tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50467549420398063232024-02-06T21:32:53.623-05:00Westchester Reform Temple Torah Study Blog"A river flows from Eden to water the garden" (Gen. 2:10).JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.comBlogger210125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-78264969020344700992013-06-24T11:58:00.001-04:002013-06-24T11:58:23.875-04:00Remarks by Vic Goldberg on receipt of the Brotherhood AwardBelow are Vic's remarks from Friday, June 14th. Also here is a hyperlink to his prize:<br />
http://www.iie.org/Programs/Victor-J-Goldberg-Prize<br />
<br />Shavua Tov!<br />
<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you, Bill. It's a great honor to receive this prestigious award, especially considering the previous distinguished awardees. And special thanks to Barry Citrin for his generous help in preparing me for this event</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My association with WRT goes back over many years. Jack Stern married my daughter Susan to John Gevertz, who is Joan's Mark's son. Rick Jacobs married my son Alan to Karen Lipson, and was there for us at the funerals of my first wife, Harriet, and of Joan's son Bruce and her husband Stan. Three years after Harriet died, Rick married me to my second wife, Pat Waldeck; and along the way he Bat Mitzah'ed my granddaughters Rebecca and Annie Gevertz. And, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> am lucky enough to be around to be thrilled with the leadership of Jonathan Blake. This may all sound like the "begetting" part of Genesis, but this Temple has played an important role in my life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While most of my volunteer activities have been in venues </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">other</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> than WRT, I am a great believer in the importance of volunteerism </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">wherever</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> it is exercised, not only for the good it can do for the world, for Tikkun Olam, but for the enhancement of the spirit of the volunteer. WRT is a place where that spirit abounds. Most organizations would give a great deal to be supported.... with the zeal and pure ergs of energy .....that are daily in evidence in the increasingly varied activities here.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Bill gave you the laundry list of my volunteer activities, but the one I want to speak about briefly tonight is my Middle East Peace Prize.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A bit about its origin. in 2004, I was completing 25 years on the board and 13 years as vice chairman of the Institute of International Education...best known for administering the Fulbright scholarships and 250 other international exchange programs, ....and I wanted to do something in gratitude for how that experience had enriched my life. The CEO there asked what was important to me, and Israel immediately came to mind. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a young American Jew in 1948, (I was 15 years old), I lived in Chicago next door to immigrants with numbers on their forearms, near a parochial school whose students thought I killed Christ, and I was totally drawn to this new nation, a safe place for Jews </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">which embodied the cultural and moral values with which I was raised</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now here I was in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2004</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, having watched nothing but strife in the Middle East for all my adult life, wondering what if anything could bring peace to this Jewish Homeland I had cherished all my life. Clearly political leadership had failed, ..... and maybe only work at the grassroots level could form the basis of lasting peace down the road. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so I established a Middle East Peace Prize, to which IIE appended my name. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> said they </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">should</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have called it the Don Quixote IIE prize because to win it you had to have two people, one Israeli Jew and one Arab Muslim, working together at the grass roots, and one of them had to have a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">connection to an IIE program</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. ....and we worried there would be no viable candidates. As it turned out, we were never short of wonderful candidates, and a week from tomorrow, Pat and I will go to Jerusalem to present our </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9th</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> annual award.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The winners of the first prize in 2005 dealt with the issue of conflicting narratives.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Dan Bar On and Sami Adwan were both college professors, Dan at Ben Gurion University and Sami at Bethlehem University. They had constructed a middle school history textbook for four historical periods: the Balfour declaration, the 1948 war, the Yom Kippur War and the first Intifada. On the left hand side of each page was the Israeli narrative, on the right was the Arab narrative, and the middle was composed of the blank lines of a workbook. To develop this textbook they sometimes had to meet across checkpoints; and to train 10 Israeli and 10 Palestinian teachers, they eventually had to fly them to Crete for joint sessions. To this day, neither the Israeli Ministry of Education nor the Palestinian Ministry of Education have approved this textbook. But with the book's intervening historical periods now complete, it </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> being used at the University level.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 2006 Prize went to an all Israeli team, one Jewish, one Muslim, that established an Arab/ Jewish Community Center In Jaffa.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 2007 to a team that established the first integrated school in Israel, with student enrollment, and faculty, each balanced 50/50, and with Jewish and Muslim Co-Directors. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2008 to founders of a bereavement group called Parents Circle: a Jew who lost his daughter to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, and a Palestinian whose brother was released from an Israeli prison... beaten so badly that he died shortly thereafter.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2009 to the founders of a Young </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Professionals</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Alliance between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2010 to a former member of an elite IDF army unit, and a Palestinian intifada fighter who had been in Israeli jails for 10 years, who formed a group called Combatants for Peace. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2011 to two women working in Be'er Sheva for the civil rights of Bedouins.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and 2012 to two Israeli lawyers, one Jewish, one Muslim each heading an organization devoted to civil rights within Israel, who file joint briefs to the Israeli Supreme Court on civil rights issues involving women, Muslims, gays, ...and Jews striving to live their lives unrestricted by Haredeem and other Orthodox forces.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pat and I go to Israel each year to present the prize, and each year are in awe of what the winners have done. In some years, the winning teams have been composed of one Palestinian and one Israeli. In other years, both winners have been Israeli citizens. Where both have been Israeli citizens, the work has been focused on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">civil rights</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, ....and it strongly evokes the civil rights struggles in the United States in the last half of the 20</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">th</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> century. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember as a boy on a trip to the American South seeing the water fountains and bathrooms with signs designating “white only.” I remember the tumultuous years in which African Americans fought to get equal rights. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">also</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> remember the active role many American Jews, including Rabbi Jack Stern, played in those historical efforts. And well we should have. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having for centuries been the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">victim</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of discrimination, it was only proper that we help others to be freed from it</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That lesson sometimes seems lost in the Israel of today</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but I think the same progress we made </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, can happen </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">there</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and it will require very similar effort. Action ....</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by citizens who are conscious of the disconnect between their moral heritage and the realities of their society,…</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and who are willing to pressure their government and their society for change. It's a challenge, but in this area of Israeli civil rights, I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">see</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> some progress and am somewhat optimistic. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the area of finding peace with the Palestinians</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, my optimism had pretty much vanished until very recently. In past years, the necessity and inevitability of a two-state solution seemed to be a given. But in the last few years, the secular Israeli liberals have seemed </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">dispirited</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, ....an increasingly powerless portion of society, and the actions of the government have seemed to presage an irreversible turn </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">away</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from a two-state solution, .....which has been the cornerstone of hope for those who seek long term peace in the Middle East.....indeed, the only solution that will allow a state that is both Jewish and democratic.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> believe that failure to establish a separate Palestinian state will </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">still</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> leave us with a Jewish state, ....but given birth rates of the Palestinians and the Orthodox Jews, not one that is democratic. We cringe at the term "apartheid state," but that is pretty descriptive of what would be. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It doesn't seem that the Israeli government has really digested the lessons of the Arab Spring, or the ramifications of Palestinians adopting, ....not arms which the IDF could crush, ....but massive Martin Luther King-type peaceful protests. Nor it seems has it really focused on the effect of possible international sanctions, like those in the 1970's that forced well-intentioned employers like IBM and Ford, .....who were hiring, training and promoting blacks and coloreds in South Africa,.... to </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">leave</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that country when major U.S. pension funds threatened divestiture of their stock. I was close to that one, and it happened very fast! </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.1500000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Personally, I believe that failure to achieve a two-state solution will be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">disastrous</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Israel,.... bad for the United States, ....and bad</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for Jews in general. And I am particularly concerned because the past couple of years have seen the Israeli government flirting with (destructive) actions that can't be undone. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.1500000000000001; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last week Secretary of State Kerry, in a speech before the American Jewish Committee, made a powerful plea for the American Jewish </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">community</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to lend its collective voice in support of a two state solution. The URJ, the reform movement led by Rick Jacobs, has come out publicly in support, and I was really encouraged at that very clear statement. But I have the feeling that too many of our fellow American Jews are afraid of speaking out because we fear being thought disloyal to Israel. But friends don't let friends drive drunk! I would hope that all of us, in whatever way we can, will make our voices heard.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>*</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's true that there has been </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">some</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> cause for optimism in the past couple of months, but this is the Middle East; and it's full of tribal lunatics who spout personal and state-condoned hatred; and the Palestinians and the Israelis continue to take turns missing opportunities for peace. So we'll have to see. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">W</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hatever</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> happens now, I still believe that grass roots efforts between Arabs and Jews,... a real </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brotherhood</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> task, ....are the best chance to one day achieve lasting change. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brotherhood, ....empathy and action, on behalf of "The Other," ..... can be painted on canvasses large and small. And it </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> counts. So we must </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> keep at it. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I am proud to accept your wonderful award, and hope I will continue to be worthy of it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-40788786745727751962013-06-03T12:48:00.003-04:002013-06-03T12:48:55.957-04:00Shlach Lchah 5773: The Book of Kvetching!<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I look at Benjamin, my son, and I am pretty clear I understand what he’s trying to say to me. Yes he doesn’t have words yet, he is very fond of “Hiya,” his first true word. He uses it kind of like Shalom in Hebrew, something of an every-word for hello, goodbye, and what’s going on. However, he still makes it very clear what he wants at any given time. He raises his arm in the direction of what he wants, and lets out a clear grunt, when he really wants something, allow me to demonstrate. He will happily repeat this until he gets it, and if you wait too long, it turns into the scourge of parents everywhere: a higher pitched whine.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now there is of course a difference between a whine and a complaint, and even the term complain can be broken into two meanings. On the one hand to issue a complaint, is an attempt to hopefully further the social order. We complain when we hope to increase the quality of our own service, or to better the situation overall. On the other, we have the connotation that pervades in the yiddish word: kvetch. <br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We as a people have a reputation, as a people that loves to kvetch for the sake of kvetching. The other day I was visiting one of our congregants at White Plains Hospital, and he pulled me aside, sharing that he wanted to be transferred to Greenwich Hospital as soon as possible, and wanted my help in making it happen. I said to him: “What's wrong? Is it the food?"<br />
"No, the food is fine.” He replied. “I can't kvetch."<br />
"Is it the room?"<br />
"No, the room is fine. I can't kvetch."<br />
"Is it the staff?"<br />
"No, everyone on the staff is fine. I can't kvetch."<br />
"Then why do you want to be transferred?"<br />
"I can't kvetch!"<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Michael Wex in his commentary on that joke in his book “Born to Kvetch,” reflected: “the fundamental idea that kvetching—complaining—is not only a pastime, not only a response to adverse or imperfect circumstance, but a way of life that has nothing to do with the fulfillment or frustration of desire."[7]<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now I have been saying this since we began the book of Numbers, but today I really want to get inside it: Numbers really should be called the book of kvetching. My son has been turning the kvetch into an artform that we as a people have persisted to this day. The people kvetch constantly, and this week's parashah is no exception. Listen to the severity of the kvetching in our Parashah:<br />
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Chapter 14<br />
1. The entire community raised their voices and shouted, and the people wept on that night.<br />
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א. וַתִּשָּׂא כָּל הָעֵדָה וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶת קוֹלָם וַיִּבְכּוּ הָעָם בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא:<br />
2. All the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the entire congregation said, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this desert.<br />
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ב. וַיִּלֹּנוּ עַל משֶׁה וְעַל אַהֲרֹן כֹּל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֲלֵהֶם כָּל הָעֵדָה לוּ מַתְנוּ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם אוֹ בַּמִּדְבָּר הַזֶּה לוּ מָתְנוּ:<br />
3. Why does Adonai bring us to this land to fall by the sword; our wives and weak children will be as booty. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?"<br />
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ג. וְלָמָה יְהֹוָה מֵבִיא אֹתָנוּ אֶל הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לִנְפֹּל בַּחֶרֶב נָשֵׁינוּ וְטַפֵּנוּ יִהְיוּ לָבַז הֲלוֹא טוֹב לָנוּ שׁוּב מִצְרָיְמָה:<br />
4. They said to each other, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt!"<br />
<br />
ד. וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל אָחִיו נִתְּנָה רֹאשׁ וְנָשׁוּבָה מִצְרָיְמָה:<br />
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We earned the moniker, Stiff necked people for a reason, we are a people that like to whine and complain. This is a trope throughout our Torah,. that the grass is perpetually greener back in Egypt according to the Israelites. Yet in reading this and considering it I began to wonder: What is the point of complaining? I also wonder: what are the benefits of complaining, or are there any as we as a people have earned such a reputation for complaining?<br />
Even if you are complaining not just to vent, but in the hopes of changing your situation, what is the power of time, place, and circumstance? In the age of constant connectivity, there are countless stories of people complaining about poor service on Social Media, and seeing almost immediate reaction from huge corporations. The goal is to increase the social welfare, even a little bit, and a bit selfishly.<br />
As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks notes in his book, Future Tense, “Judaism is a critique of empire and the rule of the strong.” (p78) He believes, that as a people we have consistently served as the kvetching voice refusing to allow right by might, but raising our voices in protest. Complaining has a potentially powerful role in changing our society. We complain about injustice, we complain about inequality in our world today. That form of complaining, where we are acting towards a better world and voicing what that world can be versus just kvetching about the world that is. Now for the Israelites, it was this complaint that earned them 40 years in the desert, never able to see the promised land; yet as a people, time and again, we have stood on the sidelines of history complaining, trying to make this a better world. <br />
Since we’re talking about complaints, let me not forget the humble kvetch session, a healthy expression of frustration, which everyone needs once in awhile. As researcher Dr. Barbara Held notes, it is a valuable life skill to vent constructively. Her guidelines for any kvetch session: “Be up-front about your need to complain (rather than try to pretend you're just having a regular conversation), limit your kvetch time, and don't act as though your gripes trump everyone else's. Above all, select an appropriate listener.”<br />
Now I know my son is a bit young to have this kind of realization about complaining. He will continue to whine and groan at me for I would assume, years to come. Yet we as a people and as human beings need to work hard to ensure our complaining is not simply to bring others down, or to whine indiscriminately. It’s about healthily letting off some steam, and powerfully critiquing the social order to make a better world today. <br />
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Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-13000039933196190592013-01-16T11:13:00.000-05:002013-01-16T11:13:32.343-05:00Gatekeepers by Sarah Friedman<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9309116753283888" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve been reading a lot about </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Gatekeepers</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Dror Moreh’s Oscar-nominated documentary that interviews the six living heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service. It’s not yet in wide release in the States, and I was happy to learn that it is playing in Israel. On Sunday evening, walked to the Tel Aviv Cinematheque and saw it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is an extraordinary documentary, and difficult to watch. Straightforward interviews are powerfully juxtaposed with highly edited old photos made crisp and three-dimensional and old news footage that is graphically and emotionally raw. There is mind-blowing quote after mind-blowing quote, and little background music that influences the mood of the film. The filmmaker is clearly left-wing and his rare but probing questions become irritating mostly because they are so unnecessary: all six men speak straightforwardly, often saying things that are unbelievable to hear an Israeli security chief say. They speak mostly about Israeli-Palestinian history and relations. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Throughout the film I heard sniffling and sighing in the seats around me, particularly when graphic footage of the aftermath of First Intifada bus bombings filled the screen. The build-up to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination is also rough– seeing rallies of religious Israelis burning the PM’s photo, holding a mock funeral, a small child looking full of hatred as he strained his voice to join the crowd shouting against a peacemaker, a traitor to them. Interviews touch on the planned bombing of the Temple Mount by Jewish extremists, ethical deliberations surrounding IDF assassinations of terrorist leaders, the controversial handling of the hijacking of bus 300… the window it provides into Israel’s security-related history is so valuable for anyone trying to understand the difficult security dilemmas Israel faces.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I won’t hide that the former chiefs’ conclusions mostly jibe well with my own politics. But although the film deals with fundamentally political issues and has received both commendation and condemnation for its handling of them, the overwhelming takeaway is not a political perspective. It is sadness at missed opportunities, and urgency – urgency to work toward a better future now because we won’t have the opportunity to do so in the future. It’s a perspective that is not common here. Although the majority of Israelis support a two-state solution as part of a negotiated peace, belief in its </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">possibility</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is rare. The shrinking left that not only believes in it but also wants to act on it is seen as naïve. With elections one week away, current Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is widely expected to retain his seat but lead a far more extremist right coalition, filled with politicians who call for annexing the West Bank – among other strategies unpalatable to proponents of a state that is both democratic and Jewish. Although there are dozens of political parties, few if any can boast politically experienced, credible leaders devoted to and able to articulate an inspiring vision for a sustainable peace. (Feel free to start a discussion in the comments section if you disagree – I hope to be proved wrong.)</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">None of the previews I’ve found online do </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Gatekeepers</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> any justice. You just have to see it, and see it with someone whose hand you can hold. It’s difficult to watch but extremely worthwhile as an invaluable perspective on Israel’s past, present, and future from the Israeli security apparatus’s most knowledgeable insiders.</span></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-82989118501832731872012-12-17T14:47:00.001-05:002012-12-17T15:08:08.653-05:00A step in the right direction by Sarah Friedman<b id="internal-source-marker_0.42199694155715406" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I spent the weekend at Kibbutz Ketura, home of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, where I interned this summer. I was excited to go back and meet the students who arrived for the semester after I left - Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, Jordanians. Throughout the semester or year, they learn together about the environment and examine their political and personal preconceptions through a periodic Peace and Environmental Leadership seminar. The idea is to create regional leaders who will use shared understanding of shared environmental problems to improve regional cooperation on the environment and beyond. (“Nature knows no borders” is the Institute's slogan.) I was attracted to the Institute because of this approach, the extension of which was the foundation of my interest in the environment of the Middle East: the idea of peacebuilding through shared environmental concerns, that developing trust in a practical and emotionally low</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">er</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-stakes area will enable existing partnerships – among students, academics, NGOs, governments - to more effectively tackle the greater political challenge of creating a mutually agreed-upon peace. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I loved being a part of the AIES community over the summer, but this time I got the full experience. With students, the place is spectacular: in the gorgeous emptiness of the Arava, in Israel but also in its own world, young people who would never otherwise interact are roommates and friends, spending every waking minute together in class, in the kibbutz dining hall, in the common spaces of the newly built dormitory, on hikes through the surrounding desert. Though their narratives are different, even conflicting, they build connections and understanding that will influence their professional and personal careers forever. Twice during the weekend, students and I discussed how we could solve the whole conflict. Our plans ranged from the ridiculous - build a second floor on top of the entire land so both sides can have it all! - to the painfully practical - '67 lines with land swaps, East Jerusalem to Palestine and West Jerusalem to Israel with some form of international control over the Holy Basin. It goes without saying that we were oversimplifying, but for people of such different backgrounds, each with divergent and dearly held narratives, to speak candidly if lightheartedly about solutions is a step in the right direction. We weren’t being flippant. We were joking around because the situation feels so hopeless: when individuals can</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">connect on a meaningful level but our leaders and people cannot, it’s so sad that when our weeks of </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">working </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">toward a solution end, we have to laugh. It’s a step.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are many of these small-scale, person-to-person, interfaith/intercultural/international peacebuilding efforts. They make a huge difference in the lives of participants, even if the participants are self-selecting from the start, already inclined to want to understand the other side. So these kinds of programs aren't a society-wide panacea. But hopefully participants will become effective leaders and inspire the rest. At the J Street conference in March, renowned Israeli author Amos Oz said it best: "I don't know who will be the leader or the leaders, who will carry out the necessary surgeries, but I know those leaders are already amongst us; they are alive. I wish I knew how old they are." </span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the weekend, the last night of Chanukah, I stood on the top floor of the dorms and looked at the mountain I'd hiked that morning. "Electricity Mountain" has nine big barrels of gas that are lit as a </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">chanukiah</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> every year. The kibbutz kids who became bar and bat mitzvahs that year hike up to light the "candles" every night. It's a beautiful site, visible from the whole kibbutz, the highway, and probably low-flying planes. I hope in the near future, that </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">chanukiah</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> will shine over a nation at peace, and thanks may be due to AIES alumni and others like them.</span></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-58765057078832217412012-12-12T11:57:00.002-05:002012-12-12T11:58:24.305-05:00IDF Ethics by Sarah Friedman<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9580297444481403" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few weeks ago I went to a MASA-sponsored security & diplomacy-themed shabbaton, run by Kol Voice Seminars, an educational company run by British olim. I had signed up for it weeks earlier, unsure what to expect, and was both excited and newly hesitant as the weekend began, two days since the end of Operation Pillar of Defense, the almost-war. My experience with this type of presentation has not been one of nuance or balance, but I was very pleasantly surprised.</span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One perspective I’d never heard in detail was from Colonel (Res.) <a href="http://www.bentzigruber.com/">Bentzi Gruber</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, who speaks about the IDF ethical code. He arrived straight from eight days on a base in the south, gave a well-practiced and half-heartening, half-discouraging lecture, and left us with the oddest business card I’ve ever seen, featuring a rainbow leading to a tank. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He opened by poking legitimate fun at Egyptians <a href="http://theweek.com/article/index/210122/conspiracy-alert-is-egypts-shark-attack-crisis-the-work-of-israel">blaming a shark attack on the Israel Defense Forces</a></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, but on a related and more serious note he said that Israel can’t seem to avoid losing the PR war. I agree: Israel does make political and military moves deserving of criticism, but it also does and </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a lot of great things, and those don’t make it into the news often enough. Israel transgressions – real, exaggerated, or imaginary (like the shark) – make for more popular news. It was encouraging to hear, then, about the IDF’s institutional concern for the ethical implications of its actions, disconnected from PR value, for better or for worse. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Col. Gruber outlined the principles the IDF trains it soldiers to use in real-time decision-making: </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
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<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9580297444481403" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Necessity – use only the force required to complete mission</span></b></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9580297444481403" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Distinction – don’t harm innocents (difficult against terrorists, who do not wear uniforms like regular soldiers). He said that during Operation Pillar of Defense the IDF hit 1600 targets and refrained from hitting an additional 400 because of doubts.</span></b></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9580297444481403" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Proportionality – killing civilians is acceptable when preventing an imminent threat, but not when targeting a terrorist for past wrongs. (Weary from battle preparations, he added: “I am not doing a party when I kill a terrorist. … When you come back from the field after destroying villages, you bring it back home with you.”)</span></b></li>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9580297444481403" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He showed us video of a Hamas member picking up an unwilling child to cross the street with so the IDF wouldn’t shoot. He told us that 98 percent of the medical visits from Gaza to Israel were approved in 2009 and that 95 percent of electricity in Gaza comes from Ashkelon, Israel, up from 35 percent in 2009. He denied a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, saying that civilians are not his enemies, and estimated that of the 1.8 million residents, 40,000 are terrorists. It’s difficult to judge the reliability of presented information when the perspective is clearly one-sided, even if it’s one I’m inclined to trust, but I guess that’s part of the PR war he lamented. </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Throughout the presentation, I kept thinking about the actual implications of these ethics. We live in a Jewish state, by Jewish principles (though if two Jews have three opinions, it’s a certainty that not everyone will be happy with the Jewish principles applied), but what happens if a mistake is made? He never mentioned circumstances that might lead to the code </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">being followed – though it’s not difficult for me to imagine things going occasionally awry among scared 18-year-olds with guns – but he did describe the fear and overwhelmingness of warfare. Col. Gruber said that carrying 60+ pounds for four hours during a mission makes soldiers lose half their brain power, helpfully adding: “put on your helmet and you’re almost an idiot.” (I don’t know how much speculation, observation, or science contributed to that assertion, but I think it’s how I would feel, too.) </span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In response to a questioner who asked if it wouldn’t have been better to attack Gaza with great force and wipe out the threat completely, Col. Gruber said that this problem can only be managed, not solved – pointing to the fact that after Cast Lead in 2008-9 only six months passed before rockets were shot into Israel again. I don’t agree that the political situation is hopeless (yet), so I was happily surprised when he emphasized that we also need to teach </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">both</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sides not to hate each other. I wonder if that is possible in a managed situation – when Palestinians grow up stateless, disenfranchised, and Israelis grow up in a hostile neighborhood fearing attacks from all sides. But it revives my optimism that the Israeli military strives to operate ethically, even if the PR war is hopeless; and I hope the Israeli political system can also follow a pragmatic ethical code, intended to preserve the Jewish, democratic nature of the state, even when the political future looks hopeless.</span></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-784468068422398232012-11-16T07:55:00.002-05:002012-12-11T16:34:37.502-05:00Life in Tel Aviv by Sarah Friedman<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10668000602163374" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10668000602163374" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sarah E. Friedman</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10668000602163374" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">November 15, 2012</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.10668000602163374" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last night marked the first time since the Gulf War that air raid sirens have sounded in Tel Aviv signaling imminent danger. (It also marked the only time in my life I will regret living in an apartment with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows.) </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I heard the siren, around 7 pm on Thursday, its meaning didn’t register at first. I poked my head out my window to survey the situation, and when I heard the penetrating thud of an explosion I decided to change clothes, pack a bag, and head downstairs to find a shelter. (Needless to say, this is </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the correct order in which to proceed). I didn’t see one in my building, so I stood in the elevator bank beneath the staircase until a neighbor came along. The neighbor said that there is no shelter in our old building (though building codes now require new residential construction to include shelters) but that inside a staircase away from windows was the recommended alternative, and where I was standing was perfect. Soon after I returned to my apartment – sheltering is recommended for only 10 minutes after the siren stops – I started receiving worried messages from family and friends, and cautionary missives from various authorities, including the U.S. Embassy, urging residents to find shelter in case of another siren. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I ventured into my immediate neighborhood to find a shelter, figuring the businesses surrounding me would know if the neighbors didn’t. I was wrong: the calm that I observed when I stupidly peeked out the window was truly felt and internalized by the Israelis I spoke with. In the grocery store downstairs, in the restaurant connected to my building, no one knew where a shelter was. They seemed unconcerned, not brazenly so, just calm. In the coffee shop across the street, the barista laughed kindly at my question, as if it was cute and very dutiful of me to want to know, but really not necessary. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My Israeli aunt and several friends called me that night. They all wanted to see if I felt okay, if I was scared, if there was anything they could do. They themselves weren’t disturbed. Even though the sirens haven’t sounded in Tel Aviv in more than 20 years, the Israeli mentality is prepared to face random violence. I don’t mean to romanticize Israelis or downplay the seriousness of the situation – but living in a danger zone is part of the deal here and they don’t let fear rule. And the issue today isn’t Iran, which could become a more serious immediate threat. The present physical danger is being hit by a not-precisely-aimed rocket, of which Gaza has many less since the Israeli Air Force hit </span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=292102"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">targets</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> including rocket storage and launching pads. There won’t be blocks leveled in Tel Aviv, fortunately, and safety procedures including sirens with a 2-minute warning time seem to me the mark of an incredibly prepared and well-equipped government. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On that semi-positive note and in that context, I have mixed feelings about the reactions I’ve heard from outside of Israel. Many individuals and organizations are declaring solidarity with Israel no matter what, promoting any military action, no questions asked. Of course I stand with the country and idea of Israel no matter what - I stand </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Israel, I live here, I study here, I run on the boulevard outside my house and sit on the beach and ride the bus daily and don’t want my daily life disrupted by rockets and explosions and war. I love Israel, which is why I am here. And it would be gratifying to see more informed discourse on the situation coming from the States, passionate and controversial discourse of the kind that is going on here in Israel, where the violence is a reality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Throughout the night, I was in constant communication with friends, confined to my apartment but too distracted and adrenaline-rushed to do school work. I read and thought a lot about what is happening and why. I don’t know enough to judge what is absolutely right and wrong, and I don’t think not being sure is a moral or intellectual abdication. The most important debate to have in the Jewish community, internally or publicly, is about Israel’s long-term interests. Israel has a right to defend itself against violent attacks, as any sovereign nation does. Last night I felt very grateful for the IAF’s targeted attacks on Gazan weaponry. And so far, the civilian casualties on both sides can be counted on fingers and toes. Yet especially with the IDF </span><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4306350,00.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">calling up reservists</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> last night to prepare for a potential ground invasion, many are frightened that this will become another Operation Cast Lead. Whatever your political opinion, the killing of 1,400 Palestinians was gravely damaging to Israel’s international relations and public image. What is the right balance between the short-term and long-term interests when reacting to violence today?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the case of the assassination of Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari, there are a lot of questions that are worth parsing but may never be answered fully. No one argues that he was a friend of Israel: he was a terrorist behind plots against Israel and behind the abduction of Gilad Shalit. But then he was also behind the negotiated release of Shalit, and according to </span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-peace-activist-hamas-leader-jabari-killed-amid-talks-on-the-long-term-truce.premium-1.478085"><span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gershon Baskin</span></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (whose politics you can agree with or not, but there’s no pretending he’s a lightweight since the Shalit deal) he had a practical approach to his interests that apparently included a long-term cease-fire. How are we going to interact with Hamas leaders in the future, if at all, knowing that assassinating those who sit at our table doesn’t encourage others to cooperate?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The timing of this escalation, especially if it becomes a ground war, is expected to take social justice issues off the electorate’s mind and make security – perceived as the strength of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak – the decisive issue in the January elections. And it can’t be good for Israel that Egypt, with whom we share a cold but strategically crucial peace, withdrew its ambassador. From here in Tel Aviv, things already seem to be changing, and I can’t see how an escalation involving ground troops will help Israel’s security in the short term or the long term. I hope not to find out. I do hope for more informed and nuanced discourse in addition to support for the people of Israel and, as always, for peace for Israel and the region.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I finished this blog on Friday early afternoon, the siren sounded again. I ran downstairs and crowded into a windowless corridor with the patrons of the nearby restaurant and coffee shop. And now that my adrenaline is up again, I’m going for a run, trying to absorb the Israeli mentality that life must go on despite these jarring interruptions.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-8024520490898057742012-11-06T16:32:00.002-05:002012-11-06T16:32:58.759-05:00Real Bedouin Life in Israel by Sarah Friedman<b id="internal-source-marker_0.6614469266496599" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The orientation trip for my Masters program took us to the south of Israel, where we saw many sites that are typical tourist stops: the colored sands of the Negev, Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, the Dead Sea. Next, of course, was a Bedouin village. But when we arrived in Qasr-a-Sir, near Dimona, it was a surprise – not a stand-alone tent clearly made for tourists where Bedouins claiming to have no formal education speak in perfect English about their four wives and the camels that are their only form of transport (we slept in one of those!), but a town where actual Bedouins live. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Qasr-a-Sir is a pre-state settlement where 4,500 Bedouins live on 10 percent of their original land, holding on to some traditions while adapting to the changed reality of their surroundings. We started with cups of tea: coffee, apparently, is the authentic drink of hospitality and giving us that would symbolize a whole host of mutual obligations our hosts for the afternoon weren’t ready to extend to a group of international graduate students, including defense by sword. Then a local man took us up a hill to give us a view over the town and, through a translator, narrated his community’s history. Ramshackle buildings, piles of rubble (including one that was his grandmother’s house until the Israel Defense Forces demolished it), a big modern school building, and an access road to the highway spread out before us, and as the sun set we noticed that the town has no electricity. The lights of nearby Dimona, the site of Israel’s nuclear reactor and the city that took over this village’s land, competed with the highway’s brightness as the village grew darker.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our guide told us that after years of a community effort led by his father, the village was finally recognized by Israel in 2001. (You can read more about the difficulties of obtaining recognition </span><a href="https://www.google.co.il/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CF8QFjAH&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bustan.org%2Fon%2Fadmin%2Fmy_documents%2Fmy_files%2FRCUVmaster.pdf&ei=DyyYUM_7OMLU0QW5joGQBA&usg=AFQjCNEdAljeKyCvSYDtjxP83AVKHZwCSw&sig2=WyhFaB_NTlL1Vc2rwT7AZQ&cad=rja"><span style="color: blue; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, from the Israeli organization Bustan, which works for fair resource allocation and sustainable development for Bedouin and Jewish communities in the Negev.) Since recognition, the modern school and the access road were built and the village was hooked up to Mekorot, the Israeli national water provider. Our guide said the water equipment is functional, though not kept up to date. Homes are not yet connected to electricity, and the individual solar panels most have do not store adequate power for family use.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin: 0pt -0.05pt; text-indent: -0.05pt;">
<span style="font-family: LucidaGrande; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the muezzin called out for evening prayers, our guide said he wanted to tell us something about Islam. He said that Islam is not terrorism; it is a religion in line with modernity that is supposed to build lives and create connections, not be a force for destruction. He said the people in the news may be Arab, but they are not Muslim. I imagine that most of my fellow students did not need to be told that not all Muslims are terrorists, and I wish that his simple, sincere statement could have gone directly to the ears of the many people worldwide – including, unfortunately, some American Jews – who basically distrust Muslims. I have heard some claim that the majority of Muslims must sympathize if not support terrorism, or it would be their first and constant priority to speak out against the misuse of their religion. As a Reform Jew, I’ve always found these accusations deeply troubling. I live my life according to the values that my specific Jewish education and my personal understanding of Jewish tradition and texts have instilled in me. I would be infuriated if anyone suggested that I must disavow </span><a href="http://tombstones/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Baruch Goldstein</span></a><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (the Jewish extremist who murdered dozens of praying Palestinians at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron) or </span><a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt26d7.htm"><span style="color: blue; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Psalm 137:9</span></a><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (which advocates smashing Babylonian babies’ heads against rocks) every time I reveal my religious background. The way I live my life is a constant disavowal of extremism and of the literal meanings of some archaic texts from a very different time in my people’s history. I’m sure the same goes for every WRT member, most American Jews, and most Muslims worldwide. Not every member of a group is called upon to be the spokesperson for all other members – and Islam is a group of more than </span><a href="http://www.pewforum.org/mapping-the-global-muslim-population.aspx"><span style="color: blue; font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1.6 billion</span></a><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I was sorry that this man felt the need to defend his religion to strangers, but moved that he did so with passion and without anger. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I respect Tel Aviv University’s decision to include in our orientation to the country a glimpse into the reality of modern Bedouin life. It wasn’t as inspiring as the rest of our trip, which showcased the natural beauty of the ancient land of our ancestors and the amazing successes of the start-up nation, but acknowledging challenges and trying to address them is a mark of a strong society. Our afternoon in Qasr-a-Sir added valuable depth to the trip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" />Then, of course, we boarded the bus and headed to a tourist-friendly Bedouin-themed resort, replete with camel rides, ornate tents full of fruit baskets and colorful pillows, and low tables supporting overloaded platters of “traditional” food that included (lucky for me) soy balls for the vegetarians.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-61505248141422321012012-11-05T16:16:00.001-05:002012-11-05T16:16:52.604-05:00A few responses to the question, "How can I help?"<br />
More Post-Sandy relief efforts underway at Westchester Reform Temple and beyond:<br />
<br />
BUY SUPPLIES ONLINE for the residents of the Far Rockaway and send them c/o City Councilmember James Sanders, Jr., 1526 Central Ave, Far Rockaway, NY 11691. They need work gloves, batteries, flashlights, thick garbage bags, mops, brooms, shovels, bleach, warm clothing (clean, sorted and marked), boots, blankets, diapers, wipes, water, food ready-to-eat.<br />
<br />
DONATE to the URJ Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund: http://urj.org/socialaction/issues/relief/hurricanes/<br />
<br />
COOK FOR OUR COMMUNITY: WRT Kitchen, this Wednesday, 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM; recipients include depleted local food banks & soup kitchens.<br />
<br />
DROP OFF SUPPLIES at WRT: UJA-Federation is partnering with individual synagogues. Bring non-perishable food, water batteries and toiletries to the Temple lobby. We will delivery these items to UJA on Friday at 3:00 pm.<br />
<br />
STOP BY WRT if you need a place to recharge, refresh, and warm up. We're open Tuesday 8:30 - 9:00 PM.<br />
<br />
CLICK on any of the following links for more opportunities to help. <br />
www.ujafedny.org<br />
www.werepair.org<br />
www.nycservice.org<br />
www.nyc.gov<br />
www.volunteer-center.org/sandy<br />
JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-8095061202620937512012-11-01T19:07:00.002-04:002012-11-01T19:07:56.098-04:00An Important Message from Westchester Reform Temple to our Community<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2DoiM5q8_9A" width="560"></iframe><br />JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-71018266630707334612012-10-22T14:15:00.001-04:002012-10-22T14:15:21.195-04:00Foreign labor in Israel by Sarah Friedman
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In an emergency ruling about a decade ago, the kibbutz I
just left decided to hire foreign workers to be able to meet fruit’s natural
(and therefore non-negotiable) harvesting deadlines. In bringing “Thailandim”
to the desert oasis, the kibbutz joined a national trend: tens of thousands of
Thais work in Israel, according to the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8600261.stm">BBC</a>. </div>
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I spoke to the kibbutz member in charge of workers in the
kibbutz’s date fields and learned a lot about the business of bringing in
foreign laborers. At first glance, the phenomenon seems anathema to many
ideological strains present in Israeli society: socialism, self-reliance,
Zionism/nationalism. According to this member, however, it was unavoidable: the
kibbutz’s expanding business and aging membership/workforce simply demanded a
more reliable source of labor than volunteers or even willing Israeli workers
could provide. (One year, the kibbutz hired a cadre of Israelis right out of
the military, but the logistical problems other than age mirrored those of
kibbutz members: family constraints, occasional medical leave, reserve duty in
the IDF.) So kibbutzim hire young Thai men, usually married, who come to Israel
on five-year contracts to earn hugely more than they could at home. (Estimates
range from <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8600261.stm">double</a> to <a href="http://israelity.com/2010/11/23/israel-food-strike/">20 times</a>). The
work force of this particular kibbutz also includes six Eritrean refugees,
recruited from the side of the road in Eilat or by word of mouth. These hired
workers labor long hours in searing heat often well over 100° Fahrenheit during
the summer growing season for juicy Mejdool dates. </div>
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The Thai workers live on the kibbutz but don’t participate
in the community at all. (The Eritreans live in Eilat and the kibbutz pays for
their daily commute.) Living on a kibbutz is such a communal experience, for
the members, for volunteers, even for interns at the academic institute on
kibbutz property, like me. When the kibbutz voted to hire foreign workers, it
actually decided to incorporate them into the community. But the Thailandim
come here to earn money for their family back home, not to make new lives.
Although they live in a housing block near the volunteers’ quarters, the first
group declined the option to eat meals in the kibbutz dining hall – although
some Thailandim at a nearby kibbutz do. Instead, they continue to eat
traditional foods, which they prepare with ingredients bought in part from a
traveling vendor serving the 4,000 to 5,000 Thailandim in the northern Arava. </div>
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In Thailand, I’m told, it is an honor to be picked to leave
the country – even though it usually means going into debt at first thanks to
high, sometimes predatory middleman fees. But that system is changing: since
the Israeli and Thai governments signed an agreement in May 2012, Thais can be
employed directly by Israeli employers and don’t have to go through the private
“manpower agencies” that can <a href="http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=220159">take
advantage of them</a> by charging exorbitant fees for finding work. I spoke
with Sharon, from a different kibbutz, about this new ruling and he expressed
skepticism that the system change will improve the prospects of Thailandim or
those who hire them. He said (though I wasn’t able to verify) that there will
still be middlemen, several large, ostensibly not-for-profit organizations in
place of the 50+ private companies now in business. Whether there will be any
middlemen or not, the system now will be randomized and anonymized, so current
workers cannot arrange for a friend or relative to follow in their footsteps
and employers cannot communicate with future employees. Both members I spoke
with emphasized that when the regulation goes into effect, small kibbutz
industries will suffer from not being able to easily and reliably find workers
with specific skill sets, as they do now through personal reference by current
workers and logistics facilitated by the middleman. Sharon said that he uses
the system to check up on workers before they come and make sure they are not
being taken advantage of to get here.</div>
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I’m sure that not all employers put in the effort to take
care of their future employees or find appropriate niche workers for certain
tasks, and I write only from the perspective to which I was directly exposed.
But I hope that the advantage of the new system – fairness for workers – will
counterbalance the difficulties it will pose for smaller employers and the
increased anonymity faced by workers. It’s interesting to observe the situation
of foreign workers in a country that prides itself on self-reliance, has mixed
feelings about the African refugees who have made it there, and has poor
relations full of fear and hostility with most of its immediate neighbors. From
what I can see, the physical laborers are welcomed as part of the Israeli
economy but not integrated into Israeli society. Other foreign workers – such
as the many Filipina caregivers – and other outsiders have different stories,
for another post.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-75053169354729529752012-10-06T19:43:00.001-04:002012-10-06T19:43:38.433-04:00Installation RemarksShavua everyone! Please see my remarks upon my installation this past Shabbat.<br />
<br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9705942152068019" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 198px;"><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Installation Remarks</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9705942152068019" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 198px;"><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rabbi David E. Levy</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9705942152068019" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 198px;"><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">10/5/2012 20 Tishrei 5773</span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9705942152068019" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 198px;"><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Talmud teaches us many blessing that we can say when we experience something good in our lives, one of which is: </span></b><br />
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<span style="color: #373737; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hearing Good News</span></b></h3>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶך-הָעולָם הַטּוב וְהַמֵּטִיב.</span></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, who is good and causes good.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr">
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<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is truly a moment for this blessing. Thank you all for being here tonight, from Rabbi Gewirtz and his wonderful words, my family that came here tonight, and the members of our community. How good it is to be here tonight with you. </span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I begin with a question: Who is Moses? Throughout the book of Exodus we see particular snapshots from Moses’ life, as he grows into the leader he was meant to be. The moments of his life are etched into our own minds either from reading the Torah or from Charlton Heston’s classic portrayal. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We call him Moshe Rabbeinu, Moses our Rabbi. However, in looking at the Torah it is abundantly clear that he did not earn that honorific overnight. Moses grew dramatically from the stutterer he claimed to be at the burning bush, to his eloquent farewell address on Mount Nebo at the end of the Torah. Moses grew over time learning from friends, and from mentors and getting encouragement from the best of places. In our Torah reading this week, Moses receives high praise from the Most High:</span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Exodus 33:12</span><br /><div dir="rtl" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> יְדַעְתִּיךָ בְשֵׁם וְגַם מָצָאתָ חֵן בְּעֵינָי</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know you by name and you have found grace in my eyes. </span><span style="color: #58b442; font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moses didn’t just have a support system that guided him and taught him new things, but he had a cheering section that could not be compared, G-d knew him by name and looked at him favorably. G-d and others mentored and guided Moses to become the leader he was meant to be. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>For whomever will either guide teach or cheer you on, the first step is that they know you, and care for you, as G-d did for Moses. I have been blessed to have mentors and people throughout my life that have known me by name, and found the grace to help guide me. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My first mentor was my grandfather, Iz, whose yarzheit was this past Yom Kippur. He taught me everything I need to know about being a mensch, and a gentleman. That kindness of spirit lives on through me, like a nesting doll, within me. There are so many people that are both here and afar that have guided me. Allow me to personally thank a few of those who have joined us tonight. </span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As much as we learn in Rabbinical School, it is the learning laboratory of the congregation where the rubber hits the road. The past two years that I spent at Temple B’nai Jeshurun were filled with learning, challenge and growth. The team that I worked with there were amazing, and Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz is a mentor par excellance. His dedication to my growth, his desire to know me and to help me grow is all testament to the type of man and Rabbi he is. Rabbi Gewirtz is both the sacred agitator, pushing me when he knew I was being my best self in the candid and honest style I so appreciated, as well as the hamishe rebbe, embracing me and my family so warmly. Thank you for always reminding me to find that balance between head and heart. Rabbi Doctor Aaron Panken, you taught me about Talmud and 2nd Temple Literature, but more importantly the value of taking ownership of my learning and my growth, thank you for that and so much more. Like all of the people that inspire me in the work that I do, I often hear your voices in my ear pushing me in the right direction. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Thank you to family and friends who are joining us here as well as tuning in via our live webcast. However, it is my partner, that deserves the greatest thanks. Kate, you met and started dating a college guy with an earring and who was majoring in Information Systems. I’m so lucky to have had you with me as I began the soul searching work to become a Rabbi. Your presence in my life from then until now has been a blessing. You are in all things a fitting mirror: always first to tell me my sermon was great or terrible, always ready with a supportive word or an appropriate critique. Thank you and Benjamin for being there for me, although Benjamin doesn’t really have a choice just yet, he can’t move far on his own. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I can’t count the number of people who I’ve spoken to who’ve used the language of “Did you survive the High Holidays?” Yes it was a marathon, but like any marathon runner will tell you, when we finished it felt amazing. It has been my honor to partner with our amazing team of </span><span style="font-size: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clei Kodesh, </span><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of clergy,</span><span style="font-size: 21px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as I begin this journey with you. Rabbi Blake, Cantor Abramson, Rabbi Burstein, & Cantor Davidson, sharing the bimah with you has been such an invigorating opportunity. I look forward to our growing relationships and many years of simchahs to come. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Moses we see in this weeks reading is not the Moses of Ha’azinu, the dramatic poem that caps off the book of Deuteronomy. He’s also not the Moses who swears he cannot speak. He is a leader still in formation having moments of greatness and moments of struggle. He still has more than 40 years of leadership ahead of him, gearing up for another lifetime of working with the Israelites. It was while Moses was in formation, that he began the sacred responsibility of knowing others by name, and them finding grace in his eyes. We see Moses working with the Israelites, with both of them growing because of their relationship. </span><br /><span style="font-size: 21px; font-style: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As I look out at our community, I am so grateful that I’m beginning my Rabbinic career with you, as someone still in formation looking forward to a lifetime of sacred partnership with the Jewish people. From the moment that Kate and I arrived here, we have felt so embraced, and so welcomed. Like Moses, I look forward to journeying with all of you together. That we will know each other by name, and find Grace in each others eyes. </span></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-37406167902301517942012-10-03T18:21:00.003-04:002012-10-03T18:21:44.791-04:00Sukkot reflection: Operation Escape Desert Storm Some Reflections on Sukkot in Israel by our member Sarah Friedman!<br />
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Sukkot reflection: Operation Escape Desert Storm<br />
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In my first attempt at serious physical activity since being kicked by a kibbutz horse<br />
named Loco, I went on what turned into an epic four-hour hike through the desert’s<br />
extreme weather patterns. The weather here has been odd for the last few days – humid,<br />
cloudy, dusty, even a surprising off-season rain. On Saturday night the kibbutz and the<br />
area as far as we could see blacked out for about 15 minutes. Yesterday, Erev Sukkot, we<br />
expected more of the same slight weirdness but thought nothing of going on a desert hike<br />
behind the kibbutz.<br />
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A friend and I hiked through a wadi, scrambled up a vertical rock wall, walked over<br />
a pebbly mountaintop over a oil pipeline road, and goat-walked over a sand dune<br />
streaked with green copper into Crystal Canyon, a huge wadi full of strange layered rock<br />
formations. The enormous canyon ended in a 150-200 meter vertical wall, and the view<br />
from that end back through the wadi and over the mountains was awe-inspiring. As we<br />
sat talking on the rocks, we felt a few light raindrops, and moments later the sky turned<br />
dark orange and we were in the middle of a sandstorm. The rain quickened and we heard<br />
thunderclaps, and my friend helpfully said that there could be a flash flood. (Flashback to<br />
the horror stories my NFTY counselors told of hikers killed in desert flash floods, stories<br />
impossible to fathom as we trekked through the dry, sandy supposed flood zones in the<br />
July heat. But it does happen: as incongruous as desert flooding seems, sand and rock<br />
don’t absorb water so heavy rains cause flash floods.) We ran and scrambled to get out<br />
of the wadi as soon as possible, and I noticed how terrifying and beautiful the sky looked<br />
but was too anxious to stop for a photo. We slid down the sand dunes instead of carefully<br />
hedging our steps as we had on the way in.<br />
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At that point, between our position on rocky flats and the rain’s stabilization, my friend<br />
declared we were no longer in danger. My fear evaporated once we arrived on the<br />
pipeline road again, and then it was just exciting to observe and be caught in the sheer<br />
power of natural forces around us. Besides the constant expansive beauty of the desert<br />
and mountains, there was the powerful, disorienting sandy wind and an eerily dusty sky<br />
whose light’s origin we couldn’t discern – the end of the sun or the full moon already<br />
risen? After an hour of carefully climbing down, as we hiked the flat land between the<br />
mountains and the kibbutz, we saw vivid flashes of orange emanating from horizontal<br />
lightning bolts over Jordan.<br />
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The dramatic lightning storm continued as I recovered from this epic natural journey,<br />
causing excitement among kibbutzniks accustomed to normal desert weather and several<br />
brief power outages during the festive Sukkot meal. Comfortably feasting at a table in a<br />
solidly constructed sukkah just hours after I was hurdling over rocks to avoid becoming<br />
the next warning story, I reflected on how far removed we truly are from the time<br />
Sukkot calls us back to. We eat in booths for seven days to commemorate the exodus our<br />
ancestors made from Egypt, but we can’t know what it was like to live for forty years in<br />
a state of transience. For forty years, everywhere they lived and everything they did was<br />
temporary. They were on the move, at the mercy of nature and dependent on themselves<br />
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and their leader. My encounter with the raw, harsh forces of nature this climate supports<br />
ended when I made it back to what the kibbutz calls my “caravan” – a trailer technically,<br />
but a solid dwelling with a shower, air conditioning, refrigeration, countless amenities the<br />
Israelites obviously did not have. Their caravan consisted of themselves and their journey<br />
ended only when they arrived in Israel. We try to connect with their story by building<br />
sukkot, but it’s difficult to truly inhabit their mindset.<br />
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There is one way, however, in which we are closer to true observance of Sukkot than<br />
we have been in centuries: once again a Jewish homeland thrives in the Land of Israel.<br />
Sukkot is a pilgrimage holiday, and although most of us are no longer attuned to the<br />
agricultural calendar on which the holiday is based, we can travel to Israel any time<br />
during the year. Being here connects us to our ancestors more than anything else.<br />
Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-9572919027406151292012-09-18T16:58:00.001-04:002012-09-18T16:58:13.484-04:00The Business of Busyness - Rosh Ha-Shanah Morning 5773
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<span class="s1"><b>ROSH HASHANAH MORNING 5773 </b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>SEPTEMBER 17, 2012</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>The Business of Busyness</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Jonathan E. Blake</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>It’s hard to believe this is now the tenth Rosh Hashanah that I have wished this beloved congregation a <i>Shanah Tovah</i>, a good year, a year blessed with renewal, joy, and peace.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Kelly and I think of WRT as home and for all of us this is our annual homecoming, whether you’re coming from Myrtledale Road, Manhattan, or Michigan. It is not lost on me that many of you have made great efforts to be here, summoned to this sanctuary by powerful ties that bind home to home and heart to heart. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Why, just two weeks ago, an 84 year-old man who lives in Hartsdale called his son who lives in Chicago to announce, “Your mother and I are getting a divorce and I want you to be the first to know!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“Have you lost your mind?” he says. “You and mom have been married for over 60 years!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“Your mother told me, ‘Enough is enough!’ She’s throwing in the towel. Call your sister in Denver and tell her.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“Dad, please put Mom on the phone.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“She’s already told me that if I call you she won’t talk,” and at that the father hangs up! </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Twenty minutes later, the phone rings again: “Dad, don’t worry. Sis and I have already booked flights with the grandchildren for the High Holidays. Together, we’ll get to the bottom of this.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Again the father hangs up, but this time he turns to his wife and says, “Okay, Lois, they’re coming for Rosh Ha-Shanah and paying their own airfare. Now what do we tell them for Passover?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>So, welcome home – no matter what it took to get you here.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Because we really are very busy. You had to choose to come here instead of going to work, finishing that homework assignment, putting the house back together after last night’s dinner, or staying on your college campus.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>And many of you who could not make this homecoming in person because of disability or distance have nevertheless chosen to join us via our live webcast. So thank you, each of you, for choosing to spend your precious time at WRT this holiday. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“It’s become the default response when you ask anyone how they’re doing,” observes essayist Tim Kreider: </span>“‘Busy!’ ‘<i>So</i> busy.’ ‘<i>Crazy</i> busy.’ It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint.” </div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“Even <i>children</i> are busy now, scheduled down to the half-hour with classes and extracurricular activities. They come home at the end of the day as tired as grown-ups.” <i>(New York Times, </i>June 30, 2012, "The 'Busy' Trap.")</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The pace of life, the urgency of the iPhone era, has so tethered us to our work obligations and civic commitments and electronic communications that we now believe that family dinners really are no longer attainable; that e-mails require immediate attention; that to find time to read a novel we have to take a vacation. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>At the same time, I’m reminded of today’s Torah reading about the Binding of Isaac, and one <i>midrash</i> in particular that teaches that Isaac was not a helpless victim. He went willingly up that mountain and even fastened the cords himself (<i>Bereshit Rabbah</i> 56:3).</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Moreover: picture not a defenseless boy but rather a 37-year old man. The convolutions of interpretation and imagination that led the Rabbis to this improbable conclusion do not matter. The enduring message does: that we have bound ourselves and our children to the altar of our own busyness. Indeed, “[t]he present hysteria is not a necessary or inevitable condition of life,” writes Kreider; “<b>it’s something we’ve chosen, if only by our acquiescence to it</b>.” <i>(Ibid)</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I like reading even when I’m not on vacation. At any given time my list includes a recent non-fiction work, a professional development book, a novel, and maybe a collection of poems.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Friends ask me, “How do you find time to read anything let alone four books at the same time?” And I tell them, first of all, I never said that I finish them; and secondly, “Time isn’t lost and you don’t find it,” as my friend Rabbi Les Gutterman likes to say. “You take time for those things that you really care about, that you really value, that you understand are precious and holy and life-enhancing.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Speaking of books: Do you know the two most important Jewish books in your home? They are your checkbook and your datebook. Each one is a statement of values, of spiritual priorities--of what really matters to you.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>A dollar donated to <i>tzedakah </i>is a dollar that cannot go toward a child’s college fund or a vacation. An hour spent reading is an hour I won’t spend at the gym or writing my Yom Kippur sermon. An hour spent at Confirmation Class is an hour that a student cannot spend on homework or sports practice. An hour spent in a deep conversation with a friend on a park bench over iced coffee on a gorgeous day like today is an hour that cannot be spent returning e-mails or meeting with a client or buying groceries. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I am not ranking the intrinsic value of any of these pursuits. I am saying only, we don’t <i>find</i> time; we <i>take</i> time; and we <i>make</i> choices about the time we take.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>But given our over-programmed lives I worry about us making choices that lead to fulfillment and joy, choices that affirm something sacred and meaningful in our lives. So today I propose a three-stage antidote to the soul-draining business of our own busyness. The first is Slow Down. The second is Stop. And the third is Stay There. Slow Down. Stop. And Stay There.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I know that most of us believe that we are much too busy to study the Babylonian Talmud, but how about just the very first line?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Talmud opens with a question about time. <i>Me’imatai korin shema b’arvin</i>, “How long does one have to recite the <i>Shema </i>in the evening?” Because the Torah instructs reciting the <i>Shema</i> “when you lie down and when you rise up,” the Rabbis wondered: how much time, exactly, does that give us? In Talmudic fashion, a debate ensues. Rabbi Eliezer says, from dinnertime until the end of the first watch, about 9:00 PM; the other Sages say, “until midnight”; but Rabban Gamliel proposes, “Until the first light of dawn" (<i>Bavli Berakhot </i>2a).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Better, Gamliel believes, to perform a paramount religious act slowly, intentionally, than to dash through it; even worse, to use today’s word, to “multitask,” mumbling the <i>Shema</i> while brushing teeth or putting on PJs. You gotta slow down, give your bedtime prayers their proper place and pace.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Talmudic Rabbis elsewhere stipulate that we should not eat while standing <i>(Derekh Eretz Zuta, </i>Ch. 5).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">No more multitasking when it comes to mealtime because in Judaism there is no more sacred, life-affirming act, than to eat. So slow down, give your meals their proper place and pace. (You know, like they do in Europe.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>No one knows more about multitasking than moms. For the first time in history, IQ tests now show women surpassing men and the jump in women’s intelligence is attributed to the multitasking that women do, balancing childrearing, careers, and civic commitments. Any exhausted parent knows that multitasking can make life stressful and deprive special moments of their special meaning. Even short car rides have become a cacophony of: a conference call over Bluetooth, Bar Mitzvah practice in the back seat, and a DVD playing on the overhead minivan screen. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>And what does multitasking teach our children about how to manage <i>their</i> time? One friend of mine, a working mother of four, says, “Let them play in the dirt, enjoy lazy summer days, and be sure to tell them they can do and be whatever they imagine. And then leave them be! They’ll find their way to greatness.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Sometimes we don’t get the choice to slow down before life chooses it for us--in the form of a broken bone, a broken heart, a heart attack, a lost job, the death of a loved one. Have you ever been forced to slow down? What did you learn? How did your setback change you?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I recently started a great new book by Frank Partnoy called <i>Wait: The Art and Science of Delay. </i>(Notice I didn’t say I’ve finished it.) Taking my sweet time actually corroborates the author’s point. Whether one has milliseconds or minutes or months to act, people who take their time and slow things down as much as possible make better decisions... and enjoy a better quality of life, too. “If you watch Albert Pujols hit a baseball in <i>really </i>slow motion,” Partnoy observes, “he looks just like Warren Buffet buying a stock: study the pitcher, watch the ball carefully, and don’t respond to any opportunity until you have taken time to decide if it is a good one. Wait as long as you can so you’ll have a better chance of swinging only at fat pitches" (Kindle Edition, loc. 599).</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Taking one’s time produces better bedtime prayers, better meals, better investments and better baseball. It improves quality of life. “People today read less, take fewer museum trips, and attend fewer concerts,” Partnoy notices. “...The decline in the number and quality of our cultural experiences can be traced, at least in part, to unconscious stimuli that make us live faster.” <i>(Ibid)</i> </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Albert Einstein theorized that for a particle moving at very high speeds--like the speed of light--time slows down. Carl Sagan elaborated on the strange consequences of this premise. “This is sometimes described as the twin paradox: two identical twins, one of whom goes off on a voyage close to the speed of light, the other one stays home. When the space-traveling twin returns home, time hasn’t dilated for him or her, that is, he or she has aged only a little, while the twin who has remained at home has aged at the regular pace. And here we have two identical twins who may be decades apart in age" (</span><i>Nova </i>transcript, “Time Travel.” PBS Air date: October 12, 1999).</div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Applying a scientific theory to a spiritual theme: moving too fast deprives us of the beauty and splendor of a life lived at a sensible speed. Only by slowing down do we ensure that life won’t pass us by. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Okay. A cop pulls a man over for running a stop sign and the subject gives the cop a lot of grief explaining that he did stop. For several minutes, the cop insists that he didn’t stop, he just slowed down through the intersection. The driver says, “Stop, slow down, who cares, what’s the difference?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>So the policeman says, “Sir, step out of the car,” and proceeds to hit the man with his nightstick for about a minute, at which point he says, “Now would you like me to slow down or stop?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>So there is a need to slow down, but there is also a need to stop from time to time.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Jason Fried runs 37Signals, a software company that develops web-based productivity apps for workplace collaboration. To improve his own staff’s productivity, creativity, and collaboration, Mr. Fried made some big changes around the office. Every year from May to October they switch to a four-day workweek. And not 40 hours crammed into four days, but 32. “We don’t work the same amount of time,” he says. “We work less.” The results? “[B]etter work gets done in in four days than in five. When there’s less time to work… you tend to focus on what’s important. Constraining time encourages quality time" (</span>“Be More Productive. Take Time Off,” <i>New York Times.</i> August 19, 2012).</div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Of course the Jewish tradition has known this all along. Before construction begins on the biggest labor project in Israelite memory, the building of the Tabernacle, the Torah announces: “On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Shabbat of complete rest, holy to Adonai; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death” (Ex. 31:15). </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>This Shabbat business is serious business. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Jewish way is: You get six days on, one day off. That’s the pace. It’s not 50 weeks on, two weeks off--the average American vacation time (of which the average American uses only nine days, resulting in 175 million unused days left over for the US workforce, every year). It’s not forty years on, twenty years off. It’s six days on, one day off!<i> </i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></i>Of all the things we modern-day, non-Orthodox Jews need in our lives--need from our spiritual heritage--the most important is <i>Shabbat</i>. The word <i>Shabbat </i>means STOP and like the red octagon at the end of every street we should be taking it far more seriously than most of us do. When I ask kids--or for that matter, adults--to name the Ten Commandments, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” often gets forgotten. But we need <i>Shabbat </i>now more than ever! </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Taking time on Friday or Saturday for <i>Shabbat</i> dinner and services can really balance out your week. But this is about so much more than candles, <i>Kiddush</i>, and challah. Don’t confuse the ritual with its meaning.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>We need a set time at the end of the week to STOP. Take a deep breath. Remember the past week. Let go of the nuisances that drive our stress levels through the roof. Capture a memory of something that made us laugh or fall in love or feel inspired. Contemplate the week ahead and focus our intention on what we’d like it to hold. Honor our loved ones who have died. Pray for those struggling with illness. Learn from the wellspring of Torah and marry the learning to our lives. Sing out loud in a setting where no one will tell you to pipe down. Connect and reconnect with the people in our community. Have an extra mini-éclair where no one will judge you for it. That’s Shabbat at WRT. It’s joyful, spiritual, communal. A Friday night service is about an hour, maybe 75 minutes, of your time. A good, fulfilling--dare I say it, even fun--time. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>And <i>Shabbat</i> doesn’t happen just in temple. Shabbat is, Heschel reminded us, “a sanctuary we build, a sanctuary in time” </span>and there are lots of ways to take that time and make Shabbat special, different. Shabbat is more important than even the High Holidays--that’s why<i> </i>the Jewish calendar gives it to us every single week while Rosh Ha-Shanah need take our time only once a year. </div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Maybe Shabbat will become your day to power down the cell phone, the computer, the television. Sometimes restrictions can liberate us. Or maybe you’ll spend Shabbat in a concert hall, a grassy field, a meditation class, or a living room full of great people. Because the bottom line is not whether you prayed in Hebrew or English or at all. The bottom line is, six days on, one day off. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Slow down. Stop. And stay there.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“Staying there” is the hardest of all.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Because even the most uplifting and relaxing Shabbat comes to an end. Because even a four-day workweek means the alarm going off… on Tuesday morning. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Torah tells us that God summoned Moses up Mount Sinai with an unusual phrase: <i>Alei eilai ha-hara, v’heyeh sham. </i>Come up the mountain to Me, God says, <i>and be there </i>(Ex. 24:12).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The phrase <i>“and be there” </i>puzzled the Rabbis who believed the Torah to be perfect and therefore incapable of carrying extraneous words. I mean, where else would Moses <i>be </i>after coming up the mountain? Would he not already “be there?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Examining the phrase, the <i>Kotzker </i>Rebbe taught that even if a person strains to reach the summit of a mountaintop, it is nevertheless possible not to be there. “Even standing on the very peak itself, one’s head may be somewhere else.” Scaling the mountain is often the easy part. The hard part is staying there<i>,</i> not being distracted away from that place and that moment. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“In the 60’s, there was a famous slogan, ‘Be Here Now,’” recalls the beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. “Today, with the cellphones, the fax, the Internet, the whole schmear--the slogan you have today is ‘Be Somewhere Else Now'" (</span>“Questions for Lawrence Ferlinghetti: The Beat Goes On,” <i>New York Times. </i>November 26, 2005).</div>
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<span class="s1"> How many of us can’t even make it through dinner without checking our cell phones, our e-mail, the stock market? Do we realize that by so doing, we are really saying, “something is more important to me right now than you are, than this dinnertime moment together?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The time has come to ask ourselves: why <i>do </i>we stuff our lives so full of stuff to do? What emotional need, what hole in our lives, does our busyness fill? Why do we sometimes feel self-conscious or even stigmatized when we have leisure time? Tim Kreider nails it: “Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day" ("The 'Busy' Trap").</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>So many students setting out from college think the important question is, “What am I going to <i>do</i>?” when in fact it is, “Who am I going to <i>be</i>?” Remember, the goal of life is not to fill a schedule, a résumé, but rather <i>to let these fill you</i>, to choose how we spend our time so as to reflect our innermost priorities. What it comes down to is mastering the art of Staying There.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I know a rabbi who says a little prayer every time he enters a hospital room or a house of <i>shiva. </i>He says, “God, when I get there, let me <i>be there.” </i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">We need this prayer.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>God, when I get home at the end of the day, let me <i>be there</i> for my wife, my husband, my children. God, when I get on the phone with my parents, let me <i>be there</i>… no matter what <i>meshugas </i>they decide we need to talk about. God, when I get to temple, let me <i>be there</i> and not feel the need to leave immediately after the rabbi’s sermon... and miss the sound of the shofar… the sound that summons us to slow down, stop, and stay there. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Ultimately, these holidays, are about <i>being </i>rather than <i>doing</i>, about working to live rather than living to work, about transforming who we <i>are </i>from the inside and not just behavior modification. These holidays are all about mastering the art of staying there, of being fully present in every moment of life.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Our precious little time on earth flies away so fast.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>My God, I don’t know where it goes!</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>How will you spend yours? </span></div>
JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-35694409646105058342012-09-15T20:56:00.000-04:002012-09-15T20:56:10.622-04:00Nitzavim 5772: The last Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Shavua Tov Everyone! Below is my sermon from last night on Parashat Nitzavim, to help get us ready for the High Holidays! </span></span></b></span></b></span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember when I was a kid, I had a bad habit. My mother, who is probably watching this from afar, might not have known this, but take this as a cautionary tale for all parents. You see I was lazy. Every day I would come home from school, and have a snack. That was usually my first step, I’d grab something good from the fridge and plop down on the couch, and watch TV as I did my homework. Now the laziness was most evident in what I did with the food wrapper when I was done. I knew that if I left it on the table, my mother would admonish me. So, in the quiet house, all alone, I’d stuff the wrapper in between the couch cushions. </span></b></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Some might argue that the true measure of a person is how they act when they think no one is watching. Those secret moments where we don’t feel as if there are consequences, but that we are simply having fun even if it isn’t the way we would want to be portrayed to the world. Clearly alone in my house I believed that to be true, that I was secreting away my food wrappers with no one being the wiser. </span></b><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>However our Parashah delves into the challenge of hidden things. In this weeks Parasha, Nitzavim we are told: </span></b></span><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="357"></col><col width="22"></col><col width="245"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">29: 28. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The hidden things belong to Adonai, our God, but the revealed things apply to us and to our children forever: that we must fulfill all the words of this Torah.</span></span></td><td style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></td><td style="border: 0px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 5px 7px; vertical-align: top;"><div dir="rtl" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">כח. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">הַנִּסְתָּרֹת לַי־הֹוָ־ה אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְהַנִּגְלֹת לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ עַד עוֹלָם לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת כָּל דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The hidden things. What could this mean? The medieval Commentator Rashi suggests that this is to delineate two forms of justice. Human justice which will be meted out to all people based on their public actions, and Divine Justice for those things that are done in secret. </span></b><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>However the challenge that I have is even greater. Based upon this text, the talmud teaches us a blessing for a particular situation: </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One who sees multitudes of Israel recites: </span></b></span><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="291"></col><col width="292"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ba-ruch a-tah A-do-nai </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E-lo-</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hei</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-nu </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Me</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">-lech Ha-o-lam, </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cha-cham ha-ra-zim.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Blessed are You, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adonai,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">our God, Ruler of the Universe, </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Knower of secrets. </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our blessing and Torah suggests something that is hard to fathom: God knows our secrets. G-d knows that I stuffed these food items in my parents couch. God knows that I was speeding on the Hutch earlier today. I wonder: What does it mean to believe in a G-d who knows our secrets? </span></b><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Scholars in the world have tried to determine what it means for us as humanity to believe in God. There was a provocative NPR series entitled “The Human Edge” that came out a few years ago. The series discussed anything from opposable thumbs, to walking upright. One of the articles in the series was entitled “Is Believing In God Evolutionarily Advantageous?” by Alix Spiegel. Within the article, Spiegel provides the same reason that Rashi gives. That G-d is there to ensure that the bad people would eventually be punished, in this world or the next, and that we could manage our own society by ensuring that the rules had a basis in something larger than ourselves. </span></b><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This particular view of G-d is a view. It has it’s basis in Jewish tradition and modern scholarship. However, G-d is not one-dimensional this is only one view of many. Yoram Hazony, a biblical scholar, argues that G-d knowing our secrets, knowing all of us, allows us to develop into a better version of ourselves. He claims that, having “...</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> a power in the world that is able to hear you, and that is going to allow you to develop your understanding of what's right, and of the way the world should develop.' All of human history has proceeded from that first spark of hope that appears in the Hebrew scriptures." (</span></b><b id="internal-source-marker_0.9111172282136977" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160388922/an-individualist-approach-to-the-hebrew-bible">http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160388922/an-individualist-approach-to-the-hebrew-bible</a>) </span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">According to Hazony, having G-d there allows us to accept our own humanity and push ourselves to be a better person. </span></b></span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Having a G-d who knows our secrets isn’t just a G-d who knows our foibles. It is a G-d who knows our aspirations. A God that looks out at us and takes us for all that we are and encourages us to become a better person. It is this particular relationship with G-d that I have tried to cultivate over the past few years. It feels so antithetical to my rationalist mindset, I always think of the movie Dogma, where Alan Rickman playing the Metatron says: Whenever someone is talking to G-d they’re really talking to me, or they’re talking to themselves.” It is that cognitive dissonance that always strikes me whenever someone suggests that they are talking to G-d, the back of my mind shouts out, well they’re probably talking to themselves. However, really that dissonance is most profound when people say that God is talking to them, versus the other way around. To speak to G-d can be a natural and easy process, but often requires practice, and opportunity, and a suspension of the hyper-rationalism that can override our thinking at</span></span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> times. </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, was a chassidic master of the 19th century. One of his memorable teachings was the act of </span><span style="font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">hitbodedut</span><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, which translates to self seclusion. The activity he encouraged was to be alone with G-d. According to Rebbe Nachman, we are to find a quiet personal place, with no other distractions and to just talk. To allow the stream of consciousness that is welling up within you to come out. To address G-d as you would someone sitting right there, listening to your every word. Sometimes a friend, sometimes an adversary. If you begin with the operating assumption that G-d already knows all your secrets it can be incredibly freeing. There is no need to worry about what G-d will think of this idea or that, or the need to hold back. Rather it provides space to feel free to say whatever is on our minds. I began this practice months ago, and while it’s often hard to find that private space with an infant at home, the power of sharing with G-d aloud the prayer of my heart was staggering. To put into words what had only been thoughts concretized some of my hopes, and gave me strength when planning on how to tackle my foibles. </span></b><br /><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>G-d is everywhere, we simply need to be receptive to the opportunities to relate to G-d in our lives. We call G-d Avinu, our parent, scolding us like the young version of me shoving food wrappers in the couch. We call G-d malkeinu, our sovereign who sits on high judging us for the right and wrong actions. Yet we also call G-d Dodeinu, our beloved friend who we can lovingly talk with, and share our hopes and our weaknesses with. As we enter into the High Holidays, we shouldn’t our relationships to G-d to be one dimensional, but to challenge ourselves to interact with G-d in new and different ways.</span></b><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-28880354871649659022012-09-14T15:25:00.000-04:002012-09-14T15:29:40.842-04:00Reflections on Israel from A Congregant in Israel! Dear Friends,<br />
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Periodically throughout the coming months we have the special privilege to read reflections shared with us from our congregant Sarah E. Friedman who grew up at WRT, graduated in 2010 from Kenyon College, and who is presently living in Israel as part of a program of graduate study. <br />
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I have invited to be a "voice on the ground" and it seems fitting to note here that her first reflections come in symmetry with the weekly <i>parasha,</i> <i>Nitzavim, </i>which emphasizes the promise God made to our ancestors to inherit the Land of Israel.<br />
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You can follow her personal blog about her Israel experience here: <a href="http://sarahefriedman.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/first-days-in-arava.html" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">http://sarahefriedman.<wbr></wbr>blogspot.co.il/2012/08/first-<wbr></wbr>days-in-arava.html</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><br />
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Her first WRT blog posting follows. <br />
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Shabbat Shalom!<br />
Rabbi Jonathan Blake<br />
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<span class="s1"><i>Sarah E. Friedman</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>WRT Blog – September 2012</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b><i>Living Social(ist)</i></b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">On the kibbutz where I’m temporarily living, everyone contributes and everyone collects. Unlike many kibbutzim that have gradually embraced capitalism in most aspects of formerly communal life, this kibbutz has adhered remarkably closely to its socialist roots. Members hold all kinds of jobs – some take care of the kibbutz cows, some are academics, some do IT work. Members have all kinds of salaries, too – but they never get a paycheck. That goes directly to the kibbutz. As the Marxists say: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As a product of a well-worn Scarsdale track – from Scarsdale public schools and WRT Hebrew school to a private college to a job and apartment in New York City – now in my mid-twenties, I am alternately experiencing shock and delight at this surprising system in the Jewish homeland that I’ve been raised to revere and have independently learned to struggle with and love. This will be my first blog post describing interesting or complex social and political topics I encounter in Israel over the next year.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I see the appeal of the kibbutz. It’s ease and an automatic community. Everything is included in membership: forget about filling out a 20-page application so you can shell out $30K for preschool, à la New York City – you don’t even have to cook your own food. All meals except Saturday breakfast are served in the communal dining hall. Laundry is done for you. There’s day care for babies and toddlers, there’s a pre-school, and there’s a bus to grade school. When your kids finish army service, if they return to work on the kibbutz for one year the kibbutz will pay 100,000 shekels for their college – and in Israel, that covers full undergraduate tuition plus living expenses. The kibbutz pays for computers for members and sets up pension funds for them. The kibbutz pays for one class a year at the local community center – something like pilates or music appreciation. At the kibbutz store, many items are 100% subsidized – that’s free – including toiletries and basic foods (even though, again, meals are provided). When you want to travel off the kibbutz, you can take one of the free shuttles to nearby locations, or you can sign out one of the communal cars. Many members don’t have bank accounts – just credit cards linked to the stipend the kibbutz provides (which is divided into non-transferable categories like clothing, furniture, and pocket money, and the amount of which depends on the number and age of their children). In exchange, members contribute their full salaries, regularly perform some community-serving task – such as nighttime guard duty – and fully embrace a way of life that seemingly can be both limiting and rewarding in extremes.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">When the original kibbutzim were founded, the members were thinking about survival. They banded together, often not knowing anything about agriculture but figuring it out as they went along – or dying or leaving Palestine. This kibbutz was founded well after the establishment of the State of Israel and its security, and it was more about community than survival. Still, life is pretty basic. Until 1985 or 1986, the members didn’t have personal phones. There was no TV on the kibbutz until after the Gulf War. At first, members weren’t allowed to have personal bank accounts, and if they received an inheritance it went straight to the kibbutz. Now, whatever concessions to modernity have been made, the success of the kibbutz still depends both on complete communal cooperation – no taking advantage of the commons. (I expect its success is also supported by the mensches who work in lucrative careers but remain committed to the socialist concept.)</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I didn’t realize how thoroughly capitalist my own mindset is until confronted by one fact, a reality that fits comfortably with the kibbutz ideology but struck me as absolutely insufferable: for members with parents and children living abroad (I’d guess that applies to about half of all members), the kibbutz will pay for a family’s plane tickets to leave Israel once in four years. The stipend is not high enough to cover a visit to the US – which averages about $1,300 for Economy – so if you want to see your parents or children more than once every four years, you better hope your parents or children are raking it in in their non-kibbutz existences. Then, if someone else buys your plane ticket, the kibbutz clock resets and you have to wait another four years before the kibbutz will pay for a trip. Not having money to visit my family abroad, no matter how hard I worked, would be a torment great enough to fully outweigh any benefits of kibbutz living. It’s a reflection of submission of your own needs to the communal good, a concept that doesn’t square well with the individualism and freedom-worshiping ethos of the United States. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I have traveled widely and I came here with an open mind (though also with a return ticket to New York), but I never expected to feel so incredulous at a way of life I found in Israel, the most familiar of the places I’ve been. I am grateful to have a more unusual experience than I planned on. I must emphasize that the experience of living here is terrific. In describing kibbutz life and outlining the ways in which I am not cut out for it, I’m making not a value judgment – just a value assessment that I hope will be interesting to WRT members. I am open to a discourse about the merits and drawbacks of kibbutzim and about any other future Israeli issues I will write about, so please leave comments and let’s have a dialogue.</span></div>
JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-41187563674120073842012-09-09T13:28:00.004-04:002012-09-09T15:36:42.948-04:00D'var Selicha - A Meditation on Authenticity<br />
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<span class="s1"><b>D’var Selicha 5772</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b>Jonathan Blake</b></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>A story is told of the famed 5th-Century-BCE Greek sculptor, architect and painter named Phidias who was commissioned to make a statue for one of Athens’ temples. The statue was to be set against a wall inside one of the rooms of the temple. Phidias used only the best and most expensive tools for the task and gave exquisite attention to every inch of the statue.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>An apprentice in his workshop asked the master, “I can understand why you work so hard on the front side of the statue, for that will be seen. But why must you work so hard on the back? After all, it will be up against a wall and no one will see it anyway.” The artist answered, “The gods see everywhere.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>His answer should resonate with artists everywhere because real artists do not create in order to impress others but to express their innermost selves. Therefore their art must be right, inside and out, comprehensively true to the artist’s vision, reflective of the artist’s innermost longings.<span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>As it goes in the realm of Art so it goes in the realm of the Spirit. Our spiritual pursuits must also be true to a vision; right, inside and out. I offer you this reflection tonight, on the cusp of a new year, because it seems to me that one important spiritual aspiration that we might renew at this time of year is our ongoing quest to become our most authentic selves. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Authenticity is commodity much in demand in our world; there is nothing more obnoxious than when we see others straining to present themselves as something they are not: authors who invent quotes and even pseudo-biographical experiences in order to impress the reader and buy credibility with false credit; social climbers who cover up their own insecurities and unique charms by attaching themselves to the wealthy or powerful; politicians whose promises reflect what they think voters want to hear rather than their own core convictions; children who so crave fitting in that they betray their own happiness to be part of the crowd. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>And in our world, where anyone with Photoshop can smooth out every imperfection; where plastic surgery can mask the steady toll of time; where high school and college kids are often talked out of pursuing their dreams because they have to do something “practical” with their lives; is it any wonder that sightings of authenticity seem so rare and refreshing?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>This past January, when we were interviewing candidates for the assistant rabbi job that would eventually go to Rabbi David Levy, I asked our Confirmation students, tenth graders, what qualities they would seek in our new rabbi. I underscored that youth work would be a core component of this new rabbi’s portfolio and therefore I felt it important to invite their feedback into the process. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">One thoughtful and impassioned teenager implored me, “Please don’t focus on hiring someone cool. Hire a rabbi who is <i>real</i>. Kids are tired of adults thinking that what we want in our teachers, spiritual leaders, and role models, is someone cool and hip so that we’ll be impressed by them. What kids really want, and really need, is someone real--true to him or herself and his or her beliefs.” In that moment, I wanted to hire this student to be our next rabbi -- so wise and true did her words ring.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>A favorite <i>midrash</i>, a Rabbinic lesson, asks a question about a peculiar feature of the Holy Ark whose construction is described in the Book of Exodus. Moses receives instructions from God to have an Ark built of cedar wood, and then to have the Ark inlaid and overlaid with gold. The overlaying we can understand as everyone could see it; but inside, where no one but God could know, why inlay the entire thing with precious gold?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>From this detail the Rabbis deduced an important principle: “Whosoever wishes to be considered a disciple of the wise has to be the same kind of person, inside and out. One cannot be impressive and ostentatious in piety when people are looking and a scoundrel when no one else will know.”</span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span><i>Selichot--</i>the word means “forgiveness”--prompts us to approach the people in our lives whom we may have hurt with our words, our ways, or our failure to act or speak, our inattentiveness. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">As we go about this difficult spiritual work we’d be wise to remember what our Sages teach, that there are two types of divisiveness: between one person and another, and between a person and him or herself. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Divisiveness between two people is easy to comprehend. Of internal divisiveness, a state of conflict with oneself, the Rabbis use this phrase: <i>“Echad B’Peh, Echad B’Lev,” </i>that is, the mouth is saying one thing, but the heart is saying something else.” </span><br />
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<span class="s1">One Chasidic Master, Reb Yisrael, who founded the Modzitz dynasty, taught that when a person is not at one with oneself, when one’s speech betrays one’s true feelings, this internal divisiveness inevitably leads to discord with other people -- hence my astute teenage student’s harsh assessment of people who try to be cool instead of trying to be real. </span><br />
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Put positively, one should strive to be <i>“tocho k’varo,”</i> with inner self and outer self in concord with each other.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>In other words, authentic.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>There is another word in the English language whose meaning may point to the same idea and takes us back to where we started, the world of art and sculpture in particular. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The word is “sincere.” A folk tradition links the word sincere to two Latin words, <i>“sine” </i>and<i> “cera” </i>which means without wax. When artists were commissioned to produce a work of sculpture, those who were honest would use pure marble. Fraudulent practitioners would use good material in front where people could see but inferior material in the back and then patch the holes with wax--a shortcut often exposed by the first hot and sunny day. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>For this reason when a work was completed, the artist would attest to the quality of his work by signing that it had been done <i>sine cera</i> – that is, without wax <i>-- </i>sincerely.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The Chasidic Rebbe Zusya, who is celebrated for his emotional introspection and heartfelt piety, is credited with <i>the </i>quintessential teaching for the <i>Yamim Noraim.</i> I imagine you have heard it countless times but listen to his words again. </span><br />
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<span class="s1">“When I reach the next world,” said Zusya, “God will not ask me, ‘Why were you not Moses?’ The question will be, ‘Why were you not Zusya?’”</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>It’s all about authenticity. Why are you not the person you were meant to be? Why are you not the <i>most you </i>that you could be?</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>As we prepare to enter the new year, I hope each of us will take some time to consider the following two questions and respond privately as a kind of spiritual exercise that will help us enter this new year in a state of wholeness and peace. - JEB</i></span></div>
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<span class="s1">I am my most authentic self when I am:</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. __________________________________________________</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. __________________________________________________</span></div>
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These things get in the way of my own most authentic self:<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">1. __________________________________________________</span></div>
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<span class="s1">2. __________________________________________________</span></div>
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<span class="s1">3. __________________________________________________</span></div>
JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-23421089181084888322012-08-18T18:16:00.002-04:002012-08-18T18:16:39.201-04:00Re'eh - Guest Blogger congregant Steve Siegel
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Dear Friends,</div>
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Shavua tov! </div>
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Here is a transcript of remarks delivered to the congregation on Friday evening by our congregant and Torah Study Maven Steve Siegel.</div>
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Warmest wishes,</div>
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Rabbi Jonathan Blake</div>
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<span class="s1">FRIDAY RE'EH AUGUST 17,2012</span></div>
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<span class="s1">WHEN RABBI BLAKE ASKED ME TO SPEAK TONIGHT, I TOLD HIM THAT THE LAST TIME I GAVE A TALK ON THIS PARASHAH TEN YEARS AGO, THERE WAS AN ENORMOUS RAIN AND ELECTRICAL STORM IN SCARSDALE. WHEN WE MET THAT FRIDAY NIGHT THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY, SO THERE WAS NO AIR CONDITIONING, AND NO LIGHT IN THIS BUILDING. THE ROOM WAS VERY DARK AND VERY </span><span class="s2">VERY</span><span class="s1"> WARM. WAS GOD TRYING TO SEND ME A MESSAGE ABOUT MY D'VOR TORAH???? </span></div>
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<span class="s1">BUT RABBI BLAKE, BRAVE SOUL, WAS WILLING TO RISK GOD'S WRATH ONCE AGAIN....AND SO HERE I AM TONIGHT.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">THIS WEEK'S PARASHAH, RE'EH, IS IN THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. </span><span class="s3"> </span><span class="s1">DEUTERONOMY CONTAINS 34 CHAPTERS, AND IS MOSES' SPEECH TO THE ISRAELITES AS THEY ARE ABOUT TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND. THE SPEECH CONTAINS INSTRUCTIONS AND ADMONITIONS AS MOSES LAYS OUT THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES TO GOD. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">DEUTERONOMY IS A LONG SPEECH. MOSES SUMMARIZES THE OTHER FOUR BOOKS OF TORAH AND RESTATES THE LAWS, RULES, AND PRECEPTS THAT GOD EXPECTS THE ISRAELITES TO FOLLOW. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">RE'EH, THE FOURTH OF ELEVEN PARSHIOT IN DEUTERONOMY,CONTAINS A SMALL PORTION OF THESE LAWS. BUT, IT IS A POWERFUL PARASHAH BECAUSE IT CONTAINS WITHIN IT ALL THE MEANS BY WHICH TO BE A HOLY PEOPLE. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">RE'EH MEANS 'TO SEE' . MOSES WANTS THE ISRAELITES </span><span class="s4">'TO SEE'</span><span class="s5"> </span><span class="s1">OR MORE APTLY </span><span class="s5">' </span><span class="s4">TO FORSEE'</span><span class="s1"> OR '</span><span class="s4">EXPECT</span><span class="s1">' THAT THEIR CONDUCT IN THE PROMISED LAND WILL DETERMINE WHETHER THEY WILL BE BLESSED OR CURSED. THE ISRAELITES HAVE IMPORTANT LIFE ALTERING CHOICES TO MAKE. CHOICES THAT WILL ELEVATE THEM SPIRITUALLY ON THE ONE HAND, OR CHOICES THAT WILL DIMINISH THEM ON THE OTHER. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">MOSES IS VERY EXPLICIT AND SPECIFIC IN THIS PARASHAH AS HE LISTS THEIR SPIRITUAL RESPONSIBILITIES.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">FIRST, THE ISRAELITES MUST REJECT WORSHIP AT THE SITES OF THE CANAANITE PEOPLE. THE ISRAELITES ARE TO WORSHIP IN THE SPECIFIC PLACE THAT GOD WILL DESIGNATE. THE ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE ADONAI OVER ALL OTHER GODS. THIS INSTRUCTION IS THE BASIS FOR THE BUILDING OF THE FIRST TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">SECOND, THEY MUST ADHERE TO REGULATIONS FOR SLAUGHTERING AND EATING MEAT. MOSES CLARIFIES WHICH ANIMALS ARE PERMITTED AND WHICH ARE FORBIDDEN. THE ISRAELITES MUST BE RESPECTFUL OF AN ANIMAL'S LIFE AND SLAUGHTER ACCORDINGLY. ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE ADONAI'S FOODS . THIS INSTRUCTION FORMS THE BASIS FOR KASHRUT.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">THIRD, MOSES SETS FORTH THE RULES FOR CARE OF THE LEVITES, THE STRANGER, THE FATHERLESS, THE WIDOW, AND THE NEEDY. THE ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE GENEROSITY OVER SELFISHNESS. THIS INSTRUCTION IS THE BASIS FOR A CARING SOCIETY AND MANY MITZVOT.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">FOURTH, MOSES REVIEWS THE THREE PILGRIMAGE FESTIVALS OF PASSOVER, SHAVUOT AND SUKKOT. THE ISRAELITES MUST CHOOSE TO FOLLOW GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMMUNITY WORSHIP TO BE BLESSED.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">THESE AND OTHER UNIQUELY JEWISH PRACTICES ALLUDED TO IN RE'EH FORM THE BASIS OF JUDAISM. MOSES IS EMPHATIC IN HIS SPEECH. THE ISRAELITES HAVE IMPORTANT CHOICES TO MAKE. THEY MUST </span><span class="s5">"FORSEE"</span><span class="s1"> THAT STRAYING TO THE WRONG CHOICES AND ADOPTING THE PRACTICES OF THE TRIBES OF CANAAN WOULD INVOKE GOD'S WRATH AND CURSES WOULD FOLLOW.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">TO FULLY UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE AND PURPOSE OF THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY, WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE HISTORICAL BACK STORY. DEUTERONOMY WAS WRITTEN IN THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH DURING THE REIGN OF KING JOSIAH IN THE YEAR 622 BCE. BY THIS TIME ONLY 2 OF THE ORIGINAL 12 TRIBES EXISTED. THE OTHER 10 TRIBES HAD BEEN ANNIHALATED 100 YEARS BEFORE BY THE ASSYRIANS. OVER THE CENTURIES, THE PEOPLE HAD BEEN ASSIMILATED AND WERE OBSERVING THE CANAANITE PAGAN RITES. JOSIAH WAS TROUBLED BY THE PEOPLE'S IGNORANCE OF THE JEWISH PRACTICES OF THEIR FOREFATHERS.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">JOSIAH USED THE MESSAGE OF DEUTERONOMY TO REINSTITUTE THE COVENANT, ELIMINATE IDOLATRY, CENTRALIZE THE RELIGION IN JERUSALEM AND RAISE THE LEVEL OF HOLINESS IN HIS KINGDOM. JOSIAH USED DEUTERONOMY AND THE PROMINENCE OF MOSES TO CONVEY THE MESSAGE TO THE POPULACE.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">SO, JUXTAPOSING BLESSINGS AND CURSES WAS A POWERFUL TOOL TO EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE COVENANT. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">THE CURSES ARE MEANT TO FRIGHTEN THE ISRAELITES AWAY FROM THEIR PAGAN PRACTICES. "SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NORTHERN TRIBES? STRAYING FROM THE COVENANT WILL CAUSE ANNIHILATION FOR YOU JUST AS IT DID FOR OUR BRETHREN OF THE NORTHERN TRIBES". JOSIAH USED DEUTERONOMY TO COMPELL HIS PEOPLE TO MAKE TESHUVAH. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">IN DEUTERONOMY, MANY CURSES ARE LISTED THAT MOSES SAYS THE ISRAELITES SHOUD </span><span class="s5">"EXPECT"</span><span class="s1"> WILL BEFALL THEM IF THEY DON'T ABIDE THE COVENANT. "CURSED SHALL YOU BE IN THE CITY AND THE COUNTRY; </span></div>
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<span class="s1">CURSED SHALL BE YOUR BASKET AND YOUR KNEADING BOWL;</span></div>
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<span class="s1">CURSED SHALL BE THE ISSUE OF YOUR WOMB AND THE PRODUCE OF YOUR SOIL, THE CALVING OF YOUR HERD AND THE LAMBING OF YOUR FLOCK. ETC ETC." </span></div>
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<span class="s1">THE LIST OF CURSES IS COVERED IN 53 VERSES, EACH MORE FRIGHTENING THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE. THE CURSES THREATEN THE HEALTH AND WEALTH OF THE COMMUNITY AND EACH FAMILY AND EACH PERSON WITHIN. KING JOSIAH BRINGS THE PEOPLE BACK TO WORSHIPPING ADONAI.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">IN TODAY'S WORLD, THE CURSES ARE STILL READ IN SYNAGOGUE ON A SATURDAY MORNING. THE PERSON READING THEM IS CALLED TO THE TORAH NOT BY NAME BUT BY THE DESIGNATION 'HE OR SHE WHO WISHES' AND THE CURSES ARE READ IN A LOW VOICE AND WITHOUT INTERRUPTION. THE FEAR OF THE CURSES PREVAILS TODAY AND THE DESIRE TO BE BLESSED IS AS STRONG AS IN ANCIENT TIMES.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">SO, HOW CAN A PERSON IN TODAY'S WORLD BE BLESSED? IT IS SIMPLE. TORAH TEACHES THAT WE WILL BE BLESSED BY THE PERFORMANCE OF MITZVOT. EACH OF US HAS THE FREE WILL TO CHOOSE TO SIT HOME OR CHOOSE TO DO A MITZVAH ACCORDING TO THE TALENTS THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF OUR COUNTRY AND THE WAYS OF OUR GOVERNMENT AND THE COMPLICATIONS OF OUR WORLD, AN INDIVIDUAL WANTING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE CAN PERCEIVE HIS OR HER ROLE AS INSIGNIFICANT. BUT, RE'EH TELLS US THAT WE MUST </span><span class="s5">'SEE, FORSEE, AND EXPECT'</span><span class="s1"> THAT SMALL AND GREAT GOOD DEEDS COME TOGETHER TO COLLECTIVELY RAISE US ALL TO A HOLY PLACE. IF ONE INDIVIDUAL OR ONE INSTITUTION CAN CHOOSE A NICHE, THEN A PATH IS CREATED TO DO A MITZVAH. IT IS SAID THAT THE REWARD FOR A MITZVAH IS THE MITZVAH ITSELF. MITZVOT BEGET MITZVOT AND A PERSON OR PEOPLES IS THEREFORE BLESSED.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">WRT SUPPORTS A PROGRAM CALLED "AMAZING AFTERNOONS". IT IS AN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM STARTED TEN YEARS AGO ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF MT VERNON TO PROVIDE CARE AND INSTRUCTION FOR 120 DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN THE EDWARD WILLIAMS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. ITS DIRECTOR, MARY FIGUEROA, RUNS THE PROGRAM WITH LOVING KINDNESS. THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN ADOPTED AS A MITZVAH PROJECT BY WRT TEENAGERS. IT HAS ALSO BECOME A CLUB AT SCARSDALE H.S. WHICH PROVIDES VOLUNTEERS EACH YEAR TO HELP CHILDREN WITH THEIR HOME WORK.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I CHOSE TO BECOME A PART OF THIS PROGRAM NINE YEARS AGO. I GREW UP IN MT VERNON IN THE 1940S AND 1950S. I GRADUATED FROM A.B. DAVIS HS IN 1954 AND HAVE A LOT OF AFFECTION FOR THAT CITY. I AM STILL IN TOUCH WITH MANY OF MY HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATES OF 60 YEARS AGO. MT VERNON AND THE PEOPLE I GREW UP WITH, STUDIED WITH, PLAYED WITH, AND LEARNED FROM ALL SHAPED MY FUTURE. I AM APPRECIATIVE OF THEIR INFLUENCES ON ME. SO I KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THE INFLUENCES OF OTHERS CAN BE ON A CHILD'S CHOICES.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I WAS IN ATTENDANCE AT A WRT FRIDAY NIGHT SERVICE NINE YEARS AGO WHEN RABBI JACOBS MADE A REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS TO HELP WITH "AMAZING AFTERNOONS". IT BECAME AN EASY CHOICE FOR ME TO RAISE MY HAND AND STEP FORWARD. I HAVE BEEN SUPERVISING A CHESS CLASS AND A BASKETBALL CLASS EVER SINCE. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">THIS PAST YEAR, MY WIFE FRAN CREATED A LITERACY AND STORYTELLING PROGRAM FOR KIDS IN GRADES 1 THRU 4. SHE WAS JOINED BY SEVEN OTHER WRT VOLUNTEERS. WE HAVE TAKEN OUR PERSONAL SKILLS TO A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN BE SHARED BY OTHERS. THERE ARE MANY OTHER WRT VOLUNTEERS WHO CONTRIBUTE TOO. A DANCE PROGRAM, A MUSIC PROGRAM, AFTER SCHOOL HOMEWORK HELP. ALL OFFERED BY WRT ADULT VOLUNTEERS.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">WRT'S WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM RAISED MONEY FOR HEALTHY SNACKS LAST YEAR. AND MANY OF THOSE SAME WOMEN VOLUNTEER FOOD AND BOOKS AND TOYS AND TIME. SO MANY WRT CHILDREN AND ADULTS GIVE OF THEIR TIME AND MONEY TO "HELP THE STRANGER" AS RE'EH COMMANDS US. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH MORE OF THE KIDS THIS YEAR. MITZVOT HAVE BEGOTTEN MITZVOT.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">WE SEE EVIDENCE OF CHOICES EVERY DAY IN OUR LIVES. WE CAN CHOOSE TO BE GOOD CITIZENS, TO WORK PRODUCTIVELY, TO SUPPORT OUR SCHOOLS, TO NURTURE THE NEXT GENERATION, TO BE PRESENT FOR OUR PARENTS AS THEY AGE, TO BE CHARITABLE, TO BE ATTENTIVE TO THE ACTIONS OF OUR LOCAL, STATE AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS, AND TO CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">EVERYONE, WHETHER AN INDIVIDUAL, CORPORATE ENTITY, RELIGIOUS INSTITUTION OR GOVERNMENT, CAN TAKE THE CHARGE THAT RE'EH TELL US TO TAKE. WE SHOULD </span><span class="s5">EXPECT</span></div>
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<span class="s1">TO MAKE CHOICES, TO DO THE RIGHT THING, SO WE MAY </span><span class="s5">SEE</span><span class="s1"> THE WAY TO MAKING A BETTER WORLD. WE CALL THIS "TIKKUN OLAM", REPAIRING THE WORLD. TIKKUN OLAM IS THE BLESSING. MITZVOT BEGET MITZVOT AND A BETTER WORLD. MAY WE ALL DEVELOP RE'EH, A VISION OF A BETTER FUTURE. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">AMEN!</span></div>
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JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-4851188526998379512012-08-16T11:31:00.002-04:002012-08-16T11:37:12.783-04:00"Do Not Inquire": A Reflection on Parashat Re'ehThis week's portion, <i>Re'eh</i>, cautions against investigating the practices of pagan religions:<br />
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"...Do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did those nations worship their gods? I too will follow those practices'" (Deut. 12:30). The fear, of course, is that intellectual inquiry, even if well-meaning, for instance, for the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, will nevertheless lead to seduction by foreigners into Gentile ways... and ultimately, to the betrayal of the God of the Hebrews.<br />
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In his commentary to this passage, Plaut (1981 edition, p. 1425) has noted: "This intellectual isolation led in time to a concept of non-Israelite and, later, non-Jewish religions that was not always in consonance with the facts.... In the history of nations such protectionism has often been the policy of religious as well as political orthodoxies. Thus, the Inquisition proscribed certain books as dangerous to the Catholic faith...."<br />
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"Liberal Jews," Plaut continues, "... take a different view: they consider the biblical law as no longer applicable in the modern context. They affirm the independence of the human spirit and the freedom of intellectual inquiry. To be sure, unlimited inquiry carries certain risks, but these are worth the price, for the freedom of knowledge is, for liberals, a requisite for a fully free human existence."<br />
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Friends: I affirm these powerful words and underscore their importance for our intellectual and spiritual endeavor in this online forum.<br />
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Westchester Reform Temple is a community of 1,200 households comprised principally of Jews and a goodly number of Gentiles who have joined themselves to the mission of the Jewish People through bonds of family, friendship, and shared faith. As a congregation, we take special pride in our pursuit of intellectual inquiry and the Reform Jewish outlook that Faith and Reason must go hand-in-hand. <br />
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As a Reform Jewish faith community, we categorically reject the parochial and even, at times, xenophobic outlook of some our ancestors and some of our present-day co-religionists who, like the authors of this part of Deuteronomy, have felt compelled to close their eyes, ears, hearts and minds to people of other religious traditions. <br />
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As a dramatic example: what has transpired on our blog in recent days goes far beyond the rejection of intellectual inquiry. In recent days, comments to this blog have crossed a line to what can only be called hate speech. The original intent of this blog--to teach, study, and explore Torah and to engage in intellectual inquiry--has been sullied by comments demeaning Gentiles, non-Orthodox Jews, interfaith families, and--most egregiously--Muslims. Our blog, intended to be safe place for all, has become a hostile environment which does not reflect the values of our congregational community.<br />
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I have, therefore, pulled a few of the most offensive recent comments from the blog because I believe that they can serve only to distance us from intellectual inquiry and the study of Torah and seduce us into a lowbrow volley of brickbats, vituperation, and ugly misrepresentations of Muslims and Arabs. <br />
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Let me be perfectly clear (because the irony of censoring comments in the context of remarks about open inquiry is not lost on me!): <b>In my view, there is nothing more idolatrous than using the sacred words of Torah to espouse or justify bigotry, and it will not be tolerated here.</b><br />
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Further: during the coming weeks and months, the purposes and implementation of our blog will be comprehensively evaluated. To that end, your feedback about the following questions is warmly invited:<br />
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- What do we hope to achieve here? What should be the goals and aspirations of our blog?<br />
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- Who should be writing the weekly comments? We now have a robust clergy team of three rabbis and two cantors at WRT; we also have an exceptionally intellectually robust congregation and one possible future model for our blog envisions this online forum as an opportunity for lay members of the congregation to teach and learn. We also have an opportunity to welcome "guest bloggers" to the site, for instance, WRT students studying abroad in Israel or in rabbinical school who could use this platform to share their views and their own special Torah.<br />
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- When should the blog be updated? Early in the week, when we can engage <i>Parashat Ha-Shavua </i>in anticipation of the coming Shabbat? Or close to Shabbat itself, when the Friday evening speaker's remarks can be published?<br />
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I welcome your comments, and I offer these in the spirit of open inquiry and rejection of that which our community deems offensive and counter-productive.<br />
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<i>Rav Berachot -- </i>with many blessings,<br />
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JonathanJEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-88659157017665767832012-08-12T18:48:00.003-04:002012-08-12T18:48:38.706-04:00Eikev D'var Torah by Troy Kirwin<div>
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Check out incoming UVA Freshman Troy Kirwin's fantastic d'var Torah from last Shabbat! Shavua Tov!</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9093113369308412" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline;">Troy Kirwin<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> August 10, 2012</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.9093113369308412" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">College Send-Off D’var Torah</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It’s been four long years. Four challenging years. There were certainly times when my classmates and I felt as though there was no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel. Constant exams, essays, projects, SAT prep- the list just goes on. Yet they were also 4 exciting years, filled with success and learning. Your Four years in high school are supposed to be the period in which you see yourself grow the most. As we end one journey, we embark on what could be an even more daunting journey-four years of college. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We stand poised to enter a future filled with uncertainty. The road before us is not set in stone by our parents. It is waiting to be plotted out by us. In some ways, college is like a proverbial bridge, connecting our current lives within the constraints of our parents’ homes to the point when we enter the real world for ourselves. In the process we will stumble and fall, only to pick ourselves up again once more. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This journey ahead of us shows several parallels to the journey that Moses led the Israelites on through the wilderness. They roamed 40 years through the unknown, battling trials and setbacks in order to start a new life for themselves. Though our voyage may just be through a quad, a fraternity house or a crowded library and not a hostile desert, the point is still the same. We are entering a new frontier. Our way of life will change in more ways than one. We will have to learn to live on our own, do our own laundry, make new friends and chart our own course. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The most prominent way that our lives will change, however, is the fact that we are leaving what many refer to as the “Scarsdale bubble.” As we all know, kids who grow up in Scarsdale live very sheltered lives, sometimes unaware of the reality of the outside world. For those kids in Scarsdale who are Jewish, most grow up solely in environments where they are surrounded by other Jews. Our school is predominantly Jewish, we go to camps that are mostly Jewish, we go on teen tours with other Jewish teens from the area, we go to religious school, and some of us even play what we dub “Jew Ball.” Those teenagers around us who aren’t Jewish, are typically very accepting and respectful of the Jewish tradition because of their exposure to it. But now, all of a sudden, we are at the point in our lives when we leave the bubble and face reality. Many of my classmates made decisions about which school they wanted to attend based on the Jewish population at that college. Maybe they were afraid to enter a world that didn’t resemble the bubble. My mother’s friend told my mom that she did not want her son to go to school in the south because she was afraid of the way people might treat a Jewish boy from Scarsdale. I also had a conversation with a friend of mine this past fall about what criteria we were looking for in a school. I mentioned that I wanted to go somewhere unlike Scarsdale in order to experience a different side of life. My friend told me that he would only go to school somewhere where there was a large Jewish population, and he suspected that most of his friends would eventually be Jewish. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In this week’s torah portion, Parashat Eikev, Moses warns his fellow Israelites before entering the land of milk and honey about the importance of maintaining their devotion to God, Judaism and the commandments. God will provide all that we need and love each and every one of us, Moses explains, just as he guided them to the promised land. Then, Moses cautions his companions. He warns them that in this new land, there will be those who are non-believers in God and the Jewish tradition. Trying to capture God’s wrath in his fiery speech, Moses tells the Israelites that God will deliver to them all those who fail to pray to the one true God, and that all the images of their alternative Gods should be put to the flames. The Israelites will even have to “annihilate” all those who question their Jewish ways, Moses warns. </span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though our journey into a new land lacks the theatrics of the Israelites’, there are some similarities that are worth noting. For most of our lives, my classmates and I have never been in a position where we have had to defend our religion to those who have not been exposed to Judaism and who therefore challenge or even reject our religion either out of hostility or ignorance. Living in the “Scarsdale bubble,” we have, sometimes intentionally, been protected from those who have negative opinions about Jews. The question that lies at hand here is now that we are entering new schools where we as Jews go from the majority to the minority, will we still standup for our religion and our traditions against those who make disparaging remarks?</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The answer will be different for each Jewish classmate of mine as we move forward, but I believe that the true answer results from how comfortable we are with our own Jewish identity. This issue is something that we discussed a lot in my Post-Confirmation class here at WRT the last two years lead by Cantor Abramson and Nadav . Your Jewish identity is whatever you believe makes you Jewish. This could include your connection to God, your appreciation of the Jewish holidays, your eagerness to continue your Jewish education or possibly your commitment to doing mitzvot by helping out the greater community. The more comfortable we are with our own Jewish identity the more likely it is that we will stand up for our religion.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Our family spends a lot of time at a country house in Litchfield County, Ct, an area with a miniscule Jewish population. I have spent every summer of my life there and have made many great friends. Through my years up there, I have learned from exposure what it is like to live outside the “Scarsdale bubble.” First, I have witnessed the phrase “He/She is such a Jew” thrown around. When I was younger, I did not have the confidence to say that I found that to be offensive but now I speak up for myself or whoever is the victim of the remark. Also, at least on one occasion I have had someone say to me, “you know, you don’t seem or look Jewish.” When they say this, they mean it in a way that, to them, is almost a compliment and in which the proper response in their view would be “Thank you.” My conjecture is that through their ignorance to Judaism they only see a Jew as someone who wears a yarmulke all the time, wears teffilin, or tsit tsit under their shirts. Lastly, I have a couple friends from my summer home who are half Jewish, having had one Jewish and one non-Jewish parent. By this measure I too, am half Jewish, though these friends of mine are either non-observant Jews or Christian whereas I have been raised exclusively in the Reform Jewish tradition. Oddly enough, though I have been friends with each of these friends for most of my life, I only discovered that they were half Jewish in the last two or three years. After hearing them speak about their Jewish heritage in conversation, I have determined that they are all almost embarrassed by their Jewish background. Whenever someone learns that they are half-Jewish, they always specify that they don’t practice Judaism almost out of fear of what the other person might be thinking of them. Two weeks ago, someone was in an argument with one of my half- Jewish friends and, in a belittling tone called him a “Jew.” Later, when my friend was telling me this story, I told him that he should have stood up for himself and for his Jewish heritage. It became evident to me that he was not comfortable doing that. After reflecting on this event, I realized that part of the reason these friends of mine are too timid to confront those who think poorly about Jews is because they don’t have a strong connection to Judaism and have not formed their Jewish identity. I, along with many of my classmates from high school who went to WRT, are lucky enough to have had the guidance of this temple in forming our Jewish identity. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Just as Moses pleaded to the Israelites not to abandon their God or their teachings and to confront all those who denied the validity of their religion, I believe it is essential for my classmates and I to carry our connection to Judaism with us as we enter college. We must be strong enough to take aim at those who mock our religion. Most importantly, I hope that my Jewish classmates have all acquired the tools through religious school and other Jewish traditions to be able to educate those who are misinformed about what it means to be Judaism. After all, misinformation is often the root of biases against unfamiliar cultures and religions. I wish all of my classmates the best in their future endeavors and to enjoy the exciting journey ahead of us. </span></b><br />Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-57073651949978462742012-08-01T11:21:00.000-04:002012-08-01T11:21:07.992-04:00Tisha B'Av<br />
This past Saturday night, as a Reform Jewish community we held a service to observe Tisha B'Av, or the 9th of Av. The 9th of Av recalls a series of tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over the millennia. For more information about Tisha B'Av check out the articles at <a href="http://myjewishlearning.com/">MyJewishLearning.com</a> on <a href="http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Tisha_BAv.shtml">Tisha B'Av</a>. <div>
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Our big challenge as articulated by Rabbi Blake, is how do we observe Tisha B'Av as Reform Jews? The destruction of the Temple marked for the Jewish people a radical shift in how they interacted with their tradition. The Rabbinic reformation created a Judaism that was no longer tied to the Temple Cult, and for many Reform Jews today, they cannot even conceive of a world where the Temple operates as it did 2000 years ago.</div>
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My answer throughout the evening, and in my teaching was to consider the experience of national tragedy that Tisha B'Av represents. Tisha B'Av represents those moments where our lives are radically changed and marred by severe tragedy. The book of Lamentations in our Tanach is an written lament that describes the tragedy that was experienced in a post 586 BCE world after the destruction of the first Temple. Lamentations Rabbah was created to respond to the tragedy of the destruction of the second Temple in 70 CE. By writing and expressing the pain of the tragedy in a public form, there is some catharsis and the possibility for hope. </div>
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Therefore, I shared a variety of texts that described situations that merited a lament. Those moments that as a people, as an individual, or as a smaller community there was a need to stop and reflect, and hopefully move forward after such intense pain. The texts have been reproduced below to spark your own thoughts about experiences that merit lament. Those experiences that are tragic, and yet have some kernel of hope that things might get better. </div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.20826220326125622" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Laments through the ages</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Hittite “Prayer of Kantuzilis” Circa 1350 BCE</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Would that my god might now freely open his heart and soul to me and tell me my fault so that I might learn about it! . . . My god who was angry and rejected me—let the same god care for me again and grant me life! Would that my god who forsook me might take pity on me!. . . See! I, Kantuzilis, thy servant have asked for mercy and humbled myself.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lamentations 5:21-22 circa 586 BCE</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr">
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">כא</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יְהוָה אֵלֶיךָ ונשוב (וְנָשׁוּבָה), חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם.</span></div>
</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5:21</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Turn to us Adonai, and we will return, renew us as in the days of old.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">כב</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> כִּי אִם-מָאֹס מְאַסְתָּנוּ, קָצַפְתָּ עָלֵינוּ עַד-מְאֹד. {ש}</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5:22</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f9fdff; color: #001320; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us.</span></div>
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<br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is None to Comfort: Lamentations Rabba 1:26, (Buber, pp. 61-2), Soncino, p. 96 Circa 70 CE</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="rtl" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">אין לה מנחם. א"ר לוי כל מקום שנאמר אין הוה לה, ותהי שרי עקרה אין לה ולד )בראשית י“א:ל‘(, והוה לה, שנאמר וה' פקד את שרה )שם בראשית כ“א :א‘(, ודכוותיה ולחנה אין ילדים )ש"א שמואל א' א:ב‘(, והוה לה, שנאמר כי פקד ה' את חנה וגו' )שם שמואל א' ב‘:כ“א(, ודכוותיה ציון היא דורש אין לה )ירמיה ל‘:י“ח(, והוה לה, שנאמר ובא לציון גואל )ישעיה נ“ט:כ‘( ובא לציון גואל, אף כן את אומר אין לה מנחם, והוה לה, שנא' )ישעיהו נ"א:י“ב( אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She has none to comfort her</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Rabbi Levi said: Wherever it says, </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has none </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(אין לה), it indicates that there would be in the future.*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>[For instance], and Sarai was barren; she had no child; [Genesis 11:30]<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>but she did have one later, as it is said, </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And Adonai remembered Sarah </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[ibid. 21:1]. Similarly, But Hannah had no children [I Samuel 1:2] she did have them later, as it is said, So Adonai remembered Hannah [ibid. 2:21]. Similarly, She is Zion, there is none that cares for her [Jeremiah 30:17]; but she will have one later, as it is said, And a redeemer will come to Zion [Isaiah 49:20]. In like manner you may say, She has none to comfort her; but she will have later, as it is said, I, even I, am He that comforts you. [Isaiah 51:12].</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beliefs by Peter Steinfels New York Times, August 31, 2002<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where was God on Sept. 11 is an inevitable question because Sept. 11 was exceptional, something confronted. Collectively. It is a necessary and valuable question, however, because it asks about something unexceptional where was God yesterday and where is God today? - and too often confronted alone.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contemporary religious thinkers are acutely aware that there can be no "good" answer about terrible situations just least-bad answers. The least-bad ones encompass more of one's whole experience of life than the others.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the case of Sept. 11, not a few voices have answered that God was right in the midst of the horror, especially in the heroism and self-sacrifice.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Lament for Baghdad by Rabbi David Levy, December 2011</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My fatherland. Cut off from me. Torn by war. No Jews on the streets. A place that is defined by uncertainty. A place that the Jews left 60 years ago. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why did they leave? Why did they leave everything behind? Why did you hear calls for Jewish blood? Some say, because of the new Israeli state. Some say, because of the pogroms of 1941, the Farhoud. Some say, the neighbors they had, for 2500 years suddenly became foreign to them. Yet that place still remains a part of our memory. That place, where Jews wrote the Talmud. That place where Jews had been a partner in building a glorious society. That place between the two rivers.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gone was the partnership. Gone into a century of uncertainty. Gone are the happy Jews in a Muslim country. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Did my Great Grandfather not serve in the Turkish Army in World War I? Did my Grandfather not help build the railroad system throughout the country? Did my Great Grandfather not invest in the Iraqi economy to help it grow?</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Where were these contributions when the Farhoud began? Where were the generations of Muslim and Jewish coexistence when the Moussad smuggled Jews to the fledgling Israeli state? Where was our history, our pride in our country?</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We had hoped that this war would mark a turning point, that the American troops would change our city into a place which was tolerant and safe. Chanukah candles were lit in Saddam’s palace.An American Iraqi Jewish JAG walked the streets of Baghdad, under armed guard, but could not wander on his own. He experienced his family’s history with his own feet.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is progress in Baghdad; there is hope for the future. There is progress; there is free voting and free elections albeit marred by violence. There is progress, US Troops have left. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But today only eight Jews remain. Eight Jews in place of thousands. The streets that my ancestors walked down, when will I be able to wander those streets? When will Baghdad be safe again? When will it be safe for me to visit one of my homes?</span></div>
</b></div>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-60878081672013942202012-08-01T10:57:00.001-04:002012-08-01T10:57:19.360-04:00The Olympics<span style="font-family: inherit;">In response to the Olympics opening ceremony this past Friday, I made some remarks at Friday night services regarding what I have perceived to be a mistake that the Olympic committee is making by not recognizing the tragic murders of 40 years ago.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.39403477497398853" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Paris, on November 25th, 1892, Pierre de Coubertin stated, in his attempt to resurrect the Olympic Games: "That is the true Free Trade of the future; and the day it is introduced into Europe the cause of Peace will have received a new and strong ally..."in the Olympic Games.</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This utopian vision was a huge part of the 19th century. The wonderful ideal that we could overcome humanity’s foibles, and enter a messianic age brought about by our own actions, without waiting for G-d to do it for us. For the Jewish people this vision was manifest in the ideals of the Reform Movement and Zionism. Each of these were amazing visions of what the world could be, and a belief in humanity’s capacity to create that world. </span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This vision of a world perfected by humanity’s activities was shattered time and again, in each moment where humanity’s capacity for evil has been presented throughout the 20th century. Tonight marks one of the moments where the olympic vision of collaboration and as a symbol for peace was broken. Tonight marks the 40th anniversary of the </span><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">11 Israeli athletes and one German police officer slain by terrorists in Munich in 1972. This tragedy that marrs Coubertin’s olympic vision was not officially recognized by the olympic community by a moment of silence in today’s opening ceremony. In an attempt to provide a <i>tikkun</i>, a repair, for their choice not to remember these fallen men and women, before the Kaddish this evening, we will take a moment to remember those that died in munich so tragically 40 years ago.</span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Growing up my Rabbi, Howard Herman of <a href="http://fvjc.org/">Farmington Valley Jewish Congregation</a>, included every Jewish tragedy of the 20th century along with our regular Kaddish remembrance including the 11 Israeli olympiads. By making it our minhag, our custom to recall those that died in tragedy and <i>al kiddush haShem</i>, for the sanctification of G-d's name he reminded us week to week that the world we live in is not yet perfected, but is one that is marred by war and turmoil. However, it is out of that ideal of the 19th century, that we can perfect the world, that we as a Jewish community still strive to make our world closer to a world perfected. For while the 20th century has taught us that the ability to perfect our world is a challenge, and far from a reality, we remember the words of Pirkei Avot,</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></b><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">לא עליך כל המלאכה לגמור, ולא אתה בן חורין ליבטל</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is not incumbent upon you to complete the work, but neither are you at liberty to desist from it (Pirkei Avot 2:21)</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="line-height: 19px;">The work is hard, and the vision is vast, but we will continue to work towards a better world, in which those that have fallen will be remembered for their sacrifice. </span></div>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-43130577569003118282012-07-20T17:24:00.000-04:002012-07-20T17:24:40.508-04:00Parashat Matot-Masei<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="line-height: 18px;">Below please find this week's d'var Torah by our congregant Vic Goldberg. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Matot and
Ma'sei, this week's portions, deal
with the end of the years in the wilderness, and the things that God tells Moses to instruct the Israelite
people, including "you shall take possession of the Promised Land and
settle in it;" "how to
apportion it among yourselves", and the warning that "if you do not <u>dispossess</u>
the inhabitants of the land, those who you allow to remain will be stings in
the eyes and thorns in the sides, and they shall harass you in the land in
which you live." <i>Pretty powerful narrative, with painful relevance today. But one wonders what the Moabite
narrative might have been; they
who were to be on the receiving end of this settlement. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conflicting
narratives about Israel came to the forefront of my life about nine years ago. I was completing 13 years as vice chairman of the
Institute of International Education...best known for administering the
Fulbright scholarships and 250 other international exchange programs,
....and I wanted to do something
in gratitude for how that opportunity had enriched my life. The CEO there asked me what was
important in my life, and Israel immediately came to mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As a young
American Jew in 1948, (I was 15 years old), I lived in Chicago next door to
immigrants with numbers on their forearms, near a parochial school whose
students thought I killed Christ, and I was totally drawn to this new nation, a safe place for Jews <i>which
embodied the cultural and moral values with which I was raised</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now here I
was in 2004, having watched nothing but strife in the Middle East for all my
adult life, wondering what if anything could bring peace to this Jewish
Homeland I had cherished all my life.
Clearly political leadership
had failed, ..... and maybe only work at the grassroots level could form
the basis of lasting peace down the road.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And so, I
envisioned a Middle East Peace Prize.
To win it you had to have two people, one Jewish Israeli and one Arab
Muslim, working together at the grass roots. I joked that we should have called it the <u>Don Quixote</u>
IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East, since there was a serious possibility
that we would be unable to find a Jewish Israeli and an Arab Muslim working
together for peace….one of whom had had a connection to an international
exchange program in which IIE was involved. But we have done so, with no shortage of candidates, for 8
years running. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
winners of the first prize in 2005 dealt directly with this issue of
conflicting narratives.</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Dan Bar On and Sami Adwan
were both college professors, Dan at Ben Gurion University and Sami at
Bethlehem University. They had
constructed a middle school history textbook for four historical periods: the
Balfour declaration, the 1948 war, the Yom Kippur War and the first
Intifada. On the left hand side of
each page was the Israeli narrative, on the right was the Arab narrative, and
the middle was composed of the blank lines of a workbook. To develop the textbook they sometimes
had to meet across checkpoints;
and to train 10 Israeli and 10 Palestinian teachers, they eventually had to fly
them to Crete for joint sessions.
To this day, neither the Israeli Ministry of Education nor the
Palestinian Ministry of Education have approved this textbook. But with the book's intervening
historical periods now complete,
it is being used at the University level, and so the work is not in
vain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 2006
Prize went to an all Israeli team, one Jewish, one Muslim, that established an
Arab Israeli Community Center In Jaffa.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The 2007
Prize to a team that established the first intregrated school in Israel, with
student enrollment and faculty, each balanced 50/50 and with Jewish and Muslim Co-Directors. They have since
expanded to three schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2008 to
founders of a bereavement group called Parents Circle: a Jew who lost his
daughter to a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, and a Palestinian whose brother was
released from an Israeli prison... beaten so badly that he died shortly
thereafter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2009 to the
founders of a Young Professionals Alliance between Israeli Jews and
Palestinians. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2010 to a
former member of an elite IDF army unit and a self described Palestinian
intifada fighter who formed a group called Combatants for Peace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2011 to two
women working in Be'er Sheva for the civil rights of Bedouins.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">and 2012 to
two Israelis, one Jewish, one Muslim each heading an organization devoted to
civil rights within Israel, who file joint briefs to the Israeli Supreme Court
on civil rights issues involving women, Muslims, gays, ...and Jews striving to
live their lives unrestricted by Haredeem and other Orthodox forces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My wife Pat
and I go to Israel each year to present the prize and each year are in awe of
what the winners have done. These
absolutely heroic people <u>have internalized scripture which is quite different</u>
from this week's portion:
Leviticus 19:18, "love thy neighbor as thyself." More to the point, from Rabbi Hillel:
"What is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow man. That is the whole
Torah. All the rest is commentary:
go and learn it."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In some
years, the winning teams have been composed of one Palestinian and one
Israeli. In other years, both
winners have been Israeli citizens.
Where both have been Israeli citizens, the work has been focused on
civil rights, and it strongly evokes the civil rights struggles in the United
States in the last half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I remember
as a boy on a trip to the American South seeing the water fountains and
bathrooms with signs designating “white only.” I remember the tumultuous years in which African Americans
fought to get the legal right to vote; and the <u>continuing</u> battle for
equal educational and economic opportunity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I also
remember the active role many American Jews played in those historical
efforts. <u>And well we should
have! </u> <i>Having for centuries
been the <u>victim</u> of discrimination, it was, and is, only proper that we
help others to be freed from it</i>.
That lesson sometimes seems lost in the Israel of today, but I think
that same positive progress <u>can</u> happen there. And it will require very similar effort. It will require action ....by citizens
who are conscious of the disconnnect between their moral heritage and the
realities of their society,… and who are willing to get out of their comfort
zone and use all the tools at their disposal to pressure their government and
their society for change. All in
all, however, In this area of Israeli civil rights, I am somewhat
optimistic. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the
area of finding peace with the Palestinians</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, however, my optimism has pretty much vanished. In past years, the necessity and
inevitability of a two-state solution seemed to be a given. But on our trip last month, the secular
Israeli liberals seemed dispirited, an increasingly powerless portion of
society, ....with Mr. Netanyahu focusing on disputes with the religious parties
over military service. And a
week ago, the report of a Netanyahu-appointed commission recommending that all
the illegal settlements should be declared legal, could presage a disastrous
turn away from the two-state solution, .....which has been the cornerstone of
hope for those who seek long term peace in the Middle East.....the only
solution that will allow a state that is both Jewish and democratic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I believe
that failure to establish a separate Palestinian state will still leave us with
a Jewish state, ....but given birth rates of the Palestinians and the Orthodox
Jews, not one that is democratic.
We cringe at the term "apartheid," but that is pretty
descriptive of what will be, and what will happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don't
think the Israeli government has really digested the lessons of the Arab
Spring, or the ramifications of Palestinians adopting, ....not arms which the
IDF could crush, ....but massive Martin Luther King-type peaceful
protests. Nor the kind of
international sanctions that forced well-intentioned employers like Ford and
IBM, who were hiring and promoting blacks and coloreds,.... to leave South
Africa, when major pension funds threatened divestiture of their stock. Failure to achieve a two-state solution
will be very bad for Israel, for the United States, and for Jews in general.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Living
alongside others has been a challenge from even before biblical times. And sometimes whole societies have
vanished. Things don't <u>necessarily</u>
work out okay in the end. We're
still in a wilderness, and narratives remain to be written. But it's the Middle East; and it's full of tribal lunatics; and
the Israelis and the Palestinians continue to take turns missing opportunities
for peace. I still believe that
grass roots efforts between Arabs and Jews are the best chance to one day force
rational change. I just fear that
time is running out. I hope and
pray Israeli's are up to the task of peace, for it means their survival. It will break my heart if they aren’t.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-77851446790043402482012-07-13T16:36:00.001-04:002012-07-13T16:36:10.309-04:00Pinchas 5772: Reflections on Interfaith Marriage<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nIvbLwqF1tA" width="420"></iframe>JEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-37987915096053296162012-07-06T18:30:00.000-04:002012-07-07T08:27:31.010-04:00Why do we Hate Balaam? Musings on Parashat Balak 5772<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As I sat on the phone formulating my response, I stewed. I stewed with desire to unload my anger against a giant corporation that in my mind was willfully, and cruelly blocking my ability to close on my home so that I could live a normal life. All these emotions welled up within me as finally the other end of the line picked up, and suddenly I had a human being to speak with instead of my image of what that human being would be. Try as I might, as much as I wanted to spew the curses that had been welling up within me, as much as I desired to make her feel my pain in her very being, blessing spilled forth from my lips. Words of thanks, and appreciation were all I could say once i was in the presence of this sweet and caring human being. As I told many people later, the woman on the other end of the phone was from the midwest, the odds were that she was going to be pretty nice on the phone. </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Moving to Westchester turned out to be much more of a journey than I had expected. My family and I spent five weeks “in between homes” on our way to our new home in Port Chester. I still do not know how or why it took five weeks to get this done, however, on that journey I had a number of experiences. This experience of interacting with a person I felt like I needed to hate, brought me back to our parashah. For it is throughout our parashah that Balaam consistently tries to curse another group of people, namely the Israelites, yet the words that come out of his mouth are consistently words of praise, as I will sing from our text:</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></b><br />
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<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="383"></col><col width="18"></col><col width="223"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 0px;"><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">23:5. How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 7px; vertical-align: top;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ה. מַה טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל:</span></td></tr>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yet our tradition has hated Balaam even though these beautiful words came from his mouth. Our biblical text rarely has a kind word to spare for him, and our talmudic text is scathing, where throughout the text his epithet is not simply Balaam but wicked Balaam! He is described as plotting secretly against the Israelites, and some of the allegations against him are simply appalling. </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So I wonder: What is it about Balaam that is so horrendous? How is it that a person who speaks so positively of Israel, is so vilified? Balaam as a character has a few key traits that create this perfect storm of hatred. However, the one I wish to focus on is that we never meet him. </span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>How can I say that you may ask? We read about him in the Torah, we are reading about him this week in our parashah. Yet, how does Balaam interact with our people the Israelites in the desert? From a distance. From a vantage point where he is looking down at the Israelites, and the beautiful words that he speaks time and again, are described as being put into his mouth by G-d. Other than his death, Balaam is never described as interacting with any Israelite. (Numbers 31:8)</span></b><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> No it is in part for the exact same reason I was so ready to loathe the person on the other line that we as a people have been uncomfortable with Balaam. He’s an unknown. He’s never been in our presence, never had a conversation, he’s only talked to G-d, and in the end he barely listened to what G-d had to say. </span></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So I wonder what that has to say about our own perceptions of other people that we may never meet. How often do we give ourselves the opportunity to be in someone else’s shoes rather than dissecting them based upon what we perceive? How often do we stop and take a moment to process where they are in the world before we assume certain stereotypes about them?</span></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Susan T. Fiske, a noted social psychologist, has recently done quite a bit of research on this particular question. She argues that our perception of people stems from our preconceived view of their role in society. Her study suggests that we see most groups that we are not a part of as either envied groups, or scorned groups. Envied groups are often seen as “ ...competent, but we view them as not on our side, so they seem cold...and untrustworthy.”(</span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"></b></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> http://www.russellsage.org/visiting-scholars/susan-t-fiske-interview)</span></b></b></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"></b></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> On the other hand, we have scorned groups. In a recent study, Fiske showed images of characteristically scorned groups to participants who were in a Functional MRI machine, and monitored their brain patterns when seeing the scorned groups. The area of the brain that recognizes other people did not light up when the participants viewed members of the scorned groups. “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fiske suspects that this hesitation to value the lives of those we scorn comes from not fully recognizing members of scorned groups as fellow human beings.”</span></b></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; text-indent: 36pt;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (http://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/10/compassion.aspx)</span></b></b></b></div>
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is so easy to ascribe any motive or emotion to a group of unknown people. To say that any person, based upon their job, political allegiance, or simply their appearance makes them a caricature of everything we imagine they are capable of. What is infinitely more challenging is to take the deep breath, and step back and try to see the people we are interacting with as far more than merely thoughtless automatons that represent everything we imagine they are. Rather our challenge is to take a moment, and try to see the person as a human being, created in G-d’s image, and therefore worthy of being recognized as a individual regardless of their opinion, position or group affiliation.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few years ago a book came out entitled: Why We Hate Us by Dick Meyer. The premise of the book was deeper than the title, he argued that a deeper social shift was occurring in American society creating this erosion of trust and morality. However, his title and many of his examples throughout the book ring true: we hate us. A short excerpt from his book provides a multitude of examples: “They loathe snails who drive slowly in the left lane. They don't like people who talk full volume about the heartbreak of their psoriasis on cell phone headsets in restaurants and quiet bookstores....They don't like it when they're talking with someone who starts thumbing their little digital personal device to answer an email from someone five hundred miles away.”</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(</span><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.3088669541757554" style="font-weight: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93261726)</span></b></b></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Our challenge throughout our lives is to not reduce people to things. To not look out at that person who is doing something that irritates us, and group them together into this faceless mass that not only irks us but enrages us. That we don’t look out at a random stranger and see the wicked Balaam, the unknown entity, but a fellow human being created in the divine Image.</span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Joining this community, it is with great joy that I look forward to seeing that spark within each of you as I come to know you over the years. I hope that I will not be a faceless Rabbi to you, and that all of you will not be a throng of congregants to me. Rather as a </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kehilah Kedoshah</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, a holy community we work together to know each other and continue to make WRT, our community, a place to be proud of, and most importantly, our home. </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Cambria; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Shabbat Shalom. </span></b></div>Rabbi David Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03483334885364814120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5046754942039806323.post-5692830233703403522012-06-15T17:55:00.003-04:002012-06-15T17:55:28.993-04:00When We See Ourselves As GrasshoppersIn this week's <i>parasha, Shelach-Lecha (Num. 13:1-15:41), </i>a leadership team of 12 spies, each one a chieftain of the 12 tribes of Israel, is summoned by Moses into the Promised Land to determine the quality of the land, its soil, its produce, its cities and towns, and its inhabitants.<br />
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The spies agree: The land flows with milk and honey. The fruit is rich and plump and abundant. The towns, however, are fortified and the people are armed and dangerous. There are even giants living there!<br />
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Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, insist that the Israelites have the "right stuff" to overcome the obstacles and inherit the land.<br />
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The other ten, however, fixate on their negative appraisal, which leads to the Israelites spreading the bad report so that the people panic and insist that going back to Egypt would be better than trying to enter the Promised Land.<br />
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It's a disastrous moment in the Jewish Story, one that leads God to punish the people with 40 years of wandering in the wilderness until the entire faithless generation dies out and only Joshua, Caleb, and the young will enter the Promised Land. <br />
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Look at Numbers 13:33, in which the ten disheartened spies say, in part, "We looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and so we must have appeared to them [our enemies]." <br />
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What a terrible appraisal! And how human, to conclude from their own negative self-image that everyone else saw them as weak and powerless too. But we do this all the time, don't we? Extrapolate from our own views of ourselves how we think others see us? Low self-esteem can be so destructive in relationships, adolescent development, and in our abilities to rise to our fullest potential.<br />
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I am eager to hear your comments about what it means to see ourselves as grasshoppers. How does it hurt us, and how can we overcome this tendency?<br />
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Shabbat Shalom,<br />
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Rabbi Jonathan BlakeJEBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04509558560620204542noreply@blogger.com2