Ten Minutes Torah
5/3/13 Friday – The Rhythm of Jewish Time
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: MISS Etag: “1367590169-1″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Fri, 03 May 2013 14:09:29 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Transfer-Encoding: chunked Date: Fri, 03 May 2013 14:24:10 GMT X-Varnish: 879594654 879226197 Age: 880 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: HIT X-Cache-Hits: 1 Shavuot: Choosing Our Tribe | Reform Judaism
By Rabbi Jordi Schuster Battis, 5/03/2013
On Shavuot, every spring, we return to Sinai. We stand at the foot of the mountain enveloped in cloud and fire, the mountain hanging over our heads as if dangling from the Heavens themselves1, and we accept the Torah that was given to us when we assembled there together in the Wilderness long ago.
Our tradition holds that all who are Jewish, in any generation, were in attendance at Sinai: the Israelites of the Exodus standing there in person and the souls of all Jews of future generations there as well, even though their bodies had not yet been created.2 We say that those included the souls of those who came to Judaism through their birth as well as those who became Jews later in their lives-both are equally considered to be children of Abraham and Sarah.
In many segments of the liberal Jewish world, we have shifted from using the term “convert” to the term “Jew by choice.” But, in our age of multiple identities, all of us are Jews by choice-or, at least, we have the option of when and how to identify ourselves as Jewish and to access our Judaism. Indeed, our tradition suggests that at the time of Sinai, too, the choice to be a part of this way of life was ours. As Maimonides wrote in his famous “Letter to Ovadiah the Proselyte,”
Know that our fathers, when they came out of Egypt, were mostly idolaters; they had mingled with the pagans in Egypt and imitated their way of life, until the Holy One, may He be blessed, sent Moses our teacher, the master of all prophets, who separated us from the nations and brought us under the wings of the Divine Presence, us and all proselytes, and gave to all of us one law.
That is, the Israelites in the generation of the Exodus themselves were not a people distinct in their beliefs or behaviors until they learned together and practiced together. Indeed, the Torah suggests that those who crossed the Sea were not only the direct descendents of Jacob (Joseph and his brothers’ children’s children) but that a “mixed multitude” accompanied them,3 eventually to be integrated into B’nei Yisrael, this same family. Those who were Children of Israel by birth and those who were Children of Israel by adoption all had to make the active choice to join not only in the belief in one God but also in the identity as one nation there at Sinai, as we make the same active choice today.
Ruth made this choice when she elected to accompany Naomi into Naomi’s family, community, and fortune. The Jew by choice sitting next to us in synagogue, or at our kitchen table, affirmed this choice when he entered the mikveh or when she stood before her beit din. Each of us makes this choice each time we intentionally engage in Jewish ritual, meaningfully take part in Jewish conversation, or deliberately teach the words of our tradition to our children, speak of them at home or on our way, when we lie down or rise up.4
We are given the opportunity every year at Shavuot to commit and recommit ourselves to this Tribe-this amalgamated, multitudinous, somewhat batty people, whose beliefs are not all the same, whose practices are not all the same, whose heritage is not all the same, and yet who identify as having a shared name, a shared story, and a shared lineage, by birth or otherwise. Let us turn to each other this Shavuot, this year and every year-to our spouses, our children, our friends, and our neighbors-and say with Ruth, “Your people will be my people, and your God my God.”5
- BT Avodah Zara 2b; BT Shabbat 88a
- Midrash Tanhuma, Nitzvim 3
- Exodus 12:38
- Deuteronomy 6:7
- Ruth 1:16.
Rabbi Jordi Schuster Battis serves as the Pedagogic Coach to the faculty of Mayim: The Elementary Learning Community at Temple Beth Shalom of Needham, MA, and as the rabbi of Temple Shir Hadash in Westford, MA. She lives in Natick, with her husband, Seth, who taught her by example about what it means to actively choose to become a Jew, and their son, Gershom.
Submit a blog post
Share your voice: ReformJudaism.org accepts submissions to the blog for consideration.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: MISS Etag: “1367590169-1″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Fri, 03 May 2013 14:09:29 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Transfer-Encoding: chunked Date: Fri, 03 May 2013 14:24:10 GMT X-Varnish: 879594654 879226197 Age: 880 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: HIT X-Cache-Hits: 1 Shavuot: Choosing Our Tribe | Reform Judaism
By Rabbi Jordi Schuster Battis, 5/03/2013
On Shavuot, every spring, we return to Sinai. We stand at the foot of the mountain enveloped in cloud and fire, the mountain hanging over our heads as if dangling from the Heavens themselves1, and we accept the Torah that was given to us when we assembled there together in the Wilderness long ago.
Our tradition holds that all who are Jewish, in any generation, were in attendance at Sinai: the Israelites of the Exodus standing there in person and the souls of all Jews of future generations there as well, even though their bodies had not yet been created.2 We say that those included the souls of those who came to Judaism through their birth as well as those who became Jews later in their lives-both are equally considered to be children of Abraham and Sarah.
In many segments of the liberal Jewish world, we have shifted from using the term “convert” to the term “Jew by choice.” But, in our age of multiple identities, all of us are Jews by choice-or, at least, we have the option of when and how to identify ourselves as Jewish and to access our Judaism. Indeed, our tradition suggests that at the time of Sinai, too, the choice to be a part of this way of life was ours. As Maimonides wrote in his famous “Letter to Ovadiah the Proselyte,”
Know that our fathers, when they came out of Egypt, were mostly idolaters; they had mingled with the pagans in Egypt and imitated their way of life, until the Holy One, may He be blessed, sent Moses our teacher, the master of all prophets, who separated us from the nations and brought us under the wings of the Divine Presence, us and all proselytes, and gave to all of us one law.
That is, the Israelites in the generation of the Exodus themselves were not a people distinct in their beliefs or behaviors until they learned together and practiced together. Indeed, the Torah suggests that those who crossed the Sea were not only the direct descendents of Jacob (Joseph and his brothers’ children’s children) but that a “mixed multitude” accompanied them,3 eventually to be integrated into B’nei Yisrael, this same family. Those who were Children of Israel by birth and those who were Children of Israel by adoption all had to make the active choice to join not only in the belief in one God but also in the identity as one nation there at Sinai, as we make the same active choice today.
Ruth made this choice when she elected to accompany Naomi into Naomi’s family, community, and fortune. The Jew by choice sitting next to us in synagogue, or at our kitchen table, affirmed this choice when he entered the mikveh or when she stood before her beit din. Each of us makes this choice each time we intentionally engage in Jewish ritual, meaningfully take part in Jewish conversation, or deliberately teach the words of our tradition to our children, speak of them at home or on our way, when we lie down or rise up.4
We are given the opportunity every year at Shavuot to commit and recommit ourselves to this Tribe-this amalgamated, multitudinous, somewhat batty people, whose beliefs are not all the same, whose practices are not all the same, whose heritage is not all the same, and yet who identify as having a shared name, a shared story, and a shared lineage, by birth or otherwise. Let us turn to each other this Shavuot, this year and every year-to our spouses, our children, our friends, and our neighbors-and say with Ruth, “Your people will be my people, and your God my God.”5
- BT Avodah Zara 2b; BT Shabbat 88a
- Midrash Tanhuma, Nitzvim 3
- Exodus 12:38
- Deuteronomy 6:7
- Ruth 1:16.
Rabbi Jordi Schuster Battis serves as the Pedagogic Coach to the faculty of Mayim: The Elementary Learning Community at Temple Beth Shalom of Needham, MA, and as the rabbi of Temple Shir Hadash in Westford, MA. She lives in Natick, with her husband, Seth, who taught her by example about what it means to actively choose to become a Jew, and their son, Gershom.
Submit a blog post
Share your voice: ReformJudaism.org accepts submissions to the blog for consideration.
5/2/13 Thursday – Delving Into T’fillah
By Rabbi Edwin Goldberg
Part Two: Chevruta (Intense Text Study) With A Thousand People
Last week I wrote about the decision of the Machzor editors to break the shofar service into three parts, with each part appearing in a different section of the service. As I mentioned, the three parts of the shofar service carry different themes: God’s sovereignty, God’s remembrance of us, and God’s redeeming us. When these three themes are presented one after the other, especially towards the end of the Rosh Hashanah morning service, it is hard to reflect on the spiritual depth of these insights. By dividing the shofar service into three, more attention on each section is possible.
For example, let’s consider the first theme, God’s sovereignty, or Malchuyot. The editors place this theme (with the sounding of the shofar of course) towards the beginning of the service, when traditional God is proclaimed the ultimate Sovereign. (The celebration of Rosh Hashanah in the fall, as opposed to the spring when the first Hebrew month falls, may have to do with the ancient custom of proclaiming earthly rulers in the fall.)
In the traditional high holy day prayer book, biblical verses from Torah, Psalms and Prophets are chosen to serve as windows into the theme of God’s sovereignty. In addition, a declaration of our need to acknowledge the power of God is added in a liturgical piece that came to be called Aleinu. Like a small-town actor that makes it to the Great White Way, the popularity of Aleinu led it to being added to the general Jewish prayer book.
This section, like the other two, also features contemporary poems, in an effort to expand our notion of God from being the supreme Ruler to also the spiritual partner. In other words, God’s majesty is not only reflective of the gilded trappings of a medieval court. The power of God is also felt in the flash of insight brought by a spiritual moment, or the recognition that our righteous actions affect God.
The second section of the shofar service – presented before the reading of Torah – deals with God’s memory, Zichronot. Once again ancient and
modern material is presented, and our editorial desire is to expand the notion from God’s remembering to include our remembering as well.
The third section, Shofarot, coming towards the end of the service, offers the theme of hope. Redemption is presented as something that God brings and/or we bring through our mindset and our acts of hope and goodness.
All three sections present the biblical and modern citations under the title, A Minyan of Passages for Reflection.” This title refers not only to the fact that traditionally ten (re: minyan) citations from the different sources were included. It is also an invitation for the individual worshiper to
reflect on the deeper meanings of these words.
Ideally the editors also imagine that congregations of any size might also pause in the prayer recitations and shofar soundings to study in groups of two or three (chevruta) and turn the sanctuary into a house of study, even if only for a few minutes. The texts are chosen to invite such a
discussion.
Clearly such activity works better when observed at the discretion of the worship leader and when the three parts of the shofar service are not presented one after the other.
The editors of the machzor hope that, in introducing these innovations, the words of the great Zionist rabbi Isaac Kook will be realized: “The old shall be made new and the new shall be made holy.”
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg has served as the senior rabbi of Temple Judea in Coral Gables since 1996. In July he will begin serving as the senior rabbi of Temple Sholom of Chicago. He is the coordinating editor of the forthcoming CCAR Machzor and is the author of five books. His newest book is, Saying No and Letting Go: Jewish Wisdom on Making Room for What Matters Most.
5/1/13 Wednesday – Israel Connections
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: MISS Etag: “1367417913-1″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Wed, 01 May 2013 14:18:33 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Transfer-Encoding: chunked Date: Wed, 01 May 2013 14:18:35 GMT X-Varnish: 825649944 Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: MISS Galilee Diary: Independence Day II | Reform Judaism
By Rabbi Marc Rosenstein, 5/01/2013
If you will it, it will not remain just a dream.
-Theodore Herzl
So I had a little too much to drink at the Independence Day picnic and my head was spinning so I lay down on the grass for a minute…
There were sirens blaring and lights flashing, and the word went around that the prime minister of the State of Israel was making a surprise Yom Ha’atzma’ut visit to Shorashim. What excitement! Fortunately, our sound guy had set up a PA system for the kids’ skit, so the PM was able to step up and immediately begin to speak.
“Chag Sameach to you all! I am very pleased to be able to address you, citizens of Shorashim, directly on this joyous day when we celebrate the 87th anniversary of the creation of the first independent Jewish state in two thousand years. And I want to thank you for your contributions to the difficult process of the past two decades. For it was just twenty years ago, in 2015, when we reached a crucial turning point in our history, when we chose a new leadership: a leadership of dialogue, of hope, a leadership that looked forward instead of backward, whose motto was not “never again!” but rather “what can we become?” You, the representatives of liberal Judaism, played a crucial role in the transformation that occurred. From a bleak time of stagnation and pessimism, of “no one to talk to (inside or out),” we moved to a mode of hope, of vision, of optimism worthy of the heirs of Herzl. And I do not exaggerate when I say that if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be where we are today!
“And where are we today? Let me recount the changes of these two decades:
- The new leadership of twenty years ago, young and idealistic, led a large-scale community organizing effort that generated a national civil dialogue about the vision of the Jewish state, and shifted the discourse from one of fear and embattlement to a constructive search for solutions.
- The messianism that had driven politics was transformed from one of romantic nationalism (blood and soil) to one of human redemption (tikkun olam).
- A model of religion based on communities was accepted. The chief rabbinate and the entire government religious bureaucracy were dismantled, and religion moved to the private sphere.
- The Jewishness of the state was clarified as primarily cultural (mainly language and calendar) and a major effort to eliminate discrimination against minorities was made. Residential and educational integration were part of this project.
- These internal developments helped change the terms of the discourse with the Palestinians from one of competitive victimhood to one of cooperative development.
- And so, agreement was reached to accept the partition of cis-Jordanian Palestine into two countries – Israel and Palestine, with mutual recognition, agreed borders, treaties governing refugees’ claims, reciprocal guarantees of partial cultural autonomy for minorities on both sides of the border, and sharing of water and other resources. This was accompanied by a painful but constructive Truth and Reconciliation process to defuse historical resentments.
- The rocky but ultimately successful process of democratization of other nations in the region, together with the settling of the Israel-Palestine conflict, allowed economic cooperation and cultural exchange that have enriched all of our lives and made Israel into a true “light unto the nations…”
And then a neighbor’s kid tripped over me in the dark, and I was left with a splitting headache, and a vague memory of hope.
Submit a blog post
Share your voice: ReformJudaism.org accepts submissions to the blog for consideration.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: MISS Etag: “1367417913-1″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Wed, 01 May 2013 14:18:33 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Transfer-Encoding: chunked Date: Wed, 01 May 2013 14:18:35 GMT X-Varnish: 825649944 Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: MISS Galilee Diary: Independence Day II | Reform Judaism
By Rabbi Marc Rosenstein, 5/01/2013
If you will it, it will not remain just a dream.
-Theodore Herzl
So I had a little too much to drink at the Independence Day picnic and my head was spinning so I lay down on the grass for a minute…
There were sirens blaring and lights flashing, and the word went around that the prime minister of the State of Israel was making a surprise Yom Ha’atzma’ut visit to Shorashim. What excitement! Fortunately, our sound guy had set up a PA system for the kids’ skit, so the PM was able to step up and immediately begin to speak.
“Chag Sameach to you all! I am very pleased to be able to address you, citizens of Shorashim, directly on this joyous day when we celebrate the 87th anniversary of the creation of the first independent Jewish state in two thousand years. And I want to thank you for your contributions to the difficult process of the past two decades. For it was just twenty years ago, in 2015, when we reached a crucial turning point in our history, when we chose a new leadership: a leadership of dialogue, of hope, a leadership that looked forward instead of backward, whose motto was not “never again!” but rather “what can we become?” You, the representatives of liberal Judaism, played a crucial role in the transformation that occurred. From a bleak time of stagnation and pessimism, of “no one to talk to (inside or out),” we moved to a mode of hope, of vision, of optimism worthy of the heirs of Herzl. And I do not exaggerate when I say that if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be where we are today!
“And where are we today? Let me recount the changes of these two decades:
- The new leadership of twenty years ago, young and idealistic, led a large-scale community organizing effort that generated a national civil dialogue about the vision of the Jewish state, and shifted the discourse from one of fear and embattlement to a constructive search for solutions.
- The messianism that had driven politics was transformed from one of romantic nationalism (blood and soil) to one of human redemption (tikkun olam).
- A model of religion based on communities was accepted. The chief rabbinate and the entire government religious bureaucracy were dismantled, and religion moved to the private sphere.
- The Jewishness of the state was clarified as primarily cultural (mainly language and calendar) and a major effort to eliminate discrimination against minorities was made. Residential and educational integration were part of this project.
- These internal developments helped change the terms of the discourse with the Palestinians from one of competitive victimhood to one of cooperative development.
- And so, agreement was reached to accept the partition of cis-Jordanian Palestine into two countries – Israel and Palestine, with mutual recognition, agreed borders, treaties governing refugees’ claims, reciprocal guarantees of partial cultural autonomy for minorities on both sides of the border, and sharing of water and other resources. This was accompanied by a painful but constructive Truth and Reconciliation process to defuse historical resentments.
- The rocky but ultimately successful process of democratization of other nations in the region, together with the settling of the Israel-Palestine conflict, allowed economic cooperation and cultural exchange that have enriched all of our lives and made Israel into a true “light unto the nations…”
And then a neighbor’s kid tripped over me in the dark, and I was left with a splitting headache, and a vague memory of hope.
Submit a blog post
Share your voice: ReformJudaism.org accepts submissions to the blog for consideration.
4/30/13 Tuesday – Women of Reform Judaism
Throughout its history, Women of Reform Judaism has supported the next generation of the Refrom Movement. In celebration of WRJ’s Centennial and the significant role that WRJ has played in the life of NFTY, the current National Board members and a staff member of the North American Federation of Temple Youth share their reflections on this vital relationship.
Evan Traylor, NFTY President: Women of Reform Judaism (WRJ) was instrumental in the founding of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) in 1939, and since that date has continued to provide enormous financial and moral support to the organization. WRJ has made it possible for generations of Reform Jewish teens across North America to engage in and create meaningful Jewish experiences with their unwavering support. On any given weekend throughout the year, hundreds – often thousands – of Reform Jewish teens gather with their local Temple Youth Group or NFTY region to engage in Jewish activities and events. They have the opportunity to understand their Jewish identity, create powerful relationships, and contribute to the present and future of Reform Judaism. Through enormous partnerships between temple youth groups and URJ congregations, these teens will learn from and develop relationships with vital role models.
Jordan Rodnizki, NFTY Programming Vice President: For the past three summers, I have had the pleasure of attending the URJ Kutz Camp. In my two years as a participant, I witnessed engaging programming, grappled with tenets of my Jewish identity, and formed relationships that will last a lifetime. In 2012, I had the opportunity to help provide this meaningful experience for a new batch of camp participants as a staff member. The program would not be possible without the help of Women of Reform Judaism and its YES (Youth, Education, and Special Projects) Fund Grants, which help to support teens needing financial assistance to attend. Over the past thirty years, WRJ has made it possible for nearly 5,000 teens to attend my beloved Kutz camp. I am forever indebted to the remarkable generosity of my sisters, mothers, grandmothers, and ancestors – for without them, I wouldn’t be the involved Jewish adult I am today.
Joy Nemerson, NFTY Social Action Vice President: I am privileged to not only have gone to one URJ camp, but two. I have called both Crane Lake Camp and Camp Eisner my homes for many summers. There are numerous people who are involved with supporting these wonderful establishments, and WRJ is one of the most ardent of supporters. Without their fervor for bringing the meaningful environment of Jewish camp to as many children as possible, the URJ camp community would be definitively less vibrant. Even through my high school years in NFTY, WRJ has provided many teens with opportunities similar to a camping experience by making scholarships available to events like Convention and Biennial. We are so lucky to have the WRJ as collaborators with NFTY.
Jacob Georginow, NFTY Religious and Cultural Vice President: At the recent NFTY Convention in Los Angeles, CA, I was highly impacted and inspired by the exciting and dynamic musical performances. Through WRJ’s gracious donations and contributions, NFTY Convention was able to pull out all the stops and create incredible musical experiences that united over 1,200 NFTYites and youth professionals in song and dance. Music plays a key role in almost every aspect of NFTY and to encourage young people to explore their musical identities as Jews is a true Mitzvah. Thank you to the WRJ for sponsoring their concert series at our major gatherings. You can watch footage of the recent concert here!
Marlee Ribnick, NFTY Membership and Communications Vice President: WRJ programs have made a significant impact on my experience at my home congregation – Temple Israel of Minneapolis, MN. The women who were part of the Sisterhood at my synagogue always supported my TYG and our efforts in creating social, purposeful Jewish programming. In just the past year, the Women of Reform Judaism have given over $85,000 to NFTY and the Campaign for Youth Engagement in order to continue expanding and creating the opportunity for young Jewish individuals to explore and thrive. I’m deeply thankful to WRJ for laying the groundwork for such collaborative and supportive programs for Jews of all ages to be involved in.
Rebecca Wolchok, NFTY and Kutz Program Associate: When I think of Women of Reform Judaism, fond memories of my childhood at my hometown Synagogue of Beth Emeth in Albany, NY come rushing back. The Sisterhood was regularly responsible for the most cheerful, enjoyable activities of the year. Everything from Hamantashen baking to organized day trips to see off-Broadway shows – the Sisterhood was the driving force of all the fun. While I realize now that they create a diverse array of programming that far exceeds my memories as a child, in my youth I associated their presence with warmth, fun, and very often times, delicious food.
Throughout my teenage years, WRJ began to take on a different meaning in my life. Suddenly I was enjoying the full scope of their work, which included volunteer opportunities and sponsored cultural events. I spent all four years of high school as an active member of my Temple Youth Group, the support of the Sisterhood never wavered. They provided scholarships to aid many in attending our regional events, and enthusiastically volunteered as chaperones for our overnights. The presence of WRJ was felt in so many positive ways throughout my years in NFTY.
Now that I am a young adult working in the Reform Jewish world, I see the Sisterhood in a new (but equally endearing) light. I am overjoyed to be privy to the impact WRJ continues to have on the youth of the Reform Movement. On behalf of myself as well as the thousands of teens whom WRJ continues to enthusaistically support, thank you. Thank you for working tirelessly in your quest to engage and enhance Reform Judaism for people of all ages. It is difficult to convey just how lucky we are as a movement to have a backbone as strong and resilient as you are – and we are excited to share a small glimpse into the many impacts you have made on NFTY and its leadership
On behalf of the NFTY Leadership, our more than 7,000 current members, and our countless thousands of alumni over the past 75 years, we wish Women of Reform Judaism a Happy 100th Birthday! Here’s to the next 100…
4/29/13 Monday – Reform Voices of Torah – B’har/B’chukotai
HTTP/1.1 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html Last-Modified: Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:43:55 GMT Accept-Ranges: bytes Content-Length: 541 Accept-Ranges: bytes Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:34:54 GMT X-Varnish: 767491608 Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: MISS
Technical DifficultiesTemporarily Unavailable
The website that you’re trying to reach is having technical difficulties and is currently unavailable.
We are aware of the issue and are working hard to fix it. Thank you for your patience.
4/26/13 Friday – The Rhythm of Jewish Time
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: MISS Etag: “1366985150-0″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:05:50 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Content-Length: 56606 Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:05:51 GMT X-Varnish: 1722246621 Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: MISS Lag BaOmer: A Time of Celebration and Reflection | Reform Judaism
And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering (Omer) – the day after the Sabbath – you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week – fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain … (Leviticus 23: 15-16)
Many of our Jewish holidays are based on the agricultural calendar of our ancestors, including the three pilgrimage festivals of Passover (Pesach), Shavuot and Sukkot. There is an interesting connection between Pesach and Shavuot when we count the Omer (a harvesting unit of measure), starting the second night of Pesach until Shavuot, essentially marking the time from the barley to the wheat harvest. As in all agrarian societies, if the weather pattern deviates, it can be disastrous for the community. This is a precarious time, when everyone prays for positive results. Since our ancestors saw this as a somber time, there are many prohibitions during this 49-day period, including no weddings, parties or haircuts.
The one exception during this solemn period is Lag BaOmer-the 33rd day of counting the Omer. “Lag” is from the Hebrew letters lamed and gimel. Lamed has a numerical equivalent to 30, and gimel has the numerical equivalent of 3-thus the 33rd day. There are different reasons given to explain why this date is special. One rationale is that the plague that brought about the death of thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students stopped on Lag BaOmer. The plague was supposedly due to their lack of respect for one another. There is also the claim that Lag BaOmer is the yahrzeit of one of Rabbi Akiva’s most famous students-Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who is said to have authored the mystical writings of the Zohar-the text of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). According to legend, Rabbi bar Yochai was so saintly that during his entire lifetime, no rainbows appeared. The rainbow is a sign of the covenant between God and creation, and since “rainbow” and “bow” both are translated as keshet in Hebrew, the bow and arrow are symbols used to recall Rabbi bar Yochai. In a commentary on Genesis, the great Torah scholar Rashi (1040-1105), explained that there were generations so righteous that they did not require a sign of the covenant. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai’s generation was among them.Thus, the holiday is seen almost as a tribute to scholars. It has become a day of celebration and joy amidst the mournful seven weeks surrounding it.
Among those who observe the somber days during the Omer, Lag BaOmer is a day of wedding celebrations. During the time of the counting of the Omer there are bans on parties, music and dancing, similar to the prohibitions for a person in mourning for a loved one. For those who wish to marry in the spring, this is the only day on which one can celebrate. Many Jews also do not cut their hair during this time period. Boys, at the age of 3, often have their first haircut on Lag BaOmer, with much festivity surrounding the event.
Lag BaOmer celebrations are generally outdoor adventures, including bonfires, fun and frolic with teaching. Especially in Israel, people young and old will be outside sharing a picnic and enjoying the beautiful day; school children celebrate with a “field day.” The bonfires lit in celebration are supposed to symbolize the light of Torah.
How can we honor and rejoice on Lag BaOmer? Take time to study a new Jewish text, learn a new ritual you can bring into the rhythm of your days, find a new idea that brings meaning to your life. Have a picnic with family and friends, and take time to appreciate all that surrounds you in the world. Celebrate all that Judaism brings to enrich your life.
4/25/13 Thursday – Delving Into T’filah
By Rabbi Edwin Goldberg
Part One: Don’t “Bury the Lead,” or Why We Have Placed the Shofar Service into Three Parts of the Service
The traditional High Holy Day prayer book, as opposed to the Reform versions produced in the last century and more, includes a service, musaf, that evokes the ancient sacrifices. Reform Judaism abandoned this service, due to its musty connotations of “barbarian” rites but a key element of this service on Rosh Hashanah, the sounding of the shofar was maintained. Sounding of the shofar was retained no doubt because the very essence of Rosh Hashanah is bound up in the peal of the shofar. Can you imagine Rosh Hashanah without it?
When our core editorial team for the new machzor first sat down to work on the book, and we began with Rosh Hashanah morning, we wanted to make sure that the essence of the day was front and center. We all agreed that the shofar sounding was the most important element of the day for so many worshipers. We realized that the placement of the shofar service, towards the end of the morning worship, left something to be desired. After all why would something to integral to the morning be only introduced near the end?
In journalism, this error is called “burying the lead.” This is when a reporter waits too long to present the heart of the article. Many years ago a small-town newspaper carried a headline about a hen that lay two-eggs at the same time. This was newsworthy, of course. Later on in the article we learn that another hen hypnotized a snake. Were I the editor, I would have led with that headline!
I fear that, all too often, and especially when synagogues have to offer back-to-back Rosh Hashanah morning services, the shofar service, coming towards the end, is not presented with the beauty and poignancy it deserves. As one cantor complains, at the end of the first morning service, as we are preparing for the sounding of the shofar, the executive director is standing at the back of the sanctuary, pointing at her watch.
The shofar deserves better, as do we.
As I will write about next week, the shofar service is more than sounding the shofar. It features three themes, much like a classical sonata, which invite study and contemplation, if only there were the time. Our new machzor allows the time because we have altered the shofar service in a dramatic way.
Our service takes the three themes of the shofar service and presents them in three different parts of the service, towards the beginning, in the middle, and close to the end. The theme of God’s sovereignty appears near the “coronation of God” at the beginning of the service. The theme of God’s remembering appears near the Torah reading where we read that God remembers Sarah. And the theme of God’s redeeming the world comes near the end of our morning prayer, when we are contemplating renewal and improvement.
When we first announced this three-part presentation of the shofar service there was a great deal of resistance from colleagues. First of all, they argued it was not traditional. Our response was, ever since Reform Judaism took the musaf service away, that argument has lost its luster. Second, some folks felt if people heard the shofar near the beginning, they would not stay for latter parts of the service (re: the sermon). Our response: “Write better sermons!”
Over all, once piloting of Rosh Hashanah began in various congregations, people have been surprised and delighted by the change.
Next week I will explore in more depth the spiritual opportunities offered by a slower, more intentional reflection on the three themes of the shofar service.
Rabbi Edwin Goldberg has served as the senior rabbi of Temple Judea in Coral Gables since 1996. In July he will begin serving as the senior rabbi of Temple Sholom of Chicago. He is the coordinating editor of the forthcoming CCAR Machzor and is the author of five books. His newest book is, Saying No and Letting Go: Jewish Wisdom on Making Room for What Matters Most.
4/24/13 Wednesday – Israel Connections
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: HIT Etag: “1366818278-0″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:44:38 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Content-Length: 97069 Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:50:08 GMT X-Varnish: 1671774449 Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: MISS Galilee Diary: Independence Day I | Reform Judaism
By Rabbi Marc Rosenstein, 4/24/2013
And the Lord said to Moses, “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my offerings by fire, my pleasing odor, you shall take heed to offer to me in its due season.'”
–Numbers 28:1-2
When I spent a semester in Haifa in 1962 on NFTY’s EIE exchange program, Independence Day left a very strong impression on me. In the evening, the main street of the Hadar business district was filled with circles of people of all ages dancing the Horah, and a happy, carnival atmosphere prevailed. The next day we went to a military parade with air force flyovers. Over the years, the evening celebration has morphed into something a bit more formal and commercial. Municipalities throughout the country vie with each other to snag the most popular stars (at huge cost to the taxpayers) to perform on open stages. Our own local county government has avoided this by mounting an elaborate – yet modest – pageant involving local performers, dance troupes, etc. And of course, fireworks displays.
The military parades were discontinued years ago. There are, instead, open houses at various army bases – the air force and tank corps are especially popular. The parks are packed (unless it rains, like it did this year), less with nature hikers than with picnickers: Somehow, the ultimate symbolic observance of Yom Ha’atzma’ut has become the activity of grilling meat – generally on small portable barbecues, which, due to their poor design, require extensive fanning of the coals with a folded newspaper or piece of cardboard (hence, the slang for what one does on Yom Ha’atzma’ut: nafnaf, which means “fanning”). It might be possible to explain this custom as symbolic of the messianic restoration, when according to tradition the Temple will be rebuilt and animal sacrifices resumed. Could the pall of smoke hovering over our nature reserves on this day be a reminder of the smoke rising from the altar in Jerusalem? It seems to me that many of the people who find this prospect distasteful are the very same people who stand in line in the supermarket to stock up on steaks and kabobs to grill on Yom Ha’atzma’ut. In any case, that explanation seems a bit far-fetched, and we are left with no clear answer. Meanwhile, Israeli Arabs, many of whom harbor ambivalence (at least) toward Zionism, face a dilemma: Since they have the day off from work and school, is it OK to go out to a park and have a barbecue – or is that like an American Jew putting up a Christmas tree; is the celebration fraught with ideological meaning, or is it just a pleasant way to spend a spring day?
For the Zionist Orthodox, Yom Ha’atzma’ut is a religious holiday, and the observance of the day includes festive prayers in the synagogue, with the recitation of the Hallel Psalms that were reserved, before 1948, for biblical holidays and Chanukah. The State of Israel is, for this segment of the population, indeed the first stage of the messianic redemption, and hence has theological significance which demands liturgical recognition. It is a popular day for holding bar mitzvah celebrations, because it is one of the rare holidays when the Torah is read in a festive service, yet the restrictions of Shabbat and Yom Tov do not apply, so one can drive, barbecue, etc.
The main way to tell the difference between a Zionist Orthodox community and a non-Zionist one (what we usually call Charedi, or Ultra-Orthodox), is by looking at the liturgy for the morning of Yom Ha’atzma’ut: In the non-Zionist synagogue, the service is the regular weekday liturgy with no additions – because for this population, Yom Ha’atzma’ut is not a holiday; if anything, it is a day of sadness, as it symbolizes the secular attempt to force redemption – which only pushes it farther away.
It seems to me that the state is a gift to be celebrated. But as sometimes happens, the manufacturer forgot to pack the user manual, so we are left to trial and error. We should be grateful for the gift; sooner or later we’ll figure out how to operate it.
Submit a blog post
Share your voice: ReformJudaism.org accepts submissions to the blog for consideration.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 X-Drupal-Cache: HIT Etag: “1366818278-0″ Content-Language: en Link: ; rel=”shortlink”,; rel=”canonical” X-Generator: Drupal 7 (https://drupal.org) Cache-Control: public, max-age=10800 Expires: Sun, 19 Nov 1978 05:00:00 GMT Vary: Cookie,Accept-Encoding Last-Modified: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:44:38 GMT X-AH-Environment: prod Content-Length: 97069 Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:50:08 GMT X-Varnish: 1671774449 Age: 0 Via: 1.1 varnish Connection: keep-alive X-Cache: MISS Galilee Diary: Independence Day I | Reform Judaism
By Rabbi Marc Rosenstein, 4/24/2013
And the Lord said to Moses, “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my offerings by fire, my pleasing odor, you shall take heed to offer to me in its due season.'”
–Numbers 28:1-2
When I spent a semester in Haifa in 1962 on NFTY’s EIE exchange program, Independence Day left a very strong impression on me. In the evening, the main street of the Hadar business district was filled with circles of people of all ages dancing the Horah, and a happy, carnival atmosphere prevailed. The next day we went to a military parade with air force flyovers. Over the years, the evening celebration has morphed into something a bit more formal and commercial. Municipalities throughout the country vie with each other to snag the most popular stars (at huge cost to the taxpayers) to perform on open stages. Our own local county government has avoided this by mounting an elaborate – yet modest – pageant involving local performers, dance troupes, etc. And of course, fireworks displays.
The military parades were discontinued years ago. There are, instead, open houses at various army bases – the air force and tank corps are especially popular. The parks are packed (unless it rains, like it did this year), less with nature hikers than with picnickers: Somehow, the ultimate symbolic observance of Yom Ha’atzma’ut has become the activity of grilling meat – generally on small portable barbecues, which, due to their poor design, require extensive fanning of the coals with a folded newspaper or piece of cardboard (hence, the slang for what one does on Yom Ha’atzma’ut: nafnaf, which means “fanning”). It might be possible to explain this custom as symbolic of the messianic restoration, when according to tradition the Temple will be rebuilt and animal sacrifices resumed. Could the pall of smoke hovering over our nature reserves on this day be a reminder of the smoke rising from the altar in Jerusalem? It seems to me that many of the people who find this prospect distasteful are the very same people who stand in line in the supermarket to stock up on steaks and kabobs to grill on Yom Ha’atzma’ut. In any case, that explanation seems a bit far-fetched, and we are left with no clear answer. Meanwhile, Israeli Arabs, many of whom harbor ambivalence (at least) toward Zionism, face a dilemma: Since they have the day off from work and school, is it OK to go out to a park and have a barbecue – or is that like an American Jew putting up a Christmas tree; is the celebration fraught with ideological meaning, or is it just a pleasant way to spend a spring day?
For the Zionist Orthodox, Yom Ha’atzma’ut is a religious holiday, and the observance of the day includes festive prayers in the synagogue, with the recitation of the Hallel Psalms that were reserved, before 1948, for biblical holidays and Chanukah. The State of Israel is, for this segment of the population, indeed the first stage of the messianic redemption, and hence has theological significance which demands liturgical recognition. It is a popular day for holding bar mitzvah celebrations, because it is one of the rare holidays when the Torah is read in a festive service, yet the restrictions of Shabbat and Yom Tov do not apply, so one can drive, barbecue, etc.
The main way to tell the difference between a Zionist Orthodox community and a non-Zionist one (what we usually call Charedi, or Ultra-Orthodox), is by looking at the liturgy for the morning of Yom Ha’atzma’ut: In the non-Zionist synagogue, the service is the regular weekday liturgy with no additions – because for this population, Yom Ha’atzma’ut is not a holiday; if anything, it is a day of sadness, as it symbolizes the secular attempt to force redemption – which only pushes it farther away.
It seems to me that the state is a gift to be celebrated. But as sometimes happens, the manufacturer forgot to pack the user manual, so we are left to trial and error. We should be grateful for the gift; sooner or later we’ll figure out how to operate it.
Submit a blog post
Share your voice: ReformJudaism.org accepts submissions to the blog for consideration.
4/23/13 Tuesday – Women of Reform Judasim
By Rabbi Jon Adland
I remember this as if it were yesterday. The year was 1966 and the season was spring. My father secretly arranged to pick up his children, the four of us, at three different schools, and take us to Washington Hebrew Congregation’s closing Sisterhood luncheon. Though I wasn’t totally in the loop, what I understood was that my mother—Marilyn Friend Adland—was going to be installed as president of WHC’s Sisterhood. Though I didn’t know it then, but I do now, WHC’s Sisterhood was one of the first in our Reform Jewish movement and my mom was going to be the president of this Sisterhood. My father, unbeknownst to my mother, was bringing us to witness this moment and, obviously, it left a lasting impression on me even if I had very little idea what Sisterhood was or what my mom was doing.
It didn’t take long to figure out that this was something special. My mother was now on the synagogue’s board of directors, she was getting lots of phone calls, there was always a pile of papers by the phone in the kitchen that belonged to her, and she was going to sit on the bimah at some future time. She took her position seriously. I was so proud of my mom, but her role in Sisterhood didn’t end there as she went on to leadership in District 7 (I think it was called), and the National Federation of Temple Sisterhood’s Board. As an NFTS Board member living in DC, she was asked to be a part of the initial organization to be called the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights in 1973. This position left a lasting impression on me as for 25 years I have served my local and the national Planned Parenthood loyally. I should add that she served a second term as WHC’s Sisterhood president and many years on the WHC board. We even attended the 1971 Biennial in LA together. I was a youth delegate and she was attending the NFTS convention.
When I arrived at HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, OH, in the fall of 1977, I learned that the dorm was called the Sisterhood Dorm and though I didn’t reside there, I always took great pride in knowing that the building was connected to my mom in some way. NFTS supported the students in a number of ways including scholarships that so many of us received.
When the organization’s name changed to Women of Reform Judaism in 1993, it also reflected the next generation of Reform Jewish women who worked to support their congregations, religious schools, and a number of Tikkun Olam projects around the globe. This Sisterhood belongs to my wife Sandy who served as president of the Temple Adath Israel, Lexington, KY, Sisterhood, and for many years held numerous positions on the district board including her current office as 1st Vice President of Central District. A little over two years ago, Sandy was elected to serve on the WRJ Board. Such pride I had in her and only wished my mother had been alive to see this changing of the guard. And now, in another year and a half, Sandy will assume the presidency of Central District.
No matter which congregation I have served, Sisterhood/WRJ has been there to support my rabbinate and is intimately involved in my life. The WRJ women are our pillar of strength and a source of our spirituality. Every Sisterhood Shabbat I have witnessed, every program they have created and worked on, everything the Women of Reform Judaism does helps make the world a better place and Reform Judaism a better movement. The women don’t put on white gloves and pour coffee or tea or hold monthly luncheons like they use to; some do, but the Women of Reform Judaism today serve to strengthen our movement, our camps, our religious schools, and our Reform Jewish lives. Their work makes my rabbinate better.
Sisterhood didn’t begin in our family with my mother. Casually she once remarked to me that her mother—Sylvia Weiler Friend of Lincoln, NE—had been that congregation’s Sisterhood president once too. My two sisters are active in Sisterhood and I hope that someday my daughter will be part of the WRJ that is yet to come. NFTS/WRJ/Sisterhood is a part of who I am and, I truly believe, that without the Sisterhood presence in my home, I may not have become what I am today. From Sylvia to Marilyn to Sandy, the Women of Reform Judaism enriched and enriches my life today.
Rabbi Jon Adland currently serves Temple Israel of Canton, OH. He currently serves as one of three Reform Rabbis on the Clergy Advisory Board to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and lovingly and spiritually has supported his wife Sandy on her WRJ journey.