Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on February 17, 2022

Courtesy of Lynne Golodner

The author with her son, Asher.

As a progressive and pro-Israel mother of four teens, Ive tried hard to instill in my children a balanced perspective on championing the challenged while supporting the worlds only Jewish state.

But when my eldest son wants to discuss Israel-Palestine, we often descend into heated debate.

Asher is a college sophomore and decidedly critical of the state of Israel. He has always enjoyed a good argument the substance of the debate as much as the energy of the back-and-forth. Since he started college, his lefty politics shifted toward socialist-communist-anarchist. He leans more toward championing the Palestinian cause, going so far as to support the movement to boycott Israel.

It has been a sore point in our home for sure, but because we are close, it is something I constantly try to reconcile, as does my thoughtful son. We have engaged in quite a number of conversations, some of which got quite tense, to try to understand the other.

Initially, I felt rejected and threatened. If my son vilified the only Jewish nation on the planet, had I failed to instill Jewish values in my children? And what did his vilifying say about how he saw me and my unwavering support of Israel?

For me, Israel is a dream-come-true, a place where my people have power. Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust, I reveled in Israels strong, confident image of Jews. In the 1980s, I met survivors at school and in my community, and draped a tallit over empty chairs on the synagogue bimah to remember Soviet refuseniks.

I experienced antisemitism myself when a boyfriends father complained that a server was Jewing him, my boyfriend told him not to say that in front of me instead of telling him not to say it at all.

Asher, in contrast, doesnt believe Jews need a special place. My children hear about Israel in the medias unflattering terms: bully, occupier. Asher uses words like apartheid and genocide. My kids dont feel oppressed. They dont feel their heritage is connected to a nation halfway around the world. They believe being Jewish is a choice; I know its not.

I often ask Asher why he devotes such a disproportionate amount of energy to this one place. He says its because Israel is a powerful country that I support without question. He scrutinizes other countries, but doesnt engage me in arguments because we agree on most other places, like our shared concern for the Uyghur Muslims in China.

I share Ashers dedication to achieving fair treatment and equal access for all people. I believe both Jews and Palestinians are in need of these things, while he believes Palestinians need greater advocacy than Jews in Israel do at present. He sees Israel as an ominous oppressor while I see it as a saving grace after centuries of persecution against Jews.

Eventually, I realized that I needed to drop my defensive position and explore my sons perspective. So I invited a Palestinian and an Israeli, who both live in the West Bank and work toward mutual benefit, to be guests on my podcast.

During the interview, my Palestinian guest, Noor Awad, corrected me when I referred to the conflict.

A conflict is a situation where both parties have equal power, he said. I realized he was right. As a writer, I appreciate how words frame a discussion and a debate. I thanked him for correcting me, and we discussed how to equalize the language as a first step toward equalizing the situation.

After Asher listened to the episode, he called me to apologize.

Were closer on this issue than I realized, he said.

It was a turning point in our argument, as well as our relationship.

I grew to view our disagreement not as a threat, but as an opportunity for both of us to expand our views and for me to consider my son as a fully formed adult separate but equal in his perspectives.

When youre close with someone, he told me, you dont get to lay out your argument and walk away. You have to engage. There needs to be a respectful back and forth.

I agreed, and I like to think I taught him that. I also taught him to speak his mind and stand up for right over wrong. We raise our children to see things more clearly than we do. I tried to enlighten my parents on race and privilege, and now Asher is teaching me to listen, to confront my inconsistencies and blind spots.

Ive offered to travel with him to the West Bank, to hear the perspectives of people on the ground. He says, sure, some day. At least hes not saying no. Our relationship is lifelong and there is time to deepen this conversation by gathering more information to expand our perspectives.

In his second year at St. Olaf College, preparing to sing in the Christmas concert, Asher felt conspicuous as one of the few Jewish students on the Lutheran campus. Hed sung in plenty of holiday concerts before, but this one was religious, with only one faith story and all the participants buying into that narrow perspective.

So he wore a kippah with his choir robe. Now, he wears it every day. Our stances can change as we encounter more situations and reflect on them. I hope that will happen with my son on the matter of Israel. He hopes that for me, too. At least I know well keep talking, and thats the most important thing.

To contact the author, email editorial@forward.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

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How I stay close to my son while arguing over Israel and Palestine - Forward

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Posted By admin on February 17, 2022

Glide n: CW-2022-000163-PSE

A. Situation analysis

Description of the disaster

Based on the extreme cold weather conditions that peaked on 26 January 2022, the Palestinian Government has called for collaboration and common efforts to support the affected populations to face the current needs. As a member of the Higher Council of Civil Defence, and due to its auxiliary role, Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) subsequently responded to the humanitarian needs. Starting 20 January 2022, the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) was hit by extreme weather conditions including heavy rain floods, winds, snow, and low-temperature cold wave. The Meteorological Office of the Ministry of Transport issued a report on February 10 showing the amount of precipitation recorded to date, which exceeded average precipitation levels (Gaza 104%, and 114% Beit Hanon).

The heavy rain generated floods in several parts of Palestine, affecting thousands of people and forcing many families to flee their homes. The extreme weather conditions resulted in the death of four people due to improper use of heating sources in the West Bank. The weather events have deeply affected local communities, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of people remain displaced and live in semi-structured or transitional shelters or tents due to the loss of their homes during the recent escalation in hostilities. Uncharacteristically low for the Gaza strip, temperature approached zero at nighttime, while power outages disrupted the operation of heating systems. Furthermore, gas stations in the Gaza Strip didnt have sufficient fuel to supply people with the fuel they needed to operate their own generators. Additionally, vendors providing cooking gas were running low on supplies. Heavy rains in the West Bank have primarily affected the Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley, communities living near the Israeli separation wall, as well as vulnerable communities residing specifically in the old cities and areas close to streams across the West Bank such as Hebron, Jerusalem, Jenin, Qalqilia, Ramallah, Tubas, and Nablus.

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Palestine: Extreme Weather Conditions - Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) DREF Operation MDRPS013 - occupied Palestinian territory - ReliefWeb

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

(RNS) Rabbi Avi Olitzky was 26 when he started working at Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis straight out of seminary.

Over the past 14 years he helped build the synagogue with its signature curved roof into one of the largest Conservative congregations in North America, with 1,250 member families.

But last week was his last.

Now 40, he has decided on a second career consulting where he will bring his Jewish wisdom and experience as an organizational leader to helping other congregations, nonprofits and businesses solve some of their thorniest problems.

I did a life review and understood I wanted to do more than this one congregation, Olitzky said.

He wasnt burned out, Olitzky said. Neither did COVID-19 make his life impossibly difficult. It was more about wanting my reach to match my capacity, he said.

Rabbi Avi Olitzky left Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis to start a consulting business. Photo courtesy Avi Olitzky

Many other rabbis have joined Olitzky on the exit ramp. This year, there are a record 80 Conservative movement rabbis who have decided to move on to retire or to take other nonsynagogue roles. Some of the pulpits they leave behind will likely remain vacant. There arent another 80 rabbis to fill their shoes.

It used to be, the ultimate goal was to be the senior rabbi at a large synagogue, said Emily Hendel, director of career services for the Rabbinical Assembly, an association of 1,500 Conservative rabbis. Now the ultimate goal is career fulfillment. Sometimes that means shifting your career.

In December, Hendel sent out an email to Conservative synagogues searching for a rabbi to let them know they could go ahead and search for a leader from outside Rabbinical Assembly ranks because there likely wont be enough candidates to fill all the vacancies.

The Conservative movement, which occupies a middle ground between Orthodox Judaisms strict adherence to tradition and the Reform movements openness to change, is declining. Once the largest of the U.S. Jewish denominations, the movement now represents only 15% of American Jews, according to a 2021 Pew Research study with about 560 U.S. congregations.

But the currents now lashing the Conservative movement may not be unique to it. While there may be more vacancies this year (likely a result of rabbis postponing their retirement due to to the pandemic), there are longer-term underlying issues at play. Many of those issues may be familiar to church leaders as well.

Congregational rabbis are older. A Faith Communities Today survey of 15,278 religious congregations across the United States showed that the median age of U.S. rabbis is 56.

We have an aging population of pulpit rabbis and were not creating enough people to take their place, said Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, president of the Synagogue Studies Institute, which collected the data about synagogues for the FACT study.

READ: Meet the student-turned-model who is putting AI to good use with her Robo Rabbi

The Conservative movement, which has two seminaries in the U.S. one in New York and one in Los Angeles will graduate and ordain a total of 23 men and women this spring. Last week, its Los Angeles-based Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies announced it was selling its Bel Air campus but the seminary will continue offering rabbinic degrees.

The Reform movement, the largest in the Jewish denominational system, will ordain 29 U.S. rabbis this year from its three Hebrew Union College campuses.

Yet their ordination wont necessarily lead to filled vacancies. A growing number of graduates arent seeking a pulpit career. The role of a synagogue rabbi is demanding. The average synagogue is larger than the average midsize church and typically has only one rabbi on staff, Spiegel said.

We ask too much of one person, Spiegel said. Thats a default position synagogues have had for a long time.

More men and women seeking ordination are choosing other career tracks such as chaplaincy, teaching, consulting or advocacy roles at nonprofits.

The idea of what it means to be a rabbi in the world is shifting, in the best of ways, said Rabbi Elan Babchuck, director of innovation at CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. But when a marketplace shifts, the pipelines in that marketplace take 10 or 15 years to adapt.

David Singer, a Conservative rabbi, is a good example of shifting careers. He started his rabbinic career at a synagogue in Dallas, then took a job at Hillel, the Jewish student organization, on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. Now he leads Limmud North America, an organization that provides Jewish learning through conferences and festivals.

This chart shows the age range among synagogue rabbis based on the 2020 Faith Communities Today survey of 15,278 religious congregations across the United States. The Synagogue Studies Institute collected and analyzed the synagogue data.

The passions that guide my work take place outside of the synagogue itself, said Singer, 39.

Younger rabbis are also guided by their partners choices. After graduating from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Rabbi Jeremy Markizdecided he would follow his wifes career trajectory. When she did her medical residency in Pittsburgh, he found a job overseeing adult programming at Congregation Beth Shalom. When she took a permanent position in Maryland, he followed her there, and now works from home as digital communications and strategy consultant for synagogues and other organizations.

I wanted to make sure to support my wife wherever she landed, Markiz said. Having the flexibility to work remotely was a value added.

The majority of rabbinic students will still seek pulpit positions. In fact, said Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, a retired professor at Hebrew Union College, the Reform movements seminary, the pandemic forced synagogues to innovate in ways that are exciting to younger, tech savvy rabbis.

Younger rabbis like change, Hoffman said. They think they can make up a new world for Jews. They see hope.

But in the meantime, some Conservative and Reform synagogues will have to wait for a rabbi or offer the job to graduates of a growing group of independent, nondenominational seminaries.

And American Jews may also have to revise the assumption that rabbis only lead congregations.

We have a very diverse and diffuse Jewish community that needs to be supported and engaged and worked with in a variety of ways, said Singer. If theres a movement of rabbis being less interested in working in synagogues, thats a problem for synagogues, but its not an immediate problem for Jews, if rabbis are interested in supporting Jewish community and building us up in the plethora of ways we come together.

READ: Dilemma for houses of worship: Openness or safety?

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A shortage of Conservative rabbis has Jews reexamining the pulpit role - Religion News Service

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

Rabbi Daniel Bogard says his congregation in St. Louis is "a community focused on radical hospitality" but on High Holy Days, "it looks like something out of a war zone."

That's because Central Reform Congregation hires a SWAT team to secure the site.

Last month, Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, made national headlines when an armed man took four people hostage inside of it during a morning service. The FBI called the incident a "terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted."

The Department of Justice's most recent report said that Jewish and Muslim people saw some of the largest volumes of hate crimes in 2020, with 683 attacks against the former and 110 against the latter being voluntarily reported to the agency. Evidence shows that hate crimes often go underreported, however, so those numbers are likely higher.

In the wake of such attacks, Jewish leaders in St. Louis told Insider that institutions in their city have ramped up protections. Security costs can spike into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the grant programs from the federal government intended to bankroll such costs have been inadequate, they say, leaving congregations to foot the bill. Plus, all this security compromises the openness of their community, and asks members to reckon with an increased police presence something they say is especially difficult for Black and brown Jews, who have a much more fraught relationship with police.

"Every Jewish institution in America has ongoing security costs of at least $50,000, and they can near $150,000," Bogard estimated. "The US places a '2nd Amendment tax' on Jewish organizations to be safe."

Many Jewish institutions in St. Louis used to have benches outside, encouraging people to mingle after events, says Rori Picker Neiss, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in St. Louis.

But, she told Insider, many of those gathering places have been removed in recent years due to the threat of violence against Jewish communities.

"It evoked the feeling of being a sitting duck," she said.

Picker Neiss says that Jewish institutions in her city have lost something because of their fear.

"No one can just walk in and talk to a rabbi anymore," she said. "You would never happen upon a sanctuary and freely approach someone praying, you would have to be escorted. So someone in a rough situation seeking help or seeking prayer or exploration has hoops to get through. And I don't know how we go back from that."

In addition to impeding culture,Bogard says that Central Reform incurs about $75,000 in security costs per year and that they're still left needing more.

"We're always fundraising and thinking about how to be safer," he said. "We've been trying to figure out how to afford bulletproof windows in our sanctuary, for instance, which would cost about $250,000."

Bogard mentioned that they rack up bills on infrastructure, such as granite bollards around the perimeter of the synagogue. They look like benches at first glance, he said. But they're meant to prevent people from ramming vehicles into worshippers during services.

"We have panic buttons all over. Security systems and cameras. We have training that every staff member and greeters have to do that's just what it means to be a Jewish institution in 21st century America," he said.

Picker Neiss also said that security costs impact what kind of programs an institution can offer, because they make up the bulk of whatever budget they have. "In my experience we're not seeing institutions shutting down, but we're seeing a shift in what their operations are."

Her children's day school, for example, has gotten more expensive because of increased security costs, she said, and the prices might deter other parents.

Even preschool dropoff at Central Reform involves security costs. Bogard said that Central Reform spends thousands of dollars a week hiring off-duty officers as security guards during services and events.

While they've spent time acquainting the congregation with the police officers,Bogart knows some congregants of color have fraught histories with police.

"We have people of color who are made less safe with police there, and we have white congregants who feel less safe without one," he said.

Non-profit organizations, which include places of worship, can apply for the security grants, through the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency. Bogard said Central Reform received a few grants initially, but haven't gotten any in recent years.

Six weeks ago, he said they received a threat against the sunagogue. "It's necessary to pay someone on the staff to apply for Homeland Security grants, but that in itself raises our costs," he said.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, one of the people held hostage at Beth Israel last month, urged Congress this week to raise funding for the grant program.

"Every congregation needs to be prepared, yet the gap between the need and funding is profound," he said. "There are far too many houses of worship who won't get the support they need."

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What Jewish institutions pay for security, according to a rabbi - Business Insider

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of the Park Avenue synagogue said last week he didnt want to respond from the pulpit to the Amnesty International report charging Israel with apartheid and instead let his congregants go to Israel lobby groups AIPAC and the ADL and J Street to read their disavowals of Amnesty but he couldnt help himself because hes committed his synagogue to supporting Israel. So Cosgrove spent 15 minutes trashing a report he admits he hasnt read, because thats what you do when a family member is attacked from the outside.

I reviewed the Conservative rabbis sermon closely because: Cosgrove is forthright about his commitment to Zionism in a religious setting, as so many rabbis are. So This Is What It Means to Be Jewish for the Jewish Establishment; rabbinical umbrella groups have called on rabbis to denounce the report from their pulpits. Yet Cosgrove is out of step with the only Jewish future. Fully a quarter of American Jews disagree with him; they think Israel is practicing apartheid. Among young Jews, that portion is nearly 40 percent. Jewish intellectuals call for Separation from the thug nation.

Cosgrove admits that he has only read the executive summary of the report, but sees that it is the latest in a decades long drumbeat of anti-Israel sentiment emanating from the halls of the UN and a handful of other human rights NGOs.

He says hes thought long and hard about whether to speak about the report, which has been out for five days, and doesnt want to turn the pulpit into political theater. But he overcame his reluctance, because hes a Zionist. This is an honest ideological confession:

I do so because for me Israel is part and parcel to my Jewish identity, its central to my vision of the rabbinate, and as long as Im the rabbi of Park Avenue, it will remain central to the mission of this synagogue. I want you, your children, your grandchildren to keep kosher to create Jewish families to live proudly as Zionists. None of us chose to live in this miraculous era of a sovereign Jewish state where after thousands of years of exile Jews have the right to national self-determination For me to be Jewish today means to be actively engaged with Israel. Regardless of whether the claims of Amnesty are new, to fail to address those claims strikes me as an abdication of my role as a Jewish educator.

So after 1000s of years of exile documented in the bible, people gain political rights to a land from which they ethnically cleanse the indigenous people, and its a miracle. (This is called Koolaid.)

Cosgrove hammers the point of the Jewish peoples claim to the land and says Amnestys questioning of that claim betrays a bias that colors every other claim it makes. After all if the Jews have no right to the land, then Israel is a national project conceived in sin, its very creation an act of dispossession.

Cosgrove says hes also speaking as a father, with children on campus. We must provide the tools to contend with the Amnesty report and the like For Zions sake, I must not stay silent. Imho, telling your kids that Jews were exiled from the land 1000s of years ago and thats why they have special political rights now is not going to be a good tool on campus.

The rabbi is defensive about the new climate of delegitimization of Israel. Apartheid is clickbait for the feeding frenzy of Israels detractors. The singling out of Israel is antisemitic. The report serves as a respectable hook for people who hate Jews.

And heres the family bit. For Israels defenders, this report has shifted everyone into a defensive posture and thus excuse any of Israels actual misdeeds. I have all sorts of criticisms of Israel, its systematic and ongoing restrictions of Palestinian rights, its repeated actions impeding Palestinian sovereignty, most recently the illegal outpost on Evyatar, Israels inability to house liberal expressions of Jewish life, most recently the collapse of the Kotel deal. But today Im not giving full voice to any of those criticisms because well, when a family member is attacked from the outside, thats not what one does.

Cosgrove concludes by saying that the Amnesty report will make peace harder because both sides will just dig in. This is the old argument that Israelis must be hugged to change. But when you hug them, they just evict more Palestinians and dance outside their homes. The news is not good for Zionist rabbis.

So where are the Palestinian voices in mainstream media?

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Slamming Amnesty's 'Israeli apartheid' report as 'attack on a family member from outside,' leading rabbi locks out the Jewish future - Mondoweiss

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

Dear brothers! Thank you for the interest and concern of all of you for our situation in Ukraine. The pressure in our community is undoubtedly very great. Our role as emissaries and rabbis, is first and foremost in these hours, to encourage, strengthen, and relieve the pressure of the Jews in the community. Of course none of us leave, even though Israeli citizens are leaving the country for fear of what is going to happen here.Click here to help>> Of course, we have been organizing for several months for other scenarios, Chas Vshalom, without publishing it, so as not to cause pressure and fears among the Jews. Just to clear your ears, we organized and purchased about a thousand sleeping bags in case of Jewish refugees from the Kharkiv, Kiev and Dnieper regions who come to us in Odessa. We also purchased 30 tons of flour, 20 tons of sugar, 30 tons of macaroni, 25 tons of rice and almost 40 tons buckwheat (gretzke). These are purchases that cost us about $ 300,000, loans we took from local banks, all so that we could feed the hundreds of children growing up in orphanages, the hundreds of students from across Ukraine who live with us, and the hundreds of Holocaust survivors who live in the communitys old age.Click here to help>>In the coming days, Israeli security companies will come here to be added to the local security companies that already work with us, this is a vital need throughout the year but much more critical at such times, the costs are very high and no body covers them for us! On the subject of the loans we took out and the lack of money for what we still need to buy and get organized surely needless to explain! The situation here is very difficult and we are, God forbid, facing collapse and we urgently need a lot of money in order to be equipped and properly organized for the difficult situation that lies ahead. We still lack medical emergency equipment, protective equipment and a huge amount of food products for a long time for hundreds of Jews who can not leave the country and have nowhere to go. In such difficult days we all with Israel are guarantors of each other and all over the world we must all unite and give a shoulder to our brothers who are in danger. At the moment we are doing everything, so that we are not caught are not ready Chas Vechalilah, time is pressing and we must do it quickly before it is too late. Thank you very much and Tizku Lemitzvos! Rabbi Avraham Wolf, the Rabbi of the Odessa Jewish community.Click here to help>>

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Rabbi Avraham Wolf, Chairman of the Jewish Federation of Ukraine, tells us about the Jewish community's preparations for the - VINnews

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

Its Archive Week here at J. The Jewish News of Northern California! Our entire archive 127 years of Bay Area Jewish news and history is now online for all to browse and search through.

From the 1906 earthquake to the launch of the United Nations to the emergence of trans rabbis, J. (which was previously known as the Emanu-El and the Jewish Bulletin) has covered all of the big stories affecting our local Jewish community. Below are some highlights from our newly digitized archives.

Sutro was a German Jewish engineer and philanthropist who made a fortune from the Sutro Tunnel, a drainage system he built for the Comstock Lode silver mines in Nevada. He was elected San Franciscos second Jewish mayor in 1895. (The first was Washington Montgomery Bartlett, who also served as governor of California.) Following Sutros death in 1898, a tribute in this publication read in part: The city loses a splendid individuality of whose good heart and kindly benevolence we could tell many a fine tale, whilst the Sutro family loses its chief, who brought the well-renowned German name into the light of American repute.

The first issue following the devastating April 18, 1906 earthquake and fire included a large section in which local Jews notified family and friends where they had temporarily relocated to after their homes were destroyed. The issues editorial struck an optimistic tone: Ere long the city by the Golden Gate from the ferry to the hilltops will be a veritable beehive of industry. Let us forget our misfortunes and remember that after all God has been good to us. A striking photo of the shell of Congregation Emanu-El would run on the cover of the Sept. 21, 1906 issue.

After the Golden Gate Bridge opened in May 1937, this newspaper profiled the structures Jewish chief engineer, Joseph Strauss. The paper also reported on Nazi swastika flags being flown in downtown San Francisco, along with other foreign flags, in celebration of the opening. A fiery editorial was penned in response: The Golden Gate Bridge now belongs to the world. It was officially given for human utility and enjoyment, regardless of race, color or creed. That a Jew could deliver such a benefaction to humanity, must be incredible to the blood-thinking Aryan as incredible to him as the fact that the Christian Savior was a Jew by birth.

The United Nations Conference on International Organization was held in San Francisco in the spring of 1945, with representatives from 50 nations in attendance. Several articles in the Emanu-El newspaper captured the sense of excitement and hope among local Jews surrounding the conference, which culminated with the signing of the U.N. Charter. The Conference seeks to arrange the basis for a just and sane world order, rooted in a durable peace, an order in which we shall never again see such human tragedies as have been visited upon the Jews and other minorities, one commentator wrote.

Prior to the adoption of the U.N. Partition Plan for Palestine, local Jews were conflicted about the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. The president of the San Francisco branch of the American Council for Judaism helped draft a memo to the U.N. opposing the state on the grounds that it would be harmful to the Jews in Palestine and to Jews elsewhere throughout the world who might be accused by their countrymen of having dual loyalty. Yet the birth of the state in May 1948 was celebrated by hundreds at a rally held at the Veterans Building. All hailed the new state as the realization of years of hope and effort, our report stated.

Future Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir visited San Francisco on a national fundraising tour for the Yishuv, the Jewish settlement in pre-state Israel. The force of her personality, the simple dignity with which she asked American Jewry to stand by the Yishuv, the future her words evoked, won for her the respect, the admiration and the support of the San Francisco Jews who thronged to Temple Emanu-El to hear her, reporter Rita Semel wrote about Meir, who was then 49 and still known as Goldie Myerson. Meir would return to San Francisco many times, including in 1956 and 1960.

The Jewish community mourned San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk after their Nov. 27, 1978 assassinations. Milk had recently embraced his Jewish identity and attended Yom Kippur services at Congregation Shaar Zahav. Weve lost a key figure in our liaison to the City Administration, said Rabbi Allen Bennett in his eulogy of Milk. Moscone was remembered as a dedicated public servant who advocated for Soviet Jews. Upon Moscones death, Dianne Feinstein became acting mayor and the third Jewish mayor of San Francisco.

Some 2,000 people turned out to see Natan Sharansky, a leader of the Soviet refuseniks, speak outside of the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco. He also addressed a packed crowd at Congregation Emanu-El during a whirlwind tour of the city. In his speeches, he criticized the Soviet regime The world is being blinded by Gorbachevs gestures of glasnost, he said and acknowledged the support he received from local Jews who agitated for his release from prison. I think I can say that San Francisco was the one place where I had the most criminal contacts, he said.

The 1989 World Series was a very memorable one for local Jewish baseball fans. Deemed the Bay Bridge Series, it was the first and only championship showdown between the two Bay Area MLB teams. The owners of the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland As were Jews (Bob Lurie and Walter Haas Jr., respectively), and both happened to belong to the same shul. (You wouldnt believe the calls Im getting for tickets, Rabbi Robert Kirschner of Congregation Emanu-El told the Jewish Bulletins Winston Pickett.) Minutes before Game 3 was to start, the Loma Prieta earthquake struck. The series would be postponed for 10 days, with the As ultimately winning the title.

J.s Laura Paull interviewed local members of the first generation of nonbinary and trans rabbis and congregational leaders for a J. cover story. The group included Rabbi Dev Noily, the senior rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont and possibly the first rabbi to use they/them pronouns. Theres still a lot of pushback in the Jewish world around trans people in general, Noily said. Communities have had more time to process what it means to have women clergy, and even gay clergy, than they have had for trans clergy.

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Archive week: How we've covered the biggest Bay Area Jewish stories J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

A House bill introduced in Florida to remove lessons about gender identity and race from public schools that may make students feel discomfort could erase years of progress in diversity and inclusion, advocates say. It could pass as soon as next week.

Floridas Individual Freedom bill, introduced in January, removes the word gender from statutory language, replacing it, in most cases, with the word sex. It would mandate students be separated by sex, not gender, for sports and sex education.

The bill also broadens the definition of discrimination to include making another person feel uncomfortable over historic actions by their race, nationality or gender. It also replaces the word ethnicity with color.

Under the bill, parents and state regulators would have greater authority to ban books or lessons that cause discomfort, including lessons about the Civil War, the Civil Rights movement and the Holocaust.

Opponents of the bill say progress made in diversity and inclusivity could backslide.

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When we talk about tolerance, when we talk about cultural awareness, when we talk about really understanding the world around you, it's best to start those conversations at an early age. And so we do have concerns that if we remove these conversations from the classroom, that it could be a very real problem, Genesis Robinson, political director of Equal Ground Action Fund, a Florida nonprofit, told Changing America.

This is a very slippery slope here, he said. We have to be very careful about going down a road where we are censoring things that make us have discomfort.

Equality Floridas Brandon Wolf said the bill would almost certainly do more harm than good for the states public school students, whose quality of education is at risk.

How do we expect future generations to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past if we don't teach them the uncomfortable mistakes of the past?, he said.

The House bill, along with its companion Senate bill, is part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss Stop Woke Act, where woke is used as an acronym for Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees. In addition to lessons centered around gender identity and sexual orientation, DeSantis has zeroed in on critical race theory, which addresses systemic racism in the U.S., alleging it will widen racial divisions.

In Florida we are taking a stand against the state-sanctioned racism that is critical race theory, DeSantis said in December while introducing the proposal. We wont allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other.

The Florida Department of Education in June banned critical race theory from public school classrooms, grouping it in the same category as Holocaust denial and other theories that distort historical events.

Under the Individual Freedom bill, companies asking employees to undergo implicit bias or sexual harassment training will also face legal liability, as uncomfortable workers may sue because they feel they have been discriminated against.

If a disgruntled employee goes through sexual harassment training, for instance, and walks out and says they made me feel uncomfortable as a man, then they face potential discrimination lawsuits, because they did conduct that training, Equality Floridas Wolf said.

But companies also have an expectation under federal law to create inclusive workplace environments, allowing for legal liability whether they do or do not conduct diversity or inclusion training.

We as a society, and certainly in the state of Florida, have put a lot of effort into creating inclusive classroom environments and workplaces it's not been accidental, Wolf said. That work has been hard, its come at cost for some people, and the idea that we would be rolling those things back or deconstructing our efforts to be inclusive is almost unconscionable.

Proponents of the bill say it would only make state schools and workplaces more inclusive by taking things like race or gender out of the equation.

DeSantis office did not respond to Changing Americas request for comment but his press secretary late last month told CNN that "Every Floridian deserves an equal shot at success, regardless of skin color. This means considering each person as an individual with unique attributes, experiences, and aspirations, rather than stereotyping them as a member of this or that identity group.

"It is frankly disturbing that anyone would find these ideas controversial in the year 2022, she said.

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

Parashat Ki Tissa (Ki Tisa: Exodus 30:1134:35)By Rabbi Adina Allen | February 14, 2022

The Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of Judaism. Torah teaches that the stone tablets containing the commandments were given to us after we escaped Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and arrived at Mount Sinai. Like the manna that sustained our bodies as we wandered in the desert wilderness, the tablets sustained us as we emerged as free people and navigated the unknown of how to create an ethical society.

Yet, perhaps even more important than what is written on them might be how they were written. The Ten Commandments were written not once, but twice. The first set, given to Moses atop Mount Sinai, was inscribed by the finger of God. (Exodus 31:18) Yet, coming down from the mountain with the tablets, Moses famously sees the people worshiping the Golden Calf and casts this first set of tablets to the ground, shattering them into pieces. (Exodus 32:19)

In this weeks parsha, Moses and God give it another go. Moses makes a second trip up the mountain to convene with the Divine and replace what had been destroyed. We read:

And God said to Moses: Write down these commandments, for in accordance with these commandments I make a covenant with you and with Israel. And he was there with God forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water; and he wrote down on the tablets the terms of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:27-28)

The first set of tablets were clearly written, as Torah tells us by the finger of God, but what of this second set? This question of who scribed the second set of stones vexxed the ancient rabbis. Classical commentators including Rashbam, Ibn Ezra, Ramban, and Rabeinu Bachya argue, passionately, that it was God who wrote the words. In his commentary, Rabeinu Bachya conveys the distress he feels at even imagining it could be otherwise. He writes, The subject of these words is G-d, of course, not Moses, G-d forbid!

Yet, to make this assertion is to read against the grain of the text. While there are multiple mentions of he in verse 34:28, the statement, And he was there with God forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water, clearly refers to Moses. In his article, Who Wrote The Ten Commandments?, Professor Benjamin D. Sommer, drawing on the work of the Karaite biblical commentator Ab al-Faraj Hrn ibn Faraj, points out that in a series of verbs, the subject remains the same unless a new subject is introduced.

The plain meaning of the text, then, is that Moses, not God, wrote the second set of tablets. And so, we must ask, why did so many commentators work so hard, go through such mental gymnastics, in order to read the verse as God writing the tablets, and not Moses? What was so challenging, so threatening, so hard to imagine about the possibility that it was, in fact, Moses who inscribed the stones with the words that would endure for generations? Why, in Rabeinu Bachyas words, God forbid?

Putting ourselves in the shoes of our rabbinic ancestors, we can imagine. If it were Moses who wrote these words, they may not have been seen as binding, not adhered to as foundational aspects of what it means to live an ethical life of sacred service. What we today see as fundamental tenets of Judaism could have been ignored or discarded as simply the whim or inclination of a great, but flawed, leader, rather than the directive of an all-powerful deity. Were it Moses who wrote the tablets, we might easily say he got something wrong or missed something essential in the transcription process, which could lead to the community debating the merits of the instructions and even splintering into factions, causing an unraveling of the community.

But, more than any of these, it would mean that the foundational teachings we received were not simply given by God, but, instead, that revelation was a co-creation between the Divine and human beings. Perhaps even more than whats written on the stone tablets, we are meant to learn from this parsha the importance of the process by which they were created: Divine-human partnership. For, while the first set of tablets, inscribed by God, shattered, it is this second set, created in collaboration, that endures.

God, it seems, not only permits, but celebrates this turn of events. Midrash teaches that after shattering the first set of stones, Moses started feeling badly that he had broken the tablets. God comforts him, saying: Do not feel bad about the first tablets, for they only contained the Ten Commandments, however, the second tablets I will give you will have halacha, midrash, and aggadah. (Exodus Rabbah 46:1)

That is to say, the second set contains not only what God transmits to us, but also our unique human interpretations, imaginings, and improvisations on the Divine word. There is nothing to feel bad about in breaking that first set, God assures Moses, for it is the second set that was meant to endure. With our voice included alongside the Divine word, we are given not only revelation but also its ongoing source of renewal. Embedded in this second set of stones is the potential for future transmissions through halacha, midrash, and aggadah. These stone tablets can be conceived of as touchstones of transmission, alive and emanating through the ages.

After inscribing this second set of commandments, Moses returns to the people elated and illuminated, as the text says the skin of his face was radiant. (Exodus 34:29) Something within him had changed. Moses was no longer just basking in the light of God. Rather, through the co-creation of the tablets, he became lit up from the inside. Co-creation with the Divine is a sacred act available to all of us, one that illuminates us from the inside out and allows our light to shine out into the world.

In his seminal work, Halakhic Man, Rabbi Soloveitchick writes that each of us received the Torah from Sinai, not as a simple recipient, but as a creator of worlds, as a partner of the Almighty in the act of creation. The second set of tablets are a physical reminder of revelation as an act of co-creation. In this time of change and renewal, may we honor the concern of our rabbinic ancestors and their desire to protect the sanctity of the commandments, while at the same time fully appreciating Moses role as co-creator of the enduring nature of these teachings. May we each accept the challenge of co-creating the continual unfolding of our moral guidance toward a just world. And, in so doing, may we become, like Moses, radiant, shining our light out to the world.

Entrepreneur and artist Rabbi Adina Allen is the Co-founder and Creative Director of the Jewish Studio Project, a national organization that cultivates creativity as a Jewish practice for spiritual connection and social transformation. She is a 2014 graduate of theRabbinical School of Hebrew College.

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Posted By admin on February 15, 2022

You may have seen friends posting on social media with what seems like a secret code. A series of numbers followed by gray, yellow, and green boxes. They are part of a game called Wordle which has become an internet sensation over the past few weeks. The internet based game gives players six chances to guess a five letter word, giving clues after each attempt letting the player know if a letter and its placement in the word are correct. Every player gets the same word and resets every 24 hours meaning that you can only play it once a day and spoilers (and sometimes even hints) are strongly discouraged. There are conversations across platforms about strategies and which word to use first to get the maximum amount of most commonly used letters. If you think Wordle is fun, but not challenging or entertaining enough, you can try the many variations that have popped up including ones that use Harry Potter themed words, a dual board where you guess two words at once, and even one only using four-letter (yes those kinds of four-letter) words.

Theres a Yiddish version, of course, and theres also Jewdle, which gives you a word associated somehow with Judaism and once youve either gotten it right or run out of guesses it teaches you about the term! My favorite of the variations is the Hebrew Wordle (although I do get frustrated when it gives me a Hebrew word thats actually based on an English one, for example one day it was sauna, samech-alef-vav-nun-hey). I enjoy testing my Hebrew vocabulary and taking shorashim (root letters) turning them into nouns and building them into various binyanim structures that change the meaning of a verb. This strategy doesnt usually work, but it keeps my conjugation skills fresh and I often get to learn a new word.

This whole experience of the Wordle craze, I think, teaches us some important lessons in Jewish value. First, its good for your brain! The rabbis of the Talmud are constantly trying to stretch their brains with wordplay, to keep their minds agile and fresh with Torah verses.

Though you can play Wordle all by yourself and never share your results or talk about the word of the day, really its best experienced with community, just like Judaism. Everyone across the world gets the same Wordle word of the day and also each week we all read the same parsha (except every once in a while when Israel and the diaspora are one week off). When it comes to our weekly parsha, we learn the same stories and share lessons based on Gods words that have been taught for centuries. We are creating a knesset Yisrael, a worldwide connected community of Israel by studying the parsha in tandem. The same goes for almost any Jewish ritual lighting Shabbat candles, putting on tefillin, celebrating Passover, or singing the Shema. They can all be done alone technically, but are so much more powerful and meaningful when you know there are others doing it with you.

Lastly, words are important. Choosing the wrong word could make your Wordle streak end and also end relationships, friendships, and break trust. Or on the other hand, God created the world with words, meaning we can do the same. We can build up someones confidence, create new bonds, and have new experiences. With words, we make blessings, bring holiness into the world marking a transition from a mundane moment to a holy one.

Do we sometimes miss the mark, being so close just one green square away? Absolutely, we sometimes say the wrong thing, we realize after the fact what we could have said instead. We learn the correct words, to be more articulate, sensitive, welcoming, logical. And then we get the opportunity to try again tomorrow to find the words, to connect with community, to keep ourselves on top of our game.

Rabbinically Speaking is published as a public service by the Jewish Press in cooperation with the Tampa Rabbinical Association which assigns the column on a rotating basis. The views expressed in the column are those of the rabbi and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jewish Press or the TRA.

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