Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

The confusion, utter joy and comfort with the familiar were all on display at the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in Woodmere on Sept. 1, the first day of school.

School buses dropped the students off on the Ibsen Street side the building as assorted parent-driven vehicles dropped off their children on the Branch Boulevard side.

Classes collected in the gymnasium and heard and sang Hativka the national anthem of Israel for the first time in the school building since March 2020, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

At Hewlett High School in Hewlett, vehicles crammed in and out of the school's East Rockaway Avenue entrance and exit, and students huddled under umbrellas as they walked to school while it rained.

As the second full school year under the coronavirus pandemic begins, Five Towns schools are adhering to the state mandate of wearing masks inside the buildings, while aiming to ensure that all instruction is conducted in-person in classrooms.

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

Over the next few weeks, members of the Jewish faith will observe the High Holy Days in the month of Tishrei in the Jewish calendar, usually in September and October. These holidays commemorate concepts such as renewal, forgiveness, freedom and joy.

As a scholar of the Bible and the ancient world, I am continually impressed with how the history of these festivals offers consolation and encourages people toward living well, even during a pandemic.

Of the two main High Holy Days, also called the High Holidays, the first is Rosh Hashanah, or the New Year celebration. It is one of two new year celebrations in the Jewish faith, the other being Passover in the spring.

The second High Holiday is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement.

In addition to the main Holy Days, there are other celebrations that occur as part of the festival season. One is Sukkot, or the Festival of the Booths, during which meals and rituals take place in a sukkah, or a makeshift structure constructed with a tree-branch roof.

The second entails two celebrations, which in some traditions are part of the same holiday and in others occur on two separate, consecutive days: Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

Shemini Atzeret is Hebrew for eighth (day of) assembly, counting eight days from Sukkot. Simchat Torah is Hebrew for joy/rejoicing of the Torah the Torah being the first five books of the Bible, from Genesis to Deuteronomy, believed to have been revealed to Moses.

Of particular interest for the High Holy Days in 2021 is that Rosh Hashanah also begins a yearlong observance known as the Shmita.

Commemorated once every seven years, the term comes from a Hebrew phrase that appears in the Bible in a number of passages. Some of these passages command that the farmer drops or releases his crops. Another verse associates the act with the forgiveness of debts. In another passage in the Bible, the Shmita is connected with the reading of Gods revelation in the law.

The exact nature of the action denoted by Shmita is debated, but the idea is that some portion of the food is left behind for the poor and hungry in society.

In this manner, the beginning of the High Holy Days in 2021 is a reminder to care for those who have been struggling.

The origins and reasons for the High Holy Days are in some fashion encoded in the Bible and in the agrarian and religious culture that produced it. The millennia of Jewish tradition between the Bible and the present has informed many of the celebrations as well, in ways that go beyond the biblical texts.

The first holiday, Rosh Hashanah, celebrates renewal. It involves the blowing of the shofar horn, itself connected to the ram sacrificed instead of Abrahams son, as God had commanded Abraham to do. Important activities include attending synagogue to hear the shofar, as well as eating apple slices with honey, the former representing hopes for fruitfulness and the honey symbolizing the desire for a sweet year.

It also often involves a ritual of throwing bread onto running water, called a tashlich, symbolizing the removal of sins from people.

Rosh Hashanah is believed to mark the date of the creation of the world, and it begins the Days of Awe, a 10-day period culminating in Yom Kippur.

The term Days of Awe itself is a more literal translation of the Hebrew phrasing used for the High Holy Days.

Concepts of repentance and forgiveness are particularly highlighted in Yom Kippur. Its origins are found in the Hebrew Bible, where it describes the one day a year in which premeditated, intentional sins, such as willfully violating divine commands and prohibitions, were forgiven.

Intentional sins were envisioned as generating impurity in the heart of the temple in Jerusalem, where God was thought to live. Impurity from intentional sins was believed by Israelites to be a threat to this divine presence since God might choose to leave the temple.

The biblical description of Yom Kippur involved a series of sacrifices and rituals designed to remove sin from the people. For example, one goat was thought to bear the sins of the Israelites and was sent off to the wilderness, where it was consumed by Azazel, a mysterious, perhaps demonic force. Azazel consumed the goat and the sins that it carried. The term scapegoat in English derives from this act.

Yom Kippur is both the holiest day of the Jewish calendar and also one of the most somber, as the time for repentance includes fasting and prayer.

The Festival of Sukkot likely began as an agricultural celebration, and the booths were shelters in which farmers stayed during the collection of grain, which was to be processed for the year.

Vestiges of this agricultural commemoration appear in certain passages in the Bible, one of which indicates that the festival is to last seven days to mark the time period in which Israelites dwelt in booths, or makeshift dwellings with branches, when leaving Egypt.

This feast was known as zeman simchatenu, or the time of our rejoicing, hearkening to the themes of gratitude, freedom from Egypt and the reading of Gods revelation as found in the Torah to all Israel.

Such a time of rejoicing contrasts with the somber repentance and fasting that feature in Yom Kippur. So vital was the Festival of Booths that it is also known as simply the chag, or the feast, a word related to the more familiar hajj pilgrimage in Islam.

This period of seven days ends with Shemini Atzeret on the eighth day, both a connected celebration capping off Sukkot and a festival in its own right.

The annual reading of the Torah ends with the final text of Deuteronomy. The beginning of the next annual reading cycle, starting with the first book Genesis, is also celebrated. This act of beginning a new year of reading the Bible is commemorated in the festival called Simchat Torah.

The observance of Simchat Torah was a later innovation, described already in the fifth century or so but not formalized or identified by this name until the medieval period.

Religious calendars and festivals can force people to encounter certain ideas in the year. For example, they can enable them to face the more difficult dynamics of life like repentance and forgiveness, providing avenues to reflect on the events of the past year and to find courage to live differently in the next year where needed.

In this manner, structuring the celebration of the new year around remembrances of a variety of human experiences, both sorrow and joy, entails a profound recognition of the complexity of relationships and experiences in life.

In particular, the High Holy Days as illustrated in the renewal of Rosh Hashanah, the somber reflection of Yom Kippur as well as the joyous celebrations in Sukkot and Simchat Torah, offer a means to remember that time is itself healing and restorative.

As such, the High Holy Days and the holiday season in Tishrei help to mark the year in meaningful ways and to highlight our moral responsibility toward one another.

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

Jewish learners in Metro Detroit from teens to adults can embark upon a new path to study thanks to Thoughtful Judaism, a new curriculum designed by the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem.

Taking a pluralistic approach to Jewish education, the course will spark deeper conversations on where todays Jews fit in with their tribe in terms of faith, ethics, practice and community.

Thoughtful Judaism is brought to Detroit by a two-year $60,000 grant from the Hermelin-Davidson Center for Congregation Excellence.

According to Rebecca Starr, director of regional programs for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, Thoughtful Judaism is a curriculum based on wide-sweeping thoughts and concepts about Jewish identity and peoplehood for the 21st century rather than focusing on the details of practicing the religion. She hopes that the new curriculum will lead to the deep meaningful conversations that people in the Jewish community need to have as they continue to deal with and emerge from the pandemic.

The Detroit Jewish community needs to shake the notion that they can wait out the pandemic and go back to the synagogue or other Jewish institutions just as they did in 2019, Starr said.

Going back to shul will be different, and so will the way we do Jewish learning and education. Thoughtful Judaism is much more about answering questions like what it means to be part of a collective, a tribal people and what is my role in this collective.

Its much different from answering questions like, when and how do we light Shabbat and Chanukah candles. Those elements are important, too, but this curriculum is designed to elevate the conversation about Judaism.

Earlier in August, Starr trained 17 local rabbis and Jewish educators from 13 area Jewish institutions on the adaptable, modular curriculum at an in-person seminar at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.

The big takeaway we gave to those who attended the training [in person and on Zoom] was: The Hartman Institute gives you the four volumes of the curriculum, and you have the creativity and know your constituents and the ways to create classes for them, Starr said.

The Hartman Institute hopes classes developed from this curriculum will invite those in interfaith marriages, the unaffiliated and those feeling marginalized in the Jewish community to come in and join the conversation and not stay on the sidelines.

JLearn, a project of the Jewish Community Center of Metro Detroit, is the first in the community to spearhead efforts to offer Thoughtful Judaism classes beginning in October with two 12-week semesters either Monday evenings or Wednesday mornings over Zoom for 75 minutes. All classes for the fall semester will be on Zoom only.

JLearn will determine if the second semester, beginning in January, will be offered in a hybrid format. The cost of the coursework is $175 per semester or $300 for the entire year, and scholarships are available. For detailed information, call (248) 205-2557 or go to jlearn.online.

We are so fortunate that Rebecca Starr is steering the ship on bringing Thoughtful Judaism to Detroit as she has taught classes for JLearn for many years, said JLearn Senior Director Shelley Wish Chaness. We are making classes accessible for time-crunched people because we understand, these days, time is a commodity. Because of the flexibility of the curriculum, instructors can take a broad overview approach or a deeper dive into each of the concepts.

Thoughtful Judaism revolves around four themes:

Peoplehood: The meaning and definition and purpose of Jewish community, how it can be diverse and hold shared values and a shared history and an exploration of the main centers of Jewish life: Israel and North America.

Faith: An exploration of questions relating to ones relationship with God and what a life of faith entails, models in Judaism that exemplify the complexities of having a relationship with God as well as viewpoints on where Jews who do not believe in God fit in.

Practice: What is the meaning of the system of mitzvot and what does it accomplish? In an age that encourages independent and self-minded thinking, how can one find relevance in rituals and how the sanctification of time, space and body can lead to holiness.

Ethics: In what ways is the individual obligated to the widest and innermost circles of community according to Jewish tradition? How to maintain relationships even when one party wrongs another, and the obligations parents and children have to one another.

To add to the multimedia aspect of the curriculum, each volume is accompanied by a series of podcasts and 10-minute videos.

The beautiful part about the Hartman curriculum is that is not as heavy as other learning programs we have taught in the past, Chaness said. The lessons have a basic format built on Jewish texts, but they allow for news articles, videos or even songs anything that allows more current relevance to the subject matter.

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Scrolling through Twitter in her pajamas Tuesday night, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg learned that the Supreme Court would allow a strict anti-abortion law to take effect in Texas.

Honestly, I was shocked, though I know I shouldnt have been, said Ruttenberg, who last year launched Rabbis for Repro, a group of Jewish clergy who work to protect access to abortion. Im a human being. I was hoping for a miracle.

Little more than a year old, the group has grown to more than 1,000 who have signed a pledge to speak out about reproductive rights and Judaism. They have lobbied lawmakers and held Repro Shabbats at more than 350 synagogues. But now, as the Supreme Court sends what many interpret as a sign of its willingness to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion nationally, the rabbis are recommitting to their mission.

The necessity for having a religious and moral voice around reproductive health rights and justice is more clear than ever before, said Ruttenberg. And we are organizing.

Formed under the umbrella of the National Council of Jewish Women, the group aims to put a religious Jewish face on the movement to preserve access to abortion. Jewish teachings, its members hold, support and even require abortion rights and congregants, lawmakers and others need to know that their faith drives Jewish activism on the issue.

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg launched Rabbis for Repro last year under the auspices of the National Council of Jewish Women.

A key text for Rabbis for Repro is from the Torah Parshat Mishpatim, which deals with the accidental death of a fetus. Causing a miscarriage isnt manslaughter, so the fetus doesnt have the status of personhood, Ruttenberg said.

The ranks of Rabbis for Repro grew fast, said Ruttenberg, who seeded the group with some of the most influential clergy in the nation before she invited others to join. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, was an early signer of the pledge, as was Rabbi Jacob Blumenthal, who leads the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism.

Did anyone say no? I cant think of a single person, said Ruttenberg. They are engaged and showing up.

Most Jews 83% according to the Pew Research Center favor abortion rights, making them among the most supportive religious groups in the nation. And though the country as a whole is split over the morality of abortion, a majority supportsRoe.

But the movement to protect abortion rights faces scores of increasingly restrictive abortion measures passed by state legislatures emboldened by a Supreme Court whose three newest justices are appointees of former President Donald Trump. He had promised a court prepared to overturn Roe. The court is scheduled to consider a Mississippi challenge to that landmark case in its upcoming session this fall.

In the face of these legal challenges, the rabbis, cantors and other ordained members of Rabbis for Repro have promised to redouble their efforts. For many of them, that work starts in the pulpit.

Rabbi Mara Nathan, who leads Temple Beth-El in San Antonio Texas,is a member of Rabbis for Repro.

Rabbi Mara Nathan of San Antonios Temple Beth-El, the citys only Reform congregation, has long planned to make the assault on abortion rights the topic of her sermon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.

Its not a law that affects my personal life, said Nathan, a member of Rabbis for Repro, but I have an 11-year-old daughter. I think of all the women I know who are of reproductive age or will be of reproductive age and how it will affect their autonomy.

Shes going to tweak her sermon to talk about the Texas law that became national news this week. And if someone who cant get an abortion seeks her help, she said, she and her allies in the Jewish community would come up with a plan.

I would find the funds to get them out of Texas and get what they needed, Nathan said. And I also know we have allies in the congregation who would help.

Most of her congregation supports abortion rights, she said, predicting some, but not much, pushback after her Rosh Hashanah sermon, from which she shared a passage:

Jewish tradition sees.the rights of the fetus [as] secondary to the rights of the mother up until the moment of birth. In the Talmud, Rav Hisa states: If a woman was giving birth and her life was being endangered by the fetus, the life of the fetus may be sacrificed in order to save the mother. [In this case,] the fetus is a pursuer who is endangering his mothers life.

In Houston, another member of Rabbis for Repro, Joshua Fixler of Congregation Emanu El, said the high courts inaction on the Texas law may wake some to the possibility that Roe may soon be overturned. Noticing the house is on fire is better than not noticing, he said.

Joshua Fixler of Congregation Emanu El in Houston is a member of Rabbis for Repro.

Fixler, who after college spent two years working for the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, participated in Rabbis for Repros lobby day in May, when 75 Jewish clergy across the country met with their U.S. senators and House members. Their goal was to convince the politicians to co-sponsor two pieces of legislation drafted to protect abortion rights should the Supreme Court overturn Roe.

In the end we had 29 new sponsors, said Ruttenberg.

Fixler met with Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, an opponent of abortion rights who would likely not sign on to the bills. But its still important that Jewish voices on the topic are heard in the halls of power, Fixler said.

Some Jews, mostly Orthodox, oppose abortion, and have been active in the movement to overturn Roe. But Ruttenberg said that Orthodox Jews are represented in Rabbis for Repro. That subgroup includes Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz, a popular writer and motivational speaker, and several Orthodox women who have been ordained and use the titles maharat or rabba.

Orthodox theology does not assign a fetus the status of a person, as do many Christians opposed to abortion, Rabbi Avi Shafran, a spokesman for Agudath Israel of America, a leading Orthodox group, told the Forward in 2019. And abortion is permitted in Orthodoxy to save the life of the mother and sometimes for other medical complications with permission from ones rabbi.

Fixler said although most Jews are supportive of abortion rights, some take Roe for granted, perhaps because many, though certainly not all, have the means to travel for an abortion in a state where it remains accessible.

Jews teaching Jews about the importance of protecting reproductive rights, may feel like preaching to the choir, he said. But its time for the choir to get up and sing.

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The shofar has long been a popular symbol of Judaism thanks to its usage on the High Holidays. But the shofar was once associated not only with prayer, but as a rallying cry of freedom.

This notion is manifest in Jewish liturgy. The 10th benediction of the daily amidah begins with Tka bshofar gadol lcherutenu sound a great shofar for our liberty. Similarly, the portion of the Rosh Hashanah Musaf service dedicated to the shofars meaning, known as shofarot, lists several scriptural sources of the ram horns link with freedom, including, when the banner of redemption is raised on the mountains you will see it; and when a shofar will be sounded, you will hear it.

How did a rams horn come to embody the Jewish view of freedom? The Hebrew Bible created the liberty horn in three ways.

First, it did so through the Jubilee year, the semi-centennial event where all slaves and debts were released. The Jubilee or yovel commenced with a shofar blast, which was so central a ritual that yovel literally means horn.

September 1, 2021 12:08 pm

Second, is the shofars military and messianic messaging. For example, Joshuas army toppled the walls of Jericho with the roar of the shofar, which became a common feature of Israelite warfare. Furthermore, based on prophetic verses, traditional Judaism believes that the Messianic Age will be heralded with shofar blasts. In fact, my childhood synagogue hangs a rams horn and oil jug in the main sanctuary to announce and anoint the Messiah should he travel through Scarsdale, New York, on his way to the Holy Land.

The shofar in early Jewish history was like the fife and drum in colonial America the clarion call to grab your weapon and muster a defense of endangered liberties. Absalom whipped up popular anger against King David because he claimed that the monarch had centralized control, robbing the people of justice. To signal the launch of his coup, Absalom told his men: As soon as you hear the sound of the shofar, then you shall say: Absalom is king in Hebron.

After Absaloms defeat, the northern tribes were still in rebellious spirit; King David, they thought, usurped too much power, threatening their ancient liberties. Sheba the Benjamite launched an armed revolt, blew a shofar and declared, We have no portion of David, neither have we an inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel. Hearing the horn, the masses rallied to Shebas cause and attacked Davidic targets.

Likewise, when Israel liberated Jerusalem from Jordanian control in 1967, the IDFs Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren triumphantly blew the shofar at the Western Wall, in what became an iconic moment.

Third, the shofar is the wake-up call to repentance, a reminder that we stand under Divine judgement. Humanity is endowed with free will. By accepting Gods sovereignty and hearkening to the commandments, we unshackle ourselves from reliance on man, and from vices that enslave us. Freedom through the Law is the Talmudic dictum.

These three typologies of the shofar are profoundly connected, which can be seen in the fact that it is on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when the Jubilee year is declared with a shofar blare. The Jubilee frees the slave but for what? Yom Kippur exhorts us to use that freedom for virtuous living, what George Washington called liberty without licentiousness.

It is no wonder, then, that the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, is emblazoned with the verse from Leviticus commanding the Jubilee: Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.

America got it right. Like Judaism, it sought to couple freedom of action with moral obligation. John Adams warned that American freedom rested on the foundation of a moral and religious people. In contrast, the French Revolution, while professing political liberty, denounced religious practice.

When the Liberty Bell first sounded in 1751, an onlooker wrote that it rang as if it meant something. Indeed it does. The shofar means something, and something similar, too.

This High Holiday season, we should connect with the penetrating demands of the simple rams horn and answer the charge of its shrill blasts. The confessions and supplications during services demonstrate that we are held accountable for all our actions. In other words, we are free.

Fortunate is the people that understand the call of shofar. (Ps.89:16)

Joshua Blustein is a Jewish and pro-Israel activist, and a student at the University of Chicago Law School.

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

In todays rapidly shifting world, American Jewish University (AJU) is marshalling its creativity and boldness to transform how individuals and communities learn and access Jewish wisdom.

A mission-driven institution that has served the Los Angeles community for decades, AJU is pioneering a slate of online academic and community programs that are making Jewish education and wisdom more easily available, at all stages of the life cycle, around the world.

The pandemic created an opening for AJU to radically change in real time how we deliver education, says AJU President Dr. Jeffrey Herbst. We saw this as an opportunity to move quickly, both on new initiatives and initiatives that were already in our pipeline. We reject the traditional narrative of the North American Jewish community, most notably about the abandonment of affiliation and ever-increasing anomie, and see instead new moments to engage large numbers of Jews and others who have not found their home for learning.

The University launched BYachad Together: Spirited by AJU, a leading digital platform for conversations centered on Jewish wisdom that has drawn an average of 600 viewers per event. It has also developed robust online degrees in education and business, and new learning opportunities for the next generation of Jewish leadership at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies. With one of the largest gifts the University has received in its history, it created the Maas Center for Jewish Journeys, championing those too-often relegated to the periphery of Jewish life. Within the Maas Center, the Miller Introduction to Judaism programs latest digital venture, On One Foot, offers a self-paced video course for anyone interested in learning about the basics of Judaism from an open, embracing perspective.

AJU is pioneering a slate of online academic and community programs that are making Jewish education and wisdom more easily available.

While distinct, these offerings are intertwined with the Universitys long-standing mission to elevate the Jewish journeys of individuals and organizations. These digital programs reflect and respond to the deeper needssocial, spiritual, and intellectualof a changing 21st century society.

Herbst explains that AJU is a non-denominational university based on Jewish wisdom across the board. We do not impose one particular perspective and we are not bound to serve a geographically-defined population. This is clearly reflected in the Universitys BYachad program, soon to be rebranded, led by Chief Innovation Officer, Rabbi Sherre Hirsch. BYachad draws a world-wide community to online conversations that capture and deliver insights from guest speakers and AJU faculty.

Hirsch believes that in todays world, there is a hunger for more conversation. She explains that right now, online, we have a lot of content, but not a lot of context. So, we can go online and learn whatever we want, but we dont have someone helping us understand. BYachad, Hirsch says, was intentionally developed differently to host original conversations that capture Jewish thought and knowledge.

Events have featured a variety of voices, including New York Times bestselling author Anita Diamant and Academy Award winning producer Melissa Berton; Former Ambassador of Israel to the United States Michael Oren; Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl; and Ozarks Julia Garner and Chris Mundy.

AJU President Dr. Jeffrey Herbst

Hirsch says her team pictures the warmth of a Shabbat dinner when putting together the virtual programming, recognizing that a level of intimacy creates something that we are all craving. The need for a resource like this is demonstrated by the programs engagement, well beyond Los Angeles and North America, including communities in South Africa, Australia, Israel, and Argentina. Its enabled people to find their place and home within Judaism, says Hirsch. Thats even true for the interviewees, who have often had an aha moment about their Judaism, while speaking on the platform, says Hirsch. Hirsch says that these programs are only the beginning of the virtual events and learning opportunities that AJU will offer. We are constantly iterating and are excited to unveil an entirely new interface soon, she says.

AJU programs provide that sense of connectedness combined with a degree of accessibility not previously imagined. It is in our DNA to be accessible to all, states Herbst.

Ease of access is also a focus of the Universitys academic programs, including its recently launched School of Enterprise Management and Social Impact (SEMSI), a first-of-its-kind business school in the United States fully committed to promoting value and impact. SEMSIs cutting-edge MBA will empower a new generation of business and non-profit leaders to serve as ethical change-agents who lead purpose-driven ventures. The degree is completely online. Courses under SEMSI, led by Dean David Groshoff, will teach students to view modern business practices through a lens of values rooted in Jewish ethics.

The business leaders of tomorrow require an education that arms them with the ability to drive companies that prioritize communities, the environment, and society, not solely equity holders, says Groshoff, noting that this is what the School is addressing, not just in a single chapter or course, but in the entirety of our programmatic offerings, throughout our business school.

B.A. in Early Childhood Education Class of 2021

Within the School for Jewish Education and Leadership, AJU has similarly recognized and responded to a changing world, offering online programs for an M.A. in Early Childhood Education and B.A. in Early Childhood Education. The School is driven by a bold vision to elevate the knowledge, skills, and performance of early childhood educators working to ensure a vibrant Jewish future. While the School, led by Dean Dr. Rachel Lerner, has long centered leading models of education, the trailblazing online format allows for something altogether new: accessibility.

Accessibility is a central value for our university, says Lerner. We are thrilled to offer these online degree programs, which remove typical barriers to entry.

These technological innovations are only a survey of AJUs current offerings, which embrace a rapidly changing world with an eye toward the future. AJUs abilityas a nimble institutionto constantly innovate will be central to our identity in the years to come, says Herbst.

Herbst also acknowledges that, some things cannot be replaced by technology, noting that AJUs Camp Alonim, held at the Brandeis Bardin Campus in Simi Valley, which has long been part of the Los Angeles Jewish communitys fabric, will continue to be an immersive Jewish experience that profoundly influences young people, in large part because of the in-person connections that are forged.

We hope to marry excellent in-person education with a best-in-class digital platform to serve the large numbers of people who are seeking us out.

To learn more about American Jewish University, visit http://www.aju.edu or contact Michelle Starkman, Vice President of Communications, at [emailprotected].

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

With great fanfare and joy, a brand new Torah scroll was ceremoniously inaugurated for use by The Shul of Bellaire, on Sunday, Aug. 29.

The Torah scroll was dedicated during a formal ceremony at The Shul 5307 Bissonnet St., in Bellaire, and followed by a procession with live music and dancing. The final letters of the scroll, which contains more than 304,800 individually hand-written letters, were inscribed by world-renowned scribe Rabbi Moshe Klein, who flew in from New York for the event.

The dedication of the Torah is a major milestone for The Shul, now in its 11th year since its founding. The Torah serves as a permanent anchor of The Shul and the community, Rabbi Yossi Zaklikofsky said.

The generous support and involvement of so many community members is indicative of the deep impact The Shul is having on so many Jewish families of all backgrounds and affiliations in the Bellaire area, making Judaism a relevant and meaningful part of their lives.

Bellaire Mayor Andrew Friedberg writes a letter in the new Torah.

Timeless laws apply to the entire process from the character of the scribe to the quality of the parchment and type of ink. Furthermore, the shape and size of each of the 304,808 letters, as well as the spacing of the lines and empty space, must be perfectly done by hand. The slightest error may void an entire segment or even the entire 54 portions.

Jewish tradition says that a new Torah is to be welcomed into a community just as one welcomes a bride and groom. Accordingly, the scroll was carried under a wedding canopy (chuppah) during the processional to The Shul and was accompanied by live music and dancing, before being placed in the Holy Ark at The Shul.

The Torah was dedicated by Jack Sinuk and family, in loving memory of his parents, Raphael and Lila Sinuk. A number of community members dedicated one book of the Five Books of Moses, a parsha, verse or a word, honoring themselves or a loved one.

Jack Sinuk holds the Torah as Larry Friedman and Clive Fleishman place the Crown and yad onto the Torah.

After the passing of my mother I wanted to return to my Jewish spirituality. I moved back into Bellaire and I was looking for the closest shul. It was The Shul of Bellaire. I met Rabbi Yossi.

His approach to attending Saturday morning services reminded me of an old Alka Seltzer commercial. He said, Try it, youll like it. So, I tried it and I liked it. It was baby steps for me. I started attending once a month, then twice a month. Now, I never miss a Sabbath unless I am out of town.

Others in attendance enjoyed the joyful celebration.

Doreen and I are proud to continue to support and share in The Shul of Bellaires journey, Marshall Lerner said. From the first time we met Rabbi Yossi and Esty in 2009, they have inspired us and many others in the Houston Jewish community.

We look forward to The Shul having a permanent home with ample space for learning and for worship so that many more community members can benefit from its education and inspiration.

Seventh-grade Trafton Academy student, Allie Zilberman, is preparing for her Bat Mitzvah at The Shul of Bellaire in January.

Over the years of my attending Bellaire Hebrew School and the Bat Mitzvah Club, I have gained a lot of Torah wisdom, but now as my Bat Mitzvah is fast approaching, I have been thinking more deeply about the value of Torah, and how lucky I am to have access to the Torahs timeless wisdom, Allie said.

This is especially true in todays challenging world. No matter what is going on, I know that I can always turn to the Torahs messages to help guide me in my life.The completion of a new Torah is a sign that Judaism is alive and thriving, and that makes me feel proud to be a Jew.

Seventh-grade Trafton Academy student, Allie Zilberman, is preparing for her Bat Mitzvah at The Shul of Bellaire in January.

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The Shul of Bellaire welcomes new Torah with big celebration - Jewish Herald-Voice

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

Happiness, said Aristotle, is the ultimate goal at which all humans aim. But in Judaism, it is not necessarily so.

Happiness is a high value. Ashrei, the closest Hebrew word to happiness, is the first word of the Book of Psalms. We say the prayer known as Ashrei three times each day. We can surely endorse the phrase in the American Declaration of Independence that among the inalienable rights of humankind are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But Ashrei is not the central value of the Hebrew Bible. Occurring almost 10 times as frequently is the word simchah, joy. It is one of the fundamental themes of Deuteronomy as a book. The root s-m-ch appears only once in each of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but no less than 12 times in Deuteronomy. It lies at the heart of the Mosaic vision of life in the Land of Israel. That is where we serve God with joy.

Joy plays a key role in two contexts in this weeks parshah. One has to do with the bringing of first fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem. After describing the ceremony that took place, the Torah concludes: Then you will rejoice in all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, along with the Levites and the stranger in your midst (26:11).

The other context is quite different and astonishing. It occurs in the context of the curses. There are two passages of curses in the Torah, one in Leviticus 26, the other here in Deuteronomy 28. The differences are notable. The curses in Leviticus end on a note of hope. Those in Deuteronomy end in bleak despair. The Leviticus curses speak of a total abandonment of Judaism by the people. The people walk be-keri with God, variously translated as with hostility, rebelliously or contemptuously. But the curses in Deuteronomy are provoked simply because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart out of the abundance of all things (28:47).

Now, joylessness may not be the best way to live, but it is surely not even a sin, let alone one that warrants a litany of curses. What does the Torah mean when it attributes national disaster to a lack of joy? Why does joy seem to matter in Judaism more than happiness? To answer these questions, we have first to understand the difference between happiness and joy. This is how the first Psalm describes the happy life:

Happy is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of sinners or sat where scoffers sit. But his desire is in the Torah of the Lord; on his Torah he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, bearing its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in all that he does he prospers (Psalms 1:1-3).

This is a serene and blessed life, granted to one who lives in accordance with the Torah. Like a tree, such a life has roots. It is not blown this way and that by every passing wind or whim. Such people bear fruit, stay firm, survive and thrive. Yet for all that, happiness is the state of mind of an individual.

Simchah in the Torah is never about individuals. It is always about something we share. A newly married man does not serve in the army for a year, says the Torah, so that he can stay at home and bring joy to the wife he has married (Deut. 24:5). You shall bring all your offerings to the central sanctuary, says Moses, so that There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and rejoice in all you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you. (Deut. 12:7).

The festivals as described in Deuteronomy are days of joy, precisely because they are occasions of collective celebration: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the strangers, the fatherless and the widows living among you (16:11). Simchah is joy shared. It is not something we experience in solitude.

Happiness is an attitude to life as a whole, while joy lives in the moment. As author J.D. Salinger once said: Happiness is a solid; joy is a liquid. Happiness is something you pursue. But joy is not. It discovers you. It has to do with a sense of connection to other people or to God. It comes from a different realm than happiness. It is a social emotion. It is the exhilaration we feel when we merge with others. It is the redemption of solitude.

Paradoxically, the Biblical book most focused on joy is precisely the one often thought of as the unhappiest of all, Kohelet, aka Ecclesiastes. Kohelet is notoriously the man who had everything, yet describes it all as hevel, a word he uses almost 40 times in the space of the book, and variously translated as meaningless, pointless, futile, empty, or as the King James Bible famously rendered it, vanity.

In fact, though, Kohelet uses the word simchah 17 times, that is, more than the whole of the Mosaic books together. After every one of his meditations on the pointlessness of life, Kohelet ends with an exhortation to joy: I know that there is nothing better for people than to rejoice and do good while they live (3:12). So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to rejoice in his work, because that is his lot (3:22). So I commend rejoicing in life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and rejoice (8:15). However many years anyone may live, let him rejoice in them all (11:8).

My argument is that Kohelet can only be understood if we realize that hevel does not mean pointless, empty or futile. It means a shallow breath. Kohelet is a meditation on mortality. However long we live, we know we will one day die. Our lives are a mere microsecond in the history of the universe. The cosmos lasts forever while we, living, breathing mortals, are a mere fleeting breath.

Kohelet is obsessed by this because it threatens to rob life of any certainty. We will never live to see the long-term results of our endeavors. Moses did not lead the people into the Promised Land. His sons did not follow him to greatness. Even he, the greatest of prophets, could not foresee that he would be remembered for all time as the greatest leader the Jewish people ever had.

Van Gogh sold only one painting in his lifetime. He could not have known that he would eventually be hailed as one of the greatest painters of modern times. We do not know what our heirs will do with what we leave them. We cannot know how, or if, we will be remembered. How then are we to find meaning in life?

Kohelet eventually finds meaning not in happiness but in joy because joy lives not in thoughts of tomorrow, but in the grateful acceptance and celebration of today.

We are here; we are alive; we are among others who share our sense of jubilation. We are living in Gods land, enjoying His blessing, eating the produce of His Earth, watered by His rain, brought to fruition under His sun, breathing the air He breathed into us, living the life He renews in us each day.

And yes, we do not know what tomorrow may bring; and yes, we are surrounded by enemies; and yes, it was never the safe or easy option to be a Jew. But when we focus on the moment, allowing ourselves to dance, sing and give thanks, when we do things for their own sake not for any other reward, when we let go of our separateness and become a voice in the holy citys choir, then there is joy.

Kierkegaard once wrote: It takes moral courage to grieve; it takes religious courage to rejoice. It is one of the most poignant facts about Judaism and the Jewish people that our history has been shot through with tragedy, yet Jews never lost the capacity to rejoice, to celebrate in the heart of darkness, to sing the Lords song even in a strange land.

There are Eastern faiths that promise peace of mind if we can train ourselves into habits of acceptance. Epicurus taught his disciples to avoid risks like marriage or a career in public life. Neither of these approaches is to be negated, yet Judaism is not a religion of acceptance nor have Jews tended to seek the risk-free life. We can survive the failures and defeats if we never lose the capacity for joy.

Hence Moses insistence that the capacity for joy is what gives the Jewish people the strength to endure. Without it, we become vulnerable to the multiple disasters set out in the curses in our parshah. Celebrating together binds us as a people: that and the gratitude and humility that come from seeing our achievements not as self-made but as the blessings of God. The pursuit of happiness can lead, ultimately, to self-regard and indifference to the sufferings of others. It can lead to risk-averse behavior and a failure to dare greatly. Not so, joy. Joy connects us to others and to God. Joy is the ability to celebrate life as such, knowing that whatever tomorrow may bring, we are here today, under Gods heaven, in the universe He made, to which He has invited us as His guests.

Toward the end of his life, having been deaf for 20 years, Beethoven composed one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, his Ninth Symphony. Intuitively he sensed that this work needed the sound of human voices. It became the Wests first choral symphony. The words he set to music were Schillers Ode to Joy.

I think of Judaism as an ode to joy. Like Beethoven, Jews have known suffering, isolation, hardship and rejection, yet they never lacked the religious courage to rejoice. A people that can know insecurity and still feel joy is one that can never be defeated, for its spirit can never be broken nor its hope destroyed.

The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks made his teachings available to all. This essay was first published in 2015.

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A Word of Torah: The Pursuit of Joy Detroit Jewish News - The Jewish News

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

The age-old question of who is a Jew has been given a modern new twist: Can an artificial intelligence a program that tries to replicate or mimic human intelligence be Jewish?

According to Michael Fischer, the Robo-Rabbi definitely is.

We actually asked the AI if it could be Jewish, said Fischer, a recent Stanford University Ph.D. who co-created the AI Robo-Rabbi to offer advice over the High Holiday season. It gave a very long answer. It says its Jewish and its not our job to question whether or not someone who says that theyre Jewish is actually Jewish.

The AI in question which, incidentally, seems to have come up with a pretty solid answer is text-based. It uses a persons birth date to tailor advice based on the corresponding Torah portion, creating a set of positive daily goals for the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

These goals that it gives you are things youd want to do, said Fischer, who developed the Robo-Rabbi with Cornell University information science undergrad Lior Cole, like learn a new language, or be nice to people, or be happier.

The Robo-Rabbi uses the powerful artificial intelligence tool GPT-3, developed in San Francisco by Open AI, which is trained on a massive input of text and generates output that can be nearly indistinguishable from human-written text.

Because GPT-3 has been trained on an almost unimaginable amount of writing, from essays to fiction to social media posts, its very good at creating new text. In this case, Fischer and Cole have the AI create text that paraphrases the parashah, or Torah portion, into a kind of digestible moral lesson. The Robo-Rabbi also comes up with a goal and 10 ideas to attain it (one for each day). Users who sign up via the website will have the goals texted to them daily.

Considering textual analysis is one of the fundamental aspects of Judaism, an AI that sucks in text and then talks about it sounds pretty Jewish.

When you feed the AI stories and you ask it about those teachings, it doesnt just give factual answers, Cole explained. It gives you interpretations. It gives you advice and takeaways.

For this reporter, Robo-Rabbi examined a parashah concerning a rebellion in the ranks Korach turns against Moses and eventually falls into a pit. The Robo-Rabbis take?

People who go around complaining and criticizing others are usually doing so to take the attention off themselves, it said. As a goal, it offered me First Step: Do your best today to only give people compliments and try to minimize your criticisms. (In June, J. Torah columnist Rabbi Joey Felsens take on the portion was Negativity grows and festers and leads to unlikely bedfellows.)

Cole and Fischer came up with the Robo-Rabbi as a way to connect people in this case Jewish people to artificial intelligence in a way that shows technology isnt just about fun or profit. Cole said the power of technology to promote the greater good is not always understood in a world where companies such as Facebook and Google are sitting before Congress to defend themselves against calls that they mishandle private data and allow extremism on their sites.

Tech is incredibly good at shaping peoples behavior, especially in ways that they dont even realize, Cole said. If that sort of power can be shifted from How can we monetize humans behavior? to How can we optimize peoples experience in life and get them closer to their goals? thats what this is all about.

Rabbi Sydney Mintz, a human rabbi at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, said she was fairly neutral on the Robo-Rabbi but hoped there would be something integrated into the experience that would lead people to resources to deepen their connection to Judaism past the click of a button.

Kol ha-kavod, she said with a laugh. That sounds really interesting, [but] is there anything built in there for the next step?

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Need advice for the High Holidays? Ask the Robo-Rabbi. J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on September 2, 2021

By Michael Brown, CP Op-Ed Contributor | Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Harvard University was founded as Harvard College in 1636. Its stated purpose was: To train a literate clergy. Among its mottos were, Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae (truth for Christ and Church) and In Christam Gloriam (to the glory of Christ). Now, Harvard has hired an atheist as its chief chaplain. And no, this is not a poor joke.

As reported by the New York Post, This spiritual leader doesnt need a higher power.

Harvard Universitys organization of chaplains is getting a new president to coordinate the campus Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and assorted other religious communities. Only the new president, 44-year-old Greg Epstein, does not identify with any of those traditional religions himself.

He is an atheist.

But how can an atheist be a university chaplain?

Epstein explained to The New York Times, There is a rising group of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition but still experience a real need for conversation and support around what it means to be a good human and live an ethical life.

We dont look to a god for answers. We are each others answers.

The only problem is with Epsteins explanation is, well, everything. He may believe in God or not. He may follow a religion or not. Thats his own business. And he may have some great ideas about living an ethical life.

But to be a chaplain, by definition, means to be a religious leader, not simply a department head or an administrator or someone who believes in ethical living. And so, to appoint an atheist to be chief university chaplain is like appointing a Christian evangelist to head up the universitys atheist club. Or a devout Muslim to head up the universitys Judaism club. It is a total contradiction in both purpose and logic.

As for Epsteins appointment being controversial, thats not how Harvards leadership felt, voting to elect him unanimously. What a perfect choice! Couldnt think of anyone better!

The Merriam Webster website offers these four definitions for chaplain: 1: a clergyman in charge of a chapel; 2: a clergyman officially attached to a branch of the military, to an institution, or to a family or court; 3: a person chosen to conduct religious exercises (as at a meeting of a club or society); 4: a clergyman appointed to assist a bishop (as at a liturgical function).

According to Dictionary.com, a chaplain is: 1. an ecclesiastic attached to the chapel of a royal court, college, etc., or to a military unit. 2. a person who says the prayer, invocation, etc., for an organization or at an assembly.

And a military website states that: The chaplain's responsibilities include performing religious rites, conducting worship services, providing confidential counseling and advising commanders on religious, spiritual and moral matters. Chaplains are commissioned officers stationed wherever there are military members, including combat environments.

But if you dont believe in God, you cannot perform any of these functions.

Really now, how can you conduct a worship service if there is no God to worship? How can you perform religious rites, all of which presuppose the existence of a deity, if there is no deity?

To whom do you pray? What hope can you offer regarding the world to come? How can you help someone connect to the spiritual, unseen, eternal realm? Who, outside of the human race, forgives your sins or empowers you to change?

And if you yourself are convinced that there is no God, doesnt that mean that you view all religious believers as being in serious error, not to mention deeply deceived?

Its one thing if Harvard said, Rabbi Epstein does a great job of bringing people of different religions together. Terrific. Then hire him as an administrative coordinator for the chaplains department. But dont hire him as your chief chaplain. To do so only heaps further scorn on Harvards wokeness.

As for Epstein being a rabbi, that is just as absurd as being a chaplain, if not more so. (For the record, he received ordination as a Humanist Rabbi from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.)

Without God, there is no Judaism, since Judaism is the story of God choosing the Jewish people for Himself, rescuing them from bondage in Egypt, and giving them His Torah. Thus, to have Judaism without God would be similar to having Christianity without Christ. It simply cannot be.

But why let truth and facts and logic get in the way? Lets just set our own standards and, to cite the title of Epsteins 2009 book, which has suddenly become a bestseller, lets just be good without God.

In the end, if someone wants to try and be good without God, that is their choice. Just dont call that person a rabbi or a chaplain. To do so, to say it once more, is a total contradiction in terms.

As for the Harvard of old, in order to graduate with the most basic degree in arts (not theology, which came later), the student had to be able logically to explain the Holy Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testamentsandbe blameless in life and character.

Among the Rules and Precepts of Harvard to be observed by the students were these: Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life.

And: Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day, that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in Theoretical observations of Language and Logic, and in practical and spiritual truths ...

As for the Harvard of today (in terms of its spiritual condition and worldview), need I say more?

Dr. Michael Brown(www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicatedLine of Fireradio program. Heholds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries. He is the author of 40 books. Connect with him onFacebook,Twitter, orYouTube.

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When Harvard hired an atheist to be the chief university chaplain - The Christian Post

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