Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 6, 2021

Joel Charny, who's been a humanitarian aid worker for 40 years, talks to students at a camp for internally displaced people in northern Sri Lanka in 2005. It's one of his favorite photos, he says, "because this is what I did hundreds of times: interview people about what they were going through and what they needed for their lives to improve." Courtesy of Joel Charny hide caption

Joel Charny, who's been a humanitarian aid worker for 40 years, talks to students at a camp for internally displaced people in northern Sri Lanka in 2005. It's one of his favorite photos, he says, "because this is what I did hundreds of times: interview people about what they were going through and what they needed for their lives to improve."

Joel Charny has been a humanitarian aid worker for 40 years but one of the first valuable lessons he learned about the job was as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1970s.

At 21, he was assigned to work as a sixth grade English teacher in a remote part of the Central African Republic. The students didn't have textbooks. Some kids had to walk 5 miles to school and back. And many did their homework under a streetlamp because there was no electricity at home.

"The devotion those kids had to learning was absolutely phenomenal. You don't leave that and say, 'I'm so great, look at all the amazing things I did.' You come away with empathy and respect for people."

That empathy and respect for others, says Charny, has stayed with him throughout his career working for relief groups such as Refugees International and Oxfam in countries like Cambodia, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Syria. In June, he retired from his job as the U.S. executive director of Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the world's largest aid organizations.

Charny, 67, reflects on his decades in humanitarianism and explains why people shouldn't treat aid workers as if they wear haloes. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do people react at parties when you tell them what your job is?

There is an assumption that humanitarians have a halo over them. There is a tendency to give us the benefit of the doubt, that what we're doing is inherently good. That needs to be challenged.

If you get 10 humanitarians at a party, we'll all be telling tales of things that have gone wrong. But when we face the public, we don't dare reveal the real challenges we're facing and the mistakes we make for fear of jeopardizing that up-front respect we get for being humanitarians.

Charny at the Norwegian Refugee Council's Washington, D.C., office in June. "I was raised with the idea of tikkun olam, which means 'repair the world' in Hebrew," he says, reflecting on his 40-year career in the aid sector. "If you are privileged, you should give back." Joanna Trimble hide caption

Do you feel like you have a halo?

I don't walk around thinking I have a halo but I do feel that people outside the sector put a halo around my work, whether I want it or not.

How did you get into humanitarianism in the first place?

I was raised in a liberal, Jewish household in Pittsburgh, Pa., in the 1960s, where caring about the state of the world was part of the ethos of my family and my friends. There's a huge theme in Judaism of loving your neighbor as thyself and caring for other people. I was raised with the idea of tikkun olam, which means "repair the world" in Hebrew. If you are privileged, you should give back.

You retired in the middle of a pandemic. How do you think the crisis has affected humanitarian work?

Of course there was additional suffering that would not have taken place otherwise. But the pandemic proved to be way less of a hurdle than we expected. It was just one more complication in an already challenging environment.

There were periods when expatriate staff were unable to return to a work location, but many organizations found ways to minimize disruptions.

Many groups have been able to continue delivering food and medical supplies and other needs by mobilizing their local staff and enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols masking up and social distancing when meeting with aid recipients.

Right. The pandemic's been disruptive, but in some ways it's not the No. 1 story.

What is the No. 1 story in areas where humanitarians work?

Conflict. Is the pandemic a factor in Ethiopia? Absolutely. But the main issue right now is the war in Tigray the government linking up with Eritrea, attacking the Tigrayans and destroying the camps of Eritrean refugees.

How do you think Americans feel about the global refugee crisis now? Is there a lack of enough sympathy or response?

In the 1980s, there was some concern about Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees coming to the U.S. but overall, there was a bipartisan welcoming of those people and the idea that America would provide a safe haven. But it's become more difficult to make those arguments.

What [former President] Trump was able to accomplish over four years was a striking erosion in the thinking of the American people to care for those who are in distress by demonizing refugees and immigrants and sending the message that foreigners are coming to threaten our security or take our jobs. It will be a massive task to build back empathy.

What are some of the biggest changes to the humanitarian aid sector since you started your job 40 years ago?

The sector is more professional. There are technical standards that guide our work. For example, you need to provide a certain amount of water per person to meet their bathing, drinking and cooking needs when you set up a refugee camp.

Another big change: There is a tendency now for boards who have immense power to judge the heads of organizations based solely on the increase in the budget rather than any objective assessment of what the organization is accomplishing. So as long as the arrow goes up, everything's good. That kind of corporate mentality is a negative aspect that's been inserted into the sector. Our true mission should always be to help vulnerable people.

How do you think the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is playing out?

Afghanistan was already facing severe humanitarian challenges, especially as the result of food insecurity due to drought. So the political turmoil comes on top of the struggle for survival and well-being for the bulk of the population.

Depending on how the Taliban handle the political transition, it is likely that Afghan civil society, which was trying to move the country forward, will be repressed, leading to a response from donor governments to reduce or cut aid altogether. [Aid groups] can still make a difference if funding is maintained. But the picture is grim.

Charny, left, shakes hands with actor and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie at a Washington, D.C., event in 2007. At the time, he was on the board of the Cambodian Health Committee. Mark Mainz/Getty Images hide caption

What do you think of the celebrification of the aid industry? You've met the actors Angelina Jolie and Matt Dillon, for example, in your line of work.

I don't see this as a big problem. If celebrities can bring attention to a problem or a cause, then that's a good thing.

The danger is that the celebrity becomes the media story. It's a hard line to draw. Angelina Jolie, for example, while perhaps easy to mock, really tries to make her interventions about the problem rather than about her presence.

If you could change one big thing about the industry, what would it be?

We need some kind of independent entity that's able to cut through the public relations, cut through the halo effect and say what the problems are like corruption or money being wasted and what needs to be improved. In other words, a global ombudsperson or a better business bureau for the humanitarian sector.

I call this idea Relief Watch. It would have to be staffed by people who know the sector, but basically don't want to have a career in the sector [any longer] because they would not be making too many friends. I'm waiting for someone to make that happen.

Sounds like you'd be the perfect candidate as a recent retiree.

Well, I'd love to do it. But I never had the guts because of the financial risks in terms of pulling something like that together.

What has helped you cope throughout these years of working in aid?

Humility and modesty. There's a martyr complex in the humanitarian sector. The people who burn out are the ones who tend to feel like if they don't work 15 hours a day today and tomorrow and next week and next month, someone is going to die.

You do everything you can within the boundaries of a working day, then you have dinner, you go to bed and you get up the next day and pick things up. If you do that consistently, you are going to make a difference without doing harm to yourself or having delusions of grandeur.

I don't think I ever fell into that trap, because I never felt like, because of me, thousands of people are going to live or die.

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Retiring Humanitarian Aid Worker Reflects On 40 Years Working In Conflict Zones : Goats and Soda - NPR

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Posted By admin on September 6, 2021

Qol Tamid (Eternal Voice): The Shofar in Ritual, History, and Culture.

Edited by Jonathan L. Friedmann and Joel Gereboff

Claremont Press, 358 pages, $27.99

Two kinds of horns mentioned in the Hebrew bible. One, a metal trumpet, is described in great detail. The description of the other, the shofar, is, shall we say, limited? Guess which one has survived in continuous use by Jews since then.

What is a shofar, and how is it sounded? Well, that depends on whom you ask. Beyond the certainty that a shofar is of animal origin, almost every other conceivable aspect is open to debate. For thousands of shofar-sounding years, Jews have been grappling with the what, why, when, how, where, and who of the instrument.

Is the horn curved? Straight? From a ram? Goat? Ibex? Oryx? Kudu? Actually one of the only generally-held agreements is that in no circumstance, no matter what, should a cow horn be used even though the cow is considered kosher. That unfortunate Golden Calfworship episode when Moses was otherwise occupied permanently disqualified bovine shofar eligibility. As a musician I can personally attest to the lameness of cow horns on the shofar sonic spectrum.

To help elucidate the history and mysteries of this singular (musical or non-musical) instrument, Jonathan Friedmann and Joel Gereboff have gathered ten essays to guide us through the practical and exalted matters involving these horns, replete with sufficient citations to point the way for those who wish to pursue particular lines further. (Full disclosure: I an cited in the book as composer, writer and musicologist.) The level of musicality of the prose of these scholars varies. But the substance is consistently engaging and enlightening for those interested in the pursuit of what knowledge can be found about shofarot (yes, the plural shows the Hebrew name is feminine).

Although biblical passages mention two words with regard to the blowing of the shofar, Friedmann and Gereboff write, the exact nature of the sound is not fully evident, nor is how the shofar should be sounded for the different occasions. No passages detail the species of animals for making a shofar. Rabbinic texts [from earliest times] have developed and disagreed about various stipulations regarding the materials for the shofar, the specific character of the sounds, and the liturgical dimensions of its use. Moreover, local practices among different Jewish communities emerged.

And then there are esoteric kabbalistic traditions, symbolic interpretations and disputes over form and function. Is the shofar a musical instrument? Well, yes and no. The shofar is the only musical instrument that survived in Jewish practice since ancient times. All musical instruments fell by the wayside after the destruction of the Temple. Why? First, it is a biological instrument. Unlike human-made objects Second, the rabbis did not include the shofar in the prohibition against playing musical instruments on holy days. So the shofar was musical but considered as something other than a musical instrument very Zen.

Jeremy Montagu provides a genial, scholarly and quite thoroughgoing amble through the biblical and historical sources. Sometimes the shofar is from a goat. But definitely it must be from a ram because it refers to the Aqedah (the binding of Isaac, stopped by the angel who directs Abraham to substitute sacrifice of the ram in place of his son). Classifying the shofar as a kind of trumpet (as opposed to that other, metal one), Montagu declares it is unknown which of the two was used in the time of the Temple to signal the sabbath or the holy days. But by Talmudic times, he writes, it was certainly the shofar.

Marvin A. Sweeneys essay offers a catalogue of biblical shofar sound-cues of war, warnings and worship. He addresses the emotional valence of the shofar, citing it both as a sound of joy as in the Psalms and also the various passages referring to fear and trembling as in Amos 3:6 When a shofar is sounded in a town, shall the people not tremble? The most famous combination of war, warning, and worship of course is causing the walls of Jericho to tumble down. May I interject here that the NPR program Radiolab had physicists calculate the shofar forces required here? (Miracle-spoiler alert: the sound, even if it were physically possible to gather sufficient numbers of shofar players within a reasonable amount of space to affect such force, the sound would have shattered their bodies too.)

The books wildest and most wonderfully wooly essay is written by Jeremy Philip Brown who delves into the shofars medieval kabbalistic rituology and explores the theoerotic nature of the instrument, dedicates his work in memoriam to Ornette Coleman while Haim Ovadias essay on Sephardic theology and mysticism notes the basic differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish shofar traditions: The latter is more concerned with trembling in the presence of God.

Meanwhile, Malcolm Miller contributes the main essay on shofars and concert works. After crediting Ruth Smith, who discovered implied shofar calls in Handels Saul, he traipses through a whole host of other composers, crediting me for the discovery of the shofar call as the opening notes of (and actually the core inspiration for) Bernsteins West Side Story.

He also cites two of my own compositions that include shofarot: Night and Dawn for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Brass Ensemble, in commemoration of the anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi rule, and my concert-length Ceremonial for the Equinox, a spatially-conceived work whose conclusion is scored for shofar septet and bass drums. Particularly noteworthy among the included composers is Alvin Curran, who probably holds the world record of compositions with shofar. Then there is an opera by German composer Jrg Widmann, Babylon, which uses the shofar to stand for the ancient, but also the primitive, the beast, the uncivilized. Israeli composer Shulamit Ran, in her opera Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk), describes writing for shofarot in the scene of the attempt to exorcise the spirit of the dead abandoned lover that had taken possession of, and residence in, his intendeds body.

The collections final essay, by Jonathan L. Friedmann, From Stale to Silly to Sublime concerns the shofar in comic books. In Supermans Pal Jimmy Olsen, from 1964, for example, the titular cub reporter becomes The Red-Headed Beatle of 1,000 B.C.! and apparently plays Beatles songs on a shofar and hand drum while wearing a red mop-top wig (a plot point needed later). This comic would have us believe that Beatles songs can be reproduced on limitedly musical instrumentrepresented with unflattering sound effects Pwaah, Oowah, and Pwaahh.

Friedmann ends his survey with a different comic hero that is a total surprise: The shofar gets its fullest comic book treatment through the character of Mal Duncan, the first black member of D.C. Comics Teen Titans, he writes. After being knocked unconscious by an explosion, Duncan awakens to the eerie voice of Azrael, the angel of death, who has come to claim his soul. Duncan challenges Azrael to a fight. The angel Gabriel acting as referee. Gabriel blows his horn, infusing Duncan with super-strength to defeat the angel of death. Azrael declares You beat meso you live, for now! But I warn you, lose one fightto anyoneand you die! Gabriel gives Duncan the horn and tells him that blowing it will make him equal of any opponent. He reveals the shofar to Duncan in a quasi-mystical vision. This vision draws not only Jewish, but also Islamic and Christian traditions.

The liminal sound of the shofar, between life and death; music or non-music; natural or human; the here-and-now or the mystical Who will live, and who will die? Thats the realm of Qol Tamid.

A longer version of this review will appear in the annual publication of the Historical Brass Society.

Raphael Mostel is a New York-based composer and writer. Just before the pandemic his music was presented by the Berliner Philharmoniker in Germany and by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

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Is the shofar really a musical instrument and other horned dilemmas that are surprisingly difficult to resolve. - Forward

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Posted By admin on September 6, 2021

Anyada Buena, Dulse i Alegre! This is a way to say in Ladino May you have a good, sweet and happy New Year!

This evening starts Rosh Ashana, the Jewish New Year, which will be celebrated for two days till Sept. 8. Sweet beginnings to a New Year must be with honey and apple. Apple is the first fruit, not to speak of the Adam and Eve connection, but it is considered as the first fruit of the New Year, being the one that appears first among the fall and winter fruits. Honey, needless to say, is for sweetness. In many Jewish communities around the globe, apple slices are dipped in honey to wish a sweet year, but in Turkey, apples cannot appear on the table only as humble slices. Dulse di Mansana is a must-have treat on a New Year table. It is apple preserves, or sweet if you stick to literal translation, a glistening shiny bright delight of grated apples cooked to a form of jam. The traditional method is to grate the apples thickly, sprinkle with lemon juice and throw them into thick boiling syrup, but an old Jewish lady once gave me another trick. She said the moment you grate a batch of apples, toss them immediately with sugar and a good squeeze of lemon juice, that toss them quickly so that they remain white, and that do not forget a good dulse must always be almost bright and luminescent, not dark. Usually spiked with a few cloves or vanilla, sometimes even gum mastic, it is the sweetest start guaranteeing an Anyada Dulse, that is a Sweet Year. In short, apple is new and sweet, just the right start for the year ahead.

Along with apples, pomegranates are also significant in many Jewish tables. In Anatolia, all cultures have always embraced pomegranate as a symbol of plenty and fertility. From Hittites to ancient Greece, from Seljuk Empire to Ottoman times, the pomegranate kept appearing in numerous ways standing for prosperity. Armenian cannot do without a pomegranate in the New Year or Christmas, but interestingly though the first pomegranates start appearing in Rosh Ashana time -- their existence in the Rosh Ashana celebration table seems to be limited, overshadowed by the glorious Dulse di Mansana. However, Marie Benmayor (93), a native of Edirne and mother of journalist Gila Benmayor, says that a pomegranate has to be on the table, not to eat, but as a symbol, in wishes that the community multiplies and grows larger, just like the innumerable seeds of the fruit.

One of the most popular dishes of Jewish cuisine in Turkey must be the leek fritters, Prasa Kftesi in Turkish, or Kftes de Prasa, or more authentically, Albondigas de Prasa in Ladino. Note that the name suggests an eventual change in Ladino language: Kftes in Turkey or keftedes in Greece being replaced by the original Spanish word Albondigas. Albondigas de Prasa is not easy to make, but today not so difficult either with modern kitchen equipment, but the problem is that it disappears very quickly. Leek is one of the foods that must be present in the Rosh Ashana table, and in Turkey, it is almost always cooked in the form of fritters. Leeks, like apples, are one of the first vegetables of the year. The Hebrew word karti sounds similar to a curse on enemies for them to disappear, and as such, play on words is also important as to which food must be on the table; leeks lead the way. Leek fritters are loved so much that, nowadays, it continues to appear yearlong on special occasions, even making its way to Pesah. At a recent interview, Deniz Alphan, the author of Dinas Kitchen (a wonderful book about her mothers cooking, alas only available in Turkish), claimed that the leek fritters have such popularity in the Istanbul Jewish community that nowadays it is almost obligatory to have it in all celebrations. In the old times, it was so toilsome to chop the leeks finely that Jewish ladies would ask the butcher to have them minced in the mincemeat grinder. The minced leeks are cooked to soften and squeezed strongly to draw out excess juices, then is mixed with some minced meat, crumbled stale bread and an egg or two to form the mixture into patties, which are then dipped in flour and egg and then fried. Quite a work to do, but delicious nevertheless. Now everybody has an electronic kitchen tool or similar equipment to do the task, so it is normal that the tasty morsels keep appearing on Jewish tables as long as the leeks are still available. Apart from leeks, other must-have vegetables are chard and squash, the former considered to be typical of Sephardic Jewish culture since Spain.

For the main dish, the choice is usually fish, but if it is not available, lamb is also a choice, and sometimes, chicken can be too. Rosh Ashana literally means the head of the year, and the head is important. If there is fish on the table, it must be a whole fish to represent the unity of the family and integrity of oneself and the head goes to the father, the head of the family. The head will eventually lead the family to a better future. Fish also stands for fertility and prosperity, which is interestingly the same in Chinese New Year traditions and the Iranian New Year Norouz. The Chinese, if they cannot put an actual fish on the table, put a wood or porcelain statuette of a fish, and in Iran, it does not appear as food but as live goldfishes swimming in a bulbous vase. It is amazing how many New Year traditions feature fish as a symbol on tables in such a large geography, but we are, after all, the same. We all feel empowered to celebrate together with family and wish for the best, attributing certain symbolic significances to foods in hopes for a good future.

Originally posted here:

Honey and apple - Hurriyet Daily News

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Posted By admin on September 6, 2021

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune http://www.newsofbahrain.com

The Association of Gulf Jewish Communities announced that it has facilitated the first Bar Mitzvah in Bahrain in 16 years at the House of Ten Commandments.

The Bar Mitzvah weekend, the Jewish coming of age ritual, started with a Shabbat dinner in Manama on Friday evening with diplomats, Bahrainis and residents of other GCC countries in attendance. According to Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their childs actions.

Once Jewish children reach that age, they are said to become a bar or bat mitzvah, at which point they begin to be held accountable for their own actions. The weekend concluded with the first authentic Sephardic Selichot service in the GCC at the House of Ten Commandments, the oldest and only operational synagogue in the GCC.

It is a very exciting time for Jewish life in the GCC as more families celebrate Jewish milestones more publicly, said AGJC Rabbi Dr Eli Abadie.

In addition to this young mans Bar Mitzvah, we recently celebrated a Bat Mitzvah for a young woman in Oman, and we have several other Jewish lifecycle events which will take place before the end of the year.

The Bar Mitzvah was a joyous occasion for our whole community, and we wish the young man and his family a Mazal Tov, said AGJC President Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo. AGJC is the umbrella organisation for the Jewish communities of GCC countries.

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Association of Gulf Jewish Communities hold first Bar Mitzvah in Bahrain in 16 years | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN - News of Bahrain- DT...

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

TUCSON (KVOA) - A local synagogue held its very first in-person Shabbat on Friday after it was vandalized back in May.

On May 18, Congregation Chaverim, a local Jewish faith center in Tucson, was found at around 8 a.m. with one of its glass doors smashed with a rock.

A similar act of vandalism was also reported to another Jewish faith center on June 7. According to reports, Chabad on River was struck with antisemitic vandalism. Officials reported that a swastika and an antisemitic slur were spray-painted onto a classroom door of the congregation.

Tucson police have arrested the suspect, Nathan Beaver, connected to the vandalism on Chabad on River.

On Friday, Arizona Rep. Alma Hernandez, who is also a member of Congregation Chaverim, announced that after over a year and a half, Congregation Chaverim will be hosting its first in-person Shabbat.

Hernandez said that this Shabbat will be very special.

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Local Jewish faith center holds first in-person Shabbat in over a year, a half - KVOA Tucson News

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

The Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California, a nonprofit celebrating Jewish achievement in athletic pursuits from billiards to baseball (to broadcasting), is seeking high school applicants for a series of athletic scholarships to be awarded this year.

The scholarships, usually ranging from $2,000 to $2,500 dependent on revenue, are given to Jewish student-athletes who have demonstrated excellence in both athletics and academics; or who have shown sports prowess alongside a strong commitment to the Jewish community; or who have overcome obstacles in their lives en route to becoming an inspiring role model for other athletes. One award, the Dennis Brown Mensch Scholarship, is given to a non-Jewish athlete who has an outstanding academic, athletic, and community service record.

The scholarships, which will be sent directly to recipients colleges or universities, are available to high school juniors and seniors. For more information or to apply, click here.

Established in 2006, the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California honors the achievements of Jewish athletes, coaches and other sports luminaries with Bay Area ties, and maintains a permanent, interactive exhibit featuring information on all of its inductees at the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto. Past Hall of Famers include the MLB All-Star Joc Pederson, NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry and longtime San Francisco Giants owner Bob Lurie.

Each year the organization holds a banquet to honor awardees and induct its newest Hall of Famers; it is the nonprofits largest fundraising event of the year (last years was canceled because of the pandemic).

At this years dinner, to be held at the Four Seasons in San Francisco, five sports figures will earn entry into the hall, including University of San Francisco head basketball coach Todd Golden, longtime Bay Area sports columnist Lowell Cohn and pool player JoAnn Mason Parker, considered a child prodigy and known as The Battling Beauty.

Tickets start at $150 for the induction event, to be held on Oct. 24. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame of Northern California website.

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Bay Area athletes sought for Jewish scholarship awards J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

A man has been charged in connection with a string of antisemitic attacks in London.

The Metropolitan Police have charged Abdullah Qureshi, from West Yorkshire, who will appear in court on Saturday.

The 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of the allegedly unprovoked attacks across North London in broad daylight, which left a grandfather with facial injuries.

Qureshi has been charged with racially or religiously aggravated wounding, common assault and criminal damage.

The unprovoked attacks took place on August 18 and started on Cazenove Road in Hackney London, where a 30-year-old was hit with a bottle.

Thirty minutes later a teenage boy, 14, was attacked, and, then an hour later, a orthodox Jewish 64-year-old grandfather was hit in the face and pushed to the floor on Stamford Hill.

He was left with facial injuries and a broken foot after the random attack.

Speaking after the incident, the grandfather, who wanted to remain anonymous, told ITV news: I went into deep shock, terrible pain for the first two nights after I heard it was attack.

Although I didnt see the footage - I was advised not to - I replayed in my mind what I was told happened, as if I saw it. It was nightmarish.

He added: Anxiety levels have risen, which is not very healthy. Especially with this scoundrel at large. People should know these things are not acceptable.

Its very painful, obviously, Im in shock. Im hot, Im cold, there may be other injuries Im not aware of. I didnt have my brain checked out but there definitely was some effect on my head. I have memory loss.

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Man arrested over north London attacks on Jewish people - The Independent

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

Cantor Andy and Rabbi Kaplan wear masks during portions of Temple Beth Chais High Holiday services. {Courtesy Rabbi Kaplan}

By Jill Fox

The apples and honey are the same, but the congregation will look a little different during the Jewish New Year, while Parkland temples once again prepare for the high holidays during a time of uncertainty.

On the two most attended religious days of the year, local temples determine the best ways to celebrate with or without an in-person LShanah Tovah (Hebrew for Happy New Year)greeting.

At Congregation Kol Tikvah, services will be held both in person as well as via live stream. The temple has even gone high-tech with e-tickets for in-person experiences.

Their website reads, We are looking forward to welcoming back our congregational family and starting a joyful year together.

Seating will be limited to 50 percent capacity to allow for adequate physical distancing, masks are mandatory, and everyone attending indoor holiday services must show proof of vaccination.

Family Services will be held outside onRosh Hashanah Morning, and access is free and open to the public regardless of vaccination status.

AtTemple Beth Chai, virtual plans arent quite as simple.

The congregation typically has 600 to 700 people attend Rosh Hashanah services at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School auditorium.

We dont have our own building, said Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan, who will pre-record services in a Boca Raton sanctuary to post them on Facebook and YouTube.

The clergy promises to take viewers on a journey through the days of awe with their most inspirational, spiritual and uplifting services.

They will also hold a free live Zoom service for children on Monday, September 6 at 5 p.m.

Chabad of Parkland has a reservation system for seating at live services in the main synagogue, socially distanced with optional facial coverings. Attendees can call the office to reserve a ticket,or open seating is available at no charge.

Other opportunities open to everyone include hearing the shofar sounded outdoors on September 6 and 7 at 12 p.m. and an indoor unique interactive service geared towards families of anyone with special needs on September 6 at 2 p.m.

Chabad created a Shofar Chauffeur service for Parkland residents for those who choose to stay home. To request this, contact Rabbi Shuy Biston.

Send your news to Parklands #1 News Source,Parkland Talk

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Parkland Temples Get Creative for the Jewish New Year - Parkland Talk - Parkland Talk

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

Five hours of sleep per night. Twice having to dodge bucket drops from helicopters. Carrying up to 70 pounds of gear and lugging a chainsaw.

This was how Nathan Berro Krugman just spent the last two weeks. As a forestry technician for the U.S. Forest Service, he battled the Caldor Fire that threatened the Lake Tahoe region and turned skies across the state dark and smoky. Krugman arrived at the fire soon after it started on Aug. 14, when it had burned only .15 square miles and had 200 people assigned to fight it. By the time he left, the fire had grown to over 312.50 square miles with 3,700 people battling back the blaze. As of Friday, Caldor was 29 percent contained and fire officials were cautiously optimistic about their progress.

Krugman, 29, was born in Long Beach and is a resident of Oakhurst in Madera County. He was raised Reform and said he still gets together with friends during the Jewish holidays. (For Rosh Hashanah, My grandparents are sending me a challah, but I have to work.)

He joined the U.S. Forest Service in 2019 and is now on his third fire season. Hes battled blazes from Stanislaus National Forest north of Yosemite all the way down to San Diego. He worked on the Creek Fire last year in the Sierra National Forest, which until this years Dixie Fire north of Lake Tahoe was the largest to hit the state.

But the Caldor Fire, he said, was different in how fast it spread.

Because it was changing so quickly, our jobs were changing so quickly, said Krugman. It was a lot of back and forth, a lot of moving pieces. He said he showered just twice during his entire two-week deployment, a luxury compared to other fires hes worked on.

J. FaceTimed with Krugman while he was resting at his home in Oakhurst. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

J.: How long is your workday when youre working the fire line?

Nathan Berro Krugman: Youll usually wake up around 5:30 [a.m.] or so. Well go to the main briefing. Were working by 8:30. Once you start working, you really dont stop until around 7, sometimes 8. But there [were] nights [during the Caldor Fire] where we didnt get back [to camp] until 9:30 because we were involved in a section where youve got active fire, thats, for example, threatening homes.

What are you doing throughout the day?

Sometimes [well be putting out] a spot fire [with hoses]. Thats like embers that come off of the main head of the fire that [can] cause another fire. Or well be going along sections that have already been burned and doing whats called mopping up, where youre able to use water to put out heat thats near the line. Youre essentially just stirring cold dirt with hot dirt with your tool in order to put that out. [Another thing we do is] digging a line. So youre actually digging down to bare mineral soil, and whatever terrain that youre in to stop the fires progression. We dont really fight fire with water.

What do you mean?

Sometimes these fires have to get bigger in order for them to be put out. You cant just put a hose on it and call it a day. Really the main way to actually put out forest fires is to create a fuel break, removing fuel between you and the fire in a strategic place.

What is something that most people dont understand about fighting fires?

A human being can only do so much when theres 150-foot flame links coming off trees, [moving] as fast as someone can run. Its a lot more physically intensive, and a lot harder than people would think to put out a fire, especially when it has momentum.

What are you getting paid to do this work?

I make $15.10 an hour. Now, I get hazard pay, and I get overtime on [top of] that. But a representative from Cal Fire, or someone like that, theyre making upwards of $70,000 a year plus. You average mine out over a fire season, I may be making half that.

How long does it take to get the smoke smell off of you?

Id say at least like two or three showers. My hands are finally clean. If you were to go to a campfire, right, and youre touching a burnt log, and you actually touch it, its kind of hard to get that off. Youre doing that every day. We have gloves, but when youre mopping up, you need to be able to touch the dirt with the back of your hand in order to know that its cool enough to move on.

When youre not actively fighting fires, youre helping to manage the forest. What made you want to get into this line of work?

A friend of mine recommended I check out this job. Theres two main types of fun. Theres type one, when youre having fun while youre having fun. But then theres the type two fun, where youre not really having fun during, but youre having fun after. And thats how he described it to me. When you look back on it, its a really fun time.

What makes it fun after the fact?

Theres a lot of things that are extremely tedious about the job and physically intense. Youre hiking a lot every day, youre digging dirt every day, youre dirty every day. Even if you shower the night before, you get dirty within an hour. But when you look back on it, and you can see what youve accomplished, it all tends to be worth it in the end.

Howd you get that beard?

Patience.

And are you ever worried it is going to catch on fire?

No. Its actually a good telltale if youre too close to the fire or not. No, seriously, I had a section on my beard burn last year.

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Q&A: Meet a Jewish firefighter who battled the Caldor Fire J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on September 4, 2021

How would I describe myself? Ezra Furman said wryly, tearing a corner off of her slice of pizza in a shop in Somerville, Mass. I try to avoid it.

Theres certainly a lot to cover. The 34-year-old musician is an acclaimed indie rocker, an observant Jew, a transgender woman, a mother, and as of this fall a rabbinical student.

I would say Im a transfeminine psalmist, she said after a pause. Shes deceptively delicate in person despite her rowdy stage presence, wearing a soft pink shirt and a mask that reads VOTE! I think its true that I am a trans woman. I think non-binary is also accurate. And Im not sure how these incommensurate things can be together, but they just all feel accurate.

Its an identity Furman, formerly of Berkeley, has explored in music and lyrics throughout her career, which has also defied categorization. Her discography mixes glam rock with grunge and doo-wop, upbeat indie pop with sweet crooning ballads and howling punk songs about poverty and climate change. She has appeared on stage wearing tzitzit under a dress and produced an album about queer love that doubles as a midrash on Exodus. Perhaps most significantly in her career as a touring musician, she doesnt travel or perform on Shabbat.

I give up professional opportunities all the time, she said. I guess it takes some trust that its gonna be okay. I have developed a will to ask for all the things that I need, even though I was told they cant go together.

For many of her fans, especially those who are queer and questioning, Furman provides a rare public example that it is possible to be religious and queer, to be transgender and a parent. After she came out as a transfeminine mother in April, there was an outpouring of joy across social media.

You have always been in a light in the darkness and you sharing this with all of us has the exact effect you intended: proof that life can be beautiful and fulfilling AND you get to be yourself, one Instagram commenter wrote. Another said: so happy for you, your family, and thank you for sharing this so valuable to be witnessed, appreciated and to be inspiration for others.

But it wasnt all positive her manager received a stash of hate mail that he hid from her.

He was like, Ill just tell you if theres something important, Furman said with a sigh.

My goal was to show my life a little to people who might find it useful to have a model of trans parenthood in real life, she said, a little ruefully, and then I found transphobic people make you pay a cost for that. But I do think it was worth it. I can take some degree of it if its worth it.

She and her partner, who she doesnt talk about publicly for privacy reasons, are used to queerphobia, as she puts it, in an open way and in a structural way. But shes hopeful, perhaps more than she was when she last talked to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2016, when shediscussed her difficulty finding a Jewish space to pray comfortably.

I see glimmers of a future where its just not an issue for anyone you encounter and you never have to explain yourself. I want nobody to have to explain their gender or sexuality or family structure, she said.

It has been a busy past few years for Furman, who had toiled for years in relative folk rock obscurity with the band Ezra Furman and the Harpoons before making more of a splash as a solo artist with a string of five albums, the first from 2012. Records such as 2015s Perpetual Motion People and 2018s Transangelic Exodus brought widespread acclaim, and she scored the music for Netflixs hit show Sex Education in 2019.

In addition to being a new mom and a professional musician, Furman starts at Hebrew College in nearby Newton this fall. Shes also starting a podcast on Jewish holidays called 2 Queers 4 Questions. Shes only doing one semester of rabbinical school for now, and then will take all of 2022 off from school.

Which might suggest that Im doing some musical activity then, she said.

For Furman, rabbinical school is the culmination of a lifetime of thinking about God but making music, which she calls spiritual, also helped her get there.

Someone I know asked me if I think that learning the Torah trope for my bar mitzvah influenced me to become a musician, [and] it completely did, she said. I think [singing] is a part of the brain that remembers in a different way, but also thinks and feels in a different way. And thats the part of the brain that prays, is the part of the part of the brain that I think talks to God, that thinks about God. I think its a spiritual act to make music.

Has raising a child made her even more in touch with her Jewish identity?

Thats a good question, she said, tilting her head to the side in contemplation. I havent thought about it.

Either way, her two year-old, for whom she uses they/them pronouns in respect for their privacy, is surrounded by Jewish ritual at home.

I sing Shema Yisrael before putting them down for bed every night. So, they know the word shma, they kiss the mezuzah as were going through the door to their bedroom, and in everything about being a parent, youre making the world for this person. And the choices you make are their environment, Furman said.

She explained that she has been thinking about her own childhood lately her experiences at a Jewish day school from elementary through middle school, and then as a teenager entering the largely irreligious music scene.

I grew up in places where wherever I could be queer, I couldnt be Jewish in the way I wanted to be, she said, and wherever I could be Jewish, I couldnt be queer in the way I wanted to be. One of them had to be under water for the other one to breathe. I didnt have a lot of people showing me that it was possible to ask for both and do both.

And now?

To me, what becoming an adult has meant is that I get to make the life I want, and others idea that these things are incommensurate with each other, doesnt actually prevent me from doing anything. I mean it might get me stigma and hate, harassment, whatever. But I can still have transness, and Judaism, and parenthood, and the art life, the music life.

She takes a long pause. I have a lot of flaws, she said. But Im also happy with who I am.

Eventually she walked back across Somervilles Davis Square to where she left her bike and helmet; it was drawing closer to evening and she was on her way to pick up her child before the crush of Boston traffic reached its height. This will be the second time in her life that the Tufts graduate has lived in Somerville as a student and shes excited to get started.

I dont know that Im going to finish, and I might be a rabbinical school dropout which seems cool, she said with a laugh. Its a weird thing to do and its going to be awkward both for my music life and my school life I just was like, well, these two ventures dont fit together. But I need them both, so Im going to do them both.

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Queer Jewish indie rocker Ezra Furman is headed to rabbinical school J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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