I CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP - Jerusalem court holds that women praying out loud in prayer shawls do not disturb the public order

You might have seen them on the nightly news, those Torah Readin’, Tefillin’ Wearin’, Tallis Totin’, Prayer Provocateurs … The Women of the Wall!

“In a groundbreaking ruling, the Jerusalem District Court upheld an earlier decision of the magistrate’s court that women who wear prayer shawls (“tallitot” in Hebrew) at the Western Wall Plaza are not contravening “local custom” or causing a public disturbance, and therefore should not be arrested. "(Jerusalem Post, April 25, 2013)

I’m not sure how long this new ruling will be upheld, but it is a nice start.  Up until this ruling, Ultra-Orthodox rabbis who have worked hard to ban Jewish women from wearing tallitot while praying audibly and from reading Torah publicly at the Western Wall, had had the law on their side.  So, every month, at the celebration of the New Moon, the Women of the Wall would arrive to pray, wearing tallitot and carrying a Torah Scroll.  And police would arrive, to “break it up” and cart the “perps” off to jail. 

The logic ran something like this: The area in front of the Kotel (Western Wall) is a synagogue. Since only Orthodox Judaism is acknowledged in Israel, the synagogue is, by default, Orthodox, and under Orthodox rabbinical supervision, the customs and traditions of the Orthodox should be observed.  That being the case, women must dress modestly, may not wear a prayer shawl, are not permitted to touch or read from the Torah.  They may pray, but their voices are not to stand out as a distraction.  And the sexes must be separated.

Me and the Kotel go back a ways.  Sure, I’d seen those old Ottoman prints, and the 1967 iconic photograph of Israeli Paratroopers who had just liberated Jerusalem.  You probably know the photo, three young, rugged faces, blackened from battle, looking up at The Wall.

Back then, it was 1969, the plaza before the Wall was a pretty empty space, except for Friday night, which brought out the Yeshiva boys in big numbers for singing and dancing. It was a simpler time. There were no “check points” or bag searches or metal detectors. A low, metal fence separated the men from the women… but we could see each other.  A woman stood, at the entrance to the “women’s side” with a basket of long skirts with elastic waists.  These were for both modesty and propriety. After all, a female tourist wouldn’t enter a holy Christian site without first covering her bare arms and SHORTS!

Back then the experience was so intimate.  One could touch the stone, literally “talk to the Wall” and to leave a message tucked in a crevice between two stones.  After my first visit, I walked over to the excavation next to the Wall, lowered myself down a ladder and started my first day of “digging” through the Ottoman Empire.

Things have changed since then. Now, there always seems to be a tumult at the Kotel. The Wall had been liberated, but for whom?  Gone are the old women pressing their lips to the stone in silent petition.  Replacing the holy aura is a phalanx of soldiers and police forming a security barricade. Military and medical vehicles line up awaiting the unthinkable. Peering down on the plaza are “billboards” carved in Jerusalem stone with signs for yeshivot, and ads for Bar Mitzvahs at the wall. The two ‘sides’ of the Kotel (His and Hers) are now divided by a taller, solid, barrier.  This doesn’t stop the Orthodox women from watching the men on the other side.  They simply line up plastic chairs and peer over the mehitza!

God Bless Israel.  If there wasn’t infighting and bickering I’d be worried that it ISN’T a Jewish State, after all, being divisive is what we do best!

But the truly dark side to all of this is that while we are bickering over the handling and “ownership” of what WE JEWS consider the undisputed spiritual home of the Jews, the Western Wall of the Temple, the rest of the world is being sold a different story.

According to the Palestinian National Authority, the Jews did not consider the Wall as a place of worship until the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917.  The Palestinian Authority appointed Mufti of Jerusalem believes that the Wall belongs to Muslims alone.  In a statement made in 2000 he said “No stone of the Al-Buraq (the Muslim name for The Western Wall) has any relation to Judaism.  The Jews began praying at this wall only in the nineteenth century, when they began to develop [national] aspirations.”

In 2001 in an interview with the German magazine, Die Welt, (January 17, 2001) he followed up with this statement “There is not a single stone in the Wailing Wall relating to Jewish History. The Jews cannot legitimately claim this wall, neither religiously nor historically. The Committee of the League of Nations recommended in 1930, to allow the Jews to pray there, in order to keep them quiet. But by no means did it acknowledge that the wall belongs to them.”

As American Jews we may choose to distance ourselves and “tune out” the internal machinations of Israeli politics and religion.  But as Jewish Americans, we must be alert and “tune in” to international dialogues and policies that serve to contort the truth.

As the timeless joke goes – the old Jew prays at the Wall every day, three times a day, for 20 years.  When asked what this experience was like, he answered, “It’s like talking to a WALL.”

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose

COUNTDOWN TO SINAI - WORKING ON OUR “INNER SELF” SO THAT WE ARE READY TO RECEIVE THE TORAH!

Contained in this week’s Torah portion, EMOR is, among other things, a list of God’s “appointed seasons” or holy times. God outlines when and how we are to observe festivals and holy days.  We are told the exact days of the month, the duration of the festival or observance, and the appropriate sacrifices or offerings. Among the items in Emor are the rules for Shabbat as well as the rules for Passover. Throughout this section we keep hearing the phrase “Kol Melechet Avodah, Lo Ta-ah-su.”  Translated, this means “All manner of work you shall not do!”  Well, why not?  Because it is God Time!  We are instructed to separate “havdil” the mundane, from the holy. The Torah commands “a time out” for holy time because it isn’t YOUR time, it is GOD’S TIME…giving your time is an offering of sorts, not unlike the offerings brought to the mishkan for sacrifice!

Just think of how many times you’ve heard the phrase “Time is Money.”  If you ask most working folk to name their most valuable and limited asset...the words “gold” and “silver” don’t usually jump to the forefront…no, the answer is usually TIME.  What is the true meaning of sacrifice?  Giving up that which you hold valuable!  Ironic how so few people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are willing to give up “their time” for God.  The holy times are not just while the Israelites are in the desert.  No, this is forever. “Chu-kat olam l’doro-tay-chem b’chol mosh-vo-tay-hem.”  This is an eternal statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.

After the rules pertaining to Passover, we encounter twelve verses describing the counting of the Omer; What, you may ask, is an Omer?  And why do we need to count it? Simply put, an Omer is a sheave of barley, which is the first grain harvest in Israel. This measured sheave or Omer was brought to the Temple for a forty-nine day period commencing with Passover and culminating on the 50^th day with a holy day we now call Shavuot.  Shavuot means ‘weeks’ and occurs seven weeks after Pesach. On the 50^th day, two loaves of bread are offered up to God.  This is the first day of the wheat harvest and the two loaves are symbolic of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. 

I am not an agronomist, but I do know that barley was considered a lesser grain, and wheat was the major grain in the diet of our ancestors.  Without a good wheat harvest, their lives were in peril. Too much water isn’t good for wheat, so in our daily prayers we switch from praying for rain to praying for dew instead. From Passover forward, the fruit trees in Israel start producing… and their first fruits were presented as an offering on Shavuot as well. Passover and Shavuot are also connected spiritually. While Passover freed us from physical bondage, it is the giving of the Torah at Sinai on Shavuot that redeemed us spiritually.

Judaism’s customs and religious seasons are deeply connected with agricultural seasons. So how do we, as modern Jews, infuse spiritual meaning into this week’s agricultural biblical passage?  First, let’s strip away all the noise of modern life and step back in time. The outcome of the season’s wheat harvest is still up in the air… your very existence is at stake. That being the case, you might then find these fifty days between Passover and Shavuot to be pretty tense!

So what IS a modern person to do over this seven-week period of time, other than say a blessing at sunset, announce the number of the day of the Omer and cross your fingers that you won’t need to buy wheat from CHINA?

Well, the rabbis suggest working on YOUR OWN potential INNER GROWTH, those aspects and characteristics over which, you CAN exercise some control!  Think of it as “49 days to a better you!”  These character builders are called Middot, and 48 of them can be found in Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers.  How convenient… 48 for a 49 day period!   I won’t list all of them, but here are some highlights:  Keeping small talk to a minimum.  Learning contentment with one’s lot.  Having a Good Heart.  Cleaving to friends.  Having a perceptive heart.  Spend time absorbing knowledge and adding to it.  Working on trying to concentrate on studies, and learning how to ask and answer. 

Imagine taking on one of these every day for 48 of the 49 days of the Omer!

I know what you are thinking.  Your life is SO BUSY, how would you EVER remember to Count the Omer or study a Middah a day?  DON’T WORRY.  You can download all sorts of apps to help you.  Go to Neohasid.com and get an Omer counter for your website or I Phone.  You can get a Counting the Omer Widget for your Android, or go to Jewish I Phone Community.org to find any number of Jewish Apps.

I know we are already more than halfway through Sefirat Ha Omer, Counting the Omer, and time is at a premium, but when it comes to improving your spiritual health, it is NEVER too late!  Shavuot is just a few weeks away, so do a little spiritual “spring cleaning!”  Remember, between Passover and Shavuot is the perfect opportunity and TIME to get your sheaves together!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose

THERE ARE AMALEKITES IN EVERY GENERATION…. EVEN IN BOSTON!

The Torah records that as the people of Israel were leaving Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them on the way, cutting down the weak, the stragglers, the famished. This cruelty is to be remembered and we are commanded to oppose the cruel and heartless - the “Amalekites” in every generation.

Monday’s attack of the runners of the Boston Marathon immediately struck a chord.  Whoever did this did not attack the front-runners, those with strong, tested, athletic bodies, those with powerful strides who crossed the finish line first.  Instead the target was the “middle section runners” consisting of runners for charities, first time runners, runners who were a little older, a bit slower, some with physical challenges to overcome.  Cheering them on, their supporters, friends and family, were at the finish line waiting for them. Along with these runners and supporters near the point of explosion, was the VIP section, where first responders and relatives of those killed in the Newtown Massacre were seated.   Seems there are more and more Amalekites these days, waiting to take advantage of the vulnerable.

My mind could barely process the news out of Boston as the events unfolded. Through the afternoon and evening on Monday, April 15, I listened to the radio coverage and switched rapidly between Internet sites for details.  How many of the broadcast “details” were fact and how many rumor, had not been established… but did it really matter?  All of us saw the video clips.  Some “one” or some “thing” had terrorized the city of Boston. The runners and spectators were in the open, vulnerable, unaware and enjoying life, and a beautiful day, with friends and family.

Tuesday brought a heightened sense of concern to cities, governments, and marathon planners all over the world.  It also brought gruesome images and stories. But for me, Tuesday brought a heightened sense of awareness. At 6:30 a.m. I opened the door so I could hear the morning concert of roosters and hundreds of spring birds.  I put out my feeders and watched the finches eat thistle.  These little fellows had, in the course of a few weeks, shed their brown winter feathers and were, once again, “gold” finches. I looked up to the mountain, then walked down to the river, threw some stones, felt the early morning breeze.

And I thought.  I thought about the two blasts and how they blew out eardrums while I listened to birdsong. I thought about flying shrapnel blinding eyes, as I looked out at the brilliant yellow of the finches and the mountain. I thought about their burning flesh, while I felt spring breezes on my skin. I thought about missing arms, and hands never reaching out to hold or touch - while I skipped stones. And while I strolled to the river, I dwelt on the nightmare of so many missing legs – carefully trained legs - that had carried humans so swiftly for so many miles just minutes before. I thought about the hundreds of lives, dreams, and aspirations blown apart by some entity without a conscience, without a soul, incapable of compassion.

What I didn’t do was think about God.  Well, that isn’t completely true.  But I wasn’t “blaming” and I wasn’t looking for a “reason” and I wasn’t asking the age old question, “where was God.” That territory is covered by clergy at the myriad services held after horrific acts of terror.  What I did think about was…. “Did I thank God today for the gifts given to me?”  When Jews say the morning prayer upon rising, “Modeh Ani,” we thank God for restoring us to life. But are we fully aware of all the gifts that come with every moment of life?  Certainly we are stunned by lives cut short, but do we pay full attention to our lives as they are lived?

Judaism teaches that there are always Amalekites, whether domestic or foreign, ready to cut down the weak that cannot defend themselves.  We may not be able to control the threat, but we CAN control how we respond to it.  And therefore, I fervently hope that all of us will work very hard to be thankful for each moment, to be thankful for God-given gifts, and to be thankful that most of humanity is capable of doing the right thing. Above all, today, and every day, take the time to be thankful for those you love and for those who love you.

Modeh (modah) ani lifanekha melekh ḥai v'kayam

sheheḥezarta bi nishmahti b'ḥemlah, rabah emunatekha.

I offer thanks before you, living and eternal King,

for You have mercifully restored my soul within me; Your faithfulness is great.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

ISRAEL’S “OTHER HIGH HOLY DAYS” -The Emotional Roller Coaster of Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut

In September, Jews everywhere observe the “High Holy Days,” a ten-day period of reflection with a standard mantra repeated often during our prayers.  “On Rosh Hashanah it (our fate for the coming year) is written, and on Yom Kippur it is sealed; pretty cut and dry and with little variation through history.

In the spring, however, during the Hebrew month of Iyyar, The State of Israel observes another period of reflection, beginning with Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, followed a week later by Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, followed immediately, at sundown, by Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day.  For this period of time, nothing is “cut and dry.”  Emotions are raw and ever changing for Israeli Jews when it comes to these three events. These three commemorative days weave together and form the mythology of the founding of the State of Israel.

The rest of the world observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.  Not so Israel.  January 27 marks the date of the Liberation of the Auschwitz Death Camp.  Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day is, instead, observed on the date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising! In creating it’s own mythology, Israel chose not to dwell on those who “went like sheep to the slaughter” but instead, chose to focus on the Warsaw Ghetto fighters and their acts of “heroic rebellion” in the face of death and destruction. The New Nation of Israel would come not from the dust and smoke of the crematoria, but instead from the spirited ghetto fighters, as well as the resistance and partisans who dwelt in the forests, who put their lives on the line to help save Jews and commit acts of sabotage!

One  week after Yom HaShoah, Israel is plunged into the darkness of its Memorial Day.  Once a day to honor the heroic exploits of those cut down while creating the State, or defending the State, this day has become, since the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War, a very quiet time of reflection, mourning and sadness.  Traffic stops for the wailing sirens of remembrance, and motorists get out of their cars to stand at attention. Only somber music is broadcast, stores are closed, and only four television channels offer programming.  The programs are all interviews with families who have lost loved ones. Their stories are not about “heroic actions,” but rather they are stories of families in grief. The “new hero” in Israel is the family left behind. And, of course, on Yom HaZikaron, there are cemetery visits to those who have served in the military in Israel.  The whole nation grieves in a country where no family or town is left passed over by the Angel of Death. 

How then can the State of Israel rally at sunset to begin its observance of Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Independence Day?   How does one rise from such grief to dance in the streets?  Each one of these days is a religious holiday as well as a secular holiday in Israel, complete with Torah readings, psalms, music and poetry.  And so, in trying to create ‘new ways for these new days,’ some synagogues have a Havdalah service at the end of Yom HaZikaron.  When they walk in to the synagogue, it is still the somber day of sorrow and reflection.  After the Havdalah service ends, they walk out into the streets to find evening descended and the air filled with the music, dancing and rejoicing of Independence Day.  It is literally a ‘transformative experience.’

On our trip to Israel two years ago, Gary and I visited the Ghetto Fighter’s Museum.  As with most venues in Israel, you expect “tourists,” especially during the summer months, and so, as we viewed the artwork and memorabilia, maps and artifacts, we were surprised to stumble upon a group of eighteen young men and women in uniform sitting around a large table receiving a lecture on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  These were future police officers.  As part of their training, they were learning about the Holocaust and the ghetto fighters.  I thought it an unusual field trip.  It struck me as odd that you had to “teach” about the Holocaust in Israel.  For some reason I thought knowledge of the Holocaust was passed down like a birthright from generation to generation.  Not so.

For many young Israelis, the Holocaust is simply not part of their ‘mythology.’ After all, by 1977 the political elite of Israel was no longer composed of Ashkenazic Jews, but Sephardic Jews! Many of today’s young Israeli’s come from countries, families and traditions not connected to the Holocaust.  And this creates a problem. Previous generations were aware of extreme anti-semitism, and how it fed into the creation of the Jewish State. 

Today, when young Jews can simply pick up and move away from Israel there needs to be a reason to stay! And, if they stay, they expose themselves to years of military commitment as well as danger for themselves and their families.  If they stay, they must be motivated by higher ideals.

At this year’s Yom HaShoah observance at Yad VaShem, Shimon Peres made the following observation:

"A clear line exists between the resistance in the ghettos, in the camps and in the forests and the rebirth and bravery of the State of Israel. It is a line of dignity, of renewed independence, of mutual responsibility, of exalting God's name," he said, "as a ray of hope which was not extinguished even during terrible anguish. The ghetto fighters sought life even when circumstance screamed despair."

Those are the words of the last generation’s collective memory. What then to do about future generations? Towards remediating the problem of lack of connectedness, 25% of Israeli military officers visit Poland to learn about the past.  Israeli high school students in record numbers are now participating in The March of the Living, (long a ritual of passage for American Jewish Teens), which is a trip to Poland that takes thousands of teens annually to visit the concentration camp at Auschwitz and then flies them to Israel just in time to for the drama of Israel Memorial Day and the elation of Independence Day.  

American Memorial Day sends a signal that the beaches and pools open, there are great sales in the stores, and you can safely wear white shoes without creating a fashion faux pas. How many generations did it take for THAT to happen? As Israeli Memorial Day approaches, let the message we pass on to future generations be thus: “There but by the grace of Israel go I.”

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

Confessions of a Matza-holic

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By the time you read this, you will have eaten as much matzah as is ritually prescribed and THEN some.  You will have seen it in its many permutations; Matzah Brye, Matzah French Toast, Matzah Pizza, Matzah Kugel, Chocolate Matzah, Matzahball soup, and any number of dessert ‘confections’ made with that mysterious substance… MATZAH FLOUR, which I can only imagine to be the remains of sandblasted matzah… or, perhaps, the PYRAMIDS themselves!

I’ve hunted for matzah in Paris, where it is known as “Pain Enzyme’ defined as pain sans levain que le peuple Juif mange à Pâques (Hébreu) – bread without leavening which the Jewish People eat during the Hebrew Easter!  I’ve eaten U.S. Army surplus matzah in the synagogue in Tokyo, where, I believe, all unconsumed matzah originally sent to soldiers in the Pacific is shipped after Passover, and where it is consumed at kiddish luncheons for THE REST OF THE YEAR!!!!! (The perfect accompaniment to ARMY SURPLUS GEFILLTE FISH?)

The largest matzah eating orgy I’ve attended was at Kibbutz Ein Harod where over a thousand kibbutzniks and their extended families all ate in one very large hall at a VERY large seder!  Even though this was a secular kibbutz, Passover brought everyone back to the fold… even if it was only for one night.

The most poignant matzah sharing was the seder held at my sister’s home only hours after my father’s funeral. My sister was convinced that dad had somehow “rigged” his passing so that she would be compelled to host a seder for the ENTIRE family!

Before the holiday of Passover, traditionally we “search for the Chumetz” that is, to clean out all the crumbs of food that contain leaven and then ceremonially, burn the last few crumbs. There is to be no chumetz in our settlements… or in our automobiles for the aficionados of the “drive up window.” Certainly, this is a form of “spring cleaning” but the symbolism of the chumetz, or chametz, can’t be missed.  Chametz is all that is inflated within us.

I am thinking, however, that what we SHOULD have at the END of Passover is a collection of MATZAH CRUMBS!  Instead of counting down the minutes until we can order PIZZA again, maybe we should COLLECT matzah crumbs!  They can be symbolic of all the Passovers we have spent with loved ones, the Passovers celebrated during good times, the Passovers observed during difficult times.  The matzah crumbs can also recall the times when, out of memories of loss, we are reluctant to even sit down to the Seder table and reenact the story.  Eating matzah has been part of our ritual heritage since the very beginning… but it has been part of our OWN life experiences as well, whether growing up Jewish or coming to Judaism later in life.

Jews are storytellers by virtue of their literary heritage.  After all, what is the Passover Seder if not story telling?  But AFTER we’ve told the story we are commanded to tell, it is time to kick back and collect a few matzah crumbs.  Those matzah crumbs tell OUR stories.  Everyone has matzah memories.  Take a moment to inventory YOUR matzah memories.  Try to reinterpret them as an adult… since many of your memories probably come from your youth (especially the memories of how hungry you were before the seder, how long the seder was, and how it was all done in Hebrew so you didn’t understand a word!)

Take a moment out of your busy day, sweep up some matzah crumbs, and ponder the following:

•    What are your earliest Passover memories, not just the seder, but preparing for the holiday?
•  When did you first participate in a seder?

•  Can you recall the people at past seders?
•  Do you remember the food, the melodies, the atmosphere?
•  Do you think back on those who have died, but now live on in your Passover memories?
•  Have there been marriages and births, enabling you to create new memories?
•  How does it feel to share the Passover experience with others who are not related to you?
•  What are your most unusual Passover stories?

As you eat up the last few boards of matzah… look deeply into that empty box, stare at the last few crumbs, and firmly place the events of THIS Passover in your mind so that you may look back on this time and remember.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

Once we were THE CHOSEN! – Now we are all JEWS BY CHOICE!

When I was a kid, I travelled quit a bit. Usually the most exciting thing in the room (I pre-date mini-bars and in-room movies) was the PHONE DIRECTORY!  In every city I looked up the category “SYNAGOGUES and TEMPLES.”  In a big city, this list could run several columns.  You’d find the usual, “Beth El” – House of God, “Beth Torah” – House of Torah, “Rodeph Shalom” – Pursuer of Peace, “Temple Har Sinai” – Mt. Sinai.

HOWEVER, on occasion you might come across more creative names, “Bet Shira”– House of Song, “Bat Yam” – Daughter of the Sea,  “Sha’ar Zehav” – Golden Gate (located in San Francisco),  “Kol BeRamah” – A Voice in a High Place (Santa Fe, New Mexico) , “Or Ha-Tzafon” – Light of the North (Anchorage, Alaska).

Many years later I walked into a shul called Congregation “Bet Breira”.  I had no idea what that meant so when I met the founding rabbi of the temple, I asked… “What does ‘Bet Breira’ mean?”  His answer confused me!  “It means ‘House of CHOICE!’”

I was momentarily befuddled.  Had it been named “HOUSE OF UNBENDING RULES” or “HOUSE OF THE THREE HOUR SHABBAT MORNING SERVICE” or HOUSE OF IT’S OUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY” – I could have grasped it.  But what could “House of Choice” possibly mean?  The rabbi put it in terms any Jew could understand.

“You know how in a Chinese restaurant there are so many options on the menu that you can’t choose which appetizer you want, so you order the Pu Pu Platter that has a little of this and a little of that?  Well, think of our shul as the Pu Pu Platter of JUDAISM!  You don’t have to decide all at once.  You don’t have to take everything… but you can try a little of everything and take what you like.”  It turns out he was a man WAY ahead of his time.

The phrase “Jew By Choice” has, traditionally, been reserved for people who have converted to Judaism and adopted a Jewish life.  It goes back to the Book of Ruth when Ruth says to her mother-in-law, Naomi, “Your People shall be MY People and YOUR GOD shall be MY GOD.” But that isn’t the case anymore.  Today we are ALL Jews by Choice.

How is that?  Well, we live in a global marketplace of ideas, products, and commitments and we find ourselves constantly making choices about how we will spend our time (our most valuable asset) and our money (our second most valuable asset.)  As the array of secular opportunities grows, things that pull on our time can pull us away from our “Jewishness.”  But we also live in a world of increased JEWISH opportunities and choices.  In fact, Judaism or “Jewish-ness” has evolved into a marketable item! We “choose” not only with the click of our mouse, or our checkbooks, but most significantly, we “choose” with our “feet” and our time.

We look at the calendar of events and try to make I all “work out.” Just look at the Baltimore Orioles and the Ravens and their “Rosh Hashanah Dilemma” or trying to fit Passover Seders into the Secular School Vacation Calendar!

We all make choices.  We have families who have chosen to enroll their children in Religious School.  We have congregants who have chosen to come out on Saturday morning for Torah study.  We have many folks, members as well as “not yet” members who find the time for fellowship, food and prayer on Friday nights and festivals.  We have members who have chosen to give time; we have others who have chosen to give money. Our Book Club chooses to read Jewish Books. 

So how can we find other ways to engage so that each one of us will choose to be part of a life lived “Jewishly” however YOU choose to define it?

As you are preparing for next week’s Passover Seders, think back on the Israelites who left with Moses.  We explain to our children, “I do THIS because of what the Lord God did for ME, taking ME out of the Land of Bondage with a strong hand, with signs and wonders.”  Yes, God CHOSE to take us out of Egypt and out of Bondage, however we don’t become “THE CHOSEN PEOPLE” until God reveals what He expects from us.

“Then Moses went down to the people and repeated all the instructions and regulations the LORD had given him. All the people answered with one voice, "We will do everything the LORD has commanded." Exodus 24:3.

We have been “Jews by Choice” ever since that day.

Chag Sameach!

Wishing you and yours a Sweet Passover,

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob

Where there’s SMOKE there’s --- A PAPAL ELECTION! And now the age-old question, “Is it Good for the Jews?”

The first time I watched the throngs of the devoted in St. Peter’s Square awaiting the white smoke, I was nine years old. It was June of 1963 and, thanks to the Telstar Satellite, I was able to sit mesmerized in front of my portable black and white television set and watch it all unfold.

This time, I sat in front of my computer watching live pictures and up-to-the-minute “tweets” scrolling on the side of my screen. On the radio I listened to speculation by broadcasters, and finally, the white smoke. And then there was silence. No one expected the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and a Jesuit, as the new Pope, soon to be known as Pope Francis.

As modern Jews in America, we don’t usually think much about the “Papal Connection” but it has been a point of speculation in ‘higher’ Jewish circles ever since Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement. Who would the new Pope be and would he be “Good for the Jews?”

Thursday afternoon I was asked to participate in a conference call briefing on the recently selected Pope Francis and his views, set up by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the America Jewish Committee. We were briefed by Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC’s Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations, who discussed Pope Francis’s views on the Jewish community, including anti-Semitism and Israel as well as his history and interaction with the Jewish community in Argentina.

I would like to give you a brief synopsis of the highlights, in bullet points, of that conference call, which was, all-in-all a very positive and informative experience. Let me begin by saying that Rabbi Marans expressed that “regarding Catholic/Jewish Relations we have been given the most positive results we could want for positive relations.”

• There had been concern that the potential Pope might emanate from a place where Jews have not lived side by side with Catholics.

• As Archbishop of Buenos Aires he is the first Pope in recent history to live among a “living, vibrant, thriving Jewish community that was known to him and where he participated in more than just commemorations.”

• Argentina has a Jewish population of 200,000 (with most living in Buenos Aires) which is the 7^th largest Jewish population in the world. He has had a very positive relationship with the Jewish community there.

• He wrote a book, along with Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer, the head of the Conservative Seminary in Buenos Aires, dealing with issues such as Inter-religious perspectives on God, the Holocaust, and homosexuality.

• He was vocal and in solidarity with the Jewish community after the 1994 bombing of the ‘Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina’ building, where 85 persons were killed and hundreds wounded in a terrorist attack.

• As Archbishop, he was strongly aware of the pro-Zionist tilt of the Jews of Argentina. However the Vatican has been very cautious in Israel-Arab relations; not outspoken in a judgmental way. Catholic –Israeli political relations is not a primary thing… rather inter-religious relations.

• He has already visited Israel, and there is every reason to believe he will go again, being the third Pontiff in a row to visit Israel.

• President Shimon Peres, during a meeting at his Jerusalem residence with the leaders of the Catholic Church in Poland, congratulated the new Pope. President Peres invited the new Pope to visit Israel and said, "I would like to take this opportunity to invite the newly elected Pope to pay a visit to the Holy Land at the earliest possibility. He'll be a welcome guest in the Holy Land, as a man of inspiration that can add to the attempt to bring peace in a stormy area. All people here, without exception, without difference of religion or nationality will welcome the newly elected Pope."

• Addressing relations with the Vatican, President Peres said, "The relations between the Vatican and the Jewish people are now at their best in the last 2000 years and I hope they will grow in content and depths. I strongly hope to be able to contribute to the progress that the relations between Jews and Catholics have known since the Second Vatican Council, in a spirit of renewed collaboration and in the service of a world that can always be in more harmony with the will of the Creator.”

• Pope Francis reached out immediately to the Chief Rabbi of Rome to attend his Consecration on Tuesday. In his first day as Pope, Francis I wrote to the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome, Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, inviting him to his Inauguration on March 19, and expressing his hope of a renewed collaboration with the Jewish Community.  

We are certainly about to enter a new era in Catholic- Jewish Relations. We’ve had an evolving relationship for 2,000 years. With a non-European Pope, there is hope that we can forge a new relationship with the Vatican, and the next few years should be fascinating as that relationship unfolds.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rose