Reform Judaism

Your children are now witnesses - NFTY teens visit Aushwitz/Birkenau
July 2, 2009 (1 Comment)

Rabbi Jan Katzew, a URJ Lead Specialist and his wife, Cantor Lanie Katzew, a URJ Music Specialist are accompanying the NFTY in Israel L'Dor V'Dor trip. NFTY teens are travelling through Eastern Europe prior to their time in Israel this summer. Jan and Lanie shared these reflections on the first week of the trip with the teen's parents.

Dear Parents,

Arguably the most lasting memory we will have of the last week is the character of 102 extraordinary and maturing teenagers. You have reason to be proud and justified in your decision to send your children on the trip of a lifetime, and aptly named L'dor Vador, from generation to generation.

The first week of L'dor Vador attempts to traverse the landscape of European Jewry from its cultural efflorescence in Prague to its religious genius in Krakow to its political and military prowess in Warsaw. The motivation for this narrative is the desire to demonstrate the enormity of the loss experienced during the absolute nadir of Jewish memory - the Shoah, the Holocaust. For many of the participants, the time we spent in Aushwitz/Birkenau left the deepest impression. Some spoke movingly of the railroad tracks that led up to the gate. Others spoke of the smell of hair cut off from the victims or the mound of shoes or the ponds full of ashes situated near the crematoria. They grappled with unanswerable questions, challenged their assumptions about good and evil, and the place of God in context with their developing sense of this complex world.

Filed Under: Youth and Family Life

Galilee Diary: Peace talk VI: Listening
June 30, 2009 (6 Comments)

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Galilee Diary and Ten Minutes of Torah)

They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Lord's congregation?" When Moses heard this, he fell on his face.
-Numbers 16:3-4

Last week, the local chapter of Sikkui, a moderate, non-militant non-profit organization that engages in programs of research and education to further equal rights in Israel (research reports, public lectures, seminars, etc.) held an evening panel discussion on the topic of "fear, racism, and inequality;" the focus was on discussing the reasons behind the efforts for and against residential segregation in the Galilee. The invited speakers represented a pretty wide range of views (similar to a program we offered a few months ago, about which I wrote here). And while the audience, characteristically, consisted mainly of people with more "leftist" sympathies, it was actually pretty heterogeneous, as the speakers were a draw (The moderator was Israel Prize Laureate Prof. Gabi Solomon). However, one part of the audience was a little surprising: a busload from the nearby city of Karmiel (pop. 50,000), led by a mayoral candidate from the last election, whose platform had been "keep the Arabs out of Karmiel." They seem to have come not to listen and discuss, but to heckle and disrupt and wave Israeli flags, until, largely ignored, they got bored and left.

Filed Under: Israel

Michael Jackson and the Jews
June 29, 2009 (15 Comments)

by Rabbi Eric Yoffie

Michael Jackson was a musician of immense talent and arguably the greatest Pop singer of our era. He reinvented pop music and produced the world's bestselling album. He was also a man of stupendous wealth who, by his own admission, used his celebrity to entice children to visit his estate and share a bed with him. While he was never convicted of a crime, his trial for child abuse and its aftermath revealed a pattern of utterly reprehensible conduct toward his own children and the children of others entrusted to his care.

In our celebrity-obsessed age, it is perhaps not surprising that we were never willing to judge Michael Jackson by the standards that we use to judge everyone else. Jackson's fans defended him ferociously, seeing him as a symbol of innocence and insisting that he was more victim than victimizer. Is it really necessary, however, now that he is dead, for those who speak in the name of the Jewish community to be joining in the adulation and offering excuses for his actions?

Filed Under: By Rabbi Eric Yoffie

D'var Torah: Paradox and Faith: The Art of Holiness
June 28, 2009

by Elyse Frishman
(Originally posted in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah)

"In the beginning, God created . . . B'reishit bara Elohim et . . ." (Genesis 1:1). Et is the fourth word of Torah and it has no meaning. It's a grammatical Hebrew term marking the direct object hashamayim, "the heavens."The purpose of et appears to be to draw attention to exactly what God is creating.

Yet, how could the fourth word of Torah have as little significance as to serve only as a marker . . . to mean nothing? As humans, when we imagine we form a picture--and that isn't "nothing." It's impossible to see nothing.

Filed Under: Torah

D'var Acher: Seeing Our Blessings
June 28, 2009

by Kim S. Ettlinger
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah)

Numbers 22:12, "But God said to Balaam, 'Do not go with them. You must not curse that people, for they are blessed.' "

When God says these words to Balaam, God tells him that the Israelite people are blessed and that no matter the curse that Balaam utters, it is in vain. This begins another paradox like those Rabbi Frishman discussed: can an eternally blessed people truly be cursed? For another interpretation of these words, we might consider who has asked for the curse and who is meant to be the recipient of the curse? We know Balak asked that the Israelites be cursed and so we ask, why? There are two reasons: first, because of fear and second, because of jealously. Balak was scared of the Israelites as they were numerous, strong, and victorious. He was jealous for the same reason: they were so numerous, the earth could not be seen (Number 22:5), and they were strong and victorious. Things were going well for the Israelites and this scared Balak.

Filed Under: Torah

This is the Week, Let's Make it Ours
June 24, 2009 (3 Comments)

by Rachel Cohen
Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center
(Originally published on the RACBlog)

Have you ever thought about taking action on climate change and wondered, "does my voice really matter?" If so, then today is your day! Congress is about to vote on the most important piece of climate and energy legislation in years, and many members of the House of Representatives (especially the "Blue Dog" Democrats) remain undecided. Despite weeks of drafts and compromises to bring the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) to this point, much uncertainty about the bill and its fate remains. Many of our own partners in the faith community are unsatisfied with the aid provided to the most vulnerable developing nations to adapt to climate change, and some of the most progressive environmental groups claim that targets for emissions reductions and renewable energy are insufficient to the challenge we face. And of course, there are still those who refuse to take any action on climate and energy.

Filed Under: Social Action

Galilee Diary: Peace talk V - Living with the other
June 23, 2009 (11 Comments)

by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Galilee Diary and Ten Minutes of Torah)

When she saw that [Joseph] had left [his garment] in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to her servants and said to them, "Look, he had to bring us a Hebrew to dally with us! This one came to lie with me; but I screamed loud. And when he heard me screaming at the top of my voice, he left his garment with me and got away and fled outside."
-Genesis 39:13-15

In Jew Suess, the infamous Nazi propaganda feature film, a central plot element is the cruel sexual exploitation of the virgin Aryan Dorothea by the conniving Jew Suess.

When I was a teenager, the real estate developer and social activist Morris Milgram tried to build an explicitly integrated development in our area. My parents were supportive. Their friends' comment was "that's because you don't have daughters."

Filed Under: Israel

You Can't Always Get What You Want*
June 22, 2009

by Elyse Frishman
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah)

"Now Korah, son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, betook himself, along with Dathan and Abiram . . . descendants of Reuben--to rise up against Moses, together with two hundred and fifty Israelites, chieftains of the community, chosen in the assembly, men of repute. They combined against Moses and Aaron and said to them, 'You have gone too far! For all the community are holy, all of them, and the Eternal is in their midst. Why then do you raise yourselves above the Eternal's congregation?' "(Numbers 16:1-3).

Who were Korah, Dathan, and Abiram? All had status of import: Korah was a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram were from the tribe of Reuben, the firstborn.

Filed Under: Torah

D'var Acher: Challenging God
June 22, 2009

by David N. Young
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Reform Voices of Torah)

Throughout the Bible, God is challenged. Abraham challenges God. Pharaoh challenges God. Jezebel challenges God. The Israelites constantly challenge God.

What is it that distinguishes these challenges and God's responses to them? Parashat Korach gives us a little insight. We read of four different challenges this week, and four levels of response. Korah bands with Dathan and Abiram against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites gather against Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron beseech God not to destroy the entire community. The chieftains of Israel accept the challenge God puts forth for the right to be in the Divine Presence.

Filed Under: Torah