Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

The Jewish people believe it is decided who will be inscribed in the book of life on Rosh Hashanah, the holiday that begins Friday night.

The metaphorical document called sefer hachaim in Hebrew holds the names of who will survive. Who shall live and who shall die? a Jewish poem this time of year ponders.

Four years ago, it seemed there was not room in the book of life for Temple Arron in Trinidad. One of the oldest synagogues in the West and the longest continuously operating Jewish house of worship in Colorado was destined to die after 127 years.

A for sale post was pounded in the yard in front of Temple Aaron and some of its beloved torah scrolls were sold. The family who served as its caretakers saw no future for the ornate building other than adaptive reuse. Trinidads once-booming Jewish population had dwindled to maybe one or two people, and the upkeep costs were simply too high.

But the fate of the synagogue and its Reform congregation dating back to the days of the Santa Fe Trail was never sealed. And on Friday night and Saturday morning, a few dozen Jews from across Colorado and the southwest will gather to pray in person at Temple Aaron, just as they have been doing for now 131 years. Even more are expected to join in via Zoom.

This synagogue continues to continue its story, said Rabbi Robert Lennick, who will travel from Santa Fe, New Mexico to lead the high holy day services this weekend.

The story of Temple Aaron and its revival is an unlikely one.

Its not that Trinidads Jewish population rebounded in recent years, or that a wealthy benefactor stepped in to save the day. Instead, a group of strangers with no connection to the building simply felt compelled to help after it went up for sale and its story started to spread across the state, the country and the globe.

For years it was left to the Rubin family brothers Ron and Randy and their mother, Kathryn to keep Temple Aaron from crumbling. But by 2016, they had run out of money. The building needed tens of thousands of dollars in repairs and only a handful of loosely connected congregants remained.

In stepped members of the Jewish community in Colorado unwilling to watch the synagogue become something other than a sacred place. And so began their multi-year struggle to keep Temple Aarons doors open.

Now, theres some money in the bank and a bonafide nonprofit board that consists of more than just the Rubins. It includes: Neal Paul and his wife, Sherry Knecht, of Denver; David London, an attorney; and Kim Grant, endangered places program director for Colorado Preservation Inc.

There are still major repairs needed, including a new boiler and a roof replacement, but at least theres a path forward. Until the work is done, events such as Shabbat services and social gatherings can only be held in warm months.

Long term, we really need to set up an endowment, said Knecht, who serves as treasurer. But, in the meantime, well have our events. And even if a little plaster falls on somebody, or theres a little leak here and there, well make do.

Ron and Randy Rubin are ecstatic that Temple Aaron has been able to live on. Their mother, Kathryn, took over leadership of the synagogue in 1985 along with her late husband, Leon. She died in 2018, two days after her 95th birthday, but was able to see a new generation of leadership take interest and take over.

I keep thinking, and I pray every night, Kathryn said in 2016, when it looked like Temple Aaron was done for. Something is going to happen to that synagogue.

Frankly, no one else saw a future for the synagogue as she did. Its rebound seems, to some, almost a religious miracle.

When I saw that (for sale) sign out in front, when I had that done, I would cry thinking of this building, which had been built for the thriving Jewish community in the 1900s, was going to become a restaurant or bar, said Ron, who lives in Colorado Springs. Who knows what it could have become.

Now, hes able to see the synagogues social hall, decorated with pictures from decades past, bustling with activity whenever theres an event.

When we see that little social hall full of Jews and non-Jews to see all the people around the tables, singing and eating its so affirming, Ron said. I never would have believed it.

Randy Rubin, who lives not far away, in Raton, New Mexico, said he visited the temple on Tuesday to prepare it for the upcoming Rosh Hashanah services. He sat in the sanctuary, bathed in light streaming through stained-glass windows, just marveling. A woman was practicing ahead of the holiday on the synagogues historic organ.

This was built for the ages, Randy said. This was an edifice that was meant to be there, firmly planted in southeast Colorado.

Why did strangers step in to save Temple Aaron?

While Judaism hasnt really fed my soul for most of my life, working with the temple feels like being at home somehow, Knecht said. I love the community thats grown in the past few years. It gives me a lot of joy to see people being able to come to services and events, to connect with one another, and to know that the temple will continue to stand and be there for later generations.

Temple Aarons board is now seeking National Historic Landmark status, which they hope will help them secure more funding. In 2017 it was added to Colorados list of most-endangered places.

Temple Aarons congregation dates to 1883, when Jews were a driving force in Trinidad and the southwest. There were synagogues in nearby towns in northern New Mexico as well.

In fact, the origin stories of Temple Aaron and Trinidad share a main character. The towns first mayor, Samuel Jaffa, helped create the congregation. The temple once had 75 families and even a full-time rabbi.

However, Trinidad slowly emptied of Jews and they never really returned. Temple Aaron remained, but had only a few congregants. Its ranks included Dr. Stanley Biber, the surgeon who helped Trinidad become an early center for gender-confirmation surgery.

But even if it is no longer a Jewish center, like Brooklyn or Pittsburgh, visitors can sense the roots of the religion in Trinidad when they step inside Temple Aaron.

When you go in that building, you can feel the presence of all the generations that were there before, said Lennick, the rabbi who will be leading Rosh Hashanah services this weekend.

Lennick says leading services at Temple Aaron is especially meaningful to him. One of his mentors from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, the late Rabbi Jacob Rader Marcus, once led the congregation from the same altar. It embodies the Hebrew phrase ldor vdor, which means from generation to generation, he said.

What could be more inspiring, he asked, than a congregation on the verge of disappearing, finding its way back?

Want to attend Temple Aarons Rosh Hashanah services virtually

Advance registration is required at https://www.templeaaron.org/events

Friday at 7 p.m.: https://zoom.us/j/96476401304?pwd=WDJGbEkrRjJmaEZ1SWcyRnZ2anVCUT09

Saturday at 9:30 a.m.: https://zoom.us/j/91869824072?pwd=eUJmelRPNkdhVzFMK2VyQitPckt3UT09

To learn more about Temple Aaron or to help keep its doors open, visit http://www.templeaaron.org/

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Trinidad's Temple Aaron seemed destined to die. But the 131-year-old Jewish synagogue's fate was never sealed. - The Colorado Sun

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

Chris McKenna|Times Herald-Record

KIRYAS JOEL - The images published online on Sunday showed a religious mass gathering with no coronavirus precautions: hundreds of men and boys crowded together in prayer in Kiryas Joel's main synagogue, with no signs that any were wearing masks.

The photos, posted on an Israeli website and tweeted by a Satmar Hasidic Twitter account,were taken inside Congregation Yetev Lev on the first day of selichot, penitential prayers said during the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year that begins this Friday.

"Plainly, this is very concerning," Dr. Irina Gelman, Orange County's health commissioner, said Monday after seeing the pictures. Gelman said the Health Department will discuss the gathering with the State Police, as it has done at other times during the COVID-19 pandemic "when incidents such as this have arisen."

Confirmed coronavirus cases have subsided in Orange County since late May, rarely exceeding 20 positive tests per day and sometimes numbering in single digits. But Gelman pointed out that infectious disease experts warn of a potential second wave of infections and deaths this fall, compounded by flu season.

"Hence it is instrumental not to have any mass gatherings, and continue adhering to all recommended prevention and safety measures such as wearing masks, social distancing, as well as washing hands frequently," Gelman said by email.

David Ekstein, president of Congregation Yetev Lev, referred a reporter to the congregation's attorney, Richard Mahon II, when contacted about the synagogue gathering.

Mahon, partner in the firm Catania, Mahon & Rider in the Town of Newburgh, said by email: "I will reiterate the social distancing, facial covering and related Covid-19 protocols to the Congregations Leadership. I will also re-send copies of the Reopening New York Guidelines for Religious Services as modified by recent Federal Court Decisions."

The state guidelines had restricted indoor gatherings to 33 percent of a sanctuary's capacity, and mandated that congregants say six feet apart except during activities such as pall-bearing that required people to be closer. But a federal judge raised that capacity limit to 50 percent in June, while maintaining the distancing requirement in his ruling.

Jill Montag, a state Department of Health spokeswoman, said on Tuesday in response to the Kiryas Joel photos:This pandemic is far from over, and gatherings of this size with unmasked people this close together should not be happening." She added thatHealth Commissioner Howard Zucker "has had multiple conversations with rabbinical leadership and is working with them tostress the importance of following sound public health principles and state guidelines.

More: Kiryas Joel led region in population growth in last decade

More: Skoufis: Hasidic mega-development would hurt South Blooming Grove

More: Orange County plans $100,000 study to help resolve cultural conflicts

State health officials have produced materials in Yiddish about the coronavirus and plan to continue promoting safe worship during the upcoming High Holidays.

Yossi Gestetner, co-founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group, said on Monday that the drop in coronavirus cases and deaths across New York since spring and the gradual reopening of businesses had made people in Orthodox communities more comfortable about resuming normal activities. He also said some grew skeptical of the need for distancing and masks after government officials tolerated mass protests against racism earlier this year without enforcing any rules.

"People saw in it a hypocrisy and a lack of seriousness," he said.

The tweet by "Satmar Headquarters" with images of the Kiryas Joel prayer gathering said the synagogue opened a new wing with "additional space for hundreds of seats" for that occasion, and indicatedthat Grand Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, leader of one of two branches of the Satmar movement, was present. Teitelbaum, who is 73 years old, tested positive for COVID-19 in March.

On Friday, the Kiryas Joel Volunteer Emergency Medical Service had distributed a message warning residents of a mild renewal of virus cases after answering several calls from people with COVID-19 symptoms. The ambulance corps urged residents to practice social distancing, wash hands frequently and stay home if they feel ill.

cmckenna@th-record.com

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Health Commissioner: 'Very concerning' online pix show hundreds gathered without masks in crowded Kiryas Joel synagogue - Times Herald-Record

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

A historic synagogue in Scotland that closed six years ago due to a dwindling Jewish community and has been eyed by developers has been listed as a protected building.Langside Synagogue in Glasgow was built in 1927 and is one of only two Eastern European-style synagogues in the United Kingdom, the BBC reported.There has been discussion recently about reopening the building to serve a new Jewish community growing in the area, according to the report.More than 840 groups and individuals supported the proposal to protect the building.As a protected building, developers would be required to take into account the buildings special architectural or historic interest.The interior of the building includes decorative details, woodcarving and wall painting in a folk-art style that was similar to synagogues in Poland, Ukraine and Romania, the BBC reported, citing the South Glasgow Heritage Environment Trust.In December, a Jewish collective based in Scotland in the north of the United Kingdom that represents multiple Liberal denominations and has many queer members petitioned the private owners of the synagogue building to reopen it to worship. An open letter to the synagogue owners asking for it to be reopened had more than 800 signatures cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

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Synagogue in Scotland nearly a century old named protected property - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

Parking lots get a bad rap.

Theres even a Joni Mitchell song about how awful they are: Dont it always seem to go/ That you dont know what youve got/ Til its gone/They paved paradise/And put up a parking lot.

And the 2019 movie Isnt it Romantic? Rebel Wilson played a lovelorn architect whose parking lot project served as a metaphor for under-appreciation.

Yet in this time of pandemic, Rabbis Jonathan Berkun and Guido Cohen are seeing safety and an opportunity for innovation in parking lots rigidly divided spaces.

We dont believe in this false dichotomy, that you are open or you do everything online, said Berkun.

For Berkun and Cohen, making sure congregants at Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, in Aventura, Fla. could connect with one another in a safe way was essential. Whereas some people come to synagogue to talk to God, the rabbis said, many come to talk to the person next to them. They decided to offer drive-in services this Rosh Hashanah, so that worshippers can enjoy being with their community from the safety of their own cars.

The bimah, where clergy will conduct the service, will be projected onto a 40-foot movie screen; members will view and listen to the services from their vehicle, and can amplify the volume by turning the radio to a designated station.

Theyre still in their cars. Its outdoors and very casual come as you are in shorts but there will be vitality, vibrancy and the sense of optimism, said Berkun. Its very important that they get the sense that theyre part of a tribe, a community, a group of people to whom they belong.

Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center will live-stream their services on an open Zoom link in addition to blowing shofars around the neighborhood and offering worshippers appointments for private prayer at the sanctuarys ark.

Like Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center, Rabbi Stewart Vogel, who serves Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, Calif., is finding a middle ground between the safety of online services and the warmth of in-person services by offering a Car Nidre service.

Some synagogues are offering in-person services in very small numbers and that just wasnt an option for us, said Vogel, whose synagogue regularly hosts 800 families on the High Holidays. And the question is, given some of the age ranges of people and those who are immunocompromised and at risk, are you in some way potentially encouraging them to come to something that they shouldnt?

Vogel will also be staging an outdoor shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah and will open up the arc in the synagogue sanctuary for individual prayer over the next few weeks.

I think the most important part is trying to figure out, how do we use this disruptive moment? Not to replicate what we would be doing online, said Vogel, but to do something different and perhaps as meaningful or more meaningful in a different way?

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Car Nidre: These synagogues are taking High Holidays to the parking lot - Forward

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

At least seven synagogues in Israel built 1,500 to 1,700 years ago feature mosaics of the zodiac, of all things.

The zodiac symbols are in a circle surrounding what appears to be the Greek sun god Helios. The circle is typically enclosed within a square, with human figures representing the four seasons at its corners. Some of the mosaics also show the moon and stars.

Apparently, later generations were as appalled, as todays rabbis would be if somebody drew pigs on the synagogue floor. In some cases, the depicted deity and personified seasons in the mosaics have been defaced; in the sixth-century mosaic at the Susya synagogue in the West Bank, for instance, most of the zodiac has been replaced with geometric forms.

The synagogues in question are at Beit Alfa, Zippori, Hammat Tiberias, Hosefa (Usfiyya) and Huqoq in the north, and in Susya and Naaran in the West Bank. The question is what these pagan images were doing there, positioned smack at the entrance to the houses of worship (except at Zippori). You couldnt miss them.

At the time, it was evidently considered permissible to use imagery of people, animals and even pagan gods as long as it was in the service of Jewish tradition and adopted Jewish meaning, says Prof. Moti Aviam, an archaeologist at Kinneret College and an expert on ancient religious structures.

At the earliest of these synagogues, Hammat Tiberias from the fourth century, the autumn Tishri season is personified by a woman holding grapes, her hair adorned with figs, pomegranates, leaves and flowers. Even though shes wearing fruit, she looks quite natural, Aviam notes. Tishris depiction at the later Beit Alfa is highly stylized, as Byzantine art had become.

Also, the woman has wings. At Huqoq, the Tishri image is a winged male. We know he marks Tishri because of the fruit, Aviam adds.

A mosaic at the ancient synagogue at Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea is another outlier; it has images of birds but no zodiac. Still, it has Hebrew inscriptions listing the 12 zodiac signs and the 12 Hebrew months.

Hammat Tiberias was next door to Tiberias, home to the Sanhedrin Jewish High Court. Surely the rabbis wouldnt have put up with filth.

How did imagery become acceptable in synagogues?

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The answer lies in the kind of Judaism practiced in these synagogues. It was not Rabbinic Judaism, which would eventually become Judaism as we know it but at the time was only taking shape on the sidelines of the Jewish world. The Jews who prayed in these and other synagogues belonged to what was then the mainstream of Judaism but is now long forgotten: Hellenistic Judaism.

The Mithraic mysteries and the Jews

Hellenistic Judaism began to take shape in Ptolemaic Egypt (305 to 30 B.C.E.) and quickly spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Jewish soldiers stationed throughout the territories of the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires took this form of Judaism to far-flung regions such as Cyrene (now in Libya), Cyprus, Syria and Asia Minor. There, these communities, which were initially very small, grew rapidly, perhaps becoming as large as half the urban population by the end of the first century C.E.

The exponential growth of the Jewish populations in these regions cannot be explained by Jewish fecundity. The synagogues popping up all over the Roman Empire, especially in its Greek-speaking east, were accepting non-Jews into their fold.

The fact that Judaism at the time was growing at a great rate due to the acceptance of converts might seem strange to us, but inscriptions found in the synagogues of the period attest to members who were proselytes and God fearers non-Jews who worshipped the Jewish god but hadnt fully converted perhaps because they were reluctant to undergo circumcision.

In parallel, Roman religion was undergoing profound change. The Greco-Roman gods were losing their luster and Roman eyes began to drift to the exotic religions of the East, one being Hellenistic Judaism.

Among other eastern religions gaining large followings throughout the Roman Empire at the expense of the old gods were the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis, the Persian god Mithra, and the sun god Sol Invictus, whose provenance is contested. Other eastern practices were also gaining traction, notably astrology, originally a Babylonian pseudoscience that was becoming an obsession among Romans, while the oracles of old were neglected and disappeared.

As Roman religion was changing, so too was the religion of Judea. Following the destruction of Second Temple Judaism in the disastrous anti-Roman revolts in the 60s and 130s C.E., the dominant form of Judaism practiced in Judea at the time, a Judaism centered around the Temple, disappeared. Hellenistic Judaism became the dominant form of Judaism in the Holy Land in the following centuries, as the mosaic-adorned synagogues attest.

These shuls and their mosaics only seem strange when compared to the later synagogues of Rabbinic Judaism, but they are perfectly in line with the Roman cults of the period. Indeed, Hellenistic Judaism is best understood as a Roman cult.

The comparison of Hellenistic Judaism and Roman Mithraism is especially intriguing. Hundreds of mithraea, caves or rooms designed to look like caves in which Roman adherents of the cult practiced Mithraisms mysteries, have been discovered. These bear some resemblance to the Hellenistic synagogues.

Among the relevant similarities are the portrayal of Mithra as a solar deity on a horse-drawn chariot and astral imagery including the signs of the zodiac. So in this respect the existence of the zodiac and the portrayal of the Jewish god as a solar deity in synagogues was in line with the general thrust of Roman religion during the period.

A different kind of Judaism

Hellenistic Judaism was very different from the Rabbinic Judaism that would later supplant it.

Prayer and reading of scripture was in Greek, not Hebrew. The practices and beliefs were also very different, if we take the writing of the first-century philosopher Philo as representative. Though lacking any central leadership, the rituals probably varied quite a bit from community to community. Also, a synagogue was headed not by a rabbi but by an archisynagogos (head of the synagogue) and a council of elders (presbyteroi).

This form of Judaism is alien to us because it did not last. After flowering in the fourth and fifth centuries as attested by the synagogues built in this period Hellenistic Judaism collapsed and disappeared, together with the Roman society in which it existed.

Hellenistic Judaism disappeared for many reasons. Christianity, which began as an offshoot of Hellenisitic Judaism but evolved into a separate religion, brought with it persecution and conversions. But that was only part of the problem. The Early Medieval Period was marked by cataclysms including earthquakes, the Little Ice Age, crop failures, plague, and wars: Germanic and then Muslim invasions of the lands of the former Roman Empire. Millions died during these terrible times, including millions of Jews.

By the time the Mediterranean Basin recovered, the number of Jews had plummeted, and the survivors found their leaders among the rabbis, who would have taken a dim view of the pagan artwork in the middle of a synagogue floor.

The religion that these rabbis brought to their communities, Rabbinic Judaism, taking the place of Hellenistic Judaism, was not new. It began to take shape after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and developed in two major centers, the Galilee and Babylonia, basically modern-day Iraq. Some of these early rabbis would have been neighbors of the Jews who prayed in these mosaic-adorned synagogues. In all likelihood, the rabbis even prayed in them themselves.

But as is evident from their writings (the Mishnah and other Tannaitic literature), the rabbis were not in control of Jewish religious practices during the Roman and Byzantine periods. The synagogues had their own independent leadership. The rabbis place was the court and study house, not the synagogue.

Thus the Jewish populations decorated their synagogue floors with Capricorn and all the others, and Helios/Yahweh. But what about the prohibition on graven images?

Parsing graven image

Making graven images was categorically forbidden in the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, even any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Deuteronomy 5:7).

Like all other sections of the Torah, the date of this text is disputed. But whether dating to the First Temple period or earlier, orwritten later in the Exilic age, it was probably not understood as banning all representational art, just cultic statues.

Clearly by the time of these synagogues, the fourth to sixth centuries C.E., the local Jews were comfortable with representational art. They would have presumably objected to representations of pagan gods, however, hence the solar deity in the synagogues was meant to represent the God of Israel, most scholars agree.

Other scholars have suggested that the sun image represents the deity's eternal promises to the people of Israel, as brought in the story of Abraham's aborted sacrifice of Isaac, which is also depicted in some of these synagogue mosaics; or his promise to King David, via the prophet Nathan: "Thy throne shall be established forever."

Aviam suggests that Helios doesnt represent Yahweh per se but the sun. Together with the moon and stars, the 12 months and seasons, the image is representative of the power of god in the universe he created, he says.

The bottom line is that its hardly surprising that Roman-Byzantine synagogues portrayed the sun, or Yahweh as a solar deity: The Jews who prayed there were essentially Romans and this is how the Romans of the period envisioned and portrayed the supreme god.

Furthermore, the presence of the zodiac is in line with the trends of the time. In fact, Jewish expertise in astrology and astronomy may have been one of the major draws of Judaism in the first place.

Today we tend to think of astrology as anathema to Judaism, but that wasnt the case then. For example, the anonymous second-century B.C.E. author known as Pseudo-Eupolemus believed that Abraham invented astronomy. In the first century C.E., the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus claimed that Abraham taught the Egyptians the art of astronomy. And, in the Historia Augusta collection of biographies, the second-century Roman emperor Hadrian was quoted as saying that all the heads of synagogues at the time were astrologers.

The rabbis of the Talmudic age also believed in the efficacy of astrology. For example, a very importantthird century rabbi, Rabbi Samuel, is said to have been an astrologer (for example, Berachot 58b in the Talmud). Another important rabbi, Rava of the fourth century, is quoted in the Talmud as saying: Duration of life, progeny, and subsistence are dependent upon the constellations (Moed Katan 28a).

When the Talmud does criticize astrology, its not out of the belief that the celestial realm doesnt determine the comings and goings on earth. Its because of the shortcomings of astrologers who fail to correctly read the signs.

In later generations, many medieval rabbis practiced astrology and sometimes practiced the art in the service of kings. For example, the eighth-century Jewish astronomer Mashallah ibn Athari was the court astrologer to the Abbasid Caliphate.

What about the seasons? Why were they there?

The mitzvah of the seasons

According to Rabbi Shmuel bar Namani, Rabbi Yoanan said: From where is it derived that there is a mitzvah incumbent upon a person to calculate astronomical seasons and the movement of constellations? As it was stated: Observe therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that, when they hear all these statutes, shall say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. (Deuteronomy 4:6) The Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 75a.

The modern Hebrew word for season is onah but the Talmud refers to the four phases of the year as tekufot, derived from cyclic, Aviam says. The Talmudic tekufot are Nisan, the spring; Tamuz, the summer; Tishri, the autumn; and Tevet, the winter. In the Diaspora, Jews refer to the High Holy Days, but Jewish Israelis just call them the Tishri holidays, Aviam notes.

The Tishri autumn season is personified by a woman surrounded by symbols of fall agriculture. The vast majority of people in Byzantine Palestine were farmers, he adds.

So, just as humans evolved from ratty micro-mammals that frisked between the toes of dinosaurs, religions evolved too. Today, the sages of old would be tarred and feathered on Facebook for their ideas, but the kabbala advocated the invoking of divine names to gain powers.

The evolution of Judaism is quite similar to the evolution of biological species. It's not a neat progression from First Temple Judaism to Second Temple Judaism and then to Rabbinic Judaism, as Jewish history is often viewed. Rather, the religion evolved with time and some forms were false starts, while others spread and continue to evolve to this day, like Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, Samaritanism, and Karaite Judaism.

To return to the metaphor of the dinosaurs and the tiny furry animals from which we evolved, we could say that Hellenistic Judaism with its zodiac mosaics was like the dinosaurs: great at the time but destined to go extinct in the calamitous Early Middle Ages. It was the small, at the time almost imperceptible, Rabbinic Judaism that survived these disasters and became the Judaism of later periods, much like the rodents that survived the dinosaur-killing disaster from which we eventually evolved.

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The metamorphosis of the sun god in ancient synagogues in Israel - Haaretz.com

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

Debbie Frimet blows the shofar at Temple Beth Chai

By Jill Fox

The apples and honey are there, but something will be missing during this Jewish New Yearthe congregation.

Parkland temples have been busily preparing for something very different, as COVID-19 continues to keep worshipers away.

On the two most attended religious days of the year, local temples are determining the best ways to celebrate the high holidays with or without an in-person LShanah Tovah greeting.

During the past few months at Congregation Kol Tikvah, virtual Shabbat services have been going smoothly. They put prayers on the screen, and the service is interactive, with people sharing about their weeks.

In many ways, we have more people now than when we were in person, said Rabbi Bradd Boxman, Anywhere from 70 to 100 people on a Friday night, where we used to get 50.

Kol Tikvah has also adapted to their new routine by adding online activities to engage families. They chose to pre-produce services for the high holidays to avoid any glitches, whether technical or, unfortunately, antisemitic.

Boxman said the new format gives them opportunities to do things theyve never done before, like offer chat rooms for those in mourning to talk about their loved ones and incorporate family portraits during the video.

They are also working on a beautiful outdoor shofar service around the lake.

At Temple Beth Chai, virtual plans arent quite as simple.

We dont have our own building, said Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan, Weve never had dues or membership fees, so this year is a challenge because we have to go virtual and have nowhere to do it.

Temple Beth Chai has typically 600 to 700 people attend services at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School auditorium on Rosh Hashanah. But without a location and a technical staff, they had to figure something out.

Kaplan eventually decided to pre-record services in a Boca Raton sanctuary.

It feels different as a rabbi, said Kaplan, Normally with 600 people, you have that human connection, but through the spirit of technology, we will all be together.

All services will be available on Facebook and YouTube.

Kaplan said, Its just you and the holiday without the pomp and circumstance no fancy shoes or nice bags, its the real thing.

Chabad of Parkland has live services in the main synagogue, socially distanced with mandatory masks and temperature checks.

There are a certain camaraderie and energy from the community as a whole being together, and were almost at capacity, said Rabbi Shuy Biston.

Each family in attendance will have their own pod, and others will be spaced out six feet in each direction. Attendees must call the office to register for a ticket.

Chabad of West Parkland will also hold an in-person service at Parkland Golf & Country Club.

The celebration will continue with a socially distanced outdoor family service on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Pine Trails Park Amphitheater, and everyone is welcome.

For those who arent ready to travel to synagogue but still want to see and hear the rams horn in-person, Chabad has positioned shofar blowers in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Residents in Ternbridge Estates, Cypress Head, Mayfair, Mill Run, Heron Bay, Parkland Reserve, and MiraLago will be privy to the shofars sounding inside their communities. Find a list of times and exact locations here.

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

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Parkland Synagogues Prepare for A Virtual New Year - Parkland Talk - Parkland Talk

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Posted By admin on September 19, 2020

It happened at 1:30 A.M. A new email landed in my inbox, with the subject: Hello Joshua Breiner, attached is a travel permit for a shofar blower [prayer leader]. I havent managed to fall asleep since.

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I received the permit, an official document of the State of Israel with the official symbol of the state and the Religious Services Ministry. The signature on the permit is that of director general of the ministry, Oded Fluss, himself, and he informs the police officers who would dare to stop me at the road blocks that will be set up starting on Friday at 2 P.M. that he approves for your faithful servant, whose identity card number is being kept confidential by this newspaper, to travel to carry out his mission during Rosh Hashanah, on the eve of Yom Kippur and after the end of Yom Kippur.

If all this is not enough, the permit also allows free movement to all members of my household. Why not, let them move around and have a good time too because there is no greater mission than to be cantor for the people of Israel and to blow the shofar and also to fool the government to demonstrate the Israbluff in all its glory. And that is how, I, empty of good deeds, in turmoil, afraid with the fear of the One who sits enthroned on the praises of Israel, I have come to stand up and plead with you and cry out: Father, they are making a joke of us.

The truth is that it was not at all complicated to receive the longed-for permit: On Thursday afternoon I approached the Religious Services Ministry as a representative of a new synagogue established in Israel the Ahavat Haaretz (Love of the Land) Synagogue. The synagogue is located in the editorial offices of the Haaretz newspaper, at 21 Salman Schocken Street in Tel Aviv. I happen to live in Modiin, but no one cared. The Religious Services Ministry also asked me to send a confirmation from the synagogue, but the problem with fake synagogues is that they do not have real confirmations so I didnt send anything.

It didnt prevent anyone at the ministry from sending me the approval in the wee hours of the night. True, the permit does say that I must also present the police officer with the confirmation from the synagogue, but give me a break, what policeman would start now to demand such approval from some unknown functionary? With the permit in hand, a high holiday prayer book in my bag and while you are all stuck within the single kilometer allocated to you I will blow the great shofar to my freedom and the freedom of my family.

Its not because I dont have experience in being a cantor. In my younger days, I often sand the Anim Zemirot hymn in the central synagogue in Ashkelon, to the dismay of the worshippers. But since I received my permit, I have been singing all over the house at full volume the classic Unetaneh Tokef prayer. Now all I have left to do is to learn to blow the shofar.

Because of the feeling of unpleasantness after all I have a permit to lead the prayer services during the High Holidays at the synagogue in the offices of Haaretz, I turned to notable figures from the newspaper. Maybe they would want to hear me blow the shofar, with all its fictitious blasts. Gideon Levy didnt answer my calls. Chaim Levinson hung up on me. Aluf Benn informed me that he does not attend the synagogue not even fake minyans.

But suddenly I was struck with terror and trembling. Maybe this was actually a message from the creator of world The Day of Judgment is coming and Israel has given you responsibility: Raise up the prayer of the people of Haaretz before the King of Glory. And then I realized: The official roles of cantor and shofar blower for Haaretzs synagogue are jobs that are too big for me. Your supplications are too large for my narrow shoulders. I decided to leave my permit in the drawer.

I spoke to the spokesman of the Religious Services Ministry, Avi Rosen, who told me the ministry has taken a number of steps to prevent such cases, and a large number of requests that did not meet the criteria were rejected. In marginal cases, people managed to receive the so-desired permit.

If a Haaretz reporter can invent a fake minyan and receive an official free passage permit from the government of Israel, during the perforated lockdown that not a single medical professional thinks will help reduce the coronavirus infection rate, it would also be proper for them to say in the traditional prayer of confession: We have sinned, we have acted treacherously, we have fooled everyone. And what about the lie I told the Religious Services Ministry? No big deal, imagine that I was released from that vow during the Kol Nidrei prayer which will not be held in Haaretzs offices on Yom Kippur.

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All you have to do for a permit to move freely during Israel's lockdown as a prayer leader is ask - Haaretz.com

Category: Synagogue | Comments Off on All you have to do for a permit to move freely during Israel’s lockdown as a prayer leader is ask – Haaretz.com
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Posted By admin on September 17, 2020

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Pa. Attorney General asks judge to keep restrictions on gatherings - ABC27

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Posted By admin on September 17, 2020

Growing up as the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I was consistently exposed to stories about the horrifying genocide of the 1940s.

I recall clearly how, aged seven, I was told by my grandma about her traumatic experience of being transported to Auschwitz on a cattle truck. A hundred or so people, she remembered, were crammed into the back of a cattle truck without food or water and only a bucket to relieve themselves in. People died on that journey and many more perished upon arrival. Once at the concentration camp, my grandma was the only one in her family to survive.

Hearing these stories at a young age was upsetting. It was also incredibly hard to comprehend how something so heinous had happened to members of my family.

But, it was important that I heard these stories, no matter how upsetting. And its vital that every young person learns these stories so that were not doomed to see another tragedy such as this.

In this survey of 1,000 millennial and Gen Z American adults aged between 18 and 39, 63 per cent of respondents did not know 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

Almost half couldnt name a single concentration camp or ghetto from World War II.

Most significantly, a shocking 12 per cent hadnt even heard of the Holocaust before.

I read this, dismayed, but not entirely shocked. As a Jewish person, I am all too aware of how frequently you come into contact with people who know nothing about the genocide or even outright deny it.

So what has caused such a devastating lapse of education in so many young Americans?

At first, my instinct was to blame the students. Perhaps they had no interest in history? Maybe they just viewed it as another page in the history books? I began to think that maybe, without a personal connection to the events, it seemed like just another obscure historical event to some kids.

I also considered whether misinformation had paid a major part. Almost half (49 per cent) had seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts online.

The more I read, however, the more it became clear that its more likely a failure on behalf of states and school districts.

Only 30 per cent of US states require Holocaust education to be on the school curriculum.

Out of 50 states, thats only 15 who deem one of the worst human atrocities in modern history to be a necessary part of teaching.

In the states that do insist on it, like California, many students wont learn a thing about it until they get to high school. Even then, some teachers rush through it in an attempt to finish the syllabus.

The students, however, are eager to learn about it. Kelsie, a history teacher in northern California, told me that students want to know about the Holocaust but arent afforded the opportunities to do so properly. She thinks the school districts are to blame for these astonishing numbers.

So many events in world history are triggering. Teachers try not to emotionally disrupt students.

Personally, I think getting emotional reactions to it is powerful but some school districts can be seen reprimanding their staff for upsetting students.

Unfortunately, in our line of work, you can do gods work but the minute a parent complains about something, its their word and not ours.

Another teacher, Grace, also told me that often unwarranted concern about upsetting students and their parents gets in the way of teaching history. Often its easier for teachers to avoid confronting difficult subjects instead of potentially dealing with the wrath of problematic parents.

As somebody who was exposed to these stories from an extremely young age, it concerns me that fears of upsetting children are what could be preventing them from knowing about the Holocaust.

When I first heard about it all with the added kick of a personal connection I was devastated. But, the very purpose of discussing and teaching the Holocaust is to upset, disgust, enrage so as to ensure that the lessons from it are imprinted in our memories.

Once imprinted in our memories, we can muster up the strength to face fascism and tackle it head-on.

If its true that supposedly woke young people arent being taught properly about the Holocaust because of fears that they might be upset, then Ive got news for you: a future with no knowledge of the Holocaust is much more concerning

Originally posted here:

This is why 'woke' millennials and Gen-Z are shockingly ignorant about the Holocaust - indy100

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Posted By admin on September 17, 2020

The millennial and Z generations have a shocking and saddening lack of knowledge about the Holocaust, with more than one in 10 believing the atrocity was caused by the Jewish people according to a new survey.

According to a poll conducted by the President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), both generations display a disturbing lack of basic awareness about some key facts surrounding the Holocaust, including not knowing how many people died or the names of Nazi concentration camps.

In what is described as one of the most disturbing revelations of the survey, 11 percent of U.S. millennials and Generation Z members said they believed that Jews caused the Holocaust.

When broken down by state, the poll says that nearly one in five (19 percent) of people in New York believed that Jews were responsiblea fact made even more disturbing as New York is the state with by far the largest Jewish population in the country.

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The report also found that 16 percent of responders in Louisiana and Tennessee also believe Jewish people caused the Holocaust, along with 13 percent in Texas and California and 12 percent in South Dakota.

Nationally, 59 percent of respondents said that they believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.

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The results are both shocking and saddening and they underscore why we must act now while Holocaust survivors are still with us to voice their stories, said Gideon Taylor, president of Claims Conference.

We need to understand why we arent doing better in educating a younger generation about the Holocaust and the lessons of the past. This needs to serve as a wake-up call to us all, and as a road map of where government officials need to act.

Claims Conference, an organization that works to improve Holocaust education and secure compensation for survivors, conducted what they described as the first-ever 50-state survey on Holocaust knowledge among millennials and Gen Z.

Nearly half (49 percent) of millennials and Gen Z say they have seen Holocaust denial and distortion shared on social media or elsewhere online.

When asked how many Jews were killed during the Holocaust, 63 percent of those taking part in the survey said they did not know the figure was six million.

When broken down by state, the report found that 69 percent of people in Arkansas do not know how many Jewish people died in the Holocaust, followed by Delaware with 68 percent, Arizona with 67 percent, and Mississippi and Tennessee with 66 percent.

When broken down further, nationally 36 percent of millennials and Gen Z in the U.S. said they thought that two million or fewer Jews were murdered.

Elsewhere, 48 percent of millennials and Gen Z could not name a single Nazi death camp or ghetto established during World War II.

Not only was their overall lack of Holocaust knowledge troubling, but combined with the number of millennials and Gen Z who have seen Holocaust denial on social media, it is clear that we must fight this distortion of history and do all we can to ensure that the social media giants stop allowing this harmful content on their platforms, Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider said.

Survivors lost their families, friends, homes and communities; we cannot deny their history.

Claims Conference also ranked each state based the responders meeting their top three Holocaust knowledge criteria: heard about the Holocaust, can name at least one concentration camp, death camp, or ghetto, and know that six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Based on the percentages of responses, Wisconsin scored the highest in Holocaust awareness, followed by Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine and Kansas.

Arkansas has the lowest Holocaust knowledge score with only 17 percent of millennials and Gen Z in the state meeting the Holocaust knowledge criteria.

The Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness Study involved a sample 1,000 adults aged between 18 and 39 nationwide and 200 interviews in each state. The survey was conducted via landline, cell phone and online interviews.

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More Than 10 Percent of Millennials and Gen Z Believe Jews Caused the Holocaust: Poll - KYR News

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