Rabbi Judith Siegal

Candlelight - The Maccabeats - Hanukkah

2011-12-13T01:12:00.000-08:00

Still a favorite from last year!

The Maccabeats - Miracle - Matisyahu - Hanukkah

2011-12-13T01:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Chanukah, everyone!

IDF: Gilad Shalit back home in Israel after five years in Hamas captivity - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

2011-10-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

IDF: Gilad Shalit back home in Israel after five years in Hamas captivity - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

KOL NIDREI - Jew Man Group

2011-10-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is awesome!

Forgiveness Yom Kippur Sermon 5772

2011-10-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

What is Sacred Community and How do we get one?

2011-09-30T04:32:00.000-07:00

Shanah Tovah!

Dip Your Apple - Fountainheads Rosh Hashanah

2011-09-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Roses or Thorns?

2011-06-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses!

You may have noticed, that this time of year in Miami, something changes. In fact, the last day of school, it was obvious from the facebook postings…..”leaving for NC, on my way to the Berkshires.” Many people LEAVE Miami for the summer! I can certainly understand the negative points of living here all summer. There are the mosquitos, there are hurricanes, there is a bit of humidity, and then, there is the sweltering heat!

But, I for one, having grown up in New Orleans and being pretty unfazed by the heat, humidity, hurricanes and mosquitoes….actually, (dare I say it?) enjoy the summer in Miami. Unlike my native New Orleans, there is the BEACH! And, according to many, there is a breeze. And, there is something even more that I LOVE about the summer in Miami. No lines, no waiting at restaurants and no traffic!

So, you can call me a glass-half-full kind of person (I am), but I really do enjoy the summers here.

I came across this old German proverb recently:

Instead of complaining that the rosebush is full of thorns,

be happy that the thorn bush has roses.

A good way to live!

This week’s Torah portion Behaalotecha, takes place on the Israelite’s journey from Mt. Sinai to the Promised land and includes the complaints of the children of Israel. In fact, their complaining to Moses about the food is considered a punishable sin, and angers God and frustrates Moses.

“The people took to complaining bitterly before Adonai. Adonai heard and was incensed”

This is just the first of many accounts of their complaining, and it is the only one in which the reason for their dissatisfaction is not told. It points out not the obstacles in the wilderness, but rather indicates the people’s state of mind: negative, volatile, unconfident.

And that is what I want to point out that needs changing – for the Israelites AND for us, today. The state of mind. As human beings, as Americans, as Floridians, it may not always be possible to change the obstacles, but it is possible to change to state of mind.

Take the traffic as an example. If you have ever sat in the parking lot of South Dixie Highway, you know that sometimes, there is nothing to do but sit and wait. Though, many choose to honk, to sulk, to curse, to text message their anger on their phone…..we can make a different choice. We can change our state of mind.

Personally, I choose to listen to great music in the car and try to enjoy every second of it! By changing my state of mind, it completely transforms the experience from one of dread and frustration to one of absolute delight. I don’t even want to get out of my car when I arrive and I’m listening to my favorite tunes. It makes all the difference.

A second example of glass-half- full thinking comes from a national survey released last month by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development[1].

This survey of 2006-2010 college graduates has found that just over half are working fulltime.

Among those working, up to one-third of the recent graduates said they accepted a job that paid less than they expected or was below their level of education or was not in their field of interest.

The median starting pay for 2009 and 2010 graduates was 10 percent lower than the salary received by those who entered the workforce in 2006 and 2007, the researchers said.

Half of the graduates said they'd taken jobs that didn't require a bachelor's degree.

Here is the amazing, glass-half-full part:

Despite the less-than-rosy job market they encountered, nearly three-fourths of the graduates surveyed said they had no second thoughts about the value of their college education.

Now, that is seeing the roses among the thorns. It’s true, though. Those students know that their education is valuable despite the bad economy right now.

Lastly, the story of the tennis great, Arthur Ashe comes to mind. Ashe was a top ranked tennis player in the 1960s and 70s. Raised in the segregated South, he was the first African-American male tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament.

He was much more than an athlete though. His commitment to social justice, health and humanitarian issues left a mark on the world as indelible as his tennis was on the court.

When the tennis legend was dying of cancer, he received thousands of letters from his fans. He read all of the letters but replied to only one of those.

The letter simply said, “Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease?”

Arthur Ashe replied to the sender...

“In this world there are

50 Million children start playing tennis every year

01Million of them really learn to play tennis

½ Million manage to learn professional tennis

50,000 come to the circuit

5,000 reach the grand slam

50 reach the Wimbledon

04 reach the Semi-Final

02 reach the Final Round

... and only 01 wins the championship

When I was holding the cup, I never asked God,

“Why Me?”

...and today in pain, how could I ask God,

“Why Me?”

Arthur Ashe ended his letter, “Look what have you achieved so far and do not complain!”

We could all afford to improve our attitudes a bit. I believe that is what the summer is all about – a chance to renew our perspectives. The Israelites were punished for their bad attitudes. We seem to punish ourselves. So, practice looking at the rosebush and seeing the roses. Or, more realistically in South Florida, taking a refreshing dip in the pool or ocean, taking a bite of a delicious mango, smiling at the iguanas and turning up the music in our cars to turn what can be a source of frustration into a source of joy! Shabbat Shalom!

[1] http://economy.kansascity.com/?q=node/10812 The Kansas City Star. Submitted by Diane Stafford on May 18, 2011 - 9:10am

Maternity Leave

2011-03-08T06:30:00.001-08:00

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We welcomed our daughter, Elana Beth Siegal to our family, to the community and to the world on January 18, 2011. We call her Ella, and she is wonderful! We thank God every day for a healthy child.

During my maternity leave, of course, I have spent most of my time feeding and caring for baby Ella, resting and recovering, and helping our growing family adjust and prepare for "normal life" ahead.

But, some surprising things have happened during this time that I believe are worth sharing.

First, much to our surprise, as we prepared for our first Shabbat at home as a new larger family, with grandparents in town and a beautiful Shabbat dinner on the table, our sons cried because we were not going to services at Temple Judea. They cried! All their friends would be missing them, and they wanted to be there. Brian and I found this touching, a little amusing, and significant. We are a part of a community that has become so family friendly that our children would rather be there than home! And yes, we did get this on video so that we could show them when they are teenagers!

Secondly, I have had the opportunity to do a few things that I don't normally get to do....like serve in the temple's soup kitchen, which always coincides with my usual responsibility of teaching Judea High and I have wanted to do since I began at Temple Judea. What an amazing group of committed volunteers who feed the hungry people of Coconut Grove each Monday night from Temple Judea. I am completely in awe of this group, many of whom have been doing this for almost twenty years. See Jean Kaplan's article in the upcoming Tidings for more details! The soup kitchen needs our continued support.

Lastly, I have seen more congregants than ever outside the walls of the synagogue, as I have been out walking in this beautiful weather, visiting the fresh markets around town with Ella, and receiving visitors in our home. I am overwhelmed by the generosity and warmth of our membership. We are so blessed to have a community that cares for one another, that are genuinely happy to see one another, and personally, where I, (even if I were not the rabbi), would happily join this wonderful congregation!

Thank you all for so warmly welcoming our daughter into the community. My maternity leave is almost over - I will be back full time April 18th for Pesach, and I honestly can not wait. Until then, I am enjoying every moment with our new daughter and looking forward to being back into the swing of things at Temple Judea. See you soon!

What Difference Will YOU make in 2011?

2010-12-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about starting a new year is all of the Top Ten Lists that come out about the year that is about to pass. The Top 10 New stories, Top 10 apologies, and especially, CNN’s Top 10 Heroes of the year. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cnn.heroes/?iref=allsearchThis list, and the show that features the heroes, is always inspiring to me. They are every day people, just like you and me, who have done extraordinary things to make this world better in a significant way. Most of the individuals are themselves challenged personally, which is often what lead them to make a difference.

Take Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vega, who founded a hospital in Juarez, Mexico, that cares for about 900 people daily -- regardless of their ability to pay. Despite the escalating violence in the city, the 74-year-old travels there several times a week to make sure residents get the care they need.

Or, look at Susan Burton, who was once herself caught in a cycle of addiction and incarceration. Today, her nonprofit A New Way of Life Reentry Project provides sober housing and other support services to formerly incarcerated women in California.

Or, Linda Fondren, with her weight-loss challenge, Shape Up Vicksburg, Linda is helping her Mississippi hometown battle the bulge. Through free fitness activities and nutrition classes, residents have lost nearly 15,000 pounds to date.

Now, these are individuals who had every reason NOT to step forward and do something. Each one of them, whether it was age, a lot of baggage or their own personal challenges, had enough to deal with in their own life. Yet, they did something extraordinary. Each one did something that will change not one but many people’s lives for the better. Each one is making a difference in the world.

We Jews know about making a difference in the world. We know we are supposed to do Tikkun Olam, acts that heal this troubled world. The problem is that we don’t always know where to start. And, we ALWAYS have plenty of valid reasons NOT to do anything.

This week, we read from the Book of Exodus the story of God telling Moses that he must go to Pharaoh and ask Pharaoh to let the people go. But Moses does not immediately agree to God’s direct command. He has what you might consider to be a valid excuse. He says to God, “The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, me – who gets tongue-tied,” The literal translation of what Moses says is that he is “uncircumcised of the lips” which echo his assertion at the burning bush that he is, literally, “Heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue.” Some commentaries understand this to mean that Moses had a speech impediment, and others interpret these expressions to mean that Moses feels he is unworthy of transmitting the divine word.

Either way, Moses has something holding him back from following through with God’s command to him, whether it was a physical imperfection or a lack of self confidence. He has an excuse. Yet, Moses does go forward and complete the task. God sends his brother Aaron to help him, and together they deliver the message to Pharaoh and lead the Israelite slaves out of Egypt, making a profound difference in the lives of the individuals and the soon to be Nation.

Moses may have an excuse, but it does not stop him. He becomes a great leader of the Jewish people, though he is far from perfect. In fact, he does not, in the end, get to go into the Promised Land because of mistakes he has made. Yet, Moses is still remembered as one of the greatest prophets, the only one that God spoke to face to face.

So, what are we to learn from Moses in this part of the story?

We certainly do not learn that to make a difference, one should be flawless, for Moses is neither physically perfect, nor does he listen to God directly, without questioning.

As our secular year comes to a close tonight, we begin a new year of 2011, which brings all kinds of new opportunities, new hopes and new possibilities with it. It is a time that many people do make resolutions, start fresh, and begin anew.

Often, people make new years resolutions that are about themselves – to eat healthier, to exercise more. It is the perfect time to re-evaluate and re-commit and there is nothing wrong with that. But, I want to give you a different kind of challenge – one that you can do right away – I challenge each one of you to take on a different kind of resolution this new year – PICK ONE THING, THAT YOU CAN DO, THAT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR SOMEONE ELSE. It can be simple. It can be coming to feed the homeless with us through our Temple Judea soup kitchen program. We will have a different Mitzvah each month that you can participate in, if you like. Or, start something new. The possibilities are endless. But pick one. What will YOU do to make this a better world for others?

We can learn from Moses that we should see our own flaws, imperfections and challenges not as excuses to NOT get involved but as reasons TO get involved.

This week, during the blizzard and extreme pile up of snow in the Northeast, it was reported that a Navy officer home for a 4-day leave got trapped with his wife and 3-month-old son for 8 hours on the highway, while driving to see family on Long Island. Carlos Calderon, who heard the report and was in nearby Queens, was motivated to go out and help them. He said he was touched by the fact that there was a baby stuck in the freezing car, so he got up, despite the freezing temperatures, gathered some friends, and went to dig out the car. They had plenty of reasons NOT to do that, but by doing it, they made a difference in the lives of that family.

So, what is stopping you? What is keeping you from doing the great things in this world that you CAN do? We can make this world a better place, and in fact, as Jews, we are commanded to do so. We commit to doing so. Let’s make 2011 a year in which we stop making excuses and find every reason TO help others, to make a difference and to create the world that we want to live in.

Kein Y’hi Ratzon!

What are YOU leaving behind?

2010-12-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

Growing up, my family would take a yearly beach vacation to the Gulf Coast, usually Perdido Bay, where three generations of our family would gather for the week to relax. Some of my best memories are from that time, as my grandparents would play golf, my parents, aunts and uncles would relax, and we would get to play with all our cousins, stay out on the beach or pool all day, waterslide, do art projects, play games, collect shells, and eat great food. The white, soft sand and crystal clear sparkling waters are not exaggerated in my mind. They were spectacular, and this was before those beaches were either overdeveloped or blown away by hurricanes. I distinctly remember the signs posted in the sand dunes that read, “Leave only your footprints.” I recall asking my grandma what that meant, and her reply, that when we leave the beach, we should not leave anything behind but our footprints in the sand. No litter. Not even a mark we were there that wouldn’t be washed away by the waves. While environmentally, this is sound practice, Jewishly, we have VERY different guidelines for what we should leave behind.

This week, we read from the very last story of the book of Genesis, “Vayechi” meaning, “And he lived.” This refers to how Jacob lived, though he is about to die, in this story, blessing his sons and grandsons and thus completing the story of the original Jewish family. But the blessing Jacob gives to each one of his sons is not much of a blessing – it is more like a laundry list of the consequences of each one’s behavior. Certainly NOT the Hollywood ending one might expect at the end of this great drama. Jacob is brutally honest about his sons’ mistakes and accomplishments. He does bring them all together, but to what end?

What does Jacob leave behind and what are we to learn from him?

Jacob does not leave something that will be washed away in time but clear directions on how he is to be buried and what should happen to his sons (his daughter Dina is not mentioned at all). Jacob leaves behind twelve sons, many grandchildren, in fact – a whole new nation of people who will complete the promise of the covenant, populating the land of Israel in the future. He reunites his entire family at his deathbed, creating a lasting memory of his last days and wishes for his family. Jacob leaves three lessons as his legacy.

The first lesson is UNIFICATION. By gathering his sons together, he is teaching them a lesson. The brothers are finally, ultimately reunited, and though they may not stay that way for long, clearly, Jacob did leave them unified. In his lifetime, Jacob often caused his sons to be pitted against each other. Now, on his deathbed, he brings them all together to bless each one.

The second lesson comes when Jacob gives direction about his burial. He, wants his bones brought up into the Promised Land, to be buried in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and Leah, all of his ancestors were buried. This not only gives Jacob’s sons a clear missive of what he wants done with his body after his death, but it also gives them a physical direction ensuring they will go to the Promised Land, if only to bury their father. Leaving directions for our children, today, is still important. Not only does it spare them of having to guess our wishes at a difficult time of loss, but it also ensures that, as much as possible, the people in our families will gather at the place we choose at least one more time. It is not only a way to get what we want for our own burial plans, but it is also a way to ensure family togetherness. For example, one woman, who loved the Ocean and knew how much her husband loved the ocean, asked that her remains be cremated and be scattered in the Ocean in one particular place that they both adored. Though this is not a traditional Jewish burial, she knew that her wishes would be followed, and at the same time that it would ensure that her husband went one more time to that special place that had brought him tranquility so many times before. It was her way of getting him to that place for comfort, even after she was gone. Jacob asks to be treated with “faithful kindness.” The midrash explains that Jacob’s words teach us that faithful kindness is exactly what the living show the dead when we follow the deceased wishes, as it is a mitzvah for which one can never be repaid.

Jacob’s third lesson and legacy to his sons and to us is forgiveness. The rabbis teach that we should forgive one day before we die, but since we don’t know when that will be, we should forgive EVERY day. Well, Jacob waited until the day before he died. He did not clearly tell his sons to forgive each other, but his sons certainly do get that message and share it with Joseph. “Please….forgive your brothers” is the message the brothers say their father directed them with to Joseph. Though it is often understood as being self serving for the brothers, Rabbi Eleazar in the Babylonian Talmud (Yevamot 65b) sees this verse as proof that one may alter another person’s words for the sake of peace. The brother’s claim makes it easier to approach Joespehn and easier for him to respond positively. Isn’t this what Jacob wanted?

Not everyone has the opportunity to think through and tell their children their last dying thoughts. Perhaps, this is why the portion is called, “Vayechi, And he lived” because we must LIVE in a way that shows our children every day how we want to be remembered and to teach life lessons.

To heal estrangements between family members and reunite, to forgive, and to give direction. These are the three lessons Jacob leaves behind for his progeny. What are the messages you are giving as you live every day of your life?

May each of us live in a way that leaves footprints for our children, grandchildren, and the future generations of our community to follow, from which to learn, benefit, and take with them in their own life’s journey.

Amen.

8 Nights

2010-12-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

Chanukah: 8 Nights, 8 Actions for YOU

From the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life

During the Festival of Lights we celebrate the victory of a small band of Jews standing up for what they believed in–despite great odds, the rededication of the Temple, and the miracle of a tiny jar of oil fueling the Menorah for eight days–a miracle of making a little bit of energy produce a lot of light. Today, there are additional meanings that we can bring to the celebration of Chanukah related to our use of energy and our responsibility to protect the environment.

What is the connection between Chanukah, energy use, and the environment?

Energy conservation (making a little energy go a long way) protects people and the planet. The way we generate and use energy causes a lot of air pollution, which harms human health and causes global climate change. (Global climate change results from a build-up of pollution in the atmosphere, mostly caused by burning oil and other fossil fuels. It threatens to undermine the security–and even the very existence–of people and other species around the globe, and far into the future.)
Rededication to protecting God's dwelling place. As the Temple no longer stands, the entire Earth is a dwelling place for the Shechina, the Divine Presence. During Chanukah, which is a celebration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, we can rededicate ourselves to protecting the Earth–the only home we have–and its special places–where many of us encounter God.
Securing our independence through energy conservation. In these challenging times, as we search for things to do that will help secure our country, reducing our dependence upon oil is among the things we as individuals and as a society can do.

Please take time to read and DO the following 8 things during Chanukah!

8 Actions in 8 Days

This Chanukah, join Jews around North America in 8 simple actions to help conserve energy, slow global climate change, and save you money!

Day 1: Replace an outdoor light fixture with one that has a motion-detector. Outdoor lights that are left on all night waste electricity, increase your energy bill, and add to night-time “light pollution.” A fixture with a motion-detector will turn on only when needed.

Day 2: Make a plan to decrease your car use. Automobiles emit greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ and NO_x) and contribute to U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Examine your driving habits and see if you can tele-commute, walk, bike, take public transit, or combine errands to reduce the amount you drive.

Day 3: Make your own Chanukah gifts! Take a photo and design a frame for it, knit a scarf for the winter, or make a set of beeswax candles. Use recycled materials if you can. You can find lots of great books about homemade gifts in your local library.

Day 4: Eat less meat and buy organic, locally grown foods. Large-scale meat production uses a huge amount of natural resources, particularly grain, topsoil, and water. Eating organic food is better for your health since it reduces your exposure to pesticides and antibiotics. Buying food grown close to home supports family farms and reduces the amount of energy used to prepare and transport food.

Day 5: Turn off your air conditioning and only use heat when needed. We live in Florida!!!! Enjoy the great weather!

Day 6: Save paper by sending environmentally-friendly Chanukah e-cards. To create an e-card, visit care2.com. Or, if you’re feeling artistic, make your own paper cards with recycled paper.

Day 7: Wash a full load of clothes and use cold water for the rinse. Washing machines use 32-59 gallons of water per cycle, so waiting until you have a full load of clothes will save both water and energy. A warm water wash and a cold rinse will clean nearly all clothes well.

Day 8: Question: What three things can you give, which once you give them, will give back to you at least as much and perhaps more of what you gave? Answer: Knowledge, light, and love.

Candlelight - The Maccabeats, Happy Chanukah!!!

2010-12-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

Living with Possibility: Yom Kippur sermon 5771

2010-09-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4wouXscG9c&feature=mfu_channel

Living with our Fears about Illness: Rosh Hashanah Sermon 5771

2010-09-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW9Eo-cZxHY&feature=mfu_channel

Follow up on Rotem Conversion Bill

2010-07-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

If you have been following the story of the dangerous Rotem Conversion bill in the Knesset in Israel, you willl know that there is good news. See the URJ link for the full story and an opportunity to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for stopping it: www.urj.org/israel/rotem

Israel still has a long way to go before it is a pluralistic place, but at least they avoided a huge mistkake, this time!

What's happening in Israel right now?

2010-07-14T07:45:00.001-07:00

There is a LOT going on in Israel this week that should concern us, as liberal Jews - check it out:

Anat Hoffman, chairperson of Women of The Wall, was arrested for bringing a Torah to the Kotel! I have prayed with this group before. They get together for Rosh Chodesh near the Kotel (the Wall) in Jerusalem to pray. At the same time, the Knesset is pushing forward a bill to make conversions outside of Israel non valid in Israel. See the letter at the bottom that you can send in protest!

Check the youtube videos of Anat's arrest from my friend Rabbi Leah Berkowitz's blog, who was there: http://thisiswhatarabbilookslike.wordpress.com/

The following is a letter from Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israeli Religious Action Center (IRAC) and Chairperson of Women of the Wall.

Before 9 AM, I was arrested for carrying a sefer Torah on the women's side of the Western Wall. At the same time just miles away, the conversion bill - that would change forever the definition of who is a Jew in Israel - passed its first vote in the Knesset.The ultra-Orthodox are applauding the events of today. They succeeded in preventing women from carrying a Torah and praying at the holiest site of the Jewish people, and they moved one step closer to erasing all recognition ever achieved for Reform and Conservative conversion in Israel.It seems like it was a good day for them, and they may be celebrating. But in fact today was a dark day for the ultra-Orthodox in Israel, and for those working against religious pluralism and civil rights around the world. The real outcome of their "victories" will be the enlivening of the 85% of Diaspora Jewry, which is non-Orthodox, belonging in large part to the Reform or Conservative Movement.The events of today bring to light the moral bankruptcy of the antiquated, violent, and intolerant Judaism that defines the ultra-Orthodox strand of Judaism in Israel today. This stands in contrast to our progressive Judaism that is committed to the equality inherent in every individual - man or woman, Jew by birth or Jew by choice.There is an expression that I love - we must learn to walk and chew gum at the same time. I and the other leaders of the Israeli Reform Movement will take care of things on the ground here in Israel - the police, the courts, the Knesset. Now you must take care of the Conversion bill.In the next 24 hours, send the attached letter demanding that the Israeli government listen to our voice, our unified voice calling for a Judaism of openness and tolerance. This is not an issue affecting only converts - it is an issue that threatens the very unity of the Jewish people.
Today starts the countdown of your moving into action to reject this dangerous brand of Judaism. Our voices will be heard, and through all of us working together, the ultra-Orthodox "victories" of today will prove obsolete.

Please copy and paste the attached letter to your own email, and send it to the Prime Minister, and forward this urgent call to your friends and family.

Facts on the current Conversion Bill:
1. MK Rotem's amendment to the Chief Rabbinate Law gives the Chief Rabbinate, for the first time, responsibility in the field of conversion. This will seriously affect the ability of the non-orthodox movements in Israel to convert and quite possibly will also prevent the recognition of non-orthodox conversions performed in the Diaspora.
2. For the first time, it will be determined in law that conversions performed in Israel must be performed in accordance with Jewish law, after the convert accepts the full yoke of Torah and commandments. This demand, together with the granting of responsibility to the Chief Rabbinate, effectively nullifies the broadened scope of orthodox conversions in Israel, which was the stated rationale behind the drafting of the amendment in the first place.**
3. The law goes against the judgements of the Supreme Court of Israel in the matter of conversion over the last 20 years and will effectively return Reform and Conservative Jewry to their starting point with regards to non- recognition, only this time, there will not be a legal void, but Knesset-made legislation working against us.
4. Support of this legislation is in clear contradiction to the undertaking made by the Prime Minister to the Jewish Federation leadership, according to which no legislation regarding conversion will be passed without previous discussion and agreement.http://www.irac.org/NewsDetailes.aspx?ID=685
SAMPLE LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU

Letter to Prime Minister Benyamin NetanyahuThe Honorable Benjamin NetanyahuPrime Minister of IsraelOffice of the Prime MinisterJerusalem, IsraelPM_ENG2@pmo.gov.il
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu, We write to request your immediate intervention to prevent passage of the legislation being brought forward by MK David Rotem.We are deeply concerned about the intention to grant the Chief Rabbinate sole control over conversion in Israel. Such legislation would be an open attack on the legitimacy of non-Orthodox Jewry, which composes the majority of world Jewry. While we are supportive of efforts to create greater accessibility to conversion courts in Israel, the overall impact of the Rotem Bill will set back these efforts. Should this bill be enacted, it will exacerbate a widening gap between Diaspora and Israel communities, which we are working very hard to avoid.Therefore, we believe it is imperative that you, as leader of Israel, and as one who cares deeply about the well-being of Klal Yisrael, intervene and urge immediate withdrawal of this bill. Name Email
OR
Click below to go to the RAC website for an online letter you can sendhttp://action.rac.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3655

L'shalom,
Anat Hoffman

Israel

2010-06-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Shalom from the Promised Land! I am in Israel with ten teens from Temple Judea this week (June 13-23), and it is wonderful. Check that blog at: templejudeaisraeltrip.blogspot.com
Enjoy!

Fear and Oil

2010-06-01T03:52:00.000-07:00

Today is day 42. 42 days since the horriffic oil leak that is continuing to pollute the Gulf of Mexico and so much more.

The spill began with an April 20 explosion and fire that sank the drill rig Deepwater Horizon two days later. Eleven workers were lost with the rig, which was owned by drilling contractor Transocean and hired by BP.

The resulting slick has already begun damaging the fragile marshlands of southeastern Louisiana, where I grew up exploring the natural beauty of its unique flora and fauna, much as my children are growing up exploring the Everglades and the Keys. Where once green marshes teemed with life, now, brown, syrupy oil covers everything from pelicans to plantlife. The oil made it past protective booms and into the wetlands near the mouth of the Mississippi River on Wednesday. As you probably read, Florida is preparing for the possibility of the oil coming our way. The impact of this oil spill is tremendous. If I could, I would show you right now photographs of the oil-covered animals and plants. You've probably seen it on the news, and the images are horrifying.

Let us not forget that people died from this accident, and the environmental looming disaster is more than frightening. The poor response from BP and the government's lack of quick action, in fact, the lack of any action, the fact that the oil is STILL leaking 42 days later, millions of gallons of oil, is atrocious.

There is a feeling of helplessness and fear.

Fear of the tremendous amount of damage this oil will cause.

Empathy for those people whose livelihoods will be lost.

Frustration with the system of government that allowed for the oil lobby to get by with such pathetic back up plans.

Sadness that my children will not experience the pristine beauty of the marshlands, the Gulf Coast, and who knows what else.

And finally, theres is a helpless feeling of not being able to make a difference.

As President Obama is fond of saying, "We don't fear the future. We shape it." These words sound good, but it is hard to imagine how in the face of such widespread damage one person could make a difference.

In Rabbi Harold Kushner's book, "Conquering Fear: Living Boldly in an Uncertain World" Rabbi Kushner suggests a few different ways to alleviate the sense of fear and helplessness that we all feel at different times in life. I want to share these three steps with you, as a way to conquer fear not just now but at other difficult times in life, as well. After all, we all face fears in the world.

Rabbi Kushner first suggest Prayer to alleviate our sense of fear and helplessness. Prayer, he suggests, is not what will make the change. In other words, we do not pray that God will fix the oil spill, but it may make you feel better. What else do we do with our anxiety and helplessness but to turn to God and ask for strength. In this way, we do something with our fear, our grief, our anger. The words of Psalm 121 are my words of choice in times of fear:

Esa enai el heharim meayin yavo ezri,

I lift up my eyes unto the hills,

From where does my help come?

My help comes from Adonai, maker of heaven and earth.

These words bring me comfort and help ground me, quite literally.

Look up, this psalm says. God will guard you from all harm. God will guard your soul, your going and coming, now and forever.

I don't believe that God will stop whatever is ailing me necessarily, but I do find comfort in these words, like a mother patting her child's head saying, "everything will be ok" even when we know everything may not be so ok. Still, the words help calm me, and help me to allow fear's grip on me to loosen.

So step one in letting go of fear is PRAY. And, though you can do it anywhere, you certainly are in the right place today.

Another way Rabbi Kushner puts it is that "God's job is not to make sick people healthy. That's the doctor's job. God's job is to make sick people brave."

Step two is to Master fear - don't let fear master you. This is not an easy thing to master fear. Some people choose denial, not wanting to watch or read the news because of the overwhelming sense of gloom and doom, and some choose to see the world as a big catastrophe, always waiting for the other shoe to drop, trusting no one, expecting the worst, looking out only for themsleves and their families only. But there is another way - "to acknowledge that the world is a dangerous place and at the same time maintain the faith that God has planted in us the capacity to contend with those dangers and to overcome them."Rabbi Harold Kushner. Conquering Fear. Page 22

This week's Torah portion gives us an example of this. Moses chooses scouts to go assess the land of Canaan and the inhabitants of the land. When the scouts return, ten of the scouts have a negative report and only two of the scouts, Joshua and Caleb, have a positive report, reflecting their trust in God, even in the face of what may have seemed overwhelmingly negative to everyone else. The sin of faithlessness threatens the extermination of all Israel. Yet, two of our ancestors had the faith and the guts to see beyond the negativity. That is strength. That is mastery of fear.

More than eighty times in the Bible, God tells people not to be afraid. Perhaps, that is because God knows how many things do frighten us, and the lesson from the Torah is not to live lives dominated by fear.

Last, but not least is Step three - Do something. This helps us feel more in control. What to do? In the case of the oil spill, there are many options. Here are a few:

Volunteer and Cleanup Actions:

Oxfam America is working to help affected communities with financial assistance, as well as protect local wetlands and marshes. Make a tax-deductible donation to Oxfam America.

You can register through OilSpillVolunteers.com to volunteer or join a cleanup organization.

The National Audubon Society is asking concerned citizens to donate or volunteer. Sign up to get trained and volunteer to help local birds.

The National Wildlife Federation has a message you can send to President Obama to urge restoration of Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands. They're also asking for residents to upload photos to flickr and tag them SPILL_NW10.

Mobile Baykeeper, and affiliate of Waterkeeper Alliance, is dedicating resources to educate potential volunteers on how to help and address the long term environmental change needed in the Gulf region. Make a donation to these efforts.

The International Bird Rescue Research Center is coordinating a professional rescue team to help birds covered in oil. You can help by reporting wildlife affected by the oil spill to the organization by calling 866-557-1401. You can also make a donation to support their work.

The Sierra Club is gathering volunteers to help with the cleanup efforts on the Gulf Coast. Sign up online to volunteer and the Sierra Club will help you find the right opportunities for you.

The Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana is also helping to coordinate volunteers. You can register online to volunteer or make a donation.

Doing something does make us feel more in control and less helpless. The oil spill is what brings me a sense of fear. And, I know that others have very different fears, all valid. In our world of beauty and wonder, there is also fear. We must find a way to conquer our fears to be able to live our lives fully, not ruled or stifled by our fears.

Kein Y'hi Ratzon!

Be a Mensch...and You Will Be Holy!

2010-04-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

The following letter was printed as a column in the Boston Globe, called "Letter to a Mensch-in-Training," written by Jeff Jacoby. From the time of the birth of his son, Caleb, Jacoby has written a letter to his son on his birthday each year. This letter was written to Caleb on his ninth birthday.

My beloved Caleb,
There was an awful story in the paper a few days ago.
"A 16-year-old Brighton High School student," it began, "has been charged with slashing a 14-year-old girl's face with a razor blade in a Dorchester park, leaving a gash that required more than 100 stitches to close." The story was on the front page of the metro section, along with a large photograph of the 14-year-old. Her face is now disfigured by an angry red scar stretching from her forehead to her lip. She said that she and some of her friends had been challenged to a fight by another group of girls, and had been told that if they didn't show up, the other girls would find them and beat them on the street.
I made a point of showing you that story so we could talk about it. I asked you to imagine what it must be like to attend the schools these girls go to, or to have to worry about the things that must constantly be on their minds. The story quoted the 14-year-old as saying she "believes girls in the city these days must assemble a cadre of friends at a young age to back them up or risk getting more seriously injured or even killed. And she fears being labeled a snitch for identifying the girl who slashed her face."
Such violence and intimidation are far removed from anything you've ever experienced, Caleb. But you are no longer too young to know that many other children are not so fortunate -- including some in your own backyard. When we talked about that news story, I told you that safety is one of the reasons Mama and I send you to the Hebrew Academy -- a religious day school -- instead of public school. You've never seen a fistfight, never mind a gang brawl with razor blades. When you first read the story, you weren't even sure what a razor blade was.
But it isn't metal detectors or security guards that makes your school safe. It isn't a zero-tolerance policy on weapons, or penalties for fighting. It's an emphasis on values and character that began on the first day of school, and that your teachers and parents treat as no less important than academics. As a 3-year-old, you would come home from nursery singing songs based on the Bible stories you were learning -- Abraham's hospitality, Rebecca's kindness to strangers. Now as a 9-year-old, you come home with monthly "midos sheets" meant to reinforce good character -- midos (or midot) is Hebrew for character traits -- by having one of your parents initial the page each time you demonstrate the particular virtue being emphasized that month: cheerfulness, gratitude, kindness to others.
Does emphasizing character in this way ensure that you'll never be involved in violent or criminal deeds? Will it guarantee that you never treat another person with cruelty or malice? Can your teachers or your parents know for a fact that you'll never slash anyone's face with a razor? Unfortunately, there are no guarantees. How you turn out will depend, ultimately, on how you choose to live. The most your parents and teachers can do is equip you to make the right choice.
So we work at it, always keeping an eye out for ways to reinforce the better angels of your nature. When you brought home your report card in December, I wasn't thrilled with the grades you had gotten in behavior, self-control, and respect for teachers and peers. Which is why I offered you an incentive: If on your next report card all your behavior marks went up, you would be rewarded with one of the I Spy you like so much. Three weeks ago your second report card came home, and what do you know? Your conduct and character had improved across the board. Way to go!
Of course Mama and I care about your progress in English and science and religious studies, too. Sure, we want you to grow up to be good at math. But it's even more important that you grow up to be a mensch.
It's a message I try to reinforce whenever I can. After every meal, I tell you constantly, make sure to thank the person who prepared it -- and that includes the "kitchen ladies" at school. When you play with your brother, you're not allowed to torment him -- kindness and courtesy aren't only for outsiders. "Make me proud of you," I say each morning when I drop you off at school -- a daily reminder that while your parents' love is automatic, their admiration is something you must earn.
At 9, you're off to a great start, Caleb -- bright, energetic, inquisitive, articulate. Who knows what great things await you? Just remember: Whatever else you grow up to be, make sure to be a mensch.
All my love, Papa

This week's Torah portion is called Kedoshim, and it is called the Holiness Code, for it gives us a guide to a life of holiness. With a repetition of the ten commandments, and rgard for the rights of the poor, how to handle anger, respect for our elders, care for the stranger, and fair business practices, it truly is a guide to good living. And yet, I think it can all be summed up by what Jeff Jacoby says in his letter to his son. We want you - all the children who come through our preschool and religious school and temple - to simply, be a mensch, a good, righteous person, one who thinks of others and does the right thing, even when no one is watching. We want you to be respectful of yourself and others. We want you to live a good life, leaving the world a better place than you found it.

And we, your parents, and your teachers work every single day to help make that happen. Be a mensch! And you will be holy.

Happy Yom Ha'Atzmaut!

2010-04-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

Happy 62nd Birthday, Israel!

When asked to share some of my favorite memories in Israel for our highschool program tonight, it was as like a faucet I could not turn off....they keep on flowing, so here are some of my favorites:

#1 During the HUC study year in Jerusalem, a few of us took off for the weekend to spend a Shabbat on the beach in Herziliyah. A friend's apartment close to the beach helped, and we had a wonderful Shabbat dinner there. The day of Shabbat was spent on the beach, eating glida, ice crea, and as the sun went down that night, we took out our guitars and played, ending Shabbat with Havdallah and jammin' on the beautiful beach.

#2 During that same year, we spent Sukkot with our Siegal cousins who live in the Negev. We camped out in Maktesh Ramon after hiking all day - it was spectacular.

#3 Climbing Masada, when I was in Israel for the first time as a 16 year old. I was on a NFTY trip, and we sang bad Skid Row songs the whole way up.

I am blessed to have so many amazingly wonderful memories of being in Israel, and I can't wait to be there again in a few weeks with our 8th and 9th graders!!!!

Happy Birthday, Israel! See you soon!

Shabbat HaGadol - What Makes this Great Shabbat so Great?

2010-03-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Shabbat Shalom! This Shabbat is called Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat! But, what, you might ask, is so great about it?

This Shabbat is the one that precedes Pesach, and in Ashkenazi tradition, this was the Shabbat the rabbi would give the longest sermon, at times, the only sermon aside from the one on Shabbat Shuva between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, preparing the people for Pesach.

So, what is so great about this Shabbat? I believe it is to remind us of one of our GREATEST responsibilities…and it’s not the one you might think.

Of course, we do remember this day all that we have to do in the days and the week ahead….preparing for Pesach, getting rid of the chametz in our home, brushing away the crumbs, the bread, the leavened products – crackers, cereal, and in the Ashkenazi tradition all kitniyot/legumes, as well, so as not to get confused with something that might be chametz. Ah, but there is more….

On this Shabbat, we prepare for Pesach, a great time of year for our people.
Not only is Pesach the most celebrated of Jewish holidays, but it is the one time a year that many families sit around the table and have to face each other, literally look into the eyes of those who are sitting at the table with us for seder.

We see the way the little ones are growing up, and perhaps there are new little ones at the table. We see the way our older family members are aging, as we may not have noticed before. We see that some of our loved ones are no longer with us, sitting in the same chair they always sat in for the seder. We look at who is leading the seder and how that has changed, as well, with time. There are memories as we sit around that table, memories of stories at past seders, stories of the people who sat around that table, too.

It is the time to acknowledge that time is passing. And we are here for a relatively short time. So, now, as we prepare to sit at the seder table, is the time to prepare to face our families and friends. Perhaps, this is the really GREAT thing about this Shabbat. We prepare ourselves to mend old wounds, to ask forgiveness for hurting our loved ones, and to forgive others for hurting us.

In the haftarah that we read on this Shabbat from the prophet Malachi, the text tells us of the “great day” in the future, when the hearts of the parents will be turned to their children, and the hearts of the children will be turned to the parents and they will be reconciled. That would be a great day! Perhaps, this Shabbat gets its name from the mention of this “great day.”

After all, estrangements are a reality in almost every family of one kind or another. Did a relative offend you? Betray you? Did your sister fail to take care of your aging father the way you would have? Did your parents always seem to favor a brother or sister? It is unacceptable to you that your son or daughter married a non Jew? Are you upset to learn that your son is gay? These experiences happen in every family. Sometimes emotions are swept under the rug or sometimes you have come to accept the realities, but bitter estrangements do happen, unfortunately. This is the great day to think about healing them and forgiving.

Estrangement even happened to our biblical ancestors. There is no evidence that Isaac and Abraham ever spoke after the Akeidah, Abraham’s binding of Isaac. Abraham and his half brother Ishmael also do not speak until they come together at their father’s funeral. We don’t want to wait until funerals to mend broken relationships. This is the time to mend.

But how do we mend those painful rifts? Dr. Carol Popky Hausman shares a strategy that works for many: First, communicate. If you are committed to healing the relationship, you must take the first step to communicate with the other person and be realistic about your own role in the rift. Second, be prepared to listen. The other person may have a very different view of what happened, and to heal, both parties must be heard and felt listened to by the other. Third, don’t be defensive. Don’t try to explain yourself. Try to be open, to forgive, to let the other person know that you still want to have a relationship. Show your family member that you care about them more than about your being right. Fourth: Forgive and ask forgiveness. There is no need to wait until Yom Kippur. This is the time. Rabbi David Wolpe teaches that forgiveness is a generosity of the heart. It is a gift. It is not the same as understanding. Lastly, ask if there is anything you can do to try to make up for the wrong the other has felt.

These are not easy things to do. But, they may save a relationship. Do not wait. Do not wait until Yom Kippur. We are taught in Pirke Avot: forgive the day before your death, but since we never know when that is, every day should be the day to forgive and seek forgiveness.

This would make it a GREAT day, a GREAT Shabbat, a day when parents and children, when family members and friends, can look each other in the eye without resentment for past wrongs. A GREAT day of forgiveness and loving, caring relationships. If we are celebrating FREEDOM at Pesach, let us prepare for true freedom from regret with this Shabbat HaGadol.

Shabbat Shalom!

CCAR in San Francisco

2010-03-18T09:29:00.000-07:00

The Central Conference of American Rabbis Conference was just held in San Francisco, and almost 500 rabbis from all over the country and a few from Israel and other countries were in attendance. It was incredible!

The highlights for me were the sessions on:

Interfaith Marriage in the Reform Rabbinate

Pastoral Counseling with Rabbi Sheldon Marder

Dr. Larry Brilliant, one of the "brilliant" speakers, who gave us hope that any complicated world problem CAN be solved (he was one of the people who helped end the Small Pox epidemic)

Learning from Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, who is always inspring

I am honored to be on the conference planning committee for next year's conference, which is in New Orleans, and I was thrilled to help announce and celebrate the fact that next time, our rabbinic conference will meet in NOLA!

Best of all, I was able to see the beautiful city of San Francisco. Here I am walking with my long time friend. Kevin Waldman, in front of the Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful day.

It is always great to come back to Miami, and getting to be with colleagues from all over the world helps me not only to continue my learning, but also to appreciate the wonderful community we have at Temple Judea!

Shabbat Shalom!

2010-01-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

“MLK, Moses and Me” by Brian Siegal

There is an ancient Cherokee Indian Expression on The Meaning of Life that states “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”

(Photo of Brian embracing a full life at the Grand Canyon)

Our own Jewish tradition has this same concept of embracing a full life, saying "L'Chayim" as we drink a full cup of kiddush wine to sanctify Shabbat also instructs us to live a complete and meaningful life.

Sage advice – but unfortunately, living a meaningful life does not come with an instruction manual.

So, how then do we learn how to do this and what does it even mean?

We can start by learning lessons from individuals who have somehow managed to find a path to leading a complete life.
The first figure I thought of in this vein is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This coming Monday is the national day in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday more than four decades after his assassination.

It may seem ironic saying that Dr. King lived a complete life since he was cut down in his prime. However, he not only lived a complete life he articulated how to do so.

In one of the many insightful and poignant speeches that Dr. King gave he spoke about “Three Dimensions to a Complete Life.”
As recounted in his autobiography, Dr. King gave a speech at Dexter University where he states that the three dimensions of any complete life are the length, breadth, and height.

Dr. King refers to the length of life as the inward concern for one’s own welfare that causes one to push forward, to achieve one’s own goals and ambitions.
In a sense this is the selfish dimension of life, but there is such a thing as rational and healthy self-interest. Or, as Dr. King expresses it, “before you can love other people adequately, you’ve got to love your own self properly.” So the length of life according to Dr. King means that you must love yourself.

Through this dimension, you develop a sense of your own identity and a vision of where you want to go in your life, and then you have the basis for reaching out to the world and going after your dreams for a better life.
Before he could confront racism and segregation, Dr. King had to know who he was and what he wanted to accomplish.

He could then face persecution, jail and hardships in standing up for his vision of a more just and equitable society because he had looked deep within himself, came to terms with his own strengths and weaknesses and developed the confidence to realize his beautiful dream of what the world could be.

This week’s Torah portion, “Vaera” gives us another wonderful role model. Here, Moses is told by God to go before Pharoh to ask him to let the Jewish people go free from slavery.
The Torah describes Moses as “heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue” which some have interpreted as a speech impediment.

And yet, Moses did this introspection, overcame his lack of confidence and mustered the courage to confront the most powerful leader in the world at the time to stand up for what he believed.

The “breadth” of life as Dr. King uses it, is the outward concern for the welfare of others.

Dr. King implicitly understood that we should try to find the intersection of empathy and altruism. The breadth of life is about developing the capacity to see ourselves as the “other,” and then to take action when we see hatred or injustice.

So, the first step is to reach out to others and try to gain a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of each other.

However, to truly achieve this “breadth of life” it is not enough to merely say “there but for the Grace of God go I” or even to “feel someone else’s pain.” Rather, that is the first step. The next step is to take action.

This involves willingness to get our of our comfort zones to approach people who may look and think differently than we do and actually do something to help.

A wonderful example of this is Miep Gies, the office secretary who defied the Nazi occupiers to hide Anne Frank and her family for two years and saved the teenager's diary, who died this week at 100 years of age.

She once said: “Imagine that young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I’m afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and secretary.”
In fact, this brave, modest woman exemplified the highest human values during the world’s darkest days.

She followed the same concept that Dr. King so eloquently expressed about the interconnection of all people when he said, “we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. What affects one directly affects all indirectly"
Whether it is a heroic act like saving a life, or responding with relief aid or support to an earthquake in Haiti, or speaking out for the rights of immigrants and supporting immigration reform, or finding ways to address climate change or safeguarding Israel’s existence, we must find ways to work with and help people from all walks of life and from opposing sides of issues.

Finally, Dr. King speaks about the third dimension of a complete life, as being the height of life as the upward reach for God. This spiritual connection to God is essential according to Dr. King to a complete life.

In Jewish tradition, this upward reach for God is essential in the two previous steps of loving oneself and reaching out to others.

The concept of B’tzelem Elohim that all human beings are created in the image of God should give each of us the inner courage and outward perspective toward others to know that we are created in the divine image

This connection to God can be found in many ways. Being here at Temple Judea on Shabbat is one of those ways. Spending time with family and friends celebrating holidays is another. And doing acts of Tikkun Olam or repairing the world is yet another.

In the year 2010, may each of us be inspired by the legacy of MLK and Moses and find ways to improve the length, breadth and depth of our lives so that we may live lives of meaning as well as completeness.

Shabbat Shalom.

Sparks of God in YOU

2009-10-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

This week, I had the opportunity to see an exhibit of Judy Chicago's art at the Jewish Museum of Miami, and one of the pieces really grabbed me - I could not stop looking at it, in fact! The piece is called "Rainbow Shabbat." It is a large stained glass installation, which features a very colorful Shabbat dinner scene, with people around the table of all different ages, genders, colors cultures and faiths, showing an image of hope and the artist’s vision for the future.

The idea for the Rainbow Shabbat as an image and message of hope came to Chicago during a memorable Shabbat dinner at the home of friends during a visit she and her husband made to Israel. As she later wrote: "There were twelve people there: men and women from four different countries, of different ages, and mostly strangers. We all went around the table and told stories, and everyone listened for hours. Being welcomed into Jewish homes during our travels around the world gave us a profound sense of a global community and provided me with an idea for the image of optimism and hope."

For more information about the artist and this piece, see: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/judy_chicago.php?i=1561

In addition to the central window, there are two side panels incorporating a prayer in English and Yiddish, based on a poem by a survivor from Theresienstadt: “Heal those broken souls who have no peace and lead us all from darkness into light.”[1]

There is a beautiful and important concept at the core of our Jewish understanding of humanity called Betselem Elohim - that human beings are made in the image of God. This concept is exemplified by the beautiful piece of art. Each person around the table, no matter how different is a human being, made in the image of God, with a spark of God’s light inside. But the concept is understood differently by people of all ages. For Judy Chicago, it is a political and social statement. For a young child, it is something far different.

A young child looks in the mirror and says wow! They love staring at themselves, even as babies, and smiling, making funny faces, asking questions about the color of their hair, eyes, and the shape of their nose and ears. The image that they see there is one to celebrate and explore. If you tell a young child that they have a little bit of God in them, they will say, wow! Where? And believe it to be true.

A teenager, on the other hand has a very different perception of those images. A teenager in our society looks in the mirror and often says “yuck.” A teenager sees the flaws in his or her appearance, compares to the onslaught of images seen in the media of so called “perfect” human beings, the famous people, the sports figures, the ones with extraordinarily and often surgically or drug enhanced bodies and doesn’t see how their body or face could ever measure up, seeing their own body and image as much less than perfect. So many problems arise for teens in our society connected to poor body image or self image in general. Getting a teen to believe that he or she was made in the image of God is much more difficult. In her powerful book, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, author Mary Phipher says: “Young girls slowly bury their childhood, put away their independent and imperious selves and submissively enter adult existence." Teenage boys and girls often, unfortunately lose the sense of wonder when looking in the mirror.

Yet, this week, we begin reading our sacred Torah from the beginning again, with Bereshit, the story of Creation of the world, giving us a profound sense of hope and optimism for renewal and for the future. We read that human beings are created in the image of God.

And God said, Let us make humans in our image, after our likeness…" And God created humans b’tselem elohim in God’s image… male and female God created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)

What does this mean, then, to us as adults to be made in God’s image? Have we grown past the doubts of teenage-hood and can we see through and beyond society’s dangerous messages to know what it means for us as adults to be made in the image of God?

As a rabbi, I am privileged to work with and learn from people of all ages and from many different backgrounds. I teach 8th, 11th and 12th graders. I spend time with the youth groupers, the preschoolers, adults who are becoming new parents and adults who are sick in the hospital, people who have loved ones who are dying, and those who are celebrating life’s greatest simchas. Throughout the lifespan, many adults do get the message from this Torah portion: we are all made in the image of God. There is a spark of God in every person – each and every one of us, and that is profound.

If you can see this, then it changes how you live your life and how you treat others and yourself.

B’tzelem Elohim sets a new standard for our actions: since God is neither white nor black, male nor female, Jew nor non-Jew, and since every human being is an image of God, there is no preferred image. Therefore all people should be well treated as equals. If each person holds God’s image within, we have the responsibility to care for, protect, and embrace every person. Even those we do not know. We need to open our hearts to the strangers in our midst, and to create communities of inclusion, where prejudice and hate give way to love and respect. This, of course, is much easier said than done.

And so, in this year that at Temple Judea, we are calling the year of “Telling our Stories,” I want to tell you a story that teaches us to look for that spark of Godliness in every person, even where it may seem difficult or impossible to find....this story begins in a Homestead Corrections Facility, a prison, not far from our temple, where Janice, a Native American woman, spent 23 years of her life serving a prison sentence, after being convicted of second degree murder. Now, here is the amazing part of her story. Janice is now free, and not just from prison, she is now helping others, improving their lives and our society.

You see, in prison, the conditions are despicable, and these are people that our society tends to forget. Please understand, I am not arguing that people who break laws or harm others should not be punished, but our correction facilities are an abomination and an embarrassment, and not many people do care about those in jail unless there is a personal connection, and hardly anyone would argue that real and positive transformation takes place.

In comes an organization called Art Spring, partially funded by the Women's Fund of Miami Dade, which uses the power of art to transform people and communities. The mission of the organization is to use arts, education and environmental programming to develop self-growth and effective life skills for incarcerated women, men and youth as well as other at-risk populations in underserved communities, resulting in a healthier and safer society.[2]

Now for Janice, and many women like her, Art Spring transformed her life. When NO ONE looked at Janice, a large, imposing, strong faced Native American woman with big, stone cold eyes, as a broken and sensitive human being, made in the image of God, who herself had suffered years of inhumane treatment and abuse - volunteers from Art Spring worked with her, helped her to discover movement, dance, poetry, music, and drama as tools to process her anger and pain. When NO ONE saw this woman as having any potential, Art Spring did, using their creative workshops to encourage her to re-connect to her own creativity, explore her inner imagination and assist her in forming her own creative ideas. She is now a part owner of two businesses and helps other through a great deal of community service as a volunteer.

Another participant named Kiki at the same Homestead Correctional Institution said about this program, which is called "Inside Out:" "I found a place where I could work on putting myself together and forget that I’m just a number. I’ve learned to cry again. I now have hope and faith in society where once I had none. If someone can volunteer to teach me and others the things I’ve learned and continue to learn, then I can truly believe that there is hope for me, as well as society, because one day I will be free again. I’ll become a part of society once more. And thanks to [this program] I will be a better, healthier person.”

Janice and Kiki were the lucky ones. These women were rehabilitated, and are now not only free from prison, but free from seeing themselves only as a number or worse, seeing themselves as worthless.

It is easier for us to see a spark of God in ourselves or in people who act like us, look like us, live like us, believe like us. When someone looks, acts, lives, believes differently. What then? Are we still able to find the Godliness in them?

Our tradition teaches us in a passage from the Talmud[3]: "Our Rabbis taught: Adam, the first human being, was created as a single person to show forth the greatness of the Ruler Who is beyond all Rulers. the Blessed Holy One. For if a human ruler [like the Roman Emperor] mints many coins from one mold, they all carry the same image, they all look the same. But the Blessed Holy One shaped all human beings in the Divine Image, as Adam was shaped in the Divine Image [Gen. 1: 27], “b’tzelem elohim,” “in the Image of God.” And yet not one of them resembles another.

The Rabbis drew an analogy between the image a human ruler puts upon the coins, and the Image the Infinite Ruler puts upon the many “coins” of humankind. As human beings, we tend to be more like the emperor, seeing the coins as uniform, all the same, manufactured by a machine. But, God created a diversity of human faces, beliefs and cultures. We honor God by looking for the spark of God in each one, even the lowliest, even the one found in the places we would not want to go.

Going back to Judy Chicago's artwork in the museum, I keep thinking of the bright colors of the rainbow, much as we have here in our sanctuary in the artistic depiction of the rainbow from Noah's ark, which we will read next week from the Torah. Those bright colors can represent all the different grades of light, all the different kinds of people in the world, and all the different viewpoints. And there is room for all of us in the world. There is holiness in each one. There is a spark of God in each and every one of us. May we honor that spark and never forget it.
Shabbat Shalom!

Closing Blessing:
Makor Chayim, Oh Source of Life, may we honor the spark of holiness, your presence, in each and every human being, and work with each other and YOU to bring about a world of justice, love, friendship and peace. Amen. Shabbat Shalom!

[1] Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art exhibit description for Judy Chicago's piece, ""Rainbow Shabbat"

[2] from the art spring website: http://www.artspring.org/
[3] Talmud Talmud Sanhedrin 38a (Soncino transl., p. 240)

With Hope in Our Hearts

2009-09-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

After Noah built the ark, the animals started to board the ship two by two. Pair after pair of animals passed by Noah, heading up the ramp into the ship. First came the elephants, side by side, male and female, and they nodded to Noah as they boarded. Then, came the tigers, the beautiful male and female couple striding along the ramp to the boat. You can imagine Noah’s confusion as he looked quizzically at the Hippo walking towards the ark alone. Noah asked him where his mate was, and the hippo looked up at the boat with bright eyes and an enthusiastic smile. "I am hoping to meet her on the cruise!"[1] Hope springs eternal!

Hope is a concept that was talked about a lot this year, but seemed to be in short supply at times. The question I want to pose to you today is how do we, in our modern world, find hope in the midst of crisis?

It says a lot about the Jewish people that the national anthem of our homeland is called, "Hatikvah," the Hope. I learned about hope in modern day Jerusalem. I learned about hope from Israelis, Israelis who live in the face of crisis, tragedy and threats of terror constantly and personally. And they live with an ability to move forward. They send their children off into the army, and they live without giving up on a future where we will sit under our vine and fig trees and none shall be afraid. This summer, I was reminded of the amazing ability our Israeli brothers and sisters have to move forward with hope no matter what, and I was inspired. Israelis seem to find hope in the face of crisis. Perhaps, we can learn from our brothers and sisters in Israel.

The terrorist attack in March of 2002 at Jerusalem's Moment cafe, where 11 people were killed and over 60 people were injured was a turning point in my life, because I was right there. I heard it, I saw it, I felt the ground shake, and I was too near to it. It was a place Brian and I along with our friends frequently ate and drank with lots of other Israeli and American young people, and it was across the street from the prime minster's residence, so we felt fairly safe there. The attack shook my world. Afterwards, I did lose hope and any sense of security I had. But, this summer, as I spent time in Jerusalem, I went back to Moment Cafe. It had been rebuilt immediately after the attack, despite criticism and protests that the owner had not done enough to prevent the attack in the first place...and eventually, the ownership changed. But still, the day I visited this summer, there they were - young Israelis hanging out, drinking coffee, eating at the inside bar and the outside tables, with more security, to be sure, and seemingly without fear. How do they do it?

Maybe, it is because of the reason that Paul Liptz gives, a renowned Israeli speaker as well as educator and social historian who has spoken to us and taught us at Temple Judea annually, as he will this year in January:
When asked how he could be so joyous and hopeful after talking about all the threats Israel is facing in a lecture, he said,
“I have no other choice. Hope is the only option.”

As Americans, many of us have faced crises of both a personal nature and a national one in the form of an economic crisis in our country. The impact of this crisis is real on the families of this congregation, as it is for families across the country. 55% of the people interviewed for a recent New York Times article are jobless for the first time in the last five years.

54% of the people interviewed said they feel HOPELESS, and 82% don't think they will have a new job in the next couple of months. Some of you, maybe more than you can imagine, have recently felt the sting of an unplanned end of employment, the fear of losing a large chunk of your life savings, the disbelief as a home slipped through your fingers, the tragedy of a family torn apart by divorce, death, physical or mental illness. Our community, like many others has seen its share of crisis this year. Some of you are breathing heavy at how close you may have come to the edge, or wondering at your good fortune that you have actually benefited from the downturn and how long will that last? What can we find in our tradition that gives us the hope to move forward despite the crises in our lives?

Certainly, hope is a big part of our Jewish tradition.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, who was born in 1772 in the Ukrainian village of Medzobez, and who we will be studying and learning about throughout this year was no stranger to difficulty and sadness. His two young sons passed away within a year of one another. His wife died of tuberculosis soon after. Rebbe Nachman suffered from the same pain-wracking disease for several years, before succumbing to it at the age of 38. Yet it is Rebbe Nachman who gave the Jews of Europe their "battle cry" during the years of the Holocaust: Never despair! It is forbidden to give up hope!

In our own personal lives, when we encounter crisis, pain, and loss, how do we hold onto our hope that life can get better?

I would like to offer three answers, from our tradition:

First, sometimes, it requires a bit of separation from the craziness of our day to day lives to find the hope we need.

On Yom Kippur, we separate from our normal life and self: We refrain on this day from eating, drinking, wearing leather shoes, anointing with oil, and having sexual intercourse, according to Jewish law, in order to help us to separate from the earthly. No cell phones, pdas and blackberry for a few hours….if you can. Stop. Just stop. Try to separate and think about your life from an outsiders perspective.

"In her new book entitled A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit describes five disasters that occurred in the last one hundred years in North America.[2] Through her research and interviews of survivors from these five stirring stories she “discovers that disasters give rise to small, temporary utopias in which the best of human nature emerges and a remarkable spirit of generosity and cooperation takes over.” “People,” she says, “suffering unimaginable misfortune often revert not to savagery as governments predict and media has a predisposition to report, but to selflessness, comforting themselves by aiding others. Solnit cites many examples of those who remember a disaster as paradoxically one of the (amazingly) great moments of their lives.”[3] They don’t want to say it was wonderful, but they have no language to describe the feelings. Altruism just doesn’t do it. And unlike the adrenaline rush of a short lived superhuman rescue, paradise that is created in community lasts for months and years. She theorizes that this phenomenon happens because normal everyday life is already a disaster.

Our lives start daily, eventfully enough, waking to a broken air conditioner, getting peanut butter on your suit, the carpool is late and you have an early meeting, a kid has a sore throat, the boss dumps on a new deadline, dinner burns, and a there’s a drip in the sink as you try to get some sleep. We live our normal everyday lives in a constant state of low to medium level crisis, catastrophizing what might happen knowing full well that generally, we make it through the day.[4] The everyday “crises” are real. We sometimes need the separation from the day to day grind of our life to awaken to the hope we have in our hearts for the future.

One way that Temple Judea is responding is by setting up various support groups for a variety of crises that people in our community are experiencing, from bereavement to divorce to addictions and joblessness, which you will be hearing and reading about in the coming months, thanks to the great work of Vicki Hamersmith, and a generous grant from the Ethel and Harry Reckson Foundation.

Usually, it is a crisis that causes a paradigm shift. But, we don't have to wait for a crisis! Shabbat every week is practice for us, an opportunity for separation from the every day - and today is the Shabbat of Shabbats. Sometimes, we must separate to shift our view of the world and find hope in an otherwise dreary situation.

2. We can use this time away from our regular life to make a decision to change and find hope.

Think about your own story, your own life, what is it that you need to make a decision to improve?

What is one specific thing you want to refine in yourself? Where is the area that you need hope? Is it a broken or estranged relationship that you may have given up on, because it seemed hopeless that it would get better? Was it a difficult situation that you have become numb to, because it seemed hopeless that it would improve? If you leave YK without thinking about how to refine yourself and improve your life, you have wasted this day. Yom Kippur is a day for atonement, change and HOPE. We read over and over that we confess and God forgives. Our liturgy reminds us again and again, there is hope for each one of us. When we say the words "Adonai, Adonai, gracious and kind, forgiving the iniquity and transgression and sin..." that is hope. It runs through all our prayers today.

In a small book by Jim Hartness and Neil Eskelin called "The 24 hour Turn Around," which uses 24 one hour time periods to change your life, the first step is making a decision. Transformation begins the moment you decide to change. "Nothing happens without the decision to change." Once that decision is made, the actions follow much easier. We must decide to be more hopeful.

We separate, we decide, and then:

3. We also have to move forward with hope - by taking action.

During my year in Israel, I used to take an aerobic/cardio class at the YMCA gym in Jerusalem, and the instructor, who was a tiny woman with an astoundingly loud voice, who had served in the army and had boundless energy would yell "kadima!" meaning to go forward. It is also, of course, the name of the political party in Israel. It is a great symbol as well, of the Israeli attitude that I think we can adopt - GO Forward! This may be a tough time for you. But go forward! This may be a scary time, But go forward! What other choice is there? We must live with hope, yet hope is not enough, either. We have to work and take action, with hope in our hearts to bring about results. Hope only works as long as its accompanied by action.[5]

The Shalom Achshav Movement is a great example of Israelis, not only hoping, but moving forward with hope in their hearts to bring peace. Shalom Achshav, or "Peace Now," is the largest extra-parliamentary movement in Israel, the country’s oldest peace movement and the only peace group to have a broad public base.

Our Torah portion this morning, Nitzavim, reminds us: "we all stand here today," in a crisis of our community and facing personal crises, and our stories are intermingled. We stand together today as we did at Sinai. Hearing the voice not coming from heaven but from the quiet place within us. The holiness is of our own stories. (p. 262 Beginning Anew) "It is not hidden from you, nor is it far off, the word is very near to you, in your moth, and in your heart, that you may do it." The Torah says, "Choose life!" Choose hope, and move forward just as we continue to learn from our Israeli brothers and sisters.

With hope in our hearts, we must separate from our lives, make a decision today and move forward.

Lyricist Yonatan Gefen writes in the song Yihye Tov, (It Will Be Good), made famous by David Broza, and was written after Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, "mey’a shanim shel cherev v’od lo av’da hatikva," "a hundred years of war, but hope has not been lost."

In the songs and actions of our people, we affirm that regardless of the setbacks we have witnessed in Eretz Yisrael, we will survive and grow as a nation. The songs of Israel have given us courage for a hundred years, and they will be remembered and sung in generations to come: "yihyeh tov" despite all of the hardship, we believe in our hearts that there is hope for a better tomorrow for Israel and for each one of us.

Living with hope requires a separation from the mundane. This day is a gift because you are separate from everything else in your life. A decision must be made, and then we must act to move forward to live with hope. Yihyeh Tov. It will be good!

[1] With thanks to Kirk A. Erwin Lyons, Neb.
[2] The SF earthquake of 1906, the Halifax, Nova Scotia explosion of a munitions ship in 1917, the Mexico City earthquake in 1985, the 9-11 in 2001, and Hurricane Katrina, 2003.
[3] A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit, Dan Baum, Book Review, Washington Post
[4] Rabbi Devora Lynn of Fredericksburg, VA in her Rosh Hashanah sermon 5770.
[5] Ralph Marston, The Daily Motivator, January 4, 1997.

What Are Your Rocks?

2009-09-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

A professor of philosophy stands before his class with some items in front of him. When the class begins, wordlessly he picks up a large empty jar and proceeds to fill it with rocks about two inches in diameter. He then asks the students if the jar is full. They agree that it is full.

So the professor then picks up a box of pebbles and pours them into the jar. He shakes the jar lightly and watches as the pebbles roll into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asks the students again if the jar is full. They laugh and agree that it is indeed full this time.

The professor picks up a box of sand and pours it into the jar. The sand fills the remaining open areas of the jar. “Now,” says the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar is your life.*

The rocks are the important things, such as family, health and relationships. If all else was lost and only the rocks remained, your life would still be meaningful. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life, such as work or school. The sand signifies the remaining “small stuff” and material possessions.

If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. The same is true in our lives. If we spend all our time and energy on the small stuff, we will never have room for the things that are truly important.

We have to pay attention and tend to the rocks first – things that really matter. Set our priorities. The rest is just pebbles and sand.

The question to begin the new year is simple - What are the rocks/priorities in your life? Think for a moment, what comes to mind first? I would imagine that most people would respond, "my family" In my experience, it is usually a person's loved ones that they think of at the important moments in life.

But, then, think about the reality of your life. Does your life reflect that this is your priority? Do you pass by other opportunities in order to spend time with your family? What is it that you DO that reflects the priority in your life?

Clearly stating our own priorities is the easy part. Living that way is much more difficult.
So many things get in the way of what we want to devote our time to doing.

Many people think of themselves as moral, good people, but it is only when we stop and reflect on our actions and their consequence that perhaps, the jar is full of sand, not rocks, and we are not who we thought we were.

To me, the most important point of these High Holy Days is that we do stop our lives, and turn everything off and tune everything else out, except to inspect our own actions, recognize and correct our wrongdoings, and reset the course for our lives. Anything is possible. As a popular Israeli song says, "Every year begins with a question mark" and we answer the question with the story of our lives, every minute, every hour, and every day of our lives by living out the priorities we set and live by!

How can we remember the ROCKS every day?
Our tradition teaches us Shuv yom echad lifnei mitach, Repent one day before you die (Pirke Avot 2:15), but since we of course don’t know when that will be, Rabbi Eliezer gives us the answer,,” A person should repent every day, lest he die tomorrow.” We never know what is going to happen.

And every day is full of difficult choices today as it was for our ancestor, Abraham. In the Torah portion we read tomorrow, Abraham and Sarah finally have a son, Isaac, and after Sarah realizes the competition he will have with Abraham's first born son, Ishmael, born to Hagar, the Egyptian, she says to Abraham, "Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac." Abraham sends them away in the wilderness of Beersheva, not an easy decision, to be sure.

But in today's families lives, there are so many tough choices every day…about where to focus our attention, how to spend our income and our time. In these difficult economic times, resources are less abundant for most families, which means choosing and prioritizing, hopefully not one child over another as Abraham did, but certainly allocating resources.

The “stay-cation” was very popular over the last year, and I think it is one of the best examples of how something great can come out of crisis. People may not have taken an extravagant trip that they were planning, but staying home, spending time NOT working, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings we have here in the Paradise of South Florida was not a bad way for some families to make a sacrifice and spend a few days together. Instead of taking tours and looking at the sights, hopefully some spent time looking at each other and reconnecting. I highly recommend a "stay-cation" or even just a quiet Shabbat together as a way to turn these difficult times into more down time for our families to spend together, NOT doing much more than playing a board game together. It is a great way to spend a DAY prioritizing our time together as a family.

How can we remember the ROCKS every hour?
How we spend our hours matters. I remember when our boys were born, counting every hour, between feedings, counting the (very few) hours of sleep everyone got, and keeping track of every hour of activity. I even had an acronym I remember well, which I learned from one of the many parenting books I read: EASY: Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You time. These were supposed to be the way the time blocks were broken down: it could be a block of 2,3, or 4 hours: Eat, Activity, Sleep, and You time. That was intended for babies, but now that I think about it, it's not such a bad plan for any of us!

Every hour matters and counts, especially when it comes to how we are spending them. And this is the time for counting. Cheshbon nefesh is the term for an accounting of our soul that we do at this time – and so, it is also a counting of time – how did we spend it? Did we spend our hours as we would have liked to do this year?

As it is said in a book by William J. Doherty and Barbara Z. Carlson, called Putting Family First: Successful Strategies for Reclaiming Family Life in a Hurry-Up World, "we don't easily assign ourselves "parent points" for providing our children with time to daydream and make up games to play with the neighbors. Parenting has become a competitive sport, with trophies going to the busiest." In fact, it is often the family activities, like dinners, weekend outings, vacations and visits to relatives which are the first priorities to go, in the face of the competing demands on our children. "We end up with overscheduled and under-connected families." We must make our hours count.

How can we remember the ROCKS every moment?
Here is a way to test your priorities right now – think about what would happen if you had, God forbid, only five more minutes to live:
What would you do?
Who would you call?
Would you see your life flash before your eyes and would it make you smile?

The rabbis say that humans have two inclinations: the yeitzer ha-ra and the yeitzer ha-tov: the inclination that leads us toward the bad and the inclination that leads us toward the good. Both of them reside within each of us every minute. We choose, moment after moment, which way we will incline.

We have this time, this opportunity to review the past year and recall our transgressions. We must use these few moments during the Days of Awe to reflect, rethink, and set our own course for a good year ahead. The true work of repentance is to reflect, be remorseful, and repair our relationships in whatever way we can, and finally be ready to turn to the year ahead with the resolve not to miss the mark, but to live out our priorities and distinguish the rocks from the sand, to tell the story with our lives that we want to tell!

As my camp director used to say on the first day of every session of camp, “Don’t waste a minute!” You will be surprised how quickly time will fly and we will find ourselves back here again, asking how it is possible that another year has flown by. Don’t waste a minute with the sand and pebbles. Concentrate on how you will live in the year ahead to answer the question that begins this year: What are the rocks/the priorities in your life?

I share with you the beautiful words of the Israeli song, Kol Shanah:
Every year begins with a question markLike a baby who measures its stepsLike a sunrise that appears above the blue KineretFacing the western sky.
Every hour begins with a question markLike the heart that beats rhythmicallyLike a greenish stalk that sprouts slowlyFacing the high mountaintops.
It is wonderful that the year beginsWith song and good spiritsEvery year begins with a question markAnd we will find its answers.

This year, at Temple Judea, we are studying the teachings of Rebbe Nachman of Bratzlav, a great Hassidic master, who offers this prayer:
Dear God, as I age - as hours turn to days, days to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years - let none of my time be wasted or lost.
Let me use my life to the fullest, to become the person I am meant to be.

May our lives be filled with blessing in the year 5770 and may our lives reflect the values that matter most, throughout the year, every day, every hour, every moment.

*Picture is courtesy of Alfred Feingold's rendition of Stones from the River, from the collection of Dan Kivitak (1958), displayed at the University of Michigan Museum in Ann Arbor.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

2009-08-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

Summer is quickly coming to an end, as you may have noticed. This week, schools start throughout the area and South Floridians, who have been away for parts or much of the summer are back! It is hard for me to believe that this summer passed so quickly, but then, that seems to be the way it works – time flies when you are having fun!

This summer, I had some truly spectacular moments and visits, to Jerusalem, Israel for a wonderful study session, my home away from home. I was also able to visit my family and Brian’s family and spend some really good, quality time reconnecting with my parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins.

But the best day of the whole summer, for me, was the day we went to my camp reunion at Henry S. Jacobs camp in Utica, MS. The camp was celebrating its 40th Reunion, and for me, someone who went to Jacobs camp for 13 years as a camper and counselor, it was like a dream.

This is the place where I, and so many others formed lasting memories and permanent friendships, had a few crushes, learned a great deal about Judaism and life and myself, walked and ran on the rocky red clay paths, stared out over the lake from the meditation chapel to pray and ponder, swam, and played endless games of ping pong. It is the place I still dream about sometimes, a place of true wholeness and happiness in my memory.

It was truly surreal for me to be there again, now as an adult, parent, and rabbi, but in many ways, that day, I felt like I was actually back at camp as a camper again. Some of my best friends were there. My first counselors were there. My old camp director, Macy Hart and his wife, Susan….many of the same faces, though of course a few years older….all the same smells, of fried chicken wafting from the kitchen, the smell of the rain coming in, the sounds of tennis shoes crunching the gravel on the road, and the loud speakers calling out across camp in a deep southern accent, “Hashivu, hashivu na, kol ha machaneh” “Attention, attention all camp!” announcing the next activity. For a moment, I WAS back at camp. I WAS a camper….except that I had a husband and our two sons running around, except that so much has happened since…except that I was there for a day, not a summer. It was more than nostalgia. It was like a time transport.

Being there made me revisit so many events, remembering interactions I had had walking that path at camp. Now, we refer to them as “opportunities for learning” and they were – some were more pleasant learning experiences than others. I recalled the time I arrived at camp when I was 14 to discover that I was not in a cabin with my best friends, but instead had been put in a cabin with the older girls, because our group had to be split up, and I ran into the Director’s office, begging to be switched and threatening to leave. I was told that this was a compliment – that I would make new friends, and that my maturity would help me to grow and learn that summer. There were many tears, but he ended up being right. I did make friends with a whole new group of people that summer, many of whom I am still friends with, and I learned an important lesson about myself and my ability to adapt to new situations.

I also remembered some of my regrets, or more specifically, some of the mistakes I made and learned from, as well. It is embarrassing, but true – I argued with the camp director when I was on staff that we should have a staff talent show, despite his assurance that staff talent shows are usually awful, and again, he was right.

As an adult looking back, it is painful to think I hurt someone’s feelings or broke a camp rule. Some things I wish I could take back, or go back and change. Camp is a finite amount of time, which is why it is so easy to pinpoint the great memories as well as the regrets. But in the bigger picture, life is that way. Is there anyone who doesn’t have those regrets?

Some memories of the past are ones we want to hold onto and even go back to if we could, weddings, life cycle events, milestones like our own time at camp or our first days of school. We certainly can remember the lessons learned and bring them into our life. We certainly can look back fondly at relationships and renew old friendships. The trick is to learn how to derive strength and lasting meaning from these experiences without feeling that “our glory days are behind us.” The formative moments of our lives are just that and we should not relegate them to the past but continue to find ways to grow.

I had such a strong yearning to be back in that time period of my life, to be back at camp. To be back in a simpler life, where the big decisions were who to sit next to at the talent show and which activity to choose, where every walk down the dirt road was an opportunity to strengthen the bonds with old friends or discover something new about someone, and where a strong sense of responsibility was slowly building in me and in each of us, year after year, as we learned from the rabbis, educators and counselors and our Jewish identity was formed.

This week is Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the month of Elul, a time for reflection, for turning back, and for reviewing the past. The sad truth is that, as Thomas Wolfe, an American short story writer and novelist in the early 1900’s said: “You can't go back. You can’t go back to your home to your family, back home to your childhood, ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time-back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”

Our Torah portion this week reflects the same idea, when Moses tells the people: You can’t go back to Egypt. What’s done is done. We must continue moving forward in our lives. The verse from the Torah appears with a warning against the acquisition of too many horses, "he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses since the Lord has warned you, 'You must not go back that way again' " (Deuteronomy 17:16).

Maimonides interprets this to mean that you can not go back geographically, while Nachmanides interprets this to mean that you can not go back behaviorally, "for God wanted to make sure that they would not learn from [the Egyptians'] ways . . . and so God warned them [the Israelites] not to return to [the Egyptians'] land."

So often it is, even today, that by going back to a past geographical location, we can adopt a different behavior pattern. The Torah's concern is that Israel abide by its own particular way of life. God's Revelation on Sinai and Moses' legislation gave the Israelites a distinct way of life that leads to holy (and wholly) different possibilities from the ones these former slaves knew in Egypt. The Torah intimately understands the seduction of return and so legislates against it.[i]

For each of us in our own lives, this month before Rosh Hashanah is an important time to look back, to revisit our mistakes, the times we took a wrong turn or veered off the right path. It is so tempting to desire an actual return, if only we could turn back the clock and make one little change....if only I had not said that....if only I could have made a different choice at that one moment....if only we had done that differently. But, we can’t really go back. We can only look back and learn from our mistakes, ask forgiveness from those we have hurt, let go of some of the pain and hurt, and move forward in our lives.

This is the season of turning, of Teshuvah, of renewal and hope. We can not return to our past in reality, but we can return to God, giving us the strength and hope to move forward in our lives.
At the end of my camp reunion day’s events, we had a havdallah service and song session, ending Shabbat as we always did at camp lighting the twisted candle, tasting the sweetness of the wine, and smelling the spices to comfort our souls as Shabbat departed. It was clear that we can take a piece of Shabbat with us through the week, just as we take those old memories with us and blend them into our lives. We can learn from the past. We can review the past. We can visit the past, but we can never go back.

“You must not go back that way again.” The world is fresh and new, and it is open to our hopes, energy, and commitment.

The future will not be like the past. Moses said the words, "You must not go back that way again”; they resonated in the hearts and minds of those who heard him, just as they resonate in ours. May we continue to look back and learn and move forward with strength.

Amen.

[i] From a Torah Commentary article published by Jewish Theological Seminary, “Never Return to Egypt: Resisting the temptation to return, geographically or psychologically, to the site of our bondage” by Rabbi Matthew L. Berkowitz

Leaving Israel

2009-07-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Leaving Israel is always tough for me.

Today, in one of our last classes, we studied Israeli poetry with Rachel Korazin, who was wonderful, and the progression and development of feelings about the different wars and crises this country has been through. It was quite powerful, and the poetry is so beautiful. The people of Israel have had more than their fair share of crises, and the responses run the gamut.

We heard from Donniel Hartman about all the different programs at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and we had our final lunch and goodbyes.

On the way to the airport, we got stuck in terrible traffic (the new roads are so nice, though!) and we took a detour through the town of Modiin, very modern and lovely.

Now, I'm at the airport, waiting for my flight. This time in Jerusalem has been like a dream. The studying was outstanding. Being in Jerusalem could not have been better. Every time I am in Israel, I feel more connected to this place, this homeland. If you are reading this blog and have not yet been to Israel, you must! There is nothing in the world like it. The smells, the sounds, the food, the weather, the sites, the language, the struggle....it is all so uniquely Israel!

I hope to return soon. I hope you will, too!
Check out more pictures from our hike of the Wadi Kelt a few days ago:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ravmosk/WadiQeltJuly09?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqMq42M79qYKQ#

Lhitraot!

More to Ponder from the Shalom Hartman Institute

2009-07-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day in the Beit Midrash (house of learning). To see photos of the beautiful room where I am spending most of my time, follow this link and click on Beit Midrash:
http://www.hartman.org.il/campus/index.asp

We started with a text and teaching from Israel Knohl, who is a wonderful teacher, where we looked at texts about the exile and destruction of the Temple and how the people of the time responded to that crisis. He asked us to think about what we learn from our tradition that can be helpful in our lives, such as what is it that we learn from crisis? Victor Frankel, In Man’s Search for Meaning, asks, “how do we give our crisis experience meaning?”

Later today, we learned from Tova Hartman about responding to pain, and we studied a story that I've read many times in the Talmud but she gave it a different interpretation, the ovens of Achnai, turning a discussion about plualism into a study on the care for others and empathy.

I am taking a wonderful elective about post Holocaust Theology, which is thought provoking and enlightening.

And, last but not least, we had a very challenging and moving talk from Donniel Hartman about the State of the State of Israel. Wow, my brain is on overdrive, and it is a great feeling!
I promise to share more when I get back, but it's late and I have another long day tomorrow of learning.

If you are interested, you can read more about the Shalom Hartman Institute and learn about its programs and teachers and see pictures: http://www.hartmaninstitute.com/

Torah Lishmah (for the sake of learning) is a great thing!
Laila Tov (Good night)!

Wadi Kelt

2009-07-13T10:25:00.005-07:00

We took a great hike in the Wadi Kelt, today.

Starting at 6:30am, we headed towards the Wadi, a dry riverbed.

It was simply beautiful, with blue skies overhead, very hot sun, cold springs running over our toes for part of the walk, and a few little swimming holes along the way. There are incredibly fragrant plants growing throughout, like mint and eucalyptus that smell wonderful!

It was a great opportunity to talk to colleagues and friends, as we helped each other up and down the rocky paths.

Here is some more information about the place we were hiking, thanks to a Jerusalem Post artice, that can be found at: http://www.jposttravel.com/jerusalem_tours/WadiKelt1008.html

This riverbed, Wadi Kelt, stretches from north of Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley and drains into the Jordan River above the Dead Sea.
For millions of years the river flowed wildly through the desert rocks, its current digging through rock strata and exposing prehistoric layers of chalk and limestone. Erosion created exciting canyons around the wadi, canyons which are intermittently deep and narrow and wide and shallow and which form a small but spectacular gorge between Ein Kelt and the desert monastery of St. George. Two thousand years ago King Herod decided to harness the river and built an aqueduct which carried the Kelt to his palaces and fortresses in the desert. When you visit Ein Fawwar, you will see part of the aqueduct which overflows to create lovely little waterfalls.

All that hiking and sun wore me out, but it was a wonderful hike. I will post more pictures when I get them from my hiking buddies.

Enjoy!

Shabbat in Jerusalem

2009-07-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

There really is nothing like Shabbat in Jerusalem!

We walked over to Kol Haneshama for services, the "vibrant center for progressive Judaism in Jerusalsm" http://www.kolhaneshama.org.il/english/index.asp

Whenever I have gone to Kol Haneshama in the past, I have run into friends from all over the place, usually people I have not seen in a long time, and this Shabbat was no exception. There was a congregation visiting with their rabbi and my friend from camp, Rabbi Alan Cook. Josh Burrows and Gaby Arad were there with their daughter and parents. The new HUC class was there, as well as many of those studying at Hartman.

The service was beautiful, as usual, too. It is almost all singing, no instruments, with plenty of space for meditation, prayer, and deep breaths.

Brian and I enjoyed a wonderful Shabbat dinner and spent most of Saturday with his cousins, hiking through the hills of Jerusalem (Sataf), picnicing, walking through tunnels, and catching up with the family.

Tonight, there was a wonderful Havdallah at HUC's Jerusalem campus. It was truly very moving to be there with so many HUC alumni and new students.

Shavua Tov!

Friday in the shuk

2009-07-10T06:44:00.000-07:00

If you are in Jerusalem on a Friday, where would you be?

The shuk, (machaneh yehuda) of course, buying everything you need for Shabbat....at least that is where we were with hundreds (maybe thousands?) of others. It was packed, but we still managed to run into a few people we knew, including Michael Levey, who is here on a NFTY trip.

We got everything we need for a great Shabbat dinner, (fresh vegetables, fish, hummus, babghanoush, olives, challah and more) including dessert from Marzipan, the BEST chocolate rugelach in the world!

We also met with Paul Liptz, who is one of our favorite teachers of all time.

We are headed to Kol Haneshama for services tonight.

There is nothing like Shabbat in Jerusalem.

Shabbat Shalom!

Thursday: Finally, a visit to the Kotel

2009-07-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today began with a kabbalistic teaching about Surviving and Transforming a crisis into an opportunity for growth, both personally and as a community. It was taught by Melila Hellnner, Eshed, who was wonderful. One of the poems we studied was particularly moving, as today is the 17 of Tammuz, a traditional fast day remembering the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem, that lead to the destruction of the Temple, which we commemorate on Tisha b'Av.

The poem is:

History of the Individual by Dalia Rabikovich

I told you nine words

You said so and so

You said: You have a child,

you have time and you have poetry.

The window bars were engraved into my skin.

You wouldn't believe I got through it.

I really didn't have to

stand it, humanly speaking.

On the tenth of Tevet, seige was laid.

On the seventeenth of Tammuz a breach was

made in the walls of the city,

On the ninth of Av, the temple was destroyed.

In all these I was alone.

After another class about comforting the bereaved, we finished the day with a visit to the Kotel, particularly meaningful on this day and a visit with Brian's first cousins, who live in Jerusalem.

Wednesday in Jerusalem

2009-07-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, every day here is so full!

Wednesday was another wonderful day of learning. We do all kinds of different studying, with a few hours of chevruta (studying a text with one or two other people), hearing lectures, and learning in small groups all related to the topic of dealing with crisis and finding comfort.

The highlight yesterday was the evening speaker, Micah Goodman, who has a phD in philosophy and teaches at Hebrew U and Bar Ilan University. He was incredible! Hopefully, we can bring him to Miami sometime.

I did get out of the classroom for lunch and a nice walk through Jerusalem. I saw Mindy Sherry's building, and got to see Mindy again. She is doing great!

Brian walked what he claims to be 10 miles through the city yesterday, visiting and meeting with colleagues in the American Jewish Committee office. He waked through the Old City, the shuk, and back to Emek Refayim, where we are staying (also called the Syracuse of Israel).

The food here is delicious (a vegetarian's dream!), with so many fresh fruits and vegetables, salads - yum! There are many new restaurants since I was last in Jerusalem!

Ok, I have to get to class this morning - it is only an 8 minute walk, but it is straight up a hill!
L'hitraot!

My favorite things about Jerusalem

2009-07-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Brian arrived this morning, and we had a wonderful Israeli breakfast at a cafe, salads, cheese, vegetables, yogurt, olives, and cafe afuch, yum!

We had more great sessions at Hartman today, with a chevruta study, lots of text study, and a wonderful session with Donniel Hartman. Tonight, the mayor of Jerusalem spoke, and he was great. His vision for the city is that they will turn 2 million visitors to Jerusalem (what they had this year) into 10 million by 2010.

We saw Mindy Sherry today, and she seems to be having a terrific beginning to her year in Israel, studying at HUC.

A few of my favorite things in Jerusalem and Israel in general:

the coffee
the zatar (spice they put on lots of foods)
the crazy drivers (we took a cab -whew)
the Jerusalem cats are everywhere
the weather - it is nice and cool at night

We took a long walk through Jerusalem under the full moon, and it was wonderful.

That's it for now, Laila Tov!

David Hartman speaks

2009-07-07T13:33:00.000-07:00

David Hartman

I am one of the luckiest rabbis to be among the rabbis learning at Shalom Hartman Institute in their Rabbinic Torah Study Seminar this summer in Jerusalem.

Last night, there was an award ceremony recognizing the Rabbinic Fellows of the Shalom Hartman Institute, rabbis who have been coming to this seminar for more than ten years (good inspiration for us newbies)! It was wonderful to see the colleageality and to be in a room with so many rabbis out of their regular busy lives, sitting at the tables ready to learn. One rabbi leaned over to me during a powerful session to say, "wow, rabbis just don't get the chance to do this when we are running congregations, taking care of our families, and doing all the things we do." So true!

The main speaker was David Hartman. His lecture was titled, "The Contingent Feature of the Jewish View of History - Reflections on Biblical and Rabbinic text"The main idea was that some philosophers would argue that there is an iminent thrust and structure to where this is all going (a set course for history, leading to a messianic time), but Hartman wants to undermine that idea. His theory is that there is NO certainty and anything is possible. That is what we have learned and continue to learn from Jewish history.

He taught from a text from BT Sanhedrin 7:2 that there is no predictive history to determine the future and no formula to predict messianism. He called the idea a tragedy in Jewish history that we think we know when the messianic time will come or that it is connected to our behavior.

He proposed that dreaming of potential is what moves history forward. The knowledge that anything is possible, both good and bad is what we get when we have no certainty. This idea came to Hartman after Entebbe, where it was clear to him that we Jews, had no special protection because we were Jewish. The possibility of anything happening is his messianism, a norm telling what is the social structure of reality, where hunger is overcome, for example.

The will of our people to live after Auschwitz, THAT is the messianic spirit.

The belief that human beings can change is Hartman's messianism, If you believe in your own ability to change and grow, now THAT is living!

What a great message for all of us. Laila Tov!
P.S.
My favorite David Hartman quote of the evening was "I believe in God, but I don't trust Him!"

Judith in Israel

2009-07-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Shalom from Jerusaelem!

I arrived yesterday in Israel, where I am studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute in the Rabbinic Torah Study Seminar. The weather is beautiful, and it feels so good to be here in beautiful Yerushalayim.

The sherut is always an interesting experience (the shuttle from the airport to Jerusalem). The driver was yelling and screaming and getting mad at everyone as he figured out the addresses and who to drop off first. But, he was happy and smiling, that's just the way all sherut drivers are here!

For me, it was like a trip back in time, back to the year I lived in Jerusalem in 2001 with Brian, as I began my rabbinical studies. We drove by our old grocery store and little market (marcolet) and the park we used to play in and have picnics (Gan Sacher) next to the beautiful building of the Beit Mishpat Elyon (Supreme Court House), where Brian clerked when we lived here.

There were bittersweet moments, riding in the sherut, too, as we passed through our old neighborhood, passing the restaurant that used to be Moment cafe, until it was bombed by a terrorist in March 2001, while I was walking two blocks away. I will never forget that sound, and the frantic calls afterwards, checking to be sure everyone we knew was ok, since we used to hang out there all the time. The candles and memorials followed....but today, it is a hopping little restaurant again, with a new name, and no one else in the sherut even seemed to notice as we drove by and tears filled my eyes.

Of course, I thought about Marla and Ben, our two friends who were killed in a terrorist attack at Hebrew U, during the year that we lived here.

We rode by the Prime Minister's home, where there are always people out demonstrating. Yesterday was no exception.

And finally, we arrived at the apartment where I am staying, right off busy Emek Refayim, with its cafes, shops, bars and restaurants, but it's a quiet little off street. The apartment is wonderful, and so close to Hartman, where I am studying, which is great!

The study session was excellent last night. I will add a different posting about it, if you are interested. Now, I need to go drink my Israeli coffee, sit on the mirpeset, and enjoy the Jerusalem morning! Boker Tov!