Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on October 10, 2020

Alumni Profile

To mark Hispanic Heritage Month, which celebrates the histories, cultures and contributions of Americans whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, several alumni were invited by the Brandeis Alumni Association to reflect on the inspiration they have drawn from their Latinx heritage in their lifes work, and how their Brandeis experience helped shape their paths.

Aileen (Walborsky) Josephs 86 is an immigration attorney in Palm Beach County, Florida, who has been recognized for her defense of immigrants civil and human rights.

Laura Limonic 97 is the author of Kugel and Frijoles: Latino Jews in the United States, which won the 2020 Best Book Award from the Latin American Jewish Studies Association.

Jose Prez 75, former assistant secretary of economic affairs in Massachusetts, helped establish the Joseph D. Warren Endowed Scholarship, which provides support to Brandeis students who are the first in their family to attend college.

Edith Surez, Heller MBA/MPP19, a community organizer with the Waltham Partnership for Youth, describes herself as passionate about identity, culture and diversity.

Date: October 8, 2020

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Posted By admin on October 10, 2020

Shemini Atzeret has a dual identity. It falls on the eighth day, immediately after Succot. It is a festival in its own right, but without rituals.Yet, like Succot, our prayers referto it as the time of our happiness (zeman simchateinu).

One tradition identified in theTalmud is to recite the Prayerfor Rain (Tefillat Geshem) in theShemini Atzeret Musaf service.

From ancient times, water was perceived as a precious resource for all living beings, even if in Britain we take it for granted. By contrast, from 2014 to 2019, Israel experienced a drought exceeding anything in its past 100 years.

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In a Mediterranean climate with a few months of rain at best, Tefillat HaGeshem was a way to beseech God to provide precipitation during the winter months. When rains were delayed, leaders instituted a series of public fasts.

Andalusian poet Salomon Ibn Gabirol beautifully articulated our dependence on rain in his poem Shifat Revivim. Open now Your treasure, give life to all into whom Youve breathed a soul, by causing the wind to blow and the rain to fall.

Atzeret means gathering. We also refer to Shavuot as Chag HaAtzeret. The Babylonian Talmud informs us that just as Shavuot comes 50 days after Pesach, Shemini Atzeret was intended to come 50 days after Succot, but God had compassion on Jewish farmers, not requiring of them another pilgrimage during the rainy season.

Shemini Atzeret thus inspires joy and gratitude. We seldom appreciate what we have until its absent or lost. The past months have shown how blessed we are.

As winter approaches, practising gratitude allows us to see things as they exist, not as we might wish them to be.

Rather than lamenting what weve lost, Shemini Atzeret dually teaches us to find joy in what we have andto be thankful.

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Posted By admin on October 10, 2020

By Rabbi Shawn ZevitShemini Atzeret

On the eighth day (of Sukkot), you will have a holy day it is a day of cessation, of quiet and solemn gathering (Atzeret) (Leviticus 23:36).This Shabbat and weekend depending on whether you celebrate seven or eight days of Sukkot and, depending on this, whether you combine or add on to the eighth day the later celebratory day of Simchat Torah, completing the yearly cycle of Torah reading comes the rather obscure Shemini Atzeret.

A part of Sukkot? A separate festival in its own right? The Torah leaves it open for us to interpret.

Although the observances of Shemini Atzeret generally share the characteristics of the rest of Sukkot, there are four significant differences.

The first is that there is no more shaking of the lulav and etrog. Second is that although we have our meals and recite Kiddush in the sukkah (though customs vary), we no longer say the blessing to sanctify us through the commandment to dwell in it, as we did the previous seven days. The third is that in the synagogue, after the Torah reading, we recite the memorial prayer (Yizkor).

And finally, the special prayer for rain (Geshem) is added to the repetition of Musaf and thus begins the period of an additional call for the appropriate amount of rain in the year ahead in our prayers, which lasts until Passover.

The earliest rabbinic reference to Shemini Atzeret calls it yom tov acharon shel ha-hag, the last day of the festival. The Talmud (Taanit 20b-31a), however, declares, The eighth day is a festival in its own right.

At the same time, the Talmud (Taanit 28b) attempts to distinguish it from Sukkot, as there are 70 temple sacrifices given throughout Sukkot, compared to only one given on Shemini Atzeret. The Sefer HaChinuch adds that by the holiday of Shemini Atzeret (which is the eighth day of Sukkot), although we have no special commandment on the day, we do not need anything to focus our happiness on the miracle of life itself and the Source of All.

The Sefer HaChinuch goes on to say that the sages have told us that, in reality, Shemini Atzeret is not the eighth day of Sukkot, but rather a separate holiday, which occurs at the end of the Sukkot holiday. Building on the midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 21:24), let us now rejoice together, you and I, with whatever you can find ), the sages are described as taking us into the realm of Divine inner wrestling. No big sacrifices, no ornate rituals, forget the big meal let us keep our connection simple and focused on our relationship, not outward practices and symbols.

For our biblical ancestors, I can only imagine what it meant to look at each other face to face in the Jerusalem where they had gathered from so many locations to celebrate the final big harvest. They faced the temporality and vulnerability of life ahead, the reliance on rains for survival and, in those days, a half a year before Passover could offer the possibility of regathering at a time no other Jewish holidays were on the calendar.

Will the earth be our sustainer or our grave? Will we live through all the uncertainty ahead and be able to gather again to rejoice in liberation, freedom and just rulers and leaders? There is much to identify within the poignancy and intimacy of Shemini Atzeret that resonates with our current political, socioeconomic and ecological upheaval.

What will the world look like when we are next able to gather again safely in person?

For the sages and our people post-Temple times, they reveal their own inner struggle with what it means to detach from each other after such an intense month of introspection, soul-baring and then harvesting our experience.

They interpret Gods longing and difficulty of saying goodbye into the eighth day of Sukkot as telling us Please, stay with me one more day, as it is difficult for me to part with you, so I will add on one more day, so you can spend with me and each other before your departure (Rashi on Leviticus 23:36).

The Zohar further suggests that we may have some leftover spiritual work from all the Holy Days, which is to forgive ourselves for our failings and also commit to the change we may have become aware of needing to enact. From now on, for one day, let me and you rejoice. This is the meaning of the verse On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you means offering sacrifices for yourselves (Zohar 3, Emor 104:2).

When all the prayers have been offered for the Yamim Noraim and Sukkot, all the high rituals and sermons offered our tradition, in ever-evolving interpretation and expression, brings us back to each other, the earth and the breath of all life in the bonds of love.

I would add to the centuries of thought, If you remember nothing else remember our connection, remember the love that exists by virtue of creation itself, and our ability to be together as all people and creatures these last days, and seal that love and connection in your own hearts for time-release over the year ahead. We will leave our intense days of communal return, reflection and celebration to meet the future head on and be active players in it for the sake of peace, justice, liberty and a fairly represented voice for all. Remember in the quiet of Shemini Atzeret that love remains when all the external trappings fade.As we gather to celebrate Shemini Atzeret, we remind ourselves that this content does not depend on a particular commandment, place or situation. Stop in the name of love!

Rabbi Shawn Israel Zevit is the rabbi at Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia, co-founder/director of the Davennen Leaders Training Institute, associate director of the ALEPH Hashpaah program and co-chair of the clergy caucus of POWER Interfaith PA. The Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia is proud to provide diverse perspectives on Torah commentary for the Jewish Exponent. The opinions expressed in this column are the authors own and do not reflect the view of the Board of Rabbis.

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Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

Every year, my synagogue builds a magnificent sukkah, four walls of wood, greenery galore for its roof, and enough space to seat 150 people or more. But not this year.

Because due to the concerns of COVID and the need to provide for greater air circulation, this year, we've decided to build a sukkah of just three walls, to leave one side wide open so that those who sit in our sukkah will be safer.

But is a three-walled sukkah "kosher?"

According to the Code of Jewish Law (OC630:2), not only is a three-walled sukkah kosher, but even a two-walled sukkah with just a portion of a third wall is perfectly fit. Of course, that is, as long as the roof, with its greenery (schach), still offers more shade than sunlight.

How can that be? Would just three cups of wine on Passover be enough? Would three fringes on a tallitbe sufficient? Of course not! So why would three walls be perfectly good-even by the strictest of standards?

According to the Jerusalem Talmud (Sukkah 1:1), the answer is found in verse from Isaiah (4:6), which describes three functions of a sukkah, ergo the three walls. This is also the position of the rabbis in the Babylonian Talmud (Sukkah 6b).

But there may be another reason why a missing wall is not a problem, one which harks back to a Talmudic debate over the reason for this holiday. According to the second-century sage, Rabbi Eliezer, we observe Sukkot as a remembrance of the "clouds of glory" which escorted and protected the Jews through their 40 years of wandering. On the other hand, the famous Rabbi Akiva said that we observe Sukkot to commemorate the huts the Jews lived in during their years in the desert (Sukkah 11b).

Asked the nineteenth-century sage, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein (Aruch HaShulchan OC 625); according to Rabbi Eliezer, we can understand the reason for Sukkot - to remember the God's miraculous protection of our people. But according to Rabbi Akiva, why establish a holiday to remember structures in which we lived?

The answer he wrote explained that remembering how we lived in the desert is a tribute to the faith of the Jewish people, who, despite the dangers, despite the uncertainty, were willing to follow Moses for 40 years.

According to Rabbi Akiva, Sukkot celebrates the miracle of faith, a miracle of a people who, despite all that they lacked, despite never knowing what the next day would bring, nor where they would be the next day, had faith.

This is symbolized by a sukkah - not a perfect structure, but an imperfect one. For this reason, a sukkah of three walls is perfectly fit to be used, not in a de facto sense, but de jure. Because the sukkah celebrates our faith despite uncertainty and reminds us that while life may be imperfect, it must still be celebrated.

For, in reality, no one has all four walls of life intact. In varying degrees, we all experience measures of sorrow or failure, loss, or disappointment. No one is exempt; no one is alone; because in life, a three-walled sukkah is the rule and not the exception.

This is a lesson we must recall in these unusual times when our world has been turned upside down, and we find ourselves living lives very different than we ever imagined. On the one hand, we could mourn the loss of our fourth wall - of social interactions that are now limited, and the health risks we must face. Or we can remember the message of Sukkot, which our Torah identifies aszman simchateinu(a holiday of joy), and celebrate the three walls that are still intact, the imperfect world in which we live.

For me, this year's three-walled sukkah will be a sight for sore eyes. It will be a sign that we remember but an opportunity to celebrate that God will protect us if we continue to move forward with faith and confidence that even in the uncertainty of these times, God will "spread His sukkah of peace over us and of His nation Israel."

Rabbi Leonard A. Matanky, Ph.D., is the Dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy.

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Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

Simhat Torah is one of the most beloved holidays on the Jewish calendar, but it is also an anomaly. The festival, which celebrates the completion of the yearly cycle of public Torah reading, doesnt appear in the Bible or even the Talmud. Instead, the holiday that appears on this date is Shmini Atzeret, a one-day festival that immediately follows Sukkot and completes the holiday season.

By late antiquity, an order was established for the weekly public readings, yet the two major centers of Judaism differed on how to apportion them. Communities in Israel divided the Torah into over 150 sections. As such, the idea of an annual holiday to celebrate the Torahs completion was impossible, since it took three to three-and-a-half years to complete the reading! Instead, each community, reading at a different pace, would hold its own celebration upon completing its local cycle.

Seeking to complete the Torah each year, Babylonian communities uniformly divided the Torah into 54 portions (parashot in Hebrew), the maximum number of non-festival Shabbatot that can occur in a Jewish leap year. (Non-leap years include the reading of double parashot, with two portions read in one week.) By completing the cycle after Sukkot, as opposed to before Rosh Hashanah, these communities were able to time Deuteronomys major speeches of admonition to be read before the High Holy Days. Additionally, Mosess concluding blessing to the nation provided a fitting conclusion to the Tishrei holiday season. While the custom from the Land of Israel survived until the early Middle Ages, the Babylonian practice, as with many matters, ultimately won the day.

The completion of the Torah cycle on Shmini Atzeret, however, was potentially problematic, since each holiday demands its own thematically appropriate reading.

Like all Diaspora communities, Babylonian congregations observed two days of each festival, providing an easy solution. On the first day of Shmini Atzeret, the holiday portion is read, while on the second day (colloquially known today as Simhat Torah), the congregation reads the last portion of Deuteronomy, called Vezot Habracha.

With only one day in Israel, priority has amazingly been given to the Simhat Torah reading, with recognition of Shmini Atzeret the biblical holiday! relegated to the brief maftir reading and the Amida prayer.

Combining two days of rituals into one also means that the festive dancing in honor of the Torah is followed by two prayers customarily recited on Shmini Atzeret the somber Yizkor memorial service and the solemn Prayer for Rain.

Another distinctive element of Simhat Torah is that in addition to reading the days portion and its maftir, we take out a third Torah scroll to begin Genesis. As Avraham Yaaris chronicle of Simhat Torah documents, this was not the practice in Babylonia. Rather, 12th-century European communities began reciting the first verses of Genesis (frequently orally or from a Bible, not a Torah scroll) to display their love of the Torah and eagerness to study it afresh. The unique reading arrangement and the days joyful occasion gave rise to honoring communal figures to chant the major readings and to repeating Vezot Habracha continually until every male community member receives an aliyah.

Another feature of Simhat Torah is joyful dancing which is normally forbidden on the festivals but was permitted by the earlier medieval authorities in commemoration of this celebration. Originally the custom was to circle the Torah scrolls on the reader platform, known as hakafot, copying the hoshanot ritual of circling the ark with lulavim on Sukkot. In later generations, Jews came to dance with the Torah scrolls in their hands.

WHAT ARE our options, given the requirements of social distancing as well as the need to avoid lengthy services?

As always, priority must be given to the core requirements of the day, including the public recitation of the Amida prayers and the Torah reading. Cantorial singing of the prayers including the Yizkor memorial rite, the Prayer for Rain, and the special blessings offered to the recipients of special aliyot such as hatan Torah should be significantly curtailed.

As weve seen, the celebratory dancing is a custom which is not required to fulfill any of the core obligations. While spacious, outdoor prayer spaces might allow for separation between worshipers, its not clear that the necessary distancing will be maintained over a long period of dancing. Accordingly, the dancing may be eliminated, if absolutely necessary, or significantly curtailed in its duration, with short, stationary singing the preferred option.

Similarly, the number of extra aliyot should be eliminated or significantly curtailed. Groups of worshipers may receive an aliyah together, so to speak, by listening to the oleh and replying together with an amen (Mishna Berurah 669:12).

While for some people this abridged service may take away from the joy of the day, we should look for other ways to celebrate the Torah in our homes. Most importantly, we should remember that the point of all these festivities is to give honor to the Torah. This year, that entails fulfilling our ritual requirements in a way that gives honor to the Torahs prioritization of public health. The author is the co-dean of the Tikvah Online Academy and directs the Jewish Law Live Facebook group and YouTube channel.

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Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

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Hear my child the discipline of your father, and do not forsake the instruction of your mother (Mishlei 1:8).

Our sages teach us that teachings of your mother refer to emunah and bitachon in Hashem. Fortunate are his sons after him (ibid. 20:7), says Shlomo HaMelech about one who remains faithful, since his children will likewise walk in the ways of Hashem without deviation.

Only when children dont discard the traditions of the earlier generations, and grow and develop like branches of a tree (whose life source is its roots), do the merits of their fathers measure for measure support them so that they dont depart from the Torah or listen to the Evil Inclination.

The Ishbitzer maintains that mussar avicha the discipline of your father refers to words of Torah while toras imecha the instruction of your mother refers to the inner essence of these words. Love for Torah should be transmitted just like a mothers love for her child.

The Ishbitzer says we must integrate our familys cherished traditions into our performance of mitzvos. If we dont, our service of Hashem is deficient. Do not forsake the instruction of your mother means: Dont contemplate abandoning a particular familial tradition since its only a custom. Its much more than that. Its an integral element of ones avodas Hashem.

The Talmud (Sukkah 32b) tells us that R Acha the son of Rava would purposely seek a hadas that had two leaves emerging from one base and one emerging from a lower base because his teacher Rav Kahana deemed it kosher. Rashi writes that although every set of three leaves on a hadas usually grows from one base, RAcha nevertheless opted for a less beautiful hadas in deference to his teacher. He didnt wish to deviate from what he had heard from his rebbe even though he had a different view. The Ritva mentions that he wanted to demonstrate that the halacha followed Rav Kahana.

We learn from R Achas behavior that although a person might think his own variation is an improvement and may even be a more stringent way of performing a mitzvah he should embrace and hold fast to the tradition of his forebears.

Remaining true to the traditions of ones forefathers also helps one personally. We know that Yosef was extremely handsome, and Rashi notes that he began to arrange, curl, and beautify his hair in a manner that was atypical of members of his family. The great R Yissochor Dov of Belz points out that an immediate outgrowth of this behavior was the wife of Potifar enticing Yosef to sin. Hashem said, Your father is currently mourning over your loss, and youre occupied with improving your looks?

The wife of Potifar tried her utmost to transform Yosef completely into a Mitzri. Each day Yosef fought her persuasions, but it was difficult for Yosef to withstand the challenge. But then, the Talmud tells us (Sotah 36b), the image of his father, Yaakov, appeared in the window. Our sages say his father appeared to him, not that he saw him, meaning that at that moment it clicked for him; Yosef understood that if he had retained his manner of dress and looked like his father, he wouldnt have been exposed to such a difficult nisayon.

On Shabbos and Yom Tov, Slonimer baalebatim in Baranovich would take home poor people who had come to their city. In order to ensure that no one was left without food or lodgings, the Bais Avraham (the Slonimer Rebbe) made sure to be the last one to leave the beis medrash so he could verify that no one had been forgotten.

Once, after everyone had left with their guests, the Bais Avraham saw that a poor person remained in the beis medrash and had nowhere to go. The Bais Avraham looked around and noticed one lingering chassid, so he turned to him and said, This guest is on your shoulders, and left.

The chassid went over to the poor man, invited him to his home, and then bent down and lifted him up onto his shoulders. The chassid then walked through the streets of Baranovich carrying the man.

When the poor man protested that it wasnt necessary, the chassid replied, As soon as my rebbe told me it should be on my shoulders, I had no other choice but to take his words literally.

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Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

The Torah demands of us: Justice, Justice, you shall pursue (Deuteronomy 16:20). We are not told to sit back and wait for justice to come to us. In fact, midrash in Sifrei Devarim explains that this biblical verse means that we should strive to achieve justice specifically through the finest of courts.

As our nation continues to mourn the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a feminist icon who spent her entire career fighting for gender equality, President Trumps nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, has sparked the latest fight to define what justice looks like in this country. Barretts views are antithetical to my own, and certainly the polar opposite of what Ginsburg stood for. The President has a constitutional right to nominate a replacement and the Senate is also required to hold confirmation hearings and vote.

We know that this seat will greatly shift the make-up of the highest court in the land for a generation and issues that are at the core of what I believe as a progressive rabbi, such as access to affordable healthcare, reproductive rights, marriage equality, and treating immigrants humanely, may very well be upended. News that Saturdays press conference announcing Barretts nomination may very well have been a coronavirus super spreader event may delay the confirmation process, especially if Senators and Barrett herself need to quarantine following President Trumps positive COVID test. Still, with justice hanging in the balance, many Democratic strategists are contemplating whats next.

One solution Democratic activists have offered is to expand the size of the Supreme Court if the party takes control of the White House and both houses of Congress. There is historical precedent for this: The Supreme Court began with six justices in 1789 and at different times the size has increased and decreased to seven, nine, 10, back to seven, and back to nine, where it currently stands. There is no mandate requiring a certain size of the court. Rabbinic tradition would side with these Democratic activists, suggesting that expanding the court helps us pursue justice.

Tractate Sanhedrin, the section of the Talmud that focuses on legal systems and court structures, begins with a declaration that the most basic cases are decided by a court of three. Some cases are debated with five or seven judges. More extreme cases are decided by a court of 23 judges. The most important cases were determined by the Great Sanhedrin, a court of 70 judges. When determining the makeup of the court, be it three judges or 70 the rabbis understand the importance of balance. In the third chapter of this tractate, the Talmud clarifies that in a three person court, one judge is picked by each side and the third and final judge is picked by the other two judges.

The Supreme Court is not balanced. It has become increasingly right-wing in the past 20 years, which doesnt accurately represent this country. Two-thirds of the justices (including the current nominee to fill Ginsburgs seat) were nominated by Presidents that did not win the popular vote. The Republican-majority Senate which is determined to confirm Barrett before election day received 12 million fewer votes than their Democratic counterparts. The right-wing court doesnt represent the will of the people and certainly doesnt represent our biblical command to pursue justice. Only a true balanced court does that.

The beit midrash learning style of chevruta pairs, learning partners, suggests that one should learn with another person who holds a different perspective. Tractate Taanit (7a) explains that two Torah scholars sharpen one another. By learning with something who has different life experiences and may hold a different perspective and worldview allows one to gain a new understanding of the text and see Torah in a new light. Being surrounded by those that agree with you doesnt accomplish that. Only by learning with a sparring partner does one truly understand the text. If this is true for Torah, then it must also be true for the United States Constitution.

When judges are added to the court that share the same perspective, and the court tilts to extremes, that denies those justices the ability to firmly understand and comprehend the truest meaning of the sacred founding documents of our nation. Only a balanced court does that.

Expanding the court isnt radical or unprecedented. It is just! And when Republican Senators make up their own rules to sway the court in a direction that is contradictory to the views of the majority of Americans, then any change in court structure that focuses on a more balanced system, and in the process pursues a more just society, should be applauded and encouraged. Even if it expands the court to 70 judges like the Great Sanhedrin!

Rabbi Jesse Olitzky is based at Congregation Beth El, South Orange, New Jersey.

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

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Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

By: Rabbi Shraga Simmons

Imagine you throw a huge party and invite everyone you know. But this is no regular party: Its one solid week of food, music and fun. Eventually things wind down and people begin to leave. As the host, you quietly go over to a few of your best friends and whisper: Stick around after everyone else leaves thats when Im breaking out the good stuff.

Each year God has a weeklong celebration called Sukkot. In ancient times in Jerusalem, the service in the Holy Temple during the week of Sukkot featured a total of 70 bull offerings. This, the Talmud explains, corresponds to each of the 70 nations of the world. The Temple was not just for Jews. When King Solomon built the Temple, he specifically asked God to heed the prayer of non-Jews who comes to the Temple (1-Kings 8:41-43). And the prophet Isaiah refers to the Temple as a House for all nations (Isaiah 56:7).

The Temple was the universal center of spirituality, a concentrated point where God-consciousness filtered down into the world. In fact, the Talmud says that if the Romans would have realized how much benefit they themselves were getting from the Temple, they never would have destroyed it!

And then, at the end of Sukkot, God added a special day. Its called Shmini Atzeret, literally the Eighth Day of Assembly. On that day, only one bull was offered representing the Jewish people. It is a day of great intimacy with our Creator, as He asks His Jewish children to remain with him for extra personal time together. (Talmud Sukkot 55b)

Shmini Atzeret is a full public holiday, as described in Leviticus 23:36. Even though it immediately follows the seven-day Sukkot festival and is often considered part of Sukkot, it is, in fact, a separate holiday. This means that the Shehechiyanu blessing is recited, and the obligation to sit in the Sukkah does not apply.

TAPESTRY OF SEVENS

Nachmanides (12th century Spain) explains a beautiful kabbalistic concept: Seven is the number of the natural world. There are seven days in the week, seven notes on the musical scale and seven directions (left, right, up, down, forward, back and center). Seven represented by the seven days of Sukkot is the world of nature. Eight represented by Shmini Atzeret is that which is beyond nature.

The Jewish people, says the Talmud, are beyond nature. We have survived every imaginable persecution, exile, hardship and expulsion. And still, we have achieved and thrived far beyond our numbers. As Mark Twain wrote: All things remain mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

The secret, as we know, is the special gift that God gave to the Jewish people: The Torah. As Rabbi Emanuel Feldman writes:

Torah is the mysterious bridge which connects the Jew and God, across which they interact and communicate, and by means of which God fulfills His covenant with His people to sustain them and protect them.

Therefore it is no coincidence that on Shmini Atzeret we also celebrate the completion of the yearly cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of a new cycle. This event is lovingly referred to as Simchat Torah, literally Rejoicing of the Torah. (Outside of Israel, Simchat Torah is celebrated the day after Shmini Atzeret.)

Why are we accustomed to both finish and re-start the reading of the Torah on the same day? The Sages explain: To show that the Torah is beloved to us like a new object and not like an old command which a person no longer treasures. Since it is brand new to us, we all run to greet it. We sing and dance for hours around the bima (the platform where the Torah is read), carry the Torah Scroll, and express our joy at having the opportunity to come so close to God.

On Shmini Atzeret, as we complete this holiday season, we offer a special prayer to God for rain. Rain represents the blessings of growth and abundance. Through all the hard work of Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, we have come a long way. Our task now is to carry that energy throughout the year.

(Aish.com)

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Weve done everything right.

We closed in March while other synagogues were waffling. When allowed to reopen, we adhered strictly to limits on numbers of worshippers. We masked, measured, and distanced, in contradistinction to other congregations in our area.

But we have the mazel to be in a red area, so now we must limit our services this Sukkot and Simchat Torah to 10 people, while other, less careful synagogues will have larger services all because of a line drawn on a map.

Its frustrating. Its angering. It isnt fair.

But well do it anyway.

Governor Cuomo did not reveal his plan to the religious leaders with whom he spoke on Tuesday. Thats why he was able to say at his press conference that the meeting was positive.

What he did was dishonest. But we will obey nonetheless.

We wont listen in order to avoid a fine. We wont obey to avoid getting closed down totally. We will listen because lives are at stake.

When people are getting sick and dying, you help in any way you can. You accept flawed, unfair solutions. You make sacrifices. You even overlook dishonesty. You think less about your own and more about others.

I am a teacher at the SAR Academy in Riverdale, the first school that closed in March because of the New Rochelle parent who was the first known COVID case. I saw then and now at SAR the kind of sacrifice that I am describing.

But there is another reason to obey: because frankly, the Jewish community has not done its share thus far.

Of course, Jews are not the only ones. But we have stood out as the maskless, the non-distanced, the violators of scientifically sound, life-preserving regulations.

It doesnt matter that protesters did the same and were given a pass. We should have known better.

It doesnt matter that other groups had unsafe gatherings, that college students ran parties off-campus. We should have been better.

Our actions, and by that I mean the Jewish community as a whole, stood in contrast to our mission to sanctify the name of God. In the same season that we beat our breasts for the sin of profaning His name, we were causing even greater profanation.

The Jewish people is not monolithic, many of my friends will argue, and this is something the press and the government often fail to realize. The Yiddish-blaring sound trucks in my English speaking community may not have been the pinnacle of cultural understanding. My Modern Orthodox congregation is drastically different from the Haredi communities accused of spreading the virus through lax behavior.

Or is it?

One block from my house, the vast majority of the American born, English speaking young families cannot understand the need to be careful. They have bought into the Presidents narrative and feel that the concern is uncalled for.

But even if we were able to point at one segment of the Jewish people as the culprits, thats not the way it works. All Jews are responsible for each other.

True, I wrote a post pleading with Jews to mask and distance. That post garnered perhaps a hundred likes. But what about the thousands of Jews who never saw it?

Even the local Rabbinic Organization could not achieve consensus to send out a strong statement until the Mayor and the Governor got involved.

The Talmud says that all the Prophets and Prophetesses of Israel could not prevail upon our people to repent until King Ahasuerus of Persia removed his ring and gave Haman the right to destroy them. Is that where we still are? Do we need governmental officials to force us to do what we should have been doing all along?

I am ashamed.

So my congregation will meet in groups of 10 men this holiday. We will try to find ways of including women that will be within the law. It wont be because we were personally guilty, nor because we fear the heavy arm of the law. It will be a step towards repairing the desecration of Gods name that we did not prevent from happening.

Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg is the Rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim of Kew Gardens Hills and teaches at the SAR Academy in Riverdale. He is the author, among other books, of The Unofficial Hogwarts Haggadah. His newsletter is Rabbirosenberg.substack.com.

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

My shul did everything right and the government still shut us down. Theyre right.

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My shul did everything right and the government still shut us down. Theyre right. - Forward

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Posted By admin on October 8, 2020

Creating a global inter-parliamentary task force to combat digital antisemitism a few weeks before a presidential election isnt credible, and thats putting it mildly. And besides, what can any task force do against hatred that comes from the kernel of human nature? It would be more successful fighting against gravity than against antisemitism.

On September 29, Jewish Insider published a story titled Members of Congress launch international task force to combat online antisemitism. According to the story, the task force is to focus on raising awareness about online antisemitism and establishing a consistent message in legislatures across the world to hold social media platforms accountable. It is a hopeless task, and right before the elections, it is nothing more than lip-service.

You cant eliminate antisemitism just as you cannot eliminate pain until you heal the sore that causes it. In the case of antisemitism, the sore is the fact that Jews arent uniting among themselves and leading the world after them to unity and solidarity.

That sore was not born in America, nor in Nazi Germany, or even in Christian Europe. It dates back to the beginning of the Jewish people, when the fugitives from Egypt pledged to unite as one man with one heart, established their nationhood, and were immediately tasked with being a light unto nations, meaning with sharing their unity by way of example.

For nearly two millennia afterwards, our ancestors struggled with their internal conflicts and frictions. They were exiled and returned, fought each other and reunited, until they finally lost the battle against internal hatred and were banished from their land.

But the mission they had been given back at Mt. Sinai was never abrogated. Two thousand years ago, The Book of Zohar wrote about how the Jews should bring about world peace by setting an example: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together. These are the friends as they sit together, and are not separated from one another. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another then they return to being in brotherly love. And as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.

Whenever and wherever there is division, the Jews are blamed for it because people feel (even if they cant verbalize it) that had the Jews done their job, they wouldnt be fighting one another. Even our own Talmud admits that No calamity comes to the world but because of Israel (Yevamot 63a), so what can we expect from other nations?

If we want to eliminate antisemitism, we should do our task, unite above all our (countless) divisions, and be a role model to humanity. Then the force that drives antisemitism will turn the hatred around as the nations will see that they are finally getting from the Jews what they always felt the Jews should have given them: an example of unity and solidarity.

Michael Laitman is a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah. MSc in Medical Bio-Cybernetics. Founder and president of Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Author of over 40 books on spiritual, social and global transformation. His new book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Choice-Anti-Semitism-Historical-anti-Semitism/dp/1671872207/

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A Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism? Get Real - The Times of Israel

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