Rabbi Jason's Blog (Rabbi Jason Miller)

Ruth Messinger

2009-07-14T16:20:00.001-04:00

Sometimes newspaper editors have to admit they got it wrong -- or that their words were not clear enough and led to misunderstanding. Such was the case when Andrew Silow Carroll (editor-in-chief of the New Jersey Jewish News) wrote about Ruth Messinger's speech to graduates of the Jewish Theological Seminary this past May.

Messinger (right) is the president of the American Jewish World Service and delivered an amazing commencement address at JTS, which is available as an audio file on the JTSA.org website. I first met Ruth Messinger during my final year of rabbinical studies at JTS when I invited her to speak to my fellow rabbinical students as part of a program I created called "Visions of the Jewish Future." As president of the rabbinical school's student organization I thought it would be beneficial to hear from some visionaries in the American Jewish community from outside of the Seminary's gates.

Silow-Carroll wrote about Messinger's speech in his paper, but Messinger wasn't thrilled with the way he characterized it. His column was mostly complimentary, but he suggested that she had gone too far in favoring non-Jewish causes over challenges closer to home.

Upon reading the column, Messinger was hurt and requested a face-to-face meeting with Silow-Carroll in which she explained the many Jewish projects at AJWS and touted the new Web resource On1Foot.org, an on-line compendium of rabbinic and contemporary texts on social justice. In my opinion, she really didn't need to defend the work of her organization in this way. She should have merely mentioned the humanitarian work AJWS provides to the developing world and explained to Silow-Carroll that this is a very Jewish act.

In a follow-up column Silow-Carroll (left) acknowledged that he "hadn't been aware of the Jewish learning that infused AJWS and should have asked. I also remembered that the Jewish world is big enough and rich enough to work on many levels, in many circles, in service of the local and the global. Those who would narrow the Jewish mission risk losing non-Jewish allies, young Jews interested in this kind of work, and the opportunity to live Jewish responsibility to its fullest."

At the end of his column, Silow-Carroll explains that his meeting with Ruth Messinger prompted him to deliver a d'var Torah at his newspaper's board meeting (something that hadn't been done in a long time). He found a good d'var Torah at On1Foot.org.

Michael Jackson

2009-07-02T10:00:00.001-04:00

I confess to feeling very nostalgic recently. It wasn't more than a few minutes from the time that Michael Jackson's death was announced until his songs began playing all around us. The 24-hour cable news networks played "Billy Jean" in their lead-ins, satellite radio stations began broadcasting all-Michael Jackson songs, and Jackson 5 music was loudly played from cars passing by. Facebook status updates, blog posts, and Twitter tweets were made up of reminiscences about the King of Pop and the latest breaking news about Jackson's death. I was immediately taken back to the mid-1980s when my Sony Walkman was attached to my ears and the cassette tape playing was either "Thriller" or "Off the Wall" or "The Best of the Jackson 5."

The majority of posts on the Web were positive about Michael Jackson and of his contributions to society through his entertainment. However, there were negative sentiments as well about the odd life he led, his financial woes, and the accusations of pedophilia that plagued his life but never his popularity. Some weighed in that they were shocked he was so quickly being remembered as a hero when there were so many questions about his lifestyle left unanswered.

I read one comment by someone who expressed disbelief at "the media's obsession with Michael Jackson, a child molester. A genocide is occurring in Darfur, Tibet is occupied, the Iranian people are fighting for freedom, and our nation's economy is struggling. Is his death really newsworthy? Is this man really a national hero? Does he represent our values? I think his life, despite his musical accomplishments, was a tragedy. Am I alone?"

The answer is that yes, the death of Michael Jackson is certainly newsworthy but shouldn't diminish the importance of other world events that are ongoing. While Michael Jackson was never convicted of child molestation, there were certainly enough indications that this might have been a problem he struggled with in his life. The conclusion is that his life was certainly a tragedy, but he should be remembered as someone who entertained generations, revolutionized music and dance, became a pop culture phenomenon, and made society think differently about race. While this might not make him a national hero in the way in which heroes should be considered, his death forces us to be nostalgic about his music and to recognize him as a creative genius.

Perhaps the biggest issue is whether it is fair to bring up the negative questions about Jackson's life or to only remember his as the larger-than-life entertainer. I recall the time I was asked to officiate at a funeral for a man who was not well-liked by his family and had a history of illegal activities. He lived a lonely life and was regarded as a mean, old man by his neighbors. Meeting with his family members, they shared several negative stories about his life but then asked me to not mention those anecdotes in the eulogy and to "please, just make him look good." And that is precisely what I did. In remembering him, it wasn't appropriate to focus on his unfortunate life. After all, he wasn't able to defend himself.

And so it is with Michael Jackson. There are some individuals who will only be known for their horrific acts, like Hitler and Pol Pot, or Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson. Michael Jackson was known for his tremendous contributions to pop culture.

My colleague, Rabbi David Kay, delivered a d'var Torah earlier this week in which he explained that there exists an "interpretation that the sin for which Moses is punished by being denied entry into the Promised Land was actually omitted from the Torah out of respect for him." Rabbi Kay suggested that perhaps we can learn from this to resist the temptation to dredge up dirt on those in the public eye, particularly after they have passed on and are unable to defend themselves.

Let us not focus on his alleged transgressions. Michael Jackson, in death, should be remembered for his musical talent and for entertaining the world as the "King of Pop." He should be memorialized as a cultural icon who gave so much. If there is a lesson to learn from his life, it is that even the world's biggest celebrities remain human.

Jewish Men

2009-06-25T16:00:00.000-04:00

More than three years ago, an article in the New York Times reported that the Reform Movement of Judaism was examining ways to retain young men in the faith. It is well known that women are much more involved in organized Jewish life -- at least in the progressive movements of Judaism (Reform, Renewal, Reconstructionist, and Conservative). Now, the same author of that NY Times article, Debra Nussbaum Cohen, writes in the Forward about a new initiative to keep post-bar mitzvah boys involved in Jewish life.

The article, Do Jewish Boys Need a Room of Their Own?, explains how the organization Moving Traditions, creators of the Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing! program is now turning its attention to boys. Focus groups were conducted to research the developmental life of boys and how they felt about becoming involved in the Jewish community. Thus far, Moving Traditions has commissioned a research report, titled "Wishing for More: Jewish Boyhood, Identity and Community". Most of the boys complained about the offerings available to them within organized Jewish institutions.

The organization is developing a program that can be replicated around the country, like the Rosh Chodesh: It’s a Girl Thing! program. Deborah Meyer, director of Moving Traditions said, "We’re going to come out with a program that can be offered to boys in a variety of settings, as well as a framework for working with Jewish boys. We want to know the most effective ways to get them in the door and to work with guys to have conversations of meaning. We want to help them form a Jewish identity and a healthy male identity."

I've been noticing the trend of boys becoming less involved in the Jewish community for some time now. An article titled "Where Have All the Jewish Men Gone?" in the Boston Globe last year theorized that as the role of women has increased in Judaism, the gender imbalance has grown. In the Conservative Movement, as egalitarianism has spread throughout the synagogues over the past few decades women have eagerly embraced their new found ability to serve in leadership roles -- from leading the congregation in prayer to leading the congregation's board as president. The article opened by stating that "Judaism has a boy problem." And it does.

Growing up, I sat in synagogue with two people -- my grandfather and my mother. My grandfather came from the generation where men go to shul while their wives stayed at home and cooked. Not so for his daughter; my mother. My mother's generation was still involved in the sisterhood, but they were also becoming officers of the congregation and being called up for an aliyah to the Torah. My generation of Jewish men has seen our female contemporaries become rabbis and cantors, leading the congregation in prayer. Women in the highest leadership positions of a religion once dominated by men can be a turn off for many men. And therein lies the answer to "Where have all the Jewish men gone?"

The women's liberation movement in Judaism fought to create Torah commentaries from a woman's perspective. Those are no longer necessary as the newest Torah commentaries being published include the female perspective. Women wanted women-only prayer groups during the 70's, 80's, and early 90's, but they are no longer necessary as virtually all Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative congregations are completely egalitarian and more likely to be led by female congregants than men.

We are now seeing men who are desiring men-only prayer groups and a Men's Torah Commentary, which would sound redundant a generation ago. The Reform Movement, concerned about the dearth of young men in organized Jewish life, has been examining this trend. The Union for Reform Judaism reported in 2007 that boys constitute only 22% to 43% of youth group participants; 28% of campers at the Reform movement’s leadership camp for teens, Camp Kutz, and 33% of first-year rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College.

The Reform Movement's press has published "The Still Small Voice" – a collection of essays about being a Jewish Man. They have also come out with a resource guide for beginning the conversation about men's programming and a book titled "Wrestling with Jacob and Esau: Fighting the Flight of Men within the Reform Movement."

Perhaps the answer to the boy crisis is that there really isn't one. What we are witnessing is merely a leveling out period of transition. Feminism has been quite successful in gaining equal rights and equal access in synagogues and in the greater Jewish community. Now it is up to men to figure out how to position themselves in the egalitarian Judaism of the 21st century. Judaism is large enough for both men and women, boys and girls to participate.

William Pollack, a researcher for Moving Traditions insists that women's leadership is not responsible for boys' retreat from Jewish life. He sums it up best: "Boys haven’t found a way to adapt to the sharing of power with girls and women in Judaism because men haven't found a way to change."

Fatherhood

2009-06-19T00:25:00.000-04:00

My daughter had a fever today so I took my two sons out to lunch. Sitting at lunch I couldn't help thinking about what a blessing it is to be a father. And then, as fate would have it, my father walked into the restaurant and sat down at the booth behind us for a business meeting. I overheard my father's business associate comment that I am a "spitting image" of him, which is funny because I'm always being told that one of my sons is a "spitting image" of me.

There truly is something so special about fatherhood. And I was thinking about it earlier in the week as well when I attended a retreat for Jewish educators at the Butzel Conference Center in Ortonville, Michigan. One of the speakers was Jonah Geller, the Executive director of Tamarack Camps, where I serve as the rabbi. Jonah spoke on the topic of "implementing change" and first asked us to list the five biggest changes in our lives. The biggest change in my life that I listed first was becoming a father. More than becoming a rabbi or getting married, and more than losing close relatives, this life-changing event was the most significant in my life thus far.

Since becoming a dad almost five-and-a-half years ago, my life has certainly been different in the most positive way. Having dependents is certainly a monumental responsibility and a life-changing realization. I've also found it wonderful to have children whom I also consider to be friends. The enjoyment and pride that a father receives from just looking at his children is such a blessing.

I often hear women lament that there shouldn't be just one day called "Mothers' Day" but rather every day should be devoted to heaping praise on hard-working moms. I agree. I feel the same way about "Fathers' Day" too. It seems silly that one day a year, my kids should feel the need to honor me for the job of being their father. I have come to see Fathers' Day (this Sunday) as a day not for my children to leave me alone and let me play golf, but rather as a day in which I make a concerted effort to thank God for the gift of fatherhood... a day in which I take the time to express my gratitude for my children. So, if Hallmark can sell more cards and stores can increase their revenue by advertising gifts for dads so be it. For me, Fathers' Day is a day for reflection and appreciation.

There are some wonderful books on fatherhood that [coincidentally?] have been published recently. American Parent: My Strange and Surprising Adventures in Modern Babyland is by one of my favorite authors, Sam Apple. In September 2007, I wrote on this blog about Sam's brilliantly funny article in Parents Magazine. Since he became a father, Sam has written many hilarious pieces about the joys and challenges of parenthood. In American Parent, he visits with the mohel who circumcised him, enters a trance with a childbirth hypnotist, goes on a stakeout with a nanny spy, and attends a lecture on Botox for new mothers. Sam, a University of Michigan graduate, is the son of legendary author Max Apple. After having a son a couple years ago, he and his wife added twins to the family so maybe I can give him some fatherhood advice in that regard. Excerpts from American Parent are available on Sam Apple's website.

I learned that another one of my favorite authors, Michael Lewis, would have a book on fatherhood coming out from his appearance on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week. The author of Bringing Down the House and Money Ball has written about fatherhood in Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood. The book is adapted from a series of Slate essays that Lewis wrote about what actually happened immediately after the birth of each of his three children. He's a gifted writer and the book is very funny and engaging.

A book about fatherhood that I've had for several years is Lloyd Wolf's Jewish Fathers: A Legacy of Love. It's published by Jewish Lights, which is hands down my favorite Jewish book publisher. The book is a collection of stories and photographs celebrating the lives of contemporary American Jewish fathers. Wolf writes, "The image of the Jewish father is synonymous with the Yiddish word mensch, a good, kind, decent, human being. The word mensch has become part of America’s vocabulary. The first mensch that we meet in life is usually our father. Honest. Hardworking. Fair. Charitable. Funny. Reverent. Honorable. Responsible. A mensch. It is a standard to be lived up to, a standard that Jewish fathers have been charged with since the times of the Biblical patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Finally, I found Adam Dickter's essay on Fatherhood to be quite meaningful. In the NY Jewish Week's blog, Dickter writes about his own experience as a father of three children. He quotes Adam Nimoy, who writes that his famous father, Leonard Nimoy "worked diligently, sometimes obsessively, to provide for his family, but like the stoic but efficient Spock character he played on TV, didn’t put much stock in bonding." Dickter's impression is that "Adam would have preferred a dad who swept floors and had time to go to ballgames."

It's not always easy to give 100% to the job of being a father. But it is so important to try. Fatherhood is the greatest gift!

So, to all the fathers and grandfathers (and great-grandfathers) out there, please accept my own wishes for a Happy Fathers' Day. I'm proud to be part of this club and I know that while "Fathers' Day" is the official day to celebrate us dads, everyday is an honor to serve in this special role.

Kaddish for Conservative Judaism

2009-06-09T13:01:00.013-04:00

There have been many changes in the top leadership of the Conservative Movement recently. First was the commencement of the Arnie Eisen era at the Jewish Theological Seminary. With the beginning of Arnie Eisen's chancellorship also came the change in leadership at the Seminary's rabbinical school with Rabbi Daniel Nevins as the new dean. Second, came the change in leadership at the Rabbinical Assembly with Rabbi Julie Schoenfeld taking the RA's top job. Yesterday marked the confirmation of Rabbi Steven Wernick (right) as the CEO and executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the arm of the movement representing the congregations.

It seems as though all the players who have the potential to put the Conservative Movement on the right course have taken the field. It will be interesting to see what the future will bring.

The Conservative Movement has done a very good job of staying in the news recently. Unfortunately, not all news is good news. The latest round of infighting and hand wringing within the ranks of the Conservative Movement has been prompted by the emergence of two groups of movement leaders.

One group, Hayom: Coalition for the Transformation of Conservative Judaism, is made up of the rabbis and board presidents of the largest congregations in the country (here's a link to the list of group members which has recently opened up membership to the leaders of congregations of all sizes). The second group, calling itself "Bonim" is a grassroots coalition of fed-up lay-leaders from approximately forty congregations threatening to leave the Conservative Movement. Both of these groups have made headlines with their allegations toward the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Essentially, they have formalized the complaints from member congregations that have been informally articulated over the years. Add to this the Canadian congregations that have left the Conservative Movement to form a new organization in response to the decision to admit gays and lesbians into the rabbinical and cantorial schools at the movement's seminaries

But, perhaps what has produced the most headlines about the Conservative Movement in recent weeks was an interview with Rabbi Norman Lamm (left), Yeshiva University luminary and a modern Orthodox scholar.

In the interview with the Jerusalem Post which took place in Israel, Lamm prophesied that the time has come to say "Kaddish" for Conservative Judaism. He included Reform Judaism as well in his premature obituary. "With a heavy heart we will soon say kaddish on the Reform and Conservative Movements," said Lamm, head of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University. He went on to add that the "Conservatives are in a mood of despondency and pessimism. They are closing schools and in general shrinking."

Lamm's pronouncement prompted many responses from Conservative Movement leaders. All criticized Lamm for his inappropriate comments and most found aspects of Conservative Judaism to be proud of. Rabbinical Assembly executive vice president Rabbi Julie Schoenfeld (right) penned an articulate response in which she underscored the authenticity of Conservative Judaism and mentioned some of the recent changes she has already implemented in her new position. [I can personally vouge for her hard work and initial success by way of example. Rabbi Schoenfeld has convened a subcommittee, on which I serve, to help improve the technological resources available through the Rabbinical Assembly and in only a couple months, much has been accomplished.] She also remarked that at the recent AIPAC Policy Conference, the majority of the rabbis in attendance were members of the Conservative Movement’s rabbinic group.

Rabbi Julie Schoenfeld also underscored the popularity of the Hekhsher Tzedek initiative. She writes, "many of Rabbi Lamm’s Orthodox constituents who are in agreement with my colleague, Rabbi Morris Allen's call that we take ethical mitzvot as seriously as ritual ones in the preparation of kosher food. The message we are hearing loud and clear is that the American Jewish community is quite literally hungry to lead lives where the ritual is bound up in the ethical underpinning."

Rabbi Andrew Sacks of the Masorti Movement, Conservative Judaism's Israeli branch, fired back writing a response to Rabbi Lamm in the Jerusalem Post in which he took him on point by point. Richard Moline, the director the Conservative Movement's college outreach program Koach, wrote an op-ed piece for JTA encouraging Conservatives to look in the mirror and shoulder the responsibility rather than blaming the institution. My favorite response was by one Conservative rabbi who questioned which "Kaddish" Rabbi Lamm proposed be said for Conservative Judaism: Full Kaddish, Rabbi's Kaddish, or a Mourner's Kaddish?

The most scholarly and perhaps the most convincing rebuttal of Rabbi Lamm’s comments came from the preeminent scholar of Modern American Judaism, Prof. Jonathan Sarna (left), who reminded Lamm of the predictions in the 1950s that the demise of Orthodox Judaism was an inevitable reality. In the Forward, Professor Sarna wrote:

Lamm's triumphalistic prediction has, unsurprisingly, elicited strong and angry responses from Conservative and Reform leaders who consider their movements youthful and vibrant. For a historian, though, the prediction cannot help but call to mind earlier attempts to divine American Judaism’s future.

When Lamm was young, those who followed trends in Jewish life expected to say Kaddish for Orthodox Judaism. A careful study in 1952 found that "only twenty-three percent of the children of the Orthodox intend to remain Orthodox; a full half plan to turn Conservative." The future of American Jewry back then seemed solidly in the hands of Conservative Jews.

Years earlier, in the late 19th century, Reform Judaism expected to say Kaddish for other kinds of Jews. The great architect of American Reform Judaism, Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, titled his prayer book "Minhag Amerika" — the liturgical custom of American Jews — and given the number of synagogues that moved into the Reform camp in his day, his vision did not seem farfetched. Many in the mid-1870s believed, as he did, that the future of American Judaism lay in the hands of the Reformers.

Before then, of course, those with crystal balls expected to say Kaddish for Judaism as a whole in America. One of the nation's wisest leaders, its then attorney general, William Wirt, predicted in 1818 that within 150 years, Jews would be indistinguishable from the rest of mankind. Former president John Adams likewise looked to the future and thought that Jews would "possibly in time become liberal Unitarian Christians."

All these predictions made sense in their day. All assumed that the future would extend forward in a straight line from the present. All offered their followers the comforting reassurance that triumph lay just beyond the horizon.

And all proved utterly and wildly wrong. Lamm’s prediction is unlikely to break this depressing streak of failures.

Well, I certainly find Lamm's suggestion that it is time to say Kaddish for Conservative Judaism to be both inappropriate and narrow-minded. He was looking to be controversial. Before reacting to his comment, it is first necessary to make the distinction between Conservative Judaism (an ideology) and the Conservative Movement (an institutional denomination).

Conservative Judaism is a centrist ideology of Judaism. It promotes an understanding of Judaism that retains the authority of the Torah (tradition) while also remaining open to modern innovation (change). It leaves enough room for its adherents to choose various options with regard to the authorship of the Torah, from divine authorship with revelation at Mt. Sinai to human authorship over time, with several options in between.

Conservative Judaism is a viable ideology of Modern Judaism. It is the centrist position situated between the Reform ideology on the left and Orthodoxy on its right. It is the Conservative Movement that is in trouble. The movement found its heyday in the middle of the last century. It was growing by leaps and bounds with the largest Hebrew schools, high holiday services overflowing into social halls and school gymnasiums, and youth groups with expanding memberships. The movement took this success for granted. At the time, it was the movement that had the congregations that people found to be the perfect balance between the Orthodoxy they were raised in and the liberalism that they desired. With the rise of intermarriage, many flocked to the inviting and more tolerant Reform congregations. Others drank the Kool-Aid at Camp Ramah and moved to the right of the Conservative Movement by embracing a modern Orthodox lifestyle and joining an Orthodox shul.

Yes, there are still programs with the Conservative Movement seal for which movement members should take pride. The Ramah camping program is a clear success, but to be fair so are the Reform movement camps. Jewish summer camping in general is a success story. And I can speak of the local success of the new consolidated Hebrew High School program here in Metro Detroit. ATID (Alliance for Teens in Detroit), a weekly after-school informal Jewish high school program, is a collaborative effort by the Conservative synagogue's in town. It is a program for which the Conservative Movement should be proud.

The real complaint about the Conservative Movement is not really with the movement. It certainly isn't with Conservative Judaism as a way of practicing the Jewish faith either. It is with United Synagogue as an organization. And that's actually a good thing because it is much easier for an organization to change (and I wish Rabbi Wernick the best of luck because it will be an uphill climb). The allegations are that Conservative synagogues have been paying hefty dues to the United Synagogue (headquartered in Manhattan) without seeing much value in return. When the economy was stronger, the congregations paid their dues knowing that if they didn't they would have trouble getting a rabbi or cantor placed at their congregation and their youth would be barred from attending youth group conventions. Times have changed. Every dollar counts and congregations have begun to withhold these dues until they get more (and better) services in return. I think that's a valid demand.

Going forward, the Conservative Movement must be less concerned with numbers. It doesn't much matter how many families have left Conservative synagogues. Many of the families that have left likely shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Movement leaders also should be less concerned with how many synagogues are merging as there were likely too many shuls in the same geographic area before.

So, what should the leaders of the Conservative Movement be concerned about? For starters, they should promote the Conservative Judaism ideology and way of life. That would require a collaborative PR effort among all the arms of the movement including the seminaries, professional organizations, camps, youth groups, Schechter day schools, and the movement's Israel and overseas branches. The movement (read: United Synagogue) must do a better job of educating its members about its raison d'etre.

United Synagogue also has to do a better job of operating with less. That means taking the Reform Movement's lead and getting rid of the regional offices. (Note: this has already begun with plans to merge several USCJ regions). I would also recommend finding some less expensive office space, which might entail moving out of Manhattan.

Finally, I would recommend encouraging collaboration among member congregations. Use the ATID model if you'd like. It is what happens when a few Conservative congregations that spent decades competing with each other were able to come together collaboratively for the sake of their teenage populations and Jewish education. USCJ should urge and facilitate the merger of two struggling Conservative congregations in the same area. If handled correctly, it will benefit both parties. The movement should also merge its Israel trips for high school youth. It is redundant to send teens to Israel through both United Synagogue Youth and Camp Ramah.

Does the Conservative Movement need to look in the mirror more? Probably. It's a good practice for all of us. But more than anything, movement leaders should stop caring what old, retired Orthodox university scholars are saying and begin moving forward into the future together with pride. Time is of the essence.

Shavuot: The Power of Community

2009-05-28T11:30:00.003-04:00

Originally published as a guest blog post at Religion Transcends.

Tonight begins the festival of Shavuot, the holiday in which the Jewish people celebrate the revelation of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Perhaps, the questions about the revelation of the Torah (when, what, how, if, and to whom) are the questions that divide the Jewish people today more than any other questions. The divisions among the modern denominations of Judaism all stem from the question of how the Torah was revealed to the Jewish people. The way in which individuals in the Jewish community consider the event that occurred at Mt. Sinai several millennia ago has vast implications for their approach to the Jewish faith. The sheer magnitude of that event, however, should force us all to transcend denominational differences and feel the power of community – whichever community we choose.

Never has the spiritual force of revelation affected me more than it did on the early morning of May 31, 1998. I had recently graduated college and was spending Shavuot at a local synagogue, where I served as the youth director. The assistant rabbi decided that the congregation would offer an all-night Tikkun Leil Shavuot (study session) and then a dawn service just before 5:00 in the morning.

It was a memorable night with many opportunities for Torah study with several wonderful teachers including three eighth-grade day school students. With delicious snacks and caffeinated beverages, about thirty of us managed to stay up the entire night. We decided to hold the minyan outdoors in the courtyard so we could enjoy the sunrise while we prayed.

The Torah service that morning took on new meaning for me. The Torah was paraded around and I had the sense that we really were at Sinai claiming what God had lovingly gifted to us. As I stood at the Torah for my aliyah, the sky began to get dark again. The Torah reader pronounced, “On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning…” As the words “thunder” and “lightning” were uttered, a huge thunderstorm ensued. The Torah reader managed to get out a few more words, chanting “…and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.”

At that point, the sky opened up and the heavy rains began. We grabbed the Torah and ran inside where the Torah reading was completed. As I wiped the raindrops from my glasses, I remember thinking that this must be divine revelation. This was the epitome of holiness. This existential experience was full of awe and majesty, thunderclaps, and lightning bolts. Best of all, it was shared with community.

This was a liminal moment in my life. That experience has had a lasting effect on my life in the decade since. Being shaken by the thunder, seeing the lightning, and hearing the words of our Torah convinced me that I really did stand at Sinai. We were all there together. As a community.

That was my revelation. What was revealed to me? The power of community. Was I really at Mt. Sinai several thousand years ago? Maybe not physically there, but with this community, during that early morning storm it was as if I were there. And that is the message of Sinai. A community gathered to receive a gift from God. How that gift is interpreted thousands of years later should not take away from the magic of that moment.

At a time when some segments of the global Jewish community do not recognize other segments as Jewish, let us put aside our denominational differences and hearken back to Sinai. One Torah was given to the entire community. Let us stand again at Sinai with our brothers and sisters, and feel the power of community.

Conservative Movement in DC

2009-05-20T11:22:00.005-04:00

The Reform Movement, under the sage guidance of Rabbi David Saperstein, has always taken the lead in domestic politics. Saperstein, voted Newsweek Magazine's most influential rabbi, heads the Reform Movement's Religion Action Committee (RAC). The RAC's website states that it "has been the hub of Jewish social justice and legislative activity in the nation’s capital for more than 40 years. The RAC educates and mobilizes the American Jewish community on legislative and social concerns, advocating on issues from economic justice to civil rights to religious liberty to Israel." Similarly, the Orthodox Union has the OU Institute for Public Affairs.

The Conservative Movement has never had a Washington Office or a "man in D.C." Until now. Recently, the Rabbinical Assembly tapped Rabbi Jack Moline (right) to be its first director of public policy. Moline says the position will be an extension of the political advocacy and activist work he's been doing as an individual rabbi for the last 25 years, and he's anxious to use the connections cultivated in Washington to advance the agenda of Conservative rabbis.

I ran into Jack Moline when I was in Washington recently for the AIPAC Policy Conference. I was headed to dinner at the Kosher restaurant "Eli's" with two other Conservative rabbis from Detroit. Jack offered to drive us from the Washington Convention Center to the restuarant which gave us an opportunity to both congratulate him on his new appointment and to ask him some questions. The bottom line is that it is too bad the Conservative Movement waited this long to create a director of public policy in Washington, but it is wonderful that Jack Moline will serve in this position. He's the perfect choice. In his initial statement on public policy, Jack wrote:

The goal is to bring as much added value to public policy discussions as possible, especially by the inclusion of perspectives that reflect the Jewish values that flow from the ethos of Conservative Judaism. Of necessity, I will rely on colleagues from the OU and the RAC, JCPA and UJC, but our advocacy will not be an automatic echo of either one. Effective advocacy is a matter of finding common ground – in a sense, p’sharah – not merely proclaiming ideals. As such, we will sometimes find ourselves in coalition with groups with whom we will other times disagree: Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Muslims, atheists and a host of Protestant denominational groups.

Already, one notices the Rabbinical Assembly finding its voice when it comes to matters in Washington. Only days before the AIPAC Policy Conference, it was announced that Michael Oren was being considered for the position of Israeli Ambassador to the United States. The Rabbinical Assembly wasted no time in issuing a press release to commend the appointment.

The RA noted in its statement that Oren is the product of a Conservative Jewish upbringing in New Jersey. Further, Dr. Oren spoke at the RA convention in 2004, following the publication of his book, Six Days of War.

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, the incoming executive vice president of the RA terms Michael Oren an "iconic figure whose intellect and communication abilities are without peer in contemporary political life. No one today can argue the case for Israel in quite the way that he can," she reiterated. "Whether in his IDF uniform in front of CNN’s cameras or on the pages of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, Michael Oren has been acting as a de facto ambassador for Israel for quite some time."

At the AIPAC conference, Dr. Oren spoke at a luncheon for rabbis. The RA also noted in the press release that "the overwhelming majority of rabbis who were in attendance [at the luncheon] are Conservative." To be fair, Oren explained that his Judaism has roots in many movements. In fact, he explained that he was raised in Conservative Judaism but dropped out of his Conservative synagogue's Hebrew School. He's also had religoius experiences with Chabad and was a member in the Reform "Kol Haneshama" in his Jerusalem neighborhood.

Oren is a great choice for the ambassador position. I've heard him speak several times and I've been impressed on each occasion. He will certainly have company in Washington with other political and economic leaders who have roots in Conservative Judaism, including Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Pope in Israel

2009-05-12T10:04:00.007-04:00

My first exposure to Catholicism was as a teenager. I was the assistant to a photographer who photographed several Catholic weddings. I found it fascinating to be in these beautiful churches and watch the religious rites of the Catholic tradition. I joked that, at the time, I had been to more Catholic weddings than Jewish weddings. That quickly changed.

My next experience with anything Catholic was in rabbinical school when I was selected to participate in an interfaith dialogue program called Seminarians Interacting. The now defunct program brought Christian, Jewish, and Muslim theological students (future priests, rabbis, and imams) together in a setting of mutual engagement and exchange. It was sponsored by the National Conference for Community and Justice (formerly known as the National Conference for Christians and Jews). The program was hosted at a large, beautiful Catholic seminary in Baltimore. Again, I learned a great deal about Catholics and noted several similarities between their religion and Judaism.

The summer following Seminarians Interacting, I served a chaplaincy internship at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. The Clinical Pastoral Education program was made up of two rabbinical students, three future Catholic priests, and about a half-dozen other future religious leaders. My interactions with the three Catholic seminary students led to wonderful friendships. The program was geared toward pastoral education, but our informal conversations during lunch and in the hospital corridors were about our respective religious tradition. We spoke of personal faith, our families, and the stress of our future positions. These coreligionists responded candidly to me about their individual decisions to join the priesthood and live a life of chastity. They explained the hierarchy of the priesthood to me, helped me understand the importance of Vatican II (Pope Paul's 1965 proclamation of Nostar Aetate), and taught me the symbolism behind the Eucharist (Holy Communion). Of course, their curiosity about Judaism led to many enjoyable Q&A sessions as well. I remember driving to the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit with one of the future priests to play racquetball (racquetball courts in the Seminary dorms -- I was jealous!). On the way, he played a CD for me with the most beautiful Mass service.

Recently, with the Pope's visit to Israel, I have been thinking much about Catholic-Jewish relations and my own interfaith relationships. This past March, as news of the Israel visit by Pope Benedict XVI was growing, an article in the Jerusalem Post explained that the rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, said that it is not proper for him to come to the Kotel wearing a cross. He said, "My position is that it is not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross." He said he feels the same way about a Jewish man walking into a church wearing a tallit and t'fillin. Not that it matters since he would never set foot in a church. It's also a silly analogy because tallit and t'fillin are religious articles used during prayer. Wearing a cross around ones neck is akin to wearing a Star of David or a Chai. While several rabbis responded to Rabbi Rabinovitch, I thought my colleague Rabbi Andrew Sacks put it best. In the JPost blog, he told the following story:

It seems that back in the 18th century, a Christian asked Rabbi Moses Mendelssohn "how can your religion be correct if my religion is correct?" His response was that there is one pasture, but many gates. Or as your scripture puts it, "In my father's house there are many rooms." Let the many "gates" to the Kotel, the "gates of righteousness," be open to all.

This week's Time Magazine has an interesting article on Catholic-Jewish relations , "Pope Benedict and the Question of Judaism". It addresses the Pope's first visit to Israel, but underscores the tension he has caused due to several missteps in his relationship with the Jewish community. In reversing the 1988 excommunication of four bishops of an ultra-traditionalist Catholic group called the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), he included the Holocaust denying Bishop Richard Williamson who believes the Nazi gas chambers never existed. Further, in a 2006 speech at Auschwitz, he failed to mention anti-Semitism, instead contending that "ultimately the Nazis' motive in killing Jews was to tear up the taproot of the Christian faith." He also reintroduced a prayer in the Mass calling for Jews to convert.

Last month, I joined several local Detroit-area rabbis for a luncheon with the new Archbishop of Detroit, the Most Reverend Allen Vigneron (right). He spoke openly about which aspects of Judaism have influenced his Catholic beliefs. Perhaps, most impressive, he did not hesitate to speak about the recent controversies of the pope with regard to the Jewish people. Rather than seek to defend the pontiff, Archbishop Vigneron, who is likely to named a Cardinal, expressed his deep desire to further dialogue with the Jewish community. I was very impressed of his knowledge of Judaism and his making Catholic-Jewish relations a priority.

It should be no surprise that the Pope's arrival in Jerusalem yesterday has already caused a fuss. News is circulating around the Web that Pope Benedict walked out on a sheikh delivering an anti-Israel diatribe yesterday in a meeting of interfaith leaders. Rabbi Barry Leff was there and wrote on his blog about his take on what happened. He wrote:

Sheikh Taysir al-Tamimi, chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority, delivered a rant at the gathering at the Notre Dame center in Jerusalem. I don't speak Arabic -- and I presume the Pope doesn't either -- so at the time all I could tell was that the Sheikh was very animated. At one point whatever he said received some modest applause from the Arabic-speaking crowd. According to the Jerusalem Post report, here's what he was saying: 'In an impromptu speech, delivered in Arabic at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute in Jerusalem, Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, chief Islamic judge in the Palestinian Authority, launched a 10-minute tirade against the State of Israel for confiscating Palestinians' land and carrying out war crimes against the residents of Gaza." He also called for the immediate return of all Palestinian refugees, and called on Christians and Muslims to unite against Israel.

The entire text of the Pope's speech is available here.

Rabbi Leff adds that the Pope quoted from the Torah portion Lech Lecha, saying: "God said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your kindred and your father's house for a land I shall show you."

No matter what the current Pope does or says, the relationship between Catholics and Jews is an important one. All interfaith relations are fragile in nature. I believe we should look positively on the Pope's visit to Israel and use it as a springboard toward making dialogue between Jewish leaders and Catholic leaders a priority.

Connected Community of Wired Jews

2009-04-30T09:24:00.011-04:00

Yesterday, Israel celebrated its 61st year of independence. When detailing all that this little nation has to be proud of, modern technology always ranks at the top of the list. After all, this is the country responsible for the popularity of instant messaging on the Internet (ICQ was first developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis).

I think that modern technology and the new forms of digital communication are wonderful advances that improve our world in general, and the global Jewish community in particular. They have caused borders to virtually fade into nonexistence. In my college senior thesis (The Globalization of Judaism), I argued that the Internet has (and will continue to) change the global Jewish community religiously, culturally, and educationally. As the online virtual community has grown, the actual Jewish community seems smaller and the proverbial borders have disappeared.

There are many who argue that the new communication tools are a hindrance to our community. They complain that our ability to always be connected is an intrusiveness in modern life. I propose that our embrace of social networking changes our cultural community in wonderful ways. To be interconnected within our global community can lead to positive advances in all realms.

My colleague, Rabbi Aaron Bergman (right) of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan, wrote a very nice article in this month's congregational bulletin on the subject of always being "in touch" through modern communication technology. Rather than complaining about the intrusiveness of modern life, Rabbi Bergman writes that he embraces it. He acknowledges that through his Blackberry, Facebook page, and Twitter account, he is "able to communicate with people with common interests from around the world". He appreciates being able to reconnect with old friends and stay in regular communication with people (his congregants) when he's not sitting at his office desk.

While some complain that the new technologies alienate people from each other, Rabbi Bergman theorizes that our embrace of social networking is actually a reaction to feeling alienated, not the cause of it. I agree.

There are enough individuals who are negative about our society's connected lifestyle in the 21st century. Many of the same people who once railed against cellphones, now use them incessantly. Those who couldn't understand the necessity of PDAs, Blackberrys, and iPhones now can't live without them. And those who scoffed at social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as a silly waste of time have set up their own accounts.

The future is here and we are still figuring out how to best utilize the new technology. I'm glad to see rabbis like Aaron Bergman embrace these new communication tools. Many rabbis are resistant because they have yet to discover how to best capitlize on them.

Together with a couple other rabbis, I've been asked by Rabbi Julie Schoenfeld, the new Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Assembly, to consult the RA on technology issues. Together, we are trying to figure out how rabbis can best make use of these advances in modern communications. Every rabbi now uses e-mail daily, participates in e-mail listservs, and posts sermons to the synagogue website. Now, the time has come to help rabbis take the next step: using a blog to communicate with their congregants, setting up a Facebook page, teaching bits of Torah through a Twitter account, posting their sermons and lectures on YouTube, and teaching through Podcasts.

My teacher, Rabbi Hayim Herring (for whom I'm honored to be mistaken - see here), is writing a book to be published by The Alban Institute entitled Tools for Shuls: A Guide to Make Over Your Synagogue. On his blog, which functions as a virtual labratory for his book, he has a section called "Digital Dreaming: Using Technology Wisely". In it, he writes that the new communication tools and the environment are ripe for experimentations in creating new virtual Jewish communities. In fact, they are already happening. We've come a long way since my first Talmud teacher at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Avi Reisner, raised the question of whether a virutal minyan (prayer quorum of ten) would be "kosher" if it were assembled through the virtual realm of the Internet. His teshuvah (Jewish legal responsum), "Wired to the Kadosh Barukh Hu: Minyan via Internet", is available here.

There are pros and cons to our new modes of communication. But we must try to discover how to best utilize them for success. We should also get to know them well enough that we will determine their negative effects and navigate our way around those. One example of this is Liel Leibowitz's analysis of Twitter, the microblogging networking site. In his article in the Forward, "Communication Breakdown: Dispatches from the Virtual World", Leibowitz argues that the condensing of our communication to 140-character messages is not a very Jewish concept. After all, we are the People of the Book! He imagines the scene from Mount Sinai in which a modern-day Moses reaches the apex of the mountain, pulls out his iPhone and communicates to the Israelite nation via Twitter. "The people, he knows, will be blogging about this moment for ages to come". Leibowitz opines:

Examining this thinning of language — these starved forms of communications that favor the quick and the inconsequential while remaining unsuited for thoughts that may take space to unfold and time to read — it is easy to succumb to a technologically deterministic depression and declare the end of intelligent civilization near. But since Jews have been forever defined — even constituted — by our relationship with the book and, as a result, with the written word at large, we must pay special attention to these winds of change. Without being unduly alarmist, one can say that the Internet may be killing off the Jewish mind.

Whether or not, this form of communication bodes well for the Jewish people, Leibowitz is correct to assess it. We must all do this. Instead of avoiding the new technology available to us, let us find the applications that will work to our advantage and then improve our communities (synagogues, schools, organizations, etc.) for the future. There are ways to exploit new communication technology and new networking applications that will greatly enhance our global Jewish community.

What are some ways in which you're doing it?

Intermarried Rabbinical Students

2009-04-24T13:27:00.005-04:00

The student-run journal New Voices has published some thought-provoking and quite provocative articles in recent issues. Their current issue takes on a theme I don't think has been discussed much. Is it acceptable for rabbinical students to intermarry? This is certainly not an issue in the Orthodox world and I don't remember it ever really being discussed at JTS (Conservative). However, in the more liberal rabbinical schools (namely the Reform's Hebrew Union College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the new non-denominational Hebrew College), I guess this has been an issue.

One of my classmates at JTS was dating a non-Jewish woman, but she converted to Judaism early on in our six-year course of study and it was a non-issue.

The New Voices article, "The Coming of the Intermarried Rabbi", by Jeremy Gillick opens with the story of David Curiel (right), who decided to become a rabbi in the summer of 2008. Curiel was shocked when Hebrew College told him he would not be welcome at its seminary because his wife was not Jewish. In the "it's a small world" category, Curiel is from Metro Detroit and is the brother of a Hebrew High School classmate of mine from Adat Shalom Synagogue.

The author explains that the "Conservative movement's Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), the Reform movement's Hebrew Union College (HUC) and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) all refuse to admit or ordain students in relationships with non-Jews".

The policy at the Reform Movement's seminaries reads: "Because we believe in the importance of Jewish family modeling, applicants who are married to or in committed relationships with non-Jews will not be considered for acceptance to this program".

Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, dean of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philly said "The bedrock of what it means to be Jewish is to belong to the Jewish people. Leaders of the Jewish community, who model to others what Jewish life can be, should themselves be in homes that are fully Jewish".

There are some intermarried rabbis out there. "In 1992, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a founder of the neo-Kabbalistic Jewish Renewal movement, ordained Tirzah Firestone, making her the first intermarried rabbi on record. In her memoir With Roots in Heaven: One Woman's Passionate Journey into the Heart of Her Faith, Firestone recounts how her husband inspired her return to Judaism, but that their marriage ultimately fell apart because of his faith."

According to Rabbi Marcia Prager, the dean of ordination programs at ALEPH (Renewal), Firestone's experience informed the school's approximately 10-year-old policy to evaluate students with non-Jewish partners on a case-by-case basis. When ALEPH does admit such students, it does so with the hope that the non-Jewish partner will one day "join the tribe".

What do you think? Leave your comment about whether it is appropriate for rabbinical schools to refuse to admit intermarried candidates into their ordination program.

Baseball and Holiday Conflicts

2009-04-08T15:24:00.003-04:00

The Detroit Tigers' 2009 home opener is this Friday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. I would get tickets and attend if it weren't the second day of Passover. According to T.S. O'Connell, sports historian and the editor of the Sports Collectors Digest, Jews shouldn't be the only religious group upset with the date of the Tigers' home opener this year. On his blog, The Infield Dirt, O'Connell writes:

I saw a news item recently that said the Detroit Tigers were taking a bit of heat because of the scheduling of their home opener on April 10, more precisely noting that some Catholics were upset that the 1:05 p.m. start time came during the noon to 3 p.m. period when traditional Christian belief holds that Jesus was hung on the cross.

O'Connell then writes how this news item caused him to wonder how this particular conflict (opening day an Good Friday) hadn't come up before. He waxes nostalgic about the 1965 decision by Sandy Koufax to forgo pitching in the World Series opener against the Minnesota Twins because it fell on Yom Kippur. He writes:

I was just a 15-year-old kid, frantically following the approaching World Series in the New York Daily News, and I was just awestruck that somebody (actually my favorite pitcher) could take a pass on what I regarded as a secular assignment with near-religious overtones. Mostly it just impressed me with the seriousness of the Jewish faith; the decision only enhanced my view of Koufax, aided neatly by the later developments that saw the Dodgers win in seven games. By my way of thinking, it was no harm, no foul. I also found it fascinating to learn years later as I became something of an amateur baseball historian that there was never really any major decision involved for Sandy. He had long since made it clear to the Dodgers’ brass that he would not play on Yom Kippur, so when the prohibition coincided with one of the holiest days in the baseball world, it was what we would later call a "no brainer." That same thirst for reading about baseball history would lead me to Hank Greenberg’s decision to skip a game during the 1934 pennant race for the same reason.

What a statement it would make if Mike Ilitch, owner of the Detroit Tigers, told the commissioner of baseball that the Tigers would have to reschedule their opening day game at Comerica Park because of Good Friday and Passover. Of course, with my luck, they'd reschedule the game to Shabbat and I still wouldn't be able to go!

On the same subject, I laughed when I read an email circulating about the Boston Red Sox home opener this year. Here it is:

The Red Sox home opener this year will be postponed for Passover.

Red Sox general manager, Theo Epstein announced that the Boston Red Sox home opener will be postponed to April 14 to avoid the eight days of the Passover holiday. He noted, because three of his starters (Kevin Youkilis, Gabe Kapler and Adam Stern) are Jewish as are his box seat holders, he was forced to make this change in scheduling. There have been several complaints from fans, who are enraged at Epstein's decision. In fact, protests are being tendered to the commissioner of baseball's office. However, Bud Selig, commissioner of baseball, will not be able to address these protests; mainly due to a scheduling problem. This has been caused by the family seders he and Mrs. Selig will be attending.

Also, unable to attend the opener: Al Gore and Tipper will be unavailable as they will attend a seder at their son in law's home. Bill and Hilary Clinton will be attending the seder at the home of their daughter Chelsea's boyfriend. In addition, former mayor of NYC, Rudy Guiliani, whose wife will be busy preparing their seder. And finally the Obamas will be out of town enjoying a seder at Michele’s cousin's house, Rabbi Capers Funnye.

Capers Funnye and America's Next Top Rabbi

2009-04-05T17:10:00.007-04:00

I had already heard about Rabbi Capers Funnye when I looked at Congregation Ahavas Israel's monthly newsletter a few months ago. The only Conservative synagogue in Grand Rapids, Michigan advertised their upcoming scholar-in-residence weekend on the front page of their congregation's bulletin.

This past November, they invited Rabbi Capers Funnye, the head rabbi of the mostly African-American 200 member Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago (He also serves as a senior research associate for the Institute of Jewish and Community Research in San Francisco). The Black rabbi spoke at the Grand Rapids shul on Shabbat and then at a local church on Sunday. The only thing that surprised me about seeing this upcoming program was: Why hadn't other synagogues thought of this? After all, this is First Lady Michelle Obama's cousin!

Well, this certainly wasn't to be Rabbi Funnye's last time speaking in a white suburban congregation. As my friend Zev Chafets reports in this weekend's New York Times Magazine ("Barack Obama's Rabbi"), Rabbi Funnye and his wife chose to celebrate Martin Luther King Day at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, a mainstream NYC Reform congregation, rather than attend pre-inauguration festivities in D.C. for Funnye's relative Barack Obama.

Chafets writes an enlightening article about Rabbi Funnye and the Black Judaism that he embraces. Just how close are the Funnye's and Obama's? Well, as Chafets writes, they seem to have reunited at Barack and Michelle's wedding. And due to their "common interest in community organizing in Chicago, they saw each other often, socially and professionally". Capers and Mary Funnye also had VIP reserved seats during President Obama's inaugural speech when they sat among Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and close family members.

When the news of Michelle Obama's black rabbi cousin broke, there were many in the Jewish community who weren't sure what to think about this revelation. Was it a secret? Is he close with Barack? Is he really a rabbi? Is he really Jewish? I think the NYT Magazine article by Chafets will clear that up once and for all, especially considering the title of the piece: "Obama's Rabbi".

And there are a couple other rabbis who may lay claim to being the rabbinic advisor to the Commander in Chief. Rabbi Jack Moline, a Conservative rabbi in Alexandria, Virginia is probably the most well-connected rabbi in the Beltway with the exception of Rabbi David Saperstein of the Reform Movement's RAC (Religious Action Committee). Moline's close ties to Rahm Emanuel could certainly put him in the running to be Obama's rabbi in D.C. And Rabbi Asher Lopatin (left), Rahm Emanuel's rabbi in Chicago, could also get President Obama's ear when he wants it (at least indirectly through the Chief of Staff).

So, with three rabbis with close connections to the president, it is surprising that none of these rabbis (Funnye, Moline, or Lopatin) made Newsweek's list of the most influential rabbis for 2009. The recently released list is made up of most of the usual suspects who have graced the list since its inception in 2007, as well as some newbies.

Maybe Rabbi Capers Funnye is too "outside the mainstream" to be included in the list one might say. Well, to that I offer Yehuda Berg (#13), the head of the "cultish" Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles, who includes non-Jews Madonna, Lindsey Lohan, and Ashton Kutcher among his balabatim and offers a free lucky red-string to visitors of his website.

While Rabbis Moline and Lopatin didn't make the list either (probably because they are not based in LA or NY), there are a few influential rabbis on the list for the first time who are quite deserving. It was nice to see Rabbi Jill Jacobs (right) of Jewish Funds for Justice and Rabbi Elie Kaunfer (founder of Mechon Hadar and Kehillat Hadar) on the list for the first time. It was not surprising to see that Rabbi Menachem Genack, the head of the Orthodox Union's kosher division, made the list this year. However, Rabbi Morris Allen (Hekhsher Tzedek) was notably absent. I was also happy, but not surprised, to see that Rabbi Steve Gutow (Jewish Council for Public Affairs) made the list at #20 this year.

I was thrilled to see Rabbi Daniel Brenner on the list for the first time. I worked with Daniel at CLAL, when I served an internship there in 2001. He is now the director of Birthright Next, a program that keeps tabs on alumni of the Taglit-Birthright Israel program and helps these young people get more involved in the Jewish community. Daniel is a very talented guy and very deserving of this honor. Other CLAL figureheads on the list this year include Rabbi Irwin Kula (#7 in 2008; #12 in 2009) and Rabbi Brad Hirschfield (moving from #39 to #42).

Each year this list comes with the usual kvetches from the Jewish community. It's a silly list everyone argues. And it probably is a bit silly since there are no statistics one can use to measure the influence of rabbis in our country. It's also difficult to compare all these rabbis who have such different functions within the community (academics, fundraising, community organizing, kashrut policing, book publishing, etc.) But, as always, it makes for interesting conversation and debate.

Blog post on the 2008 Newsweek list of America's Most Influential Rabbis

Blog post on the 2007 Newsweek list of America's Most Influential Rabbis

Madoff and Pilot Sully

2009-04-03T13:59:00.006-04:00

Rabbi Avi Shafran (right) never ceases to amaze me. He is the director of public affairs of Agudath Israel of America and the unofficial spokesman for Orthodox Judaism. Shafran is skilled, yet dangerous, with the pen. He has made a career out of writing op-ed pieces that defend Orthodoxy and delegitimize the non-Orthodox.

His latest op-ed piece is sure to shock. It is shocking in the way that the self-proclaimed "King of All Media", Howard Stern, says outrageous and sensational things. People will do a double-take at the first sentence alone.

In his editorial for the JTA, "Bernie, Sully and Me", Shafran writes:

Something tells me I won't make any new friends (and might even lose some old ones) if I confess to harboring some admiration for Bernard Madoff.

And to make things worse, I can't muster much for Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot who safely landed a full commercial airliner in the Hudson River back in January.

Let me try to explain. Please.

Mr. Madoff committed a serious economic crime on an unprecedented scale for such wrongdoing, and in the process ruined the financial futures of numerous people and institutions, including charitable ones, worldwide. There can be no denying that.

Rabbi Shafran makes the point that at least Bernie Madoff did teshuvah. He ceased his Ponzi scheme (after decades), confessed his sins, apologized, and will now serve prison time. Shafran finds Madoff's contrition to be admirable and can't understand how folks who were bilked by the Ponzi schemer, like Elie Wiesel, get off calling for horrific punishment for his sins. Shafran cites Jewish law which does not differentiate between one who steals a small amount of money ("pilfering a dime") and a thief like Madoff who scammed people out of billions of dollars. Shafran seems to say that halakhically (according to Jewish law), Madoff is no worse than one who cheats on his taxes thereby "defrauding 300 million of his fellow citizens".

Shafran then takes up the issue of whether Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger, the U.S. Airlines pilot who miraculously landed his doomed plane in the Hudson River, is a hero. He writes:

No such sublimity of spirit, though, was in evidence in any of the public acts or words of Mr. Sullenberger. He saved 155 lives, no doubt about it, and is certainly owed the gratitude of those he saved, and of their families and friends. And he executed tremendous skill.

But no moral choice was involved in his act. He was on the plane too, after all; his own life depended on undertaking his feat no less than the lives of others. He did what anyone in terrible circumstances would do: try to stay alive.

Shafran even goes so far as to criticize Pilot Sullenberger for not acknowledging God ("the One Who instilled such astounding abilities in His creations") for the miracle or for granting him his piloting skills. That's a harsh critique right there, but Shafran continues. He chastises Sullenberger for signing a $3 million book deal with HarperCollins and agreeing to a second book of inspirational poems, while Bernard Madoff will languish in jail for the rest of his life.

Shafran poetically concludes his essay declaring that he is "unmoved by the pilot, and, at least somewhat, inspired by the penitent".

Okay, because he is a fine writer, Shafran is able to explain why he draws inspiration from Madoff and why the hero pilot doesn't do anything for him. But, we should take this editorial for what it is: sensational journalism.

According to Maimonides, Madoff hasn't even done teshuvah yet. Has he been in a position to commit the same crime again and chose not to? I don't think we know the answer to that. With regard to Sullenberger, I suppose it's true that he was on the plane too and his own life depended on undertaking his feat. But it was both his skill as a pilot, and his ability to perform under such pressure, that make him a hero. No one should try and take that away from him. And if he chooses not to publicly acknowledge his Creator, well, that's his prerogative. And only someone like Rabbi Shafran would go the extreme of publicly admonishing him for this omission.

My conclusions: 1) Avi Shafran is a good writer; 2) Avi Shafran likes to make sensational statements that attract attention; 3) Bernie Madoff is still evil; 4) Pilot Sully is still a hero.

Update: On April 6, Avi Shafran issued an apology for his essay. Shafran wrote:

My recent Am Echad Resources essay "Bernie, Sully and Me" has generated substantial criticism from many readers, including people whose opinions I deeply respect. I have come to the conclusion that that there were errors in both the content and tone of the essay, for which I apologize. My main goal in publishing these essays is to help people understand eternal Jewish truths. Unfortunately, here I chose unsuitable examples for the concepts I sought to impart, failing to accomplish that goal and offending many people in the process. I am grateful, as always, for the constructive comments and feedback I received from my readership, whose confidence I hope to retain going forward.

JTA reported that both Rabbi Eric Yoffie (president of the Union for Reform Judaism) and Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb (head of the Orthodox Union) wrote blistering op-eds in response to Shafran's views. Yoffie wrote that "Shafran completely misinterprets Jewish teachings on repentance" and his views demonstrate "ignorance of Jewish tradition".

Indie Minyans Revisited

2009-04-01T08:41:00.005-04:00

I last took up the subject of independent minyanim (or "Indie Minyans") on this blog in January 2008. What prompted me to blog about these minyanim (prayer services) for the 20- and 30-something crowd was the coverage in the mainstream press. The New York Times article (November 28, 2007) opened with the following line: "There are no pews at Tikkun Leil Shabbat, no rabbis, no one with children or gray hair."

At the 2004 UJC General Assembly in Cleveland, I attended a session in which my colleague Elie Kaunfer (founder of Kehilat Hadar) was one of the panelists. He was challenged about what happens in the future when these young, progressive members of the indie minyans need a nursery school for their toddler or a rabbi for their son's bar mitzvah. He theorized that many of these young adults would move out to the suburbs and join established synagogues as they got married and had children. His caveat was that they would shake up the establishment at these congregations. Time would tell.

Well, it's now been about a decade since the founding of indie minyans like Hadar and those original members are now in their mid-thirties with spouses and children not too far off from the bar and bat mitzvah track. But many of them are doing what they did ten years ago. They're founding new minyans and recognizing that DIYJ (do it yourself Judaism) can extend to their families too (Who says you need a rabbi to officiate at a bat mitzvah?).

This doesn't bode well for the Conservative Movement where most of the indie minyan adherents were brought up and educated. Rabbi Jerry Epstein (right), the outgoing head of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, was banking on the idea that these "best and brightest" young people could be lured back to Conservative synagogues. As any study of the American Jewish population will tell you there are far fewer Conservative synagogues than there were when these indie minyan alumni were teenagers in USY and their synagogues are much thinner now membership-wise (at least the ones that haven't merged with other synagogues).

Rabbi Epstein writes that these young Conservative Jews "live precisely as we told them to [at Camp Ramah and in USY], but paradoxically they practice their Judaism outside our movement. They perceive that there is no place for them and their Judaism in the Conservative synagogue. If we want to grow in numbers and strength, if we want to inspire passion and commitment, we have to welcome those Jews who live our values and ideology outside of our synagogues to do it inside our synagogues instead."

This is no surprise to me. The Conservative Movement in general, and its affiliated synagogues in particular, got fat and lazy during the movement's heyday (1950-1990). They took their market share for granted and didn't progress or modernize. They also neglected to look behind them as the Reform, Modern Orthodox, Reconstructionist, and Chabad movements were gaining ground. Many of my contemporaries who were active in the movement's youth program (USY) and at the movement's various Ramah camps had a choice to make: become a Conservative rabbi or affiliate with Modern Orthodoxy. The Jewish Theological Seminary, the theory went, was the only place in the Conservative Movement where one could actually live out the ideals of Conservative Judaism. The young person who became more observant within the framework of the Conservative Jewish ideal was made to feel unwelcome in the Conservative synagogue. Is there any doubt why they packed up and moved to Orthodoxy or helped create a new non-denominational minyan community?

So what is the Conservative Movement's strategy for drawing in former members who have left for the indie minyan movement? Bribery!

Rabbi Epstein has some $2,500 checks to give out to entice some of these minyans to forge relationships with the Conservative Movement. The amount is relatively insignificant when you consider that Kehilat Hadar's annual operating budget is $160,000 and they have received six-figure grants recently from the Covenant Foundation and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation (where selling out isn't a prerequisite to getting the funding). I can't imagine a couple thousand dollars forcing any indie minyan to lose its independence and hook up with the establishment that was the impetus for its initial creation.

Ben Harris, in a JTA article (Figuring out why promising Conservative alumni set up 'indy minyans'), explains what has happened in the aftermath of these grants from USCJ: "More than six months later, the organization has handed out six grants. At least two went to minyanim that already had relationships with a local Conservative synagogue. One minyan founder in New York said his group's connection to the movement had changed little since it received the grant. "

The discussion about indie minyans and the Conservative Movement's desire to reconnect its best and brightest young people to the established Conservative synagogues they fled has been taken up at the Jewschool blog under the title "Same story in two movements". Several young Reform Jews have remarked that the pattern is similar in the Reform Movement as well.

David Wilensky writes on his Reform Shuckle blog that this is "the same challenge that I and many of my friends face with our own Reform movement. The Reform world has educated some of us so well and so effectively taught us how to be engaged in some sort of active personal reformation and now we're so into it that all the 'normal' Reform Jews think we're nuts."

Justin, a commentor on the Jewschool site, wrote "I also think that what Epstein et al fail to understand, coming from a future Conservative ordained rabbi who was the gabbai of an indy minyan, is that it is PRECISELY being engaged with the movement that is the problem. If we can pursue egalitarian, halakhically inspired and influenced communities without paying dues, and manage to have successful prayer communities, why do we need the movement at all? In my opinion, and this is overtly crass, movement folk want to keep their movement jobs and they view us as a threat. Hence the USCJ donating grants to indy minyanim willing to have relations with Conservative shuls. I think they believe that when people need religious school and day-care they will join a shul. For now this may be true, but I am sure eventually indy minyanim will be able to figure out how to provide that for their own communities similar to what the havura movement was able to do in some instances in the 70s."

I agree with Justin. I think that as these emerging communities and indie minyanim came on the scene, the thinking from the establishment was that these were transient communities for Jewish young people in the post-college (Hillel) and pre-family (religious school and bar mitzvah) part of life. Well, that does not appear to be the case.

It looks like the indie minyan that starts with a dozen grad students turns into a havurah and and then eventually the type of ideal synagogue community these "best and brightest" Conservative Movement dropouts have been dreaming about but the established Conservative Movement, with its status quo thinking, cannot provide for them.

Irving Berg

2009-03-27T16:48:00.012-04:00

When I was an 11-year-old camper at Camp Maas in Ortonville, Michigan, I had the privilege to be part of the group of campers in Deroy village who designed and built a concrete sculpture. "Priestly Blessing" is an artistic representation of the hands of the kohen (priest) offering his blessing. The artist who led the project was Irving Berg (right), the long-time artist-in-residence of Tamarack Camps.

Irving Berg died on March 21, 2009 at 87. It is impossible to walk around the Tamarack property (1,500 acres) without encountering his sculptures. The Irving Berg Sculpture Garden is one man's permanent contribution to a Jewish camp. With these sculptures Irv will continue to educate Jewish campers about their heritage even after he no longer walks this earth.

This past summer (2008), I facilitated a scavenger hunt of sorts with the oldest campers at Camp Maas -- the Teen Service Staff (TSS). The group of sixty teens who would be entering 11th grade were divided into smaller groups and then sent out in search of some of Irv Berg's sculptures. They had to decipher the Jewish message each sculpture represents and then report back to the group. Many of the Jewish teens remarked how they had spent many summers at camp seeing these works of art, but never considered the deeper meaning behind each sculpture.

A wonderful tribute to Irv's legacy at camp was created in Summer 2008. Award-winning animator Gary Schwartz created an animated documentary of Irv Berg's sculptures. The film can be viewed below.

As the rabbi of Tamarack Camps, I had the distinct honor of officiating at Irv Berg's funeral. The hesped (eulogy) that I delivered is available online and the obituary is available at the Detroit Jewish News website.

Bill Davidson

2009-03-16T10:05:00.015-04:00

You couldn't go anywhere in the Detroit area this past weekend without hearing people talk about Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson. Last Friday night the sad news was about former Pistons coach Chuck Daly announcing he has Pancreatic Cancer. This past Friday night the sad news was that "Mr. D" had died.

Bill Davidson, the owner of Guardian Industries (a worldwide glass manufacturer), bought the Detroit Pistons -- a team that hadn't shown a profit in 17 years -- from Fred Zollner in 1974 for approximately six-million dollars (Davidson always said the reported seven-million dollar figure was overstated). The team is currently worth $480 million. He bought the team with his good friend Oscar Feldman, the team's long time legal counsel (Current Advisory Board Members include Warren Coville, brother-in-law Bud Gerson, sister Dorothy Gerson, Ann Newman and William Wetsman).

Bill Davidson will be remembered as an innovator in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the first owner to fly his team on a private jet ("Roundball One"), sit court-side among the fans rather than in a private box or suite, and purchase a state-of-the-art arena (The Palace of Auburn Hills) with all private funds. Mr. Davidson was also the innovator of the co-branding and sponsorship marketing that has become commonplace inside NBA arenas.

Bill Davidson was not your typical billionaire (according to the Forbes list his net worth totals over $5.5 billion). He could have worn expensive custom-made Italian suits, but he preferred warm-up suits and Members-Only jackets.

His philanthropic reach was enormous. Personally, I found that wherever I traveled on my own educational and professional journey there was Bill Davidson.

As a young student at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit, I sat in classrooms that were part of a wing that Mr. Davidson named for his children Ethan and Marla Davidson (this was the first renovation of the school's Middlebelt campus). I studied for my master's degree at the William Davidson Graduate School o f Jewish Education of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. As a Jewish educator I've been part of continuing education programs in the Metro Detroit area through TEAM (Teacher Educator Advancement Model), a program of the Hermelin Davidson Center for Congregation Excellence. As a staff member of the University of Michigan Hillel Foundation, I worked in a building that was established because of the generosity of Mr. Davidson and many of his friends.

As a rabbi I have led groups in Israel to the Davidson Center for Exhibition and Virtual Reconstruction in the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel’s most important antiquity site in the Old City of Jerusalem which was funded by Bill Davidson.

As a rabbi in Columbus, Ohio I was a guest at a dinner at the home of Les and Abigail Wexner for Jewish communal leaders to meet the newest class of Wexner Fellows and Davidson Scholars. In 2005, the Wexners launched the philanthropic partnership with William and Karen Davidson through the financial support of Guardian Industries Corp. This new partnership established an annual cohort of 10 Davidson Scholars as part of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship.

The Davidson school at the Seminary is a great example of Mr. Davidson's philanthropic mission. He shared his thoughts about the vision of the school, but then allowed the school's leadership to lead. He cared deeply about the students at the Davidson school and was eager to solicit their feedback. In January 2005 he invited the Davidson School's alumni who live in Metro Detroit to his office at Guardian Industries to have lunch and discuss the school, Jewish education in general, and the future of the Conservative Movement (see blog post). It was evident that he did not merely want to endow a school; he wanted to make a significant difference in Jewish education. At the Davidson School it was not uncommon to hear fellow students refer to Bill Davidson as "Uncle Bill".

At the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, I walk by his Jewish Sports Hall of Fame plaque (right) each time I walk into the fitness center to work out. Mr. Davidson was inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in the organization's first year. He was also inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2008.

Bill Davidson's philanthropy was immense. The University of Michigan, Jewish Theological Seminary, the Weizmann Institute, and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology all benefited from his great fortune. In 2007, Mr. Davidson donated the second largest gift ever devoted to a Jewish cause with his $75 million donation to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. The hospital tower will be named for Davidson’s mother, Sarah Wetsman Davidson, a longtime Hadassah volunteer leader.

Regarding the Hadassah gift, Jonathan Aaron (Davidson’s assistant and son-in-law) was quoted in the Forward as saying, "Mr. Davidson doesn't usually fund brick-and-mortar type projects, but here there was the history and the family ties."

Detroit Free Press writer Mitch Albom summed up Mr. Davidson's devotion to the State of Israel in his column yesterday. He wrote, "His love for the Jewish community and the state of Israel was unrivaled. As many tears are shed for his death in Detroit, there are likely that many falling in parts of the Holy Land. Davidson, who sometimes got on his private plane in pajamas and flew overnight to Tel Aviv, walked with the biggest names in that country. And his generosity -- there, here and elsewhere -- will be missed."

This past December, Bill and Karen Davidson along with Jon and Mary Aaron invited all local alumni of the Jewish Theological Seminary to their suite at the Palace of Auburn Hills to watch the Detroit Pistons play. It was a very generous way for the Davidson family to acknowledge local rabbis, cantors, and educators. But more importantly, it gave all of us a chance to say "thank you" to this wonderful and kind man in his own home -- in his Palace. Bill Davidson was a mentsch.

We'll miss you Mr. D! Thank you for your immense contributions. Our world is a better place because of your generosity, demeanor, and leadership. May his family be comforted with the blessings of his memory.

Pancreatic Cancer

2009-03-07T21:58:00.004-05:00

I haven't written anything on this blog since the end of last year. There have been several topics I planned to cover, but just never got around to the actual writing part of it. I have also been preoccupied recently with my uncle's condition. My Uncle Jerry, with whom I was extremely close throughout my life, lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on February 21, 2009. He was diagnosed, at 54-years-old, a little more than three months prior.

Pancreatic cancer gets much less attention than other cancers and the research for pancreatic cancer is funded at far lower levels than other forms of cancer even though nearly as many people die of pancreatic cancer as breast cancer. As a result of my uncle's death, our family has discovered an amazing organization called The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network or Pancan, where we have set up a fund in his memory.

Pancreatic cancer is so deadly because it is difficult to detect, early to metastasize, and resistant to most treatments. Perhaps with several celebrities currently battling Pancreatic Cancer, the disease will attract more attention and funding. Actor Patrick Swayze, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg are all battling the disease. Opera great Luciano Pavarotti and actor Michael Landon both died of pancreatic cancer, as did Prof. Randy Pausch, co-author of The Last Lecture.

Just yesterday, it was reported that former Detroit Pistons coach Chuck Daly (left), a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The 78-year-old is beloved here in Detroit for leading the Pistons to two NBA championships (1989 and 1990) and a U.S. gold medal in basketball (1992). In addition to being one of the greatest coaches in the history of professional basketball, Daly has always been known as a true gentleman.

I wish Coach Daly the best in his fight against this deadly disease. All I can do is hope that more people, especially our elected officials, open their eyes to this horrific killer and give it more attention and more funding for research. In the meantime, my heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones to Pancreatic Cancer. I can now, unfortunately, speak from experience and say how devastating the feeling is.

Sacred Space

2008-12-28T22:57:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about sacred space recently. Of course, I give much thought to the concept of what makes a place holy (or sacred) whenever I am in Israel. At each turn one encounters a sacred location from Jewish history.

However, what turns a place that is generally considered to be a secular place into a sacred one?

Last week, after I taught my monthly class on Jewish business ethics at a Downtown Detroit law firm I began to drive back uptown to the suburbs. When I turned to get on the highway I saw the old Tiger Stadium in the distance. While Tiger Stadium hasn't been used as the home field of the Detroit Tigers since the Tigers last played there on September 27, 1999, it is still very much on the minds of Detroiters and Tigers fans. Seeing the vacant stadium (or what's left of it since some of it was demolished earlier this year) standing there at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull, I was lured to go pay a visit. I parked my car along the street where the Right Field wall once stood -- the area where my favorite player Kirk Gibson used to defend the outfield. I got out and took some photos of the snow-covered park. I felt extremely nostalgic about the baseball stadium where I viewed my first Major League game (and many more after that).

There is much debate about what will become of the old Tiger Stadium, but no matter what it is used for (hopefully little league games) or how it is memorialized (hopefully a museum) there is no question that for me it is sacred space.

This is true of other places in my life as well. I'm sure that many years from now, the Palace of Auburn Hills (home to the Detroit Pistons for the past twenty years) will also become a sacred space to Pistons fans like me who have enjoyed watching them play there (even though I have fond memories of watching the Pistons play at the Pontiac Silverdome as well).

Some places have sentimental value because they haven't changed much over the years. My oldest son is a preschool student in the exact same classroom where I was a preschool student at Adat Shalom Synagogue in the early 1980s. The classroom hasn't changed much since then, so each time I walk in to drop him off for school I experience yet another flashback to my childhood. Of course, it has been transformed into a more modern classroom to keep pace with the educational advances of the past three decades. A few years ago I even taught a class in that same room for teenagers and found that to be a surreal experience (at least during the first class). That classroom is certainly a sacred space for me as it is the location where both my formal education and my first born child's formal education commenced. Independent of the fact that it is in a holy place (synagogue), it still carries sacredness. It is sacred space.

In some cases, it is specifically the way in which a sacred space has been transformed that gives it meaning and value. In the case of the original location of the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center (America's First Freestanding Holocaust Memorial Center), the transformation is stark and conveys an interesting message. Several years ago, the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center moved to a new location a few miles away leaving the JCC with the decision of what to do with the space. A new, state-of-the-art teen center now occupies the entire building where the Holocaust center was once located.

A couple days ago I was given a tour of the JCC's new Beverly Prentis Wagner Teen Center (right) by director Lindsey Fox. It is a very impressive site with ping pong tables, foosball, Nintendo Wii spots, computer labs, a snack-bar, video games, and more. The fact that thousands of Jewish teens will now gather socially in a space once occupied by a memorial to the Holocaust was not lost on me. As soon as I entered the teen center I remembered the chill I felt each time I visited the Holocaust center. I remembered the buzzing sound of the lights above and the coldness of the brick walls. Certain things haven't changed much in the space. The movie auditorium where I once viewed survivor testimonies looks the same -- although now teenagers will watch High School Musical and Adam Sandler movies there. The small seating areas where I once watched films of the Nazi killing machine on small televisions will now be used for Jewish youth to play video games on flat screen monitors. And the conference room where Holocaust researchers once lectured will now be filled with Jewish youth group members eating pizza and socializing.

This is the best way to demonstrate that some sixty years since the end of the Holocaust the Jewish people have endured. This is a loud statement that the Nazi attempts to eradicate the Jewish people were unsuccessful.

A beloved baseball stadium left vacant that will soon be used for youth baseball. A nursery school classroom occupied by multi-generations. A Holocaust memorial center transformed into a Jewish teen center. Each of these is a sacred space transformed to preserve its sacredness.

Haredi Driver's Licenses

2008-12-23T11:28:00.005-05:00

There is a concept in Jewish Law that can have both positive and negative outcomes. Pirkei Avot (The Ethics of the Sages) opens with the idea to "erect a fence around the Torah" ("asu s'yag laTorah"). This metaphorical fence is intended to protect the Jewish people from even coming close to sin or violating a commandment.

Oftentimes, however, this fence can be "erected" too far from the original intent of the law. I see this all the time in matters of Kosher certification. One of my rabbinic colleagues tells the story of a Haredi man in Jerusalem who claims there are only three Kosher restaurants in Jerusalem. In actuality there are hundreds, however, this man's fence is so far from the actual laws of Kashrut that he has self-limited himself to only a few establishments that meet his rigorous standards.

A couple years ago it was announced that the Ultra-Orthodox were forbidden from using the Internet - a fence erected to ensure they don't deter into some unacceptable sites. An article in New Jersey Star Ledger referred to a man who relied on the Internet from his business, yet was still going to pull the plug because if he didn't his children faced suspension or expulsion from their yeshivah.

In today's Ynet News, we now learn that it is not just the Internet that is banned in the Orthodox community. Driving cars or even getting a driver's license are now outlawed as well! Yeshivah students will be expelled if they get a driver's license. Fortunately, one of the expelled students was later readmitted after the rabbis at the yeshivah learned that he got the license to help his crippled father.

Uri Gilhar writes:

Four students were expelled from the Tiferet Israel yeshiva in Jerusalem last week after it became known that they had obtained driver's licenses in violation of the yeshiva's rules.

After learning that some of their students might have taken driving lessons, the yeshiva heads conducted a thorough investigation and even contacted the Transportation Ministry on the matter.

"Anyone can call the Transportation Ministry, give an ID number and inquire whether that person owns a driver's license," one of the students explained.

Following the inquiry, the yeshiva heads convened to discuss the "problematic phenomenon" and eventually decided to immediately expel any student who is in possession of a license. The rabbis told the students that they could be readmitted once they have their license revoked.

Most ultra-Orthodox rabbis oppose the notion of a haredi person getting a license. "It's inappropriate for a person who defines himself learned in the Torah to have a driver's license," a prominent rabbi told the yeshiva director when the latter came to consult him on the issue.

The Tiferet Israel yeshivah may not allow their students to drive cars, but they do have a nice website. Too bad no potential students will be allowed Internet access to see it!

Throwing Shoes

2008-12-16T12:21:00.006-05:00

By now everyone has seen the video footage of an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush. The public has treated it as an uproariously funny video clip perfect for YouTube. The president even laughed it off as something not unlike a heckler at a rally. However, the symbolism of the act is much deeper than that.

Enter my favorite Hebrew professor from my rabbinical school days at the Jewish Theological Seminary to bring some scholarly explanation to this act. Prof. Edna Nahshon (right), associate professor of Hebrew at the Seminary, is the author of a new book titled Jews and Shoes.

She is quoted in yesterday's Chicago Tribune, in an article humorously titled: "If the shoe fits, duck."

[Edna Nahshon] said what appeared to be an impulsive caper was really a symbolic act of defiance. "The insult is of such magnitude that Muslims understand and Americans don’t want to," she said. "It looks more like a prank, like a stupid thing to have done ... I think it was intended as a very serious humiliation. It is understood as such."
After all, there’s a reason why Muslims remove their shoes when they enter a mosque to pray. It was not initially a Muslim tradition until the Angel Gabriel reportedly appeared before the Prophet Muhammad and instructed him to remove his shoes while communing with God. Not to mention, shoes are downright dirty.

"Shoes are considered [by Muslims] the truly filthy, defiling item," said Nahshon, an associate professor of Hebrew at Jewish Theological Seminary. "Anyone who has looked at images of the war in Iraq, shoes come up again and again."

Remember images of Iraqis pelting the toppled statue of Saddam Hussein with their shoes? And just a few weeks ago, an effigy of Bush was hung where the statue used to be. Iraqis didn’t stone it. They "shoed" it.

So, what appeared to be a funny prank (like Bill Gates getting a cake in the face) actually was a strong political message. Or perhaps the Iraqi journalist saw video of President Bush doing an African tribal dance without much rhythm and just wanted to provide him with some "sole".

Chabad

2008-12-11T12:18:00.000-05:00

Chabad Lubavitch has been getting a lot of press recently since the tragic murders of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg (z"l), the Chabad shlichim (emissaries) in Mumbai, India who were killed by terrorists. Their story underscores the important mission of these Chabadnik leaders willing to relocate their families to far-flung corners of the earth for kiruv (Jewish outreach). I've heard from several young people who stopped at the Chabad-Lubavitch Nariman House while backpacking through India only to be treated so warmly by Rabbi Holtzberg and his wife. I experienced similarly warm hospitality when I visited a Chabad House in Sumy, Ukraine a few years ago with students from the University of Michigan.

I have always been amazed and impressed by Chabad's devotion to the Jewish people. Their marketing machine and political savvy are the envy of Jewish leaders everywhere. But I have also been skeptical at times about their approach and their agenda, especially on college campuses where the Jewish students are hyper-impressionable.

Due to their belief that Rebbe Menachem Schneerson (left) is the mashiach (messiah), many have cynically described Chabad Lubavitch as the closest religion to Judaism. Regardless of this belief, which is often denied by Chabadniks in large metropolitan Jewish communities where such a messianic tenet would not be well received, Chabad is doing important work throughout the globe.

In many Jewish communities, Chabad has taken on the important job of training young people to work with the developmentally disabled through The Friendship Circle. The program, now with over sixty chapters, matches teenage volunteers who become friends and mentors to children with special needs. Chabad has also pioneered important programs in the Former Soviet Union, including in the devastated community of Chernobyl.

If you're interested in a fair and in-depth study of Chabad Lubavitch, I would highly recommend Sue Fishkoff's The Rebbe's Army.

The most daring, insightful coverage of Chabad however can be found in last month's issue of New Voices magazine. The young columnists of the New Voices journal demystify Chabad, answering questions like: Why, unlike most ultra-Orthodox, do the Lubavitch reach out to rather than reject secular Jews? What do they get when you put on tefillin? Are they Zionist or anti-Zionist? What do they think of mainstream Jewish movements and what do those movements think of them? Do all Lubavitchers even share the same views on these issues?

A blogger on the Moment Magazine blog writes: "Takedown or not, New Voices has done what no other serious Jewish publication has dared do: subject Chabad to the same journalistic scrutiny every powerful, religious movement deserves."

The New Voices issue includes Chabad-related stories about the Agriprocessors Kosher meat scandal, an interview with a Reform rabbi about the place of Chabad in the religious life of secular Jews, a critique of non-Orthodox support for Chabad, and an exploration of the contemporary meaning of the Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway.

The interview with the Reform rabbi who shares his thoughts on Chabad is very interesting. The rabbi is Rabbi Rick Jacobs (left), Senior Rabbi of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York. I met Rabbi Jacobs last year at a STAR Foundation PEER Alumni retreat and was extremely impressed. Rabbi Jacobs tells a funny story in the New Voices interview:

I was in midtown Manhattan, and I'm walking down the street and this wonderful friendly warm Chabadnik stops me and says, 'Are you Jewish?' I'm walking along, I'm wearing a grey suit. I don't know, maybe I have curly Jewish hair. I said, 'Yes, are you?' And he looked at me and started to laugh and he pointed to his tzitzit and to his beard. I said, 'You know, appearances are not always reality.

Rick's story reminds me of another story: Two Jewish Theological Seminary rabbinical students (a man and a woman) were walking by the main gate of Columbia in New York's Upper West Side when a Chabadnik asked the man if he put on tefillin that morning. His response? "No, but she did!"

I'm not sure what the ultimate attraction to Chabad is for so many -- not just the impressionable Jewish college students who flock to Chabad houses for the Rebbetzin's homemade chicken soup and challah, whiskey shots with the rabbi, or hot cholent on Shabbat afternoon. For some college students it may well be that the Chabad rabbi looks, well, more authentically Jewish than his or her Reform or Conservative rabbi back home -- which means more Eastern European and more pious.

The bigger question for me is the new fad of contemporary, progressive Jewish families joining Chabad congregations (in many communities called simply "The Shul"). I know this is driving many rabbis crazy. In some cases, rabbis are seeing their congregants attend Chabad congregations to complement their other synagogue membership. They may go to Chabad for a Shabbat service or even a holiday service (e.g., Simchat Torah), but wouldn't think of not attending their ancestral synagogue for High Holiday services or to celebrate their child's bar or bat mitzvah. But in other cases, Reform and Conservative congregations are seeing their membership numbers decrease to the benefit of the Chabad shul down the street. Again, this could be chalked up to the "authenticity factor" or it could be something deeper. Perhaps it is the warmth that the Chabad rabbis display in their outreach efforts much like the warmth that was a trademark of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, stationed in Mumbai and racking up all those "mitzvah points" through their generosity.

May their memories be for blessings.

Politicians and Kippahs

2008-12-09T22:14:00.010-05:00

Using web applications like Google Analytics and sitemeter, I can track the web searches that have referred visitors to my blog.

Ever since the '08 presidential election and President-Elect Obama's nomination of Rahm Emanuel to be his chief of staff, there have been hundreds of searches for "Rahm Emanuel Kippah" that have landed web surfers to my blog. Apparently, a few mentions of the word kippah (or yarmulke) throughout my blog and a blog post about Rahm Emanuel are enough for search engines to put my blog in their search results listing. This tells me that there are many people out there interested in seeing a photo of Rahm Emanuel wearing a kippah. Well, sorry to disappoint but I haven't seen one either!

However, I have seen many pictures on the Web of other politicians wearing kippahs (yarmulkes). There are photos of Jewish and non-Jewish politicians donning the Jewish headcovering -- from Rudy Guiliani to Bill Clinton (left) and George Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (left). But alas, no picture of a Rahm Emanuel under a kippah.

I asked my friend who attends Rahm Emanuel's modern-Orthodox synagogue in Chicago who told me that when Emanuel shows up (not so often) he wears a black suede kippah.

But what's interesting to me is not that so many people are jonesing for the pic of Emanuel wearing a kippah in the same skeptical way people reacted to Joe Lieberman's claims of being an Orthodox Jew in the 2000 campaign, but rather that there's an expectation to see politicians wearing Jewish religious attire.

I think politicians should wear a kippah if they are speaking in a synagogue, especially in the sanctuary. And maybe they should be expected to cover their head when they do the required photo op at the Kotel (Western Wall) in Jerusalem. However, the kippah photo op at Yad Vashem for politicians has always struck me as odd. I know I'm not the only one. In 2005, blogger Jonathan Rosenblum wrote:

I have always found something faintly ridiculous about the perennial photos of gentile politicians donning yarmulkes to wolf down lox and bagels in Jewish neighborhoods. And I would be hard-pressed not to vote for any gentile politician who refused a proferred yarmulke on the sensible grounds that he is not Jewish. Apparently my view is not universally shared, however. When the Turkish Prime Minister visited Israel last week, he was told Israel would take a dim view of his failure to wear a kippah on a visit to Yad Vashem. He didn’t anyway, apparently on the grounds that many of the voters of his Islamic party would take an even dimmer view of his being seen wearing a Jewish religious symbol.Isn’t this nutso? Some noted that Yad Vashem is not a synagogue, but even if [it] were what disrespect would he have been showing by not wearing a yarmulke? Is he expected to daven? Would a Jew be disrespectful if he declined to take communion in a Catholic Church? (Assuming he did not know it was asur (prohibited by Jewish law) to be there in the first place.)

Blogger Dov Bear essentially made the same argument earlier this year in a post about Barack Obama's visit to Yad Vashem where he wore a white yarmulke (right). Adam Dickter, in a New York Jewish Week blog post in March, wrote about Republican nominee John McCain's odd choice for a kippah during his visit to the Kotel. Rather than going for the cheap black kippah (favored by Bill Clinton), he sported an elaborately emroidered white kippah that cutely matched his traveling buddy Joe Lieberman's kippah.

Perhaps one of President Obama's first acts in office will be to set some clear rules on the kippah wearing expectations of politicians. Synagogues-yes. Holocaust memorial centers-no. Funerals-yes. Jewish or Israel organization fundraising events at hotels-no. Kotel-optional. Maybe congress could even pass legislation on a standard political kippah. Something like a navy leather yarmulke with a tactful embroidered American flag would be nice!

In the meantime, if anyone has found a picture of Rahm Emanuel in a kippah, please leave the link in the comments section. Emanuel wearing a tallit? Even better!

Obama Home was Yeshivah

2008-12-02T14:12:00.005-05:00

Many homes have interesting histories and connections. I recall meeting Jewish professional baseball player Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers All-Star, who told me that his grandfather's house once belonged to Jewish Hall-of-Famer Hank Greenberg (Braun lived in that house for a time during his youth).

Now, the father of my former camper at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, Henry Bernstein, has co-written an article about the interesting history and Jewish connections of Barack Obama's house in Chicago. Charles Bernstein, genealogist of the Chicago Jewish community and a founder of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society, writes in the Chicago Jewish News that the construction of the Obama home was financed by a prominent Chicago Jew, was once lived in by a Jewish family, and was home to both a Jewish day school and a yeshiva.

President-Elect Barack Obama's house, located on the South Side of Chicago at 5046 South Greenwood Avenue, is located across the street from the Reform KAM-Isaiah Israel Congregation, Chicago's oldest Jewish congregation. In fact, Secret Service agents who guard the Obama home enter the Reform temple to use the restrooms. The article adds that KAM-Isaiah Israel Congregation members must identify themselves to Secret Service agents who verify them as Temple members.

The Hebrew Theological College (HTC), now located in Skokie, Illinois, had a branch located at the Obama home.

"HTC, known colloquially as 'the Yeshiva,' wanted to establish a South Side base to service [the] Orthodox community. A Milwaukee philanthropist, Anna Sarah Katz, donated $50,000 to HTC, which enabled it to purchase the 5046 Greenwood property. It obtained title from the First National Bank of Chicago, which had acquired the property by taking over the Foreman bank when it went bankrupt during the Depression... Hyde Park's Orthodox population began to dwindle in the early 1950s, and in 1954, the Yeshiva sold the property to the Hyde Park Lutheran Church by a deed signed May 21, 1954. The purchase price was $35,000, based on the revenue stamps of $38.50 affixed to the deed. The deed was signed by Rabbi Fasman, who was still president, and Samuel T. Cohen, secretary"

So, the Obama family will be moving from one home with a rich history to a new home with a very rich history.

Rahmbo Heads Back to White House

2008-11-07T16:29:00.004-05:00

Back in April I wrote how Rahm Emanuel was theorized by Newsweek Magazine to be the one to urge Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race on behalf of Barack Obama. That Newsweek article connected the dots from Rahm Emanuel (known as "Rahmbo") to Barack Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod by mentioning that Axelrod was a witness for Rahm Emanuel's wedding ketubah.

Now, Rahm Emanuel is back in the news as the first appointment President-Elect Obama has made. Yesterday morning, Rahm Emanuel accepted Obama's offer to become the Chief of Staff for the Obama administration. Emanuel will resign his congressional seat for this new position.

Of course, the talk throughout the Jewish community has turned from uncertainty about the Obama administration to elation over having a trusted advisor like Rahm Emanuel in the West Wing. Emanuel was a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1998 and was even the inspiration for the character Josh Lyman on television show The West Wing. (Not to be outdone, his brother Ari is the inspiration behind superagent Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage)

Rahm Emanuel has a wonderful reputation in the Jewish community as a strong friend of Israel and a dedicated member of the community. Since President-Elect Obama tapped him for this post, I've heard several comments of pride from fellow rabbis and friends. His rabbi and former Torah study partner (in the White House!), Rabbi Jack Moline, praises him for his commitment to his family and his strong value system. In Chicago, he mainly attends Shabbat services at Anshei Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Lakeview. The rabbi there, Rabbi Asher Lopatin, has been an advisor to Emanuel along with other Chicago rabbis Michael Siegel and Debra Newman Kamin.

Michael Kotzin, executive vice president of the Jewish United Fund-Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago explained in the Jerusalem Post, "If [Rahm Emanuel] goes to the White House, he'll be going to serve the president - but Israel will have a friend in the White House."

Emanuel is actually not his family's original last name. Rahm's father replaced the family name "Auerbach" with his brother Emanuel's name after Emanuel was killed in an Arab uprising in Palestine in 1936. This was done to keep Rahm Emanuel's uncle's memory alive.

Rahm Emanuel will be the third Jew to serve as White House chief of staff, but the first in a Democratic administration (Josh Bolten served under President George W. Bush and Ken Duberstein served under President Ronald Reagan).

Personally, I believe that having a Jewish chief of staff serve our nation's first Black president will be a very positive contribution to Black-Jewish relations in our country. I wish Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel much luck as he serves our country and our new President.

Economy & Faith

2008-10-18T22:41:00.007-04:00

Many people are looking to religion and spirituality during this time of economic uncertainty (a euphemism for recession). The title of a recent article on the Time Magazine website asks: "Is it Okay to Pray for Your 401(k)?"

My friend and mentor Rabbi Danny Nevins (dean of the rabbinical school at the Jewish Theological Seminary) is quoted in the article.

"Daniel Nevins also recognizes the legitimacy of the 'help me' prayer, noting that the third of four prayers that religious Jews are expected to recite after meals asks God to 'grant us relief from all our troubles. May we never find ourselves in need of gifts or loans from flesh and blood, but may we rely only upon your helping hand, which is open, ample and generous.' "

Christian and Muslim religious leaders are quoted in the article as well.

Rabbi Nevins continues, "When I ask God for help, I'm not asking for an extra miracle, for a great hand to drop a wad of cash on my mortgage." Such supernatural interventions may occur, he says, "but I just don't know how to prove that."

Rabbi Allan Lehmann (left), a colleague of mine who is the associate dean at the Hebrew College Rabbinical School, wrote a Hosha Na prayer for the economy. Since Monday is the Hoshana Rabba holiday and we could certainly use some saving during our country's financial crisis, I include the prayer below with Rabbi Lehmann's permission.

Hosha-na!- save our:

Accounts from Arrearages
Balances from Bear Markets
Credits from Crunches
Dividends from Downturns
Earnings from Erosions
Farms from Foreclosures
Grants from Going away
Homesteads from Hammering
Investments form Insolvency
Jobs from Jinxes
Keogh plans from Kicking the bucket
Loans from Losses
Markets from Madness
Net worth from Negativity
Options from Overheating
Pensions from Penury
Quantities from Quandaries
Retirement from Rollbacks
Scholarships from Screwups
Treasury form Trouble
Usufruct from Uncollectibility
Venture capital from Volatility
Wall Street from Welfare
X-dividends from Extirpation
Yields from Yukkiness
Zedaka from Zero sum games

Hosha-Na...Ani Vaho Hoshi'a-na!

UPDATE: I neglected to include another interesting article on this topic. Time Magazine also published an article entitled "The Financial Crisis: What Would the Talmud Do?" In this article, my Talmud instructor from The Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, raises a good point concerning the ethics of making money: "What any religious tradition calls on us to ask is, 'how can I make money and simultaneously be a responsible member of the society in which I live, protecting the interests of both the buyer and seller?"