Reform Judaism: September 2008 Archives

Shanah Tovah
September 29, 2008

By Gardening Grandma
Most everyone I spoke with today was putting the finishing touches on holiday preparation: Slicing the brisket...making the kugel...ironing the tablecloth...arranging the flowers.

With all that is out of the way, I found two hours to sit outside in my garden, enjoying the warmth of a fall sun and doing some private soul-searching in advance of tonight's erev worship. I found myself letting go of the anxiety I'd been feeling all day as the market dropped and Congress failed to pass the bailout passage--and instead feeling deeply grateful for my health and the health of my family and friends.

No one knows what the new year will bring, but I am confident I will continue to find balance in the joys my garden gives me.

And so, before the sun sets, Shanah tovah. May it be a good year for you.

Filed Under: Holidays

Assimilation and Its Discontents
September 29, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Gardening Grandma
In its 40th anniversary issue, New York magazine takes a look at how Jews have been assimilated into New York and how, by doing so, have lost some of their identity.

Contributing writer David Samuels writes:

The ascendancy of the Jews of New York can be viewed as a Hollywood-style triumph, but it can also be read as the tragedy of a group of brilliant outsiders who remade a city in their own image, only to cut themselves off from the roots of their tribal genius, ensuring that the future will belong to the children of the new outsiders--Koreans, Indians, Russians, and Chinese.

I'm not sure I agree that "success has ruined the New York Jew." I rather like feeling at home in the city.

Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

It's Time to Rosh-a-Homa
September 29, 2008

By JanetheWriter
When my sister was in college, one of her friends who wasn't Jewish always referred to Rosh Hashana as Rosh-a-Homa because, from her perspective, that's what everyone always did.

Indeed, today is the day to Rosh-a-Homa. Interestingly enough, though, my 10-block foot commute to the office this morning revealed only two potential Rosh-a-Homers--one woman pulling a small wheeled suitcase and one young man toting a garment bag over his shoulder.

No matter. Wherever you find yourself on this Rosh-a-Homa, may you be surrounded by good companions with whom to usher in a year that brings us all many blessings.

L'shana tova u'm'tukah.

read MORE

Filed Under: Holidays

Amidah antics -OR-
The way Reform Jews should think about prayer
September 29, 2008 (17 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle)
(A follow-up of sorts to William Berkson's post about commandedness)
A Shabat morning with Chavurat Lamdeinu, progressive non-denominational minyan extraordinaire, is always full of oddities, whether it's just the assortment of people or the comments made throughout the service. This week was no different, except that this week's major oddity was a fantastic education in obscure litrugical rules and a perfect example of what bothers me about the way we Reform Jews threat our prayers.

When I arrived to services this morning, Tanach study had just wrapped up so a few people had just left. Unfortunately, not enough showed up to replace them. I was the ninth person to arrive for services, making today's crowd a small one, even for us.

Filed Under: Community | Shabbat | Torah

Growing Up is Hard to Do
September 29, 2008

By dcc
My fiancée and I recently joined a congregation about a block from our home. We went to the new member Shabbat, were called by the rabbi, welcomed by members and Abby (my future bride) was called this morning to read an Aliyah on Rosh Hashanah. But even after such a warm welcome still it is kinda strange.

This will be our first High Holidays as "adults" and I for one am freaking out a bit. What should we do for dinner on Erev Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre? More importantly do we host our own or seek an invitation to a well-established-bagels-lox-cream-cheese-kuggle-and-caffeine-filled brake-the-fast? For sure I won't be asked to blow the shofar signaling it is (finally) time to eat.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays

This Week Is Like a Box of Chocolates
September 28, 2008

By Barbara Weinstein
Legislative Director of the Religious Action Center
I'm an I Love Lucy aficionado. I have seen every episode, can recite by heart the Vitametavegamin routine that ends with Lucy sloshed on the alcohol-laced health tonic, and know that the longest laugh the show recorded came when Lucy did the tango with a shirt stuffed full of raw eggs. But for my money, the funniest episode is called "Job Switching," where Lucy and Ethel get jobs in a candy factory. Watching Lucy-as-candy-wrapper try and keep up with the ever-faster conveyor belt of chocolates is watching a master comedian at her best.

Sometimes, I feel a bit like Lucy at Kramer's Kandy Kitchen. That's particularly true this week as Congress tries to work through myriad bills that have languished for months, while also dealing with the economic challenges on Wall Street, and trying to leave town to campaign before Election Day. The legislative team at the RAC has been busily strategizing, posting action alerts, firing off letters to members of Congress, issuing press releases, and trying to make sure that social justice values are reflected in our laws.

Filed Under: Community | Ethics | Social Action

Quotations, Translations, and Obligations
September 28, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Larry Kaufman
My uncle Sidney Pazol was a dropout from Hebrew Union College, who later found himself a secular rabbinate as the leader of a Great Books discussion group. He told me once about-can we call her his congregant?-Mrs. Guggenheim, who came regularly to the sessions, but who never participated in the conversation, no matter how hard he tried to engage her.

Plato? Mrs. G had nothing to say. St. Thomas Aquinas? Mrs. G had nothing to say. Certainly, Uncle Sid thought, she would have something to say when they came to Macbeth-everybody has an opinion about Macbeth--but again, nothing. Finally, he turned to her and asked point blank what she had thought of the play. "Well," she replied, "I don't understand what makes this a great book - it's just a bunch of famous quotations strung together."

Filed Under: Holidays | Torah

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."

Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living | The Future

Inspiration From a Most Unexpected Place
September 26, 2008 (1 Comment)

by Marge Eiseman
So far, every day of Elul, I have gotten emails with messages about dreaming from Craig Taubman's project, "Jewels of Elul", and challenging questions to prod me into thinking about how I am preparing for these High Holy Days from Rabbi Simon Jacobson of the Meaningful Life Center, and Sefirot-based poetry by Gloria Krasno to direct my attention to the combination of Divine attributes that are energizing each of these days.

Today, I got extra doses of inspiration from a most unexpected place -- the comics page in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. I was struck by how many really deep messages there were, hidden in the guise of entertainment. One strip focuses on domestic violence, and how to recognize it in an acquaintance or friend and what to do in response. Others are tackling the big issues of the cost of being middle class in this time of increased gas prices, sexism, racism, intra-familial political differences, ethnic pride, and so much more. This doesn't even include Doonesbury or political cartoon, which our paper puts on the editorial page, lest we be confused about what is supposed to be commentary on modern life.

It's the synchronicity of life, such that we are asking for some insight from one place, and finding it all around us. May you all be blessed with the opportunity to hear the messages of hope and forgiveness from every person and situation in your life.

L'shanah tovah tikateivu - may you be blessed with an awesome New Year!

Filed Under: Holidays

Go Take a Walk! Small Steps to a Better World
September 25, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Gardening Grandma
Rachel Cohen, an Eisendrath legislative assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, writes on the RAC's blog about the "walk to school" movements popping up in Massachusetts and around the world. Parents and children are making the conscious decision to walk more and drive less, and are doing so at a time when speed and safety are both paramount concerns for families.

It's no surprise that the motivating factor is not exercise (although with the obesity problems in our country, that alone would be great) but rather about reducing our carbon footprint.

But why limit it to children? Next time you need a quart of milk, a book from the library, or some cash from the ATM, why not leave the car in the garage and take a walk? Better yet, why not walk to services this Rosh Hashanah?

Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Sukkot of Transition: Use holidays to help cope with economic angst
September 24, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Richard Address

The start of the month of Elul brings our community into its preparation for the High Holidays. Now the pace of communal life starts to change and our focus is on reflection, reconciliation, repentance and the annual response to new beginnings.

For too many in our community, however, this season will hold more angst than joy.

The economic situation in our country presents us with challenges unseen for nearly a generation. Too many will sit in synagogues next month and be equally concerned with their own economic situation as they will the state of their soul. Increasingly senior citizens on fixed or limited incomes are seeing their resources challenged. Young adults are concerned about job security. Too many of our people of all ages have lost jobs, been downsized or live on the edge of job and financial uncertainty.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays

Thoughts From My First S'lichot Service
September 24, 2008

By Sybil Schwartz
I came to the 11 pm S'lichot Service at Beth Emeth in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday night at the suggestion of Rabbi Grumbacher during Torah study. I came frankly, out of curiosity and to see if I could stay awake at that "unGodly" time. I had no idea of what a S'lichot service was. But the Rabbi had said "come" and when asked indicated it was a short service.

When I entered the sanctuary I was somewhat surprised to see about 35 other insomniacs. I noticed that some of the participants were members of the Beth Emeth Torah study group, chaverahs, temple leaders and probably others who were just inquisitive. I continued to wonder why all those people were not in their beds sleeping

Filed Under: Community | Holidays

Who's On Facebook?
September 24, 2008 (4 Comments)

By Gardening Grandma
In a planning meeting for the November 2009 convention of the Reform Movement, we started talking about Facebook and whether it would be a good way to build understanding of and excitement about the Biennial.

It turns out that nine of the ten folks around the table have Facebook accounts, and at least three of them were checking it as the meeting was going on. When I asked how often everyone checks Facebook, the numbers ranged from almost never, (as in less than once a week) to about 10 times a day. But there was a clear division in the room: under 50, active users; over 50, only occasional.

Filed Under: Community

Philanthropy as a Rite of Passage
September 22, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Gardening Grandma
Every synagogue I know has some sort of "mitzvah" requirement built into the bar/bat mitzvah program. Often the mitzvah is so small--"I spent an afternoon reading to children in an after-school program!" or "I gave my old children's books to the hospital!" -- that the chance that the 13-year-old learned a lifelong lesson is pretty slim.

But today I read about Jared and Colby Kash on Jewlicious. I've no doubt that these two brothers are on their way to a lifelong habit.

What's happening in your family?

Filed Under: Community | Ethics | Lifecycle

Children of the Emek
September 21, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Larry Kaufman
For my ninth birthday, my Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Morris gave me a book hot off the presses, written by their friend Libbie Braverman, who was the principal of the Hebrew school at the Euclid Avenue Temple in Cleveland. The book was called Children of the Emek, and had emerged from Libbie's recent trip to Palestine, very shortly before trans-Atlantic travel was halted by World War II.

Children of the Emek told the story of life in Palestine under the British mandate, through the eyes of a young brother and sister who lived in Nahalal, in the Jezreel Valley (the Emek of the title).

Filed Under: Israel | Lifecycle

Moving and Memory Boxes
September 19, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Rabbi Eric Eisenkramer

I despise packing and moving. I suspect that I am not alone in this feeling. Last summer I packed every item that I own to move from Queens to Ridgefield, CT to begin serving as Rabbi of Temple Shearith Israel. I quickly remembered how much I detest the process of making boxes, figuring out what to keep and what to throw away, and trying to get everything done before the movers arrive.

Out of the dozens of boxes that I packed, I had three or four from childhood. I did not even bother to open those boxes. They stayed sealed, the movers put them on the truck, and they came with us. These are my memory boxes. They are filled with greeting cards and old art projects. Within these boxes are my kindergarten class picture, a series of letters that I wrote to a good friend from elementary school who moved away, and then there were the baseball cards. Hundreds of them. Cards that my dad bought in the 1950s and ones that I bought in the 1980s. The baseball cards are a family tradition that my dad and I share, each buying them when we were boys. My wife would rather part with the cards, but I keep reminding her that they might be valuable some day, although in truth I doubt it. The sealed memory boxes that never got opened or looked at, are currently sitting in our third bedroom, just as they sat in a storage locker in Queens before that.

Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

A Passion for Pomegranates
September 18, 2008 (2 Comments)

By JanetheWriter
One of my favorite High Holiday foods is the pomegranate. That's right, the pomegranate--not the apples and honey that kick off dinner on erev Rosh Hashana, not the noodle kugel that marks the big meal before Yom Kippur and not even the salty whitefish salad of our break-the-fast. I'd trade them all for the smooth roundness of the pomegranate, its pale speckled skin barely hinting at the brilliance of the tart, juicy seeds within.

Filed Under: Holidays

I know what women want
September 17, 2008 (4 Comments)

By Marge Eiseman
Darn! The movie just came out, and they didn't consult me first. Over the past ten years, I've led dozens of women's services and programs throughout the country, and I think I can finally answer the question, "What do women want?" We want to be understood, truly listened to, and feel strong connections. We also want enthusiasm, creativity and joy to be part of our lives. Above all, we crave integration - with life pulling us every which way, we desperately seek the sense of being whole.

So, if we're thinking of doing yoga, we're intrigued by the idea of Torah Yoga as a way to bring our Jewish sensibility in to an embodied practice. If we're belly-dancing, let it be connected to Purim or learning about King Solomon's wives. And if it's Shabbat, let us be open to new melodies and leaving the written word behind, and truly sinking into the delight of not-doing for a whole 25 hours. We want to see the big tapestry of our lives, and not just keep unraveling the knotted balls of yarn.

Filed Under: Community

Reforming Responsibility
September 16, 2008 (1 Comment)

By dcc
My first job in high school was as a data entry clerk for the Los Angeles Jewish Federation's Israel Experience Program where I built an extremely tacky website that was thankfully edited within a few days of my departure. I served as cook, programmer and student development coordinator at Hillel, a youth group director in Sacramento, CA, a religious school teacher in Davis, CA and New York City, a counselor and unit head at summer camps in California and Texas, a legislative assistant for the RAC (rac.org) and finally as the Communications Manager for the Union.

My identity has been intertwined with the internal politics and external interactions of the institutional Jewish world for as long as I can remember. At 25 years old, I have ten years of work experience in this profession. My entire life, both personally and professionally, has been inextricably linked to Jewish communal service.

But now, I no longer work for the Jewish community.

Filed Under: Community

Is Your Food Just?
September 16, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Emily Grotta
I don't keep kosher, but I have been appalled at the news about the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, IA and the company's treatment of its workers. It's the kind of news story that gives all Jews a bad name.

That's why I applaud the news today that the movement to develop a "ethical standard" for food today received yet another stamp of approval from the Reform Movement, as the Union for Reform Judaism joined the Central Conference of American Rabbis in endorsing the Conservative Movement's Heksher Tsedek Commission.

Filed Under: Community | Ethics

Help Ike's Victims
September 15, 2008

By Emily Grotta

Ike may have been downgraded to a tropical storm, but it continues to cause incredible damage, bringing flood and death to the Midwest. It is too soon to know the full impact it has had on our synagogues and their members in Galveston, Lake Charles, Beaumont and Clear Lake (we will be posting information online), but we know from all reports that thousands of people will be homeless and in dire need of assistance.

The Union is already helping victims. During Hurricane Gustav, the URJ Camp Jacobs opened its doors to evacuees from New Orleans. And as of this writing, hundreds remain at the URJ Greene Family Camp, which is a Red Cross Evacuation Center. And now we are opening the Hurricane Relief Emergency Fund. I urge you to join me in making a donation to this fund today--and urging everyone you know to join you as well.

Filed Under: Community

More on Mordecai Kaplan
September 15, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Larry Kaufman
The double whammy of Gardening Grandma's query about outstanding American Jews and William Berkson's analysis of Mordecai Kaplan's thinking sent me surfing to learn more about Kaplan and the Reconstructionist movement he founded.

Although Kaplan emerged from the Conservative movement, and taught for decades at its Jewish Theological Seminary, there is no gainsaying the impact of his thought on Reform rabbis and thus on the general theology/cosmology/sociology of the Reform movement. One thing I had not known about Kaplan until this recent bout of Internet research was that he had begun his career in an Orthodox pulpit, and had been a founder of Young Israel, a Modern Orthodox movement that was subsequently party to his excommunication and that has essentially expunged his name from its history.

Filed Under: Torah

Reconsidering our labels
September 15, 2008 (10 Comments)

By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle)

Let me propose to you today that, by God, we Reform Jews need a new name. Keep reading for more.

Names are important to us Jews. God gets different names ascribed to him throughout the Torah and many believe each name to be reflection of God's different aspects, the idea that when God does thing X, his name is Y, and when he does thing A, his name is B. And if he were to repeat A later, B would be his name again. But there is one inaccessible, inpronouncable name of God, which we are told is his all-important real name. This could be compared to the fact I might be called Blogger when I blog and Shaliach Tzibur when I lead services, but truly my personal name is David.

Filed Under: The Future | Torah

Strengthening Reform 13: Mordechai Kaplan and Reform
September 14, 2008 (12 Comments)

By William Berkson
In the last post in this series, I looked at the ideas of one important thinker who has had an important influence on Reform Judaism: Martin Buber. Here I will look at another big influence on Reform in the 20th century, Mordechai Kaplan. Here are three key views of Kaplan.

1. Kaplan's religious naturalism.

Classical Reform had been highly theistic, making a traditionally personal God and ethics almost the whole of Judaism. By contrast, Kaplan made God a personal sum of processes in Man that make for salvation, where 'salvation' means a better life both personally and socially--and 'better' means ethically and emotionally.

Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living

Don't Like Ike
September 12, 2008

By dcc
URJ Greene Family Camp and the Red Cross Welcome Evacuees Hurricane Ike is about to slam into the Texas Gulf Coast and hundreds of thousands are on the move to get out of its powerful path. URJ Green Family Camp--which holds a very special place in my heart, it is where I met my wife-to-be--has opened its doors to people evacuated from the Houston and Galveston areas. Earlier this month URJ Jacobs Camp opened its doors to those running for Gustav and now with the help of the American Red Cross, GFC is hosting more than 500 people. It makes me proud to be a Reform Jew (and a GFC alum) to know that when our community is in need we spring into action.

You can help by making a donation to the Union's Hurricane Relief Fund.

Filed Under: Community

No Ordinary Day
September 11, 2008 (1 Comment)

By JanetheWriter
Reflections...

Walking the dozen blocks to work, there was an eerie quiet on the street. Even the kids bounding to P.S. 116 seemed subdued...or maybe it was just in my mind.

Overnight, an enormous American flag was hung in the lobby of the Union's office building.

My iPod shuffled to Yeish Kochavim. Its beautiful lyrics and soulful melody ring in my ears still:

There are stars up above,
So far away we only see their light
Long, long after the star itself is gone.
And so it is with people that we loved--
Their memories keep shining ever brightly
Though their time with us is done.
But the stars that light up the darkest night,
These are the lights that guide us.
As we live our days, these are the ways we remember.

Indeed, we do remember...

Filed Under: Community

Shalom Dothan
September 11, 2008 (4 Comments)

It is all over the news: Dothan is looking for a few good Jewish families. Blumberg Family Jewish Community Services is offering Jewish families $50,000 and other perks to pick up and move to Dothan, Alabama. Anna Blumenfeld, assistant director of the Union's Meetings and Conventions department grew up in that small Alabama town and she is excited to see all of this coverage. She spoke with RJ.org about this offer and why she hopes people will answer the call to live in her hometown.

Filed Under: Community | Podcasts

Next Year in Jerusalem?
September 11, 2008 (5 Comments)

By Larry Kaufman
As part of a unique new cooperative venture between the Reform movement and the Aliyah Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Rabbi Stanley and Resa Davids are touring North America, talking to groups of Reform Jews about a variety of options for extended sojourns in Israel short of complete relocation. They are focusing especially on "flex aliyah" and its variations, such having a second home in Jerusalem instead of in Phoenix or Palm Springs, or, as the Davids have done since prior to Rabbi Davids' retirement from the pulpit, splitting the year between North America and Israel.

Given the distancing that once characterized the relationship between the Reform movement and the very idea of a Jewish state, the current rapprochement is particularly noteworthy - and getting to this point required major changes in the thinking not only of the Reform movement, but also of the Zionist movement. Reform had to put behind it the idea of Judaism as religion and only religion, and had to come to terms with peoplehood; Zionism had to abandon the idea of shlilat hagolah, eradication of the Diaspora, along with the rhetoric that one was only a Zionist if one came to live permanently in Israel.

Filed Under: Israel

What no one could tell you about losing a child
September 11, 2008 (1 Comment)

By Marge Eiseman
No one could tell us what to do. Zach's bar mitzvah was looming and even beginning to plan brought up huge pain. No matter what, big family events are a delicate balancing act, trying to find the right way to acknowledge the loss of loved ones while still finding the joy in the moment. This goes for recent losses and even the distant ones - because love and loss are inextricably linked together.

Last spring at Andy's 50th birthday party, one of our friends remarked, "That's your family - three boys and Baki's framed jersey!" and it was a strange summary statement. No one who knows us ever forgets that we lost our child, Baki, a mere three and a half years ago, but we all realize that life goes on.

Filed Under: Lifecycle

Famous Jewish Americans
September 11, 2008 (3 Comments)

By Gardening Grandma
I don't know if the number 354 has any meaning in the Kabbalah, but the Jerusalem Post used the occasion of the 354th anniversary of the arrival of the first boatload of Jews to North America as a reason to determine who the most important figures were in American Jewish history.

I suppose sports fans might name Sandy Koufax, feminists might suggest Emma Lazarus, while those whose interests lie in the arts could point to George Gershwin, Philip Roth or movie pioneer Marcus Loew.

I'm a product of the sixties, shaped by the civil rights movement and Vietnam, so my personal list of those who were important in my lifetime (as opposed to those who shaped American Jewry), would have to include

Filed Under: Community

Straight or Gay, Marriage is Sacred
September 10, 2008 (1 Comment)

By JanetheWriter
Three years ago last week, the California Assembly voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the Golden State. Earlier this week, the JTA reported that on September 4, perhaps to mark this anniversary, Orthodox Jewish and Catholic leaders signed a statement that affirms that affording same-sex unions the status of marriage "dilute[s] the special standing of marriage between a man and a woman."

The signatories "hope that even those outside of our common religious traditions will recognize that we speak from the truth of human nature itself which is consistent with both reason and the moral life." Although one of the statement's signatories, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, chairman of the OU/RCA Joint Committee on Interreligious Affairs, and I share a religious tradition, I don't believe that he speaks from the truth of human nature and I certainly don't believe that that truth is consistent with either reason or with the moral life.

Filed Under: Ethics | Lifecycle

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.

Filed Under: Ethics | Social Action

NFTY Freeze 2008
September 9, 2008 (3 Comments)

By Carine Warsawski
Friday, July 25, 2008, is a day that 320 NFTY in Israel participants will never forget. That Friday was truly unique as NFTY made history in the Land of Israel. In New York City there is a group called Improv Everywhere that facilitated a 200 person freeze in Grand Central Station together for five minutes just for fun. Since then, the "Freeze" has been imitated all over the US and in 34 countries around the world. And for the last three months, my personal goal for the summer had been to recreate this spectacular street scene in Israel with our NFTY participants. So we did.

Our mission was simple: To create a scene of fun and confusion in an urban public area by freezing in place for three minutes...in Israel.

Filed Under: Israel

Awakening to Action in Elul
September 8, 2008

By Micaela Hellman-Tincher
This past week marked the first week of the Hebrew month of Elul. During Elul, my mom calls me every day to blow the shofar over the phone, to get us ready for the High Holy Days. I have always been taught that the shofar was meant to be a kind of alarm that roused us from our normal lives and instructed us to prepare for the new year and the days of awe.

For me, Elul has also always marked the end of summer and the beginning of school, and shofar phone calls usually coincided with figuring out my workload for the upcoming year. This year Elul's shofar blasts mean something different as I start my work at the RAC. Elul's shofar calls come at a time when I am being shaken awake to realize the urgent issues facing the world around me.

Filed Under: Holidays | Social Action

Elul: A New Beginning, a Fresh Start, a Time to Look Forward
September 8, 2008 (1 Comment)

By JanetheWriter
Last week, we marked both the unofficial end of summer and, with the arrival of Elul, the unofficial start of the High Holy Day season. Indeed, with each Elul, each Simchat Torah "Bereshit" and each seder-concluding "L'shana ha-ba-ah b'yerushalayim," our tradition graciously offers us an opportunity to seize a new beginning, a fresh start, a reason to look forward.

Six years ago at this season, just as I was closing out a difficult chapter in my own life, I had an opportunity to begin again in every way--a new job, a new home, and what I still think of as an entirely remade life back home here on the east coast.

Filed Under: Holidays

Primary and Secondary Jewish Acts
September 8, 2008 (2 Comments)

By Larry Kaufman
At a leadership development workshop, the temple board (not my congregation) was discussing Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's article The Tent Peg Business. Rabbi Kushner posits that synagogues exist to facilitate the performance of what he calls primary Jewish acts, Torah study, worship, and good deeds -- while pointing out that the activists in the synagogue tend to get caught up with the secondary acts of running the photocopy machine, or running a bake sale, or drawing up a budget.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with performing the secondary acts -- Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) reminds us Im eyn kemach eyn Torah, im eyn Torah, eyn kemach -- if there is no material substance, there can be no Torah; if there is no Torah, there is no substance.

Filed Under: Torah

Honoring Fallen Soldiers
September 5, 2008 (27 Comments)

By Rabbi Eric Yoffie
A rabbinic colleague recently sought my advice. Two congregants whose son had served as a doctor in a war zone had asked her to read from the bimah the names of American soldiers killed that week in Iraq. Should the congregation adopt this practice in conjunction with the recitation of Kaddish on erev Shabbat and Shabbat morning?

Though she was sympathetic to the request, this rabbi feared that the practice might ignite a controversy. While most of her congregants opposed the war, those who supported it might interpret the reading of names as an act of protest against U.S. policy in Iraq. She didn't want the issue to divide the congregation or offend those who had come to say Kaddish for a loved one. What, she asked, would I recommend?

Filed Under: By Rabbi Eric Yoffie | Jewish Living

I heard it in the shuk
September 5, 2008

By dcc
"As cliché as it is, and yes, this is a true story, I started hearing a melody while I walked through the shuk. I knew that I had to put that melody to L'cha Dodi, as I was in the text's birthplace," said Jeremy Gimbel of his rock L'cha Dodi melody that he wrote in of Safed, the mystical town in Northern Israel.

Many of his melodies just come to him, he explained. Jeremy started writing music in middle school. "I remember coming up with a cool musical riff, and then I sang a melody with it, and found some words in 'On The Doorpost of Your House.' After the piece was done, I thought 'whoa, I think I just wrote a song.'" He continued to write music and in the past few years has become more dedicated to the process.

Filed Under: Community

Tribalism, Reform Judaism, Rites and Choices
September 4, 2008 (19 Comments)

By dcc
Answer this question for me honestly: Do you, as an active Reform Jew, practice a Jewish tradition simply because that is what Jews have always done? Professor Carol Ochs writes in this week's d'var Torah that our portion teaches us that we can't "keep doing something just because we have always done it." I don't observe rituals simply because my parents do (or don't) observe them, but in all honesty my family's observance does inform my personal observance. And for that matter my community's observance plays a significant role in the formation of mine as well. But I can say with no doubt in my mind that I do not follow Jewish tradition simply because it is the way it has always been done.

So why do we continue to practice the brit mila?

Filed Under: Jewish Living | Lifecycle

Selichot Countdown
September 3, 2008 (4 Comments)

By Larry Kaufman
In our wonderful American fusion of calendars, one of the signals we get from Labor Day is that the High Holy Days are coming, and their harbinger is selichot - the term applied both to a religious service devoted to penitence and to the prayers of forgiveness themselves. In the Sephardic tradition, selichot are recited nightly throughout the month of Elul; in the Ashkenazic tradition, nightly from the Saturday midnight preceding Rosh Hashanah by at least ten days.

Filed Under: Community | Holidays

Strengthening Reform: 12. Buber and Reform Judaism
September 3, 2008 (7 Comments)

By William Berkson
In the previous post in this series, I described one example of the approach that I think can greatly strengthen Reform Judaism. The key is better to support the sanctity of relationships, and in particular family relationships. And the way to do this is through studying and living the values of Torah and Talmud, supplemented by some of the insights of modern psychology. And the synagogue can be the center of a community that carries out this mission of sacred learning and family support.

My recommendation for Reform to focus on the sanctity of personal relationships of course owes a great deal to the great 20th century Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber. Buber said that a central way we experience holiness is in I-Thou relationships. In these open and honest relationships we are not simply viewing the other person as a means (an I-it relationship), but are encountering them in a relationship in which both egos are to some extent merged in the I-thou interaction, even while keeping their identity. And we also experience a oneness with God in such interactions.

Filed Under: Defining Reform | Jewish Living