Wednesday, August 31, 2011

[Shefa] From JTS Chancellor Eisen: Jews and Others, Continued

 


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Dear JTS Family,

How can Jews preserve Jewish distinctiveness and yet join with others in partnership and dialogue?

This week I continue my discussion about the need to maintain a balance between "particular" and "universal." Read my latest essay, "Jews and Others, Continued," and let me know what you think.

You can also review the responses to my essay by Catharine Clark, Rabbi Menachem Creditor, and Eric Woodward.

Visit the "Conservative Judaism: A Community Conversation" blog—and follow me on Twitter @Arnold Eisen (twitter.com/ArnoldEisen) as well.

Sincerely,

arnold eisen signature 2

Arnold M. Eisen
Chancellor
The Jewish Theological Seminary

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[Shefa] Check out Conservative Synagogues Crack Open Door to Intermarried Families –

 
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

[Shefa] Fwd: A Decade After 9/11

 


[object Object] 
Join the JTS Community

as we

Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

through


Prayer, Reflection, and Gemilut Hasadim
(acts of loving kindness)

The Jewish Theological Seminary, a world leader in interfaith dialogue, is hosting a variety of religious observances and community service opportunities to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11; honor the surviving families and first responders to the scenes of the attacks; remember those who were killed or injured in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center; and engage with family, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens who were affected by the days' tragic events.
Prayer (open to the public)
Four tefillot-prayer services to remember 9/11 will be held in the Women's League Seminary Synagogue:
  • Shabbat morning, September 10, 9:30 a.m.: Parshat Ki Tetzei—Chancellor Arnold Eisen will deliver the sermon, on the topic of "Remembering 9/11."
  • Monday morning, September 12, 7:10 a.m.: Shaharit (morning) prayer service commemorating 9/11
  • Monday afternoon, September 12, 3:15 p.m.: Minhah (afternoon) service acknowledging 9/11, followed immediately by a brief interfaith service (from 3:30 to 3:50 p.m.) focused on the theme of reconciliation; Chancellor Arnold Eisen will share reflections about 9/11 at this event.
Reflection
"Ten Years After 9/11, A Time for Reflection and Conversation": Monday, September 12, 12:15–1:15 p.m. in the Berman Board Room—JTS students, faculty, and staff are invited to share their thoughts, feelings, and reflections. Feel free to bring your lunch; light dessert will be provided. Staff from the JTS Counseling Center will facilitate the conversation.
Gemilut Hasadim (open to the public)
On Sunday, September 11, at 1 p.m., join the JTS Va'ad Gemilut Hasadim: Susan and Jack Rudin Center for Community Outreach, along with the Departments of Student Life and Residence Life, as we prepare sandwiches to be delivered to the Broadway Community Inc. (BCI) soup kitchen. We will meet in the Goldsmith Hall Moadon (537 West 121st Street, at Broadway) to prepare the sandwiches, and then deliver them to the BCI soup kitchen (114th Street and Broadway). Please RSVP to rudecalo@jtsa.edu. 

JTS Interreligious Resources Expanded

"Our Better Angels: Resources for the Commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of 9/11," which includes text, talk, and music, is available on the JTS website. The resources derive from Our Better Angels, the three late-spring evenings of interreligious discussion and music at historic St. Paul's Chapel (adjacent to Ground Zero). The series was cosponsored by the Louis Finkelstein Institute for Religious and Social Studies of JTS, headed by Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, and Union Theological Seminary; each evening explored Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions on tragedy, mourning, and healing, respectively. Every event concluded with a live musical performance.

JTS Invites You to Participate in a 9/11 National Day of Service on September 11

  • 10 a.m.–noon: Join Chancellor Eisen and his wife, Dr. Adriane Leveen, and volunteer with Dorot—the intergenerational volunteer corps that provides food, friendship, housing, wellness, and cultural activities to homebound seniors—for Rosh Hashanah package delivery, sharing memories and hope with elderly recipients. Registration is required for this first-come, first-served volunteer opportunity and ends September 6. Volunteer online or by calling (212) 769-2850. All volunteers must bring photo ID in order to participate.

  • 10 a.m–2 p.m.: Choose a volunteer project through the Jewish Community Center (JCC) of Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue at 76th Street. Organized community service activities will take place in and outside of the JCC building in remembrance of the events of 9/11. Sign up for these special programs in advance and then choose your project on the morning of the event. Breakfast will be served. Contact Judy Gross for further information and to RSVP: (646) 505-4450.


  • Visit the 9/11 Tribute Movement site and type in your ZIP code to find additional volunteer  opportunities in the New York City area and nationally.
http://support.jtsa.edu/site/R?i=obKZ21lzccEag2Y3SJNhSQ

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[Shefa] Mighty Comfort

 

Mighty Comfort
(C) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Celebrating the birth of Gavriel Mendel ben haRav Yonatan ve Frayda

The taste of the grape juice still on my lips,
Heart pounding, tears drying,
I remember that day.

My little boy,
So small,
So fragile.

Before everyone sang I was doubting myself, but their faces, their voices, their souls drew mine into a dance that, every once in a while, begins again.  Like today's tearful, soulful dance.

When I brought my son into the covenant,
I was awash with the cosmos. 
Like today.

When we touch,
through experience,
the grandeur of God,
we swim and dance and cry and sing.

We can be comforted in this way by God.
Today.
Right now.

------
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
netivotshalom.org ::  menachemcreditor.org

This email was sent from my phone.  Please forgive any typos.

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[Shefa] Check out I Have A Dream for the Future of Spiritual Life in Israel

 
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Monday, August 29, 2011

[Shefa] TRY/USYHigh this year or next

 


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August 29, 2011

Av  29,  5771

 

Dear chaverim,

 

The summer is over and now is the time for your constituents to think about TRY/USY High. A representative from Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY/USYHigh) visited most of the Ramah camps and USY encampments this summer and spoke about our program. There was great enthusiasm for the idea of attending TRYUSYHigh for part of 10th, 11th or 12th grade. TRY 2012 runs from January 29 - June 4, 2012 and USYHigh runs from January 29 - March 23, 2012. Here are some quick reasons for you to consider this amazing opportunity for your constituents:

 

College - TRY/USYHigh is great for getting into college - our alumni attend many of the top universities and all use this experience as a springboard to making themselves stand out in their college applications.

Growth - TRY is a four-month and USYHigh is a two-month maturing process. Our alumni return much better prepared for the riggers of academic life and personal responsibility.

Full credit - The Ramah Jerusalem High School is fully accredited by the Middle States Association meaning that all credits transfer back to schools in the US and Canada.

Camp - TRY/USYHigh combines what is great about Camp Ramah and USY but within an academic high school setting making learning fun and even more productive.

Jewish education - TRY/USYHigh is Jewish education at its best

Living in Jerusalem - TRY/USYHigh is in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish gravity.

 

Read what some of our alumni wrote the following TRY/USYHigh 2011:

I made friends on TRY that I will keep my whole life. TRY enhanced my love for Israel to so many degrees...

 

My experience on TRY was amazing. Academically, socially and religiously I have grown ... and TRY has given me so much insight into my Jewish identity and Jewish roots.

 

USYHigh was amazing and life changing. I have matured a lot and have become a better person overall. Not just from the people around me, but the experience in Israel.

 

This past Semester at TRY was one of the best experiences of my life.

 

Life changing.                I loved TRY!

 

 

One of our alumni parents wrote the following after her daughter came home from TRY 2011:

Thank you for a wonderful TRY experience. We know that our daughter is coming home a changed, more mature, and well-educated person. I wish all 4 of our children had this experience. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do educating young adults.

 

We need your help. Our goal is to prevent TRY/USYHigh from becoming the best kept secret in the Conservative movement. Please present this program to your teens and their parents. Visit our website and feel free to call Judy Greene, our coordinator in New York at 212-678-8883 with any questions or information about scholarships.

 

Click here to view a video about TRY/USYHigh.

 

Kol tuv and Lehitraot Ba'aretz,

 

Daniel Laufer

Director

The Ramah Jerusalem High School

TRY and USY High

email: dlaufer@ramah.co.il 

Web: www.ramah.org.il/try 

For any queries regarding TRY and USY High 2012 please email

 Judy Greene, Coordinator, Ramah Programs in Israel, or give her a call at 212-678-8883. 


Logo TRY2RPI logo USY Logo

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[Shefa] The myth of the modern Jewish prosumer

 

I thought some people on this list might be interested in this post:


Are the changes in the Jewish community because goals are changing or because people are working towards the same goals, but can do more and reach farther with less institutional help?

Please add any comments you have to the post.

Dan

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"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
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Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.

We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
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Thursday, August 25, 2011

[Shefa] War journal: Beer Sheva, by Rabbi Mauricio Balter

 


War journal: Beer Sheva, Wednesday 24 August 2011, 10:50PM

Rabbi Mauricio Balter - הרב מאוריסיו בלטר

Congregation Eshel Avraham - קהילת אשל אברהם


A few days ago, I stopped writing this letter, because on Sunday a ceasefire was announced. Today, on Wednesday, we heard the sirens again. I am writing to share with you some of my experiences and feelings.


I did not think that I would be writing a war journal again, and despite the fact that the hope for peace still rings within me, reality demands attention.

Last Shabbat (August 20), I came as usual to our shul, Congregation Eshel Avraham in Beersheva. It was 9AM. One minute before the services began, the siren sounded. We all ran into the small shelter in our building. We took into account that we have less than 60 seconds, according to the Home Front Command, to find cover.


There was a tense quite as we looked at one another. We waited to hear the explosion. Our first hope is always directed towards Iron Dome, the new anti-rocket system that is capable of destroying the rocket in the air. Our second hope, in case Iron Dome fails, is that at least the rocket will explode in an open area. But we also know that hopes are not always actualized, and there is always a chance that a rocket will explode in a place filled with people, maybe even where we happen to be.


 Tension. Fear. The silence is broken by the cries of one of the congregants. What to do?


 Suddenly I remember that we also have tools in our arsenal for moments like these. I make a suggestion: Why don't we start praying. We begin to sing together the "Ma tovu" prayer, "How wonderful are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel." In the background we can hear the first explosion. After a few minutes in the shelter, we return to the synagogue sanctuary.


These moments, when you are in a building, are the hardest. But they will be even harder soon. The instructions are to take cover within seconds, and if there is nowhere to go, lie on the ground with hands on your heads. As the minutes pass, more congregants arrive. It's clear that they experienced the sirens outside on the street.


The first to arrive was a new immigrant woman from the former Soviet Union. When I asked her what she did, she replied that she tried her best to remain far from places with glass. She was breathing heavily because she had to run in order to get to a safe place – the synagogue. Each congregant had a different story; one, a new immigrant from Canada (arrived only a few months ago), said she crouched down and put her tallit over her head. Faith, it turns out, is a powerful weapon.

That morning – on a weekend in the middle of the Israeli summer, in the middle of the school holiday, in which many people were looking for somewhere outside the city where they could spend time in light of the circumstances – we had approximately 30 people at services.


We are believers, but we are also worried. In our congregation, we have eight preschool classes, in which 230 children come to learn every day. Today they are on holidays. But on the first of September, when the schoolyear begins, the tension will be enormous.


 In our congregation we have two buildings. The new building has a shelter than can house 120 children and our staff. The old building, however, which is home to classes with 110 children from ages three months to three years, does not have a shelter. The entire community of Eshel Avraham and our friends around the world are doing our best to find the 180.000 dollars funding in order to urgently build the missing shelter . God willing we will have a real ceasefire so that we can come to synagogue to pray in peace, so that our children will not be in danger and the shelter will be just another play room.


May the One who makes peace in high places, make peace for us and for all Israel, and let us say, amen 

"עושה שלום במרומיו, הוא יעשה שלום עלינו, על כל ישראל ועל כול יושבי תבל, ואמרו אמן."

 

Rabbi Mauricio Balter - הרב מאוריסיו בלטר

Congregation Eshel Avraham - קהילת אשל אברהם

08-6421424  054-5920630

Beer Sheva - באר שבע

Israel - ישראל



---
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 
Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 
To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.


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We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
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[Shefa] Fwd: Thoughts to Ponder - The Secular Jew

 
 

From: phplistadmin@csstorage.org
To: alanjayg46@aol.com
Sent: 8/25/2011 5:09:01 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: Thoughts to Ponder - The Secular Jew
 
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Machon Ohr Aaron & Betsy Spijer

 

Thoughts to Ponder

 

The Enduring Preciousness of the "Secular" Jew *

 

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

 

We are living in an age of flaunting irreverence. Debunking has become the norm and at every turn we experience a need to expose the clay feet of even the greatest. Human dignity, a phrase often mentioned, has become a farce in real life. Instead of deliberately looking for opportunities to love our fellow men as required by our holy Torah, many have rewritten this golden rule to read: "Distrust your fellow man as you distrust yourself".  Peoples' lack of belief in themselves has overflown into their relationships with their fellow men. Fear for their own deeds and mediocrity has led them to believe that the ethereal mighty have left us and that we are a generation of spiritual orphans.

 

This condition has slowly entered the subconscious of segments in the religious community as well, although in a more subtle form. Influenced by materialistic philosophies, many a religious person who once revered his fellow men has become part of the problem without even being aware of it. Instead of sending a message of unconditional love and respect for a fellow Jew, whatever his background or beliefs, many within the religious Jewish community have fallen victim to a faint debunking, which  has led to a most worrisome situation in and outside of the land of Israel.

 

When observing even those who are fully committed to helping fellow Jews find their way back to Judaism, we see an attitude that is foreign to religious life and thought. We cannot escape the impression that some people, without denying their love for their fellow Jews, tend to talk down to "secular" Jews. This has become the norm. Constant emphasis is placed on the need to cure the "secular" person's mistaken lifestyle. No doubt such an attitude is born out of love for one's fellow Jew, but it lays the foundation for infinite trouble. It is built on arrogance. While the religious Jew is seen as the ideal, he turns the "secular" Jew into a second-class member of the Jewish people. It is he who needs to r epent for his mistaken ways. Such an attitude is built on the notions of contrast and lack of affinity. The "secular" Jew will always feel inferior. As such, the point of departure from which one reaches out to bring fellow Jews closer to Judaism is, at the same time, its undoing. The suggestion that "one should throw oneself into a burning furnace rather then insult another person publicly" (Berachoth 43b) may very well apply, since it is the community of "secular" Jews that is being shamed and treated as inferior.   

 

For Jews to bring their fellow men back to Judaism there is a need to celebrate the mitzvoth that the "secular" Jew has been observing all or part of his life, not to condemn his failure to observe some others. Only on the basis of sharing in mitzvoth will an authentic way be found to bring Jews back home.  

 

The foundation should be humility, not arrogance. There is little doubt that "secular" Jews, consciously or unconsciously, keep a large number of commandments. Many of them may not be in the field of rituals, but there is massive evidence that interpersonal mitzvoth enjoy a major commitment by "secular" Jews. Beneath the divisiveness of traditional commitment lie underpinnings of religion such as compassion, humility, awe and even faith. Different are the pledges, but equal are the devotions. It may quite well be that the meeting of minds is lacking between the rel igious and "non-religious" Jews, but their spirits touch. Who will deny that "secular" Jews have a sense of mystery, forgiveness, beauty and gentleness?  How many of them do not have inner faith that God cares? And how many will not show great contempt for fraud or double standards?  Each of these is the deepest of religious values.  

 

This not only calls for a celebration but may well become an inspiration for religious Jews – not just by honoring "secular" Jews for keeping these mitzvoth but by renewing these mitzvoth and good deeds in themselves. There is a need to make the so-called irreligious Jew aware of the fact that he is much more religious than he may know. To have them realize that God's light often shines on their faces just as much, if not more, than on the faces of religious Jews.

 

Just as the "irreligious" person needs to prove his worthiness to be the friend of a religious Jew, so too, the religious Jew needs to be worthy of the friendship of his "secular" fellow Jew. It would be a most welcome undertaking if religious Jews would call on their "irreligious" fellow Jews for guidance in mitzvoth that demand their greater commitment.

 

There is a significant need for calling Jews back to their roots by showing them that they never left. Once religious Jews learn that "irreligious" Jews are their equals, not their inferiors, a return to Judaism on the right terms will come about.  

 

One of the tragic failures of the ancient Jews was their indifference to the Ten Tribes of Israel that were carried away by Assyria after the Northern Kingdom was destroyed.  Overlooked, and not taken seriously by their fellow Jews, they were consigned to oblivion and ultimately vanished.

 

This is a nightmare that, at this moment in Jewish history, should terrify each and every religious Jew: the unawareness of our being involved in a new failure, in a tragic dereliction of duty.      

   

***************

 

*Published by the Jerusalem Post in 1996

 Based on the writings of Avraham Joshua Heschel 

 

 

The David Cardozo Academy was founded to revolutionize Jewish spirituality and learning.  Its programs include: the Cardozo-Kagan Jewish Leadership Program at the IDC in Herzliya; a Think Tank forum of Jewish thinkers, educators and leaders; the Jerusalem Lecture Series addressing topics rarely discussed publicly in observant Jewish circles; and other programs.  The Academy also strives to spread its mission through ongoing publications, serving as a catalyst for discussion, debate and innovative thinking.

 

 

 

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