Holidays

God Laughs - A Sermon by Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:39:10 -0400

Here is an excerpt from Rabbi Steve Booth's Rosh Hashanah sermon from this year. Download the complete sermon.

A couple summers ago, I was sailing a large rented sailboat on Lake Dillon with Rabbi Soloway from Boulder. I was thrilled to discover he was as experienced and skilled a sailor as I, as he grew up ocean racing in England. It was just the two of us, a somewhat blustery late spring day, but we were doing fine. As the wind slowly built up however, I was steering, and I said: “Marc, I know its a pain, but if we reefed the main down a bit, it would be easier to steer and we’d have more control.” He agreed, and we did it.

As he finished with the sail and looked back to me from the deck, as we both started to nod that yes, this was better, ....BOOM! -- ....we heard something pop.... and with a sick feeling, looked up, and watched in slow motion as the mast broke, and the sails and all the rigging simply blew off the boat! We were dead in the water, dragging our sails and rigging. (Sound at all like anyone’s life this year?)

Good thing we were two rabbis... better yet... good thing we were two experienced sailors. Marc quickly started to haul in the sails and rigging, while I tried to start the outboard motor. Interestingly, neither of us was getting anywhere. So silently, as a team, we switched positions. As I was hauling in the rigging, I noticed that the wind was slowly blowing us towards a rocky shore. Not good. I thought, “you know... this stuff makes a good anchor,” and I dropped everything back in the water.

The short version of the story is that Marc got the engine started and I hauled in the cold, wet rigging. We kept our heads, worked as a team, and to the shock of the folks at the Dillion Marina, on our own we brought the boat, sails, and all the rigging back safely to dock. We did this by not fighting the changes, but by adjusting to them. We worked together and stayed on course.

Rabbi Stephen Booth-Nadav leads B'nai Havurah in Denver, Colorado.

Ann Arbor Reconstructionists Cooperate with Local Muslims

Abby Weinberg — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:42:10 -0400

This year, the Muslim holiday of Ramadan began on the first night of Rosh Hashana.
The Detroit News reported how Jews and Muslims in the Detroit area are using this rare occurrence to build bridges between their communities.

Read the attached report of a Muslim-Jewish Friday night dinner hosted by members of the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah.

The Resident Rabbi

Joe Getzoff — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:23:57 -0400

Caught Dovening

Growing up in a non-Jewish area was always awkward around holidays. These were not days of reflection and celebration that they were meant to be, but instead, holidays were a time when I was elected by my non-Jewish peers as the resident rabbi. As one of the few Jewish kids in my high school of 2,200 students, my non-Jewish peers were a pretty large demographic, and like me, knew next to nothing about Jewish culture, religion, and history.

Since I was a “graduate” of Judaism, having been Bar-Mitzvahed, I did know more than most, but ‘most’ was a high school filled with kids whose reaction to my Jewishness was, “Oh, so you don’t celebrate Christmas?” In this question lay the core of what a Jewish kid was to most other kids in a non-Jewish area—that poor soul, who, running down to the menorah on Christmas morning, finds nothing but coal.

The rhetorical answer to this question was, of course, “Actually, I celebrate Hanukah,” because mentioning Yom Kippur, or Rosh Hashanah, or even attempting to say, “Actually Simchas Torah is on Friday, so I’m skipping the dance,” only resulted in a confused look, the kind that someone gives a mental patient, who having just placed their legs through the arms of their sports jacket admits that, “Yes, sometimes I do feel like a pineapple.”

I was a normal kid, indistinguishable from the rest, except when any holiday came around. In first-grade, I boycotted elf-drawing with the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Another time, while drawing Christmas scenes, I had a snowman with a yarmulke and a curious looking six-pointed star on the tree. Everyone would wish “Merry Christmas!” to each other before winter and then seeing me would stop and smile wide. “Happy Holidays!”

Back in middle school, the High Holy Days were never an issue. Students were not given a day off, so I just called out with a parents’ note. I was expected to do my homework ahead of time and the day off was just that: a day off.

But High School was different. Somewhere along the line, everyone had become so culturally sensitive that conversations about race, religion, and culture were reduced to awkward exchanges. In British Literature, my teacher would frequently apologize.

“Joe, I’m so sorry. Chaucer didn’t mean it,” she’d say.

“Uh, it’s ok . . . I forgive him.”

Whenever holidays emerged, it became somewhat more pronounced:

“Joe, could you explain to us the meaning of Yaam Ki-ppeer?”

“Joe, I ate mat-zas the other day!”

“Joe, what does Rash Ho-sha-nie mean?”

“Joe, how do you spell Hanukah?”

High School was the first time that we received a day off for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, even though I was one of a handful of Jewish kids. Other students would approach me the afternoon before Yom Kippur, thanking me for the day off. “You’re really lucky to have so many holidays,” they’d say, but I was only half listening, as I was usually calculating the amount of food I could stuff into my face in order to pull off a painless one-day hibernation.

One day in my freshman year art class was especially humiliating. Somehow, my art teacher knew enough about Judaism to procure a shofar. She began to explain Rosh Hashanah: “Rash Ha-sha-nie is the Jewish New Year. They blow a sho-fer, to announce the new year.” At this point, she turned to me.

“Joe, could you show us how to blow a sho-fer?”

Imagine the scene:

I am wearing a collared green shirt that is three sizes too big. My hair is messy and greasy. I have trouble piecing together more than three words in any social situation. Scientists later confirmed that I was, indeed, a ball of acne. I have a crush on a girl to my right, and to my left sits my arch-nemesis, a kid named Craig, who, though later became a friend, at that point was the bane of my existence.

“But—” I begin, my voice cracking, “I have never—”

“Here, Joe, show us.”

I approach the front of the room, pick up the shofar, and blow as hard as I can. Though I am obviously expending a lot of effort to call in the New Year, the tone that comes out sounds as though I am deflating, which, in many ways, is the case.

Imagine that someone comes up to you on the street. You do not know this person but they walk right towards you and, with all the force they can muster, blow into your face. You would be surprised and somewhat disgusted but you would be silent and you’d look to others for an explanation, because, obviously, there has to be one. Such was the look that my classmates gave my art teacher.

Craig raised his hand. “Can I try?”

Turning the color of Manischewitz, I handed Craig the shofar. Craig, who played the trumpet, pushed the ram’s horn to his lips and let out a long loud bellow. He smiled and I wanted to punch him.

“There you have it class: the Jewish sho-fer. Thank you, Craig.”

Years later, I wonder what high school would have been like if I had been able to teach others about my culture. No doubt I would have been a know it all, wanting to make up for the failures of my first go-around. The holidays always called out some odd American anxiety and I was called upon to represent every single Jewish person, living or dead, to appease it. I think that people can only take what they don’t know in small doses. In another situation, I would have been the idiot asking, “Wait, why can’t you eat for a month?”

The scene is England. I have just explained to my class that Americans tend to hyphenate themselves. No American is really American; we are always Something-American. My professor treats this like a revelation. She looks around the class and her thoughts roll into my head, Whitemarsh, Butterfield, Farim—

“Jamila, what would that make you?” said my professor, delighted.

The girl with the black head covering blushes a deep red and looks down, uttering an indistinct, “eerrrrrrr…”

For a brief second I feel connected to Jamila, the Muslim girl who I was nervous around and had never held a real conversation with. Never before had any attention been drawn to her, she had remained silent at the back, taking secret notes on Virgil. I felt bad for starting the conversation that singled her out, but while the rest of the class calculated, “I’m British-British?” in their heads, I had found a momentary partner in self-consciousness.

Rabbi Shai Gluskin Blows Shofar

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:11:24 -0400

Rabbi Shai Gluskin blows the shofar in Elul, 5767 in advance of the New Year of 5768.

The sounds are: 1 Tekiah, Shevarim, three mournful tones, Teruah 9 staccato notes, and finally one Tekiah. Each of the four (Tekiah, Shevarim, Teruah, and Tekiah) should consist of one "measure" taking up the same amount of time.

Video taken by Joe Getzoff.

Yom HaShoah

Ilana Streit — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:16:24 -0400

There is a gaping hole
in the body of the Jewish people

about fifty years old
and slowly healing

Some try to cover it with bandages
but the wound needs to breathe

Some try to fill it with Land
but I’m afraid it will get infected

Doctors estimate that within one hundred years
scar tissue will begin to form

There is a gaping hole
in the soul of the Jewish people

Some try to fill it with words

Tu b'Shvat Report from Down Under

R Shoshana Kaminsky — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 22:25:35 -0500

Peach from Australia at Tu Bishvat Time: from my garden in Adelaide[Check out Rabbi Kaminsky's blog. Ed.]

It’s Sunday morning here in Adelaide; at 11:45 a.m. it’s already 102 degrees. Heat is expected to break tomorrow night, and we’re anticipating that with great eagerness.

A visitor to our congregation several months ago wanted to know if people in the Southern Hemisphere reschedule Jewish holidays for six months later than the Northern Hemisphere. It’s true that it’s been an adjustment to think of the High Holy Days as falling in the spring, and to attempt to reimagine Pesach as a fall holiday.

Tu b’Shvat has always seemed to me to be one of those holidays that’s randomly assigned a date without any attention to the growing calendar. On the east coast, it’s usually one of the very coldest days of the year. Even in Israel, it’s mid-way through the growing season and not a particularly notable time of year, despite the blossoming of the almond tree.

Here in Australia, we’re just about at the end of harvesting fruit trees. I have an enormous peach tree in my backyard, and for weeks I’ve been trying to figure out how to unload the many pounds of peaches I’ve been harvesting. On Shabbat morning, I was out early picking several dozen peaches to bring to shul to share. It struck me as a wonderful novelty to actually have tree fruits ready and available for picking on the day of Tu B’Shvat. Maybe the rabbis had the Southern Hemisphere in mind when they chose the date!

Tu Bishvat is Coming, Check Out Resources

Rabbi Shai Gluskin — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:31:46 -0500

Baobob at Kibbutz Ein GediTu Bishvat is on February 2-3. Though it lands on Shabbat there are no liturgical changes to the service. Certainly special readings and kiddish (festive food and drink served after a service) that doubles as a Tu Bishvat Seder are welcome and common additions. Add a comment to this post to share your plans/thoughts for Tu Bishvat this year.

Check out these resources:

Article: The Four Faces Of Tu Bishvat
By Jeremy Benstein
An exploration of the ramifications of Tu Bishvat in the Economic, Spiritual, National-Political and Ecological spheres from ancient times to the present.
Bibliography: Greening Sustainable Synagogues
By Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Nathan Martin
Annotated weblinks and listings of resources to support congregations in their efforts to function in more ecologically sustainable ways, and to support those efforts in the world.
Bibliography: References for a Values-Based Decision Making Approach to Greening Synagogues
By Roni Handler, Derek Rosenbaum
A collection of resources that help groups engaging in a values-based decision making approach to greening congregational spaces. The list is divided into print and online materials.
Bibliography: Tu B'Shevat Resources
By Rabbi Shai Gluskin
An annotated list of many web links and one book - all about Tu B'Shevat for children and adults! Includes background information, history, stories, activities, seder readings and more.
Class Activity: Plant Trees And Protect Wildlife
By Rabbi Amy Klein
An activity from the Jerusalem Bird Observatory explaining how trees support wildlife and inviting kids to collect tzedakah to plant a tree locally.
Class Activity: Trees Of The Bible
By Rabbi Amy Klein
This is an activity from the Jerusalem Bird Observatory that gives a list of biblical references to different trees and sends kids out into the field to find trees in their own neighborhoods.
Class Activity: Useful Art Projects Using Recycled Materials
By Rabbi Amy Klein
Directions to make fabric lunch boxes and flowerpots out of used materials you can find around the house. A great Tu Bishvat activity!
Profile: JRF Resolution on the Environment
By JRF
JRF Plenum resolution on the environment.
Program Description: Tzedakah And The Jewish Holidays: Giving For Social Change
By Rabbi Shawn Zevit
Ideas for giving opportunities throughout the Jewish year. Connects each Jewish holiday to the concept of tzedakah and recommends a relevant type of benficiary to support.
Text Compilation: Tu Bishvat Seder Texts
By Rabbi Amy Klein
Three selections you may wish to use in your Tu Bishvat Seder by secular Zionist thinker A. D. Gordon, Haskalah poet Saul Tchernikovsky and Reb Nachman of Bratslav.

Hanukkah 5767

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 23:06:31 -0500

Please explore these resources for Hanukkah from our online resources library.

Bibliography: Holiday Book List for Educators
By Rabbi Shai Gluskin
Great books for teaching kids about Jewish holidays. Contains a section of general books covering multiple holidays, books to teach about God and the holidays as well as special sections for books about Hanukah and the High Holy Days.
Dvar Torah: December and Dedication
By Rabbi Toba Spitzer
December is that time of year when being a Jew in America feels particularly complicated. Whether we are dealing with the "December dilemma" or are just a bit overwhelmed by the ubiquity of ...
Dvar Torah: The United States of Hanukah
By Rabbi Steve Segar
In a 2002 RT article, Rabbi Steve Segar notes, "The Hanukah story contains thematic elements that create cognitive dissonance or even undermine the cultural messages that our communities are attempting to cultivate through the observance of this holiday." Many American Jews might relate to the Helenizing forces more than the Maccabean tendency to root them out. Resonant within the story for many Reconstructionists and others is the struggle to live in multiple "civilizations" simultaneously with integrity.
Dvar Torah: Three Reasons
By Rabbi Howard Cohen
Along with selecting special haftorot for each week to highlight an aspect of the Torah portion, the rabbis also chose special readings for the holidays. For the first Shabbat of Hanukah the rabbis selected Zechariah 2:14 -4:7. ...
Essay: A Hanukah Story for the Children of Dor Hadash
By Barbara Carr
A story about a family's struggle to redefine their relationship with Hanukah and rededicate their intentions to the meaning of the holiday. Inspired by Kerry Olitsky's book, Eight Nights, Eight Lights.
Essay: Who Can Remember?: A Hanukah Story
By Sandy Brusin
An empowering retelling of the Hanukah story that emphasizes theology and remembering rather than miracles or military might.
How to: Video Demonstration of Lighting the Hanukah Menora and Singing the Blessings
By Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat
Listen and watch Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat as he demontrates lighting the Hanukah menorah. He's also thrown in "O' Hanukah, O' Hanukah" whose famous English words were written by Mordecai Kaplan's daughter, Judith Eisenstein.
Listserve Thread: Teaching Hanukah: The Myth or the Miracle?
By Sara Mosenkis
Toni Bloomberg Grossman asks the edtalk listserv about how to teach young children about Hanukah, taking into account both the common story of the miracle of the oil and the fact that this is a midrash. Many educators respond with their practical and ideological thoughts about how to teach about Hanukah in a Reconstructionist fashion.
Music: Light and Dark
By Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton, Rabbi Margot L. Stein
Words and sheet music for three-part vocal harmony for a Hanukah song about differences between dark and light, good and evil. Music and Lyrics by Margot L. Stein. Arrangement by Elizabeth Bolton.
Program Description: Tzedakah And The Jewish Holidays: Giving For Social Change
By Rabbi Shawn Zevit
Ideas for giving opportunities throughout the Jewish year. Connects each Jewish holiday to the concept of tzedakah and recommends a relevant type of benficiary to support.
Ritual: One for Each Night: A Hanukkah Study Guide for a Brighter Future
By Congregation Bet Haverim, Atlanta, GA
This award winning Hanukkah home guide includes a nightly ritual of replacing a light bulb in your house with an energy efficient CFL bulb, short teachings about the importance of saving energy, a light bulb joke, and a blessing. A great way of giving focus to Hanukkah at home.
RT Article: The United States of Hanukkah
By Rabbi Steve Segar
Integrating the themes of bicultural identity