child in the backseat carefully place her empty Starbucks cup on the ground outside her car door, because she had just bought another drink to put into her cup-holder. I asked her, "Don't you want your cup?" and she said, "No." and drove away, leaving the empty cup marking her parking space. read MORE Filed Under: Jewish Living | Youth and Family Life

D'var Torah: K'doshim: Right Relationship and the Pursuit of Holiness April 27, 2009 (2 Comments) by Rachel Adler (Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah) The making of boundaries is an overarching theme in Leviticus: there is the sacred place and there are secular places, priests and non-priests, permitted foods and forbidden foods, permitted sex and forbidden sex. In Leviticus 19, the Torah offers boundaries in other areas: a compendium of ways to be in relationship rightly and justly with our neighbors and with God. You might call it an ethics of right relationship. And this ethics provides everyday ways to pursue holiness. read MORE Filed Under: Torah

D'var Acher: Acharei Mot/K'doshim: Lessons in Ethics and Ritual April 27, 2009 (6 Comments) by Peter S. Knobel (Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah) The opening words of,Acharei Mot/K'doshim, set the frame for its interpretation. Acharei mot means"after the death" (Leviticus 16:1). Nadab and Abihu die because of the significant sin of bringing alien fire to the altar (Leviticus 10:1-3). Aaron and the priests are then warned about the danger of a misstep in their role as officiants at the altar (Leviticus 10:8-11; 16:2) and only then are taught about the crucial ritual of Yom Kippur (Leviticus 16:3-28). The rites of atonement are among the priests' most important functions. To reconcile God and the people they must first make atonement for themselves. The role of leadership is crucial and Torah demands much of leadership. When their assigned tasks can effect not only their own fate but also the fate of the people, leaders must approach them with care and a sense of awe. Both they and the people are in danger and what they do matters. Today, the synagogue is the substitute for the Temple and rabbis and cantors often serve similar roles to the priests, but all who lead sacred institutions-- professionals and volunteers--are responsible for respecting the k'dushah,"holiness," of their tasks. read MORE Filed Under: Torah

D'var Torah: The Real American Idol March 8, 2009 (3 Comments) by Irwin A. Zeplowitz (Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah) The popular television show American Idol seeks the most talented singers, hoping to promote each one as the next "superstar."There is a lot that is positive about American Idol. It is founded on the belief that there is the potential for great talent in anyone. The show allows "ordinary people"a chance they might not otherwise have to achieve the most they can in life. The success of the show has transformed the term "idol"from its original connotation of something false and deviant into something positive. Then again, perhaps the trivialization of the term "idol"is a hint to the shallowness of what popular culture truly values. The ultimate goal of American Idol, of course,is not simply to showcase talent, but to have the winner get "a major recording contract". In this,  the real purpose is revealed--not fame, but fortune; not glamour, but gold. The dramatic story of eigel hazahav, the "Golden Calf,"is at the center of this week's parashah, Ki Tisa. Commentators debate what it is that the people truly yearn for when they say to Aaron, "Come, make us a god"(elohim, literally "gods"[Exodus 32:1]). Rashi indicates that the people seek a pantheon of gods as a substitute for God. Many argue that the people are afraid because Moses has not returned from the mountain, so they want a "new Moses"(Ramban on 32:1), "someone to go before them"(Ibn Ezra on 32:1) as a leader. Others suggest that the "Israelites are demanding a god, rather than the God,"hinting that any diversion from the people's fears of abandonment is as comforting as any other (The Torah: A Women's Commentary, ed. Tamara Cohn Eshkenazi and Andrea L. Weiss [New York: URJ Press, 2008], p. 502). read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Torah

D'var Acher: Engaging in Righteous Killing March 8, 2009 (2 Comments) by Barry Cohen (Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voice of Torah) Something has always bothered me about this week's Torah portion: to regain control of the rebellious mob dancing around the Golden Calf, we engage in "righteous killing."Moses exclaims, "Whoever is for the Eternal, come here!"(Exodus 32:26). He proceeds to give instructions to the tribe of Levi to "slay sibling, neighbor, and kin"(Exodus 32:27). On a smaller scale, such "righteous killing"had happened before, after the rape of Dinah (Genesis 33:18-34:31). Simeon and Levi massacred the perpetrators and their families. Many years later at Sinai, we kill three thousand of our own (Exodus 32:28). Arguably, if this did not happen, the story of our people could have ended in the wilderness. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Torah

Strengthening Reform: 20. Jewish Ethics and Patriarchy January 12, 2009 (10 Comments) by William Berkson Ecclesiastes was wrong: there is something new under sun. Our world has three crucial differences from the worlds of the Torah and the Talmud: science, democracy, and women's equality. As I argued in the last post in this series, modern science means that we need to look not only to our sacred texts for personal guidance, but also to insights of modern science, including psychology and sociology. Thus if we are going to understand what God wants of us ethically, the ethical mitzvot, we need to apply our improved understanding of ourselves and of society, and synthesize that with what we learn from our sacred texts. read MORE Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living

On Gaza, Sense and Centrism January 1, 2009 (30 Comments) By Rabbi Eric Yoffie First published in The Forward Wars sicken me, even wars that I support. I support Israel's offensive in Gaza, but watching it on TV -- the images of bombed-out buildings, crying women and, inevitably, the bodies of innocent bystanders -- is a painful experience. I suspect that most American Jews feel the same discomfort that I feel. They support the military offensive too, but they are well aware of the risks that it entails, and they expect Israel to be both politically wise and morally sensitive in how it fights. It is especially important to us that Israel do everything humanly possible to avoid the death of innocents and to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There is much evidence that Israel has worked hard to limit the carnage, and the credibility of Israel's leaders in providing assurances on these points is an important factor in assuring the continued support of American Jews -- and, indeed, of all Americans -- for the Gaza campaign. read MORE Filed Under: By Rabbi Eric Yoffie | Ethics | Israel

Strengthening Reform 19: Reasons for the Ethical Mitzvot November 24, 2008 (10 Comments) by William Berkson As I have written earlier, Reform is now in a "great mitzvah muddle," in which a number of leaders are not clear about the reasons for the mitzvot, and have written of each person deciding what is a mitzvah. This is an inclusive approach, which is fine, but alas directionless. What is missing here is a clearer idea of what is traditionally called ta'amei hamitzvot, the reasons for the mitzvot. In traditional Judaism, these reasons are secondary, because the sacred text is the final authority for a mitzvah, even if its interpretation is open to wide interpretation. In liberal Judaism, however, the text is only one source of our decisions about what God wants of us, so the other reasons become more important. read MORE Filed Under: Defining Reform

Strengthening Reform 18: The Leaky Glass October 30, 2008 (44 Comments) By William Berkson In response to several of my posts in critique of the current state of Reform theology, fellow RJ blogger Larry Hoffman has said that he views the glass as 'half full', as opposed to my 'half empty'. So while good changes are always welcome, we are in pretty good shape. In particular, he has pointed to the fact that Reform movement is growing in numbers, while the Conservative movement is shrinking. This last fact is indeed true, but it masks grave problems. That is because the "glass" is leaking, according to what I have read. Right now I can't put my hand on the sources, but I have read that a significant part of the increase comes from formerly Conservative Jews joining Reform Synagogues. And I believe that if you take away these, the numbers of Reform Jews have actually shrunk. Hopefully someone here can correct me if I got this wrong. But I believe what is happening is that those who are raised in a Conservative synagogue marry either a Reform Jew or intermarry, and then they join a Reform synagogue, where their spouse feels more at home or more welcome. read MORE Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living | Torah

A Bad Day at School October 24, 2008 (12 Comments) By dcc I have a cousin in his mid-80s who often reminds me that it was good for the Jews in Austria before Hitler. He was a scholar, his sister was a lawyer (yes a woman in the 1930s), their family was well connected in Vienna. I often remind him that the United States is not inter-war Europe and we know better now. He then waves his hand at me and calls me naive. On days like today I think he might be right. Reading the award-winning Dallas Morning News Religion Blog I found this gem of a post. A group of children in Suburban St. Louis, as part of the officially sanctioned school "Spirit Week" comprised of "High Five Day" and "Hug a Friend Day," choose to celebrate "Hit a Jew Day" as just one more way to be true to their school. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics

Strengthening Reform 17: Reasons for the Mitzvot October 23, 2008 (7 Comments) By William Berkson As I wrote in the last post in this series, because in Reform our sacred texts are no longer regarded as authoritative, the "Reasons for the Mitzvot", ta'amei hamitzvot, have moved from being incidental to being central. In Reform, the reasons for the mitzvot become standards for interpreting, accepting, rejecting, and modifying the mitzvot as expressed in our sacred literature. That is why I have been alarmed by the latest turn in Reform thinking, as seen in the 1999 Pittsburgh Principles and in Rabbi Richard Levy's A Vision of Holiness, which expands on the Principles. For in this discussion, the predominant philosophy seems to be, as I said, Romantic Individualism. We as individuals 'try on' mitzvot to see if they are spiritually uplifting, and as part of our 'dialogue' with God we are moved to practice the mitzvot or not. read MORE Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living | Torah

Lashon Tova October 20, 2008 (7 Comments) By Larry Kaufman A recent discussion in these precincts about Lashon Hara, intended to present a Jewish "take" on permissible and impermissible political discourse, gave rise to a peripheral discussion about the propriety of using words and phrases from languages other than English. That article provided a literal translation of lashon hara as "the bad tongue," and provided as English explanations defamation, character assassination, or 'bad mouthing." The subsequent discussion suggested another meaning, malicious gossip. As a relatively new entity, this blog had not previously articulated any "rules of the road," but the discussion provoked messages from the blog managers at the Union for Reform Judaism reminding bloggers the Union is not and cannot be in the business of endorsing or supporting candidates, and that the blog exists to look at the world through a lens of Reform Judaism. I propose an additional rule - we should follow the minhag (custom) that prevails on the Union list-servs, and translate expressions from languages other than English. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Holidays

Control October 20, 2008 (4 Comments) By dcc Tamar Fox at Mixed Multitudes writes about Y-Love's finding that there are "activists" in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg who are destroying advertisements because the food pictured in these billboards is "excessive and indulgent." These ultra-Orthodox food-pleasure police are defacing property of surrounding businesses because they think photographs of food that is just too tasty will distract people and lead them into a life of crime, mischief and non-Jewish activity. Stop me anytime now, but isn't vandalism criminal, mischievous and non-Jewish? Outside of the somewhat backwards tactics of resistance, why can't the ultra-Orthodox practice restraint and control? read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Jewish Living

Tzedek, tzedek tirdof: My Father's Legacy October 20, 2008 (1 Comment) By Andi Rosenthal My father Leo - may his memory be for blessing - had some definite ideas about justice. A 22-year veteran of Manhattan South Homicide, a detective first grade, and later in his second career, a tireless VP of Protective Control for Bank of New York, he spent a lifetime bringing people to justice, righting wrongs where he could, never afraid to stand up for what was right and see that the appropriate penalty was handed down. And he managed to do it all with tremendous style. Above all things he found a way to connect with people whether they were do-gooders or perps, always with an irrepressible grin and a twinkle in his eye. His way with people was a weapon far more powerful than the .44 he carried or the Glock he kept in the kitchen cabinet. He cared about justice as much as he cared about his family, because he cared about families who had been touched by the damage that unchecked injustice can do. He never forgot a victim, never forgot a name, always made sure that he remembered that no matter what sort of evil or physical or emotional mutilation or destruction had occurred, that what he was bearing witness to was the human relationship of life-to-life in an ultimate transaction gone awry. He understood that all human beings contained the yetzer ha-tov and yetzer ha-ra - the good and evil impulse - in equal balance. But what he never let himself understand or accept was how people could justify their actions when they led to such a destructive end. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Shabbat

Lashon Hara and Elections October 13, 2008 (29 Comments) By William Berskon The last few days have dramatized the gravity of the sin of lashon hara, literally "the bad tongue." Known in English as defamation, character assassination, or in slang 'bad mouthing,' lashon hara is part of the vidui, the confession at Yom Kippur which we have all just said. It has traditionally been seen as one of the most common, yet also most serious of sins. It is a frustration to me that public discourse in America has lacked this concept: that it is wrong to say something bad about another person, even if true, without a compelling reason. Such compelling reasons include testimony at a trial, preventing serious harm to others from a bad actor, and self-defense against lashon hara. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics | Holidays

Learning from youth October 10, 2008 By Gardening Grandma A story in this morning's New York Times about the growing army of "eco-kids" not only grabbed my attention, it made me proud: "Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy" highlights how children are teaching their parents a lesson or two about caring for this earth, sometimes to the frustration of their parents. While Judaism was not mentioned in the story, nothing could be closer to our hearts than protecting the earth and working to repair the damage we've created. As today's emailed Ten Minutes of Torah by Rabbi Marla Feldman notes, "to neglect our role in maintaining the fragile balance of nature is to default on our very first commitment in our covenant with God - our sacred duty to be stewards of God's Creation." She goes on to note that Sukkot is a perfect time to reinforce our connection to the natural world around us. For more ideas about what to do this Sukkot, check out www.urj.org.  read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Holidays | Social Action

Strengthening Reform 16: Ethical and Ritual Mitzvot October 6, 2008 (5 Comments) By William Berkson In the previous post in this series, I sketched the history of Reform treatment of Mitzvot, concluding with Rabbi Richard Levy's A Vision of Holiness: The Future of Reform Judaism (URJ, 2005). In this book Rabbi Levy, who led the 1999 "Pittsburgh Principles" effort, rejects the traditional Reform distinction in the status of ethical and ritual mitzvot. As I wrote, I think the abolition of this distinction is a spectacularly bad idea. read MORE Filed Under: Defining Reform | Ethics | Jewish Living

Strengthening Reform 15: The Great Mitzvah Muddle September 26, 2008 (6 Comments) by William Berkson The latest expression of the principles of Reform Judaism is the six-page "Pittsburgh Principles" of 1999. The book A Vision of Holiness: The Future of Reform Judaism, by Rabbi Richard Levy, begins with this statement, and expands on it to explain it more fully. One of the questions that was put to focus groups concerned autonomy and mitzvot: "... It is a given that Jews have the autonomous right to choose what beliefs and practices will inform their lives, but for Reform Jews the hard question is the role of Torah and mitzvot in their lives." read MORE Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living | The Future

Hechsher tzedek September 10, 2008 By Larry Kaufman Well, our Reform rabbinate has endorsed the Conservative "hechsher tzedek"  stating whether or not the meat is kosher isn't just a factor of how the animal was slaughtered, but of how the workers were treated. Back in the days when we were boycotting California grapes, we probably talked about social justice and prophetic values - but the Reform movement wasn't at the point where it could have talked about kosher and treyf. As it happened, our speaker at Shabbat services on Labor Day weekend talked about his participation in the recent protest march at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville. (For those arriving in the middle of the movie, that's the large kosher meat company that's been the subject of a Forward investigation and of a raid and roundup of undocumented workers by the Feds.) I told our guest that I don't keep kosher, but I consider the Postville meat treyf. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Social Action

Strengthen Reform: 11. Making Judaism Meaningful to Teens August 20, 2008 (10 Comments) By William Berkson As I explained in previous posts, Reform Judaism can become much stronger by serving families. And it can do this by showing how the personal ethics of the Talmud, updated, can powerfully assist sacred relationships, strong marriages and families. However, before this we first have to convince teens that Judaism can make a difference to their lives. As is well known, there is a huge drop off of students attending religious school after Bar and Bat Mitzvah. What can we teach teens that will be compelling evidence that it will help them to have Judaism as part of their lives? read MORE Filed Under: The Future

A Newer, Slower Kosher August 1, 2008 (1 Comment) By dcc Recently I have been reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, which while partly polemical in its approach to local food consumption as opposed to what Pollan calls "the industrialized food chain," did a lot to reinforce my love of good, tasty, carefully created food. But it seems that I am not alone in this re-discovery. In the last week or so my local paper has dedicated significant front page real estate and bandwidth (complete with a new "Times Topic Page") to local and natural food movements. Many people are concerned by the number of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics fed to what becomes our food. We are beginning to ask why everything has the same five ingredients and most of the time we can't pronounce them. The inherent ignorance necessary to continue Pollan's industrialized food chain is coming to an end; people have decided they want to know what they are eating. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Jewish Living

From Black and White to Shades of Gray July 28, 2008 By JanetheWriter Recently, someone I know told me he is a gun owner.  When I heard this, I was dumbfounded and I was speechless.   In my head, guns and associated imagery, most of it violent, churned--a visual stream of consciousness.  His handgun, a compact, weighty black rock nestled among dark socks in a nightstand drawer...the McDonald's in San Ysidro, CA, where 21 people were killed and 19 injured, all by gunfire...the aerial view of Columbine High School, a single line of students streaming from its doors... DayGlo orange-vested hunters traipsing into the woods, just yards from my office on a cool fall morning in rural New England...a photo of Rabbi Eric Yoffie speaking at the Million Mom March, the only religious leader to do so. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics

The False Choice of Peace v. Justice July 23, 2008 By Jonah Perlin (First posted on the RACBlog) The last month has been an important one for international war crimes proceedings. Monday night the "most wanted man in Europe," a Serbian war criminal was captured. Even more remarkable, on July 11, just six days before the 10th anniversary of the ratification of the Rome Statute which established the International Criminal Court (ICC) -- a treaty which the U.S. and Israel have still yet to become a party to -- Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the maverick Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, announced that he was brining charges against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. In indicting Bashir the ICC not only made a commitment to holding individuals responsible for the ongoing genocide in Darfur, it also sent a signal to all sitting world leaders that they would no longer have immunity from perpetrating unthinkable crimes simply because of their status as heads of state. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Social Action

Dónde están las mujeres July 17, 2008 (4 Comments) By dcc   This week the Saudi government sponsored an interfaith meeting in Madrid, Spain. Rabbi Scott Sperling, director of the Mid-Atlantic Council of the Union and representative of the Commission on Interreligious Affairs, is there for the Reform Movement. Ari Alexander, co-founder of Children of Abraham, is also attending. He is live blogging at Mixed Multitudes about the event. He was shocked to see so few female participants at the conference. In a week were where we read Parashat Pinchas, a seminal work of feminism in the Torah, his point resonates even louder for me. It is all too easy for men to say nothing about the lack of women in a room, Alexander writes. As a young man working in a world with far more women than men, but where there are very few women in positions of power, not saying anything is not an option. We must say something when there is a clear issue of discrimination. It is also the responsibility of all involved--both those in the majority and those being discriminated against--to work against these trends. Take a look at Alexander's post. It is worth the read. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Social Action

Witness to History: Past, Present and Future July 1, 2008 (2 Comments) By JanetheWriter Today marks the first anniversary of my visit to Oświęcim, the Polish shetl town in which the Nazis built the Auschwitz concentration camp. Sometimes, still, when I close my eyes, I see the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" entry gate and the iconic low brick building that marks the entrance to Birkenau, the neighboring extermination camp. On that long, long day last year, I walked the railroad tracks, stood in the barracks and in the crematoria. I gazed into the glassy water of the pond whose dark depths still cradle the bones and ashes of those whose lives were snuffed out there. I saw their tallitot, their tefillin. I saw their shoes, their eyeglasses, their hair. I saw the canisters of Zyklon B used to kill them. Their names--known and unknown--are indelibly etched in my heart. I know these people. I am a witness to their history--to my history. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | The Future

ACH, Traditional Reading June 30, 2008 (1 Comment) By William Berkson Ok, folks. I'm peeved. I'm just curious if others are irritated by this kind of thing. Last week Dr. James Dobson said that Sen. Barack Obama was deliberately distorting "the traditional interpretation of the Bible" when he pointed out that the plain reading of Leviticus prohibits eating shellfish, and that the Defense Department would have a problem with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. Sen. Obama's point was that political leaders would be wiser by not being sectarian in their arguments for public policy--which I thought was a pretty good point. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Torah

Kashrut cleaning products? June 20, 2008 (1 Comment) By Bryan Freehling I began observing kashrut not when I converted to Reform Judaism thirteen years ago, but when I became a vegetarian almost three years ago. Although I considered observing kashrut upon becoming a Jew, my life partner of fifteen years who had kept kosher until he was 21, was not too amiable to that notion. However, after the passing of our beloved canine companion, Bella, both of us chose to become vegetarian. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Jewish Living

Does Public Lying Matter? June 3, 2008 By William Berkson The Talmud says, "Sins repeated seem permitted." With recent events this keeps ringing in my ears. And news media seem tolerant of dishonesty, at least to the extent of not thinking it matters a great deal. Something seems to be very wrong. Let's start with the list of recent clear-cut examples of public dishonesty. President Clinton lied to a grand jury, and was impeached for it. Karl Rove lied about leaking damaging information to the press about Valerie Plame. President Bush promised to catch and punish leakers of national security information. But then he approved leaking more information to discredit Plame's husband, target of the original leak. And when Rove was exposed as a liar and leaker, President Bush did not fire him. Clearly, President Bush broke his word to the American people. Last week the spokesman lied to, and tasked with spreading Rove's lies, Scott McClellan, issued an angry book denouncing the way he was used. At the same time Rove was honored with space in the Wall Street Journal to give a long critique of Senator Obama's not being forthright enough in his political comments! read MORE Filed Under: Ethics

The Anger Factor May 27, 2008 (2 Comments) By William Berkson Our society is now filled with anger, and with angry people who see their expressions of anger as positive, even courageous. The most dramatic example has been the harsh anger of Reverend Wright, particularly at the National Press Club. But we also have the daily rage of some radio and television talk shows, where it is practically a communal ritual. Viewers join in an orgy of rage against those they view as misguided or wicked, adding daily to the list of grievances, of reasons to be angry. The point of the comedy film Anger Management (2003) was to ridicule the notion of anger management. The problem of the lead character, Adam Sandler, is that he can't get angry and is too meek. 'Doctor' Jack Nicholson 'cures' him by provoking him mercilessly throughout the film until he loses his temper, gets enraged and stands up for himself. Again, rage is seen as a healthy step to courage and proper self-assertion.  This 'pneumatic' theory of anger seems to have originated with Freud: repress anger and it will pop up another way and harm you; "get it out" and you will become healthier of mind.   Wisdom books of the Bible and the Sages have quite a different view, seeing anger as dangerous and foolish. read MORE Filed Under: Ethics | Torah