Please check your weapons at the door...

This is why we do recommend that you leave your guns at home when attending High Holy Day Services. Read the whole blog commentary by Robert Wilonsky on this event here, and read the actual news report here.

An 81-year-old retired Dallas County Sheriff's Department officer who has a valid right-to-carry permit brought a .380 pistol to temple tonight -- why, beats me. At around 7 p.m. the man, who worked for the Sheriff's Department for 25 years, accidentally dropped the gun when he stood for a prayer, it fell to the floor and discharged, and a single round hit the man's 42-year-old daughter in the foot. The ambulance was called, naturally; doubtful EMS carries anything for the schpilkes. A couple in their early 70s were grazed by some from shrapnel, according to the chief. But they got a Band-Aid and were sent home -- and mazel tov, seriously.

Assistant Chief Ron Waldrop says the temple doesn't actually have signs posted prohibiting licensed guns on the property. He also says the gun fell out of the man's suit when he stood for a prayer. "It's fortunate more people weren't seriously injured," Waldrop says, adding that no criminal offense report has been filed since it was an accidental discharge with a permitted weapon.

Why the man felt the need to bring a gun into Rosh Hashanah services is still a mystery. At least it wasn't during Yom Kippur, as day-long fasting can make a man extra cranky. I believe the proper response is: Oy gevalt.

File under: Things You Never Thought You'd Read

L'shana Tova!!! May your new year be sweet.

Remembering 9/11 - 6 years later

Today at 7:45am, we gathered at the Am Shalom flagpole for our annual 9/11 commemoration. We were joined, as usual, by Glencoe firefighters and police officers. We are one of the only remaining yearly commemorations.

The day was beautiful. Clear, cool, the blue sky absolutely stunning. So much like that Tuesday six years ago.

One of our students played Taps on his trumpet. He is a Bar Mitzvah student, about 13 years old. His beautiful playing prompted me and others to give him a hug. It's not often that you give a 13-year-old boy a hug, but in that moment, I was overwhelmed by the realization that he was only 7 years old when the 9/11 attacks happened.

May we remember on this day.

I share these beautiful words from Karen Maezen Miller at her blog, Cheerio Road:

In this hush
between the rising and dusk
of one minute and month
a season arriving
a circle recycling
we see sharp and know cold
that not one thing stands
or stands still
Not one thing untouched
but all carried intact
by love
deep, far and beyond.

Remembering the day, the year, the people, the passing, the wide open darkness and then, the light.

Tips for a Great Year of Sunday School

It's that time of year again...today is our opening Teachers' Meeting for Religious School, and our Kindergarteners and First Graders have their Orientation. Here are my tips for making a successful year of Religious School....

Breakfast. So many of our students come in without eating a solid breakfast. Please view this like any other educational experience. It works so much better on fuel.

Show up! Attendance and timely attendance matter to the classroom environment and to your student's experience.

Be positive. Encourage your student to see this experience as good. This means that you need to be excited about what is going to happen, and interested in what did happen afterwards. It also means a pep talk (for yourself and your child!) in the car on the way over.

Place value. Just like attending regular school, on which you likely place great value, remind your student of the importance of what they are doing. This also might mean...don't schedule birthday parties, family outings, etc, to coincide with Religious School. Don't say "oh, it's just Sunday School"...think of the message you are sending to your child.

Volunteer. Even if it's only an occasional Sunday morning, this demonstrates to your child that you think this is important for them and for you.

Pay attention. Read the materials sent by our school. Know the dates and events that are happening. You probably know what's going on in regular school -- this is just a supplement to that, and is jsut as important (if not more!)

Talk Jewish. Further your own Jewish education by reading a book, watching a movie or tv program, attending a class or lecture. Tell your student all about it.

As we say each year...if we have 30 Sundays at 2.5 hours each, that is 75 hours of Sunday School each year (how's my math?). Figure you'll be absent for 2 weeks this year, we're down to 70. Add in snack time, walk time, other times not spent "learning" and it's even less...then think about how many hours each week our students spend in regular school. And add up their whole Jewish education (30 Sundays a year, 2.5 hours a Sunday)...and I think you'll see that it comes out to less than one year of regular school. Not a lot of time for us to educate your children Jewishly. The rest is up to you...

The Mikveh...13 Things I Loved About It

The Mikveh is a Jewish institution shrouded in mystery and confusion for modern Reform Jews (and probably some Conservative ones too!). The mikveh is defined as a ritual bath, used not for purposes of physical cleanliness, but rather ritual purity or spiritual cleanliness. According to the Wikipedia entry, (which is actually pretty accurate - thumbs up!)

Its main uses nowadays are:by Jewish women to achieve ritual purity after menstruation or childbirthby Jewish men to achieve ritual purity
as part of a traditional procedure for conversion to Judaismfor utensils used for food

It's the first one that makes many modern women crazy, the second that less people know about, the third that is the most well-known in most Reform circles, and the last that is also less well known. But what is not accurate in the Wikipedia entry is the brief entry about Reform Jews and their lack of use of the Mikveh for anything other than conversion. Okay, maybe this is somewhat accurate, but we are working on it! Organizations like Mayyim Hayyim in Boston are making mikveh more accessible to modern Jews.

Okay, so all that said...where am I going?

It is customary, in that second idea up there, that "men" go to the mikveh to achieve ritual purity. These days, anything the men can do, so can the women! Often, people (okay, men) will go to the mikveh before Shabbat or holidays in order to fully prepare themselves physically/spiritually. I've never used the mikveh in this way (I've only been once before, right before my wedding). This year, I decided to go to the mikveh to prepare myself for the High Holy Days. As a rabbi, I spend these weeks before the holidays stressing and preparing and basically running around like crazy and I rarely have the time to prepare myself in any meaningful way. (In an earlier post, I referred to teshuvah, which is the Hebrew word for repentance...the "work" of the High Holy Days)

So the mikveh it was for me...and to describe it, here is a list of
13 things I loved about it...

1. The quiet. It was in the evening, and it was dark. It's traditional to go at night to show humility and to increase privacy (of course, blogging about it doesn't make it too private, does it). It was quiet. I had a few moments before all to myself to breathe and just be.
2. The reminder. The mikveh lady (a technical term) reminded me of the special nature of this moment. She knows that I come all the time to the mikveh with conversion candidates but she reminded me to take my time, to pay attention to each item of clothing or jewelry or act like brushing my hair, to realize that this was more than just a shower and then a dip in the pool, and more than just getting ready for bed.
3. The words. I hummed the tune for Hashi-veynu, one of my favorite penitential prayers that we sing at our Selichot service this coming Saturday night. To me, that tune really "kicks off" the holidays. Hashiveinu Adonai elecha v'nashuva, chadeish yameinu k'kedem...Help us to return to You, O God, then truly shall we return. Renew our days as in the past. I felt like this helped to remind me why I was doing this.
4. The washing. As I washed my eyelashes (the purpose of the pre-immersion cleansing is to remove all "barriers" to the living waters of the mikveh, so you wash carefully all your crevices -- like blowing your nose and cleaning your navel -- and you wash the parts you might not normally wash, like eyelashes, as well as comb out all snarls and tangles in your hair so the water can fully reach every part of you.)...I thought of how unusual this was, and how much more special it made it, and different from other shower/washing/hygiene experiences.
5. The privacy. Once I was prepared for entry into the mikveh, the mikveh lady was so careful to ensure my privacy. She is required to "guard" my immersions and to help make sure I've gotten the stray hairs from my skin, but she takes such care to be modest and private about the experience. She takes the towel and holds it up in front of her face until I'm fully immersed in the water.
6. The water...ah, the water. It's warm and wonderful, embracing and uplifting. As I stepped into the middle of the small pool, I realized how deep it actually is -- just about my height! The water didn't weight me down, though, in fact, it buoyed me up, encouraging me to float. When I was prepared, I took my first immersion, deep under the water, spreading my fingers and toes to get water into every nook and cranny of my being...these living waters holding me up and filling me up with their powers of personal purification.
7. The second immersion...this is the one where the mikveh lady takes a step outside the room following the immersion to offer the dipper a few moments of personal prayer or meditation. It is a mitzvah to ask for something for yourself, and as I floated in the water, feeling how safe and warm and comfortable I was, I was reminded of the title of a book by Rabbi David Wolpe - "Floating Takes Faith" -- and I knew that to be there in that moment, I was truly renewing my own faith.
8. The third immersion. To say shehecheyanu, the blessing for a first time, it was as though I were new again, reborn so to speak. If you think about it, the last time we were so surrounded by water like this was in the womb...this is a re-creation of that living water, a chance to be spiritually re-born for this new year.
9. The exit. As I stood in front of the mikveh lady, with my back to her, she wrapped the towel around me. She is a very traditional lady, and she avoids personal touch throughout the whole process. But as she wrapped the towel around my shoulders, she gave my shoulders a little squeeze. It felt like a whole hug, as though she were giving me her most heartfelt wishes and prayers. I really believe that she feels that what she does is truly one of the most precious jobs in the world -- and she acts like it. This squeeze was, I feel, her way of telling me that. And I am grateful.
10. Getting dressed. I put on all my clothes, my jewelry, my contact lenses...and then I examined myself in the mirror. Am I different now? Somehow more pure and more ready for the holidays? I decided the answer is yes. I did look different. I looked relaxed and happy and ready to face the holidays with a whole heart.
11. The drive home. To know that I was going back out into a world unchanged, but I, I was different somehow. I felt more calm, more prepared. With Rosh HaShanah only one week away, I could face the moment with far more ease than I had felt all day long. I felt refreshed, washed clean.
12. The work. I'm not done with the work of teshuvah, repentance, just because I washed clean in the mikveh. Jewish life doesn't work that way! I still have the obligation to ask forgiveness and work on my own spiritual and personal faults and shortcomings. But somehow I feel that it will be made easier or more do-able for me after this visit to the mikveh.
13. The blogging. I was so excited for the opportunity to share this experience with those who read this blog as well as my other one, http://imabima.blogspot.com, so I could share a different and new way of welcoming the Jewish New Year. As a rabbi, my preparations are often different than other Jews. This was a great moment for me to have a personal opportunity to expand my own spiritual practice.

See more Thursday Thirteen posts here...
Crossposted on http://imabima.blogspot.com

CNN's Religious Warriors Series

Okay, so maybe I have to go back and watch the whole thing again. (six hours!?) I must admit, parts of the whole thing did make me cringe. And I'm not great at being unbiased when it comes to watching a program about Israel.

But in retrospect, and after reading CAMERA's critique of the Jewish and Muslim parts of the series, I have reason to agree with CAMERA's assessment. There was a great deal of bias in the reporting. I'm not sure that it was entirely intentional -- in many ways, although CNN believes that it's reporting about apples and apples, I think the comparisons between Jews, Muslims and Christians is more like apples, oranges, and bananas. One of the comments CAMERA makes:

It is false in its basic premise, established in the opening scene in which Jewish (and Christian) religious fervency is equated with that of Muslims heard endorsing "martyrdom," or suicide-killing. There is, of course, no counterpart among Jews and Christians to the violent jihadist Muslim campaigns underway across the globe, either in numbers of perpetrators engaged or in the magnitude of death and destruction wrought.

There does seem to be a lot of focus in the Jewish segment on the pro-Israel lobby in this country. Far more than in the Muslim section, which does not speak about any of the oil lobbies that are waged on behalf of Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia (...home of many of the 9/11 terrorists, why are we friends with them???)

In fact, there was, as CAMERA points out, a much more gentle tone towards the Muslim extremists, especially those in our own country...

There was a noticeably gentler and more cordial tone toward Muslim extremists in contrast to the often snide and hectoring tone displayed toward pro-Israel Americans and Israeli settlers in "God's Jewish Warriors." In "God's Muslim Warriors," Amanpour included two apolitical segments with appealing devout Muslim women who talked about why they wear a head covering and how Islam enriches their lives. No such apolitical segment about devout Jews appeared in "God's Jewish Warriors."

Read the rest of CAMERA's critique here...and here...and let me know what you thought!

Art and Seeing

For our motzei Shabbat activity (after Shabbat ends, on Saturday night), we had the unexpected pleasure of an hour or so out...my m-in-law was home with the kids, and so we dashed out to see the Highwood Fine Arts Festival, a very small art show in our own small town. While much of the art was nice and somewhat ordinary, we were delighted with the art of Inna Deriy, who paints with pigmented polymers on stone, wood, and canvas. Let me tell you, it leads to gorgeous colors and beautiful images. I am not even really sure what a polymer is (I know I wouldn't eat it!) but I know what I think is beautiful.

I wasn't able to find a picture of the small piece that we bought. It has the image of tree trunks. I love images of trees...I think trees are so incredible and wonderful as a symbol of longevity in nature. I also love the Jewish imagery of the Torah as the Tree of Life, and I also love the idea of a family tree. Overall, I'm a tree girl.

I did find this image, though, and it is quite beautiful. There is also a story about it that the artist's husband shared with us while we perused the booth. He said a blind woman was walking through an art fair they were doing once, and she bemoaned that she couldn't really see all the art that her companion was describing. He offered to let her touch this painting (at the time it was all white, with just the texture of the image -- it's hard to see in the picture here but all her art is very textured), and as she ran her fingers over it, she said, "oh, it's tulips!" but they hadn't even told her what it was.

It is amazing how our senses work. Many people who have full functional use of their eyes are "blind" to the world, not seeing beauty or love....or not seeing problems in the world. This story was a beautiful reminder that we shouldn't always just see with our eyes...

Celebrating Shabbat without TV?

When David (now 5 1/2) was young, we told him he could only watch tv on Shabbat. When we'd visit my parents, they would let him watch tv whenever he wanted, which coined the phrase in our house: "it's always Shabbat at Bubbie and Zeyde's house!" (It raised problems for us one Shabbat that we spent with an Orthodox family. In their house, no tv on Shabbat!)

Now we don't do that anymore. He's old enough to know that there is tv available on other days of the week....and he likes to watch it. But we learned that it is possible to be non-traditional in your observance of Shabbat and make the day very special.

So now we struggle with some special thing to define Shabbat in our house, other than our Friday night dinner activities. I would like something special to do or not do on Saturday as well. I think that this may become easier as my children grow older. It's hard to explain to a 2-year-old and it's hard to be consistent in our house when mommy works on Shabbat!

How does your family observe Shabbat? What are some non-traditional traditions that you've developed to make this day special? Leave me a comment!

Watch CNN Presents Tonight...

I am right now watching God's Warriors (part 1) on CNN. It is great -- I am fascinated by the retelling of Israel's history. I'm curious to see the other two parts, the Muslim and Christian perspectives. I know (thanks to my TiVo!) that part 1 is being re-run a couple times tonight and then the others are on tomorrow and Thursday. I can't wait to write a review of the whole thing. Let me know what you think!!!

Torah Portion Friday: Tzedakah with your family

This week's Torah portion, Re'eh, contains the following line:

If however, there is a needy person among you, one of your kin in any of your settlements in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your needy kin. Rather, you must open your hand and lend whatever is sufficient to meet the need. (Deuteronomy 15:7–8)

This line is one of the first lessons we teach our children as we begin to teach them about Judaism. The need to help others, no, the requirement that we help others, is a central focus of what Judaism is all about. The commandment to help others appears so often in the Torah that the Talmud tell us (Bava Batra 9a) “Tzedakah (charity) outweighs all other mitzvot.”

So how can we make this a part of our family's regular activities? Here are some suggestions for making tzedakah a part of your regular routine:

• keep a tzedakah box in many places in your house: on top of the dryer for loose change, in the kitchen, on your dresser, on your kids' dressers...


• teach your kids to divide their allowance. My son has a piggy bank with separate slots for "spend" "save" "invest" and "donate" (we bought it from Amazon) -- we regularly talk about putting the money into the Tzedakah slot and what we can do with it.


• when you sort through clothes and toys, take your children with you to deliver them to Goodwill or another organization.


• suggest that your child's birthday party be a collection, asking for donations or items for others instead of gifts for the child


• collect every "request" that comes into your house and once a month (or at whatever interval works for you), sit down with your family and look at all of them to determine where your family's tzedakah money will go.


• create young philanthropists -- give your kids and/or grandkids a bank account or budget from which they can make their own gifts...discuss with them regularly what it means to make your tzedakah dollars "go far." Teach them about "matching gifts" and make arrangements to "match" your kids' gifts...or invite them to ask other family members to match their gifts.


• use tzedakah as a reward or incentive: offer to give money to the charity of your kids' choice in honor of an acheivement or milestone.

These and so many more ideas will help your family to make tzedakah (charity) and gemilut chasadim (acts of lovingkindness) regular parts of your family's life. Through these actions we can truly fulfill our mission on earth: to make this world a better place.

How does your family engage in tzedakah? Leave a comment with your ideas.

(crossposted on imabima.blogspot.com)

Take the Bottled Water Challenge...

My family has begun to swear off bottled water. It all started when my husband purchased a relatively expensive water filtration system for our house last September. You spent the money on that, I thought, so we should stop spending the money on bottles.

Well, it turned out that we all love our water filter. So much so that we took the darn thing with us to camp. (It only worked for a week, though, before the filter conked out. Camp water, very much in need of filtering.) We bought a bunch of Nalgene bottles and Camelbak bottles and we seem to be all set.

Who knew we were on the cutting edge of environmentalism. Not me.

But we are. There are now articles about how bottled water isn't better. And how it's an example of our overconsumption and indulgence. There are campaigns to end bottled water consumption (see Think Outside the Bottle and Refill Not Landfill). And hey -- I'm all for it. I even put into both of our cars a stack of paper cups and straws so we can drink on the go from drinking fountains. (Straws make it all easier with the almost-2-year-old and more fun for all of us.) Some facts to consider:

• Last year, Americans spent $15 billion on bottled water, even though bottled water isn’t healthier or safer than tap water.


• While the EPA regulates the quality of public water supplies, the agency has no authority over bottled water. Some studies indicate that certain brands of bottled water test positive for chemical and bacterial contamination at higher levels than tap water.


• One out of six people in the world has no dependable, safe drinking water. The global economy denies drinkable water to 1 billion people, while delivering to us an array of water “varieties” from around the globe, not one of which we actually need.


• Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year, 167 for each person. We pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year - more than $1 billion worth of plastic (while the recycling rate for this particular kind of plastic is only 23%).


• We’re moving 1 billion bottles of unnecessary water around a week in ships, trains, and trucks in the United States alone. That’s a weekly convoy equivalent to 37,800 18-wheelers delivering water. (this one scares me!)

So...can you do it? Can you put an end to your bottled water consumption???

Leave me a comment to make your commitment.

crossposted on imabima.blogspot.com

A Worthy Project...

A young lady studying for her Bat Mitzvah has undertaken a very cool project. She has created a cd of music -- her own piano playing and a little vocals, all written by this lovely teenager. Only one song was written by someone else -- Billy Joel! She contacted him and received permission to use his song Lullaby on her CD. Proceeds of the CD are going to the Susan G. Komen organization working for a cure for breast cancer.

Jessica's website describes her inspiration in detail and gives information on how to order the CD. It's a nice collection of music and a great cause.

Please pass this information on to others...she's already raised $1000 with sales of her CD. Let's help her out.

Wanna move to New Orleans? They'll pay you!

Not exactly. But similar to how Israel recruits new olim, the New Orleans Jewish community is now recruiting new immigrants...Out of the 10,000 Jews in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, only 7,000 remain. There is a strong desire amongst those who are still there to rebuil dtheir community, and so they've decided to offer incentives (from the LA Times):

So Jewish New Orleans has cooked up a novel solution: a recruitment drive. With an ad campaign crafted by an Israeli public relations firm, the city's Jewish leaders are hoping to attract at least 1,000 Jews to the city over the next five years. They will appeal to potential pilgrims' better natures, stressing the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, Hebrew for "healing the world" — or, in this case, healing a broken city.

They also plan to lure them with cash. Starting next month, any Jew who has relocated to the city since Jan. 1 will be eligible for up to $5,500 for moving and housing expenses, interest-free loans of up to $30,000, half-price tuition at Jewish day schools, and a year of free membership at a synagogue and a Jewish community center.The concept was hatched, in part, by Michael J. Weil, an economist who moved here from Israel in October to head the Jewish Federation, the umbrella group for the city's Jewish agencies and programs. As a consultant to the Israeli government, Weil helped settle thousands of Jewish refugees in Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The New Orleans benefits were based, in part, on the sal klita, the "absorption benefits basket" offered to Israeli newcomers.

The recruitment drive springs from an acknowledgment that city officials have done a poor job touting New Orleans' progress in the two years since Katrina. The Jewish community will have to get that message out to its people on its own, Weil said.

"I would hope that nobody's going to move here just because of the incentive package, but it will be a lubricant," Weil said. "We cannot sit around waiting for the Road Home program and all these other things to take place, because we want to be in that great, better place tomorrow." Road Home is a state program that distributes federal funds for Katrina recovery efforts.

So...want to relocate???

Just for laughs...because you gotta!

Dispatch from Camp #5: Yes You Can!

Today we were honored to have Lloyd Bachrach speak to our group of campers. Lloyd was born with a congenital bone deficiency that left his legs unusually small, and he now wears prosthetic limbs. He does motivational speaking around the country to inspire others to embrace their own ability and bring attention to the concept of "differently abled" instead of the idea of "disabled."

We brought him in as a Jewish hero who has overcome his circumstances. He said that he doesn't see himself as a hero, just someone who dealt with what he has. I think that his heroism is in his ability to share himself with audiences with no embarrassment or fear.

Tomorrow is Shabbat! Yay! It is also the beginning of the end of our time here at camp. We go home on Sunday, and I know that the campers are sad that their session is drawing to a close. I am getting tired and am actually looking forward to sleeping in my own bed...

Dispatch from Camp #4: Judaica Bowl & Camp Heartland

Last night we held the annual camp Judaica Bowl (see picture, it's a Judaica BOWL, get it? Ha ha. David wanted to know if there really was a bowl). It is such a cool event because we spend a lot of time cheering and celebrating and honoring the kids who know a lot about Jewish knowledge! Each eidah (unit) chooses its team and then the eidah teams compete against each other. Jerry, the camp's director, gets a big kick out of choosing hard and interesting questions to stump the campers. We, the faculty, serve as judges for the answers that might be questionable...

Even though I love the Judaica Bowl for what it honors, it also makes me a little sad. I can answer almost every question that is asked in the Bowl (aren't you glad...considering that I'm a rabbi!?) but I know that most of our campers don't know most of the answers. Sometimes this seems a little disappointing to me because I wish that our kids had a higher level of Jewish knowledge under their belts. Most of the kids who are on the teams are kids who attend day schools. On the one hand, this demonstrates the efficacy of these schools. On the other hand, does it illustrate a problem with our supplementary schools? I think the answer might be yes.

On the third hand (why not!?), most of our campers feel an incredible connection and spirit with and for the Jewish community. Watching them sing songs in Hebrew and celebrate Judaism here at OSRUI is hugely important. These are the kids who will feel a connection to Judaism for the rest of their lives.

But is it going to be enough?

Is it enough for our kids to grow up strongly connected but somewhat ignorant of Jewish law, custom, language? I know this is a struggle that so many Jews have felt thorughout the generations -- that their generation or their children's generation is growing up with less Yiddishkeit. I look at these kids and I know that Judaism is going to survive -- but will it be as strong and vibrant with less knowledge? These are the questions with which I struggle.

Today we had a guest speaker for our units that are studying the concept of heroes. We invited Neil Willenson, the founder of Camp Heartland, to come and speak about how he saw a need and met it with the creation of his camp for kids with HIV/AIDS. He was a great speaker and I really believe that he helped our kids to "get" what we've been talking about in terms of the reality of being a gibor, a hero. He also brought with him Nile Sandeen, the young man whose story of his own struggles with HIV inspired Neal to found the camp. The two of them made a powerful team in how they spoke to our campers. One of the reasons we brought Neil was because he is a Jewish hero, but I was glad that he was able to bring along Nile, who isn't Jewish, to talk about his own story. I think it was good to show the campers that heroes can be Jewish and also not, of course.

One other point...Neil brought up the story of Jackie Robinson. I have always heard tell of him as a hero for breaking the color barrier in baseball...but when Neil told the story, he offered me a slightly new perspective. Jackie Robinson was indeed a hero for what he did. But perhaps an even greater hero in the story is Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Dodgers who signed Robinson. After all, it was almost as difficult for Rickey to choose to bring in a "colored" player as it was for Robinson to take on the task. Interesting to think about who really is a hero.

Dispatch from Camp #3: Hero Mixes

Yesterday we made "hero mixes" -- which were snack mixes of various different food items to represent the different qualities of a hero. It's important to maintain a balance of ingredients in a recipe, just like it's important for a hero to have a balance of qualities. The kids really got into this activity and really understood the lesson. We threw in cinnamon red-hot candies as well, to signify the Yetzer Ha-Ra, the Evil Impulse within each of us, to illustrate and remind our campers of the question: Who is a hero? and the answer: The one who can overcome his evil inclination.

Construction Update! July 4, 2007

Check out these awesome pictures of the building as we begin the demoltion. You can see the courtyard, the auditorium (2 pics) and the old entry-way (to the left are the windows that used to be Sharon's, Ed's and my offices!)

Wow.

Dispatch from Camp #2: The Human Knot

Today was our first day of "Limudim" or educational programming. It is also the first "real" day of camp for our chanichim, our campers. We try not to beat them over the head with the idea of "learning" but rather make it all fun. Our theme is "heroes" and today we talked about the qualities that make a hero. Then we asked the kids to do various "challenge activities" that would require them to use some of the qualities of a hero. We started with the human knot, which I think is so much fun. In case you don't know what this is, you stand in a circle and have to grab the hands of someone across from you (not the same person for both hands) and then the whole group is "knotted up"....and then you have to, without letting go of hands, unknot the group back into a circle. It can be very tricky but also a lot of fun, and requires a lot of teamwork!

After this, we asked them to get themselves into birthday order without talking...and then human pyramids. All of this was a lot of fun and made for a lot of group bonding and lots of laughter! But through it all, I was so impressed that the kids really got the message that we were trying to teach them -- that heroic qualities are inherent in us all. We may not all be heroes, but we all have in us the capacity to do so.

I love seeing how, even after only one night, the campers seem like they've been here forever. There's no question that they're all having fun!

Dispatch from Camp #1

One of my favorite times of the year is the 2 weeks that I and my family spend at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Insitute in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. This camp is an incredible place, a living, breathing, Jewish community that speaks English laced with Hebrew, prays twice a day, sings boisterously, cheers and chants and laughs...while swimming, running, riding, and occasionally sleeping. It is a marvelous place for the campers, and also a marvelous place for my family to come each year.

As a rabbi, my job is to focus on the religious, spiritual, and educational life of the camp. There are many rabbis up here, each of us work with different units of differently aged children. I work with Kallah, the youngest unit. We are now in the second session of the summer, and we have 4th-7th graders in Kallah. Our group just arrived today and they are currently settling into their cabins as I type. Tonight they will eat dinner, share an evening tefillah (prayer service) and have a fun evening program...before falling exhausted into their newly chosen bunks.

Then tomorrow the fun really begins. We don't ease into things -- a full day awaits our campers tomorrow and I'm very excited for the beginning of our limudim, "study" program. Our topic for this session is Jewish heroes, and I look forward to seeing how the staff embraces our "shtick" -- the funny skits that help to make the lessons real to the campers (as well as entertaining). Part of tomorrow's limudim program involves human knots and pyramid building, so I'll make sure to bring my camera.

And then, of course, tomorrow night is our annual Independence Day celebration, complete with fireworks. Can't wait! Will tell this story tomorrow after the fun....

Driving with Religion?

The Vatican has issued a "ten commandments" for drivers.

Cars can be "instruments of sin" when used inappropriately, but the Vatican suggests that prayer is a good use for the car -- and it's a good idea to recite the rosary while driving.

Seriously, they are behind -- haven't they ever heard of a MitzvahMobile? This is a thing that Chabad has been using for a long time.

It does speak to the idea that any modern technology can be used for both good and ill. Internet? Good for connecting people, but has obvious downsides. Telephones? Work for calling those in need, but can be disruptive. Ipods? Can shut you out of the world but can also bring in holy music or oral teachings....and I could go on and on.

I find it interesting that the Vatican is looking for ways to integrate their religious teachings into "modern" life -- and that they started with the CAR, something that's been around for so long.

Summer Reading List

(also will be printed in the July KOL)
Last summer, I put together a summer reading list. While I’ve been a little busy this year (baby and all), I’ve still managed to find some interesting reading. By special request, here are some suggestions for your summer (or is that Sommer?) reading list:

Seven Days to the Sea: An Epic Novel of the Exodus by Rebecca Kohn – last year I suggested a number of books in the genre of biblical fiction. This is a new one, just out in March (but available in paperback), and a marvelous entry into the category. I couldn’t put down this retelling of the story from the perspective of both Miriam and Tzipporah (Moses’ wife) – and I already knew how the whole story ends! I found it to be a creative and fresh take on this ancient story.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz – a lovely little volume that my husband discovered this year. The four agreements themselves are simple (my favorite is “don’t take anything personally”) but it’s the explanation of how and why these are the four most important concepts that make the book a quick but potentially life-changing read.

My Monastery is a Minivan by Denise Roy – While this is not a Jewish book, I really enjoyed the parenting lessons and tales told by Denise Roy, a minister and psychotherapist (and mom of four). I found her stories to be heartwarming and also inspiring, as well as real-life. I never felt that the book was preachy although I definitely yearn to be the kind of mom who, like Roy, can actually find holiness in even the dirty kitchen floor. (I’m working on it!) (Her other book, Momfulness, was also a great little volume.)


Gonzo Judaism by Rabbi Niles Goldstein – an easy to read argument for the survival of Judaism in the 21st century. "Judaism, when presented in its best and most authentic light, doesn't coddle—it confronts,” says Goldstein. I really enjoyed reading this book which also seemed like a laundry list of some of the coolest and most creative things going on in the Jewish community in America today. Some of the ideas are worth integrating into your own practice or considering as ideas for our own synagogue.


There are so many great books out there – I look forward to hearing some of your favorites! Please share – email me at phylliss@amshalom.com (I definitely plan to curl up with the new Harry Potter book this summer but I’m sure I’ll find time to read something else too.)

Happy reading!!!

We have a new wall!

There's now a new wall at Am Shalom, the wall that will separate the sanctuary from the construction site that is going to be our building for the next 16 months or so. The wall is up so we can continue to use the sanctuary, and it's very nice. It makes the sanctuary lobby a little bit smaller, but very bright and nice to be in. Here are some pictures of the construction of the wall...

Look what's going on at the Temple!

Hard to believe how fast the construction has begun to move...we have signs, fences, and even our own construction equipment! It's very exciting and fun to see:

We have an incredibly beautiful stone relief carving that is a part of the front entrance of the building. It illustrates a quote from Micah: Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. This relief is going to be in the front entrance of our building when the construction is complete, as well, so to protect it and preserve it, it was removed from the wall and will be stored. I missed the moment of extraction (which I bet would have been awesome to see...) but here is the relief being prepared for storage as well as the hole in the wall where it used to be!

There's also a lot of packing and moving going on. Here are some images of what the temple looks like right now, full of boxes and with the lobby filled with various items...

Come by and see how the packing is going and walk through the halls one last time before construction begins in mid-June!

"Breaking Ranks" on Circumcision? Really?

In the Chicago Tribune this week, there was an interesting article, on the front page, no less, about how Jewish parents are "breaking ranks" and choosing not to circumcise their children.

This follows in the wake of some interesting medical news that circumcision actually prevents HIV, not to mention that it's been one of those on-going traditions for thousands of years.

But I found the article itself strange and confusing. I, as a rabbi, have done many a "bloodless bris," but I've never had a family who didn't choose circumcision -- most choose to do it in the hospital instead of in their home or synagogue ceremony. While I personally find this troubling (both of my boys had a mohel perform their brit milah in the synagogue), I understand the desire to do it in the hospital.

But the article made it seem like a real "movement." I haven't heard a lot of "movement" towards this. I'm always open to new traditions. But I'm not sure about this....what do you think?

Social Justice & Kashrut

I read an article many years ago in Moment Magazine (I believe by Dennis Prager, but I've never been able to find it again) that suggested that we need a new "brand" of Kashrut -- a hechsher (symbol of kosher certification) that indicated that the product was more than just merely adhering to one rabbi's (or one organization's) approval system. Instead, this article proposed a kind of kashrut that took into consideration the company's ethical behavior -- are they environmentally friendly? do they treat their workers well and with respect? do they make contributions to worthy causes? do they have a sense of community responsibility? All these questions would lead to some kind of "certification" that would be an indicator for those consumers who wanted their food and other products to fit with the very essence of "kosher" -- in its strictest sense meaning "fit or acceptable." What is acceptable and fit to me is very different than what was fit or acceptable in medieval times or even fifty years ago. I am very concerned about the kind of companies from which I buy and the kinds of food that my family eats. Is buying organic enough? There are even questions about this as the market for organics opens up -- do organic foods from Wal-Mart, a company whose practices and political beliefs I don't believe in, really fit the bill? Or do I need one more step, one more "kashering" of my food and other products?

An article in Saturday's New York Times explores these questions as it tells the story of Rabbi Allen of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Rabbi Allen is a conservative rabbi who has pushed the Rabbinic Assembly (the rabbinic organization for Conservative rabbis) to approve a "Conservative movement hechsher" under the term "hechsher tzedek" or "just certification." What a fabulous name for it! And what a fabulous idea.

Aside from the issues I wrote about above, I have also objected in principle to the hechsher system. The system is political and in many ways about money -- companies have to pay a mashgiach to come in and certify their production as kosher. Let's point out that these mashgichim are Orthodox rabbis who, for the most part, would not recognize my rabbinate as valid. With all this in mind, I am far more likely to read labels and buy organic or natural products that say "Vegetarian" or whatever else I'm looking for than to buy a hechshered item. I must also point out that I don't buy meat, partly because of all this. (oh, and by the way, the Orthodox kosher system is very much opposed to the Conservative movement's plan, go figure.)

So the idea of a Conservative hechsher is somewhat exciting to me because there are very few Conservative rabbis who wouldn't recognize me and my rabbinate! And while there are many ideological differences between me and the Conservative movement, we are far closer in our beliefs about this particular matter than I am to an Orthodox mashgiach who is certifying a factory without a care for how it treats its workers, only how it treats the cows it is slaughtering (ew).

I am proud of the Rabbinic Assembly for approving and Rabbi Allen for bringing this issue to them! I look forward to seeing the results as their plan moves forward.

What do you think? Would you buy a product if it were hechsher tzedek?

New Way to Find a Date?!

Check out this YouTube guy -- he really wants to meet a Jewish girl, and so he's posting it on YouTube to get a date!?

Just goes to show how hard the dating scene is. He's going to an awful lot of trouble...JDate might be simpler. Still, check it out.

Back to work!

Happy Mother's Day!


...and I'm back in the office starting Sunday, May 13th!

Great Jewish Children's Books

There's a wonderful organization called the PJ Library, which provides Jewish children's books on a monthly basis to children. It's not national yet, but working on it. The idea, however, is fantastic for parents and grandparents. One way to encourage Jewish life is to encourage Jewish reading.

This is a great way for long-distance grandparents to stay active in the Jewish lives of their grandchildren too. One idea is to buy 12 books, one per month, and send them out monthly with a little note to your grandchildren. Feeling ambitious? Record yourself reading them onto a CD (use your computer for this one) and tuck the CD into the book. Now you have a personalized audio book perfect for your grandchildren, and what a great heirloom for them to hold onto -- Bubbie or Grandpa's voice recorded!

Not sure where to start? Check out the PJ Library's websitefor their list, or see this Listmania List I put together on Amazon (you can just add the whole list to your shopping cart, and no, don't get any kickbacks).

Happy Reading!
(cross-posted on rabbiphyllis.blogspot.com)

Women Rabbis

I was honored this week to attend my first Women's Rabbinic Network Convention, held here in Chicago at the Allerton Hotel downtown. I say honored because it truly seemed like an honor to be able to share a few days with a whole group of my female colleagues. Although I was a little bit distracted by the presence of my baby, I still felt like I was a part of something incredible -- an opportunity to be with all those women who share not only my passions but my profession!

The Chicago Tribune covered the event (as did NPR, the week before, but I can't find the story online anywhere), with the following story:

As Rabbi Andrea Weiss discussed the book of Exodus, the female rabbis listening were captivated by the new lessons being taught.The Israelites' flight from Egypt is told using masculine imagery, Weiss said, with God as a manly warrior defeating the enemies of Israel. But after the Israelites cross the sea, Exodus tells miraculous stories of God feeding his people, raining manna from the heavens."This can be seen as the female image of God, providing food and drink," said Weiss, assistant professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

The provocative theological discussion, held this week at the Allerton Hotel in Chicago, offered a sneak peek into a new women's commentary on the Torah, the first comprehensive commentary written entirely by female rabbis and Jewish scholars."The Torah: A Women's Commentary," which URJ Press will publish in the fall, took more than a decade to produce and includes essays, commentaries and interpretations from more than 80 of the world's leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archeologists." This commentary is likely to open up a whole new conversation about gender," said Rabbi Hara Person, editor in chief of URJ Press. "With this, gender becomes another lens through which we can study the text."

"I think for a long time we've been left out," said Rachel Havrelock, professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a contributor to the groundbreaking project. "The purpose of this is to help women feel at home in our own faith."

The preview of the commentary was presented to more than 100 women from the United States and Israel at a conference of female rabbis. Judaism's Reform movement began ordaining women in 1972, and since then some 400 women have been ordained.

Read the rest here.

Today is....

May the FOURTH be with you always!

(get it?)

Earth Day Thoughts...a tiny bit late

My husband is always on me to recycle batteries. I know it's out there, he says, a way to recycle these chemically-laden bits of garbage. And he's right. Just today, we finally figured it out (without too much research, which probably would have been a quicker way to do it!) -- we saw an add for gcycle.org, which you should go to because their site is cute and a little bit funny. I entered my zipcode and found the address for Interstate All Battery Center in Libertyville, IL, near where I live. They will take all kinds of batteries and things. Hooray! Our little piece of tikkun olam is possible.

Other great places for earthy-type ideas:
Going Green 101 from Oprah
Coalition on Environment in Jewish Life
Jewish National Fund (plant trees in Israel)
The Green Book
The Green Guide from National Geographic

Happy Earth Day! (only a few weeks late. Hey, I have a new baby.)

Israeli Music is Great!

Today's New York Times had an interesting article about the music culture in Sderot.
Sderot is, of course, best known for weathering the most Qassam rockets in Israel, being right on the border with Gaza. The article talks about how more hit music groups have come out of this small town than almost anywhere in Israel. Notably, this year's entry from Israel in the annual Eurovision Song Contest comes from a Sderot group, Teapacks. The song was controversial because it has a political message. Some said that the Eurovision contest shouldn't have messages like that...my understanding of a lot of Israeli pop/rock is that most of it has political messages! So it might be hard to choose something without!!

To see the Teapacks video of their Eurovision song, click below. There's a way to click (on the right) for the lyrics to the song too. You decide if it's a political statement....

Happy Birthday Israel! (A tiny bit late)

Okay, so I'm a couple of days late to celebrate Israel's birthday. My son's school had birthday cake (always a favorite activity, right?) and the JUF Israel Solidarity Day/Walk with Israel is coming up in a week or so. So in honor of Israel's birthday, I share with you this beautiful song by Israeli singer Sarit Hadad. Did you know that YouTube is a great place to explore Israeli music? Who knew. Enjoy!

Our Thoughts are in Virginia....

A prayer, from ritualwell.org

Blessed are you, Source of Life,
Who helps us to bring Light
where there is darkness,
Healing where there is brokenness, and
Peace to all of the earth's inhabitants.

May it be so.

Busy Being Busy

This past week's New York Times ran an article entitled: "Too Busy to Notice You're Too Busy."

From the article, which cited from the book, CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap! Strategies for Handling Your Fast-Paced Life by Dr. Edward Hallowell:

• According to Dr. Hallowell, there are many (26 in his book) overlapping reasons we all fall into the trap of being overly busy. A few are:
• It is so easy with cellphones and BlackBerrys a touch away.
• It is a kind of high.
• It is a status symbol.
• We’re afraid we’ll be left out if we slow down.
• We avoid dealing with life’s really big issues — death, global warming, AIDS, terrorism — by running from task to task.
• We do not know how not to be busy.
  
  Not only are we constantly occupied, but we, as Americans, are also famous for not knowing how to be unoccupied.

I love nothing better than to spend Shabbat afternoon doing nothing with my family -- hanging out in the living room, having friends over, letting the kids run around and play. We recently spent a day with a family that really wanted to schedule all the events. Now don't get me wrong, I love a good schedule. In fact, I wake up most mornings with a little schedule growing in my brain. But I have learned that just inviting a friend over with no agenda or curling up on the couch with my son to read as many chapters as he wants with no time restraints is usually much more fulfilling for me than planning a family outing to a museum or zoo. Those things are fun, but certainly for us in moderation!

How do you handle these ideas in your own life? During the holiday of Passover, we spend a lot of time thinking about slavery and celebrating freedom. We say that we are free, but are we really free when we are merely "re-enslaved" to our phones and our computers, our pda's and our calendars? How many of our children have that precious "downtime" that we know is so good for their souls?

Having a new baby certainly requires a slowing down...things have to happen on her schedule, not on mine. And nursing a baby requires even more -- it's hard to multi-task beyond perhaps talking or watching tv, and it's about how long it takes her to eat, not how long I want it to take! Sure, I can nudge her into my schedule if I have to. But I know that ultimately, she is in charge, which can be a frustrating but also exhilarating experience. I think it's one of the blessings of maternity leave -- the world works at a completely different pace. It is certainly hard to let go of some of the things that I wish were happening, even so much as cleaning up the kitchen or doing laundry, but I know that at the end of the day, I'm doing such an important job... even if it is 6:15am as I type this, and the baby has decided that it's "awake time"!

A side note, I have been struggling with this busy phenomenon for some time now and I highly recommend one of my favorite books: Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry by Katrina Kenison... a lovely and eloquent book on slowing down family life.

Have you read Heeb Magazine?

If you haven't, I recommend checking it out. You can actually buy it at Borders (at least the one in Highland Park), and see it for yourself. But in the meantime, you can read this interesting article in yesterday's New York Times, about the Heeb tendency to parody ads for various "Jewish" products...

Sad News ... Missing Girls Found Dead

Sadly, the two girls reported missing have been found dead. (See post below)

Read the story here.

May their memories be for a blessing.

Missing Jewish Girls -- Amber Alert

**MISSING RACHEL SMITH & RACHEL CRITES**

Rachel Smith, from North Potomac, Maryland, along with her friend Rachel Crites, have been missing since Friday, January 19, 2007. They were going to a movie in Georgetown on Friday afternoon and haven't been seen since. Rachel Smith, who is currently a junior at Wootten High School, also ran track last year. She is 5'1" tall and weighs about 118 lbs. She has green eyes and medium-length brown hair (the photo below is a fairly current one of her). Rachel Smith is 16 years old. Her mom, Marian, is a preschool teacher at B'nai Tzedek. Marian just learned today that the last phone call she received from her daughter on Friday afternoon was actually traced to a cell tower in Charlestown, WV -- so the girls could be anywhere at this point.

They were last known to be travelling in a dark blue Subaru Outback Station Wagon with a black cargo box on the roof. The license plate number is MD: MBJ 485. Anyone who has any knowledge of where these girls might be or has seen the vehicle, please call Montgomery County Police ASAP at 301/279-8000 or 240-773-5400 or call 911.

BlueStar PR

BlueStar PR is a not-for-profit organization that creates some really great posters helping the Israeli PR cause. (Which, as we all know, has not really been one of Israel's strengths!)

See poster at right for an example. Interestingly, BlueStar lets people comment on the posters, and this particular one drew a lot of ire as being "subjective." My favorite comment was the one that using the term "valued" was a cultural choice -- that Arab cultures value their women just as much as other cultures, it just shows up differently. I think that I find this claim to be a little bit (?) unbelievable -- honor killings don't really count as "valuing" women, imho.

Anyway, check out their site and you can download any of their great posters to hang anywhere you'd like! I wish there was a way to download the whole set at once...

Working Mom/Stay Home Mom?

Today's Oprah show was all about the topic of working moms vs. stay-at-home moms. Frankly, it all comes down to guilt -- how do we all really feel about the choices that we make in our lives? I thought it was so interesting to watch the different moms judge each other -- why can't we all just get along? It seems like each mom, even the ones who claim to be completely secure with their own lives, feels a need to judge the choices of other moms.

Click here to read the poll that the Oprah website conducted.

Some interesting statistics:
Stay at home moms -- 62% of their moms worked outside the home
Working moms -- 68% of their moms worked outside the home

Wouldn't you have thought there might be some difference? I would have.

When asked if stay-home moms get the respect they deserve, BOTH kinds of moms overwhelmingly (85%) said NO. So why aren't they all being respectful of each other!?

I find the whole thing to be incredibly interesting...what do you think?

Stop the Genocide! Is it working?

Nicholas Kristof is one of my favorite op-ed writers at the New York Times. He has been writing about conditions in Africa for quite some time now, and I was so touched by his column yesterday, that I share it with you here now. So many people wonder if their actions really matter. I think that Kristof answers the question with a resounding "yes." I certainly hope that our students and others who have participated in various efforts to raise money and awareness feel the same way. (I'm posting the whole thing because you'd need to login to the NY Times for the whole thing.)

Genocide may be the worst of crimes, but historically it has also brought out the best in some people.

The Raoul Wallenbergs of 2007 speckle America and the globe. And I don’t just ean the aid workers — 13 of whom have been murdered for their efforts in Darfur since ast May — but also those ordinary Americans who have united in a grass-roots campaign to try to stop genocide half a world away in Sudan.

President Bush and other world leaders have dropped the ball on Darfur. But that vacuum of moral leadership has been filled by university students, churches and temples, celebrities like George Clooney and Mia Farrow, and armies of schoolchildren.

Their arsenal — green armbands, phone calls to the White House, bake sales to raise money — all seem pallid. How can a “Save Darfur” lawn sign in Peoria intimidate government-backed raiders in Sudan or Chad who throw babies into bonfires? Yet, finally, we see evidence that those armbands and lawn signs can make a difference. Last week, the Save Darfur Coalition — the grass-roots organization that puts out those lawn signs — sponsored a trip by Bill Richardson, the New Mexico governor, to Khartoum to negotiate with President Omar al-Bashir.

Sure, it’s a little weird when a private advocacy group undertakes freelance diplomacy. But if George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Hu Jintao twiddle their thumbs, then more power to the freelancers.

Mr. Richardson worked out a joint statement in which Sudan agreed to a 60-day cease-fire to allow peace talks to resume, provided the Darfur rebels go along as well. Mr. Bashir also agreed that Sudan would prosecute rapes and stop painting its military aircraft to look as if they belong to the U.N.

The first thing to say is that Mr. Bashir has repeatedly broken his pledges in the past. Count me deeply skeptical about whether it will be any different this time. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, a Sudanese human rights campaigner, told me he thinks that President Bashir simply made cosmetic concessions in hopes of winning the chairmanship of the African Union later this month.

That said, there may be a path forward here. While U.N. peacekeepers and a no-fly zone are needed, ultimately the only way to end the slaughter is to achieve a peace agreement in Darfur. And that seems more feasible today than it was a week ago.
Most striking, it’s clear that the cease-fire was a consequence of all those armbands
and lawn signs. Mr. Richardson told me that Mr. Bashir was motivated by concern at the way the killings have been spotlighted by Darfur activists. Mr. Richardson quoted him as saying, “These guys have caused me a lot of damage.”

Ken Bacon, who heads Refugees International and accompanied Mr. Richardson, said of President Bashir: “One thing that was very clear was that the Save Darfur movement has gotten under his skin. The vilification of the Khartoum regime in columns and editorials and ads is making a difference.”

So cherish this historical moment. The long record of genocide is one overwhelmingly of acquiescence, but this time ordinary citizens are trying to write a different
ending. There are the students at Santa Clara University in California who replicated a mini refugee camp and slept in it. They limited themselves to 1,000 calories a day — because that’s what Darfuris are limited to — and donated the savings to aid groups.

Or there’s Jason Miller, a California M.D./Ph.D student who in his spare time has become the foremost expert on how investments by foreign companies underwrite the Sudanese genocide. Or Beth Reilly, a stay-at-home mom in Indiana who works on Darfur a little bit every day. Or the legions of schoolkids who organize car washes, and ask for donations in lieu of birthday presents, in hopes of saving other children halfway around the globe.

Sudan’s leaders are used to bullying everyone. Jan Pronk, who was the United Nations envoy in Sudan until Khartoum ejected him, reports in his Weblog that a U.N. official recently went to the authorities in Darfur to complain about human rights violations. A Sudanese official retorted: “You better shut up. We can always expel you, as we have proven.”

But finally President Bashir is confronting people whom he can’t bully. Let’s have no illusions about how much more pressure will be necessary to stop the slaughter, but let’s also celebrate this moment. Mr. Bashir has blinked, showing that it just may be
possible to fight genocide with moral courage and lawn signs.

You can read more from Nicholas Kristof at his blog: "On the Ground."

Reform Judaism on PBS

The Religious Action Center (RAC)'s 100-Hour Agenda initiative is going strong! Between now and the President’s State of the Union address on January 23, the 110th Congress will vote on many pieces of legislation of vital importance to the Reform Jewish Movement.

Reform Jewish leaders went to Capitol Hill this week and presented Members of Congress with the RAC’s Agenda on issues including the minimum wage and stem cell research.

A film crew from PBS’s ”Religion & Ethics Newsweekly” shadowed the delegation. The 30-minute program is scheduled to air this weekend, and we encourage you to see the RAC in action (subject, of course, to changes over which we have no control)!

Check www.pbs.org/religion for your local station and time (press “refresh” if it doesn’t work when you first load the page).

Be part of the Reform Movement’s prophetic tradition of speaking truth to power. Learn what you can do by going to www.rac.org for legislative information, insights from our Jewish values, and policy positions adopted by the Reform Movement.

Cool Facts about Israel

Check this out!

A Safer Way to Fly?

This is what we've all been waiting for, of course. I knew there was something that would make air travel safer, didn't you? (from Ynetnews 12.28.06)

Israir Airlines introduces 'Sky-Torah'

Israir Airlines will soon become the first airline to maintain an authentic Torah scroll on board its aircraft. The "Sky-Torah," handwritten according to Jewish custom by a professional Jewish Scribe especially for the airline, is the first of its kind.

The Torah will enhance the prayers of those who are in the skies, praying in the closest place to God in the world.

Keeping a traditional Torah scroll on an aircraft is the idea of Rabbi Shlomo Elharar, Chief Rabbi of Colombia, South America. After years of hard work towards this dream, the Torah is finally ready to be installed permanently on board one of Israir's aircraft.

The Torah will be completed December 27 in Aventura, Florida, and will be escorted to JFK Airport in New York for a welcome celebration, and then to Israel.

The Torah will be welcomed on its way to Israel with a grand celebration in JFK Airport, Terminal four. The Torah will be carried under a traditional "chuppah," with singing, dancing, live music, children and important Rabbis and dignitaries in attendance.

The Torah is dedicated to the Chief Rabbi of Colombia and to the fallen soldiers of Israel, and those still in captivity.

Established in 1996, Israir Airlines is the second largest airline in Israel. Its elite fleet of Boeing 767-300 and 757-200 aircraft offers international flights between Israel and New York, the Mediterranean and Europe, as well as domestic flights between Ben Gurion and Eilat.

What do you think!?

I want a Job action figure!!!

I thought this was a pretty funny article to read in the Business section of the newspaper:

The "crazy, crazy Jewish fun" of Kosherland looks a lot like the board game Candy Land, except gefilte fishing substitutes for visits to the Ice Cream Sea.

In Catholic-opoly, like Monopoly, the job is to bankrupt your opponents. The difference is it's done "in a nice, fun way."

And role-playing can get pretty realistic with the Biblical Action Figure of Job, which comes complete with boils.

Read the rest here.

"complete with boils"!?!?

Why deny the Holocaust?

It's such an interesting question. For me, the whole idea of Holocaust denial is just so ridiculous that I don't really have rational ideas about the whole thing. But the very title of this article made me think -- why would it even occur to someone to want to deny the Holocaust?

From an article by Caroline Glick, entitled "Why Deny the Holocaust?" (appeared in the Jerusalem Post)

There is something terribly confusing about Iran's penchant for denying the Holocaust. Given Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's stated desire to see Israel wiped off the map, it would seem more reasonable for Iran to be celebrating the Holocaust than denying it.

Such a good point, isn't it? Why don't they just "celebrate" the death of Jews, rather than say it never happened!? Glick continues:

But Ahmadinejad is slicker than that. He embraces not the Holocaust but the nation that pulled it off. In his August missive to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he referred to the German nation as "a great contributor to progress in science, philosophy, literature, the arts and politics" who have had a "positive influence in international relations and the promotion of peace." These lines of course are open to interpretation. He could be referring to Goethe and Schiller and he could be referring to Heidegger and Goebbels. So why is the guy who is gunning for a new Holocaust belittling the last one?

First of all, by doing so he empowers those Germans and friends of Germany who carried it out. By denying the Holocaust Ahmadinejad turns the Nazis into victims and so provides a space for them to express themselves after a 60-year silence. Indeed, in Germany neo-Nazism is a burgeoning political and social force that proudly parades its links to Iran.

Read the rest of the article.

What do you think?

Need a Last Minute Chanukah Gift?

Try...charity checks. Let them choose the charity, you choose the amount.

Happy Chanukah!

A Bissel of Chanukah Fun

Madness of Holocaust Denial

An entire conference devoted to "debunking" the Holocaust. Can someone please explain to me how this even can be explained!? This is sheer madness.

Read about it here: in the New York Times.

P.S. Deborah Lipstadt, who has made a big name for herself arguing with Holocaust deniers, will be our JUF Brunch speaker at Am Shalom this coming April. I'm sure she'll have something incredible to say about this scary nonsense in Iran.

Gay Pride in Jerusalem

I was pretty shocked to hear how far the Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem would go to try and stop the Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem. I was pleased to read this article that said things happened in relative calm. But I was pretty appalled by how it all sounded on NPR today. Can't we all just get along!?

Go Disney!

How often have you gone to the grocery store with your kids and had them say: "mom, can we buy this?" -- and "this" is some crazy (unhealthy) thing they'd never eat and you'd never buy...except it has Buzz Lightyear or that character from Cars on it!? This happens to me all the time. Usually the food item is completely unhealthy and I would never buy it but sometimes I succumb.

Thank you, Disney, for your announcement that you will no longer put your name on unhealthy food...! See this story in today's New York Times to read more.

P.S. Did you know that you don't have to buy the food at McDonald's to get the toys? You can JUST buy the toys. I think we never have to eat McDonald's again...the toys are only $1.00 when purchased separately! What a revelation.