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).