Rabbi Jason's Blog (Rabbi Jason Miller)

New Fruits

2008-09-23T14:23:00.004-04:00

It has long been a pet peeve of mine that most Reform congregations only observe one day of Rosh Hashanah. According to the Torah, Rosh Hashanah is just one day, but it has been celebrated for two days for over a 1,000 years. With the exception of Yom Kippur an extra day was added to all Torah-mandated holidays.

What differs about the extra day added to Rosh Hashanah is that it is observed in Israel (whereas the extra day of the other holidays is not observed). Truth is, the two days of Rosh Hashanah are not really even seen as two separate days, but rather as "one long day" (yoma arichta in the Aramaic of the Talmud). It is because of this that there is question as to whether Jews should recite the Shehecheyanu blessing on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. Thus the custom of having a new fruit (one that hasn't been eaten yet this season) on the table when lighting the candles and reciting Kiddush on the second night of the holiday. The new fruit gives us a reason to make a Shehecheyanu blessing.

I've always liked this custom since eating new fruits is both delicious and adventurous. There's also no shortage of exotic fruits, especially with new fruit breeding taking place as in the case of Apriums and Pluots.

Last year I posted something about William (the Jewish Robot) Levin's viral marketing animations called "The Adventures of Todd and God". Well, another episode of Todd and God has just been released and it focuses on the custom of eating a new fruit on the second night of Rosh Hashanah!

Here's the new Todd and God video:

Elliot Dorff

2008-09-18T17:47:00.011-04:00

The other day I had the chance to listen to Senator Barack Obama on a conference call for American rabbis. The most impressive part of the phone call was not the Democratic Presidential nominee's ten minute talk. Rather, it was a rabbi who spoke on the call before Obama. Rabbi Elliot Dorff (right) of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles spoke beautifully and powerfully about his political views.

Rabbi Dorff's latest book has just been published by the Jewish Publication Society. (It seems that he has been publishing books at the rate of Jacob Neusner lately.) This book, For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law, presents an intelligent and accessible guide to the philosophy that shapes Halakha (Jewish law). While the book is about the Jewish legal system, Dorff also answers the difficult theological questions concerning the relationship of belief in God and the revelation of Torah with observance of Halakha.

Jay Michaelson wrote a praiseworthy review of Dorff's latest book for the Forward. In his review, Michaelson laments the fact that no such book was available to him while he was growing up in the Conservative Movement. In his closing paragraph, Michaelson asks whether this book would have satisfied his philosophical questions when he was a young camper at the Conservative Movement's Camp Ramah. Michaelson dismisses the question because he was more of a rationalist back then anyway. Regardless, I appreciated what Michaelson had to say about Jewish summer camp and how the feelings that occur at camp might just be enough of a reason to subscribe to the system of mitzvot (commandments). Michaelson writes:

"...one of the great successes of Jewish summer camp is how it provides an immersion experience: The love is felt, obviating the need for explanation. Who knows? Maybe I could have been told, 'You know that feeling you get, when the davening is beautiful and the weather is fair; when your friends put their arms around you and sing ‘Lecha Dodi’? That is the reason we do this — because what you feel inside is love, and God is the name we give it.”

Amen to that. And to Rabbi Elliot Dorff for writing a book that will help so many work through their difficult questions concerning belief and the observance of Jewish law in our modern times.

Politics Politics Politics

2008-09-18T17:47:00.007-04:00

It's been almost two months since my last post due to a combination of being too busy and not really wanting to blog about politics. It seems that everything is being overly-politicized right now.

A simple rally to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations has turned into a Democrat vs. Republican battle royal. According to the JTA, Hillary Clinton was confirmed to speak at the rally back in August. However, when Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin agreed to address the rally, Clinton announced she would withdraw because the rally had become "a partisan political event." Barack Obama wasn't even invited to speak. Bottom line is that Palin has been disinvited and Clinton has backed out. Fortunately no one will oppose Elie Weisel's legitimacy to speak at the rally!

And isn't it possible for a Jewish person to just wear a kippah (yarmulke) without making a political statement? The kippah color, size, material, and position on ones head is already making a religious statement, so why the need to endorse a candidate with a religious head covering? Even this has spun out of control.

The Gore-Lieberman kippahs were popular during the 2000 campaign and since then it's been common to see the candidates names on suede kippahs. However, one company (VanityKippah.com) is now selling a Sarah Palin kippah that says "Sarah Barajewda: Eishet Chayil." They also sell the McCippah, the Obamica, and one for Michelle Obama fans that reads "Michelle is my Rebbetzin."

Oy, I can't wait for this campaign to be over!

Tattoo Jew

2008-07-21T17:37:00.008-04:00

The five week hiatus since my last blog post might be the longest dry spot I've had since starting this blog almost five years ago.

But I have a good excuse -- I've been working at Camp Tamarack all summer. As the camp rabbi I've fielded many questions, but by far the most common question I've received from counselors has been "the tattoo question."

Everyone wants to know if they will still be buried in a Jewish cemetery even though they have a tattoo. It's remarkable how concerned twenty-year-olds are about an event far into the future that they won't even be around to witness.

The sentiment that Jews with body art are barred from Jewish cemeteries has also been mentioned recently in a movie, a TV show, and in the mainstream media.

In the wonderful film "The Bucket List," two cancer-stricken men, Carter (Morgan Freeman) and Edward (Jack Nicholson), plan to do some outrageous things before they "kick the bucket." When Morgan Freeman's character is somewhat hesitant about getting a tattoo, Jack Nicholson as Edward says to him: "What, are you afraid of not being able to be buried in a Jewish Cemetery?"

In an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David pays off a gravedigger to have his mother reburied in a Jewish cemetery despite a small tattoo on her rear end.

And in the July 17th New York Times, the article titled "Hey Mom, the Rabbi Approved my Tattoo" (subtitled "Skin Deep: For Some Jews, It Only Sounds Like 'Taboo') also takes on the belief that Tattooed Jews can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery.

By the time [Roberta] Kaplan's daughter Liz Carnes, 49, had teenage daughters who wanted body art, Ms. Carnes knew how to dissuade them. "I'd say, 'If you get a tattoo, you can’t be buried in a Jewish cemetery,' " said Ms. Carnes, the owner of a video equipment company in Carlsbad, Calif. "For no real reason, just that's what my parents told me."

Nearly every Jew, from those who go to synagogue only on holidays to those who dutifully follow Jewish law, has heard that adage. It has deterred many from being inked, even as tattoos have become widespread among N.B.A. players and housewives alike.

It seems that most young people are familiar with this warning about getting a tattoo. The only problem is that it is a myth! Thankfully, the NY Times article calls it an "urban legend."

But the edict isn't true. The eight rabbinical scholars interviewed for this article, from institutions like the Jewish Theological Seminary and Yeshiva University, said it's an urban legend, most likely started because a specific cemetery had a policy against tattoos. Jewish parents and grandparents picked up on it and over time, their distaste for tattoos was presented as scriptural doctrine.

Rabbi Alan Lucas, in a 1997 teshuvah for the Conservative Movement's Law Committee, took up the issue of body piercing and tattooing in Jewish law. The question he posed was: "Is body piercing (nose, navel, etc.) and tattooing permitted? Does it preclude taking part in synagogue rituals or being buried in a Jewish cemetery?"

He explains that the prohibition of tattooing is found in the Torah in Leviticus 19:28 where it states: You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, nor incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.

The mishnah explains that it is the lasting and permanent nature of tattooing which makes it a culpable act, but Rabbi Simeon disagrees and says that it is only the inclusion of God's name which makes tattooing prohibited. Maimonides felt that tattooing should be prohibited because it was a form of idolatry since the pagans would tattoo themselves.

Rabbi Lucas maintains that:

Regardless of the exact limits of this prohibition, over time, the Rabbis clearly extended the prohibition to include all tattooing... In our day, the prohibition against all forms of tattooing regardless of their intent should be maintained. In addition to the fact that Judaism has a long history of distaste for tattoos, tattooing becomes even more distasteful when confronted with a contemporary secular society that is constantly challenging the Jewish concept that we are created b'tzelem Elohim, "In the Image of God," and that our bodies are to be viewed as a precious gift on loan from God, to be entrusted into our care and not our personal property to do with as we choose. Voluntary tattooing even if not done for idolatrous purposes expresses a negation of this fundamental Jewish perspective.

Rabbi Lucas concludes that Tattooing is an explicit prohibition from the Torah, however, those who violate this may still be buried in a Jewish cemetery and participate fully in all synagogue ritual.

It seems to me that if a Jewish person chooses to get a tattoo that is in good taste and does not violate the Torah prohibitions of idol worship, then this act would not violate Jewish law since in our modern age tattoos can be removed (even if removal is a painful process and one that might need to be repeated several times). A tattoo that expresses ones Jewish pride is certainly not what the Rabbis of the Talmud had in mind when they discussed the tattooing practices of the pagans. And with regard to the "Auschwitz argument" against tattoos: body art in the 21st century certainly does not resemble the forced tattooing of Jewish men and women during the Holocaust.

Forced Ritual

2008-06-15T10:46:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a while as I've been busy working at Camp Tamarack, getting ready for the campers to arrive later this month. However, I couldn't resist commenting on S.L. Price's wonderful column in the June 2, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated titled "Seafood for Thought".

Yesterday morning at Shabbat morning services at Tamarack I spoke to the camp supervisors about Jewish prayer ritual. I also compared the morning tefillot (prayer services) to playing a sport as the flow of the service moves from "suit-up" to "warm-up" to "practice" to "game-time" to "cool-down". I spoke of how much of the ritual within prayer is spontaneous and that is precisely how it should be.

In S.I., Price remarks how the Detroit Red Wings ritual of octopus throwing during the playoffs at Joe Louis Arena (and Al Sobotka's octopus twirling) is a spontaneous crowd ritual that should be preserved, contrary to the reprimands of commissioner Gary Bettman. Price contrasts this fifty-year-old ritual with the forced rituals of the 21st Century National Basketball Association where fans have to be instructed to yell "Dee-fense" by the JumboTron monitor.

I'll take a Zamboni driver twirling an octopus on the ice any day over a halftime show of dancing clowns. And there is certainly something to be said of spontaneous rituals during the Jewish prayer service over a congregation of robots all being told that they should all point their pinky finger at the Torah (see Noam Neusner's Jerusalem Post article "The Pinky Paradox"). There is room for directed ritual behavior, but there's also something beautiful about spontaneity -- whether at a prayer service at synagogue or camp... or on the ice at the "Joe".

Congrats to the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings!

Crib Talkers

2008-05-21T13:08:00.002-04:00

My 2-year-old twins Jonah and Talya Miller were supposed to take a nap one afternoon. After I put them in their cribs, instead of falling asleep they started talking to each other. I wondered what the conversation was about so I hid a video camera in their room. Funny stuff!

digg this

Israel Photo Contest

2008-05-20T14:41:00.005-04:00

The Detroit Jewish News recently held an Israel Photo Contest to which I submitted four photos. One of my photos won third place and two others were honorable mentions. My friend, David Salama, won first place with a photo of his two-year-old son Elliot at the Western Wall.

THIRD PLACE

HONORABLE MENTION

HONORABLE MENTION

Postville Woes

2008-05-13T16:11:00.005-04:00

Yesterday's news about the federal raid on the Postville, Iowa Kosher slaughterhouse was pretty bad. The allegations were that some 80% of the employees were in the country illegally, including a number of the rabbis at Agriprocessors.

Could it get worse? You bet!

Today there are reports in the news that Federal authorities charged that a methamphetamine laboratory was operating there as well, and that employees carried weapons to work. JTA reports:

The [meth lab and weapons] charges were among the most explosive details to emerge following the massive raid Monday at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. In a 60-page application for a search warrant, federal agents revealed details of their six-month probe of Agriprocessors. The investigation involved 12 federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the departments of labor and agriculture.

According to the application, a former plant supervisor told investigators that some 80 percent of the workforce was illegal. They included rabbis responsible for kosher supervision, who the source believed entered the United States from Canada without proper immigration documents. The source did not provide evidence for his suspicion about the rabbis.

The source also claimed to have confronted a human resources manager with Social Security cards from three employees that had the same number. The manager laughed when the matter was raised, the source said.

At least 300 people were arrested Monday during the raid, for which federal authorities had rented an expansive fairground nearby to serve as a processing center for detainees. The search warrant application said that 697 plant employees were believed to have violated federal laws. Agriprocessors officials did not return calls from JTA seeking comment.

That sound you hear coming out of Iowa is a big "Oy Vey!"

Israel 60

2008-05-09T14:53:00.003-04:00

The State of Israel celebrated its 60th year of statehood yesterday on the 3rd of Iyyar because the official date of Israel's independence (5 Iyyar) falls on Shabbat this year. World leaders, celebrities, and corporate tycoons are joining Israel's Yom Ha'atzmaut festivities in Israel.

Even President Bush will be attending the President's Conference next week. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was scheduled to appear at the President's Conference on a technology panel with Google founder Sergey Brin. However, his name has been dropped from the schedule. Perhaps this is because he was offended that all the press material had him listed incorrectly as "Mark Zuckerman".

Many world leaders have also made official proclamations to honor Israel on its milestone anniversary. The JTA reports that on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a "stinking corpse" on its way to "annihilation". In other news, the Hallmark Greeting Card company has hired Iranian president Ahmandinejad to write birthday and anniversary cards.

On a more serious matter, I attended a very moving Yom Hazikaron (Israel Memorial Day) program on Tuesday evening. A portion of the documentary film, A Hero in Heaven, about Michael Levin (z"l) was shown. IDF Staff Sergeant Michael Levin, a former USYer and Ramah Poconos camper from Philadelphia who made aliyah to Israel, was killed during the Lebanon war in August 2006. The film is a very moving tribute to Michael, who was a chayal boded (a lone soldier, meaning he had no immediate relatives in Israel).

In the past sixty years Israel has celebrated great successes and mourned for the loss of thousands who died fighting for the country. Below is a video in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary. Am Yisrael Chai!

PodCasting Torah

2008-05-06T16:22:00.004-04:00

I love reading articles about the intersection of technology and religion, specifically Judaism. My colleague Rabbi Eli Garfinkel, with whom I worked at Camp Ramah Wisconsin in 1997, was featured in a USA Today article last month about the use of podcasts in religious groups.

Rabbi Eli Garfinkel, spiritual leader of Temple Beth El in Somerset, N.J., a Conservative Jewish congregation, says he draws listeners from as far away as Italy, Argentina and Israel on his podcast, RabbiPod.

"I've been working on teaching the Torah in an accessible manner for a long time, and when the podcast technology was invented, it just seemed like a natural," he says.

The article explains that Podcasting is an inexpensive way for pastors and rabbis to greatly expand their audience beyond the walls of their own place of worship.

Israel Anderson, a software designer in Denver who operates a free site called God's iPod, screens all podcasts submitted to him and weeds out most. Part of what's driving the popularity of religious podcasts is dissatisfaction with organized religion, Anderson says. "If you're in a home church or go primarily for fellowship but your church isn't particularly good at teaching, a podcast is a good way to hear from a wide variety of people."

Max Fisher Highway

2008-05-05T12:21:00.004-04:00

The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit building in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan is appropriately named for Max M. Fisher, the Jewish businessman and philanthropist who died in 2005. In addition to the Federation building, the home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra ("The Max") and The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business also bear his name.

Today, at a ceremony at the Fisher Building, Representative Joe Knollenberg dedicated a thirty-mile stretch of Telegraph Road as the "Max M. Fisher Memorial Highway". I happened to be walking into work at Tamarack Camps (located in the Fisher Building) when the dedication ceremony was beginning and I took the photograph below. This is really a wonderful way to honor such a philanthropic, remarkable man.

Seder Sidekick

2008-04-17T11:58:00.004-04:00

The guys at Bangitout.com (Seth and Isaac Galena) have published a Passover Seder Sidekick. It is 46 pages, contains many song parodies, and is available online at the Bangitout website.

One of my favorite Passover related videos on YouTube is an instructional video in Japanese teaching how to cut a matzah perfectly in half. Check it out:

Of course, there's also the creative JibJab "Matzah" video created by Smooth-E (Eric Schwartz). And I would be remiss if I didn't recommend the cute video of Rabbi Paul Freedman and his wife Nina rapping from their Jerusalem apartment about Passover to the tune of Snoop Dogg's "Gin 'n Juice".

Wishing everyone a chag sameach - a joyous Passover holiday!

Top Rabbis & Ketuba Witnesses

2008-04-15T22:07:00.007-04:00

Newsweek's second annual ranking of the top rabbis in the country has been posted to the Newsweek website. This year, the list is called "Top fifty influential rabbis in America" and the creators (media execs Michael Lynton, Gary Ginsberg, and Jay Sanderson) explain their point system (20 points for being "known," 10 points for communal leadership, and so on). They also have created a second listing of the top pulpit (congregational) rabbis in the country.

I was thrilled to see my extremely talented classmate, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, make that list. She is the founder and rabbi of Kavana in Seattle. It is also wonderful to see that my colleague, Rabbi Sharon Brous, made both lists. She is the founding rabbi of Ikar in Los Angeles.

Of course, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in LA was ranked the #1 pulpit rabbi in the country and deservingly so. Rabbi Jack Moline, a Conservative rabbi in Alexandria, Virginia, was listed at #3. I've always admired Jack and am happy that he was recognized by being ranked so high on the list. I first met Jack in 1999 when I spoke at his congregation, Agudas Achim, for a Seminary Shabbat.

I recall a funny story Jack Moline told me about his first experience meeting President Bill Clinton. Jack visited the White House weekly to study Torah with his friend and congregant Rahm Emanuel (left), the Illinois Congressman. Emanuel, then senior advisor to President Clinton, had an office in the West Wing. Jack always went to the White House with Kosher corned beef sandwiches for Emanuel and him to enjoy. He was also always prepared to stand at a moment's notice and greet the President with the traditional Jewish blessing one says upon meeting a head of state. One day during a Moline-Emanuel chavruta session, the President walked into Rahm Emanuel's office to chat about a basketball game when Jack jumped up with a mouth full of corned beef trying to utter the blessing.

That story came to mind the other day when I read an article about Rep. Rahm Emanuel in Newsweek magazine. The article theorized that Emanuel ("Rahmbo") might be the most likely Democratic Party leader to be the one to encourage Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race should Barack Obama continue to be the front runner. Why Emanuel? Because, the article explains, he is close to the Clintons from his years campaining for them and serving in the Clinton White House. And he is close to the Obama campaign as well based on his long standing friendship with Obama's campaign strategist, David Axelrod.

How close is Emanuel with Axelrod? "So close," Newsweek states, "that Axelrod signed the ketuba, a Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel's wedding, an honor that usually goes to a best friend."

So there you have it: Newsweek magazine... ranking rabbis and outing politicos as ketuba witnesses!

Kippah Krazy

2008-04-01T23:17:00.004-04:00

Lisa Flam, an Associated Press Writer, has brought fashionable kippah wearing to the fore with her recent article "Yarmulkes for the Fashionable Faithful".

In an article that could appear in a fashion magazine as much as it could in a religious publication, Flam explains that more stylish and offbeat options abound in addition to your grandfather's black satin yarmulke.

The yarmulke as it's known in Yiddish, or kippa in Hebrew, is a headcovering "worn as a sign of respect to remind one always that God's presence is over us and as a sign of respect whenever we say a blessing," says Rabbi Joel Meyers, a leader of the Rabbinical Assembly, which represents rabbis in the Conservative Jewish movement.

While the skullcap is among the most recognizable Jewish symbols, it is not sacred, which makes it acceptable to adorn it with sports logos or TV characters, says Meyers, who usually wears a knitted yarmulke.

"The important thing is the wearing of the kippa, not what's on the kippa," Meyers said, recalling one given to him with a propeller he thinks signifies "spiritual uplift."

Proving that there has been a move to more stylish Jewish headcoverings, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain last week sported a knit kippah at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem. Compared to President Bush's choice of skullcaps, McCain's choice seems more modern and stylish. Perhaps that is attibutable to his loyal advisor and supporter (and Vice Presidential hopeful?) Senator Joe Lieberman.

I have always enjoyed seeing celebrities don a yarmulke (especially non-Jewish celebrities like athletes and politicians). The first yarmulke I ever gave to a celebrity was in 1999 on the set of his movie "Little Nicky" when I presented Adam Sandler with a blue suede kippah with the Jewish Theological Seminary logo printed on it.

I know I'm not the only one who enjoys seeing celebrities wearing yarmulkes, since, on their BangItOut website, brothers Seth and Isaac Galena have created an entire category of photographs called "Celebrity Kippah".

The AP article described kippot featuring Dora the Explorer, the Miami Heat logo, and guitars. It also reported about a Jewish man who "has a blue seersucker yarmulke to match a blazer he likes to wear to Friday services." Of course, no matter how fun and creative yarmulkes get, there will always be those who prefer the "retro kippah" from a bygone era.

New Purim Tradition

2008-03-19T11:49:00.007-04:00

Tomorrow night begins Purim, a holiday on which the Jewish people celebrate our survival and rejoice that our ancestors were redeemed from the evil tyrant Haman. It is also a holiday on which we are commanded to share our good fortune with those in need. The mitzvah of sending gifts to the poor is based on Megillat Esther 9:22.

As Lois Goldrich explains the importance of matanot l'evyonim (gifts to the poor) on the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism website:

Gifts can be given directly, e.g., bringing food and clothing to a homeless shelter, or indirectly, through an organized charity. It is important to keep in mind that whatever additional tzedakah we give throughout the year, donations must still be given on Purim itself. How important is this mitzvah? As Maimonides writes in his Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Megillah 2:17): "It is better for a person to increase gifts to the poor than to increase his feast or the mishloah manot to his neighbors. There is no joy greater or more rewarding than to gladden the heart of the poor, orphans, widows, and strangers. For by gladdening the hearts of the downtrodden, we are following the example of the Divine."

Rabbi Menachem Creditor has shared a new Purim tradition that he learned from his teacher Marcia Brooks. She encourages people to bring boxes of Kosher pasta to synagogue to use as graggers (noise makers); shaking them for noise and then donating them to a food pantry once the Megillah is completed. With this new tradition, one fulfills the custom of drowning out the name of "Haman" from the Megillah reading while also performing the mitzvah of matanot l'evyonim.

And in my opinion, shaking a box of pasta is much safer than using those dangerous metal graggers that get rusty and sharp and can cut your finger!

Spielberg and the Olympics

2008-02-26T22:37:00.007-05:00

Next Monday evening I am bringing my colleague Rabbi Or N. Rose (left) to Detroit to speak to Conservative Jewish teens about the important subjects of Tikkun Olam (social action) and Tzedek (justice). Rabbi Rose is the co-editor of "Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice," which was recently published by Jewish Lights. He is also the associate dean of the Hebrew College rabbinical school.

Rabbi Or Rose's article published today at JTA.org about Steven Spielberg's resignation as the artistic director of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games brings to light the necessity of persuading Summer Olympics host China to reconsider its support of Sudan.

Spielberg wrote: "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual... At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur. Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these ongoing crimes but the international community, particularly China, should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there."

In his essay, Rabbi Rose opines:

Ironically, the theme for the Summer Games is "One World, One Dream." Does this dream include the nightmares of the people of western Sudan? As an American citizen, I would like to see President Bush demonstrate some of the courage and resolve exemplified by the celebrity activists, using his power to try to persuade China to change its behavior. If China does not cooperate, the president should reconsider his plans to attend the Olympics.

In so doing, Bush could rededicate himself to the cause. His record on Darfur is inconsistent at best, and he has done nothing constructive since pledging, ever so briefly, to tackle the issue in his January State of the Union address. What better way for a president to spend his last months in office than to help bring an end to the first genocide of the 21st century? In a culture where celebrities often gain attention for their poor judgment and bad behavior, Spielberg, [Mia] Farrow and the other high-profile activists – they include Don Cheadle and George Clooney -- should be applauded for their justice efforts. Now we must join them in the struggle to save Darfur and to create a permanent anti-genocide movement.

Kudos to Steven Spielberg for doing the right thing by resigning this post. Hopefully his public act will put added pressure on the White House to persuade the Olympic hosts to change their tune on Darfur. And thanks to Or Rose for bringing this issue to a larger audience. With his essay, he certainly does demand a Jewish call for justice.

Israel's Sushi Strike

2008-02-13T21:43:00.004-05:00

According to a Reuter's article, Israel's Asian restaurants went on a one-day spring roll strike Tuesday to protest the Knesset's new plan to rid their kitchens of foreign chefs. "The restaurants are angry at government plans to purge Japanese, Chinese and Thai eateries of Asian cooks and replace them with Israelis as part of a broader program to cut the number of foreigners working in the Jewish state... Israel attracts virtually no immigrants from Asia since anyone seeking citizenship here must prove they have Jewish family or links to the country."

The restaurant owners threatened that sushi and noodles would be the next items off the menu. I would think they would strike hard and "86" the sushi in the beginning since it has become so popular in Israel. But apparently they thought it was best to go with the egg rolls first.

Personally, I think they should have taken soup off the menu just so every Asian waiter throughout Israel could say "No soup for you!"

Hopefully, a deal will be struck before Israel becomes sushi-free. Jews and Asians should be able to co-exist peacefully. There might be hope because a restaurant once existed in suburban Detroit during the 1980's called "Shanghai Shapiro's," which was half Chinese and half Jewish deli. But then of course, that restaurant did close its doors.

Rabbinical Assembly Speakers

2008-02-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

Last month I blogged about Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, when he announced his retirement as a result of his being diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. Tom Lantos passed away this morning in Bethesda naval hospital. He was 80-years-old. I feel fortunate to have had the chance to meet Rep. Lantos this past March at the AIPAC Policy Conference in D.C.

Tom Lantos was a real mentsch and an important voice for human rights in Congress, even if he would never have been allowed to speak at a Rabbinical Assembly convention. Since Tom Lantos was married to a non-Jewish woman (in photo), he would have been forbidden from addressing the Rabbinical Assembly during its annual convention. As a dues-paying member of the Conservative Movement's Rabbinical Assembly, I was surprised this week to learn of this policy.

A JTA article explains the little known RA policy prohibiting intermarried Jews from being speakers at the RA Convention. Therefore, the article states, it was difficult for the RA to maintain a balance between speakers on the right and left of the political aisle at this week's convention in D.C. So, while Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is speaking at the Convention, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (married to a non-Jew) will not be allowed to. The policy even applies to non-Jews who have married Jews making Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ineligible. Each of these men are married to Jewish women (to be fair, Reid's wife converted from Judaism to Mormonism so I'm not sure why he's still blacklisted).

I can understand the RA choosing not to invite intermarried speakers to address the Convention if they are only going to promote intermarriage as a virtuous decision, but I don't believe that choice has to be crafted into a written policy. I wonder if the RA asks all speakers at the Convention to disclose the religion of their spouse when they are invited to speak.

This policy would preclude a lot of politicians, business leaders, authors, and entertainers from speaking at RA conventions. For instance, Christina Aguilera would not be able to perform at an RA Convention (I'd pay to see that!) or speak about what it is like raising her son in the Jewish tradition (married to the Jewish Jordan Bratman, the couple's son recently had his bris). This policy would also prohibit Jon Stewart from speaking at the RA Convention since he married Tracey McShane, a non-Jewish woman.

As the Conservative Movement tries to reach out to interfaith families through edud (insiration and encouragement), it would be helpful for Conservative rabbis to hear from couples who are living in interfaith relationships. However, under this policy it would be impossible for speakers like Jim Keen, an outspoken gentile father committed to raising Jewish children, to be allowed to speak at an RA convention.

Rabbi Bradley Artson, dean of the Ziegler rabbinical school in Los Angeles, said "It's the right priority, but the policy isn't the right policy for the goal."

My sense is that this policy will soon be reversed. It is possible for the Rabbinical Assembly and Conservative Judaism to stand firmly against intermarriage without barring speakers who happen to be married to members of another religion.

eCamp Israel

2008-02-10T20:12:00.000-05:00

I recently learned about a new program that merges three areas I am passionate about --Jewish camping, Israel, and technology. Israel has always embraced high technology and modern communication. Part of what has made the almost sixty-year-old nation's economy flourish in the past two decades has been the success of its hi-tech sector. Now a new summer camping initiative is making the hi-tech experience available to Jewish youth who are interested in spending a summer in Israel and also interested in technology.

eCamp Israel is a technology summer camp based in Israel and open to American Jewish youth. As a member of the rabbinic cabinet of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's Project Reconnect, I was asked to look into the feasibility of including eCamp Israel as one of United Synagogue Youth's summer options in Israel. USY sends hundreds of teens to Israel each summer, and this program would allow some of those teens to specialize in a hi-tech track while in Israel.

I am very impressed with this new program. eCamp's mission is to "help young people realize their highest potential, discover their talents, and reach for their dreams". Their cutting-edge e-workshops will allow each individual camper to express their creativity, and the youth participants will work on their own projects in a collaborative environment (open-space computer lab).

eCamp, located in a residential educational institution near Caesarea, will not be a "computer camp" where kids sit in front of a computer all day. Rather, the camp will encourage the campers to go outdoors to do the normal summer camp activities like sports, swimming, and nature exploration. The camp will motivate campers to create a better world through the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) with each camper receiving a certificate for 5 hours of community service per session.

eCampers will meet with entrepreneurs including the founder of ICQ, now the originator behind the AOL Instant Messenger, visit leading Israeli research centers such as Intel, Microsoft, Google, Motorola, and train in the Israeli Air Force’s flight simulator. Participants will have experience theoretical developments by visiting leading academic centers such as the Technion and Weizmann Institute. Shai Agassi, a hero in Israel’s technology world and the founder of Project Better Place, will be eCamp’s Chief Scientist. When I spoke with Nir Kouris, co-CEO of ecamp and an Israeli entrepreneur, he explained that "As one of the global centers of technological innovation, it is time Israel gives back some of our know-how and share it with children from around the world."

The idea of an International Technology Summer Camp in Israel is brilliant. Jewish youth already flock to Israel in droves each summer and many of them have to put their technology interests on hold during that time. So, while most Jewish youth won't be able to use Instant Messenger while they travel in Israel this summer, the campers at eCamp Israel will be introduced to the hi-tech gurus who developed the infrastructure to run Instant Messenger. This program will open the gates for Jewish youth to the #1 success story of Israel – Technology Innovation.

eCamp is just one more piece of great news in the world of Jewish camping. Recently, the Jim Joseph Foundation and Foundation for Jewish Camping announced a $8.4 million partnership grant to create a Specialty Camping Incubator. The Incubator will create four Jewish specialty camps based on skills such as athletics, computers, and arts according to the successful model already established for Jewish camping.

It is truly remarkable to see the innovations taking place in the field of Jewish camping. It makes me want to be a kid again!

Mitzvah Children

2008-02-01T13:04:00.000-05:00

There was a time when the Conservative Movement's law committee (the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards) did not publish its teshuvot (Jewish legal responsa). Twenty-five Conservative rabbis would sit in a room debating and eventually voting on matters of modern Jewish law, and the only people who would be able to read their decisions were other Conservative rabbis.

Today, the teshuvot of the law committee are available for public consumption on the Rabbinical Assembly's website. So when the CJLS passes what could be considered a controversial paper, one would think there would be much discussion about it. (Certainly no CJLS decision has garnered as much attention as the December 2006 teshuvot concerning homosexuality.)

However, a recent teshuva on a delicate matter co-authored by Rabbi Kassel Abelson and Rabbi Elliot Dorff, and passed by an overwhelming majority of the committee, has received little attention. The paper, titled "Mitzvah Children," was passed on December 12, 2007 and until today I had not seen any articles published about it.

The essense of Rabbis Abelson and Dorff's argument is that Jewish couples who are able to reproduce more than two children should do so, and Conservative rabbis should counsel couples in this manner during pre-maritial sessions.

In yesterday's Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Reuven Hammer (a CJLS member who voted in favor of the teshuva) wrote:

How many children should a Jewish couple have? Although that may seem like a strange question and one that impinges on the private and most intimate life of a couple, it has been addressed by Jewish law in the past and is now the subject of a new teshuva (responsum) issued recently by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the International Rabbinical Assembly of which I am pleased to be a member. Jewish law (Halacha) has dealt with this because the very first mitzva found in the Torah is: "And God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and replenish it...'" (Genesis 1:28). It should be noted that this is not phrased in the Torah as a command in a negative sense and certainly not as a punishment, but as a blessing. To understand how to fulfill this mitzva the sages discussed and debated it. Who is responsible to fulfill it? How many children and of what sex are required? Without going into details, suffice it to say that the traditional answer has been that the mitzva is fulfilled when a couple has had two children, one boy and one girl. The Talmud, however, determined that two children are the minimum, but that Jews should continue to have as many children as they can (B. Yevamot 62b), and Maimonides codified this as law.

Even though the authors of the "Mitzvah Children" paper did a very good job explaining their position while remaining sensitive to those couples unable to reproduce or unable to reproduce beyond one or two children, many will still take exception to rabbis imparting their beliefs on such a personal matter (even though the Torah and Jewish law codes certainly enter this arena).

Rabbis Abelson and Dorff propose that Jewish couples who can have children and do not suffer from specific physical, mental or other problems preventing it should have one or more additional children beyond the two required by Jewish law. These children would be called "mitzvah children" as they would assure future Jewish existence.

Rabbi Elliot Dorff (right), rector of the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, has been preaching this idea for many years. During my second year of rabbinical school he was on faculty at the Jewish Theological Seminary and spoke to my class about his views. While he was sensitive with his language, he nevertheless offended several of my classmates -- specifically the single women over a certain age -- when he argued that Jewish couples should start having children in their early 20's and have more than just two offspring. As he does in the teshuva, Rabbi Dorff surmised that it was the responsibilty of the Jewish grandparents (as well as the larger Jewish community) to help financially support these children and their Jewish education. His theory was that Jewish women are putting off starting a family until after their prime childbearing years because of their desire to fulfill their academic and professional aspirations first.

The Holocaust also factors into his belief. As he writes in the teshuva:

The world's Jewish community has not recovered numerically from the devastating losses during the Nazi era. Demographic studies point to a Jewish birthrate that will not maintain the Jewish population in the United States, with serious implications for the future of the American Jewish community, the Jewish people as a whole, and Judaism itself. It is essential that we encourage fertile Jewish couples to have at least two children in compliance with the early Halacha, and one or more additional children, who are mitzva children in the additional sense that they help the Jewish people replace those lost in the Holocaust and maintain our numbers now. Adopting children, converting them to Judaism, if necessary, and raising them as Jews helps in this effort as well.

This all makes good sense to me, but I maintain that the reaction will be mixed among Jewish couples. Everyone cares about the future vitality of the Jewish people, but among modern Jews I believe the response will be that rabbis should stay out of the personal family planning decisions of couples. And for that reason, the "Mitzvah Children" teshuva is a gutsy position paper.

Indie Minyans

2008-01-24T22:47:00.000-05:00

I am hesitant to write anything about the recent press that indie minyans has gotten because as kol raash gadol recently wrote on Jewschool for their Picks for Best of 2007: "Blinding Flash of the Obvious Finally Reaching the Mainstream Radar Years After Everybody Else Got the Memo: Indie minyanim."

But since the New York Times recently wrote about the subject ("Challenging Tradition, Young Jews Worship on Their Terms") and the online journal Zeek dedicated an entire issue to indie minyans, I thought I would weigh in.

The success of independent minyans really shouldn't be news because their success was inevitable. Indie minyans are an obvious recipe for success:

1) Gather a bunch of young, single professional Jews in a large metropolitan area (New York City, Chicago, LA, DC, or Boston).

2) Mix in some young Jewish grad students along with some young married Jewish couples.

3) Send out an e-mail about an "informal gathering" (read: spirited prayer service that won't remind you of your grandfather's shul) to take place in someone's apartment on Friday before dinner or Saturday morning around 10 AM.

3.5) Allow the e-mail to go viral and with some word-of-mouth dozens of young Jewish men and women will flock to the get-together.

4) After several months of these get-togethers, select a larger location to rent and this will turn into another start-up independent Shabbat prayer group.

This is basically how the popular Kehilat Hadar traces its roots. I realized what an independent minyan was while sitting in Rabbi Ethan Tucker and Ariela Migdal's Manhattan apartment (a few floors above our own apartment at the time) on a Shabbat morning in April 2001. I was invited to the minyan and asked to schlepp four of my folding chairs up eight flights of stairs. Little did I know at the time that the three minyan founders, including Tucker and his Harvard buddy Elie Kaunfer (right), were on to something. With sixty young Jews packed into an Upper West Side apartment davening (praying) like they were at Camp Ramah, a new type of synagogue community was forming.

The next gathering was held in a larger apartment -- the home of my JTS rabbinical school classmate Dr. Len Sharzer. Len was the oldest student in my class but was not the oldest individual at the minyan that morning. That distinction was held by the late Marcia Lieberman, mother of Senator Joe Lieberman. Joe and Hadassah Lieberman were in town for the graduation of their daughter-in-law (Ethan Tucker's wife Ariela Migdal) and attended the minyan that morning. I was honored to have the aliyah right after the distinguished senator from Connecticut.

From there the Hadar Minyan grew and grew with almost 200 in attendance for a Tisha B'Av service in Central Park. Hadar Minyan became Kehilat Hadar, and when Elie Kaunfer was ordained as a rabbi he created Mechon Hadar which has given birth to Yeshivat Hadar and the Minyan Project. The Yeshiva is a a full-time, community open to men and women looking to engage in intensive Torah study, prayer and social action. The Minyan Project promotes education, consulting and networking for independent prayer communities.

At the 2004 UJC General Assembly held in Cleveland, I attended a session in which Elie Kaunfer was one of the panelists. His response to what Gen X'ers were looking for in a spiritual community was fresh and innovative, yet also full of unknowns for the future. The indie minyans were gaining in popularity, but still no one could speculate what would happen when the indie minyannaires needed a true spiritual leader in their lives -- a rabbi. A chavurah-like environment seems fine when you're single or newly married, but when your oldest kid is celebrating her bat mitzvah it is helpful to have a rabbi. As the indie minyannaires get older my guess is that they will join established congregations that employ salaried clergy. However, they will greatly influence the way these synagogues and temples carry out their mission. Simply stated, they won't settle for the way things have always been done in their grandfather's shul.

In addition to how the members of indie minyans will come to change established congregations in the near future, another question is how rabbis may come to be welcomed into the indie minyans in some form of leadership role. This issue was taken up on a Jewschool post by Yehudit Bracha in September 2006: What IS the role of the rabbi in the independent minyan movement?

A great example of a dynamic rabbi in an emergent congregation is Rabbi Andy Bachman (left), the founder Brooklyn Jews and once executive director of Reboot. Andy is now the rabbi of Beth Elohim in Brooklyn (a Reform congregation in Park Slope). He recently posted an especially thought-provoking blog post about creating a transparent pulpit. My classmate, Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum, also became the rabbi of an emergent spiritual community when she founded Kavanah in Seattle a few years ago. And the dynamic Rabbi Sharon Brous has been wildly successful with Ikar-LA, the emergent spiritual community she created in 2004.

These rabbis are serving their congregations in new and innovative ways. They are leading their communities with much different leadership styles than rabbis who led in generations past. Because of their leadership, their congregations function differently and their congregants come to view synagogue life much differently. These emergent spiritual communities have Facebook pages, blogs, and only communicate to the membership via e-mail. These rabbis will answer a congregant's question with SMS on their Blackberry. They even buy their Torah scrolls on eBay. These are the shuls of the future.

I must give my colleague Rabbi Elie Kaunfer a lot of credit. It would have been quite the accomplishment had he only co-created Hadar, however, he has taken it many steps further by forcing us to consider how independent minyanim will change the future of community building, communal prayer, rabbinic leadership, affiliation, and synagogue structure. Working with Synagogue 3000, he surveyed individuals about the role of "emergent spiritual communities" in the future of Judaism.

The introduction to the survey states:

Over the past few years, we have seen an important new phenomenon in Jewish life: the creation of dozens of independent minyanim, spiritual communities, alternative worship services, and emergent congregations. This rich array adds diverse opportunities for worship, learning, social justice work, community-building and spiritual expression.

We knew very little about the thousands of people associated with these new endeavors. Who are they? What are their concerns? How do they feel about the communities they're creating, joining, and building? Why do they participate?

To answer these questions, the S3K Synagogue Studies Institute, in collaboration with Mechon Hadar, conducted a survey designed by the prominent sociologist Steven M. Cohen in partnership with Rabbi Elie Kaunfer and Shawn Landres. Our goal was to find out more about the participants, members, partners, and "acquaintances" of these new spiritual communities. The results of this work is the first ever portrait of the interests, values, and concerns of a critical innovative turn in American Judaism.

The report about the new movement of independent minyanim, "EMERGENT JEWISH COMMUNITIES and their Participants", was published this past Fall and should be required reading for every rabbi and future rabbi, synagogue and temple board members, and anyone interested in the future of Judaism. In fact, anyone with a vested interest in organized religion should study this report.

Bottom line? Independent Minyans are necessary. They are serving a purpose for a whole generation of spiritually undernourished Jews. They are quickly changing how Jewish spiritual communities operate and serve their members. However, just as online banking and ATM's are wonderful, they have not replaced traditional banking institutions or the humans who work there. The chavurah movement of the 1970's did not replace rabbis and neither will the independent minyan movement at the beginning of the 21st Century. Rabbis will always be needed in Jewish life, we will just have to adapt our roles to modern times.

Links about Independent Minyans:

Synagogue 3000 and Hadar Report on Emergent Spiritual Communities

Attracting Young People to Jewish Life: Lessons Learned from Kehilat Hadar

Andy Bachman reacts to the NY Times article on Indie Minyans

The Minyan without a Binyan (Temple Bored Authority)

What Defines the New Minyan Movement (Jeremy Burton)

Judaism Without Synagogues (JewByChoice)

Tribeca Hebrew: The Hebrew School With the 'Anti-Establishment Vibe'

What Independent Minyanim Teach Us About the Next Generation of Jewish Communities (Ethan Tucker)

Esther Kustanowitz looks for her perfect shul