Thank you to Rabbi Sharon Brous, our recent scholar-in-residence, and to the Adult Education Committee members (especially chair, Jay Wiesenfeld, and event mavens Doreen Lapperdon-Addison and Karen Karl).
Rabbi Brous taught a section of Mishnah Sanhedrin (4:5) on Sunday morning:
Therefore only a single person was created in the world to teach that if any person has caused a single soul from Israel to perish, Scripture imputes it to him as though he has caused a whole world to perish and if any man saves the life of a single soul from Israel, Scripture imputes it to him as though he had saved the life of a whole world. Again, a single person was created for the sake of peace among the world, that none should say to another: 'My father was greater than your father'.... Again, a single person was created to proclaim the greatness of the Holy One, blessed is He. For man stamps many coins with one seal and they are all like one another, but the King of kings has stamped every person with the seal of the first human, yet not one of them is like another. Therefore everyone must say, 'for my sake was the world created.' (adapted from Danby, The Mishnah, Oxford Univ. Press, 1933)
From that mishnah, she taught three essential human dignities. First, every human being has infinite value. Second, no person or group of people can claim they are better or more valuable than any other. Third, the endless diversity we see between people is a fundamental part of human dignity. Diversity is central to humanity.
Did you have a comment or response to Rabbi Brous’ presentation? Please post it here by clicking the blue link just below this line. Rabbi Brous and I will respond to the postings.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Purim: Gifts, Groggers, and Good Food
The Hebrew month of Adar 2 just started and that means Purim is right around the corner. Our temple's Purim carnival will be on Purim Evening, Thursday March 20th from 4:30 to 6:30 PM. Wear costumes, play games, celebrate together, and eat good food. On that same night, starting at 6:30 PM we will have a Purim service with Megillah reading, choir singing, and special spoof songs presented by our religious school students. (Remember, there will not be religious school on Wednesday afternoon March 19th - Heaven forbid you spend two days in a row at temple! But seriously, we want you to celebrate Purim with us and know you can't give up two school nights in a row.)
There are four special mitzvot for Purim according to the Book of Esther...
Megillat Esther: Hear the Megillah (Book of Esther) read aloud.
Se'udah: Celebrate with a Purim Se'udah (festive meal & party).
Mishloach Manot: Send gifts of food and treats to friends.
Matanot L'evyonim: Give tzedakah to support to poor.
Here's a fun way to celebrate. Make hamentaschen at home:
HAMANTASHEN
The dough for this recipe comes from Chocolate Chip Challah and Other Twists on the Jewish Holiday Table, by Lisa Rauchwerger, published by the UAHC Press.
1 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons milk, water, soy milk or rice milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Making the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter (or margarine) and the sugar with beaters.Add eggs and beat a little more. In a smaller bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add a little of this mixture to the creamed butter, sugar and egg. Add the milk (regular, rice, soy or water) to the creamed mixture. Add the remaining flour mixture. Add the vanilla. Mix well. Knead the dough into a ball. (The dough works best if you wrap it in plastic and chill it in the refrigerator for at
least an hour.You can make the dough early in the day and bake the cookies in the afternoon, or prepare the dough the night before and chill it overnight.)
Forming the Hamantashen:
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Roll out the dough on a floured board until it is 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thick.
Cut dough into 3-inch to 4-inch rounds with a floured glass or cookie cutter.
Drop filling by the teaspoonful in the center of each round.
Mentally divide the cookie into thirds, fold over the left and right sides, and pinch the top together. Then fold up the bottom third and pinch in place. A triangle should emerge,
with the filling showing in the middle.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Kid-Pleasing Fillings:
Fruit and chocolate chips are kid-pleasing fillings for
hamantashen. Canned apricot, cherry, apple or berry pie
fillings are available from the grocery store.
For more Purim recipes and activities check out the URJ Purim Parent Pages.
Happy Purim!
There are four special mitzvot for Purim according to the Book of Esther...
Megillat Esther: Hear the Megillah (Book of Esther) read aloud.
Se'udah: Celebrate with a Purim Se'udah (festive meal & party).
Mishloach Manot: Send gifts of food and treats to friends.
Matanot L'evyonim: Give tzedakah to support to poor.
Here's a fun way to celebrate. Make hamentaschen at home:
HAMANTASHEN
The dough for this recipe comes from Chocolate Chip Challah and Other Twists on the Jewish Holiday Table, by Lisa Rauchwerger, published by the UAHC Press.
1 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons milk, water, soy milk or rice milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Making the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter (or margarine) and the sugar with beaters.Add eggs and beat a little more. In a smaller bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Add a little of this mixture to the creamed butter, sugar and egg. Add the milk (regular, rice, soy or water) to the creamed mixture. Add the remaining flour mixture. Add the vanilla. Mix well. Knead the dough into a ball. (The dough works best if you wrap it in plastic and chill it in the refrigerator for at
least an hour.You can make the dough early in the day and bake the cookies in the afternoon, or prepare the dough the night before and chill it overnight.)
Forming the Hamantashen:
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Roll out the dough on a floured board until it is 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thick.
Cut dough into 3-inch to 4-inch rounds with a floured glass or cookie cutter.
Drop filling by the teaspoonful in the center of each round.
Mentally divide the cookie into thirds, fold over the left and right sides, and pinch the top together. Then fold up the bottom third and pinch in place. A triangle should emerge,
with the filling showing in the middle.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool cookies on a wire rack.
Kid-Pleasing Fillings:
Fruit and chocolate chips are kid-pleasing fillings for
hamantashen. Canned apricot, cherry, apple or berry pie
fillings are available from the grocery store.
For more Purim recipes and activities check out the URJ Purim Parent Pages.
Happy Purim!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Rampant Righteousness
Righteousness was rampant at the innaugural Brickner Seminar at the Religious Action Center. The three day rabbinical conference on social action featured scholars like Rabbis Bradley Shavit-Artson, Irwin Kula, Tsvi Blanchard (both of CLAL), and David Saperstein. Congressional staffers and consultants shared trade secrets for organizing and political action. It was an impressive display.
Sometimes, the righteousness ran amok at late night sessions. After twelve hours in the conference room, loud pops and a long sizzle announced the coffee pot’s burnout. We didn't take the hint and opened a discussion on Judaism and the environment. Talk turned to blueberries and carbon offset credits available on-line. There was a jeremiad against our appetite for out-of-season fruit, specifically blueberries in the winter. We learned about the threats of eco-hostile farming, carbon emissions produced in delivering our food, the poison of plastic packaging and more. Mostly we learned how difficult it is for COEJL and other Jewish environmental activists to generate interest in the Jewish community.
Fortunately most sessions did not travel that route. RAC staff restored our coffee supply by morning and the better presenters coalesced around a theme: relationships are the key to righteous results. Matt, a PR consultant, taught us that more and better media exposure comes only through relationships with the people who report the news. Rabbi Jonah Pesner and Lyla Fouldes of the URJ’s Just Congregations Initiative described their model. First, build relationships within the congregation through one-on-one contact and sharing stories. Second, build relationships across religion, class, and organizational boundaries. Third, leverage those relationships to bring about real change. Lyla led us through a study of the biblical book, Nehemiah, chapters 1-3. It is a beautifully crafted model for achieving results in the style of Just Congregations.
We have seen the effectiveness of this premise at MRT. Our most successful social action efforts have flourished because they started with relationships and then moved to issues and activities. Our least successful ones started with issues that organizers tried to move individuals behind. Often times our organizers did not even know the people they solicited.
We are about to restructure our social action committee and program with new leadership and new vision. It will succeed in its tikkun olam efforts only if it organizes around relationships first and then moves into issues.
If you would like to be part of this effort to organize our community, connect people to each other, and leverage those relationships to change the world, please be in touch with me. Our community could use your help.
Sometimes, the righteousness ran amok at late night sessions. After twelve hours in the conference room, loud pops and a long sizzle announced the coffee pot’s burnout. We didn't take the hint and opened a discussion on Judaism and the environment. Talk turned to blueberries and carbon offset credits available on-line. There was a jeremiad against our appetite for out-of-season fruit, specifically blueberries in the winter. We learned about the threats of eco-hostile farming, carbon emissions produced in delivering our food, the poison of plastic packaging and more. Mostly we learned how difficult it is for COEJL and other Jewish environmental activists to generate interest in the Jewish community.
Fortunately most sessions did not travel that route. RAC staff restored our coffee supply by morning and the better presenters coalesced around a theme: relationships are the key to righteous results. Matt, a PR consultant, taught us that more and better media exposure comes only through relationships with the people who report the news. Rabbi Jonah Pesner and Lyla Fouldes of the URJ’s Just Congregations Initiative described their model. First, build relationships within the congregation through one-on-one contact and sharing stories. Second, build relationships across religion, class, and organizational boundaries. Third, leverage those relationships to bring about real change. Lyla led us through a study of the biblical book, Nehemiah, chapters 1-3. It is a beautifully crafted model for achieving results in the style of Just Congregations.
We have seen the effectiveness of this premise at MRT. Our most successful social action efforts have flourished because they started with relationships and then moved to issues and activities. Our least successful ones started with issues that organizers tried to move individuals behind. Often times our organizers did not even know the people they solicited.
We are about to restructure our social action committee and program with new leadership and new vision. It will succeed in its tikkun olam efforts only if it organizes around relationships first and then moves into issues.
If you would like to be part of this effort to organize our community, connect people to each other, and leverage those relationships to change the world, please be in touch with me. Our community could use your help.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Israel Needs Help Now
At Shabbat services I spoke about Sderot and Ashkelon and the worsening state of affairs as Hamas-driven missile attacks rain on civilians in southern Israel (as if seven consecutive years of attacks on Sderot could get any worse). Here's what you can do:
1. LEARN: Know about the situation. You can learn more by watching these videos:
AJC's The Tragedy of Sderot
On YouTube: What Can You Do in 15 Seconds?
Sderot Awareness Film
Read URJ President Rabbi Eric Yoffie's statement on Sderot.
2. ACT
Keep Media Bias in check. Let TV, newspaper, and internet organizations know when you see errors or bias in their reports. HonestReporting.com is a good resource on this issue.
Advocate for passage of US laws and resolutions like HR 951. Let your Congressional representative know that you support the resolution and more like it. Ask them to co-sponsor th resolution if they have not done so already.
Go to Israel. We still have space on our temple trip. See for yourself what's happening in Israel (almost all peaceful, productive, and good people).
3. DONATE
During the war against Hezbollah (Summer 2006), American donations helped provide crucial social and support services for victims, soldiers, displaced people and their families. URJ, Jewish Federation, and the American Jewish Committee all have important projects underway to help Sderot.
4. EDUCATE
Make sure your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives all know the truth about the situation. Remember these points:
*Israel seeks peace with security. Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza two and a half years ago in pursuit of a peaceful Gaza and southern Israel, Hamas responding with more rocket attacks, kidnappings, and suicide bombing.
*Israel never targets civilians. Palestinian terrorists purposely kill civilians. Palestinian civilians and children have been killed tragically in Israeli strikes against Gaza missile sites and operators. These deaths are terrible and Israel admits their horror. Hamas attacks have killed over a dozen Israeli civilians. These civilians were the targets. There is no apology or regret from Hamas or Islamic terrorists for them. For example, Hamas described the rocket attacks on Sderot's first day of school as a "welcome back to school present for the children of Sderot."
*Sderot is not a settlement, illegal outpost, or infringement on Palestinian territory. It is a town of 20,000 people inside the legal and established boundaries of Israel (by any measurement).
*Iran is supplying weapons and training to Hamas. Ahmadinajad's stated desire to kill Jews and destroy Israel gets put into practice in Sderot and Ashkelon.
This tragedy continues to unfold and worsen daily. We can not sit idly by while fellow Jews die simply because they live in southern Israel. Join me in fighting against this despicable assault on our people.
1. LEARN: Know about the situation. You can learn more by watching these videos:
AJC's The Tragedy of Sderot
On YouTube: What Can You Do in 15 Seconds?
Sderot Awareness Film
Read URJ President Rabbi Eric Yoffie's statement on Sderot.
2. ACT
Keep Media Bias in check. Let TV, newspaper, and internet organizations know when you see errors or bias in their reports. HonestReporting.com is a good resource on this issue.
Advocate for passage of US laws and resolutions like HR 951. Let your Congressional representative know that you support the resolution and more like it. Ask them to co-sponsor th resolution if they have not done so already.
Go to Israel. We still have space on our temple trip. See for yourself what's happening in Israel (almost all peaceful, productive, and good people).
3. DONATE
During the war against Hezbollah (Summer 2006), American donations helped provide crucial social and support services for victims, soldiers, displaced people and their families. URJ, Jewish Federation, and the American Jewish Committee all have important projects underway to help Sderot.
4. EDUCATE
Make sure your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and relatives all know the truth about the situation. Remember these points:
*Israel seeks peace with security. Israel withdrew unilaterally from Gaza two and a half years ago in pursuit of a peaceful Gaza and southern Israel, Hamas responding with more rocket attacks, kidnappings, and suicide bombing.
*Israel never targets civilians. Palestinian terrorists purposely kill civilians. Palestinian civilians and children have been killed tragically in Israeli strikes against Gaza missile sites and operators. These deaths are terrible and Israel admits their horror. Hamas attacks have killed over a dozen Israeli civilians. These civilians were the targets. There is no apology or regret from Hamas or Islamic terrorists for them. For example, Hamas described the rocket attacks on Sderot's first day of school as a "welcome back to school present for the children of Sderot."
*Sderot is not a settlement, illegal outpost, or infringement on Palestinian territory. It is a town of 20,000 people inside the legal and established boundaries of Israel (by any measurement).
*Iran is supplying weapons and training to Hamas. Ahmadinajad's stated desire to kill Jews and destroy Israel gets put into practice in Sderot and Ashkelon.
This tragedy continues to unfold and worsen daily. We can not sit idly by while fellow Jews die simply because they live in southern Israel. Join me in fighting against this despicable assault on our people.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Vagina Monologues
Next Saturday, March 8th at 7:30 P.M., the Sisterhood of Monmouth Reform Temple will present Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" as part of the global V-Day campaign. This is a tzedakah performance that our sisterhood is staging in order to help raise funds for the City of Joy, a project of Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Women of Katrina. Buy your tickets on-line by clicking here or call the temple office 732-747-9365.
In a recent book "The Still Small Voice: Reflections on Being a Jewish Man" (URJ Press), HUC rabbinical student Neil Hirsch explored "What 'The Vagina Monologues' can teach you about being a man." Hirsch initially resisted his female classmates' efforts to present the show at HUC because it lacked explicit Jewish content and excluded the male population of the school. He found, however, that the greatest impact of "The Vagina Monologues" was not in the performance itself but in its preparations. He recalls, "Through the women's meetings and rehearsals, my female classmates had an opportunity to bond through the sharing of similar experiences. They derived strength from one another." That strength and bond had a positive impact on the rest of the community beyond the rehearsals and cast members. It is also true that the tzedakah funds and awareness raised through the show reflect some of our most important Jewish values.
Our experience at MRT has likewise shown great successes even before the curtain goes up. The energy, interest and engagement of so many women in a temple project is inspirational. The women in the show's cast and supporting functions run the gamut of ages, interests, and hometowns. The show has also drawn in our brotherhood - they built the stage and helped provide sound and technical support. The project is the first time our temple is using on-line commerce to reserve seats and make donations. The project started when one woman from our congregation read an article about the terrible violence against women in the DRC and wanted to do something about it. She turned to the temple and our community as a venue for taking action. It's a story about the possibilities that arise from community connection, open and encouraging attitudes at every level of the temple, and a sky's the limit sense of possibility. Some of our guys may squirm a bit at the language and content of the show, but they should also step up to the level of engagement and energy that the Monologues has produced among our women.
See you at the show.
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