The Notorious R.A.V.

Connectedness of Jewish Wisdom

2012-01-23T11:52:00.000-05:00

Connectedness is not just about people, it's also about ideas.

Jewish people have cultivated a mindset in which ideas are interconnected. That's what midrash, the rabbinic discussion of biblical text, is all about. The Torah narrates an event, or states a law. Hundreds or even thousands of years later, Jews are connecting the text to other ideas. The ideas may come from Judaism. Or from general society. Or from a song on the radio or a movie we just saw.

Much is the education that we receive works against connected thought. We're taught to think like scientists, exploring problems and experimenting with solutions. Good stuff, but not if you're looking for creative and connected thinking.

The goal of Jewish education today must be to foster Jewish connectedness as a habit of mind. Connectedness of Jew to Jew and of Jew to Jewish ideas. And also of Jewish ideas to one another (and to related ideas from outside Jewish culture).

One area to develop connectedness of ideas in a Jewish way is through the writing of a d'var Torah. Much like midrash, a d'var Torah is a way of connecting ideas that are not, on the surface, directly related. In a d'var Torah, we show how all wisdom is ultimately connected, and we use that connectedness to build new wisdom.

An example below uses a modified mind map. In a few weeks the Torah portion in which the people of Israel stand at the foot of Mt. Sinai to receive God's word is read. In the diagram below, I've shown a few directions in which our connected thoughts can take us, as we branch out from the core text to create new Jewish wisdom for our lives:

[to view in larger size, go to https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/Public/Standing%20at%20Sinai%20enlarged.tif?w=7ae7b194 ]

In the center of the map, is the event itself: The people of Israel standing at the foot of Sinai. From there, we can go in a number of directions in our thinking, choosing to look at the event (revelation), the location (Sinai), the people (Israel) or the content (the Ten Commandments). Each of those choices leads to other ideas we can choose to pursue:

If we think about revelation, it can take us to ideas of who wrote or inspired the writing of the Torah. Which in turn, leads us to a discussion of our roles as co-creators of Torah and of wisdom.

If we think about the content, we can develop ideas about how the Ten Commandments become the core of Judaism and Christianity, or about how law becomes central to society.

Thinking about the Israelites, in this diagram, can lead to thinking about the midrash that all Israelites who would ever live, including future converts, were present at Sinai. Which can lead to a discussion of how we treat the "stranger" (and foreigners). Or to a discussion of the "Saw You at Sinai" matchmaking website.

Point is, Jewish learning is not about the quantity of knowledge that we gain or convey. It's about the building the capacity to connect the knowledge in order to continually create new connections and new Jewish knowledge.

Networking: An Ancient Jewish Practice

2012-01-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

There is a great deal of buzz about the use of networks in moving the Jewish community forward. It tends to rely a great deal of some of the big name thinkers from the general world in areas such as networks, and some "first cousin" concepts and practices, such as Communities of Practice, Professional Learning Communities and the like.

Here's something incredibly cool: The networking that took place historically, and continues to take place around Jewish wisdom has unique characteristics:

The Sages of ancient (and modern) times communicated and innovated using many of the practices that are at the core of networks today.
Unlike today's networks, the Jewish networks that built a new Jewish life in the Talmudic Era and beyond, included communication between people who literally could never have spoken to one another: the network extended beyond distance and, incredibly, beyond time restrictions. Rabbis were "talking to" rabbis who were long deceased.

My teacher, the late Rabbi Selig Starr, of blessed memory, of the yeshiva in Skokie, IL, once took me aside. He said to me, "Samlan, you are a social being. The people will love you. But you need to socialize with Rabbi Akiva, Hillel, Shammai. When I go home and study, I have conversations with them."

It took me over 30 years to understand that what he was telling me was: The rabbis and scholars who came before us are very much a part of our network, in every sense of the word.

Here's an example of how it works, a social network representation of a page from the Babylonian Talmud. The text of Talmud Shabbat 21 a-b takes a conversation about the wicks and fuels that can be used for Shabbat lights and moves from there to a conversation about the lights used for Chanukah.

The Talmudic text begins with Rav Huna, who is right in the middle of the graphic above. He is in the middle of the Talmudic period, and lived in Sura, Babylonia. In the text, Rav Huna, the Chachamim (rabbis who lived long before his time), Rava, Rav Hisda, Rav Zeira, Rav Matna, Rav, Rav Yirmiah, "The Rabbis", Abaye, Rabin, Rav Yochanan, Rabbah bar bar Hama all enter the conversation.

What then follows is the famous disagreement between the followers of Hillel and the followers of Shammai as to whether a pious person begins the holiday of Chanukah lighting one light and increasing to eight, or beginning with eight and decreasing to one. This leads to interaction with two later sages, Rav Yosi bar Avin and Rav Yosi ben Zevida. and to Rabbah bar bar Hama mentioning two unnamed characters, each of who backs either Hillel or Shammai. This "discussion" takes place (without benefit of phone or Internet) across great geographic distances, in Babylonia and in the land of Israel. It also occurs across several centuries.

One interesting caveat: The rationale attributed to Shammai's opinion about the Chanukah lights brings a relationship between the holidays of Sukkot and Chanukah into play. The origins of Chanukah in the holiday of Sukkot dates back to the apocryphal books of the Maccabees. While these books are not directly quoted, Shammai (and those who explain his views) clearly have an intellectual connection to those books, which I show in the graphic.

In the diagram above, the conversation continues (and it mentioned on the Talmudic page in the margins) with later codifiers of Jewish practice - Maimonides, Rabbi Jacob and the two authors of the Shulchan Aruch code of law - entering the conversation by codifying the current practice (putting them in "direct" conversation with Hillel, who lived over a millennium before).

As Jews, we are networked. It is part of our heritage. In bringing the use of networks to build and spread ideas, what we need to do is to re-educate the Jews of today to join the networked Jewish conversation that has existed since the dawn of the Jewish people. This isn't about taking a new idea and translating it to the Jewish world. It is about taking an ancient habit of mind, teaching it to this generation of Jews, and giving it new life.

Jewish Connectedness - Part 3: Connecting Wisdom

2011-11-21T11:58:00.000-05:00

In the last installment about Jewish connectedness as a measure of success to replace "affiliation", I suggested:

Passionate Opinion: The primary goal of Jewish learning today is to reawaken the Jewish habit of mind of building connections

between Jew and Jew
between Jew and non-Jewish family members
between Jew and non-Jewish friends and neighbors, sharing in Jewish experiences
between bits (and bytes) of Jewish knowledge and wisdom
between bits (and bytes) of Jewish knowledge and wisdom and the knowledge and wisdom of our friends and neighbors and their cultural and spiritual heritages

Connectedness between bits (and bytes) of Jewish knowledge and wisdom

Think back, if you will, to college courses you may have taken in education. Knowledge and learning were arranged in a hierarchy, ranging from least complex to more complex. As you've read this, phrases like "Bloom's Taxonomy" or "Spiral Curriculum" may have arisen to consciousness. According to the models we were taught, cognition and learning, and therefore, teaching, flow upwards from the most basic knowledge to higher level thinking. Many educational thinkers conceptualize all education as being geared to creating scientists, who will research everything in according to logical, sequential rules.

Compare to that, if you will, the creation and communication of Jewish knowledge and wisdom. A Talmudic argument might begin by following rules of logic, such as those described by Rabbi Yishmael in the second century. But the conversation quickly veers into other areas with only a tenuous link between subjects. So, the Talmudic conversation about havdalah, ending Shabbat, doesn't appear in the Talmud tractate about Shabbat, but in the tractate about Pesach, as a tangent to the discussion of the use of a multi-wick flame or a torch for the search for chametz. And the discussion of Chanukah interrupts the part of tractate Shabbat in which the rabbis argue about the types of wicks and fuel may be used for Shabbat lights.

When looking at how Jewish wisdom evolves and is transmitted, it is more helpful to think of the concept of "mind-mapping" or "radiant thinking"than of linear thinking. Tony Buzan's work on mind-mapping allows for the flow of ideas and learning through connected pathways that may or may not include hierarchical organization. In reading his work, my mind kept coming back to the idea of midrash, in which challenges in a biblical texts are responded to by creating a totally new linkage of ideas. Almost the exact process that Buzan describes. And similar to the connections that are made when one follows hyperlinks in pursuing information in today's digital world.

Non-linear education requires an entirely different framework than that offered by traditional educational approaches. We need to unlearn the linear approach to teaching and look to how we can help learners free their minds to build interconnected Jewish knowledge in the same way that Jewish thinkers have done throughout history.

Connectedness between bits (and bytes) of Jewish knowledge and wisdom and the knowledge and wisdom of our friends and neighbors and their cultural and spiritual heritages

My aunt, Anna, worked in a bakery in the Rogers Park area of Chicago. A simple woman, she conveyed the folk religion of Yarun, her birthplace in Ukraine, to her extended family in the new country. Among the beliefs she communicated was one in which a person's soul, if they were evil, would enter a farm animal after his/her death. She had no idea that this idea of transmigration was shared by branches of Jewish mystical thought, Hasidism, and in Eastern religions. While we don't know specifically how such beliefs travelled, it is safe to assume that they did.

It is clear that, especially in time in which Jews felt safe, wisdom flowed freely between the Jewish world and the surrounding cultures. Contact points between Judaism and Zoroastrianism show up in the Talmud and in the Dead Sea Scrolls; Maimonides is a fan of Aristotle and of the Moslem philosophers of his day; the "pietist" thinking of a few hundred years ago resulted in the birth of new movements in both Christianity and Judaism.

In today's world, Judaism has entered the common language in the U.S. and in many parts of the world. My generation was hesitant to bring Jewish concepts into public conversation, and was resistant to allowing concepts from other religions into Jewish conversation. My children and the generation around them, are eager to have a society in which ideas flow smoothly in both directions.

To prepare young people with the knowledge to participate in that society, Jewish education must look different than it always has. It must pass along the skills and the habits of mind, that build connectivity between bodies of knowledge and between groups of people, rather than fencing off either.

Next blog entry: How do we build a three dimensional map of Jewish connectedness?

Connectedness Replaces Affiliation, Part 2

2011-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

The previous posting, which generated more traffic than any previous posting on this blog, put forth the idea that all prior definitions of "Jewish affiliation" are becoming irrelevant, as "connectedness" becomes a far more compelling aim for the Jewish community. Today, I'm articulating this further:

Passionate Opinion: The primary goal of Jewish learning today is to reawaken the Jewish habit of mind of building connections
between Jew and Jew
between Jew and non-Jewish family members
between Jew and non-Jewish friends and neighbors, sharing in Jewish experiences
between bits (and bytes) of Jewish knowledge and wisdom
between bits (and bytes) of Jewish knowledge and wisdom and the knowledge and wisdom of our friends and neighbors and their cultural and spiritual heritages

Between Jew & Jew and between Jew and non-Jewish family members

Over the course of time, Jews have lost the ability to communicate in a shared language. In the most literal way, Hebrew, the only universally shared language among Jews, is no longer one in which all Jews are able to converse. But in a figurative way also, the "diaspora" and Jewish history have made it difficult to communicate across time, distance, cultures and beliefs.

What do we want to reawaken? In the Talmudic era, rabbis and scholars "spoke" to one another. If we were to read the Talmud, we'd make the mistake of believing that the participants in discussions were sitting across from one another. In fact, they often lived hundreds of years apart and hundreds of miles apart. Yet, I remember my teacher, Rabbi Zelig Starr, of blessed memory, speaking about how he conversed with these rabbis of Babylonia and Israel from his classroom in Skokie, IL, across nearly a 2000 year time difference.

I once drew a network map of a Talmudic conversation. It was unlike any contemporary social network map, because it transcended time and location. Very futuristic, yet it mapped a conversation of nearly 2000 years ago.

The goal today is to bring all Jews and their families into the big Jewish conversation. Today's technologies allow for some previously unimagined communications to occur in real time. But we can also link to conversations and wisdom, much of it accessible in English as well as Hebrew, for the first time ever. And available through technology as well as the printed word.

Between Jewish and Non-Jew

Recent studies of the young generation show that its members want to "do Jewish in non-Jewish spaces". They want their friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to be able to join in Jewish celebrations and conversations. My students cannot remember a time when Jews felt uncomfortable wearing kippot in public (and in Temple!), or one in which people would Americanize their Jewish sounding names. They take pride in their Jewishness and want to share it in society alongside everyone else's heritage. Events like Sukkah City, in which Jews and non-Jewish friends and family walked together an explored Sukkah architecture, were custom-made for this generation of Jews. And one of the most innovative approaches to Jewish youth, Jewish Student Union, boasts that as many of half of the participants in some programs are non-Jews, often accompanying Jewish friends. Our goal today must be to enable this generation to make their Jewish connectedness happen on its terms.

In the next installment, we'll look at the knowledge and wisdom components of Jewish connectedness.

Forget about Jewish Affiliation, Think about Jewish Connectedness

2011-11-01T12:25:00.000-04:00

My colleague, Beth Finger, is working tirelessly on a project called Jewish Without Walls. Be sure to check it out on Facebook.

During our conversation this morning, we both challenged the relevance of "Jewish affiliation", which has been used in every Jewish demographic study as a measure of community success in modern America. The problem is, and has always been, that the operational definition of "affiliation" is often "pays dues to a synagogue". Even those who expand the definition someone, rarely get beyond handing money to an organization (JCC, Federation, Hillel) as the operational definition.

The problem with the definitions:

Synagogue affiliation doesn't include serious Jews who are "not religious".
Those for whom membership is of little if any value are "not affiliated", although they may be "very Jewish": large numbers of elderly and many Gen Y'ers, for example
These definitions don't include significant numbers of Jews who relate to their Jewishness independently, including growing numbers who use social media to express their Jewishness

I'd like to suggest a more important measure of success than "affiliation". It's about Jewish Connectedness. This idea (with gratitude to Beth for helping to shape this over breakfast) takes note of all sorts of ways of relating meaningfully to one's Jewishness and, if desired, one's Judaism:

"seasonal" connections of families of summer campers
participants in independent minyanim and Chabad
younger adults, in particular, who are doing Jewish in non-institutional spaces or in secular spaces
Jews connecting online in meaningful ways
folks who participate in Beth's Jewish Without Walls, in havurot and in other groupings that are not (yet) dues-based groups

Someone with far more of a mathematical intelligence than me will figure out how to measure Jewish Connectedness. For now, I simply propose that we begin using Jewish Connectedness as an operational definition of success and as THE goal of our work in building Jewish communities and in the work of Jewish education at all ages.

Looking forward to comments...

The Good Shabbas / Shabbat Shalom Grunt

2011-10-25T09:24:00.000-04:00

When I first began attending Shabbat services regularly and adopted Shabbat observance as a teen, I remember walking down the streets of West Rogers Park in Chicago, wishing everyone a "Good Shabbos" and being greeted by others in the same way. During my studies in Israel, the same thing occurred, but with the greeting of "Shabbat Shalom" rather than "Good Shabbos". It was almost like a secret handshake: the members of the society were wishing one another the peace and restfulness that comes with a holy Shabbat.

The greeting and response became even more important in communities that were not as large as Chicago. When we lived in Rhode Island, for example, the Shabbat greeting could only be exchanged with a much smaller population. What was extra-special, though, was that the greeting was not restricted to the more traditionally observant Jewish community, but crossed all Jewish boundaries.

When I moved to the New York area, where, as Lenny Bruce pointed out "You're Jewish even if you're Goyish", the "Good Shabbos / Shabbat Shalom" circle grew, even beyond "members of the Tribe". To this day, I'm touched when Sabrina, an African-American manager in the local supermarket, goes the extra yard by wishing her Jewish customers "Shabbat Shalom" as they do their Thursday evening and Friday shopping. Good Shabbos to you, too, Sabrina!

Recently, however, a new and disturbing phenomenon arrived in our Long Island shtetl: the Good Shabbos grunt. That's right, grunt. A number of people - the number seems to rise on days on which there are more guests from outside our immediate community - have begun responding to my "Good Shabbos" wishes with a barely perceptible nod of the head and...a grunt. I did some quick, informal research, and found that the grunt might be a based on local custom. Three friends, all from Brooklyn, reported "It's a Brooklyn thing" or "In Brooklyn, you never respond to someone you don't know". I don't want to unfairly characterize Brooklyn, so I will admit that three interviews do not constitute sound research. But somehow, the "Good Shabbos" grunt has infiltrated a wonderfully friendly neighborhood.

I always loved the idea that people who didn't know one another, would greet each other with wishes for a peaceful, holy Shabbat day. Or, for that matter, even a simple "Good morning" to people of any faith on any day. And I feel disappointed when someone doesn't reciprocate my wishes. Grunting just doesn't cut it.

The Mishnah in Avot teaches that one should always greet a fellow human with a cheerful countenance. Let's all learn to do just that, and teach others to do the same. And if you pass me on the street, please be sure to wish me a Good Shabbos, Shabbat Shalom, or just a Good Day. And I promise to reciprocate.

Gun Cases and Palm Branches: Sukkot as Holiday of Transformation

2011-10-16T17:57:00.000-04:00

My teacher, Rabbi Zelig Starr, of blessed memory, used to say that all mitzvot - commandments - and indeed everything in Judaism, was perfectly logical. His affirmation, the result of his education at the yeshiva of Slobodka, Lithuania and at University of Chicago, guided me through my rabbinic training. In most cases, the idea that it was all logical worked just fine for me. The holiday of Sukkot, however, seemed the exception to his rule.

For the uninitiated, Sukkot, as most major Jewish holidays, commemorates both a natural / agricultural event as well as a religious / historical one. In this case, Sukkot marks the end of the summer, a concluding harvest time and the start of the rainy season in Israel. At the same time, it commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. Ancient rabbinic tradition discusses the sukkot, booths, in which Jews traditionally dwell (or at least eat in) over the holiday. Either it symbolizes the tents in which the ancient Israelites encamped en route from Egypt to the Land of Israel, or it symbolizes the clouds of glory which, according to the Torah, guided and protected them along the way. So far, so good; everything logical.

When you scratch the surface a bit, the link between the Exodus and the holiday gets blurry. First, the Torah marks the Exodus as occurring during spring. Thus, Passover commemorates the Exodus' timing. Why another commemoration in autumn? Second, the types of building materials needed to create what we now consider to be a sukkah, would not have been available in the desert. Third, the four species of produce that are carried during prayers are highly suggestive of ancient fertility rites. Fourth, the smashing of willow branches on the last day of Sukkot (Hoshana Rabbah), well, what IS that about? Fifth, on Shemini Atzeret, the holiday that immediately follows Sukkot, a prayer is said that addresses Af B'ri, who, according to most commentators is the "prince" or "angel" of rain, asking that he intervene with God to bless the earth with rain. Totally contradictory to the idea that Jews speak to God without intermediaries.

All told, pretty hard to reconcile those points with a totally modern, rational Judaism. An alternative explanation:

Sukkot is really about nature, not about the Exodus. And most of the observances are just a degree or two of separation from paganism. But here's the cool thing: Rather than trying to get rid of harvest festivals, fertility rites, and rain dances, Judaism transforms and adopts them. The sukkah of the harvesters becomes the symbol of divine protection in the desert. The four species that symbolize fertility instead become a means of understanding unity of all people or unity of the human spirit and body in serving God. And the rain prayers become a way of recognizing our dependence on God and our unity with the Land of Israel and its needs.

Ultimately, not only Sukkot, but all of Judaism, is about that type of transformation: taking something mundane or natural, imbuing it with kedusha, holiness, thus transforming its meaning into a Jewish message.

This year, I purchased a new lulav holder. To the uninitiated, it looks like a gun case. But to the Jewish eye, attuned to transformation, it is a lulav holder. The gun case ordinarily holds weapons that can destroy and kill. But when transformed into a lulav holder, it becomes part of Sukkot, a holiday in which we recognize our connections to nature and to our history.

May we always view our world as one in which all things have, within them, the ability to become instruments of holiness. And may we always use our power to imbue our world with kedusha.

Wishing you a chag sameach, a very happy Sukkot.

Jewish Life Coaching is for NOW

2011-10-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

Back in the day, if a person wanted direction in life, he went to the rabbi. Especially in more traditional communities. Some still do. Sometimes a person goes for direction on ritual life. Sometimes for counseling. sometimes for life direction. My rabbinic training was all for that kind of world and that type of relationship: the rabbi was the scholar, decisor, authority. And the person seeking the rabbi's help was going to look up to him. Indeed, there is a practice among some traditional Jews that ways that once your rabbi has responded to a question you asked, you are not permitted to ask another rabbi the same question.

That is not the world in which we live today. Today's Jew doesn't want the rabbi who needs to be the unquestioned authority. And s/he can find counseling or life advice in hundreds of other (better?) places. And the scholarship that the rabbi owned is more accessible than ever thanks to the publishing and dissemination of information in print and digitally.

Today's rabbi needs to be the "guide on the side". And there is a perfect contemporary paradigm for it: Coaching.

We turn to coaches, individually and organizationally, for a new set of eyes with which to assess where we are, and set a course for where we want to go. I've used one. Changed the way I looked at my professional life. And the way I saw myself.

Now it's time for a new endeavor, one that I'm jumping into: Jewish Life Coaching. It's not about how to deal with Jewish organizations or communities; there are great coaches and consultants in those waters. Rather, it's about how a person can set his/her own course, and a family's course, towards creating the Jewish life that will be meaningful to him or her personally. For me, it's a great opportunity to be the "guide on the side" rabbi that speaks to contemporary Jews, encouraging them to make their own Jewish decisions. For clients, it's having access to thinking about how to craft a Jewish life, but without the entanglement of synagogue dues or organizational walls. Not that one would have to be a rabbi to be a Jewish life coach, but it's an extra value that I bring to the work.

Yesterday, I posted - in ads around the country and on social media - an offer: One free Jewish Life Coaching session for anyone. Face to face, Skype, or phone. Take me up on it. If you learn something, take it with my blessings. If you enjoy it enough to want more, we set a course and continue.

Want to take me up on the offer? Email me: TheNotoriousRAV@gmail.com. I'll be looking forward to it.

A Chapter Closes, New Chapters Being Written

2011-10-10T17:30:00.000-04:00

Today marks the end of my career as a regional director at the The Jewish Education Project / BJE of Greater New York. Over 12 years ago, I was recruited from a national position that I held to become the first full-time director of the agency's region on Long Island, as part of the agency's initiative to become more responsive to the needs of suburban areas. After nine years, I was transferred to direct the agency's Westchester region, which I led for the past three years. Twelve years after coming to the agency, it is far more active in the suburban areas then ever, and the regional director positions no longer exist. I will continue to work in the Westchester area in a part-time capacity, while pursuing other opportunities.

Taking the time to reflect over Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur has given me a sense of perspective. I look at these years through accomplishments:

Co-facilitated a metro-New York Education Leadership Consortium, that provided professional learning for close to 100 congregational principals
Organized and supervised professional learning experiences and conferences attended by thousands of teachers
Obtained grant funding and gave dozens of New York area teachers the opportunity to attend Conferences on Alternatives in Jewish Education
Created and led Around the Shabbat Table, a program that reached tens of thousands of Jewish households across the world with Shabbat family discussion guides
Managed the Jewish Futures' Conference for the agency, working alongside our partners from Covenant Foundation, Lipmann-Kanfer Institute, & Jewish Federations of North America
Staffed four principals networks, with events that included ongoing learning for over 150 principals, professional learning retreats, and dinners of honor for congregational volunteer leaders with will over 1,000 participants over the years.
Recruited, organized orientations series, and escorted over 65 kids on March of the Living
Reached over 600 people by creating and managing the agency's first Twitter feed and LinkedIn group
Led the agency's Special Interest Group in Technology, at a time of tremendous growth in the use of technology by staff and colleagues in the field
Conducted study programs attended by hundreds of UJA-Federation leaders
Taught hundreds of students through the Melton Adult Mini-School and the JLearn adult learning program on Long Island

New challenges await, both within the agency and outside it.

While proud of my successes, I give credit to many others:

Over the 12 years, I had six different supervisors, each with his/her own priorities and each with his/her own styles. I have learned from all of them. Thank you to each of you.
I've had well over 100 colleagues at The Jewish Education Project / BJENY. They included educators as well as the administrators that support the agency and its work. Adding them together, they have included some of the most passionate people I know about: day schools, congregation-based learning, informal education, special education, child welfare, early childhood education, family education, adult Jewish learning, professional development, educational technology and creative models and methods for Jewish learning. It's been a pleasure to work with you, and I look forward to continuing to be your colleague in my new role.
Dozens of committed volunteer leaders in the organization have been my partners in this work, first on Long Island and then in Westchester. Thank you for your commitment and for your patience in sticking with us over years of rather constant change
Thousands of amazing Jewish educators - teachers, principals, youth workers, agency personnel, national organization staff - have allowed me to touch their lives and practice. They studied with me & opened doors for me to work with them. It has been an honor and I look forward to new and different opportunities to work with you in the future.

May you all go from strength to strength!

What Have We Learned This Week? This Year?

2011-09-28T11:49:00.001-04:00

2011 SEPTEMBER 28 - co-published with Jewpoint0: The Darim Online Blog

tags: facebook, learned, rosh hashanah, week, year

by Arnie Samlan

When I joined Facebook, the first updates I began to post daily balanced my work and my play. They bounced between humorous (most often) and serious. Some reflected my rabbinic side; some addressed my musical (and scratch DJ) side; many dealt with pop music or pop culture. After a few months, I figured out that social media is not about listening to myself, it’s about bringing people together to share.

As I began to wind down my work week in preparation for Shabbat, my social media Friday began, a few months back, to take on a different form. I needed a wrap up of the social media week, just as Shabbat is the wrap up of my work week. Inspired by a radio “shock jock” who used to end each morning with a call-in segment called “What have we learned today?”, I decided to try asking this question on my Friday Facebook status. And so, every Friday morning, my status reads “It’s Friday! What have we learned this week?”

Several months in, our (no longer my) What Have We Learned This Week? community is thriving. Each week literally dozens of friends from around the world share their reflections. The recognition of learning that has taken place ranges from the odd (“I learned about the reproductive system of a hen”) to the seriously reflective (“we can spend time weighing our day, debating its worth, or we can recognize all of the good in our day and count it as worthy!”), to the personal (“To have a little more faith in myself than I might otherwise deem I deserve.”) to the proudly parental (“That my son is receiving a wonderful public school education from wonderfully committed teachers.”)

Beyond their individual reflections, the participants in this weekly ritual have begun to talk to each other, supporting (or challenging, such as the discussion on the difference between “fact” and “truth”) friends and sometimes strangers as we close our week together. My Friday Facebook wall has become a safe place for introspection, joking, kvetching, and praying. We judge our own learnings from social media and from the rest of our life and, without judging one another we get the opportunity to learn from each other’s weekly journeys. And in the end, it’s the sharing of one another’s journeys that is what life, as well as social media, is about.

Judaism has a practice in which a person conducts a cheshbon ha-nefesh, a self-audit of one’s soul. Some people engage in this practice daily, others less often. During the Rosh Hashana season, it’s particularly apropos, as we look back on the year past and at the year ahead. We assess ourselves honestly, and we set our course for the future. Why not invite my Facebook friends to share their owncheshbon hanefesh on my Facebook wall?

May we all continue to learn and share, and may be all be blessed wish a shana tova u’metukah, a happy and sweet New Year.

So… What you have you learned this year?

Arnie Samlan is a rabbi, Jewish educator, consultant, Jewish life coach, and aspiring DJ. Follow him on Twitter (@JewishConnectiv) and his blog (http://thenotoriousrav.blogspot.comArnie is part of the professional team of the New Center for Collaboration and Leadership of The Jewish Education Project.

Shana Tova from The Notorious R.A.V.

2011-09-27T09:30:00.000-04:00

At a recent gathering of communityleaders, I spoke about two approaches to life and to change: The traditionalrabbinic approach to Rosh Hashana, in which we feel remorse or guilt and workto improve our actions vs. the wisdom of Thomas Leonard, a past leader inpersonal and executive coaching who wrote “See how perfect the present reallyis. Especially when it is clearly not.”

Where should we start withthe change we want in our lives, then: From a place in which we feel incompleteor from a place in which we feel complete? According to the Chasidic leaderSimcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827), we actually start in both places. Hespoke of how each person must have two pockets, with a note in each. When onefeels down and depressed, s/he should reach into the pocket for the note whichsays "For my sake was the world created." [Mishna Sanhedrin]. Andwhen one feels above it all and haughty, s/he should reach into the otherpocket, and for the note: "I am but dust and ashes."[Genesis 18].

Both ideas represent truth,and both represent our starting points at the High Holidays. We are strikinglymortal. Yet at the same time, the world was created for each and every one ofus.

Our world and our livescontain continuous challenge. We find ourselves riding a roller coast of upsand downs: emotionally, financially, and often in our careers andrelationships. What the Hasidic story teaches is the need for balance. Werecognize our power and our limits, our strengths and our vulnerabilities. Andwe use all of who we are to balance ourselves and to make ourselves, ourfamilies, our communities and our world better in the year ahead.

May you and yours be blessedwith a shana tova u’metukah, a Happy and Sweet New Year,

The Notorious R.A.V.

Twitter: @JewishConnectiv

Making Orthodox Synagogues More Meaningful

2011-08-25T16:30:00.000-04:00

The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals challenged the community to submit ideas for making modern Orthodox synagogues more meaningful and attractive. My essay was one of the winners, and appears at http://www.jewishideas.org/events/essay-contest-making-orthodox-synagogues-more-meaning. The rules allowed for only 300 words, but I'm sharing my thinking here without limits. My ideas:

Rabbinic Leadership - The role of the Orthodox rabbi as THE authority on Jewish knowledge and practice is out of synch with today's world. Knowledge is too vast to only be managed horizontally. There needs to be a flow of Jewish knowledge vertically, with rabbis as facilitators, connecting pods of knowledge and knowledge holders. Throughout Jewish history, Jewish practice was determined not simply by decree, but often by crowdsourcing - observing what the masses are doing. Orthodox communities can return to that approach.
Maximizing Benefits of 50% of its members - One of the most incongruous parts of the traditional prayer book is the prayer for the community, in which Orthodox Jews prayer for "the community...their wives, their children..." The clear meaning is that women are not members of the community, but are spouses of members. Orthodox synagogues have retained the wording, along with its implications. Orthodox synagogues, many of which do not allow women to speak publicly even after services, are losing out on the knowledge, leadership and insights of 50% of their members. While understanding separate gender seating and the limitations that halacha as understood today imposes, the Orthodox synagogue must find ways to fully benefit from the potential contributions of women. It's not enough for this to happen only in Riverdale, NY and the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The commitment, through concrete actions, must permeate Orthodox Jewish communities everywhere.
Relevance - The messages of the Orthodox synagogue must become one that integrates into the real life of its members. The vast majority of Orthodox Jews are fully integrated in the workplace and into their broader communities. The synagogue must communicate the values that can add to that broader society in which its members live, and empower its members to bring those values to bear on a multi-cultural, democratic society.
Increasing meaningful access - Orthodox synagogues, through their architecture, language and prayer books, communicate that they want their members to be fully mobile, Hebrew reading, theologically monolithic Jews. It's time for every Orthodox synagogues to be fully handicapped accessible (including the bima). Synagogues need new siddurim that have modern translations, do away with some of the inexplicable Kabbalistic meditations on God's secret names and such, and challenge pray-ers to explore what the prayers are about rather than spoon feeding pre-digested answers. Rabbis and those who teach Torah in Orthodox synagogues have to be more honest and open to the fluidity of traditional practice and beliefs that has been true throughout Jewish history, and allow openness to a variety or perfectly acceptable alternatives in so many areas of halacha and practice.
Language - Orthodox synagogues must stop, and encourage members to stop, using the word "religious" to equal "traditionally observant" or "Orthodox." They are not synonymous. I have friends in each Jewish movement (as well as those outside of movements) who are deeply religious. Spiritual superiority complexes do not have a place in our world or communities.
Expand chesed - Many Orthodox congregations (including the one I attend) are amazing in responding to Jews in need. Those who are ill, have just had babies, or are in mourning receive meals and other support. Now the synagogue needs to bring that value outside. Orthodox synagogues should be leaders in bringing those values to the world. Time for them to ante up, working in food kitchens, volunteering in homeless shelters, running blood drives.
Move towards spirituality - Jewish prayer and practice are designed to be ways in which one achieves spiritual goals. Those goals need to be better articulated. The rote services cannot simply be put out there. Synagogues need to help Jews to recognize the connection between the practice, service, and spiritual goals.

My appreciation to Rabbi Marc Angel and the folks at the Institute for Jewish Ideas & Ideals for getting me thinking and writing.

The Best of Jewish Connectivity’s Twitter Feed

2011-08-14T18:33:00.001-04:00

I’ve been using Twitter for nearly two years, thanks to oneof my favorite Ed Tech leaders, Caren Levine [everyone needs someone who willpull them, kicking and screaming, to the next level of technology and socialmedia]. Twitter enables me to take notesfrom great presentations, read other’s notes, pass along idea, and share greatweb and blog links.

If you’re not on Twitter regularly or don’t follow my feeds[@JewishConnectiv], here are some highlights of recent week. Each tidbit it amere 140 characters, so take a look. You might find gold:

Aug 14, 5:15pm

RT @lizwood1982: The accidental Educator www.sectsandcity.blogspot.com [Yup, this is my rabbinic / Jewish ed career,too]

Aug 12, 3:05pm

RT @SabbathManifest: Spend time with someone in arestaurant instead of spending time on Foursquare telling people you are therestaurant

Aug 12, 11:15am

"If your dream ain't bigger than you, there's aproblem with your dream" - Deion Sanders

Aug 12, 11:03am

RT @sbellelauren: got a question? post it on twitter!it's just like google but it comes with everyone's opinion [so true]

Aug 12, 10:05am

RT @rachelmabrahams: "@Hadassah_Levy: A JewishEducator’s Guide to Facebook Interaction www.bit.ly/nU8VND

Aug 12, 9:55am

RT @reuw: First Accredited Online Biblical Hebrew andBiblical Aramaic Courses Offered by Hebrew University ... http://dlvr.it/fLZ7c

Aug 11, 3:00pm

RT @RabbiLevy: Thought for today: Tailwinds build ego,headwinds build character (from Road ID)

Aug 10, 4:50pm

an interesting take on smart boards in other technologiesin congregational education. [not agreeing, but interesting] http://ow.ly/5XaCL

Aug 10, 4:00pm

Technology in Cong. Education, a different perspective,by @tktchr. [I don't agree with all, but recommend reading] http://ow.ly/5XaHV

Aug 10, 3:55pm

RT @reuw: Using Facebook to Teach Tanach http://dlvr.it/fLSzN

Aug 10, 3:55pm

RT @Fourbreaths: The Shekhinah does not dwell with usexcept in joy (Netivot Shalom on Parashat Devarim)

Aug 10, 10:05am

We've been teaching blessings (Berachot) all wrong! TheNotorious RAV blog at http://ow.ly/5Xcgr

Aug 09, 1:25pm

RT @CaptainBarakRaz: On TishaBAv, Jews mark historictragedies. Im proud 2b serving in military that ensures future of Israel &Jewish ppl

Aug 08, 9:35am

RT @educationweek: How should classrooms be redesignedfor the 21st century? Share your thoughts in our latest forum: http://bit.ly/pIjkzE

Aug 05, 9:25pm

RT @RevRunWisdom: Do your best & forget the rest [Ilike this. Does it align with Jewish belief?]

Aug 04, 9:00am

Do you blog as part of your Jewish work? Here's a greatarticle to help you reflect on your blogging http://ow.ly/5Smpm

Aug 03, 5:10pm

The first modules for Jewish Connectivity for yourstudents, families, leadership & staff are ready for you. Contact us!

Aug 03, 4:30pm

Teaching/discussion idea: Bob Marley's Jewish grandkidsconnect us to questions of Jewish identity today http://ow.ly/5SnRe

Aug 03, 11:52am

@drdouggreen now that you can learn anything, anytime,anyplace, system, including grades, no longer applies

Aug 03, 11:25am

RT @PlusDannGarcia: AMEN! “@tutorbrad: "Passionatelearning starts with passionate teaching." @ksivick

Aug 03, 9:30am

RT @RevRunWisdom: If ur not thankful for what u got uprobably won't be thankful for what u get. [Word!]

Aug 02, 4:18pm

RT @Inga_Ros: We need to be facilitators and notteachers!

Aug 02, 4:17pm

RT @jburgon: Any teacher than can be replaced by a robot,should: @adambellow

Aug 02, 12:06pm

RT @21stcenturychem: When you share your passion, youspark new passions among your students

Aug 02, 10:52am

Lisa Nielson: We need passion driven learning, not justdata driven learning

Aug 02, 9:16am

Chris Lehman: school is life, not preparation for life#140edu

Aug 02, 9:00am

Manifesto on Experiential Education, with quote from@Bryfy http://ow.ly/5S6X7

Aug 01, 10:21am

@jewish Connectivity can be part of your synagogue,school, adult, family,campus programming in 2011-2. DM me to learn how!

As summer winds down, let’s bless one another with theknowledge and wisdom that each of us carries. Looking forward to a neweducation/program year, a new Hebrew year, and a year from sharing learningwith and from all.

Rethinking Blessings: Berachot as Presencing and Jewish Connectivity

2011-08-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

ברוך אתה

We've been teaching blessings all wrong.

Now that I have your attention, here's the error of our waysin Jewish education. We teach berachot, blessings, as "thankingGod" for the things he gives us. It's totally incorrect, from a Hebrewlanguage and a theological viewpoint. The word for blessing is ברכה, beracha, which is quite possibly related to the Hebrew wordfor knees [kneeling], ברך . The word for giving thanks is todah, תודה ,which appears, in various forms, in other prayers, but not in blessings.

Not only are we not thanking God in a beracha, we're noteven blessing God. The exact wording that begins every blessing is "Youare blessed, God.....", not "I bless you, God".

So, our beracha merely points out that God isblessed. Already. Always. Without our Beracha. We are saying what is, notadding any value to God's blessedness.

That recognition of God in the beracha also helps toexplain a huge challenge: that we begin by speaking to God ["Blessed areYou"] and end a beracha referring to God's action in third person[e.g., "who opens the eyes of the blind"].

So, if the goal of the beracha is not to praise or blessGod, what does it do? It helps to establish a habit of mind for the Jew. In abusy world, in which we are constantly multitasking and moving, it requires usto stop and smell the roses [quiteliterally] by pausing to acknowledge God’s blessedness as inherently manifestby that smell. So also by blessings on food, on seeing a beautiful person, onseeing a national ruler, on experiencing thunder and lightning, and more.

Each beracha gives us the opportunity to be fullypresent for a few seconds, to really connect with what we areexperiencing. Jewish tradition in notcontent with simply hoping that these opportunities will occur. It actuallyrecommends a number of berachot – 100 – that a person should aim foreach day [the Jewish version of “counting one’s blessings”].

The beracha, taught and used properly, is our tool toconnect with the world and with the Godly.

For ideas about presenting Jewish Connectivity ideas likethis, using modules for teachers, learners and families, be sure to email me atTheNotoriousRAV@gmail.com.

When Did Jewish Communal Service Become the Marines?

2011-07-20T12:53:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure at which meeting exactly this occurred, but during one or another Jewish organization meeting, my eyes were suddenly opened and a great insight was revealed. You see, when I entered the rabbinate, Jewish education and Jewish communal service, the language was pretty intuitive. We measured value based on goals, objectives and outcomes. Since I'm a Jewish educator, it's obvious: measure success the way we measure any other educational success.

At the particular meeting in question, language that had begun to appear at the periphery of my professional life now completely replaced the old lexicon. The entire meeting seemed to reduce our holy work in the field to: "campaign", "strategies", "operations", "tactical work" and "technical work". It took me sometime--perhaps years from the introduction of these words until they completely took over--to fully grasp the importance of the change. Each of the new words that describe our field, our institutions and their work, are military words. We could just as easily have been in a meeting of the marine corps [not that I have anything against the marines].

That's right, folks. When we engage in the meta-conversations about the work we do in our fields, while we talk a good game about working collaboratively, we have totally adopted the lashon, the language, of conflict and of warfare.

I don't necessarily have an alternative to suggest. Not yet, anyways. But this is disturbing. What do you think?

Post Denominational, Post Modern, Post Halachic, Post Rabbinic Judaism Awaits Name

2011-06-27T09:37:00.001-04:00

Historians have long divided the history of Judaism and of the Jewish people into a number of somewhat overlapping eras, sometimes using titles like Biblical, Talmudic, and Prophetic to refer to these periods. Most historians have put us, for hundreds if not thousands of years, in the Rabbinic period of Judaism. And it seems to me that the Rabbinic period is drawing to a conclusion.

Post-Rabbinic

From what I can tell, the Rabbinic period has been characterized by the development and strengthening of halacha as a means of defining Jewish religious life in an unnatural situation of a nation that has been scattered worldwide. This nation, the people Israel, no longer has a centralized, hierarchical structure to guide it. Regimentation of Jewish practice and of communal structures replace an Israelite monarchy, priesthood, sacrificial system, legislative process and judicial system.

The rabbinic period has also been characterized by tremendous output of both printed word and of oral traditions. Legal and Agaddic works have been produced, as well as liturgy and a good deal of secular Jewish literature. The enlightenment even led to the creation of alternative approaches (which later become, in American Jewish parlance, Reform and Conservative Judaism). And, while they were conceived of as either alternative ways of viewing halacha, or even as non-Halachic, they still referred back to the the traditional rabbinic views and practices as a point of reference.

At the recent conference of the Jewish Outreach Institute a rabbi gave an excellent session on what we used to call the "who is a Jew" debate. She outlined the historical development of the issue and discussed its implications. In the middle of the discussion it struck me: There are few people in the room for whom a rabbinic determination as to Jewish identity is the final word, and probably few for whom it's even a major consideration.

In short, we are entering post-rabbinic Judaism. The title "rabbi" will still be there. But s/he is increasingly a resource person rather than the primary leader. Nobody has taken his/her place; leadership has just spread out. It's hard to identify the cause, or to separate cause from process. But it's been gradual: the Havurah movement of the 60's, the Jewish Catalogs as a step toward grassroots Jewish empowerment, Israel and Holocaust remembrance taking center stage, growing role of foundations and donors.

Post Denominational

The denominations that seemed to be powerhouses in the 20th centuries are a shell of their former selves. Within each movement, the range of practice has become so varied that each has had to create a series of official documents that attempt to identify exactly what it is the movement stands for. And there is demographic data that shows that people, especially younger people, are not drawn to a particular congregation because of the "movement" it pays dues to, but by whether it meets specific needs at a time or place on their individual journeys. The movements reflect where synagogues pay dues. But the roles of national synagogue and religious movements have declined.

Increasingly, Jews find value where they can. Orthodox day schools sing songs that came out of National Federation of Temple Youth, United Synagogue Youth sing Hasidic melodies. Rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators routinely cross denominational lines as their personal expertise is valued above their denominational roots. But the movements, which drew separation between Jewish communities, are struggling to identify their roles today.

Post Modern

Modernity, too, has proven to have a limited Jewish shelf life. The modernity that chose the documentary hypothesis as a lens through which to view Torah has been largely rejected by community members who don't care who wrote the Torah, but want to know what the Torah has to say to us in our lives. Similarly, the "superstitions" of the old countries - amulets, red or blue strings, hamsas and the like - proved to be attractive not only to old school Orthodox, but to spiritual seekers and contemporary Jewish artists. And within a generation of Mordecai Kaplan founding Reconstructionism and writing books like "Judaism Without Supernaturalism", a Jewish spiritual scholar, Arthur Green, no less, was at the helm of Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, with Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a leading mystical scholar, teaching there. In short, our Jewish contemporaries reclaimed much of what the modernizers tried to dismiss.

Post Halachic

With Post-Rabbinic goes Post-Halachic. As an example, Shabbat Manifesto is a movement that suggests that one shut off technology for Shabbat, and take other steps to distinguish Shabbat from other days. But it is adamant about not promoting a halachic observance of Shabbat. What it aims to do is take some of the concepts that halachic observance suggests and transplant it to contemporary life, but without the focus on details and restrictions. Mikvah use, similarly, has been adopted by many, but without the details of Halacha. The list can go on.

The New Age: The Egalitarian Age of Judaism

If the era of Rabbinic Judaism is at an end, what is the era we have entered? Using "Post-..." to describe it is simply describing a negative; something has ended. But it seems that something has taken the place of all that is now "post". I propose that we have entered the Egalitarian era. I refer not to the question of equal roles for gender, which is how the word "egalitarian" has often been used. Instead, my suggestion is that the current age of Judaism is one in which each Jew feels the right to create his/her own personal Judaism. No Jew, even the rabbi, stands above anyone else. Each Jew creates his/her own relationship to the divine and to the Jewish people.

Looking at issues from women's role in religious life to gay marriage, it appears to me that people at the grassroots level have led the way in experimenting and pioneering. Often they have been the ones to pressure the established leadership to move the community ahead. In the Egalitarian Age of Judaism, this will continue to be a core component that defines Jewish life.

What do you think?

Raising and Lowering Barriers - A Pre-Shavuot Thought

2011-06-01T08:24:00.000-04:00

The three days before the upcoming holiday of Shavuot are known as sheloshet yemei hagbala, three days of boundary. According to Shemot / Exodus 19, three days before the revelation at Mt. Sinai, the people Israel were to put boundaries that restricted their sexual behavior, commanded rites of purification and even erect barriers to keep anyone from approaching the mountain. Only on the third day were the people permitted to approach the base of the mountain.

Throughout Judaism and Jewish history, there are forces that restrict and forces that permit. The Torah itself includes mitzvot aseh, commandments that inform us of positive actions we are to take, and mitzvot lo ta'aseh, commandments that restrict our behavior. Likewise, membership in the Jewish community seems to go through periods in which we raise barriers to entry (such as the rabbinic injunction against actively seeking converts) and those in which we encourage new members (Abraham and Sara, the Purim story, Hasmonean era, and, in some circles, contemporary Jewish life).

Today, the Jewish community is simultaneously raising and lowering barriers. Segments of Orthodoxy, in Israel and in America, have set standards for conversion to Judaism that are far beyond anything previously mandated by traditional Jewish practice. At the same time, elements of the modern Orthodox community in Israel and America, have urged that Judaism take lenient approaches within halacha to meet the needs of today's world.

Liberal Judaism, likewise, has struggled with how to lower barriers for conversion, and at the same time, has brought the traditional conversion practice of mikva back into general acceptance.

There are other issues besides conversion in which we wrestle with whether to raise or lower barriers. In our Jewish world, we see forces that raise barriers in order to safeguard the integrity of particular beliefs or practices, while others work to lower barriers and create a "big tent" for the Jewish people, to respond to how our world has changed and to shape a Jewish future that is embracing.

Last week, I spent two days at the conference of the Jewish Outreach Institute. There we learned and discussed what it might mean to be a fully embracing and welcoming community. We spoke about and with Jews of color (not a new issue; Moses was married to a "Kushite" woman), LGBT (also not a new issue, but only fully recognized in this generation), interfaith families (again, not a new issue; see the biblical books and Ezra and Nehemiah) and so many other sub-groups and challenges. And I left feeling very optimistic that the young, up-and-coming generation will be able to continue to address these issues and create a wonderful Jewish future.

Like in the story of the revelation that we commemorate in a week, there is a time for erecting barriers and a time to take the barriers down. When the day arrived for the people to accept the Torah, the barriers that had been erected just three days before, came down to allow all to access God's voice. We need to lower the barriers and bring everyone to the foot of Mt. Sinai again in our time.

The Best of Jewish Connectivity

2011-05-15T00:38:00.000-04:00

My new venture, Jewish Connectivity, began this month. Intended as a way of sharing creative, engaging ways to connect teachers, parents & learners to Jewish wisdom and Jewish heritage Currently, we're offering Jewish wisdom and teaching and parenting ideas on Facebook (Jewish Connectivity page) and Twitter

(@jewishconnectiv). The first fruit of this work includes:

JewishConnectiv May 13, 12:22pm via HootSuite

Mazel tov to former @JewishEd intern Chaviva Galatz, a 36 under 36 of @NYJewishWeek http://ow.ly/4U2ia

JewishConnectiv May 13, 12:10pm via HootSuite

RT @OpenTorah: צָרִיךְ לְהִתְגַּבֵּר מְאד מְאד לִהְיוֹת בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד

JewishConnectiv May 13, 8:20am via HootSuite

Here's a great tool for Jewish conversations among families or in class http://ow.ly/4TNcq

JewishConnectiv May 12, 2:40pm via HootSuite

@punktorah inviting program ideas for next year. You, your kids, your students can recommendhttp://ow.ly/4Swiw

JewishConnectiv May 12, 12:51pm via HootSuite

RT @jcceastbay: Bone Marrow Donor Soughthttp://conta.cc/jsYjWP via #constantcontact

Show Conversation

JewishConnectiv May 12, 8:35am via HootSuite

Russell Simmons: success is from surrounding himself with smart people. Pirkei Avot: make your home a gather place for wise people. Discuss

JewishConnectiv May 11, 5:25pm via HootSuite

Your students are using QR codes. You should at least know what they are. http://ow.ly/4Sw2U

JewishConnectiv May 11, 5:11pm via HootSuite

Check out Richard Solomon's list of web tools for Jewish education and educators http://ow.ly/4Svs3

JewishConnectiv May 11, 5:03pm via HootSuite

@miriamjayne of @JewishEd on the value of a social media policy for your organizationhttp://ow.ly/4Sv3D

JewishConnectiv May 11, 3:54pm via HootSuite

Explore today's world of Israel education this summer with @TheiCenter http://ow.ly/4SrNr

JewishConnectiv May 11, 3:41pm via HootSuite

JewishConnectiv May 11, 10:35am via HootSuite

RT @jlearn20: Attn Jewish day school admins: @AVICHAIFNDTN scholarship for #iste conf:http://bit.ly/jZy1zK Deadline 5/12; apply now!

JewishConnectiv May 11, 9:46am via HootSuite

If you're a synagogue middle/high school teacher in greater NY who loves games in teaching, DM me. There's an opportunity for you.

JewishConnectiv May 10, 3:22pm via HootSuite

How about an R & B Hatikva? Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut! http://ow.ly/4RvIX

JewishConnectiv May 10, 1:38pm via HootSuite

Another metal Hatikva. Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut!http://ow.ly/4Rqwv

JewishConnectiv May 10, 11:33am via HootSuite

DJ Mix Hatikva. Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut!http://ow.ly/4Rix3

JewishConnectiv May 10, 6:39am via HootSuite

Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut. Rock on with this guitar version of Hatikva

JewishConnectiv May 09, 10:27pm via HootSuite

Israeli-Brazilian vocalist's Hatikva. Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut! http://ow.ly/4QQkW

JewishConnectiv May 09, 9:00pm via HootSuite

Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut & a Rockin' Hatikva!http://ow.ly/4QOqv

JewishConnectiv May 09, 8:43pm via HootSuite

Watch @JewishConnectiv and Jewish Connectivity on FB for great versions of Hatikva

JewishConnectiv May 09, 7:13am via HootSuite

Yom Hazikaron. Time to reflect on the nature of heroism and unique nature of Jewish heroism. May Israel's heroes' memories be a blessing

JewishConnectiv May 06, 11:24am via HootSuite

Suggested reading: Making Hebrew School like Summer Camp, by @Bryfy http://ow.ly/4ONpj

JewishConnectiv May 06, 10:10am via HootSuite

Suggested read: More on how Jews should respond to Bin Laden's fall http://ow.ly/4OHbi

JewishConnectiv May 05, 10:45am via HootSuite

RT @punktorah: Are you excited???? Coming Soon | The G-d Project http://ow.ly/4NrZK

JewishConnectiv May 05, 7:38am via HootSuite

Happy new month. Which part of the blessing speaks to your heart this Rosh Chodesh? To your family? To your students? http://ow.ly/4NHz8

JewishConnectiv May 04, 8:29am via HootSuite

Jewish family learning through meaningful family conversation: What if it all went up in smoke?http://ow.ly/4MQY3

JewishConnectiv May 03, 5:17pm via HootSuite

How do we educate towards the Jewish futures? One secular educator says this is what to consider. Thoughts? http://ow.ly/4MvDW

JewishConnectiv May 02, 12:47pm via HootSuite

RT @JewishTweets: May is Jewish American Heritage Month! Click here for President @BarackObama's Proclamation:http://bit.ly/k9YmpN #jahm

JewishConnectiv May 02, 12:34pm via HootSuite

RT @jewishgps: Response Lesson to explore the Jewish response to the death of Osama bin Ladenhttp://bit.ly/JewishGPS_JewishResponse

JewishConnectiv May 02, 7:57am via HootSuite

Bin Laden death is teachable moment abt how we deal with death of enemy. Watch this space for blog post and teaching ideas

JewishConnectiv Apr 28, 8:22am via HootSuite

Your students can create comics to illlustrate their learning at http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

JewishConnectiv Apr 27, 2:48pm via HootSuite

RT @DarimOnline: Social Media Boot Camp for Jewish Educators application deadline May 2. Details : http://bit.ly/lu1PJk #jed21 #jdstech

JewishConnectiv Apr 27, 1:13pm via HootSuite

In case you missed this, thinking about Holocaust Education from NY Times blog http://ow.ly/4Igx7

JewishConnectiv Apr 27, 7:31am via HootSuite

3 Things You'd Change About Judaism athttp://thenotoriousrav.blogspot.com/2011/04/3-things-id-like-to-change-about.html #Jewishconnective

1 retweets

JewishConnectiv Apr 26, 10:56pm via HootSuite

Idea: The Passover food we're tired of is lifesaver. Be Jewish connector: Ask grocers to give Pesach foods to you for donation to food bank

JewishConnectiv Apr 26, 10:55pm via Facebook

Idea: The Passover food that we're tired of can be a lifesaver. Classes & families can be Jewish connectors: Ask... http://fb.me/XTtk3sCT

JewishConnectiv Apr 24, 2:05pm via HootSuite

According to tradition, on 7th (final Biblical day) of Pesach, Sea of Reeds was split. Reflect on the "seas" that you've crossed in life.

JewishConnectiv Apr 24, 1:13pm via HootSuite

The Notorious R.A.V. on Easter & need to raise level of knowledge of day school students about other faiths & communities http://ow.ly/4FWmO

JewishConnectiv Apr 24, 12:28pm via Facebook

Follow JewishConnectiv on Twitter

Looking forward to continuing conversation and learning here, at Jewish Connectivity on FB and @jewishconnectiv on Twitter

What if it Went Up in Smoke?

2011-05-04T08:26:00.000-04:00

A goal of Jewish teaching and learning today must be the strengthening of families of learners as Jewish families. Experience has taught me that many families fall short on the Jewish aspect because they don't know where to start the family conversations. An experience last night could serve as a great starting point.

While enjoying dinner with an old friend at an outdoor table at a restaurant, we watched as a fire burned through an apartment directly across the street. As firefighters struggled to contain and then extinguish the fire, they tossed smoldering items out the window onto the sidewalk and street below. First they broke the windows, then knocked out the windows themselves. Then we watched as chairs crashed to the street. The springs from what had been a bed came next. then ashes from papers blew across the neighborhood. As this occurred, the question that crossed my mind was: if my life were to go up in smoke, what are the items I would save?

This is a substantial question to help parents and children to communicate with one another about what their ultimate values are. The question can serve as a vehicle for parents who, in the rush of dealing with practical aspects of life, don't make sufficient time to teach values. It can also be a tool to encourage growing kids to articulate the values that they are developing to parents with whom they may not speak enough.

There are any number of contexts into which this conversation fits. Jewish history, in which our ancestors had to make split second decisions about what to save as they emigrated from Europe to Israel or the United States; Holocaust victims and Warsaw Ghetto fighters had to decide what to bury and hide for discovery by the next generation; those escaping the Spanish Inquisition had to decide what to carry with them into exile. It fits into the study of Jewish ritual objects: what are the items that are so invaluable to us and our family stories that they must be saved?

We don't need to limit it to tangibles, either. Discussion of which memories or stories must be salvaged is a time honored tradition [such as the point in the Seder in which Rabban Gamliel selects the three parts of the seder that must be discussed, even if nothing else is].

I am saddened to have watched someone's life go up in smoke. But it may have served as a catalyst for starting conversations and learning that allow families to live fuller family lives.

3 Things I'd Like to Change About Judaism

2011-04-27T00:49:00.000-04:00

On the seventh day of Passover, we had lunch at our friends' house. By day seven, most everyone has had enough of matza and of holidays. Yet, among traditionalists living outside Israel, another day remains. And so a certain amount of Pesach fatigue is natural. Our host, J., innocently offered her opinion about the three things she would change about traditionally observant Judaism if she could. Finding this fascinating [and being a bit of a trouble-maker], I suggested we go around the table and let everyone give their list. Soon, other friends and neighbors stopped by and joined the festivities. When the holiday ended, JR, another friend, had posted this topic on Facebook, and the conversation continued.

A quick word about change in Judaism: Judaism changes. Period. It may change differently depending on whether one is a traditional Jew or a liberal Jew. But change occurs. None of us observes a Judaism that existed 1,000 years ago, or even 100 years ago. Nobody.

Having said that, it looked to me like the changes desired fit into two broad categories: 1. Halacha / Jewish practice; 2. Jewish sociology and custom. These are some of the responses:

Halacha / Jewish Practice

Eliminate the Ashkenazic practice of not eating kitniyot (rice, corn, peas, beans, peanuts) on Pesach. How communities decided that someone might confuse a rice product with the grains that can actually become leavened is unclear. But labeling Tupperware containers should alleviate any concerns.
Eliminate the yom tov sheni - additional day of Biblical holidays - observed by traditional Diaspora Jews for Pesach, Sukkot and Shavuot, and by all traditional Jews, including in Israel, for Rosh Hashana. There is a fixed Jewish calendar, so the original issue yom tov sheni was meant to fix: uncertainly of dates, has not been an issue for well over 1,000 years.
Eliminate the prohibition against men using a straight-edge razor. Biblical law prohibits sharing the "corners" of one's beard. Electric shavers can only go so far.
Eliminate the objections to showering on Shabbat.
Eliminate the prohibition against shaatnez, wearing clothing of wool & linen combinations
Loosen kashrut restrictions (especially when travelling) - these suggestions ranged from permitting all wines to allowing all foods that don't have clearly non-Kosher ingredients to returning chicken to its original pareve (non-meat) status
Change laws of divorce so that women cannot be "chained" to marriage against their will
Eliminate prohibitions against homosexuality (actually, only male homosexuality is against Biblical law)

Sociological

Stop labelling Jews (Reform, Orthodox, Conservative, Hasidic, Reconstructionist, etc.)
Stop allowing rabbis to create new stringencies and demand that people follow them
Do away with idea that, in some Orthodox circles, it is OK, or even desirable, for a man to "learn" all day, while his wife works. Doesn't Mishna say that study without work is useless?
Do away with day schools [there was no clear educational alternative suggested]

Here's the thing: These, and many other changes have been made by at least some communities. In some cases, the changes were based on historical reality; in others, they were based on local practice; in still others, there were attempts at liberalizing or "modernizing" Jewish life.

My questions:

What would YOUR list of three things to change look like?
What are the obstacles standing in the way of change?
For teachers of Judaism: Would you consider asking your students (at least those of middle - high school age) to list the three things they would change about Judaism? If you do, I'd love to see their lists.

A Shabbat-Before-Easter Rant

2011-04-24T01:58:00.000-04:00

When we moved to West Hempstead, NY, we learned about a time-honored custom. Every year, on the night before Christmas Eve, the West Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department folks jump onto their trucks, with at least one member dressed as Santa, and drive up and down every single street of the town with sirens on. And on the day before Easter, one firefighter [I can only imagine that he drew the short straw on this one] dresses up as the Easter Bunny as the firefighters load onto their trucks and drive up and down every single street of the town with sirens on. In today's case, waking me from my Shabbat nap. Oh, well.

Here's the thing: At one time, West Hempstead was largely populated by immigrants or children of immigrants from Italy and Germany. In recent years however, the Jewish, and particularly Orthodox Jewish, population has boomed. These days, the Easter Bunny and Santa are playing to an increasingly observant Jewish population.

As I awoke from my Shabbat nap to the sound of the fire trucks and the view of the Easter Bunny on one of the trucks, this thought came to mind: What a great wake-up call to the Jewish population in our area. See, the thing is, the vast majority of the Jewish kids in my shtetl go to Jewish day schools, in which all the students, and most faculty are Jewish. Were you to ask a West Hempstead kid what percentage of American Jews are Orthodox, they would likely vastly overestimate the number. Same thing if you asked them the percentage of Americans who are Jewish. So, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are good wake-up calls for my fellow Jewish parents here in town.

In the schools which my kids attended in the past, it was not rare to hear Christians referred to by the pejorative term "goyim" or to hear Jesus referred to by the insulting nickname "yushke" by some teachers. I get where that came from: centuries of pogroms, expulsions and persecutions resulted in our people's pushing back. And some of our people felt justified in insulting others, figuring that insults weren't even close to the level of abuse that we had taken over the years.

But, we live in a different world today, a world in which my oldest son's sukkah is filled with people of various nationalities and faiths. A world in which "holiday" parties, at which all are invited to share the richness of their heritages, have replaced the Christmas parties of the workplace of the past.

Our kids need to know that the Easter Bunny isn't Easter and Santa Claus isn't Christmas. And the two together don't constitute Christianity. I'm fortunate that my daughter now attends a day school that has an anti-bias club, which is is proudly a member of. But the sirens today woke me up to a need for more. Our Jewish day schools, particularly those that serve the relatively sequestered Orthodox communities, need to teach more about our neighbors. It is important that, long before college or the working world, our children understand, respect and value the richness not only of their own heritage, but that of the many cultures and beliefs that make up the society in which they live.

So, chag sameach to my Hebrews, and a Happy Easter to my Christians.

The Bronx Zoo Cobra Meets the Exodus from Egypt

2011-04-14T00:12:00.000-04:00

When Mia, the famous Bronx Zoo Cobra, slithered her way to temporary freedom in a corner of the reptile house, the irony was simply amazing. After all, a cobra adorned the headdress of the ancient Pharaoh’s, including, in all likelihood, the Pharaoh of the exodus story we will tell in a few days.

Snakes show up in yet another way in the story of the exodus: When Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh, they demonstrated a sign of their Godly mission: Aaron threw his staff to the ground and it became a snake. Not to be outclassed, Pharaoh had his magicians create snakes. But the snake of Aaron and Moses was on top of the game, and swallowed the snakes of the magicians.

So, the snake was first a symbol of slavery, appearing on Pharaoh’s head. But then became a powerful symbol of freedom -- exhibit A in the demonstration of the power that would become fully manifested in the exodus of the Israelites.

Our contemporary Cobra too, became a symbol of freedom. Within hours of the her escape, Mia had a fan base rivaling any rock star. People began using social media to represent her and her (mostly fictional) exploits. The Bronx Zoo Cobra captured our imagination in her dash for freedom. We cheered her on, hoping she would find fulfillment (just not in our home).

The drive towards freedom and fulfillment is powerful. Yet, in our world, there are those who are not fully free. Our world has human slavery, totalitarian rulers, and prejudicial laws and systems that prevent people from living full lives. And Pesach, along with the snakes, both ancient and modern, reminds us that we need to use our power to work for freedom in our world.

Wishing you and yours a Happy and Inspiring Pesach,

The Notorious R.A.V.

So, I WAS Supposed to be a Rabbi, Not a Lawyer, After All

2011-04-07T23:10:00.000-04:00

One Shabbat I was at the usual Kiddush that a bunch of the guys have after synagogue is over. A discussion started between myself and a friendly neighborhood labor lawyer about how Jewish non-profits deal with those who work for them. During the discussion, as I stood up for the rights of the employee, the lawyer said to me "OK, they're being #$%@%^ [expletive for a certain oriface], but are they doing anything illegal?" That, to me, was a discussion stopper. After all, shouldn't it be illegal to be an a--hole?

This was a huge wake up call for me. In my childhood, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. After all, the attorneys I saw on TV all stood up for the downtrodden. They were the good guys. And I really didn't know any attorneys personally. My parents weren't college educated and were on the lower end of middle class, so professionals weren't part of their social circle. Finally, in high school, a well-meaning guidance counselor said to me, "Do you know what attorneys actually do?" I had to admit, that I really didn't. The idea that an attorney could be doing nothing more than drawing up contracts, or wills, or pre-nups never occured to me. All I wanted to do was to pursue justice. And now, as an adult, an attorney was standing before me and basically saying the same thing: in America, attorneys stand up for the law, not for righteousness.

When I was studying for the rabbinate, I looked at Jewish law and again tried to equate law with tzedek, righteousness. For a while, I was able to make a case for it. But when I looked closer, it turned out that here, too, the "law" wasn't always on the side of righteousness: 50% of the people in synagogues I attended were precluded from ritual leadership or meaningful participation, a Kohen who was a nasty person could bless the people but a genuine mentsch non-Kohen could not, and the Torah had mandated genocide against an entire nation (Amalek).

Over the course of a lifetime, I've worked to bridge the gap in my life between tzedek and law, at least in Judaism (and to some degree in my activism and voting as an American). It's not easy. Even the ancient rabbis realized how easy it was to be a naval birshut ha-Torah...a despicable human being, but with the seeming permission of Torah. While there was implicit understanding that following mitzvot was a guideline to becoming a mentsch, there was recognition that it didn't always work. And only with the mussar movement that reached a peak in the 19th century did character education finally become as valued as the performance of mitzvot.

At the risk of being mildly vulgar, I remember making a point to my kids when someone Orthodox acted in a nasty way. I would ask the question: what is a putz [Yiddish expletive for a male body part) with tzitzit [ritual fringes]? The answer, of course, is....a putz.

So, in the end, it's better that I didn't become a lawyer (sorry, mom, if you're reading this in Gan Eden). And also better that I became a rabbi in an era in which many rabbis do pursue justice, and not merely ritual observance, for their followers, whether it's the hechsher tzedek in which kashrut means an establishment follows ethical as well as ritual laws, whether it's organizations that push traditional law to its absolute limit to give women rights in divorce cases, or human rights organizations in which rabbis are leaders.

This is the kind of rabbinate that I signed up for.

Membership: What Does It Mean to be in the Jewish Community?

2011-03-06T19:02:00.000-05:00

Last week, UJA-Federation of New York offered a panel discussing "Belonging in 2020: The Nature of the Jewish Community of Tomorrow". The program provided a great opening for continued discussion about an important topic. It's worth checking out the part of the video that carries the remarks of Lisa Colton of Darim Online (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13041001 for the whole event). I can take a pass on the part in which a rabbi announces that she doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter account and proceeds to denounce the culture of lashon hara that permeates some of the online culture [by the way, it also permeates real life conversations, but I didn't get the sense that she'd sworn off those]. I am also doubtful as to whether the assertion made my another speaker - that Birthright Israel has changed the nature of Jewish affiliation - can really be proven.

Back to Lisa's points: Belonging to the Jewish community is not about paid memberships, it's about relationships. And in today's world those relationships are supported by online tools that we use to build and sustain those relationships. In support of her point about the irrelevance of paid memberships, it's worth taking a look at the presentation by Patrick Aleph & Michael Sabani at last year's Jewish Futures Conference (http://www.jewishfutures.net/conference-video), in which they challenge the common assumption, accepted by researchers, that Jewish engagement and membership in the community is solely based on the payment of money to a Jewish organization. Although synagogues, JCC's and Jewish Federations continue to cling to that model, groups like Chabad, some independant minyanim, and on online communities such at Punk Torah are showing degrees of success at working outside the paid membership mold. There may be "nothing new under the sun": all of these ventures owe something to the Havurah movement of 30 years ago.

Another interesting and accurate point, made by David Bryfman in his tweets on the event: the future is now. The program's title might be "Belonging in 2020", but the rules of the game have changed already. And the community needs to catch up.

A few thoughts since the event:

The current economic engine that drives synagogue life is Bar/Bat Mitzvah. As long as families view the value added of synagogue participation as beginning when their oldest children enter the educational program of a synagogue, and that the value ends when the youngest children become b'nai mitzva, the integrity and quality of the program itself is compromised to the need of the ceremonies and educational requirements, without which synagogue life adds little to the vast majority of American Jews' lives (see http://thenotoriousrav.blogspot.com/2008/07/blowing-up-bima-rationale-for.html). The Orthodox community, independant minyanim and Chabad are the exceptions, either because the "members" themselves provide the value proposition for the communities, or because the communities have developed a value proposition (and economic engine) that is not rooted in the 1940s and 1950's.
The current model of synagogue and communal involvement is based on exclusion, as in: you cannot attend high holiday services if you don't pay dues, you cannot be a leader of this organization without a certain level of donation, you cannot have a bar/bat mitzva here if you haven't joined and sent your child to our "school" for a minimum number of years. American Jews have figured out that there is no God-given membership or even educational prerequisite for bar/bat mitzvah, and there are private rabbis as well as Chabad willing to state this. American Jews are calling out for an inclusive and embracing community, rather than one that puts hurdles in the way of involvement.
Congregations and organizations are being challenged to make a case for their relevance or to prove that there is a qualitative reason to place a family's Jewish life in their hands. It remains to be seen which will be able to respond.

Denominational movements are not the friend of new approaches to Jewish involvement. Young Jews are crossing every institutional divide that the 20th century Jewish experience imposed to find meaning for themselves. If you don't believe me, take a look at the support for such post-denominational projects as the Sabbath Manifesto (http://www.sabbathmanifesto.org/) or Sukkah City (http://www.sukkahcity.com/) garnered. And not only among the young generation.
The technology now in use is too new for us to determine the degree to which online Jewish "communities" can or should replace face-to-face communities for some Jews. However, the use of technologies to support face-to-face communities is unquestioned. For decades, synagogues have used radio and TV to broadcast services to homebound congregants. Today's Facebook communities, twitter feeds, online services, and Skype study groups (I'm part of a chavruta on Skype) are simply an extension of what we've been doing for decades, at least.

Folks, the future is now. What else do our Jewish communities need to do to not only catch up, but to lead into the future? And what will you do to make it happen?

Method to My (Social Media) Madness - Pt. 2 - The Daily Patterns Emerge

2011-02-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

In my last posting, I revealed the goals of my participation in social media, most particularly Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter [I've allowed the other memberships to fall into disuse]. In my case, I tend to use Twitter and LinkedIn primarily for professional networking, and Facebook primarily (but not solely) for social networking.

In watching my Facebook activity over the course of a day, there is a definite pattern that emerges. Here's what it looks like (times are NY times):

7:30 a.m. - First check of friends' updates. I knock out a few responses. Those that seem to beg for a funny response get one. Some ask for caring or friendship and I send those off. Some ask for a professional response, and I knock those out.

7:45 a.m. - Time for my first update of the day. I'm always trying to get a response of some sort, and when I'm lucky, even start a conversation that will go through the day and evening. Depending on my mood, this might be:

a song lyric stuck in my head
a factoid, sometimes about a holiday or event
a question that I'd like my friends to have a go at
an update about where I am at, geographically or emotionally

8:00 a.m. - My northeast peeps check in with replies. My friends may still be home; some are on commuter trains; others are parked in traffic. Most often, the first responses are funny. Once in a while, a response crosses the line that I've set and I have to delete it, but I try not to (in the same way that, in social or professional situations, I prefer not to reign in the conversation more than necessary).

10:00 a.m. - My midwestern peeps check in and leave their comments. There may be interaction between the northeast crew (most of whom have to now concentrate on work) and the midwesterners, whose workday is only beginning. A few colleagues have a daily routine with me in which we check in with one another via Facebook chat. In an organization with three locations, and consultants who often work outside our locations, this is our "water cooler" to stay in touch and to share news.

12:00 p.m. - My east coast people are taking a lunch break, posting updates and checking my update and comments. New comments and interactions flow around this time of day. By this time, the original updat I posted has become irrelevant as the conversations and interactions have taken on lives of their own. If my morning update was important, I might try to get the conversation back on track. Otherwise, I'm learning from how the conversation has moved in different directions. And by now, my friends might often have me thinking about something I've never considered, laughing at a joke, listening to a song, or watching a video, while still on the same "stream" that I had started in the morning. And invariably, somebody has posted an event or article that will change how I do my job, either immediately or in the future.

2:00 p.m. - There is a lull in the east coast and midwest activity, but now my west coast buddies have come to play. They join in too late to respond to my original post, but jump into the conversation that has emerged over the six hours since. Some Facebook chats start to happen, most of them directly work-related. If I have the time, I'll check my friends' updates and leave comments. And by this time of the day, I'll often post a song or two from You Tube, just to share a little music.

This is also the time that my friends in England and Israel seem ready for interaction. Their work day is over, and they join my conversations and post their updates to begin new ones. Their updates tend to be more around news in the world, or updates about personal lives. There is an occasional check-in with nephews and nieces in Chicago or Israel.

4:00 - My east coast friends are beginning to show up online again as they end their workdays or shift from one place of work to another. If I have a long work day, I may post a request for someone to deliver a corned beef sandwich. But it's often also a time to look back on the day.

6:00 - Most of my friends are either asleep (Israel and England), working (west coast), in transit (midwest) or eating dinner (east coast). There is a lull.

8:00 - My night people show up online. One Facebook friend consistently shares great classic rock videos, others kvetch about their kids, some show up with jokes, and some friends are ready to chat and catch up. They will go on late into the night. Around the time my Israelis and Brits are posting their first updates.

And so the cycle of a social network goes.

What do the patterns of your social media life look like?

Method to my (Social Media) Madness

2011-02-04T11:37:00.000-05:00

Some blogs, Facebook updates and Twitter feeds seem to have well-focused plans and patterns. Communication strategies are well thought-out in advance and all postings align with what might best be considered a branding and marketing strategy. Mine appears, to the superficial reader, to be non-existent. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Here are my goals and strategies in my social media use:

I am a connector. I love to connect seemingly unconnected ideas, ways of thinking, opinions, research and facts. I also love to connect people who I think can teach and learn from one another, or will just enjoy one another
Facebook in particular, gives me an opportunity to connect. I've helped to reconnect people with long-lost family members and with old friends. And I've reconnected with old friends all over the place. And thanks to my use of social media (and yours), there are few places, at least in Israel and North America, where I cannot meet up with people who I've discovered or rediscovered through social media
I am a rabbi/educator who loves to challenge people. A provocateur, if you will. Sometimes, the Facebook update or Twitter post is there to push buttons, challenge assumptions, or to make you laugh. Most importantly though, it's there to start conversation and to help us to all build relationships through which we can learn and grow.
The biblical verse that defines me (we should all identify one) is "serve God through joy" (Psalm 100). Sometimes, a posting is just there to try to induce joy or laughter.

That, in a nutshell is my social media strategy. What's yours?

She'elot U'teshuvot Notorious # 3 - Reversing Circumcision (Ouch!)

2011-01-18T22:07:00.001-05:00

Now the third in a series of responsa that I have written to questions submitted. And once again, you'll see why those who ask questions like this choose me to ask...

She'elah: Clint (not real name; how many Jews do YOU know named Clint?) is wondering whether circumcision is such a good thing. Specifically, he is exploring a procedure through which circumcision can be "reversed" and asked what the Jewish attitude would be. He suggests that this procedure might enhance feelings during sex.

Teshuva: This is not as far-fetched a question as one might think. Nor is it a new one. Back in the time of the Hellenists (think Maccabee revolt and the era just before as well as several centuries after), historical sources indicate that many Jews underwent a procedure through which they would appear uncircumcised. This was in response to the Greek abhorance of the having the tip of the penis exposed, as a circumcised penis would be when Jews participated in the gymnasium and athletic games with the local Greeks.

First, the basis of circumcision is quite ancient. In the Bible, Abraham is commanded by God to circumcise himself, his sons, and the males of his household. This commandment is one of the few given in the book of Bereshit / Genesis. It is not viewed as a secular medical procedure, but as berit mila, a covenant of circumcision. Interpretations of the mitzvah abound, but at the very least, it is a symbol of a covenant between God and the males of the people Israel.

There have been attempts to link the practice to health benefits. Indeed some research has noted that circumcised males are less susceptible to certain diseases (including AIDS). Still, there have been medical opinions lined up supporting routine circumcision and opposing it over the years. At the same time, while the vast majority of practicing Jews insist on circumcision (either as a ritual or as a medical operation done to align with tradition), there have been some voices of opposition to the practice.

From a traditional point of view, however, it is clear that the mitzvah of berit milah remains intact (even as the foreskin doesn't... Sorry, couldn't resist).

Now for the question of reversal. The Hellenistic Jews in ancient time appeared to have sometimes undergone a procedure called epispasm to "undo" the circumcision. Clint indicated that he was looking into a non-surgical procedure that, in my opinion, looks a little like something that might have been used to torture prisoners-of-war prior to the Geneva Convention.

In truth, there is a mitzvah to circumsize one's son (or one's self later in life, if parents have not had that done for him). Which may not mean that one has to have a circumcised penis throughout his life. Nonetheless, the rabbis of the midrash are outspoken in their criticism of those who underwent epispasm to hide or "reverse" their circumcision.

In conclusion then, my humble opinion is that, at the very least, one who chooses to undergo either a surgical procedure, or the tortorous one that Clint told me about, acts against the rabbinic disparagement towards those who did so from ancient times until today. And the method described by Clint appears to me to cause needless pain to the human body, with unproven medical (or sexual) benefits.

But I love Clint and my other peeps. Keep the questions coming!

She'elot U'teshuvot Notorious #2 - Chocolate Covered Crickets

2011-01-12T17:21:00.001-05:00

And now for the second in a series of teshuvot, responses to Jewish religious questions, that are being featured.

Chocolate Covered Crickets

She'elah: My friend and colleague, Lea, will be serving a delicacy -- Chocolate Covered Crickets & grasshoppers. Her question to me is: should be considered meat, and therefore not eaten with dairy?

Teshuva: The prohibition against eating dairy and meat products together stems from the verse prohibiting boiling a kid in its mother's milk. Through a series of interpretations and extensions of the verse, the practice of this mitzvah extended to cooking any meal and dairy products together, and to maintaining two separate sets of silverware, plates, utensils and such.

The laws pertaining to keeping dairy and meat separate, being based on distancing the kid from its mother's milk, would therefore apply only to those animals whose mothers give milk to begin with. For that reason, some early Talmudic authorities ruled that fowl was not to be considered meat in this regard. The opinion that fowl was to be considered meat eventually won out, possibly because of a concern that people would begin to confuse fowl and meat in their kitchens) and out went any hope of chicken parmesan.

Now for the crickets and grasshoppers. When I first read the question, my immediate rabbinic response was "you're kidding, right?" The fact, however, is that Leviticus 11 discusses a limited number of species of grasshoppers that would indeed be kosher. For the most part that rule has fallen into disuse. Mostly because: A. nobody could possibly be that hungry and, more importantly, B. we don't have a chain of tradition that reliably identifies these kosher species.

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of you lovers of grasshoppers: It has long been said that the Yemenite Jewish community maintained a continuous tradition of which species are kosher. [Not one Yemenite Jew that I've met, by the way, has ever 'fessed up to eating grasshoppers]. And in even more practical terms, Israeli media reported on a restaurant there serving kosher grasshoppers as well as other permitted, but exceedingly rare, kosher delicacies http://www.haaretz.com/culture/food-wine/grasshoppers-and-deer-and-it-s-all-kosher-1.42203 .

So, if you're crazy enough to want to eat grasshoppers and can assure that the species are those that the Torah permits, since they do not give milk and were not added to the meat category (in the way that chicken was), they are pareve. They do not require any particular ritual killing (other than checking for the signs the Torah specifies for kosher grasshoppers).

B'teyavon (Hebrew for bon appetite)

She'elot U'teshuvot Notorious #1 - The Sword Swallower

2011-01-09T00:39:00.000-05:00

As posted in my last installment, I've become the rabbi of choice for a number of people. While I admit to taking most everything in life with laughter, I nonetheless take the rabbinical role seriously when asked to step into it. Probably more she'elot (questions of halacha - literally "the way", referring to normative Jewish practice) have come my way in the brief time that I've become The Notorious R.A.V. than in all my previous career. And I've issued responses (teshuvot) based on my understanding of halacha.

The questions and answers both include more than enough humorous tones, but please don't make the mistake of laughing them off totally...they help to remind us that there is a very real intersection between Jewish values and ethics and real life. And so, the first published responsum:

The Sword Swallower Faces Pesach

She'elah: Adam the First Real Man (http://www.adamrealman.com/) is a sideshow performer and teacher. Among his acts is the swallowing of swords. He asked: Am I permitted to use the swords that I use year round, or am I required to use different swords on Pesach? [Note: Permission was granted to use Adam's true identity]

Teshuva:

The following considerations come into play:

The prohibition against leavened products (chametz) on Pesach (Passover) has been extended to require that even utensils used directly or indirectly with leavened products cannot be used on the holiday, unless they can be made kasher through one of a number of means.
For food products to be chametz, they must be such that, at the very least, a dog would eat

In our current situation, we first define the sword itself as a non-food item, since no dog would consider swallowing or eating it (the same is true of sane humans). And even if the sword itself were to be edible, certainly swallowing it is not derech achila, the way in which food is eaten.

We then look at what the sword comes into contact with. According to Adam, the sword is swallowed, goes through the esophagus and enters the stomach. While it is possible that the sword might touch some partially digested food, I would suggest that it no longer has the status of chametz once it has been swallowed. The swords Adam uses are never used to cut actual foods.

Therefore, as long as the sword is cleaned thoroughly before the morning prior to the first Seder to assure that no residue of partially digested food is on it, the swords may be used on Pesach without any additional preparation.

More responsa to follow...

Musings on the Rabbinate, Rabbinical Authority and the end of Rabbinic Judaism

2011-01-03T19:10:00.004-05:00

Over the past 24 years, I have had the privilege of being a free agent rabbi. That is to say, while my career has been within the world of Jewish communal service and Jewish education, my religious life per se has been that of a civilian. We have been members of synagogues, but I have accepted no leadership roles in them. And I maintain my independence, not belonging to any denominational rabbinic organization.

That independence, as well as a personal style that is idiosyncratic (OK, a but nuts) and accepting, has made me a "rabbi of choice" in the words of some of my friends. A rather eclectic group of individuals has come to me over the years, asking that I play a rabbinical role, which has included:

• Officiating at life's events: weddings, funerals

• Doing detective work on situations involving men's refusals to grant Orthodox religious divorces

• Answering questions of a legal and/or ethical nature (teshuvot or responsa), especially questions of a nature that they would not want to ask of a "mainstream" rabbi

As time has passed, that third aspect -- rabbinical authority -- has changed dramatically. Back in the day, particularly in non-democratic societies, rabbis, at least in an idealized view, were viewed as both authoritative and authoritarian. One went to the rabbi of a community for guidance on ritual and ethical matters, and perhaps for other counsel as well. The expressed norm was that once a rabbi had been consulted and had rendered his response, the game was over and his ruling was to be followed, without appeal to other rabbis or to one's own point of view.

Over the last hundred or so years, the role of the rabbi as authority was impacted by both a growing sense of individualism (described in the The Jew Within by Steven M. Cohen and Arnold M. Eisen) and with the influx of thinking of American democracy into Judaism (as pointed out early in the career of Mordecai Kaplan).

Today, there are few circles outside of the Haredi community, in which rabbinic authority goes unchallenged. Except for a small minority of the Jewish community, the rabbi is a guide and educator rather than the final authority on ethical matters. And for most, any individual rabbinic responsa, is an option to be considered and weighed, not a hard and fast ruling that must be be followed strictly.

That changes the role of a rabbi dramatically, freeing him or her to be a teacher of Torah and a facilitator, as well as a trainer of Jewish leaders from among his/her followers.

At the core, what I am suggesting is that we have entered a new phase of Jewish religious history. We have passed through Biblical and Prophetic Judaism, and through Rabbinic Judaism. I propose that we have entered a phase of Democratic / Egalitarian Judaism, in which rabbis will continue to be relevant, bringing the authority of textual knowledge; but devoid of the authoritarian trappings that have so often caused grief for the Jewish community in recent years.

Shabbat Kwanzaa: Rethinking Moses

2010-12-30T14:25:00.000-05:00

In honor of the holiday of Kwanzaa and the upcoming Shabbat, a word of Torah is in order.

In the book of Numbers 12 (Bamidbar, for all my Hebrews), Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses (Moshe) for taking a isha Kushit (literally, an Ethiopian woman). For this, Miriam is punished (unclear as to why Aaron isn't punished equally). Just what is this criticism about?

The French biblical commentator Rashi suggests that the isha Kushit and Moses' wife, Zipporah, are one and the same. Since in other places, Zipporah's lineage is Midianite (she is the daughter of a Midianite priest), he suggests that she isn't Ethiopian (i.e., Black), but that she is either beautiful and exotic like an Ethiopian woman would be considered, or that it was clear -- like the difference between black and white -- how beautiful Zipporah was.

However there are others that tell a different story...

Josephus and a Midrash told in the Yalkut Shimoni collection fill in a gap in Moses' biblical life, suggesting that he actually spent 40 years beginning with him leading a military expedition to Kush (either Sudan or Ethiopia are suggested as the location) and continuing with him as ruler of the country (thanks to SM for helping with subtleties of text). It's not coincidental that this story would mean that he spent as much time leading Kush as he did leading the Israelites in the midbar (wilderness, desert).

According to this version of the story, while ruling Kush, he is so respected that he is given an Kushite woman (in one account, she is a widowed princess, whose late husband had ruled Kush previously).

So, here are the lessons to be learned:

Long before the 1960's, Rashi already had suggested that "Black is Beautiful". Kol Hakavod, dude!
As my friend, RR pointed out to me, Theodor Herzl had suggested Uganda as the location for a Jewish homeland during the early days of the Zionist movement, and that our people's history would have looked very different had his idea won. My response is that Herzl and the Zionist leaders probably didn't know that their idea had a midrashic foundation dating to the time of Moses
Moses sojourn in Kush gives us reason to re-think how we picture him. Most art either has him as an Egyptian prince (certainly valid) or in Bedouin clothing for the desert. But the garb of an Ethiopian ruler would provide quite a different picture of the Hebrews' lawgiver. It would also mean that my shopping expeditions to Harlem put me in a chain of rabbinic tradition extending thousands of years old
The relationship between blackness and Jewishness is not as simple as it seems on face value (pun unintended, but funny nonetheless). Dr. Karen Brodkin, professor emeritus at UCLA, wrote a book called How Jews Became White Folks, in which she pointed out that American Jews made a conscious choice to ascribe to whiteness (i.e., WASP-ness), but that, as a minority, they could have chosen to identify more with the position of Black America.
There is a myth of Jewish genetic separateness that traditional Judaism promotes, largely to oppose intermarriage. The fact of the matter is that there was tremendous interweaving between our Jewish ancestors and the other nations around them (explaining the similarities in appearance between Jews and surrounding ethicities). So Moses might have been a great role model for today's world in which Jewish individuals often have other ethnicities playing at the same time.
I have no idea what Moses' taste in women was. But it's interesting to have a tradition that puts him with a Black African woman. At the risk of being sacrilegious (not the first time nor the last for me), the first image that popped into my mind of Moses with an Ethiopian woman was the Eugene Levy character who is infatuated with Queen Latifah's character in the movie Bringing Down the House.

So, this Shabbat and Kwanzaa, take a moment to ponder Jewish identity, the Jewish sojourn in Africa, and our relationship with the cultures and ethnicities with which we interface.

Happy Kwanzaa and Shabbat Shalom!

Inconsistency or Choice? Whatever it is, it's the Hallmark of Emerging Judaism

2010-12-26T18:33:00.000-05:00

Back in the day, Jewish religious movements attempted to provide some internal uniformity, consistency, or at least commonality to religious observance.

In my childhood, you pretty much knew that the Orthodox synagogue would be a place in which women were observers, men and women sat separately, rabbis were at least somewhat differed to in terms of ritual decisions, Hebrew was the sole language of prayer (with maybe a quick English moment for prayers for the government or for the State of Israel).

Conservative synagogues in those days were largely Orthodox-lite. Men and women sat together, bat mitzvah girls could lead some parts of the service, there were a few women cantors out there, and, unlike most Orthodox synagogues, the parking lot was filled.

Reform synagogues (brace yourself if you're 30 or younger, because you probably never witnessed this) were places in which you'd be asked to remove your head covering (even if it was a kippah), women were rabbis (but rarely, if ever, senior rabbis in the large temples) and cantors, and congregants could exercise religious choice (as long as they didn't get too traditional).

Reconstructionist congregations were a bit of a wild card; far less predictability of what you'd find when you went to one.

The drive to conformity extended to individual behavior, at least publicly. More traditional (but not observant Orthodox) Jews drove to shul, but parked a block or two away (this brings back fond childhood memories of the few non-high holidays that we journeyed to synagogue). Religious Jews of any of the movements didn't have tattoos (particularly because ignorant teachers insisted, incorrectly, that the chevra kaddisha wouldn't let you get buried with one), were very discreet if they were sexually active, voted moderate to liberal, dressed conservatively, and only smoked pot with the closest of friends.

Somewhere along the way, the rules of the game changed, I think for the better. Nowadays, you can find Orthodox synagogues with women in spiritual leadership roles, Reform synagogues where most congregants wear kippah and tallit, and of course, Conservative synagogues, while going completely egalitarian, have also, in many cases, become more traditional.

But even more visible in recent years, is individual choice, or religious inconsistency if you want to look at it that way. In my list of friends and contacts are observant Orthodox lesbians, shomer shabbat Reform Jews, shomer shabbat Jews with tattoos, interfaith families with kids in Jewish day schools, and a wide array of other makes and models.

Do you see all this as inconsistency, or simply opening of choices? I'd love to hear feedback. Regardless...

The downside of all this is that our Jewish world is far less predictable. We can no longer look at someone and make assumptions about their based on appearances.

But the upside outweighs all. Because we once excluded so many Jews who simply wanted in. And now, through generational change and social change, the doors have swung open.

My thanks and appreciation to the many young-thinking people (of all ages) who have opened my mind to the Jewish world that continues to emerge and engage.

Which Chanukah are YOU Celebrating - Part Three

2010-12-06T13:00:00.000-05:00

So, while I thought I was finished with my Which Chanukah are YOU Celebrating series, some wonderful peeps who read the first two postings came to me with more versions of the holiday (and reminded me also of one that I had taught and forgotten about). Since they are a little shy about leaving comments on the blog itself, here is an unplanned yet pleasant opportunity to present additional Chanukah stories that unfold:

The Search for Carbs & Fried Foods - Unlike Passover, when we search for foods - leavened products in that case - to destroy before the holiday even begins, this time we create foods with excessive carbs and fried fats. Could this be a throwback to an earlier evolutionary stage in which our ancestors had to overindulge in foods that would carry them through a winter-long hibernation? Inquiring minds want to know. Thanks, JS for planting the seed of this idea.

Celebrating the Development of a Contemporary, Peaceful Judaism - This one, contributed by my friend SM, suggests that we look at the path from the centrality of the miracle of the war to the centrality of the miracle of oil as the movement of Judaism from a warlike culture to a peaceful and spiritual one. That same historical movement also took Judaism from animal sacrifice to prayer and virtually eliminated the possibility of capital punishment being implemented.

Celebrating Human Diversity - Years ago, I noted that one step taken by Hellenistic Jews was some type of reversal of circumcision that allowed them to look like the Greeks when participating in games in the gymnasia. The Greeks emphasized the beauty of the human body. Fine. But they had favorites for certain ideal body images, much like fashion magazines in today's world do. And circumcision wasn't part of that ideal image. Judaism, on the other hand, recognized the tzelem elohim (image of God) in all human beings, regardless of body type. As a matter of fact, the MIshnah (Sanhedrin 4:5) introduced a powerful argument for the holiness of human diversity:

Humanity [was created singly] to show the greatness of the Holy Blessed One, for if a human king strikes many coins from one mold, they all resemble one another, but the King of Kings, the Holy Blessed One, made each human in the image of Adam, and yet not one of them resembles his fellow.

Happy Chanukah to all!

Which Chanukah are YOU Celebrating - Part Two

2010-12-04T19:34:00.000-05:00

Over the years, I've come to realize that Chanukah, like most Jewish holidays and observances, is viewed through many lenses. Sometimes it depends on time, sometimes on place, sometimes on context, sometimes on an individual's frame of mind. But from celebrations to articles, to speeches about the holiday, it is clear that Chanukah is a prism through which the lights of the holiday shine and reflect light to a lot of different places.

These are the Chanukah holidays that some to my mind:

Chanukah as recognition of God's hand in the world - Simply stated, this Chanukah recognizes miracles in the world. There are events that cannot be explained away simply. We all have examples, although we may or may not choose to see them as Godly. Nonetheless, this particular Chanukah sees God's hand in the victory of the ancient Maccabees and in the burning of a container's worth of oil for eight days.

Chanukah as celebration of religious freedom - We look at Antiochus IV's attempts to outlaw significant Jewish practices. The victory of the Maccabean army reestablished the right of traditional Jewry to their practice, including the rituals of the Temple. It ignores the question of whether the Hellenized Jews or other groups walked away with religious freedom. Because mostly, we don't know. Still, there is something to be said for this version of the holiday and it plays well in public forums, such as interfaith gatherings and public schools.

Chanukah as freedom from oppression - This Chanukah recognizes that the Maccabees broke free of foreign rule and asserted the right to self-governance. It is an inspiration to all who stand for the right of a people to choose their own destiny.

Chanukah as Jewish strength - After 2,000 years of Jewish political and military powerlessness, Chanukah served as the beginning of the last chapter of Jewish might and of Jewish self-governance. Particularly in the Zionist movements, the Maccabees became the most recent example of a successful Jewish army. It was an important reminder that Jews weren't always lawyers, doctors, and accountants. They were also generals, kings and a Hasmonean queen, Salome Alexandra (ShalomTzion Ha-malka).

Chanukah as light dispelling darkness - Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastianism, Hinduism, Druid and many other cultures have holidays around now -- the winter solstice. At the darkest time of the year in the northern hemisphere, lights were lit to illuminate the darkness. Symbolically, this Chanukah holiday reminds us of hope even in the darkest times.

There are probably many more Chanukahs, all of them interwoven into one eight day celebration. What Chanukah do YOU celebrate?

Chag Ha-Urim Sameach, a Happy Chanukah to you and yours.

Which Chanukah are YOU Celebrating? Part One

2010-12-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

I learned about Chanukah from a big white book my parents read to me called (as far I can remember) The Story of Hanukkah. In it, the story was, as is the case with children's books, straightforward. No doubts, no questions of historical accuracy. Fine for a five-year old. Funny thing is, my understanding of the story of Chanukah didn't change much through Hebrew School, day school, or yeshiva. Only as an adult, a rabbi and a Jewish educator did I approach the story with a more critical eye, and with a recognition of the multi-faceted holiday that Chanukah really seems to be.

At first glance the Chanukah is about the following: Alexander the Great conquers the land of Israel. While taking control of the political governance of the land, he allows the priestly group (Kohanim) to continue to lead the ritual and religious life of the people. After his death, the kingdom is divided. In a few generations one group, the Seleucids, are led by Antiochus IV. As the result of a series of events, he comes to back a group of Hellinized Jews against the traditionalists. Antiochus outlaws many Jewish practices, including circumcision, appoints his own kohen, and introduces Zeus as a focus of religious life. A war erupts, led by the Maccabee leaders, a priestly family. The traditionalists emerge victorious over the Hellinized Jews and the Seleucid rulers. As the revolutionaries take control and look to rededicate the Temple to service of one God, they discover that there is insufficient pure olive oil to last until new oil can be obtained. Miraculously, one container of oil lasts the entire eight days it takes to obtain new oil.

Second glance at the story is a little more complicated. It seems that the first two Books of the Maccabees - which date from the era of the revolt or shortly after - as well as some midrashim relate the story of the uprising. In these works, the victorious rebels celebrate the holiday of Sukkot at this time of the year, as they were engaged in war when the holiday had actually fallen on the calendar. Chanukah becomes and eight day festival because Sukkot (with Shemini Atzeret) is. And the menorah part of the story is that upon entering the temple, the Maccabees and their followers fashion spears left by the Seleucid warriors into a menorah and light it. The Al Ha-Nisim prayer appears to largely follow this version of the story, highlighting the victory in battle as the miracle.

Hundreds of years later, the Talmud (Shabbat 21b) describes a different facet of the holiday. There, the war is spoken of, but emphasis is on a newer story: at the rededication of the Temple, not enough pure oil was available to burn for the week that it would take to obtain new oil. The miracle emphasized by the Talmudic text is that the one container of pure olive oil, enough for one day's lighting, burns instead for eight day. Is it possible that the rabbis develop, or at least emphasize, this religious miracle rather than a military one, in order to impress the dominant powers, particularly Rome, that the Judeans to not plan more uprisings? My guess is yes.

But that's just the beginning. In addition to the two ancient versions of the story, contemporary versions emerge. To be continued...

Beruriah - The Movie and the Legend

2010-11-22T14:32:00.000-05:00

While searching through the local library for a video to watch, my eye caught the Israeli flick Beruriah. For the uninitiated, Beruriah is the wife of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Meir (who also shows up in a previous blog posting as the ba'al ha-nes, the miracle worker who allegedly helps us find lost objects, and whose grave on the outskirts of Tiberias boasts an veritable outdoor shopping mall of holy items, including the noted Tehillim/Psalsm vending machine). They lived in the land of Israel.

In Talmudic lore, Beruriah breaks the gender barrier, studying Torah with the big boys and even criticizing an occasional rabbi for his behavior or his understanding of the law. She is portrayed by the Talmud as smart, sassy, sensitive and deeply religious. She survives the tragic death of her two young children, and presses Meir to rescue her sister, who has been forcibly taken to Rome, where she had been forced into a brothel. Meir is successful in his mission. In any event, Rabbi Meir dies in Babylonia, in an exile that, according to Talmud Avodah Zara 18 b, may have been the result of "the matter of Beruriah." The Talmud does not explain the details.

Hundreds of years later, Rashi, in his commentary on the text, attempts to fill in the blank of this story with a troubling legend:

Once Beruriah criticized the Rabbinic view (Kid. 80b) that women are light-minded, to which R. Meir replied that one day her own experience would testify to the truth of the Rabbi's words. The day came when she succumbed to the temptation of one of R. Meir's own disciples. Beruriah committed suicide and R. Meir fled from his home for shame.

The story is troubling in that it puts everyone in a bad light: Rabbi Meir, his student and Beruriah. So what's going on here with everyone? And what is up with Rashi?

Rabbi Meir - Ambivalent. He never opposes Beruriah's scholarship and teaching, yet he is insistent that she accept the rabbinic attitude that women are intellectual lightweights. Did Meir put his student up to tempting Beruriah? Unclear, but the Israeli movie suggests that he did. That makes him worse than petty; it makes him a cause of Beruriah's death.

Meir's student - Who knows what he is thinking? Does bedding down the teacher's wife give him superiority? Does he believe that Meir wants him to do this? And what happens to his career afterwards? We don't know from any text.

Beruriah - Suicide is pretty strong stuff. Does she feel that, as a pioneer woman scholar, she has betrayed not only her own ideals, but the aspirations of future women scholars, who will continue to live under the shadow of the rabbi's statement that "women are light-minded"? Was she already on emotional thin ice because her father was possibly one of the rabbis killed in the Hadrianic persecutions, she had endured her children's deaths and now this? Are we even sure about this story of her death and of Meir's exile? Why does the story only appear in print hundreds of years later?

Rashi - It's a bit out of context for him to tell an insulting story about Beruriah; in most of his writings he has a pretty positive attitude towards women, at least for his time. And of course there is the legend about his daughters wearing tefillin, something they would have not been likely to do without his support. Was this story just floating around in medieval times? Did it evolve as a means to discredit women's scholarship and communal leadership?

The movie is a fascinating attempt to bridge the ancient story of Beruriah to a modern namesake. Issues of women's role in Judaism, male-female relationships, and the seeming need of males to dominate and own, all play a role. It's a two thumbs-up for me. And it really forced me to hit the books and research a bit more about the remarkable Beruriah of the Talmud.

The General Assembly, Jewish Futures Conference and more

2010-11-11T10:40:00.008-05:00

I just returned from the General Assembly of Jewish Federations of North America in New Orleans. Over the past 30 years, I've attended many G.A.'s, dating back to when the organization was the Council of Jewish Federations (and I liked that name just fine, but time marches on). Rather than highlighting what went on in New Orleans, my reflections are more about crunching the years together and observing through "time lapse" glasses how the G.A. has changed, mostly for the best:

It was an honor to be part of the planning team for the Jewish Futures Conference that took place, as a collaboration of Covenant Foundation, JESNA / Lipman-Kanfer Institute, The Jewish Education Project and Jewish Federations of North America. http://www.jewishfutures.net/. Although it may have been hyperbole to call it the first ever futures conference, it was nevertheless a landmark in bringing together 400+ communal leaders, professionals and students to think and discuss openly what the future of Jewish learning could be. This would never have occurred at a G.A. in the dark and distant past.

Another new approach during the Futures Conference were presentations by younger thinkers who had been selected through open competition. As one of these presenters, Patrick Aleph of Punk Torah http://punktorah.org/ suggested, folks who looked and thought like him (and who, quite literally, danced around the room as part of his presentation) might have been kicked out by security in ancient times. This year, he, and other "out of the box" thinkers and activists, were not only welcomed but highlighted.

Back in the day, Jewish text study would have been objectionable to participants at G.A.'s. Over the years (and with the help, historically, of organizations like CLAL) there has been a steady increase in actual text study sessions and the inclusion of Jewish values and language. The visibility this year of Global Day of Jewish Learning as a vehicle for text study was particularly notable.

College students were more visible than ever. Not only has the number of students participating skyrocketed, but students are being treated as welcome guests rather than as space aliens who dropped into a party that they weren't supposed to be at. There is now a recognition that these students are not simply future leaders, but are leaders currently.

Social media was all over the place and added to the value of the conference. When I wanted to be in three places at once, all it took was twitter feeds to participate in two sessions virtually while participating in one in real time. This may not seem revolutionary to "digital natives", but to those of us who've experienced the G.A. over the years, it is a major coup.

Visual and performing artists were all over the place, and demonstrated powerfully, how their arts are used as a means of engaging people in Jewish conversations and Jewish learning. Needless to say, for me, the edgier the better. Like my friends at Punk Torah (who may not even think of themselves as performing artists, but definitely are) or my new friend, Maya Escobar (pictured below with the shomer negiah panties -- for the uninitiated, the phrase refers to a person who follows the rabbinic tradition that prohibited even touching someone of the opposite sex, other than a spouse and only if the woman had observed mikva laws) http://mayaescobar.com/. Big surprise that I like the folks who "push the envelope" in order to engage people in learning? Shouldn't be.

Not such good news: there are still plenary sessions in for which participants wait in long lines to hear dignitaries and a few select leaders speak in huge auditorium spaces. I understand that there is a value to having Vice President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu in the house. But three long, frontal plenaries, at the expense of time in dialogues designed to share learning and information is questionable in the world we live in. A bit too old school of an approach for me.

Overall, I'm a happy camper. Looking back at where it's come from vs. where it is now, this turned out to be a pretty great experience. And hey, it was in New Orleans!

My Eclectic Pop Culture, American, Israeli, Jewish Sukkah

2010-09-19T21:47:00.022-04:00

Our Sukkah was highlighted a few years ago in an online feature by Judah Harris, a photographer who is prominent in the Jewish world. The experience made me realize that the Sukkah that Debbie, the kids and I have developed over the years reflects who we are and where we have been. While my photographic skills are not nearly up to Judah's level, please join me on a tour of our Sukkah, with the story that it tells...

We begin with the frame itself. Our family started its journey in Atlanta, where Debbie and I moved a week after we were married. A few years later, we moved into our first house and were excited about building our own Sukkah. As a congregational rabbi, space was going to be important, so that kids and families of the synagogue could join us. Off we went to a plumbing supply place to explain what it was we were trying to build to a very, ummm, unsophisticated Southern guy, who, because of the neighborhood the store was in, carried a very unconcealed weapon. But he was smart enough to figure out exactly what pipes and fittings we needed. And we had our 12 x 12 sukkah. Almost 30 years later, that frame has withstood wind, rain, and snow along the way, and continues to serve with distinction.

Two years ago, our old blue tarp walls went to the great sukkah in the sky. We searched for new walls, looking to capture the desert motif. The camouflage of Operation Desert Storm came to mind, and we went with a color that to our minds, would have matched the sand our ancestors marched through on the way to the Promised Land.

Also in the picture above are Israeli/Hebrew Budweiser banners that once adorned a restaurant in Israel. A few words are in order here. First, just for the record, I dislike beer. But I love pop culture, which brought me to collecting electric beer signs (which Debbie, in a moment of weakness, allowed me to hang in our den). According the Jewish tradition, one is supposed to make his/her sukkah a permanent dwelling during the holiday, and even is to bring the best utensils out to the sukkah. Since the electric beer signs are just not practical in the sukkah, we make do with the banners.

Oh, a word about how we obtained these. Debbie and I were in Israel and I dared her to ask the owner of the outdoor restaurant for them. Never one to miss a dare, she asked for them, and watched in horror as the guy brought out a butcher knife and proceeded to cut them down and hand them to us.

The Coca Cola sign in the back, with a space for writing a message also has a story. My sister-in-law, who then lived in Be'er Sheva took us to the Coca Cola bottling plant there. Not being used to having visiting tourists, they showered us with the sign and other advertising specialities. For the holiday, the message of Chag Sameach adorns the sukkah.

The dragon at the top of the sukkah is from the Chinese tradition in which a dragon often indicates good luck. In addition, good people are often compared to a dragon. Also in the Chinese tradition, red, as the color of fire, is used to ward off bad luck. Since Jews eat Chinese food, particularly on Christmas, and we shop in Chinatown to avoid retail prices, it is appropriate to include these Chinese traditions in our sukkah.

The American flag decorations actually hold a special place for us. On the Sukkot that fell a short time after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, we needed to express our patriotism and our unity with all Americans everywhere. The flag decorations became part of our sukkah and will remain so.

Again, according to Jewish tradition, one is to make the sukkah his/her permanent dwelling place during Sukkot, including bringing the best of utensils out there. Being a music lover, a convert to hip-hop music and a graduate of Scratch DJ Academy, the Hot 97 FM poster that we got at a Grandmaster Flash concert is a way of expressing those interests and carrying them with us into our sukkah.

The Budweiser inflatable blimp carries the earlier theme of beer signs and collectibles out to the sukkah and complements the Israeli Budweiser beer signs. The Hebrew Sprite banners are also Israeli in origin, reinforcing our love for the land of Israel and its people. The inflatable Chiquita banana, purchased at the Brimfield Antiques Fair, is the largest of the artificial fruit that we hang in our sukkah.

The pumpkin lights are a particularly American expression of the turning of seasons that Sukkot also commemorates.

To the left in this photo is a tradition touch: a Hebrew sign that, on one side reads "Blessings to you as you enter" and on the reverse "Blessings to you as you leave". Most important, this photo highlights the disco ball that should be a part of every sukkah.

And finally, adorning the wall is a hanging from the Elvis Inn, located near Abu Ghosh on the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv highway, one of the holiest sites in Israel. The Israeli nature of this item is obvious from the typo ("Elvi's Inn"). The Inn became famous as the title of Tom Segev's book Elvis in Jerusalem, in which he explores the Americanization of Israel. So this wall hanging is a fitting reminder of the mashup of American Jewish life, with our feet firmly on American soil and dancing to its music, while our hearts are also in Israel.

What stories does your sukkah tell?

What Song are YOU? -- A Yizkor Sermon

2010-09-14T22:18:00.008-04:00

On Yom Kippur, Yizkor is a time to reflect not only on our lives but on the lives of those that came before us and on our role as the link between a past that is the stuff of history and the future that we want to help shape. We remember those that came before us. While no parent or grandparent or sibling or spouse or partner that we remember were perfect, each left us with some positive legacy: some value, some teaching, some action that they taught us that helped us to be better human beings.

A neighbor of mine, D., told me a story of a rabbi he happened to meet years ago. This particular rabbi was in a bind, looking for sermon materials at the last moment. D. related to this rabbi the story of going to a Russian Jewish cemetery in which pictures of the deceased were actually etched onto the matzevot, the headstones. The rabbi immediately perked up and said, “You’ve just given my Yizkor sermon. My theme will be ‘what picture of you would YOU want on your matzevah?’”

I loved that idea and was prepared to run with it. But a few days after hearing the idea, I was listening to the radio, and the host of a program was reporting on a news story that brought this idea home even more for me. Here’s an excerpt of the story as reported by Wired magazine:

Music lovers can now be immortalised when they die by having their ashes
baked into vinyl records to leave behind for loved ones.

A UK company called And Vinyly is offering people the chance to press their ashes in
a vinyl recording of their own voice, their favourite tunes or their last will
and testament. The company was founded by Jason Leach…

Leach explained to Wired…that there were a number of factors that made him launch the service, including thinking that he was “getting a bit old” and “might not
be invincible”. His mother also started working at a funeral directors,
which brought the whole funeral process closer to home. A third prompt was
when he saw a TV programme that showed someone in America putting their
ashes into fireworks, which made him think about how he might want to be
remembered. And, he says, “It’s a bit more interesting than being in a pot on a
shelf.”

And Vinyly also offers personalised RIV (Rest In Vinyl) artwork — the
simple version just carries your name and your life span, or you can have your
portrait painted by artist James Hague, using your ashes mixed into the paint.

The basic package costs £2,000 [approximately $3000] and comprises of the standard artwork along with up to 30 ash-flecked discs with whatever sounds
you choose, lasting a maximum of 24 minutes…

The main challenge is choosing the music. Leach says: “It’s difficult to think of what to put on your record because you want it to be the best album you can imagine...”

Now, before you wonder where this is all going, let’s hear what the Hasidic
Rebbe, Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav wrote about the songs of God’s creations:

“Master of the Universe, grant me the ability to be alone; May it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and the grasses, among all growing things and there may I be alone and enter into prayer to talk with the one that I belong to. Know that every shepherd and shepherdess has a unique nigun (melody) for each of the grasses and for each place where they herd. For each and every grass has its own song and from these songs of the grasses the shepherds compose their songs.”

So, it may not be such a far cry to suggest that each of us has a song or set of songs that represents our true essence. And while I’m not suggesting or planning to have remains put onto an album or CD or mp3, this companies concept, merged with the thinking of the rabbi who wanted to know what picture would people want on their matzevot, merged with Rabbi Nachman’s recognition of the unique song that all living things carry at their core, leads to some interesting questions:

What are the songs that those who have departed left for you?

What does the album of songs of your life consist of?

What are the songs you wish were there but aren’t there yet?

And what songs would you still like to add?

Consider some of the following:

I Did It My Way

I'm a Man

Am Yisrael Chai

We are Family

Eishet Chayil

Highway to Hell

Hatikva

At Yizkor time we will stand together. Each of us has a song we’ve inherited from those before us. And a song we want to teach those who come after us. During the minutes of Yizkor, let’s get back in touch with the music of the ages before, and commit ourselves to helping teach those who will outlive us the music that will make them, their families and ours, their community and ours, and their world and ours so much better in the years and centuries to come.

My Big, Fat, Middle Aged, Facebook Elul: Teshuva Meets Social Media

2010-09-14T16:25:00.010-04:00

Warning: Teshuva can be serious business if you are a middle-aged social media user. [For the uninitiated, teshuva means return or repentance].

Before explaining further, some background is in order. According to Pew Research Center, the use of social media among those of us 50 years of age and older has doubled in the past year alone (http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Older-Adults-and-Social-Media/Report.aspx). So, although I occasionally do embarrass a kid or two or even three, I am apparently part of a growing movement of aging baby boomers that now spends way too much time on Facebook.

But back to the teshuva part of the story...

When I got onto Facebook (or Eons, which bills itself as a social site for Boomers), I friended people that are currently in my life: colleagues, friends, and, when invited, students. Along the way, however, people from my past joined and we found each other: high school and college buddies, former students from "back in the day", former girlfriends, and other classmates from my youth.

Here's the thing: Darwin's idea of survival of the fittest often applies to friendships. We lose touch with some friends along the way. Our interests have diverged, our lives have gone in different directions, people moved away (usually me). But on Facebook, these friends reappear. Not only that, but old classmates, neighbors or others with whom barely a word was exchanged in those pasts become online "friends" quite easily. And therein lies an interesting challenge, and one that makes teshuva oddly different. Because, as my friend C. said to me: your high school classmates remember you as raw material. Before you had all sorts of fancy college degrees and nice clothes. They know who you are beneath the mask. And nobody of the "digital natives", as Marc Prensky describes younger generations (http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf), bothers to warn us older folks that there is a certain danger in social media. That it moves us to our past, present and future simultaneously.

How true. As I reminisced, became reacquainted or acquainted for the first time with characters from my past, the "raw material" emerged. And I realized how the externals had changed but so much that was a deep part of my psyche had not. My old friends and acquaintances had memories of me: I could be moody, I had anger, I often had trouble articulating my thoughts clearly and would become frustrated when I wasn't understood. Oh, there were good things about me that they remembered, too. My idealism (which has been tempered by age and the bumps that life gives us), my passion for standing up for people's rights, my love of music.

But it was the honest evaluation of some flaws that persist (albeit in somewhat different forms) that became my wake up call this Elul, as I prepared for Rosh Hashana. What I thought I had changed or outgrown was pointed out to me, delicately, but clearly, as flaws that had merely been morphed into different expressions. And that meant that this year, as no other, I had real work to do, and couldn't just sneak by with superficial change at this season of teshuva.

So, without boring anyone with the details, simply know that social media can actually impact and magnify the cheshbon ha-nefesh, the personal soul searching, that the High Holidays ask of us. For me, it did so in very powerful ways.

I am grateful to my friends in the "real" world and in the "virtual world", past and present, who gave me the gift of real reflection this year. Without question, this was the most challenging Elul and pre-High Holiday teshuva in which I've engaged. And social media made it possible.

Best wishes for a shana tova u'metukah, a happy and sweet new year.

The Challenges Ahead...A Rosh Hashana Sermon

2010-09-06T23:23:00.008-04:00

Note: The article below is a revised version of an earlier blog post, rewritten to be my sermon for first day of Rosh Hashana. Special thanks to friends S., R., A. for their valuable input.

It's YOUR Problem: A Sort of Jewish Ethical Will - Rosh Hashana Sermon 5771

As Jews, we stand, in many ways, at the space between not only one generation and the next, but between one era of Jewish history and the next.

During the administration of President Bush, he became notorious for speaking to a group from the armed forces and saying “mission accomplished.” It was noteworthy because it was an extreme exaggeration. We continued, and continue today, to fight a war. But some of the work had been accomplished.

I use "mission accomplished" in the same way: A generation or two of Jews have begun to tackle some important issues, but much remains to be done. While the generation my age and older should be patting itself on the back, we, as every generation in history, leave plenty of messes for future generations to clean up. I put before you a list of both accomplishments and failures of the last few decades, in the spirit of cheshbon ha-nefesh, taking an honest accounting of our lives at this High Holiday season. And I invite you to share your thinking at the conclusions of my remarks, and, more importantly, to be “in the game” in the year and years ahead.

The Jewish Family

Mission accomplished: Even during my childhood, there were families that would literally observe the shiva mourning period for one’s children who had married a partner who was not Jewish. Over a lifetime, the Jewish community has, thank God, largely moved from this approach and has taken steps to embrace partners and children of Jews and identify ways to help them raise Jewish families

Challenges remaining: The next generations need to work harder to embrace multi-cultural and bi-racial Jewish families, without demanding that they give up their other heritage. Only a few weeks ago, the New York Times, in the aftermath of the murder of a Black Jew in Brooklyn, ran a story about the African American Jewish community. And one of the most powerful experiences I have ever had was being part of an Orthodox wedding in which the groom, whose father is Scottish-Irish, walked to the chuppah accompanied by bagpipe music. These types of blendings will become more common in the future. What do we need to do in order for that to happen comfortably?

Women's Roles

Mission accomplished: During the past 40 years, we’ve seen the first American woman rabbis, woman cantors become more mainstream, the beginning of Orthodox congregations accepting women on some level as spiritual leaders, an explosion of study opportunities for Orthodox women, the birth of Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, significant movement in halachic circles to address the inequalities in traditional Jewish divorce.

Challenges remaining: The next generations need to move communities to become more ready for women as rabbis and cantors in the A-list synagogues of the Reform and Conservative movements and as educational leaders in day schools across the ideological spectrum.

Social Activism

Mission accomplished: Our generation successfully advocated for a social change agenda that emanated from a Jewish place. We understood working for peace, protecting the environment, and safeguarding human rights as extensions of biblical and rabbinic teachings.

Challenges remaining: The next generations will need to reconnect the social change to Jewish teachings. Every activist who comes from a Jewish family knows that what they're doing is an expression of tikkun olam, but could they read those words if they saw them in Hebrew? A role of future rabbis and educators will be to rebuild the link between the actions, the values that underlie them and the texts and language from which we learned the values.

Israel

Mission accomplished: Baby boomers saw youth trips to Israel and study experiences in Israel expand from being limited to rather exclusive groups to becoming mainstream and available to all. Youth groups, Zionist organizations, expansion of numbers and types of programs, Israel savings plans and, most recently, Birthright Israel have all contributed. Overall, the relationship of American Jews to Israel has matured. Israel is viewed as a real place, complete with social challenges and political corruption. We recognize that the Israel that we liked to look at as our little child, full of chalutzim, pioneers, has grown up. And many organizations are recognizing that reality, realigning their Israel approaches in a way that sees Israel not as a needy child, but as a real partner in the continuing adventure of the Jewish people.

Challenges remaining: As a friend from high school reminded me, we all need to work to keep Gilad Shalit, captured Israeli soldier, in our minds and actions, especially as Israel enters important negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. And we have still not figured out how to handle disagreements with or about Israel. Far too many American Jews took to the streets and picketed publicly against Israel's decision to disengage from Gaza just a few years ago. But how should we handle our disagreements, whether they are about religious pluralism, security, or whatever the next big issue will prove to be?

Religious Pluralism

Mission accomplished: To be fair about it, the community of the past 50 years was the one that really created this as an issue. That many Orthodox leaders were among the founders of Jewish Theological Seminary or the fact that Mordecai Kaplan could be a JTS-trained rabbi, rabbi of an Orthodox congregation, involved in the founding of the Young Israel movement, and the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism (while on faculty of JTS) are facts of now-ancient history. The boomer generation practically invented the angry language of the dialogue between the American Jewish religious movements and their adherents. Oh, there were a few attempts to bridge the gaps: Rabbi Yitz Greenberg and the CLAL organization that he created, Gesher programs in Israel, Academy for Jewish Religion as a transideological rabbinical seminary, and Wexner and other leadership initiatives. But this generation also included the failure of an experiment with cross-denominational conversions (Denver) and the book tour for One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues that Divide Them that had to be cancelled because of pressure exerted on one of the authors by his community.

Challenges remaining: Figuring out this complex issue and all of its components: conversion, Israeli policies, and just plain civility of one Jew towards another. The next generation needs to get Orthodox Jews to quit calling themselves "religious" (at one point, the Orthodox Union had the audacity to print on their envelopes that they are "the voice of the religious Jew), as if Jews of other movements were not "religious." It also needs to get Reform and Conservative Jews to reconsider how to present themselves in ways that are not self-deprecating ("I don't go to services, I'm a Reform Jew"...yes, some people really do say that). Increasing numbers of Jews are viewing the movements of the last 150 years or so as irrelevant to their Jewish lives. Perhaps the answer will prove to be the further development of a post-denominational Judaism.

Day School Education

Mission accomplished: Day School education exploded in the past generation. In Orthodox circles, it became sine qua non. Conservative and Reform day schools grew in number and became acceptable as an option. Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education helped to move day schools from mom & pop operations to becoming serious players on the communal scene

Challenges remaining: How are we going to pay for all this? And, if day school education is demanded by the Orthodox community, are day schools prepared or able to do what is needed to accommodate students with special needs?

This is a very short list of a generation's accomplishments and of challenges to the next generation of Jews and of Jewish leaders. I benefited from the observation of two friends who reviewed my remarks over the past days. One reminded me that the real theme here is that of Rabbi Tarfon in Mishnah Avot, who said:

לא עליך המלאכה לגמור,
ולא אתה בן חורין לבטל ממנה

It is not our job to complete the work, and yet we are not free to absent ourselves from it.

The other colleague reminded me of the phrase tikkun olam, coined by the medieval mystics, referring to the work we need to do in order to bring the world back into the balance and harmony through which it was meant to exist. That work is never finished until a messianic era. It is a process even more than an outcome. A process that calls us to step forward.

On this Rosh Hashana, the Jewish people invite you to begin today, to celebrate the accomplishments of what we euphemistically call a “mature” generation. And to join the communal discussions of how we will shape the responses to the challenges of the Jewish community of the future.

Best wishes for a shana tova u'metukah, a happy and sweet new year!

A-Ar-Arn-Arnie Mi-Skokie

2010-09-06T23:14:00.001-04:00

News Flash: Rabbi on Way to Fourth Divorce. This is Newsworthy?

2010-09-02T14:03:00.008-04:00

This week's Jewish Week, the premier Jewish newspaper in New York, carries a front page story this week about a well-known rabbi's marital woes and alleged sexual behavior. Apparently, said rabbi is on the verge of ending his fourth marriage and will be investigated by the Rabbinical Council of America to determine whether his behavior warrants disciplinary action by the organization.

There is no allegation whatsoever of misconduct on the job per se. The investigation and the article focus on his personal life.

Full disclosure: I have met the guy. Once. And, no comment. The opinions I'm about to express are not about him, but about the life of any rabbi. Or public official for that matter [yes, I'm still appalled about the use of millions of dollars of tax money used to find out that Monica L. disproved a negative stereotype about Jewish women while hanging out with President Clinton].

My thoughts:

Nothing in this story even remotely constitutes "news". This is National Enquirer type of stuff. No purpose to be served by reporting that a rabbi may have had an affair and can't manage to stay married.

Not everyone, not even every rabbi, ought to feel that they have to be married. Interestingly, there was a time that it was impossible for a single rabbi to find a congregation to lead. That is less true today. The rabbi's congregant who said "He's just not good at marriage" spoke wisely. Again, this should not be newsworthy. It should be part of the cheshbon ha-nefesh soul-searching that he ought to be involved in as Rosh Hashana approaches.

The Rabbinical Council of America is a private membership organization for professional Orthodox rabbis. Not every Orthodox rabbi is a member and nobody is required to be. If they want to discipline a member, they can. And its "investigation" into the rabbi's personal life should be private and dignified. And it seems to be trying to keep it that way, to its credit

There was a time at which a congregational rabbi was always to be considered "on duty." He/she would dress the same way when doing grocery shopping as when in the synagogue. And rabbis were not often seen at Grateful Dead or ZZ Top concerts. Baseball games were about as risque a place as they would be found. Today's rabbis, especially of the younger generation, are more able to assert their right to a personal life and to personal space. Putting evidence in an upcoming divorce proceeding onto the front page violates a person's right to some amount of privacy.

The congregation chooses its leaders. Even this article asserts that the rabbi's congregation has no intention of changing its relationship to its rabbi. Whether the public reading The Jewish Week agrees with them or not is entirely irrelevant. A community chooses its rabbi. And will hopefully have its private space within which to deal with this

Marital woes and divorce are a tragedy. Not illegal, not newsworthy, but tragic. If we feel guilty watching a train wreck in which lives are lost (and we should feel that guilt), then we should feel guilty for reading an article about a marital train wreck.

The rabbi made matters worse by stating that all the marital and other problems are the result of his supposed mental illness. First of all, I don't want or need to know about his mental illness any more than I need to know who he is sleeping with. None of my business. Secondly, making the association between his actions and mental illness cheapens the meaning of mental illness. I fear that it will encourage everyone to blame everything on brain chemistry, and may actually discourage those with actual illnesses to seek treatment.

I am saddened by knowing that there is a couple, any couple, that have (or will soon have) seven marriages and divorces between them. As a rabbi, I would hesitate or probably outright refuse to officiate at any fourth marriage until everyone involved could prove to me that they had gone through a successful round or more of psychotherapy to determine why this was happening and to assure me that it wouldn't continue [A famous quote, source unknown, states that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”].

Finally, on an admittedly cynical note, the Jewish Week failed to report on the one part of this story that might actually interest me: Exactly how much money does a rabbi have to earn in order to afford to marry and divorce four times? And why am I not earning that kind of money?

Keeping Your Sins: A Counter-intuitive Approach to Teshuva

2010-08-27T11:25:00.007-04:00

For some 30+ years, I have taken the road well travelled as a rabbi on High Holidays: exhort my peeps to fess up to wrongdoings, pick at least some to work on in the year ahead, and get your act together. On some level it's a good approach. Admit what you've done wrong and try to get it right in the future. But it always left me with a question: Seems like no matter how hard I (or anyone else I know) try, some sins just seem to cling. For instance, I just haven't been able to kick lashon hara (gossip). And while I like the idea of spiritual check in three times a day, mincha and ma'ariv - the afternoon and evening services - just seem outside my reach, at least as a daily practice. And I could probably tighten up my level of kashrut observance. Etc.

So as I think about teshuva, how to "return" to a better life, I'm trying out a different approach and putting it out there for comments, praise, ridicule, whatever. Instead of looking at the sins that I plan to give up, I'm looking at the ones that I have chosen and will likely continue to choose to keep. Ready? Here's how it works:

Our lives are full of choices. We make choices every day. Some are innocuous: what to eat for breakfast, which highway to take to work. Others are more significant: How much to donate and to which tzedaka cause, whether to work on Shabbat, how to treat a neighbor or colleague. In each case, we are making a cheshbon, an equation or an accounting. What do I gain by doing this? What do I lose? Am I, my family, or my community becoming better because I make a certain choice?

What I am trying this year is something different: I am taking stock, as I do each year. And I will certainly try to jettison some of the things that I do wrong, tossing them at tashlich time into the water at Pine Lake.

What is different this year is that I am being brutally honest about the things that I cannot seem to unload year after year. I'm trying to do a full cheshbon of sins, but looking at the positives that keep me coming back. My thinking is as follows: In classical Judaism, a sin is a sin, more or less regardless of the reason one commits it. So, let's say that auto travel on Shabbat violates Shabbat. In classical Judaism, the purpose of the travel doesn't matter; it's just wrong. The Conservative movement took a different approach, when it allowed such travel in order to go to services (or at least to the closest available synagogue). I'm suggesting a bit more: Perhaps there is, and should be, a qualitative difference between travelling to the mall vs. travelling to a hospital to visit a sick friend or to a blood donation drive.

And that's how I am looking at the shortcomings that I plan to hold on to. When I compromise on kashrut in the year ahead, there will be a cheshbon: If I'm meeting someone to plan mitzvah work, and the meeting place is 50 miles from the nearest kosher eatery, well, that's how it is sometimes. If I've been up working until all hours, and have to be at an early morning meeting in the service of the Jewish people, I know that my morning prayers will suffer. But it's a cheshbon, in this case a trade-off.

The list goes on. Am I letting myself off the hook? Perhaps to a degree. But I'm also learning from experience that I will not be perfect this year, as I haven't been in any other year. But I will try harder to make sure that the wrongs that I do are those that carry some positive benefit for myself, my family, my community and my world.

The Angry (Ex-) Orthodox Jewish Blogger Phenomenon

2010-08-15T23:41:00.011-04:00

My son Hillel pointed out something that I had just begun to sense a while back: there is a disproportionate number of Jewish bloggers who are or were Orthodox and who maintain blogs that express ongoing anger towards their Orthodox Jewish backgrounds or experiences. Some of these blogs have served the purpose of exposing child or domestic abuse or have taken on issues such as agunah, the "chained woman" whose husband refuses to grant a Jewish divorce. Others criticize religious extremism and closed-mindedness.

But others seem to be little more than venting of anger that could be more productively expressed in a therapist's office or a kickboxing class.

In the past few years, this phenomenon has crept into works of semi-fiction, as a few authors have worked off anger at their Orthodox upbringings through short stories and novels.

These various angry writers express, through words (a typically Jewish means of expression) what Eminem expresses through his music: rage against everyone who he believes wronged him along the way. Except unlike Eminem, for these bloggers and authors the complaints are not about poverty, domestic violence, or trailer parks. The allegations instead are that they were enrolled in yeshivot, made to sit out sports leagues on Shabbat and holidays, had non-Kosher food withheld and given guilt treatments about sex (which they somehow believe was unique to Judaism).

Whether the complaints of these writers are justified (and some are) or not, they've chosen to use their stories, books or blogs as spaces for catharsis, not simply expressing their anger, but making sure to keep their anger going, writing after writing. Now here's the thing: there are healthy and productive ways to express anger. But keeping the grudge going and fueling a lifetime of angry writings is more likely to lead to the more negative side of anger and the physiological symptoms that are often associated with ongoing anger and rage.

My suggestion for the angry (ex-) Orthodox is the following:

Develop a sense of perspective and a sense of humor. In the majority of cases, your upbringing and/or the time in an Orthodox Jewish world left you with a set of moral guidelines like: do not murder, do not steal, do not lie and the like. If you keep those and decide to chuck the tefillin or even Shabbat and Kashrut, you're still ahead of the game in leading a good life.

Recognize that every school has bad teachers and good teachers. I got a decent education in the modern Orthodox day school I attended. Even so, there was the female Israeli teacher who told the girls in her class that only prostitutes wear makeup and lipstick or the rabbi who seemed to have two standards: one for the wealthier students and another for the less wealthy. Think there aren't good and bad teachers in the best public or private schools? Guess again.

Understand that, as Mark Twain wrote, "I never let schooling get in the way of my education." School, yeshiva or otherwise, is the beginning of the search for knowledge, not the end. Think your teachers had a skewed view of the Jewish tradition? OK, do your own study and reading. Use the tools you gained and move forward to find the Judaism that you believe has greater intellectual or spiritual integrity.

If your parents instilled a little too much guilt, or if your family was dysfunctional, don't automatically ascribe that to Orthodox Judaism. Dysfunction and poor parenting exist all over. At some point, it's time to grow up and take responsibility for your own happiness. Your readers eventually will tell you that.

Basically, I would recommend to my angry compatriots to follow the advice that I've seen written in countless Jewish exercise classes: Stop kvetching and start stretching. Stretch by getting in the game with the rest of us -- search for the truth you want to guide your lives and the message you want to convey to your readers. And instead of trying to inspire others to join in your anger, come join the rest of (Jewish) humanity in the age-old journey. And use the gifts you have to build and to encourage others to build.

The Month of Elul & Recognizing Good

2010-08-01T08:48:00.007-04:00

In a short time, the month of Elul begins on the Hebrew calendar. As the month before Rosh Hashana, Elul is an auspicious time to seek forgiveness from those who we have wronged, so that we can then approach God for forgiveness.

I suggest that Elul can also be a time to approach others not only to beg forgiveness, but to give thanks. You see, there is a value in Judaism called hakarat ha-tov, recognition of the good. It may very well include two ideas:

That we should recognize good that exists everywhere in our world, in ourselves and in one another.

That we should acknowledge good that another has done for us.

So, this year, I am initiating the practice of hakarat ha-tov, acknowledging the good, as my new minhag, my new custom, for every Elul to follow. Since this has been the year in which I have reconnected with literally dozens of people from my past through social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, my hakarat ha-tov list is going to go pretty far back in my history. But I do owe gratitude to those that I never thanked, or didn't thank quite enough. I hope this list inspires others to adopt the practice of hakarat ha-tov, whether as part of the High Holiday season, or year-round.

Sorry for the long list...I have 55 years to make up. Here goes:

Thanks to the Hebrew School teacher - probably long deceased - who taught me aleph bet (in those days, aleph bais). If it wasn't for her, I couldn't have become a Jewish educator and rabbi

Thanks to the kids who were my friends, even when I was self-righteous and arrogant

Thanks to my parents. Their lives were not easy, their parenting imperfect. But they invested in me to the best of their abilities

Thanks to the high school teacher who taught me that Torah was not just rules about what you can't do, but is wisdom meant to apply to real life situations

Thanks to a friend who made a comment that only I remember; a brief sentence that said: Dude, life is not just about you. Changed my life.

Thanks to people who don't even remember that they suggested I read books that would make a difference in my career and in my personal outlook. You were right. I did need to read what you suggested -- Judaism as a Civilization, the JPS Torah Commentary, Yehuda Amichai's poetry, among others

Thanks to people who shied away from me when I was younger, then inexplicably reached out to me for friendship decades later. We lost so much time, but you're important in my life today

Thanks to my students and to congregants who tolerated my inexperience and allowed me to learn from teaching them

Thanks to my teachers in my rabbinical program and in several rounds of university courses of study. I still quote you and your wisdom

Thanks to my wife and kids. Like my students, you tolerated (and still tolerate) my inexperience and gave me the privelege of being your husband and father

Thanks to you, who read my blog and allow me to believe that I have something to teach and share. Most importantly, thanks to those who comment on the blog, helping me to deepen and correct my thoughts.

Who do YOU need to thank?

Cash Settlement Rewards Pioneers in Online Communities

2010-07-26T22:21:00.005-04:00

Living in the world of Facebook, LinkedIn and the many other online communities and social networking sites on the Internet today, it is hard to imagine that a mere 20 years ago, almost no such sites existed. Community building in those days often occurred within the services offered by America Online and competing programs long forgotten: CompuServe, Prodigy and others. These providers offered live chats, bulletin boards and more, as ways of building online communities. By today's standards, they were rather primitive. But without these early efforts, their successors could not have built today's more robust online communities.

While I am fuzzy about the dates, I vividly remember my friend Joel Lurie Grishaver coming up to me at a Jewish educators conference around twenty years back and saying: Arnie, the future is going to be online. And I'm passing your name along to the person who is going to lead the Jewish online work of America Online. Weeks later, Marc Klein, publisher of the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, called me and invited me to be a community leader of Jewish Community Online, the Jewish area of AOL. Over a few years, I was fortunate enough to be one of a team of rabbis in an "Ask The Rabbi" area of AOL, led the first online Tu B'Shevat Seder (albeit without the ability to send food through my modem), and moderated dozens of Jewish chats and classes. We were among thousands of pioneers, who volunteered at no salary, to help AOL and other corporations create a new world of online communities.

Over the years, the community leader program that AOL had went through major overhauls, Jewish Community Online was phased out, and I (and many others) decided not to continue as a community leader. As far as I knew, the story was to end there.

Turns out that it didn't. In 1999, two community leaders filed a class action suit on behalf of all AOL community leaders. Since all of us had gone through training, were accountable to AOL, and were, for all practical purposes, working for AOL, they claimed that under the Fair Labor Standards Act, we were all entitled to back wages. If I was even aware that this was happening, I pretty much ignored it. Same thing when, a number of months ago, I received a notice that I would be included in the class action. After all, many of us receive these types of legal notices frequently. Sometimes there's a settlement, sometimes not.

Today, to my absolute astonishment, I received a check that represents my small part of a $15,000,000 settlement paid by AOL to thousands of volunteer community leaders, each of whom was a pioneer in the early days of online community. The check was not an amount that will put me on easy street for the rest of my days. But it is a long overdue symbol of appreciation for those of us who spent countless hours and days experimenting and building the experience that would eventually lead to the vibrant online communities that exist today.

Rethinking Tisha B'Av

2010-07-18T19:58:00.008-04:00

I am disturbed by an incident that happened some 36 years ago. At the time, I was a student spending the summer volunteering in an absorption center in Giv'at HaMoreh, just outside Afula, with olim who had come to Israel from Uzbekistan and Georgia in what was then the Soviet Union. My fellow volunteers and I prepared a full day of activities and learning around the fast day of Tisha B'Av, on which we commemorate the destruction of the two Holy Temples in Jerusalem in ancient times. Over the course of the summer, we had come to rely on the halachic knowledge of the people who staffed Afula's Chabad House.

Just prior to Tisha B'Av, I came to the Chabad leaders with a question: In working with the immigrants, would it be appropriate on the night of the ninth of Av, to conclude our program and services by mentioning that our Tisha B'Av mourning is tempered by the fact that we are in the land of Israel and in the state of Israel, referred to in the prayers as reishit tzemichat ge'ulateinu, the beginning of the flowering of our redemption. Rather than the sympathetic response I had expected from those who worked regularly with the non-affiliated or unknowledgable members of the Jewish community, their response was "it is prohibited to say that, not only on Tisha B'Av, but at any time during the year."

The incident still bothers me, not as a stand-alone event, but as somewhat indicative of a 60+ year refusal by many traditionalists to admit that the holiday needs a new face today. I find the reading of the book of Eicha / Lamentations to still hold deep meaning. The loss of self-government, horrible scenes from a war in which ancient Israel was defeated and the destruction of the central focus of Jewish religious life are all memories that we must hold as a people.

But when we read the liturgical poems (kinot) of Eliezer HaKallir, Yehudah HaLevi and others, in which Jerusalem is depicted as laying in ruins in the hands of enemies, I quickly find my mind wandering. I was born at a time at which Jerusalem was most definitely not in ruins, and came of age when the city came fully into Israel's hands. Crusaders and other occupiers are history to me, but do not make a case for what Tisha B'Av should mean today.

Even the destruction of the Temple and the longing for a new Temple don't speak to me as they once did. I've long ago stopped praying for a restoration of animal sacrifices, so a rebuilt Temple has to mean something other than what traditional prayers call for.

As I've struggled with the meaning of Tisha B'Av in a world in which there is a rebuilt and wonderful city of Jerusalem, and Jewish self-government in Israel, the traditions and observances have become more and more distant from my reality. The restrictions against eating meat for days before the fast (themselves speaking to a time in which meat was a treat that could only be indulged in on rare occasions) and the prohibitions against wearing freshly laundered garments during that time period are no longer compelling to me.

On the other hand, some of the reinterpretations of Tisha B'Av still speak to me:

Jewish unity (which co-exists with Jewish diversity) is still challenged. We see it in this week's headlines in Israel over women's access to the Kotel and to the continuing dissention over definitions of Jewish identity as debated in Knesset.

The centrality of the Temple as focal point is no more. Ori Brafman, in The Starfish and the Spider, suggests that it is the organization that is most decentralized that has the greatest chance for survival in today's world. If so, then Tisha B'Av is a time to reflect on just how important (or unimportant) a single physical focal point or institution really is to the Jewish people.

Modern Israel is on a journey, and is part of the greater Jewish journey. It has begun to respond to how to take ancient ethical and moral teachings and apply them, for the first time in 2000 years, to a real life nation and society that is free from the control of non-Jewish gonverments. But it has not fully actualized. The question of how a modern country and an ancient tradition work hand-in-hand is part of the dynamic challenge ahead. Tisha B'Av can remind us of the potential not yet fulfilled.

So, what I search for is the Tisha B'Av that will abandon some of the realities and assumptions that kept the Jewish dreams alive for the years between 70 CE and 1948 CE, and will instead look at what has not yet been rebuilt. I look for new prayers, observances and conversations that will help us to focus, in today's terms, on what it will take to complete the recovery from the terrible tragedies of our past, so that we can continue to fulfill our people's destiny to be a "light unto the nations."

Forgotten Jewish Texts #3 - The Rosh Yeshiva & The Prostitute

2010-06-17T17:22:00.003-04:00

Talmud Menachot 44a

It was taught: R. Nathan said, There is not a single precept in the Torah, even the lightest, whose reward is not enjoyed in this world; and as to its reward in the future world I know not how great it is.

Go and learn this from the precept of tzitzit (fringes). Once a man, who was very scrupulous about the precept of tzitzit, heard of a certain harlot in one of the towns by the sea who accepted four hundred gold [denars] for her hire. He sent her four hundred gold [denars] and appointed a day with her. When the day arrived he came and waited at her door, and her maid came and told her, ‘That man who sent you four hundred gold [denars] is here and waiting at the door’; to which she replied ‘Let him come in’. When he came in she prepared for him seven beds, six of silver and one of gold; and between one bed and the other there were steps of silver, but the last were of gold. She then went up to the top bed and lay down upon it naked.

He too went up after her in his desire to sit naked with her, when all of a sudden the four fringes [of his garment] struck him across the face; whereupon he slipped off and sat upon the ground. She also slipped off and sat upon the ground and said, ‘By the Roman Capitol, I will not leave you alone until you tell me what blemish you saw in me.

‘By the Temple’, he replied, ‘never have I seen a woman as beautiful as you are; but there is one precept which the Lord our God has commanded us, it is called tzitzit, and with regard to it the expression ‘I am the Lord your God’ is twice written, signifying, I am He who will exact punishment in the future, and I am He who will give reward in the future. Now [the tzitzit] appeared to me as four witnesses [testifying against me]’.

She said, ‘I will not leave you until you tell me your name, the name of your town, the name of your teacher, the name of your school in which you study the Torah’. He wrote all this down and handed it to her. Thereupon she arose and divided her estate into three parts; one third for the government, one third to be distributed among the poor, and one third she took with her in her hand; the bed clothes, however, she retained.

She then came to the Beth Hamidrash of R. Hiyya, and said to him, ‘Master, give instructions about me that they make me a proselyte’. ‘My daughter’, he replied; ‘perhaps you have set your eyes on one of the disciples?’ She thereupon took out the script and handed it to him. ‘Go’, said he ‘and enjoy your acquisition’. Those very bed-clothes which she had spread for him for an illicit purpose she now spread out for him lawfully. This is the reward [of the precept] in this world; and as for its reward in the future world I know not how great it is.

Why as this text not taught? It would appear that the attitude towards sexuality, and possibly even towards prostitution was more open in some ways during the Talmudic era than it is today. While not condoning the man's behavior, Rabbi Hiyya does not appear shocked; on the contrary, he is prepared to accept the former prostitute as a convert and to reward his student by sanctifying their marriage. During the time period between the end of the Talmudic era and current time, Jewish attitudes towards sexuality became far more conservative, particularly under the influence of Christianity in countries in which Jews were living. This text simply does not align with the attitudes towards sexuality that are often promulgated in Jewish schools.

What is the lesson to be learned (Why should this text be taught)? The Torah is, in the words of Deuteronomy, "not in heaven." It is meant for the real world with all of its challenges and temptations. This text teaches us important lessons: in the world of the Rabbis not all behavior was pure; that those whose behavior strays can find their way back (or, in the case of the prostitute, can find their way in) to a more upright life; that the symbolic actions we use to remind us to be holy (kippah, tzitzit, etc.) have value.

Forgotten Jewish Texts #2 - Moses & Rabbi Akiba

2010-05-27T16:01:00.005-04:00

Talmud Menachot 29b

Rav Yehuda quoted Rav: When Moses ascended to the heights [to receive the Torah] he found God sitting and drawing crowns upon the letters. Moses said to God, "Master of the Universe, what is staying Your hand [from giving me the Torah unadorned]?"

God replied, "There is a man who will arise many generations in the future, his name is Akiva ben Yosef. He will interpret mound upon mound of halachot (laws) from each and every marking."

Moses requested, "Master of the Universe, show him to me." God said, "Turn backwards [and you will see him]."

Moses [found himself in R. Akiva's classroom where he] sat at the back of the eighth row. He didn't understand what they were talking about and felt weak. Then, they came to a matter about which the students asked Akiva, "Rabbi, how do you know this?" He told them, "It is the [oral] law given to Moses at Sinai." Moses felt relieved.

He returned to God and said, "Master of the Universe, you have a person like this and [still You choose to] give the Torah through my hands?" God replied, "Silence! This is according to My plan."

Moses said, "Master of the Universe, you've shown me his teaching (Torah), show me his reward." God said, "Turn [backwards and you may see it]. Moses turned around and beheld [the Roman torturers] weighing his [Akiva’s] flesh on the market scales. He said to God, "Master of the Universe, that was his Torah and this is his reward!?"
God said, "Silence! This is according to My plan".

Why was this text not taught? The first part of the story suggests that the Torah and laws did not emanate from Sinai in their final form. While this may be obvious, given the volumes upon volumes of interpretation written over the centuries, traditionalists have insisted upon the "oral law" being given along with the written Torah. This text challenges that viewpoint, acknowledging that even Moses didn't understand the "Torah" that was being taught in the academy of Akiba.

The second part of the text raises a problematic issue: By the Talmudic era, the idea of individual reward and punishment from God for our behavior had become part of the Jewish religion (in the Torah era, almost all reward and punishment was national / communal). Yet, Akiba, despite his Torah scholarship and teachings, is tortured and killed during the era of the Hadrianic persecutions.

What is the lesson to be learned (Why should this text be taught)? The first part of the text sets a belief in a Torah that is given to and by Moses and yet, at the same time, is subject to reinterpretation and innovation. It disproves the idea that all interpretations were given "at Sinai", as the Talmud shows us that even Moses cannot recognize how the Torah has changed in the study hall of Rabbi Akiba. This text opens the way for teaching and discussion about the nature of a Torah that is both "given at Sinai" but also changing.

The second part of this text is understood as the contemporary question of "why do bad things happen to good people." From the time of the Book of Job through Harold Kushner's book on Why Bad Things Happen to Good People, Jewish philosophers and theologians have wrestled with this question. What a great way to help students today to grapple with it!