Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

In Brussels, the European Parliament and the European Council have adopted strict regulations to combat anti-Semitism in recent years, but the EUs host country does not feel affected. It is time for this to change, and the EU institutions must play an essential role in this and more with deeds than words.

Some Belgian politicians have long wanted to put Israel in the dock, and they found a welcome opportunity to do so in Israels response to the recent rocket attacks by an internationally recognised terrorist group, Hamas. The debate has shifted towards blatant anti-Semitism. The leader of the Flemish Green Party, Meyrem Almaci, unabashedly accused Jews of doing to Palestinians what they endured during the Holocaust. And she deliberately told the untruth by suggesting that Israel was vaccinating the Jews but not the Arab population againt Covid19..

So Flemish Greens announced to put targeted sanctions against Israel on the federal governments table. Almaci made the announcement on 17 May on the public broadcaster VRTs TV programme De afspraak. Almaci suggested boycotting products from Israeli settlements and blocking money flows to these areas. I think that now there should be a firm international pressure that our country (Belgium, note) should be allowed to take the lead on this issue within Europe, Almaci said.

And one journalist on the programme even touched on the myth of dual loyalty: she persistently asked about the alleged Jewish origins of Sophie Wilms, Belgiums current foreign minister. And another journalist in the studio tried to exculpate her by saying that the politician rather came from a Catholic family. And one can hardly believe it: In 2021, a TV programme is actually debating putting the current foreign minister of Belgium on trial for double loyalty.

Of course, they did not talk about the origins of any other participant in this debate or other politicians in Belgium or anywhere else in Europe. It is the alleged Jewess who is distrusted. A myth of dual loyalty that Europe knows what atrocities it has already justified.

So the Jewish people are once again under general suspicion, as they were since the Middle Ages.Mrs Wilms became the first woman prime minister of Belgium last year, leading the country through the first wave of the pandemic. Now at the helm of Belgian diplomacy, she is criticised by some of her coalition partners for her lack of toughness towards the state of Israel.

Anti-Semitism, which has been rampant in various forms in Belgium for several decades, now reached the countrys elites.

Its a bit exaggerated probably because shes German thats what Belgiums acting deputy prime minister Petra De Sutter (a Green politician) reduced part of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyens State of the Union speech to. The latter had indeed mentioned the heinous anti-Semitic excesses of the Aalst carnival in September 2020. In the Flemish town, masked people like from the Strmer had paraded with hooked noses and baikeles as well as bags of money. After protests, the carnival lost its UNESCO World Heritage status.

A few months earlier, the current Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (of the Liberal Party) had tweeted: The Jewish lobby is working overtime, after Aalst, in Washington, blithely mixing denunciations of anti-Semitism in Belgium with statements made by Israeli ministers visiting the United States.

Without going into the assassination in 1989 of the president of the Jewish organisations in Belgium, Dr Joseph Wybran, or the other anti-Semitic attacks of the 1980s, the events that have marked the last decade in this country are a tragedy.

In 2014, Belgium performed the first act of this tragedy: from a poster outside a caf Dogs allowed, but not Jews, to the call for the murder of Jews in the streets of Antwerp, to the terrorist attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels. The tragedy continued unabated with the flare-up of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial on social networks and in far-right circles, then with the Aalst Carnival to calls for war against Jews on the fringes of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in June 2020 or in May 2021. Who knows what will follow?

If today the countrys elites are infected by the virus of anti-Semitism, it is because for too long anti-Semitism in Belgium has been a problem that only the Jews really cared about. Whether it comes from extremist circles, from the right or the left, or from certain sections of the Muslim communities, it has never been effectively combated. It is high time that this changed. Europe must save Belgium from the anti-Semitism that is slowly eating it up.

Link:

Belgium: A leading role in fighting Israel and Jews? - New Europe

Category: Holocaust Denial | Comments Off on Belgium: A leading role in fighting Israel and Jews? – New Europe
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

Sukkot Sukkot

Find the date for Sukkot 2014 in the multifaith calendar

Sukkot commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God protected them under difficult desert conditions.

Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths.

The word sukkot means huts (some translations of the bible use the word booths), and building a hut is the most obvious way in which Jews celebrate the festival.

Every Jewish family will build an open air structure in which to live during the holiday. The essential thing about the hut is that it should have a roof of branches and leaves, through which those inside can see the sky, and that it should be a temporary and flimsy thing.

The Sukkot ritual is to take four types of plant material: an etrog (a citron fruit), a palm branch, a myrtle branch, and a willow branch, and rejoice with them. (Leviticus 23: 39-40.) People rejoice with them by waving them or shaking them about.

Most people nowadays live in houses or apartments with strong walls and a decent roof. Spending time in a fragile hut in the garden, or under a roof of leaves rigged up on a balcony gives them the experience of living exposed to the world, without a nice comfy shell around them. It reminds them that there is only one real source of security and protection, and that is God.

Similarly, the holes in the roof reveal the sky, and metaphorically, God's heaven, the only source of security.

Another meaning goes along with this: a Jew can be in God's presence anywhere. The idea here is that the person, having abandoned all the non-natural protections from the elements has only God to protect them - and since God does protect them this shows that God is there.

A sukkah must also have at least two walls and part of a third wall. The roof must be made of plant materials (but they must have been cut from the plant, so you can't use a tree as the roof).

Jews don't live in these huts too completely; it depends on the climate where they live. People in cold countries can satisfy the obligation by simply taking their meals in the huts, but in warmer countries, Jewish people will often sleep out in their huts.

What Jewish law requires is that the hut should be a person's principal residence.

The festival is set down in the Hebrew Bible book of Leviticus:

This evening, we begin the Jewish festival of Sukkot, known in English as Tabernacles.

It's a simple festival. We take a palm branch, a citron, and some leaves of myrtle and willow, to remind ourselves of nature's powers of survival during the coming dark days of winter.

And we sit in a sukkah, the tabernacle itself, which is just a shed, a shack, open to the sky, with just a covering of leaves for a roof. It's our annual reminder of how vulnerable life is, how exposed to the elements.

And yet we call Sukkot our festival of joy, because sitting there in the cold and the wind, we remember that above us and around us are the sheltering arms of the divine presence.

If I were to summarise the message of Sukkot I'd say it's a tutorial in how to live with insecurity and still celebrate life.

And living with insecurity is where we're at right now. In these uncertain days, people have been cancelling flights, delaying holidays, deciding not to go to theatres and public places. The physical damage of September 11th may be over; but the emotional damage will continue for months, maybe years, to come.

Yesterday a newspaper columnist wrote that looking back, future historians will call ours "the age of anxiety." How do you live with the fear terror creates?

For our family, it's brought back memories of just over ten years ago. We'd gone to live in Israel for a while before I became Chief Rabbi, to breathe in the inspiration of the holy land and find peace. Instead we found ourselves in the middle of the Gulf War.

Thirty-nine times we had to put on our gas masks and take shelter in a sealed room as SCUD missiles rained down. And as the sirens sounded we never knew whether the next missile would contain chemical or biological warheads or whether it would hit us.

It should have been a terrifying time, and it was. But my goodness, it taught me something. I never knew before just how much I loved my wife, and our children. I stopped living for the future and started thanking God for each day.

And that's when I learned the meaning of Tabernacles and its message for our time. Life can be full of risk and yet still be a blessing.

Faith doesn't mean living with certainty. Faith is the courage to live with uncertainty, knowing that God is with us on that tough but necessary journey to a world that honours life and treasures peace.

Read the rest here:

BBC - Religions - Judaism: Sukkot

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on BBC – Religions – Judaism: Sukkot
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

Morag MacRae has long sought a sense of belonging and acceptance. Over the last few years, she has found it by immersing herself in Montreal's Reform Jewish community.

Born in Grand Falls, N.B., MacRae was adopted in infancy and raised in a French Catholic family. She felt connected to Catholicism as a child, but at age 12 her worldview began to shift.

Browsing through her local library, she came across books on medieval characters. The life of the heretic caught her attention.

"I had never heard that word before," MacRae remembers. "I looked up the word and went, 'Wait, what? People can think differently about things?'"

By 14, she stopped attending church with her family. It took several years before her parents accepted her decision.

"It was really dramatic, even traumatic, in terms of the tension it caused between us," she says.

At 18, she sought and found her birth mother. Once reunited, they formed a close bond.

MacRae learned that her birth mother had converted to Judaism through the Reform movement as a young woman, and her two younger half-brothers were raised Jewish.

Moving to Montreal in 2004 to pursue a theatre degree at Concordia University, she was introduced to her birth mother's extended family a Jewish household in Westmount, a municipalityin the middle of the city.

"I was embraced by this very large family and was counted among them," she says. "I learned the drama around meals, and the importance of everybody gathering together, and the chaos, and the joy. I felt very much at home there."

MacRae's connection to Judaism deepened when her Jewish partner moved in with her. They hosted Passover Seders together and she felt a connection to the rituals of the holiday.

MacRae found herself juggling commitments to two families and two religions. As Passover and Easter occur at the same time of year, MacRae would be at a Seder on Friday night and at church on Sunday morning.

"I really enjoyed the process of questioning and talking lots about what things meant and how they can be applied to your life," she says.

"When I think back to that time of drama and sadness, alienating myself from my adoptive family by having different beliefs, the problem that I had, or what they would have perceived my problem as, was that I asked too many questions."

MacRae first heard Rabbi Lisa Grushcow speak at a protest against Bill 21, the Quebec ban on religious symbols for some public sector workers. Grushcow is the head rabbi at Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Montreal's only Reform synagogue, and the oldest in the country.

"These are my kind of people," MacRae thought while listening to the rabbi. That was when she began her journey of converting to Reform Judaism.

MacRae's story is not unusual, according to the temple's educator, Rabbi Ellen Greenspan, who runs the conversion program.

"I've heard a lot of stories like that," she says. "People come to me having learned as adults that they have Jewish roots. Sometimes it's a very close relative and sometimes it's more distant."

Greenspan says that for many Quebecers, conversion is not only a search for community but also a process of discovery.

"I think a lot of people get to a certain age and realize that something is missing from their lives," says Greenspan, who is originally from New York. "They're missing some foundation and I often hear that they're missing community."

"For me, it was really the idea of aging and wanting a place," says Melanie Morris, who is also converting at Temple Emanu-El. "I was thinking, what if I'm alone without my husband in this world one day. Will I have a community? Is there somewhere I'm going to fit in?"

Morris grew up in a secular Protestant family, while her husband was raised in an Orthodox Jewish household. Though he is no longer practising, Morris was exposed to Jewish traditions and rituals through his friends and family.

"I really love what I'd call the backup family of Judaism," she says.

She says joining the Reform synagogue has taught her there's more than one way to be Jewish.

"We like to say it's harder to be a Reform Jew," says Greenspan, "because people have to make their own choices about how they want to live their Jewish lives."

When the pandemic hit, the synagogue began relying on technology to uphold ancient traditions.

For Morris and MacRae, the entire conversion experience has been online so far which in some ways, has made things easier.

"This week, I have an introduction to Hebrew class, then a 'Jews by choice' group on Thursday, a service on Friday, and a service on Saturday," MacRae says.

"If it were my life where I'd have to get up and go on the Metro every time, it certainly would have taken me longer to get as involved as I am now if ever."

Despite never meeting face-to-face, a sense of community was quickly fostered during these virtual classes. Morris says she can't wait to meet her fellow converts in person.

While their conversion has started online, Greenspan says many important aspects of being Jewish cannot be experienced virtually.

"So much of Jewish tradition is sensory smelling the food, cooking, sharing meals and listening to the music," she says. "You can't be Jewish alone."

MacRae feels like she is missing some of the depth the traditions offer, performing them alone in her apartment. "It's the difference between singing in the shower and singing in a choir," she says.

But neither Morris nor MacRae have been deterred by their unique conversion experience, and are committed to their newfound community.

"I'm surprised that, at the phase I'm at now, it feels more like an affirmation than a conversion," says MacRae.

This story is a collaboration between Concordia University's journalism department and CBC Montreal.

Originally posted here:

Montrealers converting to Reform Judaism learn you can't be Jewish alone - CBC.ca

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Montrealers converting to Reform Judaism learn you can’t be Jewish alone – CBC.ca
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

AMSTERDAM (JTA) Jewish leaders in Europe say the European Union is not only banning some methods of kosher and halal slaughter, but telling Jews and Muslims how to practice their religions.

Thats according to many who have read arecent ruling by the EUs highest court. It upholds bans in Belgium on producing kosher and halal meat, outlawing a practice whereby livestock is slaughtered without first being stunned electrically into unconsciousness.

Jewish and Muslims authorities forego stunning under similar religious laws thatrequire animals be conscious when they are killed for meat. The court and animal rights activists say thats cruel.

But thedecision on Dec. 17 by the Court of the European Union goes a step further: Remarkably, the 11,000-word documentsuggests that Jews and Muslims should and could find a way to allowanimals to be stunned using electricity.

This aspect of the ruling is already rekindling internal communal debates in Muslim and Jewish communities amid allegations that the court is eroding the separation of church and state.

That part of it is astonishing, said Shimon Cohen, campaign director for Shechita UK, a London-based organization that lobbies against attempts to ban shechita, or kosher slaughter. Asecular court does not have the authority to tell people if they can practice elements of their faith. I may disagree with some of the restrictions, but not with the mandate. But a secular court has no right to tell me how to practice. Thats gross overreaching.

Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the European Conference of Rabbis, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that for the court to seek to define shechita is absurd.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

Goldschmidt rejected the courts apparent interpretation of electric stunning as compatible with Judaism. Meat from animals that had been stunned by any means, including electricity, prior to their slaughter cannot be considered kosher, he said.

The court declined JTAs request for comment.

The bans in Belgium are part of a struggle across Europe between animal welfare activists and Muslim and Jewish community representatives over the halal and kosher slaughter methods.

In recent years, anti-immigration activists and politicians have joined the debatein an apparent push to minimize the footprint of Muslim presence in Europe, and in some cases also the Jewish one. A similar fight is unfolding around nonmedical circumcision of boys, or milah, which some childrens rights activists say is cruel.

The ruling on slaughter, rejecting a petition filed by Muslim and Jewish groups in Belgium, suggests that because electronarcosis is itself nonlethal, religious authorities should be able to adapt it within their religious rituals.

Additionally, the ruling said that since the ban is limited to parts of Belgium, Jews and Muslims may still obtain a supply of kosher and halal meat, mitigating the encroachment on their freedom of worship.

Cohenobjects to these arguments. The science on what causes an animal to suffer less an electric shock or a sharp, swift slash of a knife is far from settled, Cohen argued, and subject to religious interpretations that are beyond the courts purview. As for the supply argument, he noted that kosher meat shortages are already common in Europe today.

The court appeared to rely on the authority of a Muslim veterinarian who testified before a Belgian parliamentary committee on the environment. Jamal Zahri, arepresentative of the Executive of Belgian Muslims, seemed to endorse electric stunning.

Were not closed, its not that we dont want it, Zahri said about electric stunning. Were only looking to preserve two Muslim requirements: That the animal be alive [when its neck is cut] and that it bleeds out. He added: This is my position as a doctor representing the Executive of Belgian Muslims.

Zahris position was based on some religious Muslim edicts that permit electronarcosis if no other choice is available. Judaism has no such edicts, Goldschmidt said.

Zahri also favored a procedure in which an animal is stunned very shortly after its neck is cut, limiting convulsions and, according to some, suffering. Some Jewish communities and rabbis have accepted this method, as have some Muslim ones. But it is not widely accepted in either religion.

Nonetheless, during the parliamentary debate, where no Jewish community representatives were present, Zahri said that both post-cut stunning and electronarcosis are acceptable compromises for Belgian Muslims.

His statements triggered an uproar in his community. The Executive of Belgian Muslims disavowed Zahri, publishing a statement that calls his position merely his personal opinion and representing a minority view.

In addition to wading into religious areas in which it has no business, Cohen said, the court lumped Muslim and Jewish customs together. The two religions have distinct methods for ritual slaughter

The courts ruling makes as much sense as moving Shabbat to Sunday because Christians are fine with it, Cohen said.

Ironically or not, the courts ruling is being cited by Jewish advocates of post-cut stunning. They say the method satisfies animal welfare considerations and would modernize halacha, Jewish law, without sacrificing its core values.

Post-cut stunning happens after all the demands of kosher shechita have been met, one of those advocates, Lilianne Vana, an associate professor specializing in Jewish studies at the Universit libre de Bruxelles in Brussels, said. It satisfies all the parties requirements. And its already happening.

The post-cut stunning technique was once used in some abattoirs in Austria, that countrys previous chief rabbi, Arie Folger, told JTA, but is no longer taking place. Austria has no kosher slaughter of bovines today.

Europe currently has a hodgepodge of laws about ritual slaughter. In the Netherlands, anarrangementallowsa 40-second delay between cutting an animals neck and applying the electric charge. That was the compromise that allowed for the reinstatement of ritual slaughter after it was temporarily banned in 2011.

The ruling by the EU court, which is based in Luxembourg, isnt helping the fight to keep shechita legal, Cohen said, adding however that so far his group isnt losing the fight.

Kosher slaughter in Europe of cattle and sheep is done by shochtim, or kosher slaughterers, in regular slaughterhouses. Jewish communities and organizations in Europe own no abattoirs for larger animals and only a handful of poultry factories, Cohen said.

To Vana, the ruling highlights questions on how Orthodox Judaism can adapt, she said.

Sadly, Jewish communal leaders have become entrenched in their opposition even when halacha would allow changes, she told the La Libre Belgique newspaper.

Rabbi Mencahem Margolin, chairman of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, disputes that premise.

On a continent where hunting sports are cherished traditions and the fur trade thrives, this debate is not about animal welfare, he said. Animal welfare arguments on shechita and childrens rights debates on milah are cloaking a broader ideological clash between secular judges and governments who regard religion essentially as something silly, and people of all faiths who must stand together and insist on their freedoms, he told JTA.

Despite repeated statements by officials about Europe not being Europe without Jews, Margolin said the practical implication of the ruling and inaction about it by EU leaders tells Jews clearly that they have no place on the continent.

See the original post:

EU ruling on kosher slaughter tells rabbis how to go about their business - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on EU ruling on kosher slaughter tells rabbis how to go about their business – The Jerusalem Post
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

After the Olympics, Jordan Mann starts a new job at a Jewish nonprofit organization.

Jordan Gershon Mann is an Ivy League Olympic hopeful, has an MBA and likes to dress up as anime characters for comic book conventions. The 28-year-old Rhode Island resident will be competing in the Olympic track and field steeplechase trials in hope of joining Team USA on June 21 and 24 in Eugene, Ore.

He is a record-holding runner aiming to qualify in the steeplechase, in which competitors jump over hurdles and water obstacles. In an interview from his sunny Providence apartment, after he had finished his daily run and with his long dreadlocks gathered at the back of his head, he spoke with the Forward about his Olympic aspirations, his athletic career so far, his time as part of Brown Universitys Hillel and his love of anime and the Japanese language. Mann also spoke about the evolution of his identity as a Black Jew.

Mann does yoga, has set Ivy League and state running records, created a march focused on the humanity of Black lives and is also a Manga maven and enjoys attending Comic Con-type cosplay conventions.

After his parents divorced when Mann was a young teenager, he and his younger sister moved with their mom to St. Louis.

I was a decent runner in high school, Mann said. In his junior and senior years he made the All State teams in cross country and the two-mile race, twice each. They were all decent results but werent indicative that I would have a high-level college career, said Mann.

He wasnt recruited to Brown University but the track coach allowed him onto the team as a walk-on member. At the Ivy League university, Mann double-majored in Applied Math and Economics, and the Education Departments History and Policy track. For a time, he was interested in working in education policy, and then thought of coaching track. I loved being at practice, knowing I would be there every day.

While at Brown University, Mann went periodically to Shabbat and holiday services, but spent most of his time focused on running. And he began winning races.

After graduating from Brown, he enrolled at Providence College, where he could compete under NCAA rules and at the same time earn an MBA. In 2018 he finished fifth in the country running the steeplechase, an unexpected showing. That was my arrival on the scene as a legitimate professional, he said.

As a younger child, Mann attended Hebrew school in Springfield, Ill., where they lived at the time. Being in southern Illinois, there isnt a massive Jewish community. Not until you move to the northeast do you meet people who went to day school, the runner said. He and his sister, who is a year younger than him, shared a bnai mitzvah ceremony at Temple Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Springfield.

Only in retrospect did he realize he experienced racism as a child, said Mann, whose mother is Black and a Jew by choice, and whose father is white and born Jewish.

When I was in fourth grade and yelled at some girl, the whole school was put on alert that I was a problem child. I was very aware I was being treated like a bad kid. My friends Eli and Benjy were more troublemakers than I was, said Mann. I perceived it but didnt quite understand the way my mother experienced what that overreaction was toward me. I knew I wasnt really a bad kid but began acting out more once I was treated like one. I knew the principal was always watching me. When youre under surveillance you notice it even when you are 11. I got sent to the principals office for everything.

After his parents divorce, his mother, Dr. Mary Polk a pulmonologist and sleep medicine specialist now practicing in North Carolina felt alienated from Judaism. The negative experiences she had had colored the way she thought about Judaism and she found it difficult to separate some of the difficult experiences she had with the Jewish community, Mann said. We became disconnected from the Jewish community.

At Brown, he began re-connecting through its Hillel. Mann went to occasional Shabbat and holiday services. It was something I always realized had value for me whenever I did show up, and I always had a nice time. For all the people asking me if I know all the prayers, there was enough value for me to keep coming back.

One day, after finishing his MBA and while he was looking for a part-time job that would allow him to pay the rent and continue focusing on running, Mann was at Brown University Hillels High Holiday services. Rabbi Michelle Dardashti began chatting with him and offered him a job on the spot. Mann worked there for four years, three as a program associate and one as Director of Student Entrepreneurship. I was working with student interns on creative ways to see their Judaism in broader ways and to bring their friends together around unique ways to explore Judaism. One of them made a Purim-themed Dungeons and Dragons game, which touched Manns nerdy heart.

Manns experiences at Hillel helped bring him closer to Judaism. He worked as a student advisor to Hillelin with Melanin, Hillels group for Jews of color, knowing that just his being present was a way of modeling being included to other JOCs. He also advised a group for Jewish student athletes, the Maccabears. (Brown Universitys mascot is a bear.) To be able to talk with other JOCs as a Jewish person of color, there is a way I can be personal with them and relate to them differently than others can.

Mann recently left his job at Brown Universitys Hillel and next month is scheduled to begin working at the Jewish Liberation Fund, a new group focused on raising Jewish money for progressive causes. (His start will be delayed, of course, if he qualifies for the Olympics.) It feels like something with growth potential, Mann said. And, while he has spent years focused on a long-term career goal of coaching, suddenly being a Jewish professional is also a possibility.

Jordan Mann, who walked on to the mens track and field team while at Brown University, may make the U.S. Olympic team. In his spare time he has worked to become fluent in Japanese.

Running has been his main focus for the last few years. I didnt come out of college as someone thought to have a legitimate shot at making the world championship or Olympic teams. It was lets try to make the trials in 2020 and then figure out what Ill do with the rest of my life, said Mann.

Today he is running 93 miles a week and working out with his coach and seeing his physical therapist, entirely focused on qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team.

Going to Tokyo would be a dream for Mann: he has for years studied Japanese, a pursuit which grew out of his love of Manga and a trip to Japan and has even thought about living there.

Mann, ever the pragmatist, has his eyes set on the future. My goal now is to continue running through 2024. I have a good team of physical therapists and Im going to training camps, he said. I hope to make a world team or Olympic team and keep running faster and setting personal records. Until then, well see what happens.

Now its about going to the trials and giving it a shot, said Mann. But whatever happens at the upcoming Olympic trials and hopefully at the Tokyo Games, I definitely want to make sure I have running as part of my life.

Comic book-loving Ivy League grad runs 93 miles a week and is long shot Olympic hopeful

Read more from the original source:

Comic book-loving Ivy League grad runs 93 miles a week and is long shot Olympic hopeful - Forward

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Comic book-loving Ivy League grad runs 93 miles a week and is long shot Olympic hopeful – Forward
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

As Fathers Day approaches, I realize this year will be a unique celebration. Now that everyone in our family will be vaccinated, including our 15-year-old grandson, we can sit together around the table, something we havent done since 2019. The sheer joy of seeing everyones faces, unmasked, relishing delicious morsels, fills me with enormous gratitude.

Yet Im also aware of those whose lives were extinguished way too early. George Floyd, a father murdered before our eyes, and fathers who passed away during this last year will not see their children grow up. They will not share in peak moments of accomplishment or celebratory occasions of Bar/Bat Mitzvah, graduation, marriage, or any other life cycle or holiday gathering where they would have reaped great joy, or shlep naches, as my Eastern European parents used to proudly express. Many of these lost fathers were men who dedicated their energy to supporting their families through jobs that often demanded many more hours than they cared to give.

My own father, Benny, had a full-time job and spent his weekends adding supplemental work in order to care for his own young family along with his mother, his youngest brother and his brothers family. Together, they were a family of survivors who came to Canada, the promise of a new world after the trauma of the Shoah. After brutal abuse and tremendous loss, my survivor father traveled to Toronto with my mother and me, their miraculous new baby born in Sweden, to begin again, to create a new life and find a way to make a living among foreigners, all without knowing a word of English.

Together, they were a family of survivors who came to Canada, the promise of a new world after the trauma of the Shoah.

How many men, fathers like my own, dug deep into their vast expanse of courage, despite physical weakness and emotional chaos, to take the next step so they could begin again and be fruitful and multiply? In the wake of unspeakable tragedy, countless men, who in most cultures were expected not to cry or express fear, lifted themselves up and like Avraham, who was mandated to Lech Lcha, journeyed into the unknown, traveling to the promised land to bring new life into the world. They did all this so that Ldor vadorfrom generation to generationcould become a reality.

Av, the Hebrew word for father, is a central principle in Judaism. Until recently, perhaps 30-40 years ago, our central prayer in the three daily services was called Avot, fathers. For nearly 2000 years our intimate conversations with G-d began by recognizing our ancestral fathers, Avraham, Isaac, and Jacobmen, mavericks, who are the foundation of our tradition despite their foibles. In the biblical narrative, the importance of being a male who fathered sons is apparent. Even as egalitarian Judaism recognizes the importance of women in our tradition, we must also see Judaism through the eyes of the ancient world, where the role of men was to fight and protect, often to their own peril, to keep their families safe and provide a future.

Ancient and classical Judaism expanded the role of men as fighters and protectors to include the expectation that they will study and teach Torah so that the wisdom of our texts will not be lost. The Torah reminds us teach your children. It is an imperative that cannot be ignored. In Judaism, a fathers relationship with his child is grounded in his commitment to fulfill this duty. There are those who believe that Moshe is left out of the Haggadah because he failed as a father, abandoning his sons (and his wife) to become G-ds partner and denying them the possibility of priesthood. The figure of the father is central in the Jewish tradition. Even in our most sacred days, the High Holy Days, we say, AvinuOur Fatherplease show us compassion and forgive our sins.

Yes, fatherhood is central to our tradition. As one who honors the feminine and the imminent presence of the Holy One as Shechinah, it is also important to acknowledge the fathers, ancient and present, who have dedicated their lives to loving and treasuring their childrentheir hope for the future. Let us remember and honor the men who are both seed and harvesters of our lives, the men who passed on the values of hard work, protection, loyalty, teaching, sacrifice, and dedication to family.

As one who honors the feminine and the imminent presence of the Holy One as Shechinah, it is also important to acknowledge the fathers, ancient and present, who have dedicated their lives to loving and treasuring their childrentheir hope for the future.

Heres to you, dad, beloved father, who bequeathed a plethora of skills and values that sustain me. Heres to my husband Steve, who dedicated countless hours not only to sustain a congregation and be father to many, but also to find the time to remain available to his own children in moments of need. Heres to all fathers for your dedication to lead, teach, act as a role model, and exemplify the love (whether spoken or not) you have and will always have for your children.

Bless you all!

Eva Robbins is a rabbi, cantor, artist and the author of Spiritual Surgery: A Journey of Healing Mind, Body and Spirit.

Read more:

Comments on: Here's To Our Fathers - Jewish Journal

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Comments on: Here’s To Our Fathers – Jewish Journal
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

Dear Dawn: I am Jewish and planning my wedding to a non-Jewish man. I have not been very involved in Judaism since my bat mitzvah almost 20 years ago. I dont want to have a rabbi, but I want to have Jewish accoutrements at my ceremony. My fianc is open to whatever I want. I want to include his parents if I can. I want his non-Jewish family to be comfortable. What advice can you give me about deciding what to include? Bride-to-Be

Dear Bride: Mazel tov on your coming celebration! It should be quite easy to get what you want. First you need to decide which elements of a Jewish wedding you want. I suggest you get a Jewish wedding book and read through the various traditional elements. For three that do a good job of covering the topic, visit the Building Jewish Bridges website at tinyurl.com/bjb-3books, and pick the ones that you would like.

A Christian bride told me that she read Celebrating Interfaith Marriage by Rabbi Devon Lerner and found that the Jewish traditions met all her needs. Go over the ideas with your partner and see which ones speak to him.

Most Jews, if they want anything Jewish at their wedding, want to break the glass. The symbolism of a groom (and/or bride) smashing a glass underfoot has a number of explanations. The dominant one, which originates from the Talmud, is that even in times of joy we must remember there is sorrow. For more details on this ritual, check out My Jewish Learning at tinyurl.com/mjl-glass.

No matter the meaning you attach, it is certainly the climatic bang at the end of the ceremony. You can pick your own glass for the smashing, or you can buy a kit that includes a fragile glass and items to have the broken glass shards made into a piece of art that you can keep. (P.S. Do not select a sturdy glass unless you are trying to injure the stomper.)

You could get a ketubah (a wedding contract). There are all different kinds available online and they make lovely art for your home after the wedding.

The traditional chuppah (wedding canopy) has been borrowed by many non-Jews in the form of an arch or arbor under which the wedding takes place. The nice thing about having a chuppah that is held up by four poles is that you can give four friends the honor of holding a pole. If your canopy is stationary, you can have four loved ones simply stand at the four corners.

I love the tradition of having both sets of parents walking their own child down the aisle, instead of just the brides father. It symbolizes the joining of two families which indeed a wedding does. Also, all four parents get to be a part of the ceremony, not just the brides father.

Once youve decided on the Jewish elements you want, I suggest you print up a small handout naming, describing and explaining each of them for your guests. Include the names of the people performing the various acts (as that will help guests identify what is happening). This is similar to a bar or bat mitzvah and is very helpful for anyone for whom these traditions are unfamiliar.

Also, Bride-to-Be, I want to point out to you that you are exhibiting a common behavior.

Many Jews, while they may not be practicing Judaism, hold onto their Jewish identity and feel the desire to bring Judaism into significant moments in their lives.

Please be aware that this often happens when a couple discusses having a child, but even more so when the child arrives. A parent who thought they didnt care about their childs religious identity can suddenly want their new baby to be Jewish.

I urge you to take your fianc to a basic Judaism class so he can see you in your Jewish milieu, gain a basic understanding of Judaism and see how you respond to the teachings. Youll both be better informed.

Please share with your fianc that either of you may be struck with the desire to introduce your childhood rituals to your as yet unborn child. It is best to be somewhat prepared for further discussions of your homes traditions and your childs identity.

Ive had this conversation with hundreds of people and Im happy to speak with you two.

You can read more about Jewish wedding traditions used in interfaith weddings on the Building Jewish Bridges website.

See the rest here:

Creating an interfaith wedding inspired by Jewish tradition J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Creating an interfaith wedding inspired by Jewish tradition J. – The Jewish News of Northern California
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

The inter-faith complex is set to open in 2022

Abu Dhabi has revealed the names of its upcoming Abrahamic Family House, a multi-faith complex coming to Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi.

The names of the houses of worship have been announced as the Imam Al-Tayeb Mosque, St. Francis Church, and Moses ben Maimon Synagogue.

The Church naming is a direct reference to Pope Francis, who came to Abu Dhabi two years ago in a very significant visit.

Pope Francis holds the event close to his heart, as Esquire Middle East found out recently. Click here for more.

The project, which also includes a cultural centre, will welcome visitors to worship, learn and engage in dialogue.

A Holocaust Memorial exhibition also recently opened in Dubai that reveals the Arabs and Muslims who risked their lives during World War II. Find out more here.

Construction is being closely followed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, according to the AD Media Office.

Inspired by the Document on Human Fraternity, which was signed in Abu Dhabi in February 2019, the Abrahamic Family House embodies the UAEs values of peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding. It is due for completion in 2022.

The Abrahamic Family Houses design, by architect Sir David Adjaye, captures the values shared between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, through three main buildings, including a mosque, a church, and a synagogue in one place. As such, the complex recounts the history and builds bridges between human civilizations and religious messages.

The design of the project was first unveiled by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, at a global gathering in New York in 2019, during the 2nd meeting of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF). The design was presented to Pope Francis and the Grand Imam during a meeting in November 2019.

The Abrahamic Family House epitomizes interfaith harmonious coexistence and preserves the unique character of each religion. It personifies Abu Dhabis vision for human fraternity and embeds coexistence into the already diverse cultural fabric of the UAE. Overseeing the development of this iconic project is inspiring and reflective of the UAE efforts in realizing the values of the Document on Human Fraternity and fostering its lofty principles. The naming of the three houses of worship recognises the work of His Eminence Grand Imam Al Tayeb, His Holiness Pope Francis, and Moses Ben Maimon, and harnesses their teachings to forge a message of goodwill for future generations around the world, said H.E Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture Abu Dhabi and a member of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity.

As a place for learning, dialogue and worship, the Abrahamic Family House is intended to be a cultural landmark and an inspiring global symbol that epitomises the shared values of harmonious coexistence and understanding among the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The design is very intentional as well, characterized by an iconic geometric architecture of three cubes.

The structures are intended to represent the unified commonality and mutual coexistence between the three religions whilst evoking the traditional architecture and retaining the individualism of each of the three faiths.

During the design phases of the houses of worship, members of religious communities worldwide have been engaged and consulted to ensure consistency with and adherence to the respective religions requirements and teachings, according to Abu Dhabis media office.

From Esquire Middle East.

Share /

Read more:

Abu Dhabi reveals names of mosque, church, and synagogue in its Abrahamic Family House - HarpersBazaarArabia

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Abu Dhabi reveals names of mosque, church, and synagogue in its Abrahamic Family House – HarpersBazaarArabia
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

Image by jta

(JTA) On March 13, nearly a year to the day after Temple Beth El of Charlotte, North Carolina, closed due to COVID-19, Rabbi Dusty Klass gathered the congregations 900 households for a shared albeit remote Jewish experience.

Unable to gather her community for worship, Klass and her colleagues, including operations manager Nathalie Friedlander, invented something new: Challah Day. Volunteers baked over 900 challahs, and others delivered them to the doorstep of every household in the community for enjoying over a Shabbat meal.

Even those who rarely attend synagogue participated. New volunteers took leadership roles; people of different ages and stages initiated new relationships; those who felt only a distant connection to the community and to Jewish practice reported a sense of belonging.

Klass was one of thousands of pulpit rabbis who amid the pandemic quickly became rabbinic entrepreneurs and in the process kindled new energy in her Jewish community.

I dont know what to say except that the worst misfortune isnt only misfortunes, says the Rev. John Ames, a character in Marilynne Robinsons novel Gilead*. *These words are true of the impact that COVID-19 has had on the rabbinate. Our clergy have now spent more than a year adapting their leadership to reach beyond their synagogue walls, serving those who couldnt show up.

Misfortune may have fully emptied our sanctuaries, but the pandemic was merely an acceleration of a trend. The 2021 Pew Study of American Jews demonstrated that even before the pandemic, 52% of American Jews reported attending synagogue seldom or never. Without a synagogue, most do not have a relationship with a good rabbi.

Yet more than half of these non-attenders reported other ways of expressing their Jewishness through, as Pew confirmed, holidays, food choices, cultural connections or life milestones.

Of course, there are thriving synagogues where clergy and congregants express a dynamic American Judaism. But the title rabbi no longer guarantees pews full of Jews. Largely trained and paid to serve synagogues, rabbis thereby dont reach the Jewish majority.

Our clergy are an underleveraged resource in connecting Jews and Judaism and can do so with the incentive and tools. COVID-19 has proven our rabbis are ready to radically change in order to reach our people where they are.

For the past several years, the Center for Rabbinic Innovation has been training rabbis with the skills they need to build new communities in our Fellowship for Rabbinic Entrepreneurs. We have had success training our clergy to build and lead Jewish communities with and for those who do not attend synagogues. It only takes relatively small investments and support to encourage this success.

I see this in our fellow Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe, who is building Maalot Atlanta, an emergent spiritual community that gathers folks to sing, hike, eat, and celebrate holy moments.

While bringing rabbinic wisdom and spiritual leadership to this community, she has also been honing and practicing her entrepreneurial skills. Wolpe has met with scores of Atlanta residents who dont attend synagogue. She has collected and analyzed data on their spiritual and communal needs, tested new ideas, tweaked her early projects and has begun to attract financial support for her work. Over this past year, with training and very modest investment in her work, her community has been growing.

Clergy in our fellowship learn the skills of spiritual entrepreneurship and practice a lean startup methodology. They use small launch funds to pilot projects meeting people where they are and move forward with them. Through the failures and successes of our rabbinic innovators, we are learning in real time the best practices for creating sustainable communities with those who seek to express Jewishness outside the synagogue.

This year, we extended our work to 150 intrepid rabbis, including Klass, who participated in our Rabbinic (re)Design Labs. These mid-career clergy, serving existing communities, transformed their own spiritual leadership.

For example, the rabbi of a midsize congregation launched a listening campaign, training a core of passionate volunteers to reach out and build deep connections to others within and outside the synagogue. With online meetings, they engaged more of their community than they had through regular synagogue programs and built Jewishly inspired, collaborative projects to overcome near-universal feelings of isolation.

Another rabbi in an urban congregation turned their neighborhood into a Living Torah Museum Walking Tour for Simchat Torah and beyond. They placed 54 laminated posters on members buildings and gates around their neighborhoods. Each poster had artwork representing one of the 54 weekly Torah portions, plus a QR code with links to the portion. Members, neighbors and curious passers-by all engaged with Torah in new ways.

These rabbis nearly universally said they could prioritize these innovative projects only because their regular synagogue services and programming were on hold.

The majority of clergy earn their salaries from institutions supported by and focused on their members. Necessarily, the bulk of their attention goes to serving the needs of those paying dues: sanctuary worship, bnai mitzvah, synagogue-based Jewish education, social action and chesed initiatives. Already working to capacity, they have little time or resources to reach those who may never appreciate these synagogue functions. Only a small subset of clergy can take the financial risk to pursue their innovative ideas as entrepreneurs. And who pays the rabbi as she builds a spiritual startup?

Our entire community must radically invest in the reinvention of the rabbinate so that 1,500 rabbis, not 150, learn and practice these methods. Even as we rightly celebrate the reopening of our sanctuaries, now is the time to ask how your synagogue, JCC and federation are prioritizing and dedicating time and money to rabbinic innovation.

Training and supporting our clergy to lead successfully beyond the walls of the synagogue has exponential return on investment. COVID-19 has proven that they have the vision and capability to do so with the right training and support. Now is the moment to ensure that our clergy have the training, incentives, support and resources to harness this positive momentum born out of our misfortune.

The post Most Jews wont set foot in a synagogue. Thats why rabbis need to think like entrepreneurs. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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

Most Jews wont set foot in a synagogue. Thats why rabbis need to think like entrepreneurs.

Link:

Most Jews wont set foot in a synagogue. Thats why rabbis need to think like entrepreneurs. - Forward

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Most Jews wont set foot in a synagogue. Thats why rabbis need to think like entrepreneurs. – Forward
Tags:

Posted By admin on June 16, 2021

As I returned to Oxford, England, from the funeral of the Lubavitcher Rebbe 27 years ago, I penned a tribute to my teacher and mentors life on the plane. I called it The Colossus and Me and published it the next day.

It discussed my relationship with the Rebbe, how he had inspired me to become a rabbi, how he had sent me to Sydney and then to Oxford, and how he had rescued the Jewish religion from terminal global decline.

In the same way that without Theodor Herzl there would not be a State of Israel as we know it, without the Rebbe there would not be a global Jewish community as we know it. Judaism would have been reduced to pockets in a few international cities like New York and Los Angeles and, of course, Israel. The rest would almost certainly have disappeared.

That was 27 years ago. But referring to the Rebbe even then as a colossus did not do justice to his legacy. Little did I know that just over a quarter of a century later, his influence would burst like a supernova. In 3,300 years of the Jewish faith, we have never seen anything like it.

On Saturday night I took my family to the Rebbes grave for prayers on his yahrzeit. We went at 1 a.m. to avoid the long lines. Fuggetaboutit. We waited more than an hour in a line that was longer than the worst TSA nightmare in any airport, and this even though it was a moving line that did not stop. Perhaps ten thousand men and women were there at that ungodly hour. Im guessing that another 50,000 would have visited over the next 24 hours.

Few modern religious leaders on earth of any faith can command that kind of following. This, of course, is besides the thousands of Chabad Houses and Jewish institutions in hundreds of cities the world over that have sprouted in the Rebbes name and due to his influence. Chabad has now become the de facto face of Judaism worldwide.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

How can a man continue to electrify the world from beyond the grave? How can he continue to inspire young men and women, newly married, to leave their families and all that they know to travel across the world and live forever in a foreign land in order to cater to the needs of complete strangers?

I have been fortunate in my life to meet personalities in positions of authority. I have seen that few, if any, are immune to just small hints of corruption. Friends of mine who have made a lot of money change, even just a little. They become more conceited, more arrogant, more self-satisfied. Those who become politically powerful change even more. Yes, they have time for the little people that is, if they still need those little people for votes.

The Rebbe could not have been more different. In the 27 years since his death, I have gone over in my mind countless times every aspect of his life as I knew it. I was fortunate to have had a personal relationship with him, and he took a serious interest in my work as his emissary at the University of Oxford, partial as he was to great academic centers of learning. In everything I have thought through, I cannot identify an area of corruption, not even to a minute degree.

Dont get me wrong. The Rebbe was a human being, not an angel. He was of flesh and blood and not merely spirit. He lived, he led, and he died.

But he was absolutely incorruptible. Countless critics of Chabad have poured over every last detail of his life, and they have found the same. A man without a hint of scandal and with no identifiable self-interest. He wanted the Jewish people to flourish with their faith, Israel to be strong, and humanity to rededicate itself to acts of loving-kindness.

Who has ever heard of a world-renowned spiritual authority who lived the last decade of his life in a tiny office; who never took a single vacation, or a single day off, in the 40-odd years he headed the worlds largest Jewish spiritual movement; who stood on his feet every Sunday to meet thousands of common-folk and give them a personal blessing; and died with almost no money or estate to speak of? How was it possible that a man with that level of power and influence could have emerged without having changed in the slightest or benefited personally from his position?

IN THIS lies the secret to the inspiration he continues to provide to the world Chabad movement.

Each of us is born a believer. If you tell a child that the moon is made of green cheese, he will believe you. Only that when he later discovers that it is not true, he will doubt your next statement. As we mature we become cynical because we discover the worlds imperfections and human corruptibility. We cease believing in politicians, convinced as we are that for the most part they put their personal interests before the public interest. We doubt even our parents and those who love us most, because we discover they, too, are imperfect and made mistakes in how they raised us. But all along, deep down, we still want to believe.

And when youre fortunate enough to find a personality who doesnt let you down, who remains a pillar of righteousness and is above any consideration of personal interest, you latch on to that personality and you march in his footsteps.

This was the Rebbes greatest achievement. He took a people decimated by the Holocaust and caused them to believe in Gods providence and human goodness again.

The growth of Chabad is due to many factors. Chabad inculcates an entrepreneurial spirit in its youth that makes them bold risk-takers who are far less susceptible to the fear of failure than the general population. They marry young with little thought as to how they will support families, and they build institutions the world over without the knowledge of how they will fund their activities.

They have faith in their faith. They believe that hard work will itself provide blessing and solutions. From Chabad they also receive a deep-seated Jewish pride that allows them to go to secular communities without being ashamed of their lifestyle or appearance.

But more than anything else, what accounts for the growth of Chabad is the Rebbes righteous example that is before them at all times. When you have a leader who exemplified true selflessness, your altruism increases exponentially.

The writer, Americas Rabbi, has just published Holocaust Holiday: One Familys Descent into Genocide Memory Hell.

See the original post here:

Remembering the Lubavitcher rebbe: Supernova with living legacy - opinion - The Jerusalem Post

Category: Judaism | Comments Off on Remembering the Lubavitcher rebbe: Supernova with living legacy – opinion – The Jerusalem Post
Tags: