Showing posts with label Judaism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judaism. Show all posts
Friday, September 21
An easy fast ...
For my fellow MOT, I wish you an easy fast. May you and yours be signed and sealed in the book of life for a happy, healthy and sweet new year.
Wednesday, September 12
Saturday, September 8
MAJCO statement at the Installation of ELCA Bishop Jessica Crist
This morning, I had the honor of representing the Montana Association of Jewish Communities at the installation of Bishop Jessica Crist. Bishop Crist has been a friend to the Montana Jewish communities for many years. I was honored to give the following remarks:
Twelve years ago, the Montana Association of Jewish Communities and the Montana Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America entered into a unique and I think historic compact. For the first time since Martin Luther, representatives of our faiths set aside hundreds of years of ethnic and religious animosity and misunderstanding, and committed ourselves to mutual concord and cooperation. This compact would not have existed were it not for the vision, coordination and hard work of the Reverend Jessica Crist.
I am honored today to represent the Montana Association of Jewish Communities, and witness the occasion of the Reverend’s installation as a Bishop within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Jewish communities in our State send their welcome and and congratulations to the Reverend Crist and the Montana Synod.
Our faiths have a shared heritage dating back to Abraham. Unfortunately, that shared heritage has been marred by too many people and too many ideologies that were were more interested in fostering division than in dialogue.
However, since the the ELCA’s 1994 “Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to the Jewish Community,” Lutheran-Jewish dialogue has continued to grow and prosper. Indeed, today our synagogue in Great Falls shares space with an ELCA church. We welcome this dialogue, and continue to thank the Reverend Crist for all her efforts over the years to work toward understanding between our faiths.
While much has been accomplished, much work remains to be done. Centuries are not overcome in moments. However, we have built a strong foundation. With that foundation, I and Jews throughout our great State look forward to continuing to work with Bishop Crist to celebrate our diversity and to deepen our shared appreciation of our traditions and our cultures.
Mazel Tov, Bishop Crist!
Monday, April 23
SoulTrain Israel Fair to Make Stop in Missoula
(Great Falls, April 22) – Can’t you just smell the frying falafel? A taste of Israel is coming to Missoula!
The Montana Association of Jewish Communities; Missoula’s Congregation Har Shalom and the University of Montana Hillel House have arranged for the Soultrain Israel Fair to make a stop in Missoula. The Fair, which will highlight Israeli culture through food, music, dance and crafts, will take place at Har Shalom’s new synagogue at 3035 S. Russell on Thursday, May 3 from 3 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The Fair will bring a small part of Israel to Montana. Programming for the event is directed to adults, children and teenagers throughout the State. Participants will get to know Israeli culture, get information about Israel, taste Jewish and Israeli food, dance Israeli dances, listen to Israeli music. In addition to a mini Israeli bazaar, with vendors stocking Israeli products, there will be arts and crafts projects, fun games and Israeli films for both the young and old.
SoulTrain is an Israeli outreach group that began in the Pacific Northwest in 1999. They have since expanded their activities across the United State, Europe and Africa, dedicated to bring Jewish and Israeli culture to small communities throughout the world. The organization has brought many Israeli cultural figures to Montana over the years. It’s mission is to connect to smaller Jewish communities in order to offer them a direct connection to Israel. Come learn about Israeli culture at this fun-filled family event!
For more information, call Congregation Har Shalom at 406-549-9595.
The Montana Association of Jewish Communities; Missoula’s Congregation Har Shalom and the University of Montana Hillel House have arranged for the Soultrain Israel Fair to make a stop in Missoula. The Fair, which will highlight Israeli culture through food, music, dance and crafts, will take place at Har Shalom’s new synagogue at 3035 S. Russell on Thursday, May 3 from 3 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The Fair will bring a small part of Israel to Montana. Programming for the event is directed to adults, children and teenagers throughout the State. Participants will get to know Israeli culture, get information about Israel, taste Jewish and Israeli food, dance Israeli dances, listen to Israeli music. In addition to a mini Israeli bazaar, with vendors stocking Israeli products, there will be arts and crafts projects, fun games and Israeli films for both the young and old.
SoulTrain is an Israeli outreach group that began in the Pacific Northwest in 1999. They have since expanded their activities across the United State, Europe and Africa, dedicated to bring Jewish and Israeli culture to small communities throughout the world. The organization has brought many Israeli cultural figures to Montana over the years. It’s mission is to connect to smaller Jewish communities in order to offer them a direct connection to Israel. Come learn about Israeli culture at this fun-filled family event!
For more information, call Congregation Har Shalom at 406-549-9595.
Monday, April 16
Apparently, I am Going to be Judged More Harshly ...
And I am OK with that.
Yesterday was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. To commemorate those that perished and those that fought back, I helped to organize a service at the YWCA of Great Falls. I especially want to thank community leaders like Commissioner Beltrone, Mayor Stebbins and Chaplain McCain for taking part in the service.
The service was well attended and, I think, a very nice event. We certainly were able to both commemorate the fallen and raise awareness of current genocides, most specifically the crimes now happening daily in Darfur.
While we were setting up, a protester came by. A real-life protester at a HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL SERVICE. This guy, whom I will name Schmuckity McSchmuck henceforth on these pages, had a 15 foot pole on which he had a 3' square sign with "REPENT SINNERS" on one side and "ACCEPT JESUS" on the other. He spend about an hour standing in front of the Y reading out loud from the New Testament.
At one point, I went out to talk to Schmuckity. I invited him into the service, since we were talking about peace and I thought that the guy he was talking about also had something to say about peace. Schmuckity wasn't too interested in peace, apparently. He told me that us Jews were going to be judged more harshly for forsaking his savior.
Bizarre, no?
Anyway, despite Schmuckity, the service went very well. I especially want to thank the mayor for her gestures of support.
Yesterday was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day. To commemorate those that perished and those that fought back, I helped to organize a service at the YWCA of Great Falls. I especially want to thank community leaders like Commissioner Beltrone, Mayor Stebbins and Chaplain McCain for taking part in the service.
The service was well attended and, I think, a very nice event. We certainly were able to both commemorate the fallen and raise awareness of current genocides, most specifically the crimes now happening daily in Darfur.
While we were setting up, a protester came by. A real-life protester at a HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL SERVICE. This guy, whom I will name Schmuckity McSchmuck henceforth on these pages, had a 15 foot pole on which he had a 3' square sign with "REPENT SINNERS" on one side and "ACCEPT JESUS" on the other. He spend about an hour standing in front of the Y reading out loud from the New Testament.
At one point, I went out to talk to Schmuckity. I invited him into the service, since we were talking about peace and I thought that the guy he was talking about also had something to say about peace. Schmuckity wasn't too interested in peace, apparently. He told me that us Jews were going to be judged more harshly for forsaking his savior.
Bizarre, no?
Anyway, despite Schmuckity, the service went very well. I especially want to thank the mayor for her gestures of support.
Tuesday, December 12
Dror Edar to Perform in Great Falls on December 14
Dror Eydar, a lecturer in Hebrew literature, Jewish thought, Jewish mysticism and Israeli politics at universities throughout Israel, will present an evening of chosen Israeli and Jewish songs in Great Falls on Thursday, December 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cozy Tea Hut, 200 Central Avenue.Eydar's performance, called "Heaven and Earth: The Israel Experience" comes to Great Falls courtesy of the Israeli outreach group SoulTrain in cooperation with Aitz Chaim, the Great Falls Hebrew Association.
Tuesday, November 21
Welcome to Chaim and Chavie!
Chabad is coming to the Big Sky State!
I just received an email from Rabbi Chaim Bruk. He and his wife, Chavie, are planning on moving to Bozeman this Spring! They will open the first Montana branch of the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement.
Organized Orthodox Judaism has existed in Montana before. At the turn of the last century, there was an Orthodox synagogue (and even a schochet) in Butte. However, almost all of present-day Montana Jewry is either affiliated with the Reform Judaism movement or is very liberal in its practice.
Personally, I am very excited to learn from Rabbi Bruk. May he and his wife have safe travels!
I just received an email from Rabbi Chaim Bruk. He and his wife, Chavie, are planning on moving to Bozeman this Spring! They will open the first Montana branch of the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch movement.
Organized Orthodox Judaism has existed in Montana before. At the turn of the last century, there was an Orthodox synagogue (and even a schochet) in Butte. However, almost all of present-day Montana Jewry is either affiliated with the Reform Judaism movement or is very liberal in its practice.
Personally, I am very excited to learn from Rabbi Bruk. May he and his wife have safe travels!
Thursday, October 12
My New Favorite Blog
Lately, I have been fascinated by OrthoMom, a blog written by an Orthodox Jewish mother living in the New York area.
Click here to read her update on a developing scandal in Staten Island, about a kosher grocery store selling non-kosher chickens as kosher birds, at a kosher price premium.
The tale reminds me of one told by my Great-grandmother, about why she stopped keeping kosher.
During Butte's heyday, there were three synagogues and a kosher butcher. My great-grandmother kept kosher, and regularly purchased the family meat from that schochet. One day, it became known that the butcher bought one cow from a local rancher. The next day, the shop had three fresh beef tongues for sale.
The next day, my great-grandmother stopped keeping kosher.
Click here to read her update on a developing scandal in Staten Island, about a kosher grocery store selling non-kosher chickens as kosher birds, at a kosher price premium.
The tale reminds me of one told by my Great-grandmother, about why she stopped keeping kosher.
During Butte's heyday, there were three synagogues and a kosher butcher. My great-grandmother kept kosher, and regularly purchased the family meat from that schochet. One day, it became known that the butcher bought one cow from a local rancher. The next day, the shop had three fresh beef tongues for sale.
The next day, my great-grandmother stopped keeping kosher.
Tuesday, October 3
How Should We Approach Jonah?
Yesterday was, of course, Yom Kippur. During the musaf service during this holy day, Jews read the book of Jonah.
Especially when viewed against the lens of the text we read during Rosh Hashanah, the Akeidah, the book of Jonah is a very difficult text. In Jonah, we read the story of a prophet who appears mean, vindictive and insubordinate to Hashem.
As compared against Abraham, who argued with Hashem over the life of the inhabitants of Sodom, Jonah "sat on the east side of [Nineveh], and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city." I imagine him popping a bowl of popcorn so he may be entertained by the big show.
In Jonah, we have a prophet who refers to what are normally referred to as the positive attributes of G-d (gracious, compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy) as a negative!
In addition to the contempt that Jonah seems to show for life, in Jonah we have a prophet who makes every effort to disobey Hashem. When instructed by Hashem to go to Nineveh (present day Baghdad) to proclaim against it, he hurries to try and hide out in Tarshish (present day Spain). He is only dissuaded by his attempt to run away from G-d when he is swallowed into the belly of a fish.
After being spit up by the fish, he doesn't rush to do as he was instructed; G-d had to instruct Jonah a second time. As I mentioned above, the reluctant prophet then castigates G-d for being merciful.
What are we to learn from Jonah? I look forward to your thoughts.
Especially when viewed against the lens of the text we read during Rosh Hashanah, the Akeidah, the book of Jonah is a very difficult text. In Jonah, we read the story of a prophet who appears mean, vindictive and insubordinate to Hashem.
As compared against Abraham, who argued with Hashem over the life of the inhabitants of Sodom, Jonah "sat on the east side of [Nineveh], and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city." I imagine him popping a bowl of popcorn so he may be entertained by the big show.
In Jonah, we have a prophet who refers to what are normally referred to as the positive attributes of G-d (gracious, compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy) as a negative!
In addition to the contempt that Jonah seems to show for life, in Jonah we have a prophet who makes every effort to disobey Hashem. When instructed by Hashem to go to Nineveh (present day Baghdad) to proclaim against it, he hurries to try and hide out in Tarshish (present day Spain). He is only dissuaded by his attempt to run away from G-d when he is swallowed into the belly of a fish.
After being spit up by the fish, he doesn't rush to do as he was instructed; G-d had to instruct Jonah a second time. As I mentioned above, the reluctant prophet then castigates G-d for being merciful.
What are we to learn from Jonah? I look forward to your thoughts.
Friday, September 29
Now is the Time to Prepare Yourself for the Fast
As those of you that will be fasting are already well aware, Yom Kippur starts on Sunday evening. I will, hopefully, have something relevant to post before Kol Nidre.
Until then, I strongly recommend this guide on how to prepare your body for the fast, from a Dr. Segal in Boston.
Until then, I strongly recommend this guide on how to prepare your body for the fast, from a Dr. Segal in Boston.
Friday, September 22
May Your New Year be Sweet
Tonight is Erev Rosh Hashanah, the first day of of the New Jewish Year. Tomorrow begins the year 5767.
Unlike the secular New Year, this holy day does not mark the beginning of raucous celebrations. It begins, or rather continues, a period of intense personal reflection that will conclude in ten days with the end of Yom Kippur. It is during this period when Jews believe that Hashem inscribes our fate for the coming year. It is a time of t'shuvah and tzedekah (repentance and charity).
At the conclusion of services on Sunday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, (not tomorrow, as it will be shabbos), we hear the shofar. Midrash tells us that the sound we hear will, at least symbolically, be blown through the horn of the same ram that was sacrificed in place of Yitzhak on Mount Moriah. Interestingly enough, the torah portion we read tomorrow will be the Akeidah, or the Binding of Yitzhak; one of the most challenging sections of any theology.
In this parasha we learn of Hashem's instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his son, only to have that command belayed at the last possible moment; just as the knife was speeding to Yitzhak's throat. This loyalty to Hashem was rewarded by our people being bound to Hashem.
I have always had a great deal of difficulty reconciling the Abraham we read about in this parasha with the patriarch we read about earlier in Breishit. The Abraham who argues and debates with Hashem over the lives of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gemorrah only pages later is willing to sacrifice his own flesh and blood with neither argument nor comment? What lessons can we take from this seemingly blind loyalty?
I offer no answers here, just questions. Maybe I will have more thoughts after yontif.
L'Shana Tova Tiketavu!
Unlike the secular New Year, this holy day does not mark the beginning of raucous celebrations. It begins, or rather continues, a period of intense personal reflection that will conclude in ten days with the end of Yom Kippur. It is during this period when Jews believe that Hashem inscribes our fate for the coming year. It is a time of t'shuvah and tzedekah (repentance and charity).
At the conclusion of services on Sunday, the second day of Rosh Hashanah, (not tomorrow, as it will be shabbos), we hear the shofar. Midrash tells us that the sound we hear will, at least symbolically, be blown through the horn of the same ram that was sacrificed in place of Yitzhak on Mount Moriah. Interestingly enough, the torah portion we read tomorrow will be the Akeidah, or the Binding of Yitzhak; one of the most challenging sections of any theology.
In this parasha we learn of Hashem's instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his son, only to have that command belayed at the last possible moment; just as the knife was speeding to Yitzhak's throat. This loyalty to Hashem was rewarded by our people being bound to Hashem.
I have always had a great deal of difficulty reconciling the Abraham we read about in this parasha with the patriarch we read about earlier in Breishit. The Abraham who argues and debates with Hashem over the lives of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gemorrah only pages later is willing to sacrifice his own flesh and blood with neither argument nor comment? What lessons can we take from this seemingly blind loyalty?
I offer no answers here, just questions. Maybe I will have more thoughts after yontif.
L'Shana Tova Tiketavu!
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