Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

A priest, a rabbi, and a preacher were on a boat ride when the rabbi told his companions that he was hungry. He jumped out of the boat and walked towards the land where he got some snacks.

The priest and the preacher watched the rabbi as he savored his mouth-watering snack on the land. They turned their gaze away from him and relaxed in the cool air.

But a while after, the priest also got thirsty, and like the rabbi, he stepped out of the boat. He walked across the water and made it to the land. He got a bottle of water and felt relieved afterward.

Observing the whole scene, the preacher decided to have a snack and drink just like his colleagues. So he stepped out of the boat but was immediately submerged in the water. Having seen what happened to the preacher from afar, the rabbi smiled and told the priest:

"Maybe we should've told him where the rocks were."

ON A FISHING TRIP

An Admiral and a General were fishing at a nearby lake when a storm suddenlybroke. The storm caused the boat to capsize, and the two found themselves in the lake.

They tried to stay afloat as the water nudged them back and forth, causing them to move with the rhythm. When the storm was over, the General and Admiral struggled awkwardly in the water to get back to the boat.

A moment later, the Admiral found his way back on board, and with an oar, he retrieved the General from the lake. As they caught their breath, the General told the Admiral not to speak to anyone about what happenedbecausehe didn't want the navy knowing he couldn't swim andbe disgraced.

The Admiral told him not to worrybecause he also had something he didn't want the others to know. The Admiral looked at his partner and said:

"Don't worry, your secret is safe. I'd hate to have my men find out I can't walk on water."

If you enjoyed this joke, you might find this one even more hilarious. It is about little Johnnywho went to confession to gather information from the priest.

Source:Reddit.com: Upjoke.com:

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Daily Joke: Preacher Struggles to Walk on Water Unlike the Rabbi and the Priest - AmoMama

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, a prominent K-8 institution attended by the families of some of Silicon Valleys tech leaders, has hired a new head of school.

Rabbi Daniel Lehmann became the first Orthodox-trained rabbi to lead the school after starting work in July. And yet, he is not the first Lehmann to helm the community institution.

Lehmanns parents, German immigrants who escaped the Holocaust, actually helped found what was then called the Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School in the late 1980s (it opened its doors in 1990). Ninety-year-old Elizabeth Lehmann, who still lives in the Bay Area, was a teacher and one of its first principals, and the late Henry Lehmann was the schools first treasurer.

In 1998 the couple donated $50,000 from German restitution funds to Hausner, and the school named its library the Lehmann Library after them.

To be able to come to Hausner and rekindle that family connection its really a perfect match, the rabbi said.

Ordained at Yeshiva University in New York City, which houses an Orthodox seminary, Lehmann has nevertheless spent decades working in pluralistic Jewish day schools and colleges (meaning welcoming to Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and all types of Jews). He led the upper school at Beth Tfiloh, a Jewish day school outside Baltimore, in the mid-90s before founding his own Jewish day school outside Boston. He then served for 10 years as the president of the multidenominational Hebrew College, in Newton, Massachusetts, a job he held until 2018.

The Hausner post marks a return to the familiar world of Jewish community education for Lehmann after a brief foray outside it. In 2018 the Graduate Theological Union, a renowned religious consortium of divinity colleges in Berkeley, hired Lehmann as its first Jewish (and first non-Christian) president.

Celebrated as a landmark for the consortium, Lehmanns posting did not last long. His departure after roughly a year and a half was never fully explained by GTU nor Lehmann, but it came as the rabbi faced sharp criticism from some progressive alumni surrounding his support for Israel.

Danny had this track record of both creating, building and cultivating institutions that went on to be really important centers for their respective communities.

Of the experience, Lehmann said it furthered his appreciation for interreligious engagement.

There are opportunities to do that here in the South Bay, he said. Im interested in developing a network of religious schools across the religious spectrum.

Considered a potent fundraiser, an institution builder and a formidable thinker with a Ph.D. from NYU, Lehmanns hire this summer came after a six-month national search led by board members with the help of an outside headhunting agency.

Danny had this track record of both creating, building and cultivating institutions that went on to be really important centers for their respective communities, said Ronit Alcheck Bodner, president of Hausners board of directors. Hes an idea machine.

Since its founding in 1990 by a group of parents, including the Lehmanns, who gathered in a Palo Alto living room, according to Hausners website, the school has seen steady growth and today enrolls approximately 315 students. It was renamed in 2003 for the Israeli attorney general who led the prosecution against Adolf Eichmann in 1961.

Hausners enrollment numbers increased during the pandemic, Bodner said, which she attributed in part to the schools easy adoption of digital tools such as videoconferencing (a Hausner parent served on the board of directors at San Jose-based Zoom) and its investment in safety by, for example, installing large outdoor tents.

Tuition costs between $33,000 and $37,000 per year for K-8 students (less for transitional kindergarten or TK). Last year the school distributed $1.3 million in scholarship funds to over 30% of families, it reported.

For Lehmann and his wife, Lisa Soleymani Lehmann, a doctor, it was a circuitous route back to the Bay Area, but a fitting one particularly considering the rabbis close family ties.

The couple spent time on opposite coasts while Lehmann led GTU and Dr. Lehmann was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

Only after Lehmann left GTU in early 2020 did Dr. Lehmann land a job suitable to her interests and experience in the Bay Area. And quite a job it is: She is now the director of bioethics at Google, a new position.

Its a fascinating job, Rabbi Lehmann said.

The Hausner role became available soon after. We decided lets go with that, he said. We both could work in Palo Alto and continue interesting, new chapters in our careers.

Lehmann takes over from interim head Carol Piraino, who succeeded David Zimand in 2020. Zimand spent four years leading Hausner before heading to Seattle, where he is now head of school at the Seattle Jewish Community School.

Lehmann laid out an ambitious vision for Hausner, even as it began an academic year complicated by the lingering effects of the pandemic and its attendant mask requirements and vaccine rules. The first day of school was on Tuesday.

We understand that Jewish day schools play an incredibly important role in developing future leaders in the Jewish community, he said, but at the same time, its not enough just to be the Jewish day school in the area.

We really need to focus our energies on academic distinctiveness, innovation, and creativity at the highest levels of quality, he said. Were living in an environment in which there are very high standards. People come with expectations that need to be met. And our obligation as a Jewish school is to exceed those expectations.

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Lehmann rekindles family connection as new head of Hausner school J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

The High Holidays have arrived again, but the pandemic never left.

In fact, with the Delta variant now the predominant strain of COVID-19 in Wisconsin, the coronavirus is spreading rapidly. Wisconsin is typically reporting at least 1000 new daily cases of COVID-19 in recent weeks. The pandemic keeps changing and its impossible to predict exactly where it will go next.

Local congregations are once again forced to decide how to keep their congregants safe while maintaining the integrity of their services. The Chronicle spoke to a selection of shuls in late August about their plans for the High Holidays. If youd like to see your synagogue included next time, contact Chronicle@MilwaukeeJewish.org.

Lake Park Synagogue

We are closely watching the surge of COVID-19 in our area, (particularly the Delta variant), and will take appropriate action if there is any danger to our congregants, Lake Park Synagogue President Dr. Ellis Avner wrote in an email to the Chronicle.

Lake Park Synagogue will usher in the new year with in-person services at its congregation close to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. The services will be led by Rabbi Joel Dinin and will feature guest Chazzan Rabbi Ari Weber.

As the only Modern Orthodox synagogue in Milwaukee we do not Zoom or live-stream our services, Avner wrote.

Attendees must be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and non-members are required to receive prior approval from Dinin to attend the congregations traditional Orthodox services. A mask mandate for indoor activities is planned as of press time. The congregations sanctuary, which contains a mechitzah to separate men from women, is ventilated with a HEPA filtering system.

More information can be found at LakeParkSynagogue.org

Congregation Sinai

For the safety and well-being of others, were really operating under the guidance of pikuach nefesh, which means the safety of all lives in our community, and hoping that all people abide by that, Jen Friedman, the director of engagement at Congregation Sinai, told the Chronicle.

Congregation Sinai is encouraging vaccination for all attendees, and the synagogue is asking families with children under 12 to attend the outdoor family services instead of the main indoor services.

Congregation Sinai will offer both in-person and virtual worship options for its five main High Holy Day services. All attendees must register in advance for these services, which include both the Rosh Hashanah morning service and the Yom Kippur morning service. In-person services will require masks and social distancing. Registration for members of Congregation Sinai is available from Aug. 9 to Sept. 2, while registration for non-members is available from Aug. 25 to Sept. 2.

Friedman stressed these plans may change based on the spread of the coronavirus in the lead up to the High Holidays. Synagogue leaders were to reconvene after Chronicle press time, to assess, are we going forward with plan A, or do we need to revert to plan B? Friedman said. And our plan B would be just essential personnel only in the sanctuary, so that would be our rabbi, cantor, professional choir singers and the staff, and that would be it. And we would be live streaming.

Up-to-date information can be found at CongregationSinai.org/High-Holy-Days-Information.

Chabad of the East Side

Chabad of the East Side did not have a choice when it came to this years High Holy Day services, according to Rabbi Yisroel Lein.

The congregations sanctuary is not big enough to accommodate social distancing, and I also want to give people the option of not wearing a mask during services, Lein said.

Despite the high price of doing so Lein described the move as prohibitively costly the synagogue decided to hold all its services outdoors under tents. The decision was influenced by the spread of the Delta variant and new mask mandates in Madison and Chicago.

Those three months (after people were first vaccinated), we really had our community coming back. We probably had 80% of our regulars back, even more, Lein said. But then once July hit, the numbers slowly started to creep up again, it became very clear to us that, no, were kind of moving backwards, and if we want people to show up, then we have to do something about it.

While Lein acknowledges that weather could be an issue (we dont run the world, thats what it boils down to), he said he hopes the tents provide enough cover to mitigate the effects of any bad weather. Plus, he said, outdoor services can be beautiful and pleasant in the right conditions.

Details about Chabad of the East Sides services for the High Holidays can be found at Cesmke.com/HighHolidays.

Congregation Emanu-El Bne Jeshurun

Our job as Jewish professionals is to take care of the community, said Andrew Appel, the executive director of Congregation Emanu-El Bne Jeshurun. To save a life.

Although Congregation Emanu-El Bne Jeshuruns Board has settled on a plan for the High Holidays, Appel emphasized that the format for this years services could still change based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and the North Shore Health Department.

The plan in-person services with limited capacity, masked and vaccinated, and the option to participate by livestream was developed by the congregations Safe Return Task Force. According to Appel, this group, includes congregants who are regular folks, some of them are parents in the school, some are doctors and nurses as well.

For children under 12, who cannot yet be vaccinated, Emanu-El intends to hold outdoor family services in addition to outdoor activities during the main services.

Unfortunately, if the world continues to change, and it appears that our plan is no longer safe, then we would also move down the road toward less in-person, Appel said.

The backup plan would be entirely remote services, which the congregation has already been holding successfully.

Its not everyones first choice to do the things were doing, what we have to do based on COVID-19, but were far from giving up, Appel said. We are very motivated to do a great job for everyone.

More information about Congregation Emanu-El Bne Jeshuruns plans for the High Holidays can be found online at CEEBJ.org.

Congregation Shalom

The words set in stone are no longer a part of our vocabulary, said Linda Holifield, executive director of Congregation Shalom.

Congregation Shalom is staying flexible for this years High Holidays, providing three options for worshippers, who have varying levels of comfort amidst the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Vaccinated and masked adults may choose to worship in the Fox Point synagogue, which will have a limited capacity of 400. Services in the sanctuary will be livestreamed, with pre-recorded versions available. Outdoor services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur will be offered off-site, and an Erev Rosh Hashanah service for families will also take place off-site and outdoors.

There were a number of meetings with the clergy first to explore what might be possible, Holifield said. How to meet the needs of the congregants while also attempting to create a situation that would be mitigating the risk of transmission of COVID-19.

The clergy presented its thoughts to a task force, which then gave its recommendations to the congregations executive committee.

Though the future of the pandemic is not at all set in stone, Holifield has faith in her congregations plans.

We will have people in multiple locations, which is a little different than our past experience on High Holidays, Holifield said. But, given what were trying to accomplish, we feel good about what were able to offer.

More information about Congregation Shalom can be found at Cong-Shalom.org.

Visit MilwaukeeJewish.org/Services to find schedules or links of available information for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah for in-person and virtual services at synagogues throughout the community.

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Synagogues plan for High Holy Days, taking on another year of COVID-19 - Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle - The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

The album Hashkiveinu highlights the growing trend to recast traditional Jewish liturgical music in a more modern musical format, accessible to older and younger Jews.

Produced by the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe where Rabbi David Fainsilber is one of three who collaborated on this project, Hashkiveinu introduces the listener to three excellent voices, subdued but effective guitar, along with a supporting band of Vermonters who make this liturgical-meets-folk-meets-pop-meets-jazz musical experience a delight to listen to, whether you are Jewish or not.

Fainsilber, who sings and plays guitar, and offered the sanctuary of his synagogue for the mostly live recording of the album, says he was born a Jew and a musician. Hashkiveinu is an album of Jewish music sung in Hebrew; some of the nine tracks are contemporary in sound, others more liturgical.

The CD features Fainsilber along with his friends from Hebrew College in Newton Massachusetts, rabbis Arielle Lekach-Rosenberg and Micah Shapiro. The album was recorded live before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The music on this album is Friday night service for the most part, Fainsilber said. The songs cover a wide range of music from liturgical to pop with some jazz.

The production was kept local with mixing and editing done in Burlington. Hashkiveinu was released to the public in February.

Fainsilber, 40 and a Montreal native, said the reason for the albums creation was the personal passion of the three singers.

We are three musical rabbis who love Jewish culture, and are striving for personal and communal pathways of Jewish community, Fainsilber said.

The album gets its inspiration from the three rabbis work to build community through music, which Fainsilber says is a new Jewish culture for the 21st century.

Judaism is an evolving civilization of religion and people with the music from Israel, and here there is a real creativity, said Fainsilber.

Both Fainsilber and Shapiro are fine singers with expressive voices, however, Lekach-Rosenberg stands out for her authentically emotive, trained voice, one that could have graced the pulpit of any synagogue or temple at any era, had women been allowed, as they are now, to be cantors and rabbis. Her vocals on the albums title track is inspiring. For anyone who has attended a Jewish service this track represents an authentic rendering of this liturgical melody, but it also adds a Middle Eastern percussive beat with a clarinet as the melody instrument.

Its a prayer for protection, explained Fainsilber. While recorded before the pandemic, he said, with the pandemic not yet over, the song is what we need now, protection.

The following track, Shalom Aleichem, which translates to peace be upon you, is a popular Jewish melody recorded by many others including mandolinists David Grisman and Andy Statman on their instrumental album Songs of Our Fathers. In this setting we hear Shapiro and Lekach-Rosenberg open with electric guitar accompaniment as the song builds to a folk setting. As the song progresses, the mix adds horns which crescendo from the liturgical to a soft rock ballad that sounds to this listener like the band Totos pop hit Africa.

Tracks six and seven Nasu (Psalm 93) and Shiru LAdonai (Psalm 96) are also liturgical in their presentation on the album. Track eight, Mi Chamocha, translates to Who is like you, O God?

Fainsilber, who has been the Stowe rabbi for eight years, said he learned music from his father beginning at age 10. His musical interests, he said, comprise a pretty eclectic list from Stevie Wonder, R&B, Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck and Radio Head among others.

My dad had the best record collection in Montreal, Fainsilber said, and I got to listen to it. His acoustic guitar was a Bar Mitzvah gift.

The three rabbis brought their experience singing and producing previous recordings to this album although, according to Fainsilber, the collaboration was new.

The collaborative aspect of the project had the three rabbis develop the album concept. We are trying to build community on a new level and we wanted to collaborate together and frame it in a Friday night liturgy, Fainsilber said. The rabbis have all led the Friday service several times to sing and play music together and pray.

While the Stowe Jewish community is growing, with over 200 families as members and others who visit from elsewhere, Fainsilber said the music he and his collaborators are recording is also part of the movement to an even larger congregation aimed at attracting younger members.

We are trying to appeal to something in the soul, he explained. We are trying to touch a youthful soul, but we also sing a lot of traditional tunes as well as the new songs.

As with other religions that have incorporated music in their services, Fainsilber sees music as a vehicle to bring a bigger sense of the deity. Music brings comfort, protest, laughter. Music can give expression to what is broken.

More albums like Hashkiveinu can be expected from this trio and others. Fainsilber says this style of music is part of a wave. There is a slew of younger musicians now taking the mantle of invigorating the music and Jewish life. We are drawn to collaboration; life should be about this. This was our way of showing how to build music and community.

A copy of Hashkiveinu can be obtained by calling the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe at 802-253-1800. The album can be found on major streaming sites.

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CD Review: 'Hashkiveinu': Traditional Jewish songs for the 21st century - Rutland Herald

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

Rabbi Aviva Fellman| Telegram & Gazette

A recent social media post shared by a colleague said, I feel like after the year weve all had, our rabbis should be able to stand up on Rosh Hashanah and just exclaim, I am so overwhelmed! I dont know what to say! and wed all kind of nod and say cheers, Ill drink to that.

This past year has been hard. It has been hard personally, professionally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, intellectually. It has been so hard.

This Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which begins this year on Monday evening, Sept. 6, marks the start of the Shmita (Sabbatical) Year. This once-every-seven-year designation comes from the Bible.

The command to observe the Shmita year is found in Leviticus (25:2-5), When you enter the land that I give you, the land shall observe a Sabbath of the Lord. Six years you may sow your field and prune your vineyard and gather the crops. But in the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, a Sabbath of the Lord. You shall not sow your field, nor prune your vineyard; it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. You may eat the Sabbath produce of the land.

The idea of the Shmita year invites us to look outwards, beyond the boarders of our own properties, beyond the doors of our own homes and rethink the world that we live in and to tune into the ways in which we can actively make a difference. In a way, it is like a full year of teshuvah (of repentance), and repairof not only our relationships with others but also in our relationship to the land.

During this seventh year, God commands us to let the land rest, release debts, resolve disputes, and to open our hands and hearts to those in need. The Shmita year mandates that we stop. It mandates that we restore, refresh, and renew. We are reminded that the land is ultimately not ours, we are its stewards. The land, as well as the fulfillment of the covenants, lie with the Divine.

In trying to find continued meaning and power in Shmita, Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, cites two other rabbis. Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, best known for his tales of the Golem, pointed out that the story of Creation was written in such a way that each day, each new creation, is seen as a step toward a completion that occurred on the Sabbath. What was Creation's climactic culmination? The act of stopping. Why should God have considered it so important to stop? Rabbi Elijah of Vilna put it this way: God stopped to show us that what we create becomes meaningful to us only once we stop creating it and start to think about why we did so. The implication is clear. We could let the world wind us up and set us to marching, like mechanical dolls that go and go until they fall over, because they don't have a mechanism that allows them to pause. But that would make us less than human. We have to remember to stop because we have to stop to remember.

Shmita is not a call to live for one year with different rules that help us adjust or compensate for the unequitable accumulation of debt or dissatisfaction and injustices of the other six years, only to dump us back, unchanged, into that real world. Shmita is a rehearsal of a new way, a time to practice living in a world of enoughness, where each of us is filled and flourishes with enough, where disproportionate inequities would not, and could not, exist. And when Shmita is over, and we re-enter the other six years, we take a bit of what we learned with us and put it into practice in our everyday live.

We are all tired. We are all worn. We are all lost. We are all grieving. We are all pivoting. (I want my High Holy Day sermons to write and deliver themselves.) We are all (hopefully) trying our best. And yet somehow, that still does not feel like enough. We need a reset.

We need this year. We need this pause. We need this period to refocus, renew, and refresh ourselves, our communities, and our world. We need it, and certainly, our world needs it too.

This Shmita year, may we focus on getting down to our rootsthe foundation of who we are, what grounds us, and focus on breathing, being, and replanting our values so that when we start to emerge, we are able to grow as people of faith and community.

And cheers, Ill drink to that! (and then maybe take a nap too.)

Rabbi Aviva Fellman is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Israel in Worcester. She is also an active member of Worcester Interfaith, teaches in W.I.S.E., and is a married mother of four.

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Keep the Faith: We need the time to reset, renew - Worcester Telegram

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

Hebrew Academy of Cleveland in Cleveland Heights will delay its Aug. 26 opening of the early childhood center by one week and will start its boys elementary school at the South Taylor Road campus because of construction delays at the Oakwood campus.

While the construction crews are racing against the clock and the new building is almost ready, the fire and sprinkling systems will not be finished and ready for compliance for the first day of school, Hebrew Academy education director Rabbi Simcha Dessler wrote in an Aug. 24 email to the Cleveland Jewish News.

As such, early childhood opening was delayed about a week and, for the first month of school, the elementary school will meet at the Taylor Road campus occupying separate floors and on-site modular units.

At the Taylor Road campus, the boys elementary school will share space with the girls elementary school during the transitional time.

The new complex was designed by Ronald Kluchin Architects Inc. of Cleveland. The contractor is Great Lakes Crushing LTD of Wickliffe.

With the new building, which both attaches to and dwarfs the clubhouse of the former Oakwood Country Club, the school gains 41 classrooms in a two-floor, state-of-the art school building with elevators, technology hardwired into classrooms and a gymnasium and auditorium that can be split or combined with capacity seating for up to 1,000.

A campaign goal of $32.5 million includes the purchase of the 92-acre former Oakwood Country Club on Warrensville Center Road in Cleveland heights and the repurposing of the clubhouse building, which will continue to house approximately 250 students. Hebrew Academys total enrollment for 2021-22 is expected to be 1,340 students.

While this is a disappointment, safety is a priority and our focus is on the bigger picture and the enormous opportunities for staff and students in the long run, Dessler wrote. We are excited.

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Construction woes force Hebrew Academy to alter opening-day plans - Cleveland Jewish News

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

Todays readings: Deuteronomy 4,1-2.6-8; James 1:17-18.21b-22.27; Mark 7,1-8.14-15.21-23

Prior to the Israelites entry into the Promised Land, while standing on the plains of Moab, the elderly Moses reiterated the covenant that God had made with them years earlier on Mount Sinai. Such a momentous occasion called for both the remembrance of Gods faithfulness in fulfilling his promises and also a renewed commitment to adhere to his divine will, so clearly expressed in his law. Mosess words in the Book of Deuteronomy can be summed up simply as follows: If you obey, youll live; if you disobey, youll die.

This divine word was so highly esteemed that it was eventually translated into several other languages. Despite doubts regarding its authenticity, the 2nd century BC Letter of Aristeas purports to explain the reason behind the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek a couple of centuries before Christ. Allegedly, Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt was so impressed by the laws of the Jews that he asked Eleazar, the High Priest of Jerusalem, to select elders to carry out this translation for him to keep a copy of the Bible in his royal library.

Speaking in jest to an Italian audience, actor Roberto Benigni put forward the idea that the seventh commandment, Thou shalt not steal, was inscribed by God not in Hebrew, but in Italian, for them to receive the word directly without need for translation. Fortunately, Bible translators have made it possible for us to have access to all Gods words in our own native tongues such that none of us can feign ignorance of his will. St Augustines conversion began when he heard a voice chant the words Tolle, lege (Take up and read), a phrase which pointed him to the Bible.

The Torah the divine law given through Moses which was so staunchly guarded by the Pharisees, but whose true nature Jesus sought to reveal, was not exactly a law in the modern sense of the word. The very word Torah is derived from a verb which means to shoot [an arrow], hence it denotes aiming in the right direction. Gods law is not meant to suffocate and restrict, but to guide and direct.

The Letter of James speaks of the impact of Gods word on us in even more touching terms when he describes it as a birthing process: He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Jesus was always very unimpressed by lip service. Hanging on to sterile religious traditions which had mushroomed over the years gave his hypocritical adversaries a false sense of holiness, but Jesus made it clear that they were missing the wood for the trees. Their worship of God was empty because their hearts were not truly one with his. No wonder that Jesus says that God seeks people who worship him in spirit and truth.

Not even meticulously accomplished religious duties are a guarantee of true obedience to God. If the heart is not in it, it would amount to a system that is a parody of the true religion God is after, namely one that is based on compassion and that entails the shunning of all that goes against Gods will.

While the Pharisees, obsessed as they were with ritual cleansing, militated in favour of the purity of the hands, Christ advocated purity of the heart, the seat of human emotions, which at times could be allowed to be filled with filth and yet co-exist with superficial demands of a thwarted religiosity. Yet this same heart is also the privileged host of none other than Gods own word. Hence, St Jamess loving admonition to all believers: Receive with humility/gentleness the word implanted in you, which is able to save your souls.

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18th Sunday in ordinary time: Implanted in your heart - Times of Malta

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

When the Jewish people ushered in the year 5780, little did they know that two months later a crisis of biblical proportion would plague the world.

The Hebrew year 5781 was spent mostly in lockdown. Israel lost 5,622 people between Erev Rosh Hashanah 2020 September 18 and August 24. Tens of thousands of Israelis became unemployed. Immigrants were torn apart from their families as the airport closed. And children became emotionally distraught and educationally challenged.

Now, we stand on the precipice of a new year looking forward to what God might have in store for us this time.

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It is not just a question of will there be a sweet year anymore. We know that it will be bittersweet for at least a while more, as poor- and middle-income countries struggle to vaccinate and the virus continues to spread and slay.

We cannot just wonder who will live and who will die. If the last 18 months have taught us anything, it is that we must make a personal effort (hishtadlut) to protect ourselves. This is on a governmental level by investing in our health system and enforcing the rules it puts in place. It is also on an individual level by wearing masks, social distancing, washing our hands and not hosting mass events when we dont need to.

Although we are not prophets, we can likely predict some of what 5782 will hold what will change, get better, and what will undoubtedly stay the same.

This year, we can expect to see higher percentages of the world get the jab.

The World Health Organization is pushing partner countries to help vaccinate at least 10% of the population of every country by the end of September, and its larger target is to have at least 40% of people in low and low-middle-income countries vaccinated by the end of 2021.

WHO officials have said it many times: No one is safe until everyone is safe.

This year, we can expect the number of vaccinated people to climb, saving lives and enabling the economy to slowly start recovering.

We can also expect the first Israeli vaccine to come to market.

NRx chairman Prof. Jonathan Javitt told The Jerusalem Post that it expects to launch its Phase III trial as early as October, meaning that if the results are good, a blue-and-white (with a little red) vaccine could be available.

Preliminary studies are showing that the vaccine is powerful against variants and that with a high enough dose, a persons neutralizing antibodies last longer than with the mRNA vaccines, meaning a third shot might not be needed or certainly would not be needed as quickly as with Pfizer.

Over the past 18 months, scientists from around the world have been searching for a cure for COVID. While an actual cure may never be available, there are several treatments that can give us hope including from Israel.

The goal is really not to eradicate coronavirus anymore, it is to stop the progression from mild to severe disease in order to prevent deaths and to keep our hospitals from breaking down.

Many new and old drugs have completed pre-clinical Phase I and II trials. Some are even in the midst of Phase III clinical trials, meaning they are truly en route to approval. Here are some treatments to keep an eye on.

In July, scientists from the Hebrew University said that they have identified several existing drugs that could potentially help treat people who develop COVID-19.

In fact, in lab tests in which cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 were placed together with the drugs for two days, almost 100% of the cells lived despite being infected with the virus. In contrast, without the preexisting drug compounds, around 50% of the cells died after coming in contact with the virus.

Arkin believes his team is set for in vitro and in vivo studies, and he is looking for a pharmaceutical partner to help carry these trials through. Because they are being repurposed, this will likely expedite any future regulatory steps.

The drug was being tested at Rambam Medical Center as part of a Phase I/II trial. The ministry has approved expanding the trial and allowing any interested Israeli hospital to take part in the Phase II trial and to use the drug for additional approved patients.

The data also showed a 40% decrease in lung inflammation from treatment from 55% to 15%, as seen in chest X-rays in the first five days after treatment. One month later, lung inflammation reached 1%.

Additionally, patients showed significantly improved respiratory function, with blood oxygen saturation increasing to 95% and lung functioning returning to almost entirely normal levels after only one month.

The final timeline is unclear, but the hope is that MesenCure could be available this year.

According to data that Nahmias shared earlier this week, 14 out of 15 severe COVID-19 patients who were treated in an investigator-initiated interventional open-label clinical study of the drug didnt require oxygen support within a week of treatment and were released from the hospital.

In addition to the standard of care, the patients were given 145 mg/day of fenofibrate for 10 days. The results, said Nahmias, were dramatic.

Progressive inflammation markers, which are the hallmark of deteriorative COVID-19, dropped within 48 hours of treatment, he told the Post. When looking at the data on other similar severe patients, less than 30% of them on average are removed from oxygen support within a week.

The drug is already engaged in Phase III trials in South America, the United States and Israel. Those studies are placebo-controlled and double-blind., so we should have final results soon.

The trial took place in Greece.

EXO-CD24, developed by Prof. Nadir Arber of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, is based on CD24-enriched exosomes and is meant to fight the cytokine storm, which overwhelms the immune system. Exosomes are responsible for cell-to-cell communication. In this case, they deliver the CD24 protein to the lungs, which helps calm down the immune system.

The CD24 protein is delivered by inhalation directly to the lungs.

The team is now ready to launch Phase III and Arber said he expects to complete it by the end of the year.

Despite these expected breakthroughs, it can be assumed that there will be more and more robust variants. We will still be wearing masks. And international travel will still not be the same, if it resumes at all.

If 5781 was the year of the COVID-19 crisis, 5782 will be the year that we learn to live alongside the virus. But while we struggle to find balance, we can be encouraged that a breakthrough is on the horizon.

The writer is senior coronavirus analyst and head of strategy for the Jerusalem Post Group.

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Coronavirus: On Rosh Hashanah, what will stay and what will go? - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

By Kirsten Dietrich

An angel receives the soul of a dying man: woodcut title of a work by Martin Luther on preparation for death, published in 1520 (picture alliance / akg-images)

In many religions, the soul is what essentially defines a person. But what defines it? Is it immutable? Maybe even immortal? Each belief has its own idea.

Deep within us lives the soul.No one has seen them yetbut everyone knows they exist.

This is how the Israeli childrens book The Soul Bird begins and describes an extremely complicated case in laymans terms. It begins with the word: soul. The history of religion and art has found images of it: translucent, human forms, led in light by angels Hieronymus Bosch drew this vision of the path to paradise at the end of the Middle Ages.

Or the drastic graphics, also from the Middle Ages: a person dies, the soul leaves the dying body through his mouth already awaited by an angel and a demon fighting for this soul. Dreaming and death have always been the moments when religious reflection on the soul begins.

Protestant theologian Christoph Markschies is an expert on ancient Christianity and the early Church. He says: You must be clear: soul is now a widely misunderstood term. Soul is also one of the great mixed terms in which the traditions of the Hebrew Bible entered into and have been found in Greek world civilization. mixed with the Greek tradition.

So: the Hebrew Bible meets Platonic philosophy. Biblical tradition revolves around the Hebrew term nf: throat, breath, life, vital force, human being as a whole, vital energy nf describes everything that makes a physical being a living being, as summarized in the authoritative dictionary. .

The word nf occurs over 750 times in the Hebrew Bible. In this fundamental text of Judaism, the human being does not simply have a nf, that is to say: a living being, a soul he is. But then, as early as the 4th century before the turn of time, Plato proposed his philosophy: The Greek word is psyche, from which psychology derives its name to this day.

In Platos metaphysical considerations, the soul is a kind of link between eternal ideas and the ephemeral here and now, it is timeless and immortal and therefore naturally superior to the respective body in which it manifests itself. This fascinated Hellenistic Judaism first, and then the emerging church as well.

The ancient Christians followed Platonism and dealt with a lot of issues, says Christoph Markschies, for example the strict hierarchy: spiritual realities are indestructible. And with Plato we speak of the soul in the prison of the body this has not always led to a very respectful theology of the body in Christianity.

The question of the resurrection also becomes delicate in this context. If the soul is beyond time, how does that mesh with the resurrection of the whole person body and soul? The debates come from Antiquity and the Middle Ages, their ramifications are found, for example, in the current catechism of the Catholic Church. There it is said:

The spiritual soul does not come from parents, but is created directly by God; it is immortal. It does not perish when it is separated from the body in death.

What is interesting is that in the three Abrahamic religions, we believe that the soul lives because we believe in a life after death, explains Islamic theologian Fateme Rahmati of the University of Frankfurt: According to the Koran, we speak of the soul as the breath of God . or Adam alive.

The soul as the recipient of happiness and punishment for the life lived it takes on this role for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Not only the story of creation, but also the terms for the soul in Islam are similar to those in the Hebrew Bible: next to r, the much more common nafs. And as in the biblical tradition, the meanings of the words are extremely diverse: the most intimate being, something that gives life, the spirit, the breath of the wind, the reason. What is not in the Quran is the fundamental superiority of this soul over the body, says Rahmati:

Body and soul are one unit in this context of Islam. It means that you cannot separate them, and one influences the other. That is why we have different hadiths and different rules in it. Islam on how one should take care of his body, how to take care of certain things, even food, because it also affects the soul.

Therefore, the Islamic philosophical and theological discussion remains open on how the soul can affect the body if it is not viewed as objective. And how exactly does body and soul come together. If you are looking for clarity in soul matters, you might be better off in Buddhism.

Carola Roloff, visiting professor of Buddhism at the Academy of World Religions at the University of Hamburg, clearly distinguishes Buddhism from the Hindu traditions from which it comes: In Buddhism in particular, we speak of the teaching of non- self, . Atman was translated as soul in ancient texts, so Buddhism would be the teaching that does not believe in a self.

Buddhist doctrine says that there is nothing inside or outside of physical or mental phenomena that can be described in the highest sense as an independent entity or personality, Roloff explains: C is in fact a fundamental teaching of Buddhism. the ego or the ego exists, but what is emphasized is that there is no such thing as a totally independent ego.

But what about rebirth, could we discuss now. But rebirth does not mean transmigration of souls in Buddhism, replies Roloff, but it is assumed that this very subtle stream of consciousness continues, and that the things that one has done in ones life leave karmic impressions in it. his consciousness, and that to continually continue these karmic impressions with the consciousness.

In the temples of East Asia, donations are also specifically intended to facilitate the afterlife of certain deceased relatives. Buddhism is not a monolithic block either, it has also adopted traditions from its environment, in this case the cult of ancestors. Seeking something like an immutable core of being in oneself is therefore useless.

Even more: the realization that this cannot exist is the first step towards what should rather be the goal of human endeavor, says Carola Roloff: Buddhists assume that everyone has the potential for enlightenment, and that, is the ability to achieve perfection, which occurs in a process over several lifetimes: constantly working on oneself and trying to achieve more and more what the Buddha has achieved.

And then there needs to be an auxiliary construction like that of the soul, whether immortal or transient, not at all.

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The soul in religions - The Manomet Current

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Posted By admin on August 29, 2021

For everyone planning on attending the 9/11, 20th Anniversary, a notable change has been made from past years. This may not be easy to discover at first when looking at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum Site at the following link-

https://www.911memorial.org/connect/commemoration/20th-anniversary-commemoration

But an article on Fox News from August 14 points this out quite clearly.

The Heading reads 9/11 Memorial Excludes First Responders, Survivors On 20th Anniversary.

The Sub-Heading The 9/11 Memorial & Museum is inviting only relatives of the victims.

Credit for the article is given to Susan Edelman of the New York Post.

The article points out that Thousands have flocked to Ground Zero to pay homage on previous anniversaries, including firefighters, cops, EMS workers and other first responders, all joining family members in the audience .

This year, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum sent the usual invitations to the relatives of the victims saying, The ceremony will be exclusively for 9/11 family members.

Only family members are invited, said memorial spokeswoman Lee Cochran. The invited family members can bring as many additional family-member guests as theyd like. Cochran insisted that nothing is new this year.

Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son, Christian, was killed on 9/11, saidresponders and survivors should all be welcome.

Tim Frolich, a Fuji Bank employee whose foot was crushed while escaping the dust cloud when the South Tower collapsed, credits two Port Authority cops and a firefighter with bringing him to safety. He believes such heroes should be invited to the 9/11 ceremony.

Frank Siller, CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, whose firefighter brother, Stephen Siller, was killed on 9/11, said first-responders and survivors should not be turned away. Just because its 20 years later doesnt mean youre completely healed, he said. They want to pay their respects and honor their heroes. I think they should be allowed down there.

Moments of silence mark when a plane hit each of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, PA, and when each tower fell.

The pandemic scuttled the tradition last year, when memorial officials, bowing to COVID-19 concerns, decided they would not bring together anyone to read the names, using a pre-recorded recitation instead.

For All Those Wanting To Participate But Were Not Invited

A Second Memorial On September 13 Should Be Planned

Because September 11 will fall out on Shabbat this year, those Jews who are Shomer Shabbat and who were invited most probably will not attend.

I therefore suggest a second alternative ceremony be scheduled for September 13. In this way, all those not invited or who will not attend because it is Shabbat can then participate in this additional ceremony.

But of far greater significance, September 13 on the Hebrew calendar is the 7th of Tishrei. That corresponds to the same day on the Hebrew calendar the Rabbis March took place or three days before Yom Kippur in 1943.

The number 13 also corresponds to the number of US Servicemen and Women killed in Kabul during last weeks terrorist attack. The attack was carried out by another terrorist group which is operating right alongside members of the same group responsible for the 9/11 Attack 20 years ago.

This may be very short notice to organize such a memorial, but I feel the families of all those men and women who gave their lives serving their country in Kabul should be invited to speak, which will not interfere with the September 11 ceremony.

In addition, all relatives of those trapped behind enemy lines should also have a chance to speak.

What is taking place in Kabul today appears to be very similar to how the Nazis treated the Jews in Europe when the Rabbis tried to meet President Roosevelt. But this time it is the Americans and those that helped them that are all in danger.

Americans must now speak out and not be silent.

Born and raised in the Minneapolis suburb of St. Louis Park. Married to a South African, we lived in Johannesburg from 1979 to 1996.Made Aliyah with our seven children on Parshat Lech Lecha.BSB Accounting Degree from the University of Minnesota.Investment Portfolio Manager /Fundamental And Technical Analyst. Wrote in-depth research on companies, markets, commodities for leading financial publications.Served in the US Army ReservesSemi Retired spending quality time with my wife, children, grandchildren and attend Kollel while analyzing current events as they relate to Torah and Mitzvahs.

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Remembering The 9/11 And Kabul Attacks & The Rabbi's March On Washington D. C. - The Times of Israel

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