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COMMUNITY resources Get the Community RSS feed What is the Purpose of the Synagogue? Find a Congregation Union’s Department of Outreach & Membership RJ Discussion Guide: Belonging to a Congregation & a Movement

BOOKS & MUSIC Becoming a Kehillat Chesed: Creating and Sustaining a Caring Congregation (revised) by Harriet Rosen with Rabbi Richard Address, Marcia Hochman and Rabbi Lisa Izes (URJ Press) For One Another: Jewish Organizations that Help Us All by Raymond A. Zwerin (URJ Press) Finding a Spiritual Home: How a New Generation of Jews Can Transform the American Synagogue by Rabbi Sidney Schwarz (Jossey-Bass) *STUDY GUIDE*

Union for Reform Judaism

Finding Community June 5, 2009 (2 Comments) by Gardening Grandma At a Catholic funeral Mass today for a man who gave so much to the Village of Larchmont community as a member and chief of its volunteer fire department, the priest based his homily on a passage from Luke: "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." His message, as it related to Tommy Connell, was that Tommy often risked his life to save others. "Tommy was a giver," the priest said. Tommy gave to the community, he gave to his family, he gave love and he gave hope. As hard as it may have been to swallow the message of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven, the priest's message that "we don't have enough givers" rang true. What, after all, is a life devoted to tikun olam about, if it isn't about the message that we need to live our lives involved in the world and not separate from it? read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Mifgash Musicale and 6 Degrees of Separation June 4, 2009 by Peter Pundy I'm sitting here this morning trying to figure out how to make it to Mifgash Musicale, the summer institute for synagogue musicians offered by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), and the Guild of Temple Musicians (GTM). I'm not thinking about how great this program is, this I already know. No, I'm struggling to figure out where to source funds in these trying times to make the commitment to attend before the June 12th deadline! Deliberating this, thinking of everyone I know, it struck me to question how very many aspects of my recent life trace back to Mifgash Musicale. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Picketing or Picking on the Jews: Nothing New May 15, 2009 by Sherry Levy-Reiner This week's URJ Weekly Briefing features an article that appeared on the Washington Jewish Week's website about Westboro Baptist Church, whose members picket everything from high schools named for the poet Walt Whitman to military funerals protesting the acceptance of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons in our society. The article implied that the group's picketing this week outside Washington Hebrew Congregation and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum indicated a new direction. That's not true. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish History

Galilee Diary: Spring festival April 28, 2009 (6 Comments) by Marc Rosenstein (Originally published in Galilee Diary and Ten Minutes of Torah) As she kept on praying before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth. Now Hannah was praying in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice could not be heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. -Samuel 1:12-13 Schools are closed during Pesach, and many businesses and offices are closed for part of the week. This creates a great opportunity for family vacations - or, alternatively, a strong need for activities to entertain the children. Thus, traffic on the roads is a constant nightmare, 24 hours a day. There seems to be no major intersection that is not backed up in all directions. Part of the cause of all that traffic is a plethora of festivals - it seems that there are more every year. Sculpture, storytelling, music, juggling, beach, dance, wine, theater - you name it, there is some locality somewhere in the country holding a festival for it during Pesach. These are generally the result of a combination of local boosterism, somebody's artistic vision, and capitalism. In particular, localities in the periphery seek to capitalize on the presence of thousands of vacationers from the center of the country, luring them to buy food and drink and stuff by means of cultural events and family entertainments. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

Redemption Comes Thru Singing April 16, 2009 (14 Comments) By Rabbi Paul Kipnes (Originally posted on Or Am I?) For me, Congregation Or Ami is most compelling when we are singing together. Music uplifts, inspires, teaches, transmits values, is joyous, is fun, can be transformational. Our Cantor Doug Cotler encourages and invites others to sing with, play with, and create the music that celebrates holiness and the Holy One. Our Vision and Values place "musical" within the first lines of self-description: At Or Ami, people matter. Congregation Or Ami is home to a warm and welcoming, innovative, musical Jewish community. We deepen relationships with each other, while immersing in Torah, Israel and the Source of All Life. We travel together down Jewish paths which inspire our hearts and souls, and transform us to seek justice and nurture compassion in the world. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Housing Beyond Homelessness April 8, 2009 (4 Comments) by Rabbi Asher Knight Assistant Rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Dallas (Originally published on the RACblog) Our Jewish texts and sources say little about the Jewish responsibility to build affordable housing. We have no biblical command that mandates, "Thou shall build affordable housing for the needy in your community." Yet, we have texts that instruct us to share our bread with the hungry, to welcome the poor into our homes, and to clothe the naked (Isaiah 58:6-7). Our people and our tradition are well aware of the problems of poverty and homelessness. The challenge for us, as American and as Jews, is to broaden the scope of our thinking about housing beyond the homeless and poorest of the poor. We must ask ourselves a few questions: How do we consider the needs of those who have housing but whose housing is insufficient? How do we advocate for those who are working one, two, or three jobs but cannot afford to live in neighborhoods that nourish their children's lives? How do we respond to the needs of the elderly - whose mobility may have decreased, whose income is fixed, and who cannot afford to sell their homes and move to corridors that have access to food, healthcare, and public transportation? read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

You Live Long Enough... March 11, 2009 by Marge Eiseman I sat at the pre-Purim pizza dinner this week schmoozing with people who have known me my whole life.  One of them was my 1st grade Sunday School teacher. It's pretty easy to keep these connections, since we've all belonged to Congregation Sinai in Milwaukee for these past 50 years. I know their kids and grandkids, and that night I introduced them to one of my 20-year old sons. As it turns out, I'm Facebook friends with various members of their families. One of them asked me "What is Facebook? Isn't e-mail good enough?" And I had to stop and think why I use it everyday, and what advantage it has over the "traditional" (oy!) means of exchanging email or -gasp!- old fashioned letters. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Rethinking... When Misheberach Isn't Enough March 6, 2009 (24 Comments) by Rabbi Julie Pelc (Originally published in Reform Judaism magazine) After suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm midway through rabbinic school, I spent more time in doctors' offices than in seminary classrooms. At first, the illness was acute and I found solace and strength from the traditional misheberach prayer whereby Jews request "a complete healing--healing of the soul and healing of the body--along with all the ill among the people of Israel--soon, speedily, without delay." But after months of praying for a "complete" recovery, I realized this fervent wish did not reflect my permanent challenges: nausea and dizziness, loss of equilibrium/center of balance, and full use of my left hand and strength in my left leg. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Hebrew is Palpitating My Heart March 4, 2009 (5 Comments) By Rabbi Paul Kipnes (Originally posted on Or Am I?) There's another aspect of being in Israel that palpitates my heart. Hebrew. Danny Siegel, poet and tzedakah (charitable giving) champion, once wrote the poem, Hebrew: read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

Us--Back Then March 3, 2009 (7 Comments) by William Berkson When trying to understand what is going on in society, I always feel like I've come in the middle of the movie. I see what's happening, but, not knowing what came before, I don't quite understand what the players' motivations and viewpoints are. And so I don't quite understand what is going on. I always eagerly look to history for a better understanding of the present. So in my quest to understand what is happening now in Reform Judaism, I was delighted to come across the eye-opening article "Miss Daisy's Planet: The Strange World of Reform Judaism in the United States: 1970-1930", by Prof. Yaakov Ariel. It is in the book Platforms and Prayerbooks, edited by Dana Evan Kaplan. I have always had an uneasy feeling that what is called Classical Reform was never quite real, in spite of the passion and lucidity of the famous "Pittsburgh Platform" of 1885. Ariel reveals that the ideology of Reform leaders like Kaufman Kohler--author of the Pittsburgh Platform--and the reality of the lives of Reform Jews were in fact in some ways very different. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Had'rachah, a Worthy Investment for Congregations February 16, 2009 by Mary Hofmann Ironically, during times of financial instability, a good investment can mean the difference between making it and not. Very small congregations may not be able to pay for full rabbinic services and larger ones, who may need multiple rabbis, find themselves stretching their rabbi to the breaking point, expecting the impossible. Times such as these call for an investment in educated volunteers who can make a difference--for themselves, their rabbis, and their congregations. The Union's Had'rachah Program was established years ago to give interested Jewish congregants an intensive program (a crash course) in many aspects of the history, philosophy, music, and skills necessary to help rabbis and other congregants create fulfilling and rewarding programs and services.  My friend Rachel and I spent a glorious week in May of 2007 and a second, possibly even more wonderful week, in May 2008 at Camp Kutz learning to do the things educated, literate Jews should know, but often don't.  read MORE Filed Under: Community

Songs of Praise February 15, 2009 by JanetheWriter Recently, I was "tagged" by several friends on Facebook to write a note about myself that included 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about me. Number four on my list says: "I love Judaica and Jewish music of all kinds. Can't wait for the next Biennial CD to come out." In fact, of the nineteen hundred and thirty two songs on my iPod, 441--nearly 23 percent--are in the "Jewish" playlist. Unbeknownst to me until now, however, is the fact that many of those 441 songs include piano accompaniment by Alan Mason, who regularly gives generously of his time and extraordinary talent to play for the Union's North American Biennial Shabbat worship services. So how did I come to know this? A few days ago, one of my colleagues, Cantor Lanie Katzew, told me of a recent concert honoring Alan and his 18 years of service as the director of music at Temple Israel in Greater Miami. Although I only watched pieces of the concert on my computer, it was abundantly clear, as cantor after cantor and soloist after soloist--22 in all from throughout south Florida and elsewhere--sang beautiful and heartfelt praises to Alan, that he is a most beloved member of the community and an exceedingly accomplished musical professional. The way he tickled those ivories... oh-my-gosh, words cannot begin to capture the silky notes and the rich tones, each at just the right tempo, that flowed endlessly from the piano to weave the tribute tapestry together. For a real treat, watch the video yourself. read MORE Filed Under: Community

NFTY Convention in D.C. February 15, 2009 (1 Comment) by Zachary Bronstein NFTY Membership and Communications Vice-President As nearly 700 teenagers wander into the Gaylord Hotel from across the country, there is but one thing on everyone's mind, one word that is all encompassing, one idea that has given purpose to the past days, weeks, and even months of their lives...Convention. For the past few months I feel as if I have gotten a call at least three times a week from a NFTYite who wants to know more about Convention, who they are rooming with, what the schedule of events is, all up until about a week ago. A week ago things changed. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Youth and Family Life

Start an Inclusion Committee February 9, 2009 (2 Comments) By Shelly Christensen (February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month. Get more information at the Jewish Family Concerns website, and join in the discussion on their new online forum) Congregations have asked how to start their own Inclusion Committee. I know that within the Reform movement, many congregations have made inclusion an important value. The question is "how do you turn that value into action?" Inclusion doesn't happen just because someone says it's so! Like many other synagogue functions, a collaboration between congregants and professional staff can provide the impetus to move from having that great philosophical ideal to taking the steps to ensure that people with disabilities are welcome within the full circle of Jewish life. That is, most certainly, the objective. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Strangers in a Familiar Land February 5, 2009 (1 Comment) By Jason Fenster (First posted on the RACblog) Jason Fenster is an Eisendrath Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center. As Jews, we are intimately familiar with feeling unwelcome and excluded. We have been strangers in Egypt, in Babylon, in Europe, and even in America, but it is this shared experience that compels us to open our doors to those who sit outside our community. In Exodus 23:9 we read, "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt." Being a grammar dork, I looked at the Hebrew and found something interesting in the different "yous" we find in this verse. The first "you" is singular. You shall not oppress a stranger. It is your obligation to make an person-to-person connection to ensure that this ger, this stranger, is a part of the community and is not forced to remain outside the walls of our synagogue. The "you" who knows in their hearts and souls what it means to be left out is plural; the "y'all" form of the verb. We not only have an individual mandate to make inclusion a reality, but also a communal obligation stemming from our shared history. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Twitter Me Jewish February 3, 2009 (13 Comments) by JanetheWriter A while back, several of my 20- and 30-something colleagues (who also happen to be friends) urged me to sign onto Facebook. And so I did. Today I'm a "Facebook monster," with more than 200 "friends," some of whom I haven't seen since high school or college, and have reconnected with only in recent weeks.  One, a member of a large family that lived up the street and went to the local Catholic school for many of our growing-up years, now lives in the Poconos.  In an email last week, she told me:  "I read your blog and felt like I was a DJF living in NYC!!"  Hmmm, sure we grew up in the same suburbia, but a DJF in NYC?  No, probably not so much... Once I'd made the leap onto Facebook, it was just a short hop from there to Twitter, which, according to Wikipedia is "a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length."  While that may be a perfectly adequate description for a techno-whiz, to really understand what twitter is all about, watch this video. OK, so now that you've gotten a feel for the basics, you may be wondering:  What does any of this have to do with being Jewish?  Actually, quite a bit.... read MORE Filed Under: Community

Mine and Ours January 29, 2009 (13 Comments) by dcc Back when I prayed, during the silent prayer I would always look at my feet taking note of the floor or ground and how it was different from the other places I had prayed. I would wonder who else had looked at this piece of earth while in prayer. I would get lost in the fact that an Omnipotent God can hear in any place. Be it in a summer camp chapel overlooking the Pacific in a once cold, lifeless conference room filled with ruach (spirit) of thousands of teens or in ridged pew of a temple, I would look to the ground to see where I was standing. But I don't do that anymore. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

The Rethinking Reform Think Tank January 28, 2009 (2 Comments) By David A.M. Wilensky (First posted on The Reform Shuckle) The most personal and most moving session I attended at LimmudNY 2009 was called Rethinking Reform and was advertised as being led by members of the so-called Rethinking Reform Think Tank. I do not know who else is in this group, but those leading the session were Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning Executive Director Rabbi Leon Morris, HUC rabbinical student Jill Cozen-Harel and former HUC student, current Ziegler rabbinical student, blogger and one of my many teachers, David Singer. One year prior to this session, at LimmudNY 2008, the three of them came together for the first time from a place of frustration, loneliness, and excitement to create what they now refer to as The Reform Think Tank. I'll let them speak for themselves in the following, their missions statement: read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

God and Man at Shul January 26, 2009 by Larry Kaufman The story is probably apocryphal, but I first encountered it in a memoir by Rabbi Daniel Syme, who credited Rabbi Malcolm Stern z"l as his source. (Reb Daniel amar b'shem Reb Malcolm - Rabbi Daniel said in the name of Rabbi Malcolm.) As Jewish congregations began being established across the United States, the first synagogue in town tended to be called Emanu-El or Beth El. Later, a second congregation would come along, possibly more influenced by the nascent Zionist spirit, and would use Israel in its name - Temple Israel, or B'nai Israel, or Beth Israel. Eventually a schism would develop in one or both of the established congregations, and amidst rancor and bitterness, a new congregation would arise, which inevitably would call itself Temple Shalom.  read MORE Filed Under: Community

A Day to Remember: How the RAC Staff Spent Inauguration January 22, 2009 (First posted at RACblog) All weekend, Washington, DC was abuzz with a wide variety of inauguration-related festivities, culminating with the Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony and parade on the National Mall. Keep reading below the jump for inauguration reflections from several members of the RAC staff! read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Update from Haifa: To the people of America and Barack Obama, we salute you! January 21, 2009 (2 Comments) The Union has been receiving regular updates from Rabbi Edgar Nof of Or Hadash, a progressive congregation in Haifa, Israel. Here is a recent email: Dear Friends, Shalom!  I want to write tonight to all of our friends in America and around the world, to commemorate the inauguration of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, and the first African American president, as a very special event. I hope that Obama's administration will bring about positive change, embrace peace and security, and also promote economic stability to the world. Now it is our turn to be in support of you, and we have done so by raising the American flag in our preschools to show our love and solidarity.  We all at Or Hadash wish Barack Obama and the American people good luck on this very historical day and in the coming four years. Mazal Tov! read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel | Social Action

Activism for Progressive Judaism: Can We Do Better? January 21, 2009 (5 Comments) by Russell Cohen (Originally published on Russell Cohen's blog Cafe Birkenreis) During the latter half of 2008, the WUPJ lent its support to two online petitions (e-petitions) on behalf of member unions. In both cases, the response from progressive Jews worldwide was less than rousing   In the first case, the IMPJ (Israel) attempted to gather signatures in support of the effort to achieve official recognition and a state salary for Rabbi Miri Gold, of Kibbutz Gezer in Israel.  This is a potentially ground-breaking case, as a positive outcome would set the precedent for official recognition of progressive rabbis across Israel, and eventually lead to improved status for progressive Judaism as a whole. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel | Social Action

Update from Haifa: Jews, Christians, and Muslims Praying Together for Peace January 14, 2009 by Jessica Berman Or Hadash Overseas Coordinator On Monday January 12th, a positive step towards peace was made when Or Hadash together with the Catholic Focolare Movement organized an interfaith prayer service for peace with Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The service was held at Stella Maris, a well known Carmelite monestary in Haifa, and was considered by many to be a very important event. The service, a first of its kind to take place in Haifa, was especially eventful because it was both arranged and took place during a time of war, and focused on praying for peace through the songs and psalms of each culture. Among the clergy and organizers were Rabbi Dr. Edgar Nof of Or Hadash; Father Renato Rosso of the Carmel school in Haifa; Father Yousef Rizek, a Latin Parish priest of Shifa Amer; an Iman from the city of Furades, Israel; and Corres and Christina Chayat from the Focolore Church in Haifa. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

The Temple January 13, 2009 (5 Comments) by Larry Kaufman A recent discussion of generic terminology for Reform and other Jewish congregations (temple, synagogue, congregation, center, etc.), got me started looking at the non-generic aspects of congregational names. I had noted previously that over 500 of the 900 member congregations in the Union for Reform Judaism use the word "temple" in their names - Temple Sinai, Temple Israel, etc.  But now I want to give special attention to those whose formal names include the specific words, The Temple. If you type those two words, The Temple, each with a capital T, into the search box on the Union for Reform Judaism web site, you'll find six listings. (Actually, you'll find seven, because the search results include New York's The Temple of Universal Judaism - which I have discounted since its most prevalent self-description is TUJ.) read MORE Filed Under: Community

Siblings of People with Special Needs: Next Steps in Disability Awareness Outreach January 6, 2009 (1 Comment) By Rabbi Paul J. Kipnes Our Congregation Or Ami (in Calabasas, CA), like so many Reform Jewish congregations, spends significant time and energy embracing and supporting families with children with special needs. We are proactively welcoming, because our tradition teaches us that we all were created b'tzelem Elohim, in God's image. Taking our lead from the Union for Reform Judaism's Disability Awareness initiatives, we have come to understand that "with special needs children, there are two values being played out, simultaneously. Working with one child, Brandon Kaplan, for instance, we saw that Brandon is a kid like any other kid created in the image of God, worthy of love. But Brandon is also a special kid and there is an honor and joy to the congregation that he participates to the fullness of his abilities. So he's normal and special, but here's the secret: so is every other kid." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Daily Miracles January 6, 2009 (3 Comments) by Marge Eiseman Facebook is a real blessing in my life. During the past few months, I have reconnected with people from my distant past (childhood neighbors, former Whitefish Bay High School acquaintances, an old lover and more), been able to give my Seattle-based cousin late-night pep talks as he spent many nights in the hospital with his baby's difficult heart condition (stable right now, thank God!) and shared a little joy and a twinge of memory as I read a status update about from a new mom in New York who was smelling the top of her baby's head while her daughter slept on mom's chest. Even today, I put on my status line that I was going to write my next entry for the rj.org blog, but didn't have a topic, and one friend immediately sent me four prompts, and another friend said she had a writing opportunity for pay that I should explore. It may also be a curse - as some of us are temped to post inappropriate photos, or we expect instant responses from everyone we connect with or spend hours and hours playing WordTwist or Scramble. read MORE Filed Under: Community

"Our Katrina" - A Message from Detroit December 24, 2008 By Rabbi Norman Roman (First posted at RACblog) Rabbi Norman Roman is the rabbi at Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield, MI. This post is adapted from Rabbi Roman's message in the January 2009 Kol Ami bulletin. Early in December, I was invited by Cardinal Adam Maida to attend a small gathering of Detroit area religious leaders, an urgent interfaith response to the economic crisis and the auto industry's needs. It was good for the 14 of us to be together (14 is, of course, a 'yad' - a helping hand, in Hebrew!), the news media reported on our meeting, some ideas were shared of what our various communities were doing in Churches, Mosques, and Synagogues to assist our members, and personal connections were made for future participation in "prayer, political action, and programming." Several insights from this crisis are very clear to me, and others have been suggested for me (and you) to consider: read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Confirming the Diversity within Our Reform Movement December 23, 2008 (8 Comments) by Rabbi Paul Kipnes Congregation Or Ami Question: What do you get when you take four most thoughtful, compassionate, committed Jewish teens, with whom I have studied Judaism for eight to twelve years, and put them together up on the bimah at Erev Shabbat services? Answer: A very moving Confirmation Class service. Congregation Or Ami's service last night was deeply meaningful. Our Confirmands - Alex Krasnoff, Ross Meyer, Jonny Wixen, and Sarah Wolfson - led the prayers and in between, offered their reflections on a series of questions: If asked by a non-Jewish person what you cherish about Judaism, what would you say? What do you believe or think about God? Having studied Judaism for 10-13 years, what ideas or parts of Judaism are most significant or meaningful for you? What has Judaism taught you that will help you later in life? How do you feel connected to Israel? When have you felt the most Jewish and why? Some of their responses, a picture of the diversity within our Reform Movement, include: read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living | Lifecycle

Sharing the Gift of Shabbat December 4, 2008 by Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz Ph.D. Congregation B'nai Israel, Bridgeport, CA Excerpted from Dr. Gurevitz's keynote address at the Union's Shabbat Symposium, January 2007 I have realized that there are a number of things that I bring to my work or the things that I hope to do in my work as a rabbi that have been in direct response to negative experiences that I had as a lay member of a community sometime in the past. And Shabbat is actually one of those things. I want to start off with a little bit of that lay experience: Back in 1996, I was a member of a Reform synagogue in London. I wrote a two-sided proposal that I sent to both rabbis. It was called Yom Shabbat. And what I was highlighting was that I was conscious as a young adult, single, that congregants would come to services--in the UK, more Reform congregants do come for a community service on Shabbat morning, and that is partly because we have a different history. The bar/bat mitzvah never sort of took over the service in the same way that it has done here. But we would come to services and then that would be it and people would go their separate ways. Nothing else happened at the synagogue, and I had no idea whether or not other people did Shabbat things, whether the rabbis did Shabbat-related things--I had no idea. I just knew that I was basically by myself. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Shabbat

When the Yizkor list gets long... November 30, 2008 (3 Comments) Out of a discussion about Yizkor and Yahrzeit; an exhibit on Dubuque's Jews... by Karin Pritikin Vice President, Temple Beth El, Dubuque Project Director/Exhibit Developer- The Alexander Levi Heritage Project In 2007, Temple Beth El in Dubuque, an extension of two older congregations, had 27 households--and more than 400 names on its Yizkor/Yahrzeit list. Some members felt the list was too lengthy to read on the High Holidays, while others believed strongly that reading the list was a powerful way to maintain a connection to those who built Dubuque's Jewish community which, though small, still thrives. When several of us expressed the desire to explore the creation of a Yizkor/Yahrzeit fund to honor those on the list whose families were no longer living, or in the area, it led to an interesting discovery. The impending 175th anniversary of the city's founding coincided with the 175th anniversary of the arrival of Alexander Levi, Dubuque's first Jew, the state's first naturalized citizen; and the founder, in 1857, of the city's first Jewish congregation. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Should we invite conversion? November 20, 2008 (63 Comments) By Gardening Grandma Three years ago Rabbi Eric Yoffie said it was time for Reform Jews to actively encourage conversion.  "It is a mitzvah to help a potential Jew become a Jew-by-choice," he told the Biennial assembly. Do you agree with Rabbi Yoffie? In the winter edition of Reform Judaism magazine, two Reform rabbis take on the issue. See what Rabbi Stephen Einstein and Rabbi Rosalin Mandelberg, both members of the Joint Commission on Outreach and Membership, have to say. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

What's in a Name? November 19, 2008 (9 Comments) by Larry Kaufman A recent comment on this blog suggested that unscrupulous infiltrators were subversively seeking to transform pristine Reform temples into (gasp) synagogues! I have blogged before about the ways words change meaning, or acquire niche meanings, or develop connotations not necessarily understood beyond a certain group. However, anyone who tries to co-opt the meaning of a word on behalf of a personal agenda risks being misunderstood or losing credibility. In choosing to call their synagogues temples, the late-nineteenth and early twentieth century Reformers were trying to make a point. Nervous about accusations of dual loyalty, they wanted to emphasize their lack of aspiration to rebuild a temple in Jerusalem. Did their Christian neighbors get the message? Probably not, but their strategy resonated with their fellow Jews, and today over 500 of the 900-plus congregations in the Union for Reform Judaism use Temple in their names. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Perfectly Broken November 10, 2008 (3 Comments) By dcc We must begin at the end. Each year for the high holidays at my childhood synagogue, Congregation Or Ami in Southern California, the largest torah comes out of the ark with a broken, burnt and perfect breastplate. The intricate design of this half destroyed piece of sacred art adorns the torah before hundreds of worshipers and defiantly provides peace to everyone in the congregation, especially my mother. About ten years ago, when we were helping to start Congregation Or Ami, my mother traveled to Boston to visit family and stopped by her childhood synagogue. She spoke to the rabbi and told her with great excitement about our new adventure building a sacred community in our little corner of the Valley. We were starting a religious school, youth groups, adult education courses and lively worship opportunities, she explained to the rabbi. The rabbi had a pretty good idea why she came: my mom came to ask for the breastplate, the broken burnt and perfect breastplate, that had adorned Temple Ohabei Shalom's torah for nearly two generations. The rabbi said of course. On November 10, 1938 my grandfather was forced to shovel the ashes of his childhood synagogue as his neighbors watched. Meppen, Germany was still smoky in the morning after the night of the broken glass.  Since the time of the Spanish Inquisition, my grandfather's family lived in this small village in North Western Germany in relative peace with its non-Jewish population. My family ran the dried goods store, was active in the Jewish community and respected the law of the land. But on that night 70 years ago, generations were destroyed by the torches and stones of a mob motivated by a mad man. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Torah

When Heartland Pigs Fly November 7, 2008 (5 Comments) By Dr. Magda Peck (First posted on the RACblog) Dr. Magda Peck is a member of the URJ Commission on Social Action and chairs its Task Force on Economic Justice, Women and Families. She is a member of Temple Israel in Omaha, Nebraska where she is a Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The views expressed below are, of course, her own. When victory for Barack Obama was called just past 10 last Tuesday night, some remarkable things happened. In the packed Omaha Hilton ballroom where usual Democrat diehards were outnumbered by fresh faces, shrieks of collective disbelief erupted. Deafening shouts of stunning joy filled room. Older Black women sunk into their seats, sobbing, palms raised high praising G-d. Gay couples openly embraced. Swarms of young folks locked arms and jumped up and down for a long, long time. My younger son David, a freshman at American in DC, called: "Ma! Barack Obama is MY President!" Sobbing and laughing, he kept shouting "I can't believe it! I can't believe it!" From Omaha to the nation's capital and so many places in between: "shock and awe," redefined. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

"You wouldn't be voting for Obama today if Andy Goodman hadn't gone to Mississippi " November 5, 2008 (5 Comments) (First posted on the RACblog) The following is an e-mail letter from Doug Mishkin to his daughter Arielle and their very close friend Melanie Anenberg. Doug, a lawyer with the Washington Office of Patton Boggs, is a long time activist who developed a close friendship with Carolyn Goodman, mother of slain Civil Rights worker Andrew Goodman.  Arielle and Melanie: I woke up today thinking of the two of you. In your first election, you'll get to vote for an African-American (if I ever learn that you did otherwise, well, it's a free country and you can do what you want, but don't bother coming home). I can't resist taking note of this. Your parents wondered whether we would EVER get to do this. How did this happen? Well, it happened for lots of reasons. But you got to touch one of those reasons personally. We sat in Carolyn's house during that vacation (you know, the best Mishkin vacation ever because Melanie was with us) and she told you the story of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

President Obama: (Community) Organizer in Chief November 5, 2008 (4 Comments) By Rabbi Jonah Pesner (First posted on the RACblog) Rabbi Jonah Pesner is the Founding Director of the Union for Reform Judaism's Just Congregations. Shortly before he began his presidential campaign, Senator Barack Obama sat down for most of an afternoon with Mark Pelavin and me. We were struck at the time by the intensity with which he listened, and by the probing nature of his questions about Just Congregations. We were happily surprised that he had read the materials on our website (not every elected official does their homework for a routine meeting!). The Senator wanted to know not just about our mission and goals, but also about me. He wasn't satisfied with what; he wanted to know why. Why did I believe in the work I was doing? I believe that Obama's inquisitiveness is directly related to his experience as a community organizer. Among the most critical qualities of an effective organizer is an authentic curiosity about others. When Obama was only twenty-four, he learned in organizing training that to be powerful in public life, a leader needs a strong, vast network of people who will follow him or her. Consequently, he knows that people only follow a leader if he or she understands them; their values, concerns, interests and motivations. (I received my own training as a community organizer from the same group that trained Obama: the Industrial Areas Foundation, founded by the late Saul Alinsky. In fact, Obama and I were both trained by the same organizer, Arnie Graf, who now mentors me in my role as Director of Just Congregations.) read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Who's On First? November 5, 2008 (5 Comments) By Larry Kaufman Among my meshugassen (which I'll euphemistically translate as idiosyncrasies) is the tendency to "count the house," and to analyze the count. One day I decided to apply my meshugass to this blog. The statistics that follow represent a snapshot in time, but my sues is that doing the same exercise today - or tomorrow - would yield similar results. How many people do you suppose are involved in the discussion here at www.rj.org - as posters, as commenters, or both? Take a minute to make your own guesstimate, before you proceed to my findings. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Growing the Green Economy October 29, 2008 (1 Comment) By Rachel Cohen (First posted on the RACblog) With special thanks to Legislative Assistant Micaela Hellman-Tincher for her contributions to this post. Last week, Mayor Ron Dellums and Rep. Barbara Lee unveiled the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, a program designed to train young city residents to participate in green industry, which is rapidly expanding throughout California. While the program starts small by giving 40 young adults skills in green construction and solar panel installation, advocates hope that it will become a pilot for green jobs programs around the country. At a time when both jobs and new energy solutions are in high demand, there is clearly fertile ground for such initiatives. Weatherization programs, like the Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program, have already provided 8,000 jobs weatherizing homes in low-income communities. These workers not only help communities reduce their carbon footprint, but they also help to lower the cost burden of heating and cooling by an average of 15% for low-income families. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

What Lingers On October 29, 2008 By Marge Eiseman   Many years ago, I got married in my parents' living room. For years afterwards, every time I walked into that room, I felt the warmth of that day, as if the love still lingered in the walls and the air. At the time, there just wasn't any good space at our synagogue for a small-ish wedding - either one used the conference room which held 20-30, or the sanctuary, which looked empty with less than 100. Now of course, we could use our new Living and Learning space, one of the five simultaneous additions/renovations of our synagogue that was recently completed. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Shabbat | The Future

Met any lamed vavniks lately? October 28, 2008 (8 Comments) By Gardening Grandma Trying to stretch in a new direction, I'm taking a fiction writing class. This week's assignment: write a character description of a superhero. For me, who never watched Batman or Spiderman and only begrudgingly saw Superman since his alter ego was a reporter, I was at a loss. Who can believe in - let alone imagine - a superhero? But then I got to thinking about our Jewish tradition, and the role superheroes have played throughout our history. Perhaps the superheroes of 5769 aren't people who fly through the air or lift cars with the flick of the wrist. Maybe today's superheroes are the 36 Lamed Vav Tzadikim - the 36 righteous people who, were it not for them, the world would come to an end. Tradition tells us no one knows who the lamed vavniks are, but we can all guess who might be. Anyone have any nominations?   read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Remembering October 27, 2008 By JanetheWriter At last week's Yizkor service, just before the El Malei Rachamim, the rabbi asked people to recite the names of those they were remembering and to say a few words about them. Knowing that my mother would, of course, speak about her parents, I planned to mention two bachelor uncles -- great uncles, really, -- one whom I knew and one whom I did not. Uncle Irv was my mother's uncle, my grandfather's brother, about whom I've written before on this blog. He was a gardener's gardener. As one who kills houseplants with great regularity, I most certainly did not inherit any of his DNA. In a small plot of soil - indoors or out - Uncle Irv could coax tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, beans, flowers and more to burst forth from the earth, all the while smoking forbidden cigarettes and "hiding" them in his pocket whenever one of us came out in the yard to check on him. It's a wonder he never set himself on fire. He was as loving to all of us -- his nieces and their families -- as he was to his beloved plants, and we miss him terribly. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

The Jewish Vote October 24, 2008 (19 Comments) By Larry Kaufman I've always made it my business not to talk politics with my business associates, especially those who are likely to be on the opposite side of the political spectrum. But my wife has no such inhibitions, and one night my very WASPy, very right-wing client banged on the table and said, "Dammit, Barbara, you live like an Episcopalian and vote like a Puerto Rican." He also remarked to me one day, "I just don't understand why my Jewish friends are all so ready to vote against their pocket-books." To which I replied, "Joe, I can live with an extra thousand dollars on my tax bill, but I can't live with prayer in the public schools." Four years ago, my friend Ralph emailed me almost daily, sending highly partisan screeds inveighing against a presidential candidate I had never told him I supported. I think he figured out by my abstention from rebutting or responding to any of these missives that I was on the other side, and he too expressed surprise that his Jewish friends were going to vote against a candidate he described as the best friend Israel had ever had. My answer to him, similar to my answer to Joe -"I can't speak for your other Jewish friends, and I'm sure none of them is a stauncher Zionist than I am, but ultimately I have to vote for the candidate that I consider the best choice for the United States." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

JanetheWriter Shul Shops October 15, 2008 (3 Comments) By JanetheWriter In my last post on this blog, I described myself as "ensconced in congregational life."  And, while that may be true when I'm at my desk at the Union for Reform Judaism, it's not exactly true in my non-work life. Sadly, with the exception of the Union's weekly Wednesday morning minyan, where I am a "regular," I have for the most part become a twice-a-year Jew, "Rosh-a-Homing" to spend the High Holidays with my parents at the suburban New Jersey congregation where I grew up. read MORE Filed Under: Community

I put together my own Lulav! (kind of) October 14, 2008 By David A.M. Wilensky  (First published on The Reform Shuckle) This year, intoxicated by the coolness of the videos at this post at Jewlicious, I decided that I wanted to not only get my own Lulav and Etrog, but that I wanted to assemble the Lulav myself. Jonathan Golden, a a professor here at Drew and our wonderful Hillel adivsor, had his brother, a Sephardic rabbi, pick up the parts for me in Brooklyn while he was picking up several other peoples' sets of Sukot magic rain stick wand things. The Rabbi put it together Sephardic-style. This involved a single-cradle handle thing. The Ashkenazic version that we see most often in the US, has three parts that hold the palm, willow, and myrtle seperately. The Sephardic version has a single-compratment braided handle that all three plants go in together. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays

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

Yom Kippur Minhag October 12, 2008 (10 Comments) By JanetheWriter Last year on Yom Kippur, my father and I ducked out of temple following the morning service, drove down the road to the mall and--while the children's and tot services were underway--spent time browsing in Barnes and Noble, comparing notes about our most recent (and not so recent) reads, discussing what's on each of our "to read" lists and seeking out new treasures to add to those lists.  Among the books we thumbed through that afternoon was Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost, which, later in 5768, I subsequently purchased and we both read. So profound was its impact on me that I wrote about it twice for this blog--once before the read and once after. This year, the day before erev Yom Kippur, I sent my father the following email: Dear Daddy, Do you want to go to Barnes and Noble again on YK afternoon the way we did last year?  That's where we saw The Lost.  Who knows what we might find this year!   XO, B!  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Lifecycle

A Forgotten Man October 10, 2008 (1 Comment) By Larry Kaufman Raise your hand if you can identify Maurice Samuel. Maybe a little prompt will help. Choose the right identifier from the list below: American author of a novel about the Borgias Radio partner of Mark Van Doren in discussing the Hebrew Bible Translator of Erika Mann from the German Translator of Edmond Fleg from the French Translator of Sholem Asch and I.J. Singer from the Yiddish Executive of the Zionist Organization of America Polemicist/critic of Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History Actually this fascinating personality was all of the above - author of six novels and twenty works of non-fiction, translator into English of 22 books from the French, German, Hebrew and Yiddish, popular lecturer, investigative journalist, aide to Henry Morgenthau Sr. in his investigation of Polish pogroms, aide to Chaim Weizmann in the writing of his autobiography. You can learn more about him in an article written eleven years ago by Louis Kaplan to commemorate Maurice Samuel's 25th yahrtzeit.  read MORE Filed Under: Community

An easy fast? October 8, 2008 (4 Comments) By Gardening Grandma As Yom Kippur approaches, many people have wished me an "easy fast." I find it very strange - and disconcerting. The fast is meant to force us to do some deep and not-so-easy reflection and self-examination. It's meant to push us beyond our normal comfort zone. Why then, should it be easy? I think I'll stick with G'mar Chatima Tova when I'm at temple tonight. And so, to you, the readers of this blog, "may you be sealed in the book of life." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays

Authentic Judaism October 7, 2008 (2 Comments) By dcc In the most recent New Voices, Josh Nathan-Kazis interviews Rabbi Rick Jacobs of Westchester Reform Temple about the threat of Chabad to the Reform Movement.  The interview, Rabbi Jacobs's answers and even the questions are worth reading. However I completely dismiss the premiss of this article: "Chabad constitutes a challenge to the Reform movement. When Chabad's rabbis come to town, the local Reform synagogue faces the risk of appearing less authentic than the competition." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Rabbi Bachman knocks it out of the park October 2, 2008 (3 Comments) By David A.M. Wilensky (First published on The Reform Shuckle) I've said it before and I'll say it again: The man is a genius. Check out a transcript of Rabbi Andy Bachman's erev Rosh Hashanah sermon here. Here' an excerpt: Surrendering total control is never easy-especially as members of a synagogue community founded on principles that value the intellect over the experiential; the rational over the mysterious; Reform over Tradition. Of course, as we continually need to remind ourselves, the historical circumstances that founded this community in 1861 are quite different from those that demand action in the world today. Our membership, ever growing, comes from all walks of Jewish life-Reform, Conservative and Orthodox and non-Jewish life as well. I find that fewer people have an intellectual ax to grind with Tradition and Reform is not much more than: 1. a commitment to egalitarian values for men, women, gays and lesbians; 2. a rationalist and historical view of the authorship of Torah; and, 3. devotion to the principles of Tikkun Olam, Social Justice and Social Action. But "Reforming Judaism?" I've yet to encounter in my years here a single Jew who truly wants to Reform Judaism. After all, in humility, we could easily spend the next 50 years just figuring out what Judaism IS! read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Israel | Jewish Living

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. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

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.   read MORE 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. read MORE 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. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics | Social Action

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? read MORE 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. read MORE 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 read MORE 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. read MORE 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?  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics | 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. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

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.  read MORE 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. read MORE 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.  read MORE 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.   read MORE Filed Under: Community

Don't Like Ike September 12, 2008 By dcc  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. read MORE 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... read MORE 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. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Podcasts

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 read MORE Filed Under: Community

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. read MORE Filed Under: Community

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. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays

An Ageless Rite of Passage August 27, 2008 (2 Comments) By JanetheWriter From the matriarchs to Judith, Esther and Ruth, right up to some of the more recent pioneers in our own Movement--including Rabbis Sally Priesand, Elyse Frishman, Stacy Offner, Laura Geller and Janet Marder, among others--our tradition is filled with great Jewish women.   To this list I'd add the names Henrietta Blend, Dolores Wyde, Diana Wuntch, and Harriet Newport.  Recently, these four seventy- eighty- and ninety-somethings culminated nearly a year of Jewish study and learning with a joyous b'not mitzvah celebration in an assisted living community in greater Houston. Mazel tov and yasher koach to each of them.  May they continue to go and grow from strength to strength, and, as they already have done for me, teach and inspire the rest of us along the way. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Doing Pushups with Judaism on Your Back August 26, 2008 By dcc A group of friends were sitting around a lunch table at a Hava Nashira a few years back, wondering how their teacher Dan Nichols got so strong; this group was admiring his very shapely biceps. Jay Rapoport, a Jewish professional and musician working in New York City and the DC Metro area, said simply that "he does pushups, with his Judaism on his back."   Thus was born "Pushups." According to Jay, the group just started singing the chorus of the song. "We had been studying Kosher Gospel with Joshua Nelson, and this song was just a burst of inspiration." But in the end this cute, funny tribute to a mentor turned into a song for kids about Jewish empowerment. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Sunday School is a Bummer August 25, 2008 (1 Comment) By Mary Hofmann I went to a workshop this week aimed at giving Sunday School teachers insight into and assistance in instituting and utilizing Union's Chai Curriculum.  As the only teacher from a tiny congregation (we have six to eight kids in our whole "school") I listened sadly to the tales of woe from the urban teachers. As the facilitator said, Jewish education has always been considered supplemental education--not supplemental to public school, but supplemental to what kids get at home. Sadly, it is no longer a supplement.  In many, if not most, temples, Sunday School is the whole ball of wax.   What a bummer. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Kiev Revisited August 18, 2008 (3 Comments) By Larry Kaufman As regular readers of this blog may have noticed through my comments on other people's posts, I've recently returned from a river cruise through Ukraine -- fortunately arriving home before the Georgian crisis erupted -- and want to share some thoughts in three general areas: Differences between Jewish and secular travel The changes that appear to have taken place in Ukraine since my prior trip in 2001 Ukrainian roots for American Jews read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living | The Future

RDS at DNC August 18, 2008 (2 Comments) By dcc This weekend Rabbi David Saperstein was asked by the Democratic National Committee to offer the Invocation on the night that Sen. Barak Obama accepts the nomination in Denver. Rabbi Saperstein joins a group of men and women come from across the country and from churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and organizations that are as diverse as the population of the United States. Frank Lockwood, an Evangelical blogger, writes that the "prayer line up that looks, demographically, a lot like America." To me this is the most interesting aspect of this "prayer line up." Regardless that these men and women of the cloth are leaders, and in some cases pioneers, they look like America. I suppose it is only fitting that when the Democratic Party nominates a man of African and American heritage, hailing from Hawaii via Kansas through New York, Boston and Chicago, rising from poverty into wealth, the people who offer prayers and words of faith during this nomination would also reflect America's growing diversity. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Forum on Decorum August 15, 2008 (3 Comments) By Larry Kaufman There is no question that the introduction of decorum in religious services was an important motivator in the early stages of Reform Judaism in Europe.  (The other key liturgical changes were worship in the vernacular, elimination of repetitions, addition of a sermon, and excision of "unacceptable" content - Messiah, resurrection of the dead, restoration of the Temple.) But what did the Reformers mean by decorum? read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Strengthening Reform 10: Synagogues and Families August 14, 2008 (6 Comments) By William Berkson In the last post in this series, I argued that Classical Reform took a wrong turn in rejecting the Talmud, and that this mistake led to the neglect of a key strength of Jewish tradition: rabbinic ethics. Fellow blogger Larry Kaufman argued, "I for one do not believe the health of our movement depends on our attitude towards the Talmud, but rather on our attitude towards our congregants." There is no doubt that good management both by clergy and lay boards are keys to the health of congregations. But there is more: what does the congregation do with and for its members? How does the congregation meet the needs of its members, and potential members? read MORE Filed Under: Community | Defining Reform | Jewish Living

A Special Rabbi August 12, 2008 (1 Comment) By Elise May My family and I recently came together for a weekend of celebration in Memphis, TN. Cousins and close family friends that I hadn't seen in years flew in from around the country. What was the occasion? My parents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary! Such a joyous event that is almost unheard of today. The Rabbi who married my parents has passed away, and, since their small congregation disbanded a few years ago, my parents don't really have a Rabbi they can call their own. However, my father began corresponding with a Rabbi in Memphis some time ago. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

I bet he passed the swim test August 11, 2008 (2 Comments) By dcc For anyone who missed the 4X100 Men's Freestyle Olympic event last night, I am sorry. It was a masterful feat of athletic achievement. The men of the USA relay team did their country proud, producing many jump-off-the-couch victory dances throughout the land! The combination of Phelps, Weber-Gale, Jones and finally the 33-year-old Lezak brought home the gold in fantastic fashion. Oh, yeah, did I mention that Weber-Gale and Lezak are both Jewish and that Weber-Gale is an OSRUI alum? Regardless of your feelings about China, its abysmal human rights record, support of the genocidal Sudanese government, violent occupation of Tibet, the country's environmental degradation, religious persecution or any of the other issues that make China a bad place for the Olympics, I am sure we can all find a bit of pride that the URJ Camps have produced a gold medalist in possibly the best swim race of all time. So a hearty mazel tov to the US team and please know that we won't shut up 'till you skip around the medal podium. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Roles and Goals August 11, 2008 (2 Comments) By Larry Kaufman My teacher, Rabbi Fred Schwartz, used to remind us that synagogue leaders, both lay and professional, have to remember and cater to the congregation's two constituencies - the Prayers and the Payers.  Just as Torah can stand for the full body of Jewish learning as well as only for the five books of the Pentateuch, the Prayers as the rabbi used the term are not just those who attend services, but include all those who participate on a regular basis in the life of the congregation.  The Payers, on the other hand, may be those who show up only for the High Holy Days and perhaps for yahrtzeit, but who unfailingly send in their dues (and maybe even more) to assure the financial stability and continuity of the institution. read MORE Filed Under: Community | The Future

My Mom's Friend Ruth August 10, 2008 By JanetheWriter In one of my early posts, I wrote about Jewish geography and making connections.  Indeed, our world is all about connecting the dots and with this post, I'm at it again. Today marks the 15th anniversary of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's swearing in as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court.  She is the second woman and the first Jewish one to serve in this position.  And, although I don't know Justice Ginsburg personally, our worlds share several tangential points that seemingly connect us. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Jewish Teaching Begins at Home August 7, 2008 (5 Comments) By JanetheWriter Recently, my college roommate called me for some advice.  Her 12-year-old son had been invited to the bat mitzvah of a classmate and she didn't have a clue about what he should wear or what type of gift would be appropriate.  As one of only a handful of Jews he knows, I was excited for Matthew.  B'nei mitzvah are meaningful and fun and, as a young man who is well-versed in the rites and rituals of the Catholic Church, this would be a great learning experience for him. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

A Journey of A Thousand Miles August 6, 2008 (3 Comments) By Rabbi Scott Sperling There are moments when we can sense that history is in the making. Last month, I stood in a receiving line at Spain's famous Prado Palace so that I might shake hands with the kings of Saudi Arabia and Spain. In that experience and all that happened over the ensuing three days, I felt a part of such a historic moment. I was fortunate enough to represent the Union for Reform Judaism and our Commission on Interreligious Affairs at the Muslim World League's World Conference on Dialogue in Madrid, Spain. This conference brought together approximately 300 delegates from every corner of the globe and who represented the broad spectrum of the world's religions. While the plenary sessions were interesting and occasionally heated and controversial, the real work of the conference took place in hallways and at our communal meals. I had conversation with an astonishing variety of people.  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Strengthening Reform: 9. Reform's Wrong Turn August 6, 2008 (18 Comments) By William Berkson Several on this forum have looked back to "Classical Reform" somewhat wistfully, admiring the clear sense of direction and the passion and confidence that Reform Judaism had in that period. And by implication, some feel that that clear direction is lacking now. And I agree. Yet the current muddle I believe has its roots in a fundamental mistake that was made during the Classical Reform period. The mistake was to throw the Talmud overboard. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Defining Reform | Jewish Living | Torah

Your bloggers will be my bloggers August 5, 2008 By David A.M. Wilensky I just got off the phone with my newest blogosphere friend, Avi Montigny, Project Coordinator of JewsByChoice.org. JBC, for those who have not yet had the pleasure of visiting the site, is a group blog written by a group of Jews of a variety of denominations, all of whom happen to be converts. The JBC blog has quickly become one of my favorites in a crowded field of Jewish blogs competing for my attention in my RSS reader every day. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Want an Egg Cream, Bubbe? August 5, 2008 By JanetheWriter An article in today's online edition of the New York Times reminds me of a Yiddish word I haven't heard or used in quite some time:  bubba meinse, which loosely translates as a "grandmother's story" or, more figuratively, an old wives' tale.  The article details various explanations regarding the invention of the egg cream, a uniquely New York concoction of chocolate syrup, milk and seltzer (best when squirted directly into the mix from pressurized turquoise blue or emerald green bottles that typically came to thirsty customers' doors in wooden crates courtesy of the "seltzer man").  According to the article, though, "No matter which story you hear, it seems to have a strong Jewish connection." And to be sure, there are plenty of different stories...some from the Lower East Side, some from Brooklyn, some from the 1880s, others from the 1920s, and plenty from the years in between, too.  So what's the "real deal" on the egg cream?  Who knows.  All we can say for sure is that one story is the truth and the others are, yes, you've got it, bubba meinses. read MORE Filed Under: Community

On wrestling August 4, 2008 (1 Comment) By Jennifer Gubitz As a child, I was never much of a hugger. I preferred to neither give nor receive much affection from my immediate family, except for from my mom's mother - Bubbe Schwartz. I'd like to say that I remember vividly that we were inseparable, although nearly 20 years later I cannot be sure if my memories are accurately my own or if they are simply reconstructions of snippets of information I was told. My Bubbe died when I was in second grade and in her absence, I eventually learned to hug other people. Ironically, a strong and warm hug is something I have begun to crave throughout my adulthood. When parting ways with my parents before a long flight or leaving my siblings after a short visit - I sometimes return three even four times for one last hug. It has to be just right and until it is, I feel unable to walk away without looking back. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

Yiddish, Schmiddish...It's Here to Stay July 31, 2008 (7 Comments) By JanetheWriter There's no doubt about it. When the winning word in the National Scrabble Championship is shuln, the plural of shul, Yiddish in English is here to stay. This Jewlicious post was the second time in a week that a Yiddish-centric document crossed my desk.  The first was an on-line survey of American Jewish language being conducted by HUC-JIR professors Sarah Bunin Benor and Steven M. Cohen.  As a regular user of oy vey, schlep, shpiel, kvetch, shmutz, mensch, and others, I happily clicked away to answer their questions. Both reminded me of a 1970s episode of M*A*S*H in which Hawkeye and Hunnicutt spent the entire show scrambling to finish a crossword puzzle in which the clue for the last word--five letters--was "bedbug."  The answer?  Vonce! read MORE Filed Under: Community

Drama in our Lives July 30, 2008 (1 Comment) By Marge Eiseman Some of my friends seem to have a lot of drama in their lives. They are either really up or down, and find the middle way quite boring. Another (more rational) friend and I were talking about the place of drama in our lives - and I was filtering this through my recent experience in training to become a Storahtelling Maven. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Torah

Such Sweet Memories July 29, 2008 (10 Comments) Rabbi Daniel Freelander, senior vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke at the 50th anniversary celebration at  URJ Eisner Camp. Rabbi Freelander and Cantor Jeff Klepper, old friends and former staffers at Eisner, wrote many of the Reform Movement's iconic melodies in the hills of the URJ Eisner Camp. Be sure to hit "read more" to listen to a live recording of Shalom Rav, written in 1974 for the camp. I bring you greetings from my former counselor, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, who is on Sabbatical this summer.  In 1967 he began supervising me: Pulling weeds in the Formal Gardens, harvesting corn on the hill behind the dining room, sliding down to the bath house from my bunk on "cardiac hill" in the rain. Such sweet memories. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Kabbal-architecture July 29, 2008 (2 Comments) By dcc The most obvious of Kabbalah's modern influences is found in the form of red strings circling the arms of Hollywood celbs. However Alexander Gorlin, FAIA, principal of Alexander Gorlin Architects in New York and member of the Union's Architects Advisory Panel, explains that Kabbalah is a major influence in post-modern architectural styles. He writes in a recent edition of Faith & Form, the premier journal focusing on religion, art and architecture, that he often draws on Kabbalah for inspiration, infusing his synagogue designs with a traditional continuity that has been historically absent in Jewish architecture. As Jews were often expelled from one place to another, it was difficult for them to establish an authentic style of their own. This lack of a historic tradition of Jewish architecture, apart from Polish wooden synagogues, encouraged me to seek out texts of the Old Testament. Noah's Ark, the Tabernacle in the desert, the Temple of Solomon, and the prophet Ezekiel's Vision of the Temple are all described in great detail, including dimensions and materials. These are, however, literal descriptions, as opposed to the more abstract concepts from the Kabbalah, which are more open to interpretation in a modern sensibility. The article is very interesting and worth the read. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Life and death on King David street July 24, 2008 (1 Comment) By Rabbi Michael Marmur (First posted on The Jerusalem Post Blog) For much of my adult life I have studied, taught and worked on King David Street in Jerusalem. It is certainly no ordinary work address. World leaders stay there - in recent months we have played host to Bush, Blair, then Bush again, Blair, Rice, Blair Carter, Sarkozy, Blair (I'm beginning to think that man has nothing better to do), Brown, Mc Cain, Obama - and that doesn't do justice to the tens of less famous officials - Fishing Ministers from Ruritania and Tax Inspectors from Uzbekhistan. Then there are the Life Cycle Events. Families compete with each other to hold the most opulent and often gaudy events: barmy Bar Mitzvahs, wild weddings, and far from circumspect circumcisions.  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

Your Place or Mine? July 21, 2008 (9 Comments) By Larry Kaufman You all know about the man from Mars who finds himself on Earth in front a deli, wanders in and begins scrutinizing the display case.  "What's that?" he asks the counterman, pointing to a ring of dough with a hole in the center.  "We call that a bagel," the counterman replies.  "And that?" pointing to an orange slab.  "That's smoked salmon, colloquially known as lox."  "You know what," the Martian says, "I'm going to try some of that lox on a bagel, and why don't you add a shmear of cream cheese." So what would the man from Mars make of Reform Judaism if he should happen to land on this blog?  He would find a chorus singing, "Give me that old-time religion - it was good enough for Einhorn and good enough for Kohler, and it's good enough for me, and should be good enough for you, too - universalistic, minimal Hebrew mumbo-jumbo, no middle-Eastern aspirations, no shtetl accoutrements around our shoulders or coverings on our head," or, as my cousin Miriam used to say, "Ve are vun-hundred pehrcehnt Omericans."  read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

JDate, I'd Like You to Meet Gender Equity...Gender Equity, Meet JDate July 21, 2008 (2 Comments) By JanetheWriter One night last week, a friend and I spent a little more than an hour in a room full of Jews.  Everyone was dressed up, on his or her best behavior and appeared to be trying really hard to listen to what was being said.  No, it wasn't Kol Nidre; it was a JDate mixer for the 40-plus crowd.  And, as in synagogues and Jewish communal life in general, there were many, many more women than men involved--nearly a 9:1 ratio, Amy and I guesstimated. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Unity brings elevation and tikkun July 18, 2008 (1 Comment) Yitz Jordan, aka Y-Love, brings people together with his "Torah Centered hip-hop." He writes at ThisisBabylon.net and you can hear his latest album at ylovemusic.com. Jordan, who is a black, Orthodox convert, sat down with RJ.org to talk about Jewish communal unity and music for this podcast. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Podcasts

Another Shehecheyanu Moment July 16, 2008 (2 Comments) By Judy Gangel Until last week (July 10/11, 2008), I had, and still do have, many blessings to recall and for which I was and still am thankful ...but last week brought an incredible Shehecheyanu experience/blessing unlike any other...a moment that my former rabbi might have referred to as a liminal one...I floated back and forth over the threshold of the time of my youth (I am now 65, almost 66) when I was deeply involved as a proud member and regional officer of NFTY, and the present. The experience/blessing came upon me during the live streaming broadcast from the HUC in Israel and from Masada, where my 16 year old grandson was a part of a NFTY in Israel experience (NO, it's not just a "trip"). read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

JanetheWriter's Book Report July 15, 2008 By JanetheWriter Six weeks ago, in my first post to this blog, I told you that Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million was at the top of the "to read" pile on my nightstand.  Having now finished it, I can report that I have never been touched by a book in quite the same way as I was by this particular one. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Branding Reform Judaism July 14, 2008 (9 Comments) By Larry Kaufman So here we are on a blog labeled "Reform Judaism," and it seems appropriate to cogitate on what that brand name stands for, and on some of the issues that relate to it. In the interest of full disclosure let me state that I served on the committee that paved the way for the name change from Union of American Hebrew Congregations to our current style, Union for Reform Judaism - and let me further state that I thought the change was appropriate, even though I think the name is inappropriate. What's right with the name Reform is that people know it, and recognize it as applying to the most permissive strain of mainstream Judaism in North America.  What's wrong with it is that the dictionary meanings of the word itself have relatively little relevance to who we are or what we believe or what we do today. (I find support for my discomfort in the preface and prologue to Michael Meyer's magisterial history of the movement, Response to Modernity.) read MORE Filed Under: Community

dcc on CCC July 11, 2008 (4 Comments) By dcc While Chocolate Chip Cookies (CCC) may be delicious--especially right out of the oven, with milk, under a blanket in the dead of winter while it is snowing outside (I am pretty hungry right now)--what do they have to do with the future of Judaism? Well, pretty much everything. With ingredients as simple as flour, eggs, butter, sugar and chocolate, it seems that anyone can put a batch together. However as Hervé Poussot, a baker from Brooklyn interviewed by the New York Times for its recent article outlining the search for the perfect CCC said, "If it was just a matter of a recipe we'd all be out of business. It's what goes into the making of the cookie that makes the difference." Ok, fine. So cookies have little to do with Judaism, but this quote got me to thinking about our Jewish community. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Tyler Benjamin on Reform Judaism July 11, 2008 By David A.M. Wilensky As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ Magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement. I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be featuring many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the Magazine. Tyler Benjamin is a 16-year-old rower/ultimate Frisbee player from Tampa, Florida. He is in love with the opportunities that are afforded him via NFTY, especially as the President of the Southern Tropical Region, and overall his life as a Reform Jew in America. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Shabbat

Caring Community on a Fixed Income July 8, 2008 (1 Comment) By Rabbi Richard Address A recent article in the New York Times highlighted the impact of the current economic difficulties on the elderly, especially those who are on fixed incomes and frail. The article reminded me of ways that our congregations can enhance their mission of being  a "caring community" (with no or little cost to the congregation). read MORE Filed Under: Community

Modes of Travel July 7, 2008 (1 Comment) By Larry Kaufman From my first visit to Israel, some thirty-three years ago, one of my strongest memories is the  guide telling our group at the beginning of the tour, "You come to Israel as tourists; you will leave as pilgrims." And so it was. We Jews have given new meaning to the phrase, the wandering Jew. Last year we went around the world - this year we want to go somewhere else. That's why you can walk off a cruise ship in Sitka, Alaska, into a jewelry store where you will be greeted by a Frank Meisler Chanukah menorah. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

Let Freedom Ring July 4, 2008 (1 Comment) By JanetheWriter Every night when I was growing up, after I'd said goodnight to my father, my mother tucked me into bed.  When she did so on this date 32 years ago, she said, "Today is a great day to be an American and it's a great day to be a Jew." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel

Leslie Bass on Reform Judaism July 2, 2008 (1 Comment) By David A.M. Wilensky As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ Magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement. I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be featuring many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the Magazine. Leslie Bass hails originally from Austin, Texas. This fall she will be a junior at the University of Denver, where she is a double major in Digital Media Studies and Journalism. This July, she will be travelling to Brisbane, Australia to study abroad at the Queensland University of Technology for five months. In high school, she was an active member of NFTY-TOR and board member of her local TYG. She attended the URJ Kutz Camp in the Summer of 2005 and spent the Summers of 2006 and 2007 as Kutz Camp staff. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Jewish Living | The Future

Community Defined June 30, 2008 (2 Comments) By Steve Arnold One of the things that attracted me to Judaism in the first place was the sense of community that has always been such a part of Jewish life. I never really understood what true community means, however, until my wife died April 23. On that terrible night one of the first calls I made at midnight was to Rabbi Jordan Cohen who came immediately and stayed with me for three hours in my parking lot while my home was invaded by a succession of police and coroner wondering why an otherwise healthy 56-year-old woman had simply died in her sleep. The real embrace of community came days later when funeral arrangements had been made and it was time to clean a house that had suffered from years of cleaning neglect. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Music Makes a Difference June 27, 2008 By Mark Young I recently had the honor of being included in several chapters of the RJ Guide - Reform Judaism 30 Stories. If you didn't yet make it all the way to Section VI-Making a Difference, here is part of what I wrote: These days, one of the greatest joys for my wife Jane and me is when our 24-year-old musician son visits children's convalescent hospitals with us, our temple's mitzvah group, and recently our cantor and junior choir. Many of the patients we see have profound congenital disabilities and will never fully recover. Some people think they're unable to communicate, but we've learned this is far from the truth. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Edie Joseph on Reform Judaism June 27, 2008 (1 Comment) By David A.M. Wilensky As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement. I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be using many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the magazine. Edie Joseph currently lives in Gainesville, Florida. She grew up at URJ Camp Harlam, attended Kutz in 2005, and in 2007 received a Bronfman Youth Fellowship in Israel. She will be attending Yale University as a freshman in the fall. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Hats off to the Jewish press June 27, 2008 (5 Comments) By Gardening Grandma All newspapers are in trouble, but the impact of the Internet is perhaps most keenly felt in the Jewish media, those community papers which aims to deliver local, national and international news to a miniscule audience. Those are big challenges for papers with small staffs and tiny budgets. This week the American Jewish Press Association awarded the Simon Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism. Our hats are off to the editors, writers and photographers who won these awards. We salute the members of the Jewish media who struggle, day in and day out, to bring us an unbiased look at the world today through a Jewish lens. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Jewish Life Summer Vacation June 25, 2008 (1 Comment) By Marge Eiseman Jewish life is going on summer vacation. The last few bar and bat mitzvah celebrations will happen this week, and then the synagogue calendars (and buildings) will be empty except for regular Shabbat worship. And even then, with our service held outdoors on Friday night, we just walk through the building to get to the back lawn! Is this a leftover from an agricultural society? How many of our regular congregants really take off for the summer? I understand that many of the children might go to summer camp, but I firmly believe there is still a vibrant community left "in town." read MORE Filed Under: Community

Jade Sank on Reform Judaism June 25, 2008 By David A.M. Wilensky As readers of Reform Judaism magazine will recall, the RJ magazine's summer 2008 issue included a series of important questions regarding the Reform Movement and their answers as given by 30 adult members of the Reform Movement. I'm currently at the URJ Kutz Camp with a group of people who will be the future lay and professional leadership of the Reform movement in North America. I'll be featuring many of them as well as many of the younger Kutz staff members this summer in a series of posts here on the RJ.org blog, in which I will be asking Reform high school and college students (and perhaps a few 20-somethings) for their take on Reform Judaism via questions similar to those used in the Magazine. Jade Sank is a 17-year-old recent high school graduate. In the fall she will attend Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Jade was a member of NFTY-GER, serving as the 2007-2008 NFTY-GER Secretary. She attended the URJ Kutz Camp in the summer of 2006 and the Urban Mitzvah Corps in the summer of 2007. This summer, she is hard at work as a member of the Avodah staff of the URJ Kutz Camp. What has belonging to a congregation (or a Temple Youth Group or a Kesher group or going to a URJ camp etc.) that is part of the larger Reform Movement meant to you? Belonging to my congregation, my TYG, NFTY, Kutz, and Urban Mitzvah Corps has meant everything to me. My eyes have been opened by the millions of ways that I can get involved and make connections not only on a North American scale but a world scale. By becoming involved in many different ways I have achieved small goals that will eventually help the Reform Movement become stronger. The best part about being part of the larger movement is that through the small things I do, I will see the results on a larger scale. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Israel | Jewish Living | The Future

Tallitot Talk with JanetheWriter June 24, 2008 (9 Comments) By JanetheWriter In today's Ten Minutes of Torah and in a recent blog post, Dr. Dvora Weisberg--briefly--and Larry Kaufman--more extensively--discuss tallitot.  Clearly, they are the topic of the day, reminding me of the first time I observed the commandment to l'hitateif batzitzit--wrap ourselves in the fringes. Although I was married, gainfully employed in the Jewish world and even an active member of a synagogue, I was thousands of miles from home and family, and often found myself alone--socially, spiritually, and emotionally.  Seeking community and acting on an ad I'd seen in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, I began to attend "Shabbat Resounds," the once-a-month, student-led Shabbat morning service at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Held in the lobby of the school's building, the service was filled with joyful worship and music, which, together with the sunbeams, did, indeed, resound into the unique architectural crevices of the space before bouncing back down to us. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

Time to Talk June 24, 2008 (2 Comments) By Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie (First posted as an op-ed on Israel News) The time has come to engage in dialogue with our Muslim neighbors and to educate ourselves about Islam. Dialogue is especially critical now. We live in a world in which religion is manipulated to justify the most horrific acts and where Islamic extremists constitute a profound threat. When fanatics kill in the name of God, sensible religious people have an obligation to do something about it. What is our task? To find the voices of moderation and to reclaim from the fanatics the true essence of religious belief. To do this, we must know what Islam truly stands for and engage in dialogue with our Muslim neighbors. read MORE Filed Under: By Rabbi Eric Yoffie | Community | Social Action | The Future

For the Sake of a Namesake: L'dor v'dor June 23, 2008 (1 Comment) By JanetheWriter A few months ago, during an informal visit in my apartment from my parents, my sister and my nephew Ian, I was stretched out on the living room floor and Ian, as five-year-olds are want to do, was walking on my back and climbing all over me. When his weight hit a spot that made my back crack, I groaned, "Oh, Ian, just call me your personal Uncle Irv," before squirming out from under all 40-something pounds of him. "Like mother, like son...like aunt, like nephew," I thought. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Why Talitot June 23, 2008 (24 Comments) By Larry Kaufman It's the custom in our congregation for the person who presents the d'var Torah to pose questions for discussion by the kahal, the community. Leading the discussion on Shelach Lecha, I noted that this parashah includes the commandment to wear fringes, a commandment that was essentially negated in Reform Judaism by the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885, the negation remaining in force for well over a hundred years. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living | Torah

The Universe sent me a Shabbat message June 16, 2008 (3 Comments) By Wendy Nelson My daughter graduated from high school Saturday. The weather changed from cold and rainy to a sunny 80 degree day. The plague of cicadas awaited for 17 years and due to arrive by now were yet to emerge from the ground. I arrived early and got a front row seat knowing that I could not miss seeing my beloved child on this special day. It was Shabbat and all was right. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Jewish Living | Lifecycle | Shabbat

Honoring our Fathers and Mothers June 15, 2008 (1 Comment) By JanetheWriter A short piece on the editorials and letters page in Friday's New York Times suggests that according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, "the Lower East Side is one of the 11 most endangered places in America..."  The article mentions several neighborhood landmarks, including The Eldridge Street Synagogue  which, following a recently completed multi-million dollar restoration is now known as the Museum at Eldridge Street.  Dating from 1887 and widely known to be the first synagogue built "from scratch" in America by Eastern European Jews, the continuously operational Eldridge Street Synagogue is an architectural, cultural and historical gem.  This Sunday's "Egg Rolls and Egg Creams" Festival celebrates the rich heritage and history of the immigrants--Jewish, Chinese, Italian, and others--for whom the neighborhood was the "Plymouth Rock" in their pilgrimage to America.  Indeed, it was so for my grandparents, and on this Father's Day weekend, it is most fitting to honor them--our grandmothers and our grandfathers--for their moxie in making the journey and ensuring a better life for us all. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays | Lifecycle

Jewish-Muslim Dialogue June 14, 2008 (2 Comments) By Emily Grotta Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post has been observing the dialogue between members of a synagogue and a mosque in the Washington area. She writes: Such dialogue is often a balancing act: hopeful yet guarded; genuine yet superficial; teetering on the precipice of the most emotional subjects but often stepping back. Rare efforts such as this one, which ended June 1, go beyond a single mass event and seek more depth and intimacy. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living | Social Action

Do I really belong? June 11, 2008 (12 Comments) By Elise May I received a phone call yesterday that really bothered me. It was from a local Jewish organization that my young son and I belong to. The person (let's call her Miss Smith) was calling to inform me that I was behind in my membership fees. I explained that I send in as much as I can each month when I receive a bill. I was absolutely appalled to be asked, "Is $20 and $30 a month the best you can do?" If that is the amount I am sending in, one might think that is all I can afford, right? The call ended by Miss Smith basically saying that if I do not get caught up with the fees, my son and I won't be able to continue our membership. To their credit, this organization did offer us a lower fee than the standard membership fee, but it is still much more than I can pay. Thus, I have been sending the $20-$30 per month. After this recent conversation, I feel completely unwelcome and don't know if I want to continue my membership (even if I could somehow get caught up). read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics | The Future

A Reverend and a Rabbi walk into a Rotary Club June 11, 2008 (1 Comment) By dcc No, it isn't a joke.  Rev. Paul Harmon and Rabbi Yossi Liebowitz, better know as "The Cap and The Collar," a guitar strummin', folk singin', religious-harmony promotin' duo, have been together since their first performance in 2003 at the Rotary Club Thanksgiving in Spartanburg, SC. Recently, the two were profiled in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal. This is the kind of thing that is often overlooked in interfaith workshops or programs. These two regular guys like playing guitar and decided to do so together. Regardless of the fact that they are men of the cloth, they are friends and found common ground in music. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Brilliance of Yizkor June 10, 2008 (1 Comment) By Marge Eiseman This Shabbat, we will observe my mom's 17th yahrzeit and then on Monday morning, I'll be saying kaddish for her again at the Yizkor service on the festival of Shavuot. Yizkor means remember. What could be more important than that? I attended a session on "How to Talk to Your Children about God and Death" on a recent Sunday morning at Congregation Sinai. In the room with me were two women whose husbands had died, leaving them young widows with children, and besides myself, there were at least one or two other bereaved parents. There were people who referred to the death of their own siblings or parents, and yet none of them ever attend the Yizkor services that occur during the year. I don't even know if they attend on Yom Kippur afternoon, but it's the most likely one if they do.   read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Kabbalist to hot-dog vendor: one with everything June 10, 2008 (2 Comments) By Laurance Kaufman My rabbi used to tease me about being a Litvak.  Having read Y. L. Peretz, I knew this was not an ethnic pigeon-holing; it was a character assessment.  It was Peretz's Litvak who scoffed when the townspeople explained the rebbe's mysterious disappearance early each Elul morning by saying he was visiting Heaven.  Only a Litvak would have followed the rebbe to see where he really went.  And perhaps only a Litvak,  discovering that the rebbe was disguising himself as a peasant and  gathering firewood to see an impoverished elderly widow through the winter, would have commented the next time the townspeople talked about the rebbe going to Heaven, "If not higher." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living | The Future

Summer is a comin' June 4, 2008 By dcc Summer means one thing to me: Camp. I love camp. Camp is one of the best places in the world. If you went to camp, you understand what I am saying. If you didn't go to camp, I am sorry, but you can get a taste in a new book entitled Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies by Roger Bennett and Jules Shell. You can read a brief review of the book online on the USA Today website. With 300 pictures of camps from around the US, including one of the URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, MS from opeing day in 1984 (right), this book chronicles the lives of campers who came of age in the 80s and 90s. I am looking forward to reading and laughing about this book while I sit in front of the computer this summer longing for song sessions, Color War and camp Shabbat.  If anyone has read it, let me know what you think. read MORE Filed Under: Community

I'm so blessed June 2, 2008 By Marge Eiseman "I'm so blessed!", I whispered to the stranger sitting next to me in the theater. We were watching a new play, "Distracted" by Lisa Loomer at the Ashland Shakespeare Festival -- and it was an extraordinary experience. The stage was set as a square with seating on all four sides. The set featured groups of four flat-panel screens that were suspended from the ceiling, facing each bank of seats, all flashing different images that enhanced the dialogue (or made for some visual comedy). The furniture -- even the long kitchen counter and appliances -- were all mounted on casters and split in the middle, so the scene changes happened by characters quickly whisking things off to the corners and down the ramps. Oh, and the play itself was about attention disorders, and the quest for diagnosis and treatment and advice. Makes sense, doesn't it? Watching the play was overwhelming, and about 2/3 of the way through, I was thinking, "I'm so glad I don't have a kid with ADD." And then I thought, "Whoa! I have a dead child, and one who had cancer, and another who has an implanted defibrillator. How can I feel so deeply blessed?" read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Where do we draw the Line? June 2, 2008 (1 Comment) By Elise May Imagine sitting in synagogue during Rosh Hashanah services, the choir is singing, the sun is setting and casting a beautiful glow on the stained-glass windows, and suddenly a deafening sound pierces the voices of the choir.  Everyone looks around and the whispering begins, "A chair must have fallen over. A table might have tipped over. Perhaps there was a car accident right outside." Then, the unmistakable smell of gunpowder is noticed. All the while, the choir keeps singing much like the sailors on the Titanic. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, this happened at my Temple last year. A member had brought his gun to services, and it fell when he stood for one of the prayers. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but the man's daughter was slightly injured. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics

Cracking the Stained Glass Ceiling May 30, 2008 By dcc With all the talk about disappearing men from Jewish life, it would seem as if all the Reform Jewish institutions were run by woman...not so much. However there have been significant improvements in the sharing of power. Kudos to HUC-JIR, which is significantly increasing the voice and presence of women in its leadership. The Jewish Week reports: [Shifra] Bronznick's strategies have already begun to change the culture of certain Jewish organizations. As a consultant for Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, she helped integrate women into the seminary's administration. Female board members soon jumped from seven out of 55 in 2001 to 21 out of 55 in 2005, and a woman -- Barbara Friedman -- currently serves as chair. "Shifra's insights about the ways in which women could enrich our organization through their leadership is something to which I gave great credence." said Rabbi David Ellenson, president of HUC. It is a step in the right direction. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Ethics

JanetheWriter live from Pittsburgh May 30, 2008 (1 Comment) By JanetheWriter Last night, a colleague shared with me a newsletter she'd picked up in the lobby of the Pittsburgh hotel where the Union's North American Board of Trustees is meeting this weekend, the Omni William Penn, a "grande dame" hotel that dates to 1916.  As I read through the article, written in 1991 on the occasion of the hotel's 75th anniversary and detailing its long and colorful history, I started to make some connections or as might be said in a slightly different context, "to play a little Jewish geography." As it turns out, while some of these connections may be Jewish, others definitely are not.  Nonetheless, they all are of interest in this richly historic city.  read MORE Filed Under: Community

EG's Challenge May 30, 2008 (2 Comments) By Emily Grotta At the editorial board meeting for Reform Judaism magazine in Pittsburgh, we talked about how we might extend the conversation that began in the latest issue of the magazine. One member of the editorial board talked of getting Reform Jews of all ages -- particularly teens and college students -- to write about what Reform Judaism means to them in an upcoming issue of the magazine. Another wanted us to reach out to Progressive Jews in the FSU, South Africa, Israel, Europe and elsewhere, creating yet another special section on "Jews of the World." As a member of the board but also a member of the staff, I try to be as respectful as possible. That means I try to follow the standard brainstorming mantra that no idea is a bad idea. But it's sometimes hard to figure out how to make what is a criticism and add to a suggestion. But this one was easy. "Teens and college students aren't reading the magazine," I said. "And neither are the Jews abroad. But maybe, just maybe, they'll read and contribute to the blog," I continued. So here's the challenge: any teens or college students out there? What about the budding Progressive community in the FSU? Please speak up and let us know! read MORE Filed Under: Community | The Future

This Is Your Brain On Age May 29, 2008 (2 Comments) By Rabbi Richard Address, D. Min Baseball is a great game. Often, a lot of attention gets paid to the phenom, the "kid." As teams adjust and reality sets in, the reason returns and we often again celebrate the "crafty veteran." It seems that in baseball, as in life, wisdom trumps knowledge. A recent piece in the New York Times titled "Older Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain" sheds new light on the expanding research into the older adult brain. These studies are particularly meaningful for my work and our department's major program on longevity and the baby boomers (Sacred Aging). The articles points out that, as we age we take in more information, that here is more "clutter" to sift through. That information is filtered through one's life experience. Truth and falsity are filtered out and, the article says, the result of that filtering may be wisdom. One researcher: commented that wisdom is word for what happens when the mind is able to take in data, assimilate it, and filter it into its the proper place. "If older people are taking in more information from a situation, and they're then able to combine it with their comparatively greater store of general knowledge. they're going to have a nice advantage." read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living | Lifecycle

Beyond the for what approach May 28, 2008 (6 Comments) By Marge Eiseman One of my friends asked me today, "Why do we need synagogues?" She and her family used to belong to a big congregation that venerated their building (so much so that many people quit when the old building was sold). Now they are building again, and she's worried that the focus will again be on the building and not what is going on inside. And even though the rabbi and cantor are menschen, she still hasn't joined again. I have my own reasons for asking the question, since it is the season for renewing membership. We just got the annual letter from the executive director, explaining that we have to choose our dues category. Realistically, I don't think a family that earns $40-50,000 a year can pay $1,639 in dues. Even if one avoids the "for what?" approach of fee-for-services (no pun intended), it's hard to believe that after food, shelter and clothing, such a large percentage of one's income could be directed this way. The synagogue becomes an elitist institution, or less-affluent congregants have to ask for dispensation on dues, which, even if easily granted, is still mildly embarrassing. Why do we need this affiliation? read MORE Filed Under: Community | The Future

Muslims Praying at Temple Beth El May 28, 2008 (2 Comments) By Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman (Cross Posted with the RACBlog) The Chappaqua Interfaith Council has always been a diverse group. Chaired by my senior rabbi, Rabbi Joshua Davidson, we have not only Protestants and Catholics, but Baha'i, Quakers, and Muslims, as well. With Rabbi Yoffie emphasizing Jewish-Muslim dialogue in his Biennial Address, and with Rabbi Davidson's relationship with the Upper Westchester Muslim Society, this year felt like a perfect time to bring Temple Beth El and the Upper Westchester Muslim Society together to begin some discussions. On Tuesday, May 20, we had our first session. The dialogue was scheduled to begin at 8 PM, but before we could begin talking, one of the Muslim participants told us that at 8:10, it would be time for evening prayer. He wondered if there was a space they could use, and Rabbi Davidson realized this was an opportunity for us not just to talk about different faith traditions, but for members of Temple Beth El to see first-hand what another tradition's prayers might look like. Just to make sure the Muslim participants would feel comfortable, he asked if it would be appropriate for us to watch the evening prayer. When the answer was, "Sure, that's fine," Rabbi Davidson smiled and made a rather unique suggestion: "How about you pray where we pray. Would you like to use the bimah?" read MORE Filed Under: Community | Jewish Living

My Ferguson May 27, 2008 (4 Comments) By JanetheWriter In the Lives column in this week's New York Times Magazine, Michael Norman writes about Ferguson, a replacement marine he knew for "all of a minute" in Vietnam immediately before Ferguson was killed by mortar fire and fell into a fighting hole on top of Norman. After identifying his body in Danang, Norman tells us, "So I took Ferguson home with me. Who else was going to remember him? Who else among us "knew" him and could carry his good name, his reputation, the memory of him, as a marine? Remembering was part of the bargain we all made, the reason we were so willing to die for one another." Chaim Glasberg is my Ferguson.  read MORE Filed Under: Community

Am I sheltering my son too much May 27, 2008 (4 Comments) By Elise May I was raised in a small town in Arkansas, total Jewish population 6! Up until the 6th grade, I didn't realize I was that much different from my friends. However, 6th grade was a turning point--it was the first time I was teased because of being a Jew. I remember it to this day (even though it was 27 years ago), my teacher had asked us to write one word to describe each student in the class. My friend, Kim, wrote "Jew" by my name. After that point, my Jewishness seemed to really make a difference. Whenever my friends and I had a disagreement, they always made a negative remark about me being Jewish. Growing up as the only Jewish child in town, I felt profoundly isolated and alone. I felt like the only Jewish kid on the planet. read MORE Filed Under: Community | The Future

JanetheWriter ReadsaBook May 26, 2008 (2 Comments) By JanetheWriter By most standards, JanetheWriter has a rich and balanced life.  At least that's what it says in the "About Me" section of her jdate profile. To read the rest of that, however, you have to log on.  Better yet, get an available 40-something Jewish guy you know to log on and read it.  But, enough about me in the third person. Like John-Boy Walton, I have always wanted to be a writer.  OK, when I was perched in front of the family television set--still black and white back in 1960-something--watching Mr. Rogers change in and out of his sweater and sneakers, I didn't know I wanted to be a writer, but fast forward through  The Electric Company, The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family to Liv and John Walton and their seven kids (John-Boy, Mary Ellen, Ben, Jason, Erin, Jim-Bob, and Elizabeth) in that big old house in rural Virginia and by then, I knew. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Speaking Truth To Power May 20, 2008 (1 Comment) By Marzy Bauer My parents were socialists…culturally Jewish, but they rejected what they deemed to be irrelevant Jewish ritual. So, other than attending an occasional cousin’s bar mitzvah, I never set foot in a synagogue for most of my childhood or adolescence. That being said, I was taught certain values from an early age: thou shalt not cross a picket line nor buy clothing without a union label; thou shalt give to the poor and to oppressed minorities, feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and treat people fairly without regard to differences. And so my passion for social justice was instilled, along with a commitment to philanthropy and a desire to keep learning. Two factors led me to join an organized Jewish community. One was moving from New York City, where one can be Jewish by breathing, to Indiana, where explanations are required. The second was having children. My husband and I became members of a Reform congregation when they were small, and got involved. I joined an adult b’nei mitzvah class in 1986. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Social Action

Chosing to be Chosen May 20, 2008 (1 Comment) By Jennifer Warriner When I was converting to Judaism, I chose a Reform synagogue because, as a lesbian who grew up in a conservative Baptist church, I had run out of patience for religious homophobia and did not wish to voluntarily expose myself to the Jewish variety. In addition, I had heard that a Reform synagogue would be accepting of an interfaith family. As expected, my non-Jewish partner and I were accepted with open arms by the clergy, the synagogue staff, and the congregation’s Early Childhood Center, where our son goes to preschool. We joined the synagogue as a family, attend events as a family, and are treated as a family. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Favorite Room of the House May 20, 2008 By Marge Eiseman My congregation, established in 1956, is only a few months older than I am. My paternal grandparents were among the founding families, and my parents joined immediately upon moving back to Milwaukee shortly before my birth. I joined to raise my children here. Much has changed since the days of my youth. Gone is the formal Friday evening service led by the black-robed rabbi and hidden quartet. Gone is the original ark, whose fabric curtain was donated by my grandparents. Gone, too, are most of the founding generation, but the ongoing sense of decorum and intellectual challenge lingers even now, almost 51 years later. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Lifecycle

Involved Interfaith Family May 20, 2008 By Andi Rosenthal When I was a 1st grader at Immaculate Conception School, my mother was extremely active in the PTA, meeting weekly with the monsignor to discuss after-school enrichment programs. Each week the nun who answered the door at the rectory would call out, “Monsignor, the mother of the little Jewish girl is here to see you.” As the child of an interfaith marriage—Jewish father, Catholic mother—attending a strict Catholic school where the nuns still dressed in habits wasn’t as strange for me as one might believe. Ironically, I felt extremely comfortable in a school where our teachers talked about God as if He were in the room and encouraged us to share our desks with our guardian angels. read MORE Filed Under: Community

Seder in the Ozarks May 20, 2008 By Martin L. Shapiro I was raised in a small New England town almost completely isolated from Judaism—with few Jewish friends and almost no contact with Jewish experiences. By 1944 I—a kid who’d hardly ever dated a girl and had never been away from home by myself—was a soldier in the U.S. Army, trapped in the Ozark mountains of Missouri, a “million miles” from home, going through basic Signal Corps training in preparation to face our enemies overseas while I faced more immediate challenges on the home front. My fellow soldiers hated my Boston accent. Basic training was very difficult. I learned to crawl through cold, wet mud and snow on my stomach while under live machine-gun fire. Although I was adept enough at carrying a heavy backpack along with a rifle on 25-mile marches, I consistently failed to keep step while marching in dress parades. In the midst of all this misery came the announcement that all Jewish soldiers were invited to take part in a seder service in the small town of Neosho, Missouri, just outside our main gate. read MORE Filed Under: Community | Holidays