Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on December 6, 2019

Fascinatingly, a parallel concept exists in science, known as the wave function collapse.Contrary to common sense, quantum mechanics has shown that matter and atoms can exist in several states at one and the same time. For example, we now know that sub atomic particles move clockwise and counter clockwise simultaneously. Yes strange it is, but it is today the prevailing notion in modern physics.But here is the catch: When a person observes the atoms, they collapse all the states and the atom settles into one state of being. That is why when we observe an object we only see it in one state, because our observation of it defines its reality.This is one of the most exciting, perplexing, and extraordinary ideas in modern physics. As it turns out, the Rogatchover Gaon, who passed away in 1936, sees the origin of the idea in the Talmud.The TreeWe have another illustration of this in the Talmud. This case concerns a tree on a boundary line where two property owners claim ownership. The roots of the tree are exactly on the boundary line. Who owns the tree? Shmuel says, split it in half between the neighbors. Rav disagrees. He says that would be unfair. As in his mind, the roots of the tree on the border is in a limbo-state and is not owned by anyone of them. So what do you do? He says this: The direction that the branches of the tree lean is dispositive of who it belongs to. If some branches lean toward one neighbor, he owns them. The branches leaning in the other direction belong to the person living in that direction. Wherever the limbo state leans, there it will be placed.

Jonahs StrategySo Jonah is living in this limbo city, not fully in Israel not fully out. G-d shows up one day giving him this mission that he does not want. He is afraid that the gentiles will listen, and it will cast the Jewish nation in a terrible light. What to do?Jonah knew he could not run from G-d. But he also realized that, being that Tzidon is a city in limbo as far as Jewish law is concerned, if he decides to run to outside of Israel, he collapses the limbo state and the city becomes a non-Israel cityfor him. So powerful is mans choice in Judaism that it can actually determine the statutes of a city in limbo. So too, Jonah collapsed the limbo state of Tzidon by deciding to leave Israel, and hence the city of Sidon has not become a route taking him outside of Israel.That is why the opening of Jonah states: And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from before the Lord. It does not say that he fled. It says that he arose to flee. What mattered here was his intention. He decided to leave from Sidon to Africa (Tarshish). As soon as his intention turned towards outside Israel, the city became non-Israel, and as a result, he was not considered a prophet since he was effectively not in Israel when he heard the voice. He was not a prophet once the limbo city was collapsed in favor of outside Israel!What then did G-d do? G-d sent a storm and whale to fetch Jonah back. Once the fish spit him out in the waters of the land of Israel, it turned out that Jonahs original destination when he boarded the ship in Jaffe was ISRAEL. Sidon, it turned out, was not a starting point to leave Israel, rather it was a route taking him ultimately back to Israel. Thus, retroactively Sidon became Israel, and he had the obligation to carry out the mission and message to the people of Ninveh, which he did effectively.

The Message of repentanceThe Baal Shem Tov says: You are where your thoughts are. You are where your desire is. Do not underestimate the meaning of these words. If I am in a terrible, or not such terrible, lowly state, but I want to get out of it, then I am not in a lowly state any longer, even though I am technically still there.It is not about where you are, but where you want to be. I may be suffering from addiction; from anger; insecurity; dejection; fear; or so many other difficult emotions. Granted. But at the end of the day what counts is where I want to be. If I want to be elsewhere, then I am elsewhere.We often find ourselves on borders. We can go either here or there. Really every moment of our life we are standing on the border between truth and falsehood, holiness and profanity, good and evil, functionality or dysfunction, happiness or depression, connected to G-d, or disconnected, shallow or deep, real or fake. We get frustrated because we cant define our state of being. We wish for more clarity.Comes the story of Jonah and states that it all depends on your desire and intention. If your intention is truth, that is where you are. As we prepare for Yom Kippur we get in touch with a basic truth. G-d does not care so much about your spiritual bank account, how much youve saved up in your 401k. He simply cares about where you are intent on going. Are you moving closer or moving farther. Everything else is a weather report.The Rebbe Reb Yosef Yitzchak, as a child, was once standing in his class room, gazing outside. His beloved teacher, Rashbatz, told him a few words that stayed with him:It is far better to be on the outside looking wistfully in, then on the inside looking wistfully out.Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetian Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit http://www.JewishLHP.com.

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The Wave Function Collapse - Observer Newspaper Online

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Posted By admin on December 6, 2019

A rabbi in Connecticut was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a former student at his yeshiva.Rabbi Daniel Greer, 79, the founding rabbi of the Yeshiva of New Haven, was sentenced on Monday. He is appealing the verdict.Judge Jon Alander ordered Greer to begin serving his sentence immediately rather than allowing him to remain free on bond during the appeals process, saying he is a substantial flight risk due to his age, Connecticut Public Radio reported.The Talmud teaches that there is hope for a man who is capable of being ashamed, Alander said in announcing the sentence. It is my hope that someday you will truly feel ashamed for your actions and thereby embark on the road to redemption.Eliyahu Mirlis, 31, of New Jersey, accused the rabbi of raping and sexually molesting him hundreds of times from 2001 to 2005 when he was a minor and a student at the religious boarding school headed by the rabbi.Greer was found guilty in Connecticut Superior Court on four felony counts in October.In May 2017, a federal jury in a civil lawsuit ordered Greer and the Yeshiva of New Haven to pay Mirlis $15 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.Greer, who was an activist on behalf of Soviet refuseniks, has served on the New Haven police commissioners board and as a chairman of the citys Redevelopment Agency.

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Connecticut rabbi, 79, sentenced to 20 years in jail for sexually assault - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on December 6, 2019

Rabbi Israel and Esther Becker of Congregation Chofetz Chayim will celebrate 40 Years of Torah Growth Together with an on-line fund-raising campaign on Sunday and Monday, Dec. 8 and 9, and a 40th-anniversary dinner on the last night of Chanukah, Sunday, Dec. 29, at 5 p.m. at the synagogue.

Married in 1973, the Beckers arrived in Tucson in 1979. Even when we were dating, Esther and I shared a dream of outreach to move out of town and inspire Jews that otherwise would not be reached, says Becker.

After high school, Becker dedicated his next 13 years to Torah study at the Rabbinical Seminary of America/Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens, New York, including three years at the seminarys Jerusalem branch. He received ordination from the Rabbinical Seminary of America and from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the late chief rabbi of the State of Israel. While in New York, Esther worked for Brooklyn College and Equitable Life as a computer programmer and analyst to support her husband and young family.

Following his ordination, Becker was approached with the idea of starting a synagogue on Long Island. At the same time, he learned of an opportunity to start a synagogue in Tucson. Esther said, Long Island is New York. Our vision is to go out of town and make an impact. Tucson is out of town. Lets go for it.

Becker drove across the country with his fathers Sefer Torah, which had been discovered by an American soldier in the ruins of a Berlin synagogue.

The congregations first Shabbos service was held in their home. Soon the Beckers rented their first building for $160 a month. The place became known as the barbershop shul because for many years the space had been a barbershop, Esther recounts. Before holding our first service, we swept hair off the floor. Once during services, a leaky water pipe filled one womans purse with water.

Despite these quirks, in a short time, Jews of all ages and backgrounds began to participate and we were a congregation, she says.

In May 1980 Chofetz Chayim moved to 5720 E. Fifth St, and in the summer of 1984, to its current location at 5150 E. Fifth St., carrying the Torah in a procession that included future Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild.

Becker began teaching a weekly Torah class upon arrival in Tucson. For the last decade, the class has been called Biblical Breakthroughs, he notes. People tell me that when they come to the class, their whole week has changed.

The couple established The Southwest Torah Institute in 1986 to make Jewish learning approachable and exciting for everyone. Classes were open to all Jews regardless of background or affiliation, Becker relates.

Although Becker is the longest-serving rabbi in the history of the Tucson Jewish community, the Beckers often have struggled for financial security. At one point, Becker called his mentor, the late Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz, who was the rosh yeshiva, or head, of the Queens seminary. I said, Were finished. Its over. The rosh yeshiva asked, Are you closed or are you open? You are not closed until you are closed. His encouragement strengthened us to persevere. His unwavering trust in Hashem inspired us to strive to follow his example, not to be overwhelmed by our challenges, but to calmly ponder each issue and come to the appropriate solution.

Help came from an unexpected source.

One summer when Esther was visiting her parents in Brooklyn, one of the children needed to see a doctor. In conversation with the pediatrician, Esther spoke about our programs in Tucson. The doctor called his receptionist and ordered, Hold all the patients. I must hear this. The doctor told Esther, You are doing what we all should be doing. Ive got to meet your husband the next time he visits New York, Becker says.

After meeting the rabbi, the doctor arranged a fundraising parlor meeting in his basement. Rabbi Amos Bunim, a noted community activist and author, shared the accomplishments of the Southwest Torah Institute that he had personally witnessed. Becker recalls, At the end of the meeting, I could hear people tearing checks out of their checkbooks and we raised $15,000 that night. The meeting at the doctors house was a turning point for us, revealing that Jews outside of Tucson valued our outreach efforts and were willing to support us. In addition to our backers from within Tucson, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, I developed a network of donors in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Baltimore to help sustain us during those formative years.

At another fundraising presentation in New York, Becker met philanthropist Naomi Adir, whose donations, matched by donors in Tucson, led to the payoff of the synagogues mortgage in 1994.

Over the decades, the Beckers outreach efforts continued to expand. In addition to teaching adults, Becker taught children at Tucson Hebrew Academy, the Tucson Jewish Community Center, and the synagogues own preschools.

With children, I focused on concepts of mutual respect, gratitude, the joy of being Jewish, and developing a personal relationship with G-d. I reached out through stories and songs with my guitar Simcha, says Becker, who often created his own lyrics to teach various concepts.

In the 1990s, Becker extended his teaching in partnership with the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation. Those were beautiful years, he remembers. We had Shabbatons and classes and events which were life-changing for many students. Many who had never previously seen a Shabbos table were moved to shape their vision of Shabbos observance. Two students met for the first time at our Shabbaton and later they got married.

Once, a sergeant at Davis Monthan Air Force Base responded to a newspaper ad for a Talmud class. He had grown up in Long Island, without much spirituality in his background. He enrolled in numerous classes and became a regular at our Shabbos table and at Chofetz Chayim, the rabbi says. Through Esthers late brother and her sister-in-law in Silver Spring, Maryland, they arranged an introduction to a young woman. The couple fell in love over the telephone and when the young man flew to Silver Spring, they got engaged that weekend. Today they are raising a beautiful Jewish family.

Beginning in 1995, Becker taught in the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. In recognition of his impact, he received the 1996 Community Professional of the Year award from the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, which never before had been given to a rabbi. A group of students asked to continue learning after completing the two-year Melton program, and our long-lasting Southwest Torah Institute Enlightenment Series began, he says.

Rabbi and Esther have been a true blessing to our community, says Stuart Mellan, JFSA president and CEO. Driven by the purest mission to inspire a love of Judaism and Jewish living, they have inspired so many of us through their teaching, through their personal commitments, and their many kindnesses.

It is said that words from the heart enter the heart, and that surely captures the teachings of Rabbi and Esther Becker. Their devotion, dedication, and commitment to opening hearts and minds have enabled those fortunate enough to have been their students or congregants to develop a deeper and richer understanding of the beauty of Judaism, adds Amy Hirshberg Lederman, who founded and directed Tucsons Melton school.

In 2001, Becker was nominated for the prestigious Covenant Award, which honors exceptional Jewish educators in North America.

Also in 2001, he created Tucsons Spirit Program, an ongoing outreach program for Jewish men and boys featuring visiting scholars from Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim, his alma mater.

In 2018, with the leadership of a student congregant and in conjunction with the Federation, he brought two rabbis and 12 yeshiva students from the Foxman Torah Institute in Cherry Hill, New Jersey to Tucson for three weeks of free Torah learning for men and women in a program called, The Connection.

While raising a family and working full-time in the computer industry, Esther began teaching women individually and at Rosh Chodesh dinners. In 1997, she began teaching full-time at the Southwest Torah Institute. Grants from the Avi Chai Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona led to founding the Womens Academy for Jewish Studies.

Since 2004, one of the Womens Academy hallmarks has been an annual community-wide womens book brunch in the High Holiday season.

The Beckers worked for nine years to build the Perach Yisroel (Flower of Israel) Community Mikveh, which opened in 2003 for all Jewish women, with an interior by an award-winning local design firm Lori Carol and Associates. We wanted to create a dignified, five-star facility that women look forward to using, Esther says.

In September 2014, Chofetz Chayim dedicated a new Torah written in Israel, with 150 people attending the celebration.

Earlier this year, Becker made history by creating the Tucson Eruv Project, the first official demarcation of sanctified private space within the city. It allows for carrying objects within its boundary on Shabbat and other Jewish holy days. This comes after several years of painstakingly detailed work in conjunction with Tucson Electric Power and Southwest Energy Solutions, he says, noting that among others, the eruv benefits young families and those who need to carry medication or use walkers or canes.

The Beckers currently teach over 100 students weekly, via individual, group and online classes, and lead periodic Israel journeys. The rabbi produces a weekly Torah Energizer, a short video exposition of the weekly Torah portion delivered by email, with 443 episodes to date. New programs include Power Talmud, a nightly study group for men, and a weekly Hebrew class for women. In addition to Shabbat and holiday services and community events, the synagogue holds daily minyans and bar mitzvah and bat Torah training.

Our outreach efforts have been assisted by the help and creativity of congregants and students, which could not have happened without generous financial support from within the synagogue and the extended Tucson Jewish community, Becker says, expressing thanks to all who have worked with them for our first 40 years. One student recently digitized 169 class cassette recordings, which will soon be available via the Tucson Torah website. Another congregant is transcribing all of the Torah Energizers into book form.

The Beckers point to their parents as exemplars of Jewish outreach. Both of our sets of parents were leaders in the community, always displaying a tremendous amount of acceptance and love, Esther says. Beckers parents were Holocaust survivors and he grew up speaking Yiddish.

The Beckers raised nine children here. We were very blessed, the rabbi says. We included our children in our outreach activities. The life of our family and the life of our children was the life of the community. They developed a love of every Jew while growing up here in Tucson.

Rabbi and I look at ourselves as simple messengers for the community. The people of Tucson are really special, Esther adds.

To participate in the fundraising campaign, visit http://www.causematch.com/en/projects/tucsontorah-2019 or call Esther Becker at 591-7680 to make a pledge that can be paid over time. Either way, matching donors will quadruple donations. To RSVP for the 40th-anniversary dinner, visit http://www.tucsontorah.org. For more information, contact Jeff DuBois at 248-8663 or [emailprotected].

Cheryl Toff is a Tucson Jewish community volunteer. AJP Executive Editor Phyllis Braun contributed to this article.

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Beckers celebrate '40 Years of Torah Growth' - Jewish Post

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Posted By admin on December 6, 2019

Moshe Holtzberg, who was orphaned in the Mumbai Chabad center massacre that took the lives of his parents 11 years ago this week, was called to the Torah for the first time in his hometown of Afula, Israel, on Shabbat and celebrated his bar mitzvah on Sunday evening at a gala affair in Kfar Chabad, surrounded by friends and family, including the grandparents who raised him and the nanny who saved his life.

During the celebration, Moshe delivered the classic Chassidic discourse recited at Chabad bar mitzvahs, flanked by his grandfathers, who along with Moshe were then hoisted onto the shoulders of members of the cheering crowd. Smiling ear to ear, Moshe also danced to the musical performance of Simche Friedman and was serenaded soulfully by entertainers Motty Steinmetz, Ishay Ribo and Avraham Fried.

Later in the evening, a stirring video was played showing Moshe at the gravesites of his parents on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, voicing a pledge to them to walk in their footsteps.

The couple, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, were murdered along with four of their guests at the Nariman (Chabad) House they directed in terrorist attacks that swept through Mumbai beginning Nov. 26, 2008. More than 170 people in all were killed in the widely publicized attacks that spanned several locations in the city. The bullet-ridden and otherwise thoroughly ravaged multi-story Chabad institution was refurbished and then reopened in 2014 by Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries Rabbi Israel and Chaya Kozlovsky in their predecessors memory.

Relatives were keeping the festivities mostly private, but made a public request for pictures and stories of the many children who were named for Gabi and Rivky in the aftermath of their demise, and planned to present a bound volume to Moshe, containing what they receive, as a bar mitzvah gift. The organizers really appreciate participants cooperation and wish nachas [pleasure] and only joy to all, the family said in a statement.

Moshe has grown up with more visibility than most boys his age due to the widely publicized deaths of his parents in the line of duty and the dramatic story of his own rescue. A two-day siege of the center was witnessed via international cable broadcasts and television.

After the tragedy, Moshe moved to Israel to live with his maternal grandparents, Rabbi Shimon and Yehudit Rosenberg of Afula, who were joined at the celebration by the bar mitzvah boys paternal grandparents, Rabbi Nachman and Freida Holtzberg of New York.

He was in the limelight again last January when he traveled to Mumbai for the first time since the terrorist attacks, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to help unveil a memorial exhibit honoring the Holtzbergs.

On the occasion of the bar mitzvah, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a letter of congratulations, saying: As you make this important transition and cross a significant landmark in the journey of life, the courage of [nanny] Sandra [Samuel] and prayers of the people of India will continue to bless you for a long, healthy and successful life. In addition, he received congratulatory notes from Netanyahu and from U.S. President Donald Trump.

In other ways, Moshe has led the life of a typical youngster within the Chabad Chassidic movement in Israel. His days are spent learning Torah, Talmud, halachah and Chassidic texts, particularly the teachings of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, and regularly takes part in his yeshivahs mivtzoim programs, going out with classmates to inspire and enable others to do mitzvahs, like putting on tefillin.

Like his peers, Moshe diligently immersed himself in preparations for his bar mitzvah over the past year. As per Chabad tradition, the addition of a Chassidic discourse is learned, often memorized and then presented at the bar mitzvah. First recited by Rabbi Shalom Dovber Schneerson, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe, at his own bar mitzvah in the 1870s, the mystical treatise among other points talks about how Gd himself in a figurative sense does mitzvahs in response to every mitzvah performed by a Jew akin to putting on tefillin. It includes the idea that while inside the tefillin of a Jew the oneness of Gd is declared through inclusion of the Shema prayer, the so-called tefillin of Gd declares the oneness of the Jewish nation.

His classmates from the Torah school in Migdal HaEmek, where Moshe studies, traveled in a specially hired bus on Sunday to attend the bar mitzvah party, said Rabbi Asi Harel, a father of one of the boys. It took place in Kfar Chabad in the big banquet hall because everything, rightly so, they do for Moshe is big, he told Chabad.org.

More festivities were planned for Monday afternoon at the Western Wall plaza with live music, dancing and further celebration.

Flanked by the grandfathers who helped raise him, Moshe recites the traditional Chassidic bar mitzvah discourse.

It appears that in his studies and his general demeanor, despite his traumatic beginnings, Moshe takes after his father, a two-time elementary-school champion at memorizing sections of the Mishna and second-place winner of an international talmudic competition held in Jerusalem during his high school years.

I dont know him that well, but I see in shul that he is a very well-behaved and well-educated child, said Rabbi Eliav Benattar, who co-directs Chabad on Campus in the Jezreel Valley with his wife, Devorah, and lives in Afula. You can see that he inherited a lot from his parents, who should be remembered with a blessing.

In many ways, Moshe has led the life of a typical youngster within the Chabad movement in Israel.

The festivities were shown on a screen outside the packed banquet hall. More festivities were planned for Monday afternoon at the Western Wall plaza, with live music, dancing and further celebration. (Photo: Dovid Sugar)

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Orphaned in Mumbai, Moshe Holtzberg Celebrates His Bar Mitzvah - Family and friends gathered in Israel on Sunday night for a gala affair - Chabad.org

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Posted By admin on December 6, 2019

The Question:

A Jew is at the doors of the next world, wavering between trust in Gd that he will somehow recover, and acceptance of the inevitability of his passing. He feels that if he continues with optimism, the faith of his children will be shaken when he succumbs, and he writes for my advice.

Forget the doctors prognosis. Hold onto unwavering bitachon (trust)the certainty that it will all be revealed goodand at the same time embrace whatever may come with love. Your children will be inspired and proud of such a father. With the help of the One Above, they will lead their lives in the same way.

I know that seems paradoxical, but it is the formula by which our people has survived for ages. As Jews, bound up with the divine, we are expected to live, even to thrive, on the razors edge of paradox.

Now allow me to back up a bit:

This is how the human being becomes old: He may start his life as an optimist, and he may achieve much success due to his optimism. But then, there are always failures.

Failures are painful. The human organism stores that pain in memory. Instinctively, it does whatever it can to avoid revisiting that pain. And one easy way to do that is by preparing for failure. Simply because, that way, you can always say, I figured this would happen! and the failure hurts somewhat less.

But its a cheap, losers strategy. That trepidation accumulates until it becomes a thick, entangling carpet under your wheels, thwarting any impetus forward. Eventually, you find yourself locked to the ground by your own fears. And then comes the ultimate surrender.

A better strategy is to always move forward with confidence. If things dont work out as you hoped and expected, then embrace your new situation as an even better outcomeso much better that the good it contains stands beyond your limited vision.

With such an attitude, you succeed far more often and remain forever young, all the way until the very last breath.

Heres a story, told in the Talmud, to recall whenever ominous clouds stand overhead:

When King Chizkiah (Ezekiah) fell ill, Isaiah the prophet came to visit him. But rather than console him, he announced a heavenly decree: He was to die in this world and he would not receive a share in the World to Come.

Isaiah, countered the king. Cease your prophecy and leave! So have I received from my ancestor David: Even as a sharp sword rests upon your neck, do not refrain from pleading for divine mercy.

Then he turned to the wall and began to pray from the innermost of his heartand he lived another 15 glorious years.

True prayer requires faith. And a faithful prayer must conclude with confidence and trust that the One to whom the prayer was addressed will answer in the very best way. Even when the decree is signed and sealed and the cold blade of a sharp sword lies over your neck, time can be turned back and the entire universe can be reordered through the power of one sincere prayer.

Really, its beyond faith. Faith is when, despite all that you know and see, you hold tight to the conviction that Gd is good and all He does is good, even if for the moment you cant fathom how it is goodbecause it comes from such a high place that it is impossible for you to fathom.

But trustbitachonis an emotional response. To trust in Gd is to stay calm and confident, just as if you could see the good clearly and enjoy it with all your senses.

Even if you cant achieve such calm, you can imagine someone who really does live in such a way. You can say to yourself, I know that this is so and it makes sense to me that I should feel calm and confident, just like Zusia of Anipoli or some other great tzadik. Imagine that calmness, embrace the moment, and it will become much easier to attain it.

Attain that emotional confidence and you are connected to the hidden good that lies beyond your intellectual grasp. Now it can shed its disguise and come into the open as obvious, revealed good.

King David prayed with these words: I lift my eyes to the mountains, from whence will come my help?

The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory, once explained: The words from whence can also be translated as from nothingnessmeaning that there is nothing in existence that could possibly help.

But then, David continues, My help is from Gd, maker of heaven and earth. Beyond existence.

You see people believe that only fools are optimists. But the opposite is true. Precisely because we understand how desperate the situation really is, how helpless we are and how impossible the challenge, that itself tells us how great a Gd we havea Gd who can lift us high beyond the natural order and transform the most ominous darkness to brilliant good.

The greater a realist you are, the greater your joy.

May you and all your loved ones live together to see very soon the light of Moshiach and, with the reviving of the dead, eternal life.

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Should You Trust It Will Be Good When Everything Looks Bad? - A letter to a Jew at the doors of the next world - Chabad.org

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Posted By admin on December 5, 2019

In my neighborhood Starbucks, Ive watched Hasidic Jews study and argue over the Torah together and homeless people come in for free ice water and internet. Kids get bananas after school while their mom gets a latte. Once, a woman plunked herself down next to me and spent about half an hour calling her congressional representatives over a political issue.

A similar atmosphere pervades Whole Foods cafs in New York. Even if Whole Foods has an elitist reputation, it provides bounteous seating, water fountains, microwaves, and bathrooms with little staff policing. Ive watched board game clubs meet to play the Settlers of Catan for hours, homeless people charge their phones, a knitting circle gather and gossip, and tutors meet with students to do homework. Of course Im glad for local businesses, but some corporate giants do make the city just a little more hospitable.

Meet perhaps the only man in the world who knows how toclean IMAX screens.

New Yorkbased ride-sharing company Junofiled for bankruptcy, citing misguided regulations the city imposed this year that required a minimum wage for drivers.

The wage regulation pushed customer prices up by nearly 20%, bringing Junos rides per day down to 25,000 immediately before the chapter 11 petition from 47,000 per day in 2017,TheWall Street Journalreported.

People at the New York attorney generals office enjoyed themselves in naming this case: Operation Greased Runway is an investigation into corruption at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, and it just resulted in the indictment of a former British Airways executive for bribery.

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Thank you for the Wi-Fi - WORLD News Group

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Posted By admin on December 5, 2019

Fifteen years ago, the Journal published a story about cellphone use in synagogue. Some parents justified the practice, as they needed to call Rosa during services to check on their kids at home. The deeper issue is not whether to use a phone but why the children are home with Rosa when their parents are in shul.

Many parents see bringing children to services as pointless if theyre too young to understand the services, and even counterproductive, because they might make noise and distract the adults from their prayers. This betrays a fundamental, although all too common, misperception about Jewish religious practice.

In explaining the Torah portion Bo, Rabbi Saul Berman offered a contrast between Egyptian and Israelite understanding of religious ceremony. When Moses communicates Gods command, Let my people go, that they may serve Me, Pharaoh grants that request, but not everyone may go. Only the communal leaders perform ritual acts, so in the Egyptian concept of religious service, only their presence is needed.

Moses understands religious service differently: We will go with our young and our old, our sons and our daughters (Exodus 10:9). The purpose of the Israelite service is not just to perform an act but to inspire and elevate the entire community, young and old, sons and daughters. If a shofar is blown but nobody hears it we have not fulfilled the mitzvah.

The sound of the shofar is just one example of mitzvot perceptible by the senses, which can captivate even or especially children: the sight of Shabbat or Hanukah candles, the smell of the etrog or Havdalah spices, the feel of the breeze (or sun!) in the sukkah, and the taste of just about every holiday food. All these traditions are accessible to the pre-literate. And children are the central actors in the most widely observed Jewish practice, the Passover seder.

If we want synagogues to attract the teenagers of tomorrow, we must bring the toddlers of today.

Of course, children cannot understand the service as well as adults but we must start somewhere. The adolescent who has stayed home until reaching bar or bat mitzvah age wont know much more than a toddler and will feel more uncomfortable about it, being at an age when they are starting to master other activities like sports or music. Too many adolescents, left with Rosa throughout their childhood, approach bar/bat mitzvah as if visiting a foreign country, where they dont know the language and cant read the map. Small wonder they try just to endure the ceremony, and then return as rarely as possible.

If we want synagogues to attract the teenagers of tomorrow, we must bring the toddlers of today. When my son was 3, he climbed all over stacked chairs and under them. Perhaps it was not perfect decorum, but he became comfortable in shul, and felt at home. By the time he reached high school, he was a full-time baal kriah, reading the entire Torah portion every week for our congregation, the Westwood Village Synagogue.

Fortunately, our congregation does more than tolerate its children. We bring themall up front near the end of services, when they not only participate in the concluding songs but lead them. Some read Hebrew perfectly, some cant but learn the words eventually through their weekly exposure, and even those who can barely walk help by clapping or banging their hand on the table, joining their older peers in the kinderchorus. And when, after diligent practice, a 7-year-old masterfully reads a line before the entire congregation, it solidifies not just her sense of achievement and self-confidence but also her attachment to tefillah and the community.

At some moments, such as the rabbis sermon, quiet is imperative. But for most of the morning, absolute silence should be a lower priority than childrens presence. During shofar-blowing on Rosh Hashanah, a young boy asked his father why the blasts (tekiah, shevarim, teruah) were different. Rather than shush him for making noise, his dad whispered a brief explanation. Who is more likely to participate throughout high school and beyond: the children who kept the synagogue quiet by staying home with Rosa, or the boy who was there to ask a question and hear an answer?

Mitchell Keiter leads the children of the Westwood Village Synagogue in song every Shabbat morning.

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The Fundamentals of Bringing Your Kids to Shul - Jewish Journal

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Posted By admin on December 5, 2019

FRI DEC 6

Zamru Friday NightShomrei Torah Synagogue holds Zamru Friday Night, a unique, musically rich kabbalat Shabbat service and dinner. Cantor Jackie Rafii and guitarist Daniel Raijman headline the event, Music to Move Your Soul. Guests bring their own kosher wine. 6-9 p.m. Dinner for members: $20 adults, $12 children 12 and under. General: $30 adults, $15 children. Shomrei Torah Synagogue, 7353 Valley Circle Blvd., West Hills. (818) 854-7650.

Middle East DiscussionGiven decades of conflict between the same rivals, punctuated by intermittent treaties, the Middle East is arguably the politically messiest region on earth. Jordan Reimer, policy analyst at the RAND Corp., helps to unpack the conflicts. A scholar who served under two White House administrations and the New York City Police Department, Reimer explains effects of the constant conflicts in the Middle East on Israel and the United States. 6:15 p.m. service. 7:30-9 p.m. lecture. Temple Isaiah, 10345 W. Pico Blvd. (310) 277-2772.

IKAR FeastIt is the first Friday of the month again, which means its time for IKARs monthly TRIBE Feast, a schmooze and groove at food-filled tables with Jewish and Jew-adjacent 20- and 30-somethings. RSVP requested so sufficient food is prepared. 6:30 p.m. Shabbat service. 7:45 p.m. TRIBE Feast. IKARs Event Space, 1729 S. La Cienega Blvd. (323) 634-1870.

Shabbat for WomenLev Eisha, a community of and for joyous Jewish women, celebrates a Shabbat infused with music and enlightened by teachings by Rabbi Toba August. She and cantorial soloist Cindy Paley lead Shabbat services. Everybody is welcome. 8:15 a.m. teaching. 9:30 a.m. service. Beth Shir Shalom, 1827 California Ave., Santa Monica. (310) 575-0985.

Max & Willys Last LaughWhen German comedian Max Ehrlich and his best friend, composer Willy Rosen, were caught in Holland in 1942 and sent to a concentration camp, the commandant recognized Ehrlich. He made an irresistible offer: Every Monday night before the train leaves for Auschwitz, Max and Willy will perform a cabaret. If they are funny, they will perform it the following week. If not, they will be put on the train. The performers carried on for 18 months before finally being sent to Auschwitz. Tonight and Sunday afternoon, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills presents a staged reading with live music of Max and Willys Last Laugh. Proceeds benefit Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. 8 p.m. tonight, 5 p.m. Sunday. $100 reserved seats, $36 general admission, $18 students. James Bridges Theater at UCLA, 235 Charles E. Young Drive East. (310) 825-6792.

Beth Am Film NightAfter Shabbat ends, Temple Beth Am resumes its film series with Laces, the story of a special needs sons complex relationship with the aging father who abandoned him when he was a child. Film buff Michael Berlin leads a post-film discussion. Snacks served. 7 p.m. $12. Temple Beth Am, 1039 S. La Cienega Blvd. (310) 652-7353.

Shulem Lemmer

Our IDF HeroesAfter a Shabbat of Heroes at Pico-Robertson synagogues Adas Torah, Beth Jacob, Bnai David-Judea and Young Israel of Century City, a meet and greet with heroes of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) takes place at The Mark. Ezer Mizion, the worlds largest Jewish bone marrow registry, organizes this gathering, highlighting how as of August, 2,000 IDF soldiers have donated their stem cells to 2,000 patients around the world. The evening features musician Shulem Lemmer performing during Havdalah and former Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau bringing greetings from the Jewish state. Israeli wines and food served. Adults only. RSVP required. 7:30 p.m. The Mark, W. 9320 Pico Blvd. (310) 247-2266.

Sarah Abrevaya Stein

Family Papers: A Sephardic JourneyFor centuries from the Greek port city of Salonica, the large Levy family of editors and publishers reported how the ever-changing state of modernity affected Sephardic Jews across the Ottoman Empire, including how 20th-century wars altered the borders around them. Historian Sarah Abrevaya Stein shares the true story of a frayed family that has been preserved through their letters. She discusses her award-winning book, Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century, with race and gender scholar Brenda E. Stevenson. 2 p.m. Free. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. (310) 440-4500.

Community Service DayAttention all people who seek to make a difference immediately: The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles Community Service Day lasts all day and is a partnership between Federation and social service organizations working to make life better for their neighbors. Free. Prior registration required. For more information, email volunteer@jewishla.org.

The Golden Gelt RoomJoin the Congregation Kol Ami community in The Golden Gelt Room, for an afternoon of comedy, casino games and pre-Hanukkah celebration. Comedian Liz Glazer performs. Mingle, nosh, drink, play and laugh with Kol Amis inclusive community. 4-6:30 p.m. $100. Congregation Kol Ami, 1200 N. La Brea Ave., West Hollywood. (323) 606-0996..

Hanukkah Angels Gift-Wrapping EventThere still is time to become a Hanukkah Angel in Kehillat Maaravs community mitzvah program. Purchase a gift of any amount for one of 10 Chai Lifeline children with life-threatening illnesses, then bring it to the synagogue starting at 9 a.m. and join the synagogues religious school students in gift-wrapping from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Latkes and sufganiyot served. To learn about each childs wish list or to become a Hanukkah Angel, contact Rose or Sharone Weizman at eddirector@km-synagogue.org. 1715 21st St., Santa Monica. (310) 829-0566.

Jewish ID Hanukkah PartyEven though Hanukkah doesnt start for two weeks, Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles (JBBBSLA) starts early. Bring the children to Stephen Wise Temple for a huge Hanukkah celebration co-organized by JBBBSLA and Kibbutz Bob Waldorf. Ideal for all ages. Candlemaking, Israeli dancing, dreidel games and camp activities highlight the event. If the $5 per person charge is too expensive (children 3-and-under are admitted free), contact Sofia Varona at (323) 456-1162 or sofia@campbobwaldorf.org. 4 p.m. $5. Stephen Wise Temple, 15500 Stephen S. Wise Drive.

BYTHAX Gospel Choir

Hanukkah and Christmas ConcertWilshire Boulevard Temple stages a performance of peace, love and harmony. The congregations Let There Be Light concert of Hanukkah and Christmas melodies, co-organized by the Faithful Central Bible Church, features performers Dr. Dee, the BYTHAX Gospel Choir, Cantor Don Gurney and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Adult Choir. Sufganiyot and holiday cookies are served after the concert. 4 p.m. Free. RSVP required. Wilshire Boulevard Temple, 3663 Wilshire Blvd. (213) 388-2401.

Lets Talk About ReligionIn the latest round of American Jewish Universitys (AJU) discussion series Lets Talk About Religion: Jews, Christians and Muslims in Conversation, a Jew and a Muslim examine rival and converging views on Is Life Sacred? Tonights topics are medical ethics, abortion and end-of-life issues, with Rabbi Elliot Dorff, rector and professor in philosophy at AJU, in discussion with Dr. Sana Khan, chairman and founder of theAiM Radiology Medical Group. 7:30-9 p.m. $10. American Jewish University, Alan Shapiro Memorial Synagogue, 15600 Mulholland Drive. (310) 440-1572.

The Holocaust and the Danish ExceptionThe Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust holds a book signing and artists reception with acclaimed photographer Judy Glickman Lauder. Her photos are on exhibit in Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exception. Lauder, a Bay Area native, has been photographing Holocaust sites since the 1980s. She talks about her experiences. 7-8:30 p.m. $10 suggested donation. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in Pan Pacific Park, 100 The Grove Drive. (323) 651-3704.

Have an event coming up? Send your information two weeks prior to the event to ryant@jewishjournal.com for consideration. For groups staging an event that requires an RSVP, please submit details about the event the week before the RSVP deadline.

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Whats Happening: IDF Shabbat of Heroes, Sephardic Papers - Jewish Journal

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Posted By admin on December 5, 2019

This story originally appeared on Kveller.

Im sitting in a sold-out first weekend movie premiere of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, delighted by the fact that this movie was filmed in my Pittsburgh neighborhood, Squirrel Hill. Its an upscale, multicultural neighborhood far more diverse today than it used to be that is also the center of the citys Jewish community.

Sadly, it is most famous now for the deadly attack on the Tree of Life synagogue.

Squirrel Hill is also, quite literally, Mister Rogers neighborhood. Fred Rogers lived in Squirrel Hill, and for 33 years he filmed Mister Rogers Neighborhood at the nearby WQED studios. While surely anyone who grew up watching the show feels a personal connection to Rogers, here in Pittsburgh, he isnt just a global icon. Hes a local hero.

Were at Squirrel Hills indie movie theater, the landmark Manor Theater, where the ticket-taker greeted us wearing a red cardigan while singing Its a beautiful day in Manorland. Im filled with anticipation, imagining how Tom Hanks whom I most fondly remember from one of my favorite childhood movies, Big might bring Mister Rogers to life.

As the movie begins, Hanks comes down the stairs clad in Rogers iconic red cardigan. He sings the well-known opening music to Mister Rogers Neighborhood, Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood and the entire theater joins in a singalong. Hanks, as Rogers, is tying his sneakers, singing and looking directly at me just like Rogers used to do, many years ago, when I was a preschooler watching his show in my familys New York City living room.

Im trying not to get distracted by the obvious physical differences Hanks glasses, his rounder face. Im trying to measure up his smile and intonation against the memory of Rogers. Yet Im comforted and reassured that Hanks is able to give voice to a very public person who, through the magic of television, as well as his pure and honest delivery, had a special way of making me feel special and cared for, just as he did for millions of other children.

Seeing Hanks do Rogers is like meeting my long-lost friend all over again. And not just for the two hours that Im sitting in the theater. Like so many children who grew up watching his show, Rogers is someone Ive long felt deeply compassionate toward and that feeling only strengthened after the Tree of Life attack.

In those early and very dark moments, when a gunman murdered 11 Jewish souls, my social media feed became flooded with Mister Rogers memes.

Look for the helpers, they said, You will always find people who are helping.

When Rogers first uttered those lines, he was referring to his own memories of feeling scared by terrible news as a boy, and how his mother would encourage him to look for those helpers. In Rogers words, To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mothers words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers so many caring people in this world.

But during those very dark and traumatic days after the attack, I kept listening, looking for those helpers. Where were they?

Turns out they were there; I just had to be patient. The following week, during a rally for peace and unity held in honor of the victims in the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, Tom Hanks would appear in the pouring rain, next to Joanne Rogers, Rogers widow. There, hed say in earnest, The people of Pittsburgh live in good neighborhoods that do not divide the city but define it.

Hanks was just one of many helpers who would stand in solidarity with us, as if he was an insider to our community, to our pain. At that moment, he wasnt just an adored celebrity, he was someone who cared about my city our city, our community.

In the movie, Rogers takes a personal interest in Lloyd Vogel, a bitter and angered journalist (played by Matthew Rhys and based upon real-life journo Tom Junod) on assignment to interview Rogers for Esquire. Vogel struggles to feel compassion for his father, who had left Vogels mother while she lay dying. Vogel cannot forgive him for this. However, with the help of the childrens TV icon, he unwittingly begins to realize that he, too, needs a helper, when Rogers invites him to the set in Pittsburgh and performs with a puppet, Daniel the Striped Tiger, the iconic song, What do you do with the mad that you feel?

Following the attack, what did the citizens of Pittsburgh do with the mad that we felt? Well, our city and community came together in a most unprecedented way: There were crocheted hearts strung to tree branches; there were deliveries of notes, cards, flowers from across the globe; there were donations of money and meals; and Jews from other cities flocked to Pittsburgh to mourn with us, the prayers from so many lifting us up.

In our communitys most vulnerable state, I stayed focused on those helpers. For months following the attack, buses flickered the slogan Pittsburgh Strong instead of their usual route numbers. One evening, as I was returning home to Squirrel Hill by bus, the driver and I chatted briefly about the disaster that befell our community. Movingly, he told me, Its terrible what happened to that synagogue, but know that were with you.

I had witnessed something I know to be true in catastrophes that this attack brought the community closer with acts of compassion and kindness. Compassion doesnt have to end in physical action, but the feeling itself starts with empathy towardssomeone else. Mister Rogers spent his life attuned to the needs of other people; hed listen to children and adults compassionately from the depth of his soul. He had a true gift of putting himself in their shoes.

Seeing how the entire city of Pittsburgh, the world at large, and Tom Hanks stood in solidarity with those beloved murdered souls unlocked Judaisms highest value for me, personally: caring for the other. This senseless tragedy connected me to my Jewish heart and helped me to see how tethered to Pittsburgh, Mister Rogers and Judaism Id become. In many ways, the three are spokes of the same wheel. Judaism is a religion of action, and Rogers, too, is a man whose actions are as great as his words.

After the Tree of Life attack, our synagogues transformed into miniature neighborhoods of their own. By that I dont mean they were separate islands of grief. Rather we were like community lamplighters helpers driven to restock our community with light. The Chabad congregation, where my family and I are members, would take on a mezuzah campaign, distributing free mezuzahs to people in the community as a way to offer blessings and security. Jewish community members, including our family, would prepare endless trays of food for the police and the FBI. We went to the Tree of Life to chant psalms as a means to offer healing and solace. As Tree of Life congregants came to our synagogue, we became one united Jewish community again, mourning together and resolute in standing strong together. We will not be clubbed by fear. Ahm Yisroel Chai the people of Israel live!

Perhaps this is the greatest legacy of Mister Rogers for the Pittsburgh community, and for the increasingly scary world at large: That in our darkest hour, with compassion and kindness as our guide, we can still find our way toward the light. We dont need to just look for the helpers, we can be the helpers and light the way for others.

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In the Jewish heart of Pittsburgh, Mister Rogers was actually our neighbor - JTA News

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Posted By admin on December 5, 2019

Icare.

If I didnt care, I wouldnt have been in this line of work for the last 25 years. I care about teaching a Torah that is alive, relevant, and instructive; about creating moments of meaningful connection for people with their Jewish identities; about our shared past and our shared future; about empowering people to use Judaism as a perspective by which they can view, understand, and influence the world around them.

I care about raising people up in their moments of joy. I care about being present to those who are brought low by lifes circumstances.

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I care about challenging peoples assumptions and about shaking people from their complacency; about exposing biases and calling out intellectual laziness. I care about their ability to communicate what they believe and why.

I care about an organization its financial health, its administration, and its operations. I care about the people who staff and volunteer their time to make it successful. I care about its reputation and its ability to welcome and meet diverse personalities, needs, and challenges. I care about its mission and goals, and about the processes and procedures it follows to achieve them. I care about policies and consistency, and about the flexibility to allow for exceptions and individual needs.

I care about a building, its sanctuary and its learning spaces, its social spaces, its sound systems, WiFi, heat and air conditioning. I care about its security.

Living on the synagogue grounds for the past 25 years, Ive been able to look out my bedroom window every morning and every night to see the parking lot and who is in it, the synagogue front door, and my office window. When someone has left a light on in the building, I know it.

And I cant imagine living my rabbinate any other way.

Of course, I also care about my family. And I care about myself and my ability to keep doing what I love. And I am so grateful that my synagogue community cares about its clergy as well.

As an adjunct faculty member at the Jewish Theological Seminary teaching the senior class of the rabbinical school for the past 15 years, I advise the future rabbis and cantors who want to work in pulpits that while a synagogue may commit itself initially to a clergyperson for a two- or three-year term, the clergyperson will do best to approach the commitment to the community as a lifelong commitment from the outset. Once that commitment is recognized and appreciated, the congregation will want to honor, nurture, and reward it.

I believe that if clergy care, congregations care.

In the world of academia, the sabbatical is a time for a scholar to pursue intellectual and personal growth. In the world of clergy, the sabbatical is an opportunity to regenerate. Just as God rested (or refrained) from the work of creating (shavat) and recharged (vayinafash), a clergypersons sabbatical ideally is spent re-energizing for the future. Just as the Shabbat allows us to cease from doing and provides the time just to be, in order to renew our creative energy for the week ahead, the sabbatical offers clergy the opportunity to process what has been and reimagine what can be. If a community cares about its long term well-being, it will care for the long term well-being of its clergy as well.

I am grateful for the gift of a three-month sabbatical every four years, and for the communitys care and commitment that this opportunity reflects.

My absence doesnt reflect in any way a lack of care. If anything, it should tell you that Im already preparing for the next chapter with you, excited to greet the next set of opportunities and challenges refreshed and renewed.

Rabbi Craig Scheff of the Orangetown Jewish Center grew up in Rockland County. After practicing law in Boston for three years, he returned to New York to study for the rabbinate at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He has been at the OJC in Orangeburg since 1995. Rabbi Scheff has worked in various positions at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack for two decades and is an adjunct lecturer in professional skills at JTS.

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Clergy care or the very essence of a sabbatical - The Jewish Standard

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