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Do we find the cost of freedom/Buried in the ground?

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:46:00 +0000

A field of poppies, in central Israel (2009)

Today, in Israel, at 11 am, the siren will sound for two minutes nationwide calling us to stop, listen, and remember the nation's fallen troops and victims of terrorist attacks.

I wrote this post on Memorial Day in the USA, in 2009. Its subtext, that we are called to address the forces that drive men to war, holds for me today in Israel and everywhere, every day.

Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground.
Mother Earth will swallow you;
Lay your body down.

It's the refrain of an old Crosby, Stills & Nash song by Steven Stills that I first heard it in the early 1970s. Today, I was humming it while listening to Bob Edwards interviewing on XM radio several members of the Navy’s Third Medical Battalion, which served alongside the Third Marine Division during the Vietnam War.

For this is Memorial Day weekend, and tomorrow we pay tribute to our service men and women. Whether they died on native soil or overseas — in German forests or on British coasts, in the jungles of Vietnam or atop the mountains of Afghanistan, or in the sands and urban jungles of Iraq, today, we are called to remember them all. And, while we honor those who sacrificed their lives responding to their country's call to duty, we are called to address the forces that drive men to war.

Reworking the Crosby, Stills & Nash antiwar anthem
A couple of years ago, deep in the southeastern U.S., a young man heard the Madrigal Choir of Oldham County, Kentucky singing the old Crosby, Stills & Nash song. And it so moved him to post to You Tube "This ... little tribute I made for America and her troops."

Watch the video (4:32 minutes). The lyrics are below the screen.

Daylight again,
Following me to bed.
I think about a hundred years ago,
How my fathers bled...

I think I see a valley,
covered with bones in blue.
All the brave soldiers
That cannot get older 'been
Askin' after you.

Hear the past a callin',
From Armageddon's side.
When everyone's talkin'
And no one is listenin',
How can we decide?

Do we find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground?
Mother Earth will swallow you;
Lay your body down.
(Repeat x2)

Lay your body down...
Lay your body down....

Related posts

On Memorial Day in Israel, I remember Noam Mayerson, of blessed memory
A Soldier Remembers, an Iraq war veteran finds new meaning in Memorial Day (video 4:31 minutes)
And the Pursuit of Happiness: At Ease, Tel-Aviv born New York creator Maira Kalman enlivens history, memory, and imagination

In Tel Aviv: Holocaust (Shoah) Remembrance Day

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 10:26:00 +0000

When the SS murdered Leah's Romanian parents,
a Christian neighbor claimed the then 9-year-old
as hers, and hid Leah in a crawl space 3 years

Note: I first published this post on Yom Hashoah 2009.

On the 27th day of the Hebrew month Nisan, at 10 A.M., Israel will fall silent as a two-minute siren sounds across the country. Each year, the nation is called to remember, to stop activity, and to stand to honor the 6 million slaughtered Jewish souls, among them 1.5 million children. The siren follows Yom Hashoah (Remembrance Day) ceremonies at the Knesset (Parliament) and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, and it launches special programs in schools, organizations, and institutions nationwide.

At the corner of Tel Aviv's Allenby and Yavne Streets, in the public Beit Avot (Home for the Aged), I have been joining Leah and the other residents, most of them Shoah survivors, for their powerful annual program.

Watch the video (5:21 minutes).

My related posts

In Tel Aviv: The orange on the Passover seder plate

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:00:00 +0000

African asylum seekers and their families
at the Freedom Seder in Levinsky Park, Tel Aviv

Passover, which commemorates the flight of the ancient Israelites from Egyptian bondage, is the rationale of Israelite national existence. Our original Independence Day, Passover marks the transformation from a nation of slaves to a sovereign people, from a collection of tribes to a nation of law.

On this occasion for praise and thanksgiving, we are commanded (Exodus 13:8) to retell the liberation story to our children each year. We do this at the ritual seder meal ceremony, which includes a Passover seder plate containing symbolic foods, each with special significance in the narrative. (Since the early 1980s, many celebrants place an orange on the seder plate, representing solidarity with marginalized people.)

When is Passover?
In the Hebrew calendar, also called the Jewish calendar, Passover (or Pesach) falls on Nissan 15 through 22. In the Hebrew calendar, Adar is the seventh month of the religious year and the first month of the civil year. In the Gregorian calendar year (which runs from January 1 to December 31), in 2013, Passover starts Monday, March 25, at sundown, and continues through sundown, Tuesday, April 2.

The genius of commanding a storytelling
At the brilliantly scripted annual ritual meal, "it is praiseworthy to expand on the story of the exodus from Egypt" (Haggadah ["the telling"], compiled between 280 CE and 360 CE). For through our storytelling we can refine and improve ourselves, internalizing the lessons and noticing contemporary parallels. The African Refugee Development Center that organizes the pre-festival Joint Passover Seder for Israelis and African Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel with non-profit, non-governmental Israeli organizations and others, publishes this wonderful free, downloadable, alternative, Hebrew-English Haggadah.

The Joint Passover Seder has become an annual expression of collective remembering turned into action. I participated in this event in 2010, in Levinsky Park, in south Tel Aviv's Neve Sha’anan neighborhood near the New Central Bus Station, a seedy, rundown living area of mostly African refugees, southeast Asian foreign workers, streetwalkers, and junkies. Retelling our story and the stories of people still enslaved, oppressed, and suffering moved me deeply. And I missed my friends — Bhutanese refugees in Atlanta, Georgia, who are rebuilding their lives following exile from their homeland, Bhutan, and decades' subsisting in refugee camps, in Nepal, before coming to the USA as legal refugees starting 2008.

My seder companion was 23-year-old Filmon, an Eritrean psychology student seeking refuge from political and religious persecution. Until he can safely rejoin his parents and siblings in his homeland, Filmon does menial jobs that Israelis don’t want, for very low pay and no benefits.

Eritreans Filmon (l.) and Kidane hold the The Refugee Voice
(in English, Tigrinya [spoken in Eritrea], Arabic, and Hebrew)

° ° °

Solidarity with marginalized people
in the Jewish community and outside
At the top of the seder, immediately after the introductory blessing, we read from the Haggadah:

כָּל דִּכְפִין, יֵיתֵי וְיֵיכוּל; וְכָל דִּצְרִיךְ לְפַסַּח, יֵיתֵי וִיפַסַּח, Let all who are hungry, come and eat! Let all who are needy come and celebrate the Passover with us.

Who is hungry? Who is needy? In the past six years, more than 35,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Eritrea, Southern Sudan, Darfur, the Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other nations have entered Israel; more than 20,000 live in Tel Aviv. And while most have fled from armed conflict, civil wars, and fear of persecution — and thus Israel has not deported them, it has not granted refugee status and does not permit them to work legally.

An orange grove of fruits on scores of tables Volunteers set oranges on scores of seder plates in the Levinsky Park seder. A coalition of passionate activist-volunteer-visionaries from a wide spectrum of synagogues, Zionist organizations, youth movements, and international humanitarian agencies organized and prepared the joint seder for hundreds of people, double the number anticipated.

The Haggadah describes four children
One child has wisdom of the heart, one is rebellious, one naïve, and one cannot ask questions. To my contemporaries who ask, How is a seder relevant to them, the refugees and asylum seekers?

My reply, a paraphrase of the Torah injunction:

כְּאֶזְרָח מִכֶּם יִהְיֶה לָכֶם הַגֵּר הַגָּר אִתְּכֶם, וְאָהַבְתָּ לוֹ כָּמוֹךָ כִּי גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם ...Treat foreign residents living among you as your native-born. Love each one as yourself because you were foreigners in Egypt...
Leviticus 19:34

Rebuilding shattered lives
Most African refugees, like nine-year-old Hebrew-speaking Saram (shown in the photo with her mother) entered Israel from their native lands through Egypt, from where the Israelite slaves similarly escaped to freedom millennia ago.

Daily, Israelis and other concerned people locally and from abroad are helping this vulnerable population to access basic social services, and they are raising awareness on emergency issues, among them trauma and other health crises, destitution, unemployment, and homelessness. (Every night in all weather, scores of people sleep in Levinsky Park.)

We seek help from you, people
who understand our misery
Johannes (shown in the photo) graduated from an Eritrean university with a degree in political administration. In our conversation during the seder, he spared me seemingly few details of the harsh life he has known since his government arrested him with fellow students protesting against the military regime. For more than a year they were beaten, tortured, starved, and enslaved until Johannes escaped, as did many "fortunate" political prisoners.

We came to Israel, a place of miracles, and we seek help from you, people who understand our misery, he replied to my dumb question, Why come here? As I probed, with his permission, the narrative of his suffering touched on key points: longing for home, loneliness, unemployment, language barriers, fear. I came through the way that Moses and his people, your people crossed. Help us, please help us get out of this suffering, he pleaded.

Kabbalat Shabbat
At the next weekly service welcoming the Sabbath Bride, I had forgotten the orange on the seder plate and the story behind the ritual. Gone was the beautiful sunny spring late afternoon. No longer ringing in my ears was the loud music sung in the languages of the seder participants. The seder had ended. Yet instead of releasing the struggles and cares of the week as Shabbat was beginning, I was hearing Johannes' Exodus story, and I couldn't stop listening to his plea, screaming inside me.

My related posts

Happy birthday 2013, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:33:00 +0000

"Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia"
(excerpt from Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech)

NOTE On this federal holiday, we are honoring the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968). Our drum major for justice galvanized us to witness America's disparity between promise and reality, and led us through this wilderness, responding with nonviolent actions to ensure basic human rights for all Americans and others. Today, we stand taller, more evolved, and increasingly more aware of and taking pride in all Americans' contributions — native born, immigrants, refugees, asylees, and guests. Since I first published this post in 2009, our national history and culture has grown even more rich, complex, and precious.

My previous post on King Week Atlanta Focus: Bishop Bevel Jones and The Ministers' Manifesto continues here.

A mere 15 miles from my home in Atlanta, Stone Mountain is the largest exposed mass of granite on planet Earth. It's also one giant Confederate memorial, and on it side, a carved monument showing Confederate general "Stonewall" Jackson, Confederacy president Jefferson Davis, and Confederate army general Robert E. Lee, all on horseback, all champion-leaders of the American Civil War-era slave owning squad.

From 1915 until recent years, Stone Mountain served as the base of operations for the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). Holding annual Labor Day meetings on the summit, where 60-foot ceremonial cross-burning ceased only a few years ago, the Klan's purpose: to advocate and restore white supremacy in the aftermath of the Civil War.

KKK (Ku Klux Klan) tidbits
Founded in 1865, in the southern USA states (eventually having national scope), the Klan — terrorists behind comical hats, masks, and white robes, are an equal opportunity terrorist organization. Their shameful record of violence and lynching designed to intimidate, murder, and oppress African Americans, Jews, and other minorities, and to intimidate and oppose Roman Catholics and labor unions evokes goals and actions of like-minded terrorist organizations today. Charming folks, all.

So, Dr. King's mostly colorblind foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, understood why he made the reference "Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain in Georgia" in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech [watch the 17-minute YouTube video here].

Astonishing accomplishments in a mere 38 years
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who called us to address the giant triplets of racism, economic injustice, and militarism, and who insisted that the nation be a beacon of light, not a bastion of might, was born into this culture 80 years ago. Thirty-eight years later, a crazed product of this same culture assassinated the Moses of my generation, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who by that tender age had already distinguished himself as the world leader of the nonviolent movement.

Today, on the day before his inauguration, President-elect Barack H. Obama, who stands on Dr. King's shoulders with the rest of this newly reinvented nation, wielded a blue-paint-dipped paint roller in a homeless shelter for runaway teens in Washington, DC — among other services he performed on this "A Day On... Not a Day Off" national holiday.

In the lobby of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel, Morehouse College (Dr. King's alma mater) marches a parade of portraits and busts of civil rights leaders and workers, humanitarians, and foot soldiers of the struggle. These representations include Dr. King's mentors, aides, and disciples, among them Mahatma ("great soul") Gandhi, from whose writings Dr. King drew in developing his own theories about nonviolence.

Mahatma Gandhi [gave us] the tactics.
— Martin Luther King, Jr. (1955)

Happy birthday, dear, dear Dr. King.

Mahatma ("great soul") Gandhi

(shown with his wife, Kasturbai Kapadia Gandhi)
pioneered resistance to evil through
active, nonviolent resistance

Voting in Israel's 19th Knesset (Parliament) elections

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:41:00 +0000

This Tuesday, I'll be traveling (about an hour) from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (my official residence) to cast my ballot for the political party that I want to gain the most seats in the 19th Knesset (Parliament) election. I have till then to decide which among my three "finalist" parties will get my vote.

To inform my decision, beyond reading daily commentaries online, I have attended panel discussions with representative members on the slates of four parties (from left to right and from secular to far-right ultra-nationalist and religious Zionist) — among some 34 parties in the competition! And I have attended a parlor meeting with the Number Two person on one party's slate. Daily, I speak with Israelis whose thinking is aligned with ethical principles including justice, democracy, and equal access to rights for all citizens. And whose actions reflect those principles. And, along with countless others, I learn about the parties (and Israeli voters) from TV political satires such as this one, a wannabe The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Watch the video (3:37 minutes).

In memoriam: Pritam Adhikari — he lived briefly, in vivid colors

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 15:08:00 +0000

The student and the professor: Bhutanese-born Pritam, a Hindu,
and Israeli-born, Dr. Yedidia Neumeir, an Orthodox Jew.
We can never know which goodbye is the last.

I am missing Pritam Adhikari whose brief life proved that a person can overcome almost all conventional odds in shaping a dream and taking every possible step to reach it. Just this week, Pritam was to have started classes at Georgia Tech following two years' studying at Oglethorpe University. He died last Saturday following a brief illness. He was 22.

Pritam, grew up in a refugee camp, in Nepal, his 100,000-person community victims of ethnic cleansing in Bhutan, their homeland. In the camp, playing with paper airplanes, Pritam's early childhood dream of becoming an aerospace engineer was born. In August 2008, his family joined the growing Bhutanese refugee community in Atlanta. Last Sunday, his parents and immediate and extended family, friends, and community — more than 1000 people mourned the courageous, brilliant, accomplished, and confident soul who was without a trace of arrogance.

In late 2010, when he was applying to colleges in the USA, he asked me to review his personal essay, a requirement for all applications, and to work with him to present a sharp, clear picture of his candidacy. Today, Pritam's essay has become a written legacy and testament that neither false privileges of income, skin color, gender, nationality, nor "status" of any kind will deter a young refugee with pluck, brains, focus, faith, and support and love of family, community, and allies worldwide.

Pritam, your life’s journey is a gift for eternity. And, I thank you, grateful that we met.

Pritam's personal essay

Related posts
An Appreciation: Pritam Adhikari
In Memory of a Wonderful Friend
The dream recedes unrealized
At Georgia Tech: You're never too young to learn

Atlanta homeless man's Nativity scene

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 11:13:00 +0000

Gifts of home and community

Note: I first published this post December 8, 2011.

I tagged along with Jonathan to Atlanta's Church of the Epiphany to listen to his choir rehearse their holiday concert. In the church entrance, I chanced on an exhibit of Nativity scenes featuring a collection assembled from a collector's travels and gifts received worldwide. While many scene creators used high-end materials (crystal, gold, enamel), the simplest, "poorest" materials (scraps of straw, newspaper, wood, fiber, and wool) attracted me most. And the homeless man's arrangement of stones (shown above) triggered my longest pause and reflection.

Two more scenes among my favorites.

Native American

South American

Church of the Epiphany
2089 Ponce de Leon Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30307

Chillin' with Chani in Tel Aviv

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 03:48:00 +0000

On Nachalat Binyamin

Meet Chanaleh (I call her Chani), eldest of my cousin's 13 children. Chani's husband (they are parents of three little ones) drove her from their home in Kiryat Sefer to the Modi'in railroad station where she took the train to Tel Aviv and then caught a city bus to meet and hang out with me.

We checked out fabric stores in the shuk/market in search of raw material (wide!) for a tablecloth she wants to sew, found cheap gifts (one shekel each) that the kids would love, and sampled yummy spiced basmati rice tossed with pistachios and more spices at a specially-kosher-certified purveyor. Today, a day before the Haredi/ultra-Orthodox woman begins (unless there is a strike) a course on radiology technology assisting, she treated us both to a yom kef/fun day!

Way to go, Chani; you totally rock!

Daniel Zohar comes to Tel Aviv!

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:15:00 +0000

In the Tel Aviv Artists' Market with my cousin Daniel Zohar

Jerusalem-born Daniel speaks fluent Hebrew and Arabic, and enjoys practicing his English with me. On a recent Friday morning, the versatile and gifted student, musician, athlete, hiker, traveler, and gentle born leader accomplished much during a weekend leave from serving in the Intelligence Branch of the Israel Defense Forces. Nothing unusual for Daniel who also plays classical piano, reads voraciously (currently, Graham Green's The Quiet American, in Hebrew translation), and practices for the upcoming Nike-sponsored runner's marathon in Tel Aviv.

On Friday morning, we met in the Daf Yomi daily Talmud study group at Alma, Home for Hebrew Culture where Daniel read the source text and joined in the group's dynamic and spirited text inquiry. When the one-hour Talmud study session ended, one of the regulars said, "Young man: please come back anytime!" I imagine that almost everyone who meets Daniel thinks or says the same thing.

We then wandered through the charming historic neighborhood before Daniel left to meet Miriam in her home a short bus-ride away. The 90-year-old Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor and Daniel have developed a close bond since the military's volunteer program matched them up.

(When he was a ninth grader, Daniel wrote a powerful commentary on the Binding of Isaac, and permitted me to publish it here, in the original Hebrew and with my English translation. This dramatic story, central to Jewish liturgy and thought, has challenged generations of commentators.)

Have a Sweet Year: Clean the slate and move on.

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:35:00 +0000

The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, falls on the 1st and 2nd days of the month Tishrei in the year 5773 on the Hebrew calendar (also called the Jewish calendar). In 2012, the coinciding secular dates Sunday, September 26 (beginning sundown), and Tuesday, September 18 (ending sundown).

This is a wonderful time in the Jewish calendar. A period of introspection, an opportunity to return to our senses, to ask forgiveness -- of self, others, the breath of life. To clean the slates and to move on. This, to me, is Rosh Hashanah.

On the first day of the two-day festival, we read in the Torah portion selected for this day the sin of Sarah, one of four foremothers. Implicated in her sin is the father of two great nations — Abraham. According to the Nahmanides (Ramban), Sarah sinned when she treated her maid Hagar abusively. And Abraham sinned by letting it happen.

Dare to ask yourself: How do I regard and treat people of different groups, social strata, habits, customs, ideas, or orientation? Is it with dignity and respect for all chips off The Block of Being? Or do I resemble Sarah or Abraham, in this reading? Am I an abuser? Or a passive, willing bystander?

All this reflection and action business is a lot to think about, and it is a gift of this period in the Jewish calendar to have such reminders.

Wishing everyone in the coming year— health, sanity, learning, giving, and occasions to dance, sing, comfort, heal, laugh, remember, praise, and bless.

(I first published this post on September 12, 2007.)

My related posts

Jean Rice, beloved friend

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 11:38:00 +0000

Jean Rice (1946-2006)
in her kitchen on Cape Cod in Sandwich, MA

She had been a radical nun whose lifelong hero (and mine) was Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. When Jean died five years ago today, I wrote this post, which I am republishing here. Who she was and how she lived inspire my better instincts daily. And I am missing her. The last winter of her life, fully grasping the implications of her health crisis, she sent her family and friends this message:

Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! All celebrations of life and vigor and weakness and being given what we need. Love to you, and thank you for the love you send.
— Jean

When my pal Jean got the diagnosis that would cut short her amazing life, I could not have imagined the rich and varied months still to come. Amazing for her, her family, and for the rest of us. Nor, despite thinking that I knew this human force for good after thirty-plus years' friendship, could I have dreamed that our "palaver" would be uninterrupted — even until weeks before her death. (We long relished the term, palaver, to describe our chattering with abandon on all matters — from the ridiculous to the sublime.)

Our palaver: two examples
I continue to engage in palaver with her. This morning, for example, walking in a park in Tel Aviv, I met a happy puppy named Six ("because he was the sixth in a list of rescued animals from which he was adopted," explained his person). When Six approached my hand to lick it, his person, responding to my question on possible early abuse in the life of Six, explained, "Six shuns conflict. He senses kindness, which attracts him." Aha! A perfectly palaver tail/tale item to share with my pal Jean who devoured evidence of positive energy in a tricky universe.

Another example. Last week, when I learned that my cousin in Jerusalem (who will be Bar Mitzva in December) has begun chemotherapy treatments for leukemia, I almost immediately reshaped this news into a palaver item. Because, in her life and in her dying, Jean, who had been my address on such matters, refused to allow grief to immobilize her or others. And she lent me strength last week, though differently, no less than during her life.

Pals across time and space
Jean was a core friend — fluent in the languages of art, philosophy, literature, elephants, children, friendship, memory, and soul. I so loved and admired her, learned from her, tried to emulate her. Often, she traveled thousands of miles with me — spiritually and in solidarity — to mark, honor, and serve often the least among us whom I sometimes encountered on my journeys.

In our last conversation, on the phone in late July, Jean rushed through her answers to my questions about her mood and situation. She preferred to focus on what she insisted was far more interesting and important: my family in Israel, and how they were holding up given mounting crises in this region.

Jean inspired me to keep moving, to acknowledge my mistakes, and to let them go. I have tried to emulate her ways and stances; the richness of her life rooted in gratitude, generosity, and joy, and filled with laughter and compassion.

Jean's many lives defied losses. Grounded firmly in prosocial values and daily practices, she was ever ready to rethink, restart, and reshape plans and outcomes that were not what she expected, liked, or approved of. She was always rebuilding, firming up, reinforcing, and letting go, beginning anew.

The triumphs of her life are measured not merely by the length of her years, but by the marriage she co-created, the children she co-raised, the stubborn optimism of her life, and her legacy.

Jean's life was a gift and her memory is a blessing.

Related post
Jean Rice Remembered

סיום מסכת בבא מציעא | Siyum masekhet Bava Metzia [tractate completion]

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:39:00 +0000

New at Alma [Home for Hebrew Culture, in Tel Aviv]! Daf Yomi [daily Talmud folio study group] with Kobi Oz... Your daily or occasional participation would delight us... Sundays through Fridays, from 9am to 10am... At times, Alma lecturers join us. [No fee]

Our Daf Yomi group has been engaging in a dynamic and spirited text inquiry since spring 2011 as we follow the seven-and-a-half-year cycle studying the oral Torah and its commentaries, in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud is covered, in order. We are a mix of secular and religiously observant Israeli men and women who share wide-ranging knowledge of Talmud, Torah, Jewish history, and rabbinic law; anthropology; education; computer science; music, management; culinary arts, community organizing; and Israel's geography, ancient and modern history, agriculture, and customs. And more.

At our recent Siyum [completion] of Bava Metzia (the second of three Talmud tractates, or sections, on damages), we celebrated with strong drink and sweets while reading the tractate's closing verses, and the opening verses of Bava Batra (the third tractate). We concluded this traditional siyum with the special Rabbinical Kaddish prayer for rabbis, scholars, and their disciples on completing a unit of study — a significant accomplishment and a milestone.

Watch the slide show (1:15 minutes).

For more information about the group and to ask questions (in English and Hebrew), visit our Facebook Page דף גמרא יומי נינוח במרכז תל אביב. You can also join the group's page (Hebrew).

Alma Home for Hebrew Culture
Bezalel Yafe 4
Tel Aviv-Yafo
Tel. (03) 5663031

Hebrew Lesson: ‏‪כדרכו בקודש [ke-darko ba-kodesh, following his usual style]

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Ruth reads The New Dictionary (Even-Shoshan) on ‏‪ke-darko ba-kodesh

A casual phrase in an email that Rabbi Dr. Michael Berger sent me triggered a lesson in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the wisdom of scholars and scholar-friends.‬

Watch the video (5:27 minutes), in Hebrew and bits of Aramaic and English.

Purim celebration in Tel Aviv

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:07:00 +0000

Dancing in Purim costumes

Purim celebrates a story in the biblical Megillat Esther (Book of Esther), in which Queen Esther saves the Jewish people from (Ahasuerus advisor) Haman's plot to destroy them.

This year, 2012, Purim starts on Thursday, March 8, and continues for two days until Friday, March 9. In the Hebrew calender, a day begins at sunset on the previous day, so Jews will celebrate Purim at sunset on Wednesday, March 7.

Purim eve, 2009, Tel Aviv's tree-lined Rothschild Boulevard was a virtual sacred space where the Megilla reading, singing, playacting, and music blared under glowing night-lights while children and dogs wandered around and beneath rows of white plastic chairs.

On this holiday (observed with fanciful costumes), the spirited multigenerational crowd also listened to Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau's history lessons and encouragement. Other highlights included "Secrets of the Palace," an enactment of the Purim story told in the Megilla, awards for best costumes, and merry singing and dancing — all celebrating the festival in which, instead of being annihilated, the Jews lived.

Watch my video (5:13 minutes).

Four mitzvot, commandments on observing Purim:

Listen to the reading of Megillat Esther
Participate in the Purim feast
Send Mishloach manot, gifts to friends
(most important) Give Matanot LaEvyonim, gifts to the needy

My Purim posts

Rabbi Y.M. Lau on Purim in the Nazi camps (includes video)
Purim: celebrating solidarity and mutual responsibility
Purim in Kfar Tavor and Kaduri (includes video)
Purim, festival of joy: When is it?

Purim, festival of joy: When is it?

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:40:00 +0000

Felegosh, my havruta (Aramaic: study partner)
at the Bnei Akiva Purim party in Atlanta, Georgia

QUESTION [via email]: Tamar, I wanted to ask you the dates of Purim — would you know?

ANSWER: Thanks for asking. Purim falls on Adar 14 (and in Jerusalem and all ancient walled cities, it falls on Adar 15). Adar is the sixth month of the religious year and the twelfth month of the civil year in the Hebrew calendar, also called the Jewish calendar.

For those who follow the Gregorian calendar year (which runs from January 1 to December 31), in 2012, Purim starts on Thursday, March 8, and continues for two days until Friday, March 9. In the Hebrew calender, a day begins at sunset on the previous day, so Jews will celebrate Purim at sunset on Wednesday, March 7.

We mark the date of Jewish holidays according to the Hebrew calendar, and therefore the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar year is not the same each year. (The same is true for Muslim holidays, which follow the Muslim calendar, and do not start on the same Gregorian calendar date each year.)

In the same way that Christmas is always December 25, Purim is always Adar 14.

It takes some getting used to the different calendars among religions and belief systems. All this is an aspect of differences among cultures, traditions, and world views among members of the human family. Happy Purim!

My other Purim posts

Purim celebration in Tel Aviv (includes video)
Rabbi Y.M. Lau on Purim in the Nazi camps (includes video)
Purim: celebrating solidarity and mutual responsibility
Purim in Kfar Tavor and Kaduri (includes video)

Happy Valentine's Day from Sam Cornish!

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:12:00 +0000

Boston's Poet Laureate, Sam Cornish, crafts this song of love. (Read the magnified text below the image.)

ROMANCE

For them O & M
Beyonce and

the good old
songs

our parents
danced to

"At Last"
it is the two

of them
old school
slow

dancing
one

step
and then

another gliding

to the music
"At Last"

my lonely
days

are over
the two

of them
leaning

with the music
the song

is them
and us their

hearts
move

each other
hers

his
so close

they are
these two

we cannot
see

how dark
the ballroom

is young
people

thinking
it is our fathers

our mothers
in love

so
long

ago

— Sam Cornish

Decades ago, Sam and I were teammates on Education Development Center's nationwide project to guide learner-centered curriculum development initiatives as part of the federally-supported "Great Society" broad agenda to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. And great love for students, teachers, families, and communities was key in whatever successful outcomes came of our team's work with them nationwide.

Related posts

Sam Cornish Remembers Dr. King and the Civil Rights Era

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:47:00 +0000

(Click to enlarge image)

With Boston's first poet laureate, Sam Cornish, and other educational advisors, I worked in the poorest neighborhoods of Greater Boston and in newly desegregated schools of rural North Carolina and Delaware. There, with teachers, administrators, and policymakers we created learner-centered curriculum development initiatives as part of the federally-supported "Great Society" broad agenda to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. Decades later, as I reflect on that era and the work I did then and since, this "war" was the single most meaningful, most useful, most important I fought (and keep fighting).

Hanukkah: first victory for freedom of worship

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Hanukkiot in the window of Judith and Jeff Green's
home in Jerusalem's Abu Tor neighborhood.
Placing Hanukkiot by a window or door fulfills
the commandment to "publicize the miracle."

Hanukkah, the eight-day "festival of lights" begins with the lighting of the first candle at sundown on the eve of the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, also called the Jewish calendar. Each year, the corresponding day on the Gregorian [civil] calendar changes, and this year, Hanukkah began at sundown on Tuesday, December 20, 2011.

No matter how the Hebrew word חֲנֻכָּה is transliterated into English (Hanukkah, Hanukka, Chanukka, Chanukkah, [fill in your own]), no matter the era or place people celebrate it —

What is most inspiring about Hanukkah is that it memorializes the first clear victory in history for freedom of worship, a celebration that, as contemporary rabbis point out, belongs to all religious people.
— From the Desire of the Everlasting Hills by Thomas Cahill

Hanukkah Q&A

What is the difference between a traditional Menorah and a Hanukkah Menorah (Hebrew: Hanukkiah)?
The seven-branched Menorah is a candelabrum of Jewish historical and ritual meaning that appears on ancient coins, gravestones, and synagogue decorations, and is today the seal and emblem of the State of Israel.

The nine-branched Hanukkah Menorah (Hebrew: Hanukkiah) is a candelabrum with eight branches of equal size and height (one for each night of the Hanukkah festival) and a separate (ninth) candleholder for the "Shamash" (Hebrew: attendant). We use the Shamash to light the other eight candles, in observance of the ruling to view the Hanukkah lights, not to use them.

What's the story?
The Hanukkah festival commemorates the (second century BCE) Jewish Maccabees' military victory over the Greek-Syrian army and the rededication of the Second Temple to the worship of God.

Why the lights?
The Temple purification began on the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev in the year 165 BCE. According to the Talmud, the single-days-worth of pure oil found in the Temple miraculously burned eight days, until more pure oil could be brought.

Victory's message?
"Not by might, not by power, but by My spirit." לֹא בְחַיִל, וְלֹא בְכֹחַ--כִּי אִם-בְּרוּחִי (Zachariah 4:6, whom we read this Shabbat following the Torah portion).

Where is the history recorded?
The First Book of Maccabees tells how, in response to religious persecution and oppression, Judah Maccabee and his four brothers organized a group of resistance fighters who succeeded to drive the far larger Greek-Syrian army out of Judea.

How do we celebrate this fun festival?
Lighting the Hanukkiah is the central observance. Whereas once all lights were oil lamps, using candles is a lot simpler. The first night, a single candle (or oil-dipped wick) is lit, with an additional one lit each successive night.

While lighting the candles, we recite blessings, chant the ancient Hanerot Hallalu, and play dreidel games. We (over)eat oil-rich foods featuring potato pancakes and Hanukkah donuts called sufganiyot (shown on the right), commemorating the miracle of the oil that burned eight days.

What about gifts?
The custom of giving Hanukkah gelt (money) in the form of gold-foil-wrapped chocolate coins to children once brought pure bliss to me and my older sister and to previous generations. (Shiny pennies, won playing dreidel games, were acceptable, too.) I recall the year we got pink gloves! Mine were angora, marking not only graduation from mittens but equally from practical plain wool! My sister's, on the minus side, were wool, while on the plus side, featured black velvet ribbon threaded through each wristband. Whose was the prettier gift? I still wonder.

Who am I remembering this year as I kindle the Hanukkah lights?
My childhood family: my mother and my father, my maternal grandparents, and my sister. My Israeli family.

And I am remembering children everywhere who desperately need light to shine on them. Children whose spirits are darkened by ignorant adults, unemployed or underemployed parents, poor diets, insufficient shelters, shabby clothing, inadequate health care, disinterested leaders, and misguided politicians. Children whose birthright is light daily, and who require comprehensive support and services steadily.

And I ask myself: What am I doing to help shine the light?

NOTE: In this post, I changed only the Gregorian date of Hanukkah in my original post December 4, 2007.

Tulasi Ghimirey's Thanksgiving Letter 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:05:00 +0000

Tulasi loves growing vegetables

In 2000, Tulasi Ghimirey arrived in the U.S. from United Nations-run refugee camps in southeastern Nepal. There, 100,000 fellow ethnic-Nepali Bhutanese refugees landed in 1990 following ethnic cleansing in Bhutan, their homeland. Through combined efforts of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Third Country Resettlement Program and the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program, about 60,000 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in the U.S. Tulasi lives in Atlanta with his wife, Kumari, and son, Ryan.

Dear friends, volunteers, and well-wishers of me, my family, and the Bhutanese community,

I never wait for Thanksgiving to arrive to thank this country and its citizens. Giving and Thanking someone is the ultimate happiness prescription.

At night, I still dream of those days, especially the torture that I have gone through, in Bhutan. I find myself running, crying, and begging for help. Those camouflage outfits of the Bhutanese Army haunt me always.

When I get conscious from my dream, I find myself in the fancier house in America. My pounding heart slows down realizing that I am in America and not in Bhutan. The next thing I do before putting my body under the quilt is to Thank this great country because I will never be tortured again. I don’t have to get punched in my face until I am found guilty. What humane laws this country has. I can proudly say that I am a human being because humans are treated as human beings here.

Thank God for the bountiful blessing bestowed upon America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave! I salute our armed and unarmed forces who are making tremendous sacrifices to keep us SAFE and FREE. Thanksgiving would not even exist without their selfless service. And, as I feast on delicious food, I remember the American farmers who feed us and the world safe nutritious food.

We still have many people struggling to put food on the table as we work to recover from our economic downturn. Our food shelves feel increased demand during the holiday season so I encourage you to donate or make a charitable contribution.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Related posts

July Fourth picnic with Atlanta's new Bhutanese neighbors (includes video)
Tulasi's Thanksgiving letter (2010)
Tulasi Ghimirey's Thanksgiving letter (2009)

Emory University article on Tulasi
Bhutan refugee finds Shangri-La in Atlanta

In Tel Aviv: Levinsky Park

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 22:11:00 +0000

Levinsky Park is a hub of activity

Thanks to massive efforts in and around this patch of green near the Central Bus Station in the sketchy, rundown Neve Shaanan neighborhood, many low-income and impoverished Israelis and foreign-born undocumented workers, refugees, and asylum seekers can obtain a modicum of basic services. Nongovernmental and volunteer humanitarian organizations, mostly, offer food, shelter, childcare, legal advice, and health care. Area adults and children can enjoy, too, nurturing activities that often lift their spirits and fuel their hopes for solutions to our seemingly intransigent human problems.

Watch the video (6:45 minutes).

My related posts

At Bialik-Rogozin School, shooting baskets with Josh Gomes

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:40:00 +0000

Josh Gomes discusses the game in "Hebrish/Englew"
with several players on the Grades 8-9 Basketball Team

The compelling educational vision and innovative practices of the famed Bialik-Rogozin School, in Tel Aviv, draw hundreds of volunteers, including my friend Josh Gomes, an American professional basketball player winning points for Israeli teams several years.

Josh scored big on his visit with the Grades 8-9 Basketball Team (they captured third place in the 2011 Tel Aviv Basketball Competition). The team's makeup reflects the inner-city public school's international student body (nearly 900 Jews, Christians, and Muslims from 48 countries) — with roots in Israel, Sudan, Darfur, Ghana, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Eritrea, Russia, Dominican Republic, and Columbia, among other countries.

Watch the video (4:16 minutes)

Bialik-Rogozin School
Ha-Aliya 49
Tel Aviv, Israel 66041
Tel. 03-668-3802
(from abroad ++972-3-668-3802)

Related posts

May the [Jewish] New Year and its blessings start תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:41:00 +0000

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, falls on the Hebrew calendar dates of 1 and 2 Tishrei. The coinciding secular dates for this year, 2011, are September 28 (at sundown) through 30 (at sundown). I first published this post on September 12, 2007.

In Jerusalem's Machane Yehuda open-air shuk (market),
jars of honey — a symbol of the hope for a sweet year

Dear Tamar,

May the New Year and its blessings start (תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ Tachel shana u-birkote-ah)*.

The word Shana in Hebrew comes from the word li-shnot (to repeat) but it also sounds like le-shanot (to change). I think that's the main thing every Rosh Hashanah: it's our chance either to repeat our mistakes or to make a change — to keep the good things or to let them go. I hope your New Year will be filled with good choices.

Shana Tova 5768,
Shimon

* From אָחוֹת קְטַנָּה Akhot Ktana (Little Sister). Click the link to listen to the piyyut (Jewish liturgical poem) by Abraham Hazzan of Gerona (called Girondi), Spain, 13th century. Each verse ends with a one-line chorus: (Let the year end with all its curses!) תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ Tikhleh shanah ve-killeloteha! The last line of the piyut concludes: (Let the new year begin with all its blessings!) תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ Tahel shanah u-virkhoteha!

Related posts

At Georgia Tech's Combustion Lab, you're never too young to learn

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 11:26:00 +0000

Pritam shows cousin Sarda how a vortex tube works

If somebody wants to be in the lab, if science interests him, we have to provide the platform to do that.

— Dr. Yedidia Neumeier, principal research engineer and adjunct professor, Georgia Tech, School of Aerospace Engineering

Last summer, while reviewing the draft of Pritam Adhikari's personal essay for his college applications, I learned about his compelling dream of a career related to aviation — a dream he developed in Beldangi-2, a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, and nurtured across continents and cultures despite a dizzying array of traumas, demands, and challenges following ethnic cleansing of 100,000 fellow ethnic-Nepali Bhutanese in their homeland, Bhutan.

And it struck me that polishing Pritam's standout essay was secondary to introducing him to my longtime friend, Dr. Yedidia Neumeier. The pair bonded quickly — the Israeli-born Orthodox Jew and the native Bhutanese son of a Hindu priest. Yedidia invited Pritam to join David and Moshe (he dubbed the trio, the "Three Musketeers") this summer in an intriguing project in Yedidia's lab.

David (Yeshiva HS, NYC), Moshe (Yeshiva Atlanta),
Pritam (Druid Hills HS, Atlanta), and Yedidia

The project? Investigating vortex tubes — the scientific phenomena and design of these effective, low-cost solutions to industrial spot cooling and process cooling needs.

On completing their project in the Combustion Lab, the "Three Musketeers" presented the fruits of their summer activities. In a wood-paneled seminar room of the storied School of Aerospace Engineering, Dr. Neumeier introduced the high school students and their guests and described the project purpose and methodology. Each student explained what he had learned, illustrating key points using presentation slides.

Family, friends, and graduate students paid rapt attention.

Following a robust Q&A, the group drove across campus to the Combustion Lab where Yedidia explained early aerospace technology.

And, the guests experienced "hands-on" a vortex tube in operation.

In their project presentation, a concluding slide on "What we gained and learned from our time at Georgia Tech" summarized what the students had learned: "How to set up a proper experiment, take good data, and understand our results." And, I reflected on other lessons they had learned — meeting fellow students from different cultures and backgrounds and working together as one team honoring everyone's talents and creativity.

May they and their devoted teacher, mentor, and ally continue to go from strength to strength! And to Yedidia: תודה רבה, רבה — many thanks!

Related post
Pitamber Adhikari: "Though I am financially poor, mentally, I’m rich!"

Bialik-Rogozin School exterior gives a sneak preview of its interior

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 12:43:00 +0000

Sigal Rozen, Public Policy Coordinator at Hotline for Migrant Workers,
starts tours of migrant workers' and refugees' homes
outside the school where their children attend

In South Tel Aviv, the inner-city Bialik-Rogozin School broadcasts human dignity and safety even to casual passersby on the street. Contiguous life-size color photographs of students wrap the school's security wall, transforming the building's exterior message of prison-like anonymity to welcome and opportunity. Inside, in grades K-12, more than 800 children of Israelis and of migrant workers, refugees, and asylum seekers from 48 countries build community as they learn to respect self and others, celebrate diversity, and advance in academic subjects.

A film about the School, Strangers No More, captured the Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject category, in 2011.

First we shape our buildings, then they shape us.
—Winston Churchill, 1943

Bialik-Rogozin School
Ha-Aliya 49
Tel Aviv, Israel 66041
Tel. 03-668-3802
(from abroad ++972-3-668-3802)

My related posts
At Bialik-Rogozin School, shooting baskets with Josh Gomes
In Tel Aviv: Levinsky Park

Breaking Into Israel: Video report and interview with my Eritrean hero Kidane Isaac

noreply@blogger.com (Tamar Orvell) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:21:00 +0000

My Eritean friends (L to R) Kidane Isaac, Filamon Juenist, and Domoz
Bereket. Behind me, American pal Josh Gomes (Levinsky Park, Tel Aviv)

In the Sinai, thousands of Eritreans fleeing conscription, torture, and conflict in their East African homeland risk being shot by border guards and held ransom by people smugglers as they try to get to Israel for safe harbor.

Kidane Isaac, my gentle friend, courageous community leader, and Eritrean asylum seeker in Tel Aviv inspires me daily to act on the Torah injunction (Leviticus 19:34) —

כְּאֶזְרָח מִכֶּם יִהְיֶה לָכֶם הַגֵּר הַגָּר אִתְּכֶם, וְאָהַבְתָּ לוֹ כָּמוֹךָ כִּי גֵרִים הֱיִיתֶם בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם

Treat foreign residents living among you as your native-born. Love each one as yourself because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Watch "Breaking into Israel" (24 minutes) and meet Kidane (starting at minute 16).

Resources
No country for refugees, article on The Refugee Voice, in Haaretz newspaper, April 15, 2011

The African Refugee Development Center
Founded in 2004 by refugees and Israelis to help refugees and asylum seekers in Israel, ARDC provides community services and lobbies for fairer policies towards refugees.
Email: info@ardc-israel.org

The Hotline for Migrant Workers
Founded in 1998, HMW is a non-partisan, not for profit organization promoting undocumented migrant workers' and refugees' rights, and eliminating human trafficking in Israel.
Email: info@hotline.org.il

Organization for Aiding Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel
Founded in 2007, ASSAF is a non-profit organization that provides support and runs programs to protect and strengthen the African refugee community in Israel.
Email: assafaid@gmail.com