Steadfast Loyalty: Rabbi Roos on Vayechi

Near the end of Jacob’s life, he asks his son Joseph to act towards him with “hesed v’emet  – steadfast loyalty” after he dies.

When I was a child, my parents always had Life magazine around the house and my brother and I enjoyed looking at the pictures.  We especially liked the year in review edition that came in the last weeks of December.  The best pictures of the year would be re-displayed along with a feature on the celebrities and public figures who had died during the past year. Each individual had a photo and a short narrative that I liked to read because, in addition to the famous people whose names I already knew, there were many whose names I did not recognize but whose stories were interesting and often inspiring. We can learn at a young age the value of memorials and taking time for reflection on what has passed. 

Vayechi is an especially fitting portion to study in conjunction with this end-of-the-year practice of remembrance. In the final chapters of Genesis, Jacob dies surrounded by his family. His sons and grandsons have the opportunity to say farewell and Jacob in turn blesses them. It doesn’t always happen that way in real life and we don’t always have the opportunity to say goodbye as we would have wished. But the opening for blessing exists even when words are not exchanged.

Although it speaks of his death, the Torah portion opens with the words, “Jacob lived.” Rabbi Joseph Hertz comments, “Of how few people can we repeat a phrase like, ‘Jacob lived?’ When a person dies, a death notice appears in the press. In reality, it is a life notice; because but for it the world would never have known that the person had ever been alive. Only one who has been a force for human goodness can be said to have lived.” (in Plaut Torah Commentary, 4^th ed., p. 306)

Many families in our community have lost loved ones in these past few weeks and many more over the course of 2012. This is a time for acting with hesed v’emet – steadfast loyalty – to family members and friends who died this past year. Like Jacob, we remember them best not because they died but for how they lived. May their memories be a living blessing in 2013 and beyond.

Rabbi Asch on Vayigash

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayigash, we read of a confrontation between the disguised Joseph and his brothers. Joseph demands his brothers leave Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest son, in Egypt. However, Judah steps forward and refuses to leave Benjamin behind. He explains that if they return without him the consequences will be severe for their father, Jacob: “When he (Jacob) sees that the boy (Benjamin) is gone, he will die, and [we] will have brought down our father…to the grave (Genesis 44:31).” Our text imagines the heart wrenching tragedy of losing a son. 

These ancient words take on a more poignant meaning less than a week after the tragedy in Newtown. We can imagine the parents who lost their children feeling, like Jacob, as if they too will die.  

Jewish tradition provides us with a framework for dealing with devastating losses. We learn that our losses do not ever go away entirely, but they get easier with time. During shivah, the first seven days after a death, we refrain from most of the rituals of daily life. We don’t shave or wear makeup or jewelry. We refrain from working and entertainment (music, movies, television, board games, etc.) At the end of shivah, a family takes a walk around the block, symbolically reentering the world. But mourning is not yet complete. During sheloshim, the first thirty days following a death, mourners continue to refrain from entertainment and celebrations. Between 30 days and one year after a death, an unveiling ceremony is held. The family visits the grave and the marker is officially unveiled. Psalms are recited and often remembrances of the deceased are offered. We may not all follow all of these rituals exactly, but it is helpful to acknowledge and mark our different stages of grief through changing our daily lives in some way.

Jewish tradition teaches us that we can, and should grieve intensely, but we cannot let our grief consume our lives forever. Psalm 30:12 reads, “You turned my mourning into dancing.” We know that the change from sorrow to joy cannot happen overnight, but through following Jewish mourning rituals we can honor our grief and our need to find joy in our lives as well.  

Candles for Newtown

In memory of the victims of Newtown, Connecticut, Rabbi Roos opened with these remarks at last Friday night's services, which included Consecration of our first graders and our communal Hanukkah candle lighting. His sermon this week will directly address gun regulation and what we can do.

There is great joy and pride in this room tonight. It is Shabbat. It is the seventh night of Hanukkah. We celebrate as two students become b’nai mitzvah, leaders in our community, and we consecrate the newest class of Torah students, our first-graders. This will be a service and a night worthy of such great celebration. But outside these walls there is a darkness so heavy that no amount of candles can dispel it. Newtown, its victims and their families is too much to bear and we carry them with us in our hearts and into this sacred space. It is impossible and it would be wrong not to. So as we light the menorah, let us understand that these candles we kindle tonight are symbols but they are not a solution. They symbolize a great truth that is at the heart of the Hanukkah miracle: these candles do not light themselves, even if they last eight days once lit. Light does not come into dark places without somebody striking a match and lighting the flames. So too the world does not become better without us doing something about it. The world does not heal itself and it does not fix itself. Hanerot Hallalu, If these lights publicize any miracle tonight it is that we should leave here redoubled in our commitment to heal the wounded and fix what’s broken.

We take a moment of silence in memory of Newtown’s victims and to reflect on our commitment to change what’s broken in this world.

Cantor Croen on Parshat Miketz

The Torah portion this week, Miketz (Genesis 41:1-44:17) tells of Joseph’s complicated reunion with his brothers after 13 years of slavery.   He had become deeply assimilated into the Egyptian culture in which he was living.  But yet inside, he still did feel Jewish and cared for his family.  One can only imagine how alone he must have felt during holidays and times of Jewish ritual.  He was completely separated from the Jewish community and his family.  Even though he held a position of authority on the Egyptian Court, I believe his heart must have felt torn. 

In the midst of this week of Chanukah celebration we have the opportunity to reach out to our family members, friends and community members with whom we may have lost touch. This is an opportunity to renew relationships and perhaps reopen doors of communication that inadvertently may have closed.  We can use this moment to reconnect and rededicate ourselves to strengthening our community.  Holiday celebrations are hopefully times of joy but there are those around us, like Joseph, that are disconnected from their family and friends, thus left out and alone.

In these last three days of Chanukah observance, enjoy the brilliance of light as our Chanukiyot (menorahs) become more radiant with each night.  Take advantage of the opportunity share that light with those around you.  Take the time to look beyond your immediate circle to invite others into your celebrations.  Join the temple community at our Chanukah Shabbat service tomorrow night at 6:30 PM.    MMC (Middle Matzah Conspiracy) when our temple band will add exuberance to our service and celebration.  Be here when we welcome our newest young members , our first graders, into the congregation with a ceremony of Consecration.    Join us on the last day of Chanukah, Sunday, December 16 at 3:30 Pm, when we welcome contemporary singer/songwriter Dan Nichols to our congregation.  He will be our guest artist when we host this year’s Annual Greater Washington Area Jewish Youth Choral Festival.  Dan will lead some 200 singers from 10 local congregations in a spirited concert of song and celebration. 

Happy Chanukah!

100 Blessings A Day - The App

Perhaps you’ve been to a Shabbat morning service and heard me introduce the Nisim B’chol Yom blessings. I use it as an opportunity to introduce the prayerbook – the theme of each blessing is in the margin of the page, the transliteration is to left, the footnotes offer deeper meanings and source citations. I also teach the Jewish tradition that we should offer 100 blessings a day. That is not to say that we should have a religious checklist that we tick off by rote but that we should be so fortunate and have such a sense of gratitude and wonder that we are spontaneously moved to blessing 100 times. I then offer that we will give you a jump start by doing your first 15 together from the prayerbook as we join responsively on page....  (cue the Cantor)

I understand that it takes more than good fortune and a sense of gratitude to offer 100 blessings daily. Many people are not liturgically literate or do not feel adequately prepared in terms of spiritual creativity so that they can offer so many of their own blessings. The Central Conference of American Rabbis has come to our aid with this newly released app. As they describe it:

Carry this collection of daily blessings to help express your appreciation for experiences, encounters, and more. Complete with Hebrew, transliteration, translation, and audio files of each prayer being clearly read in Hebrew. This app contains both traditional and contemporary blessings.

I downloaded it from the iTunes app store for $1.99 and have browsed through the blessings. I’m offering a blessing from the app to start each day and I, too, aspire to hit 100/day. The recordings are helpful for those learning Hebrew. There are a few shortcomings. There are not 100 different blessings on the app and some basics are missing: hamotzi (the blessing over bread) and other blessings over food, the blessing for Torah study (la’asok b’divrei torah), the bed time shema, the traditional “modeh ani” gratitude blessing recited upon waking and none of the blessings from Nisim b’chol yom. That shouldn’t stop you from getting the app and it certainly shouldn’t stop you from cultivating the sense of wonder and offering blessings each day.

Link to download the app for Android or iPhone here: http://ccarnet.org/ccar-press/blessings-app/

What is Hanukkah? By Rabbi Jessica Oleon

Hanukkah* is right around the corner and I had a great time with the Confirmation class this week trying to unpack the “real” story behind the holiday.  Is it the Talmud’s version, “Mai Hanukkah?/Why Dedication?”, which is the first time we find the story of a miraculous single cruse of oil that keeps the Temple’s menorah lit for 8 days, or the version found in the Books of Maccabees and corroborated by Josephus about a brave band of guerillas fighting for their religion and their lives against a tyrannical king?  Is Hanukkah a celebration of the victory of religious extremists over assimilationists or a remembrance of the enduring power of hope and faith against great odds?  Or maybe just (and this is no small thing) a chance to gather with the people we love and create light in the midst of darkness.  I wish you could have seen our 10^th graders wrestle with these questions, and the story of Rabbi Hugo Gryn, who wrote about the hanukkiah his father made out of his margarine ration in a Nazi labor camp.  They were a sight to behold—another generation wrestling with our tradition and what it means to each of them to be a Jew.  And I’ll ascribe to their conclusion, at least for this year, that Hanukkah is all of these stories, all of these miracles.  And that’s part of what makes it worth celebrating year after year.

For Hanukkah fun (because I can’t resist the creativity), here are two more ways to think about lighting your lights this year:

From our own Aviva Goldfarb:  http://www.pbs.org/parents/kitchenexplorers/2012/12/04/edible-menorahs/

And from the geniuses at the Haifa Technion:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We-KRSy64r4

Enjoy and Chag Sameach!

 *Yes, I prefer one “h” and two “k”s in my Hanukkah.  But I also love curry sweet potato latkes that make my house smell like a South Asian take-out joint for weeks, so I accept that I might have minority tastes here.

From Julie

Our tour guide on last summer's Israel trip sent me a note during the recent Gaza conflict:

Shalom Rabbi Roos, Elizabeth and the Temple Sinai Nine,

I was delighted to find your message in my in-box today and to know that we're in your thoughts and prayers.  It has indeed been an extremely unpleasant eight days, even in Jerusalem, where life has continued as usual (with the exception of two rocket attacks that had everyone cursing and improvising protected spaces - my husband and I dove into our laundry room,
which has no windows).

As you may remember, both of our daughters are medics in a search and rescue unit in the Home Front Command.  Since they have been training for over two years to rescue people from collapsed buildings, naturally their units were moved into the areas targeted by rockets and put on alert.  Happily, they had very little to do.  Stav's team was rushed to an apartment building in Ashdod that took a direct hit, which as it turned out was in the parking lot adjacent to the building.  She had to race up nine floors, knock on the door of each apartment and make sure everyone was OK.  Luckily, no one was hurt,
but a few people were hysterical.  "What did you do?"  I asked her.  "We sit with them, give them a drink of water, calm them down and make sure someone stays with them."

Shaked had no action at all.  For the past few days her unit was stationed in an elementary school in Ofakim.  At night they slept on the kids' desks. During the day they tried to nap but kept being wakened by the school bell, which no one could figure out how to turn off.  She came home Tuesday night to get some clean underwear but not in the least big hungry.  The good citizens of Ofakim had been bringing over generous quantities of food to the school for the soldiers (she took a picture of the tables where it was all piled up - it truly was enough for an army!)

The reason why our girls and their units had so little to do was the phenomenal success of the Iron Dome missile interception system, employed for the first time during this operation (we like to call it 'steel yarmulke').  With an 85% success rate, very few rockets fired by Hamas were able to reach their targets in Israeli residential areas.  It has, in this short time, become a game changer.  Although the lives of the residents of Israel's south were severely disrupted, the fact that the casualties and
damage were so limited meant that the army didn't have to rush the ground forces in Gaza to stop the firing and that Hamas' power was fabulously emasculated.  This also means that the Israeli home front will no longer be vulnerable in the same measure to rockets fired by Hizbollah, Iran or any other hostile entity.

What's important for you to know is that the development of Iron Dome was accomplished, in part, thanks to a generous allocation of funds from President Barack Obama in the name of the American people.  As I see it, through this assistance each and every one of you has contributed to the strength of Israel and the Jewish people.

What else can you do?  Get President Obama to remain intensively engaged in the region.  The moderate Palestinians are backstage somewhere and they need to be brought forward, encouraged and strengthened.  In all probability, Prime Minister Netanyahu will be reelected this January.  The Americans must wield not only carrots, but sticks too, in order to jump start the peace process.  Some stones have been left unturned and Netanyahu's government has intentionally stalled any possible progress for four years.  Hopefully, he will now realize how important it is to present the Palestinians with an alternative to Hamas but he will need serious prodding.  Tell Obama not to let up on him.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.  May we go from strength to strength!

Julie 

Rabbi Asch on Standing With Israel

As I have been following the news from Israel this past week and a half, I have felt many emotions: sadness, anger, worry. It’s not surprising that Israel is in the forefront of our minds in times like these. When we see pictures on the front page of the paper and hear the news on our radios, we can’t help but follow the events as they unfold.  However, to me, part of standing with Israel is remembering that there is more to Israel than this latest conflict.

While it might not always be at the forefront of my mind, the Israel I picture isn’t the one I see on the front pages. For me, Israel is much, much more. I think of the “cheese ladies” in the local grocery store who took interest in me and my roommate, chatting with us about how we liked living in Israel and encouraging us to by the feta with 65% fat, which was much better than that with only 33% fat. I think of my landlord’s daughter, who came all the way across town to deliver a homemade cake my first Shabbat in the apartment because the family wanted to welcome me to Israel. I think of the quiet that crept over the Jerusalem streets as the sun set on Friday and how everyone, religious or not, would wish each other Shabbat shalom. I think of the man who gave my roommate a ride home from the furniture store and then insisted she and I come to Shabbat dinner since we were new to the city. I think of the delicious the apples and honey flavored Yoplait sold in the grocery stores for Rosh Hashanah and of spotting a sukkah on every little balcony and in every courtyard on Sukkot. These are what I think of when I think of Israel.

So, as we stand with Israel during this conflict, I encourage you to think of the Israel that isn’t in the news; the one that isn’t always at the forefront of our minds. There is a whole country there, all year long, that never makes headlines. 

Cantor Croen on Standing With Israel

My heart today is with Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as she arrives in Jerusalem.  I pray for her to have the wisdom, strength and presence of mind to effectively support the leaders in this crisis.  May she find a way to help them agree to a cease fire which could lead to real negotiations for peace.  During this “shuttle diplomacy” starting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, then meeting with Palestinian leaders and finally with Egyptian officials, may Secretary Clinton help these diverse leaders find language they can each agree to and understand in order to avert continued escalation of the very tense and explosive situation that currently envelops Gaza and Israel.

May Secretary Clinton’s presence in the Middle East become a successful conduit for a real path towards peace.

Rabbi Portnoy on Standing With Israel

My son in Tel Aviv has been targeted by missiles this week, so it's hard to be objective. Nor am I ever really objective about Israel. Ever since my first year of study there (1971-1972), and certainly after my dear friend, Shmuel Levi, was killed on the Golan in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, it's been very personal. I am very protective of the homeland of the Jewish people, and I resist all attempts to deligitimize the right of Jews to live there in peace and security.

But I don't live there, even though a piece of my heart always has, and now a member of my family actually does. I never make political pronouncements about what Israel should or shouldn't do, whether governed by Labor or Likud. I do not directly live with the consequences, and therefore I do not decide on the details. I am often equally aggravated by the self-righteousness of American Jews on the right and the left who know what needs to be done, and when and by whom. And then they return to the comforts of their homes in Chevy Chase or elsewhere, and complain that they haven't been listened to.

So I've been watching the news obsessively (mostly in Hebrew), and hoping that the news will get better, although I'm unsure what "good news" would be. No peace is simple (as much as we yearn for it), and every political decision has consequences. I am grateful for the "Kippat HaBarzel" ("the Iron Dome", Israel's anti-missile defense system, more literally translated as the "Iron Kippah") and our American government's support of it. I do not envy Israel's political leaders for the decisions they have to make.

According to polls, 90% of Israeli citizens support the current action in Gaza. Many fewer support a ground expansion of the "Mivtza Amud Anan" (which, by the way, does not mean "Pillar of Defense", but rather "Pillar of cloud", referring to the presence of God during the Israelites' wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus). I am with them, but they will be the ones who decide.

So, as our tradition teaches us, pray for the peace of Jerusalem....and Tel Aviv...and Sderot...and Ofakim...and Ashdod....and....all the inhabitants of the land.

Rabbi Mindy Avra Portnoy

Rabbi Roos on Standing with Israel

Sinai members are concerned about Israel, escalating violence in the Middle East and its implications for everyone in the region. Many have asked questions and sought a way to express their feelings through the temple community. Most are simply confused or unable to express exactly what's on their mind. It's complicated.

I want you to know a few things about Sinai standing with Israel. These are my views but I believe they represent the general perspective of our temple. I believe that a Jewish homeland in the place of our biblical ancestors is a fundamental principle of Jewish religion and culture. I embrace and support the State of Israel as that Jewish homeland. I believe in peace and the safety of all people. I also believe in the right to self defense and recognize that Israel's military operation in Gaza was only launched in response to hundreds of rockets sent against innocent Israeli citizens over a period of many months. While I believe that the Israeli action against Hamas in Gaza is justified, I will not celebrate it or think it is anything other than tragic. Over the next days or weeks, I will write more about the ongoing operation and what it means for us to stand with Israel. Other members of the clergy will also voice their opinions, which may differ from mine. We invite your input and feedback along with your questions.

In the meantime, here are some internet sources for those who seek more information:

Three leading English language Israeli newspaper websites:
www.haaretz.com
www.jpost.com
www.ynetnews.com

You can follow the Twitter feed of the Israeli Defense Forces @IDFSpokesperson

You can check out Al-Jazeera's English language page for a perspective from the Arab world:
www.aljazeeraenglish.com

Inclusion Lifts Sinai

Lisa Greenman, co-chair of Sinai's Access & Inclusion Committee, writes:

There have been so many developments since our June meeting that Ann and I would like to update you now for fear of losing track.  There is no particular order to this list. 

·         Representatives of the Access & Inclusion Committee met by phone with Temple Sinai’s JSSA (Jewish Social Services Agency) synagogue liaison.  JSSA is going to launch a new initiative to promote and support synagogue access and inclusion and will also seek to play a significant role in the destigmatization of mental illness in the Jewish community.

·         At our June 12 meeting we discussed the “roadmap” document, which outlines goals and objectives for the coming year and beyond.  But at the same time – who has time to wait when it’s clear what should be done?  - we have already begun implementing some of the objectives.  The draft document has been improved by many suggestions.  The very enthusiastic response it has received has been so encouraging and gratifying.  We hope to have the document finalized by the end of August – but again, we are moving forward already with many of the ideas contained in it.  Ellen Agler, incidentally, has been extraordinarily active on the issues this committee is concerned about.   

·         Ann Sloane and I have had a great meeting with the new Director of Congregational Learning, Cantor Rebecca Robins.  Not surpisingly, Rebecca is very sensitized to issues related to disability, special needs and inclusion and is very enthusiastic about working together with this committee.  Even before our meeting, she had already begun reaching out to religious school families that have self-identified as having special education needs.  We had a great discussion with Rebecca and we look forward to working with her. 

·         Ellen Agler has added information about accommodations for those with disabilities in a letter that will go out to congregants in August.  It will say something along these lines: Accessibility for Members with Disabilities and Special Needs Temple Sinai welcomes adults and children with disabilities and special needs, and makes accommodations so that access to our Services and programs goes smoothly.  If you need a ride to services or a temple program, special parking or seating arrangements,  to discuss special learning issues or other individual needs,  please contact the temple office at 202-363-6394 so we can help reduce or eliminate barriers to your participation. In addition, there will be language added to the membership application.  There will also be information about accommodations placed in a prominent location on the Temple Sinai website, which is presently being redesigned. 

·         Ann Ingram and Marilyn Brown attended a WIN-sponsored meeting on disability issues at Blessed Sacrament.  WIN is planning to launch a disability rights advocacy campaign and Temple Sinai members are encouraged to participate.  Robin Shaffert is taking a leading role in this in connection with the Temple Sinai Social Action Committee.

·         Jinny and Bob Stern volunteered to participate in a task force that is looking at non-construction options for improving parking at Temple Sinai. 

·         Ann Sloane and I have reached out to the Building Committee to ask that in the short-term a ramp to the lower door by the elevator be created.  We understand that longer-term, larger scale approaches are being explored, but in the meantime we feel this is a need that cannot wait. 

·         Following discussion at our June meeting, Ann Ingram reached out to Ellen Leibenluft, past co-chair of the Ritual Committee and a new member of the Board of Trustees, to see if she would talk with our committee about issues relating to mental illness, destigmatization and inclusion in our community.  Dr. Leibenluft, who is a psychiatrist, has agreed to talk with us about how we might approach these issues. 

·         We have submitted material for the Temple Sinai Yearbook, which is distributed during the High Holiday services.  They include an announcement of the Shabbat service honoring Jewish Disability Awareness Month, which will take place on Friday, February 8, 2013.

Be the change...

This email just came into my inbox a few minutes ago. Chris gave me permission to repost it here:

Hello, all,
Just wanted to share some good news. The process we all went through at Temple Sinai last fall to determine what social justice need called to us most started some life changes humming for me. The upshot is that I left my writing and producing career and entered an alternative program for teacher training in order to teach in high-needs DC schools. I've been at a summer institute in Baltimore for the past six weeks and just received my assignment for the fall. To my great delight, I'll be a teaching resident at Wheatley Education Campus! I deeply appreciate the committed, thoughtful dialogue that contributed to my arrival at this place in life, and I look forward to coordinating my identities as a Temple Sinai congregant and a Wheatley teacher.

Happy rest of summer to you all,
Chris Intagliata

Be A Superhero!

You are needed for a superhero task. Literally. But don't be alarmed. It is easier to be a superhero than you thought. Two of my rabbinical school classmates, Phyllis and Michael Sommer, recently learned that their son, Sam, has leukemia. Phyllis keeps a blog and has asked for our help. She wrote this:
  Send me your photos (I'll print them out and send along with my own - to be posted soon).

As I put Sam to bed on Friday night, I sang Debbie [Friedman's] Mi Sheberach, a prayer for healing.The conversation afterward went something like this:
Me: Do you know how many temples there are like ours around the country?
Sam: Um...a thousand?
Me: (impressed) okay, that sounds like a good number. Do you realize that at, say, 500 of those, people said "Sammy Sommer" tonight when they sang that prayer?
Sam: Wait, you mean when you go like this? (and he held out his hand just like I do when I ask for names for healing) And people say names?
Me: Yep.Same: I don't believe you. That is too many people.
Me: Ah, but you're wrong.
Sam: We don't have friends in 500 places.
ME: Wanna bet?

Each day, I get emails and texts and Facebook posts and tweets. Sam doesn't quite get the volume of people who inhabit my phone. I want to show him.

If you want to help me show Sam how many people are on his team, so he can feel the love:

Take a photograph of yourself wearing your favorite superhero shirt 
(or holding up their logo...or just smiling!)

 

We will hang all the pictures on Sam's wall...Team Superman Sam!

What We Are Not

There were tears at Yad VaShem and hush-voiced, angry curses. Yad VaShem is a low highpoint of the trip. The weight of the stories, the gruesome photos, the video testimonies of survivors and even the building’s design are unbearably attractive and repulsive at the same time. The place is packed with guided groups of young, Israeli soldiers brought here as part of their training. They embody an answer to the question of what we should do with our feelings about the Holocaust. “Never Again,” can mean: never again will we be unarmed and unable to defend ourselves.  The image from “Eagles Over Auschwitz” of IAF attack jets flying over the death camp says the same thing. The building’s design shares another message: the best response to the Holocaust is simply to live here in Israel. The exhibition starts with projected images of Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust: smiling faces, parties, culture, religion. From outside, however, one can see that the screening room is a section of building that hangs precipitously over a cliff with no support underneath. The end of the museum opens widely onto a balcony overlooking the Jerusalem hills. It says that our story ends not with utter destruction but renewed life; with real houses filled with Jews living normally in their ancient homeland. The living land and people of Israel itself is the closing shot of the museum.

Undeniably, the Holocaust has a grip on the heart and memory of the Jewish people. But another response is to remember that it is not our only story and can not be our defining characteristic. Coming to Israel is a kind of pilgrimage inasmuch as it condenses into a short space and time almost everything about Jewish life, history and identity. One of our teens, Gabrielle, got that message just a day or two before we visited Yad VaShem.  After meeting students at Yemin Orde, seeing the treasure of exhibits at the Israel museum and learning about every other aspect of Jewish life, she said it simply, “We are not all about the Holocaust.” It is never to be forgotten and never to be repeated, whatever the cost.  But remembering it shall not be everything we are. A trip to Israel is one of the best ways to see that we are about so much more (just look at another high point in this photo).

"Im Tirtzu - If you will it, it is not a dream.”

Okay, so the Herzl museum was not a favorite of the group (too corny I think). We have, however, taken his message to heart.  “If you will it, it is not a dream. But if you do not really want it, then all that I have told you about it – a mere story it is and a story it will remain.” How many stories have we heard and sites seen that prove how much we can accomplish if we want it badly enough and work to make it so. At the Ayalon Institute we learned that the Haganah built the underground factory in only 22 days start to finish.  About the Six Day War, we learned how the feared “second Holocaust” was overcome and how Israel won one of its greatest victories. We saw a stone in the tunnel section of the Western Wall that was too big to be moved by today’s most powerful cranes and somehow was quarried, carved and placed there by masons 2,000 years ago. At Yad Vashem, at Herzl Museum, in the skyline of Tel Aviv, in the desalination technology developed here in Israel, and, yes, in the accomplishments of Sarah Kate, Daniel, Jonah and Sam. None of this was a given and all of it could have remained a story.  But, Im tirtzu…

(photo: Sam teaches us from his d'var Torah in the memorial hall of Ammunition Hill)

"Ad Hayom" - Wisdom from Adi

Towards the end of the day’s itinerary, after touring the mystical city of Safed and exploring the slope of the Golan Heights and Kibbutz Ayelet HaShachar, and after a quintessential Israeli shopping mall food court lunch, our bus rolled north across twentyish miles of the Golan plateau.  It is beautiful but mostly bare territory wherein we saw the heaviest military presence so far: tanks and artillery, army bases and combat soldiers with Israel’s latest best gun, the TAR-21. Along the way, Julie explained Golan, Part 2: The Yom Kippur War.

   The lead up to the Six Day War had seen Israel digging thousands of graves in public parks across the land to inter the victims of what many knew would be a second Holocaust.  The speed and extent of their victory over so many enemies and the closing of those emergency graves empty left a coat of hubris over the land.  Israel thought it was indestructible and did not consider how its enemies might lick their wounds, bide their time and return stronger.  Julie told us the phrase that Israelis commonly use to describe the mindset of the time: “We were prisoners of the conception.”  Adi, our bus driver, finished her sentence, “…ad ha-yom (still to this day).”

   Adi had captured one of the most important lessons of the day. Like a liturgical refrain, we could add, “Ad HaYom” to so much of what we had seen and learned.  Nearly all Jews present before 1948 took up arms or contributed to the defense of the state or establishment of its institutions; men and women...  Ad HaYom. The famous draining of the Hula Valley swamps removed malaria and allowed settlement and agriculture but disrupted the ecosystem extinguishing species and leaving environmental challenges that remain unsolved…. Ad HaYom.  Abu Mazen (current Palestinian President) was born and raised in Safed until his family had to flee in 1948.  In the 1990s, as Israel and the Palestinians were negotiating, Abu Mazen had asked, as a condition for further talks, that he be allowed to return to his birthplace and tour the city.  The Jewish mayor of Safed, now an all Jewish city, refused.  No Palestinians would be allowed to do such a thing. It goes back to 1974, when a Safed Junior High School group traveled to the town of Maalot. While they slept in a community center, a PLO terrorist cell crossed the border from Lebanon, seized the building and held them hostage. When all was done, nearly 25 of Safed’s young teens were dead. It had been over 20 years, and now a larger, national peace process was unfolding, but such wounds run cut deep and the pain remains strong… Ad HaYom. Here's Adi, reflected in the bus mirrors.

   The trip continues to be great and our itinerary is packed.  With a professional tour guide, a rabbi and a group of incredibly intelligent, cultured people we learn something everywhere.  But we keep our eyes and ears open for the unscheduled and unexpected insights that bespeak the Rabbinic teaching: “Who is wise? The one who learns from all people.” True that… Ad HaYom.

To become a leader

Today, during our jeep tour of the Golan Heights, Daniel gave the first of our bar mitzvah teachings. It was particularly moving to have Daniel teaching us about the Six Day War while standing on the Golan Heights within feet of the ruins of a Syrian bunker from pre-67 days. The fact the our tour leader, Avrahami, had been an IDF officer tasked with clearing that same bunker on Day 5 of the war only added to the unique opportunity we had to learn from our newest Jewish leader-teacher.  Here's what he taught us:

As the topic for my Bar Mitzvah, I have chosen to talk about the Six Day War.  This conflict interests me because I am fascinated by Middle East politics, history, and geography, and the Six Day War involves all three.

The Six Day War marked a significant turning point in Israeli-Arab-Palestinian history.  On the one hand, it showed the power of the Israeli military and gave the Israelis territory and added security from a future Arab attack.  It also gave Israelis and Jews throughout the world a great sense of pride.  On the other hand, it caused Israel to have a significant Arab population within its borders, forcing Israel to choose whether it wanted to remain a democracy, Jewish state, or an occupying power.  We live with the results of this war today – a more secure Israel in terms of territory, but an Israel that occupies territory acquired by war and governs several million Palestinians who want an independent state.

When Israel was founded in 1948, all the Arab armies attacked it.  Israel was forced to defend its borders, and won.  In 1956, fighting broke out between Egypt and Israel in the Sinai over the rights of Israelis in the Straits of Tiran and the Suez Canal.  Once again Israel held off the Egyptians.  As a result of this war, a United Nations Emergency Force was placed in Sinai and Gaza to keep peace.  However, 11 years later, in May 1967, Egypt’s unpredictable dictator, Gamel Abdul Nasser, removed the United Nations forces and massed Egyptian troops in what had been a demilitarized Sinai.  Jordanian forces also began to gather in the West Bank, and Syrian forces were hunkered down here in the Golan Heights.  Other countries like Iraq also gathered airplanes for an attack.  In mid-May 1967, the Egyptians provoked an incident by shutting down the Straits of Tiran so that no ships could go to or from Eilat.  For several weeks, Israel worked with the United States to seek a diplomatic solution to this violation of international waters, such as having the United States and other countries send ships to Eilat.  But the international community could not agree on any action.  And President Johnson would not publicly assure Israel that the U.S. would defend it.

On the morning of June 5, 1967, fearing an Egyptian attack, and believing they could prevail quickly if they struck first, Israeli Defense Forces bombed the Egyptian air force in Sinai and eastern Egypt.  They decimated the Egyptian airfields and airplanes within an hour, and Israeli troops then invaded Sinai on the ground.  In the first few days of the war, the Israelis advanced in Sinai more quickly than anyone had expected.  The Egyptian commander, ‘Amer, and his generals, decided that, in order to retain their national pride, they would tell their citizens that Egypt was winning the war, destroying the Israeli air force, and advancing on Israeli cities.  They also claimed that Israel’s attack on their air fields resulted from British and American intervention and aid to Israel.  This accusation became known as the “Big Lie” during the course of the next few days.  Nasser’s generals also were too scared of Nasser to inform him of their increasing losses.  The success of the Israeli forces exceeded all expectations, and they pushed within three days to the Suez Canal, crushing the Egyptian military.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank border, the Israeli government was concerned about the international backlash if it attacked West Bank cities and East Jerusalem.   Jordan, however, had entered a treaty with Egypt, and with the Egyptian government’s false reports of early victories, King Hussein did not want to be accused by Arab countries of not supporting the war effort, so Jordan entered the fray.  With the Sinai campaign going better than expected, Israeli opened a full-blown front on the second day with Jordan.  Casualties were greater on this front for both sides, but Israeli airplanes again dominated the skies, bombing Jordanian tanks and positions.  Israel’s goal was to capture the rest of Jerusalem and the Biblical cities of Bethlehem and Hebron.  By the fourth day, after intense fighting, the Jordanians were defeated and Israel controlled all land up to the west bank of the Jordan River.

In the last two days, Israel opened up its campaign against Syria.  During the first four days of the war, Syrian gunners on the Golan Heights had bombarded Israeli farmers.  Moshe Dayan, the Israeli defense minister, opposed attacking the Syrians because he did not want a third front.  By Day 4, with the Sinai campaign and Jordanian front under control, and with Israeli farmers complaining about the bombardment, Dayan gave the order to attack, and within two days Israel captured the Golan Heights.

Starting on the third day of the war, when the Egyptians could no longer deny their losses, the U.N. started to talk about a cease-fire.  The Arab countries and Israel were aware that new borders would be drawn based on where the Israelis had advanced when a cease-fire was agreed to.  Beaten badly, the Egyptians were the first to agree to a cease-fire, and the Jordanians and Syrians followed, hoping not to lose more territory.

The war had both positive and negative effects on Israel and its Arab neighbors.  On the one hand, there were significant benefits to Israel from the territory captured in war.  Israel had captured the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai, and the Golan Heights.   It had more than doubled its size and it now had buffers separating it from the Arab countries, which gave it more security.  Israel understood that the gains in territory could be later traded for peace and recognition.  That is what occurred in 1979 when Israel traded Sinai back to Egypt.

On the other hand, millions of Arabs, Palestinians, and other non-Jewish people were now under Israel’s control.  As political analyst Thomas Friedman wrote in his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem, Israel had to decide between being a Jewish state, a democracy, and an occupying power.  With the new Arabs under its control, Israel could not be all three.  In the past 45 years, Israel has had to decide whether to give the new Arabs under its control basic rights, like the right to vote, or whether Israel should still be a democracy.  The dilemma created by Israel’s victory in the Six Day War continues today. 

The Six Day War also affected Zionism and Jews’ view of the State of Israel.  Israel’s rapid military domination united Jews across the world and made it clear that Israel was a country that would not disappear.  With a strong and permanent State of Israel, Judaism became not just a religion, but a community with its own country.  Our connection to Israel, knowing that it is a country we can always move to, is now as big a part of being Jewish as the customs and prayers.

The Six Day War also helps us understand the problems and possible dangers of what is occurring today around the world.  Nasser provoked the Six Day War – he closed the Straits of Tiran, blockaded Eilat, removed the U.N. Peacekeeping Force from Sinai and Gaza, massed troops in Sinai, and coordinated the war build-up with Jordan, Syria, and Iraq.  But Nasser did not want to fire the first shot.  He believed that if Israel fired first, the international community would condemn Israel and that the Soviet Union would enter the war on Egypt’s side.  Nasser seriously miscalculated.  We can learn lessons from this.  This same type of problem might be occurring with Iran today.  Iran is possibly trying to provoke Israel to preemptively strike it in order to turn world opinion against Israel.  The Six Day War shows how it is not always easy to figure out your enemy’s plans and what it is thinking.  The Six Day War also demonstrates that while it may be a good military choice to attack first if you believe a country is a serious threat to your existence, you will live with the results – both good and bad – for years to come.

Finally, a few thank yous:

First, I would like to thank Rabbi Roos for leading this trip.

Second, I would like to thank my parents for taking me to Israel and giving me such a great experience, and my sister Rachel for putting up with my practicing my Torah portion and prayers outside her room constantly.

Third, thanks to everyone here for sharing this trip with me and for listening to my speech no matter how tedious and boring it may sound!

Last, I would like to thank my tutor, Ronny Tabeka for teaching me my Torah and all the prayers.  I would never have been able to do this without him!

For more information on the Six Day War, Daniel recommends Michael Oren's book, Six Days of War.

"This is Not The Best Place"

It's been a full day - leaving Tel Aviv, exploring Caesarea and discussing so much there, lunch at Aroma Cafe, seeing Haifa and driving to Kibbutz Kfar Blum, wedged into the northeastern corner of Israel between The Golan Heights and Lebanon. The bus conversation is as stimulating and educational as the sites we stop to see.  Today on the bus we covered: Housing and Land ownership in Israel, Adapting Biblical Laws to Modern Israel (with a focus on Jubilee and Sabbatical Year Laws), Israeli organized crime families, the Israeli Social Protest movement, Energy policies and natural gas, the fragile eco-system of the Hula Valley and attempts to restore balance there, Ikea, and a thousand other topics.

The best part of the day was Yemin Orde Youth Village, a place that (ironically) tells each of its resident students, "This is not the best place to be."  It is a residential educational, counseling and training campus located on a hilltop outside Haifa.  They house and serve about 500 students, mostly high school aged but some younger, who come mainly from immigrant families.  The bulk of the population are from Ethiopan, Russian and FSU families with very serious challenges. The place was founded and operates on the principle that no Jewish child should be abandoned, left to suffer or be deprived the opportunity for a good, safe, productive life.  They give their residents hope, skills and the understanding that they can and should change the world to make it better.  They focus on Tikkun Ha-Lev (repairing the hearts of the child) and Tikkun Olan (teaching the children to repair the world).  The story of Bat-El, one of the counselors who gave us a tour, is a gripping story about Zionism and the will of the Jewish State to protect Jewish people no matter how far or foreign they are, give them a home and help them to thrive. It's a story about family struggles, aliyah, Jewish identity, unlikely friendship and love, personal rediscovery and the important, powerful role that the American Jewish community can play in developing Judaism everywhere. Sounds ridiculously overstated? Too Broadway? You can't make this stuff up. It was truly incredible.

See more photos from the Northern Leg of our Adventure here.

New Photos!!

Click here: https://picasaweb.google.com/RabbiRoos/SinaiIsraelTrip2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

or watch it here:

The Jewish Way: Lessons from Tel Aviv

When Itzik, the tour guide at Israel's Independence Hall, noticed some people shivering and whispering underneath the A/C vent during his talk, he knew they were uncomfortably cold and made a little joke.  He invited them to move to a different spot or to respond "In the Traditional Jewish Way," which he explained was to suffer and accept it while murmuring to ourselves.

In reality, we learned throughout the day, the real "Jewish Way" is best exemplified by Tel Aviv and what happened here on May 14, 1948.  At every turn, those involved with the Declaration of Independence made pragmatic choices to best serve the end goal.  They overcame obstacles and never let inflexible commitment to traditions or grand plans stop them.  There was fear of an air attack so they held the ceremony in a safe room partially underground.  There was only about a day's notice to prepare the room and no budget, so the building superintendent borrowed chairs from the cafes in the surrounding neighborhood and convinced a recording studio to lend them sound equipment in exchange for advertising space on the mic stand. Jerusalem was the biblical and eternal capital of the Jewish world, the natural place for such an event, but the siege of the city blocked the leaders from the ancient city. Tel Aviv would have to do.  The text of the Declaration had been finalized only an hour before the ceremony so the signers affixed their names to a blank piece of parchment with the declaration text on white paper clipped to the top.  The calligraphy script was added later above the signatures.  The Jewish Way was not and is not to suffer quietly, to accept our lot and to murmur only amongst ourselves.  The Jewish Way is to overcome obstacles, to embrace flexibility, and to get it done.


Tonight we join with the Israeli Reform Congregation Beit Daniel for services and dinner at their Jaffa Center - Mishkenot Ruth Daniel. We will be meeting with Rabbi Talia Avnon Beniste and Rabbi Meir Azari before the services to learn about the work of the Reform Movement in Israel and the struggle for religious pluralism here.


Shabbat shalom,

Israel Likes Potatoes

As much as I think I know Israel, it only takes a few hours to remind me how much I really don’t.  Sure, there’s always a Hebrew conversation that I start with a taxi driver that quickly hits the wall as I am unable to keep up with almost any response to my opening.  But there’s more than the slipped up Hebrew.  On this trip, for example, I already have a new sense of the potato in Israeli dining.  Sure, the potato seems insignificant compared to the question of deporting illegal African residents from Tel Aviv or the impact of the Egyptian election on Camp David.  But it was over the potato – twice in twenty four hours – that Israelis and I had the most interesting exchanges.

On the menu at last night’s dinner was “Mediterranean Salad,” which was described as “Hot whole potato,” served atop chopped salad. It didn’t seem right. What was “Mediterranean” about a whole hot potato? And featured on an entrée salad? Like chicken on a Caesar? Who does that? Schooled in textual analysis, I checked the Hebrew side of the menu for a possible mistranslation and then asked our waitress. Not sure what our question was really about, Etti ultimately told us that she had never actually seen one of these salads.  Mysterious, no?  I ordered one and it was, in fact, a giant bowl of chopped Israeli salad with a big scoop of labaneh in the middle of it and a fist of steaming, peeled potato placed on top of the labaneh and sprinkled with zatar. In my family we call this kind of previously undiscovered yet delicious food combination an act of “food genius.”

This seemed to confuse the waitress even further who said flatly, “In Israel…. many people…. like potatoes.”

Maybe something was lost in translation.  Maybe she meant nothing by it.  But I sensed that, over this potato, I had come to be seen as one who knew almost nothing about Israel.  Or perhaps worse, I was an uncivilized idiot who didn’t even grasp how commonly used was this most popular spud. I tried to walk back the cat but it was done.  Etti had hit the nail on the head.  No matter how much I read, engaged Israel and lead groups of people here, nothing compares with living here to understand what this place is really like. It’s likely too late for me, but you never know. Even coming here almost yearly, it turns out there’s a lot for me yet to learn and there’s still reason to say at the seder, “Next Year in Jerusalem….  And would you please pass the potatoes.”

Wish You Were Here: Photos from Israel

Photos will be posted here on a Picasa photo album on a regular basis.

Sinai Israel Trip 2012

Lifting Sinai

"Moses led the people out of the camp toward God and they took their places beneath the mountain," (Exodus 19:17).  When the Torah describes the scene at Mount Sinai with that verse, it says that the Israelites stood "b'tachtit ha-har" usually translated, "at the foot (or the base) of the mountain."  The Talmud, however, translates it as "beneath" and imagines something radical:

'...they took their places b'tachit ha-har (beneath the mountain).' Rabbi Avdimi b. Hama b. Hasa said: this teaches that the Holy One held the mountain over them like an overturned tub and told them: 'If you accept the Torah - well and good; otherwise, you will be buried here.' (BT Shabbat 88a)

It's a radical understanding of the covenant in that talmudic rabbis understood that any contract made under duress was invalid.  Reading the verse in the same way, we can imagine a different implication of why we were beneath the mountain. The Torah says we stood there (vayityatzvu), consciously and purposefully "taking our places."  We positioned ourselves beneath the mountain for one reason: to lift it up.  There is no such thing as "cheap grace" in Judaism.  Like Nachson entering the waters of the Sea of Reeds, we must take the first steps and we must work to bring about the covenant and the world we envision. We stood beneath Sinai because somebody needed to lift it up.  The call hasn't changed since then. We need to take our positions beneath Sinai - literally and metaphorically - because somebody needs to lift it up.

This blog will feature stories from and about Sinai, starting with our congregational family trip to Israel.  Please share it with your friends and anyone who may be interested in helping out with the heavy lifting.  Your comments, feedback and guest posts are welcome!