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Sep 29, 2010
Sep 28, 2010
Very powerful article from Alban: "Bursting Forth without Burning Out"
Bursting Forth without Burning Out
by Bruce G. Epperly , Katherine Gould Epperly
http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9250
http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9250
Fall is a time of bright red, yellow, and orange, shorter days, transformation, and letting go. Winter is on the horizon and the changing colors forecast cold days and bare trees. Although both of us have experienced the cycle from summer to fall and the yearly ritual of bright colors and falling leaves for more than fifty years, we seek to approach the season with an open spirit and a beginner's mind because each fall brings something new to the environment and our lives. As the two of us move toward our own personal autumns in ministry and academic life, the spirit of autumn calls us to rejoice in the harvest of a good life, the fruitfulness of faithful ministry, the impact we have made on others, and the need to embrace creativity and change as the prelude to the next adventure.
Bidden or unbidden, fall bursts forth, whether in the cornfields or the life of a committed pastor, reaching the prime of her or his professional life. This bursting forth reflects not only the natural flow of life but also the willingness of pastors to embrace the wisdom of aging and the realities of change and novelty. Ministry, like the seasons, is a cyclical profession. Pastors live their professional lives from Sunday to Sunday, from stewardship campaign to stewardship campaign, from rally day to rally day, from board meeting to board meeting, and from Advent to Advent. The repetitive acts of ministry can be a source of creativity or boredom. Like thorns that infest a garden, they can, year after year, choke the spiritual life that bursts forth with our initial call to ministry and first congregation, or they can be like the fertile soil from which new and colorful ministerial practices emerge.
With each new Sunday's passing, most pastors catch their breath and begin to turn their attention toward next Sunday's sermon. In the course of a thirty-year ministry, a pastor cycles through the three-year lectionary ten times, not to mention thirty Advents, Lents, Holy Weeks, and Easters.
A pastor, now midway into her second decade of ministry, confessed, "Each year I struggle to say something new at Christmas and Easter. I no longer understand these stories literally as I once did. But, still I want to enter Christmas with the eyes of a child and Easter as if I'd just lived through Good Friday and Holy Saturday. I want to be surprised again. But I realize that I need to be transformed if the stories are to take on new life for myself and the congregation."
Ministry and liturgy are grounded in repetitive ritual. While ritual can lead to lifeless routine, life-supporting rituals such as meditation and communion deepen our faith and integrate conscious and unconscious experience. Our bodies as well as our spirits are transformed by the practices and rituals of our lives, and it is our job to renew our practices, especially in midcareer in ministry.
In the repetition of ministerial acts year after year, many pastors begin to experience "brown out," but they can avoid burnout if they seek renewal through a lively balance of order and novelty, stability and change, and endurance and transformation, which are necessary to healthy and effective ministry in midcareer. This is a matter of grace and gift, but it is also a commitment to transformational practices amid the routine events of ministry.
But pastors need to confront creatively the challenges of midlife in ministry in order to turn the dying fires into beautiful autumn landscapes. While the list is not exhaustive, we believe that experiencing transformation and developing staying power in the autumn of ministry involve the following:
- Confronting grief and loss in ministry: The cost of not facing professional grief can be disastrous, leading to substance abuse, compassion fatigue, and burnout. When grief is not addressed, it saps our vitality and robs us of zest for life. It also may surface in unexpected anger and alienation or withdrawal from persons who love us.
- Cultivating novelty in responding to the everyday tasks of ministry: Creative and novel ministerial responses to regular as well as unexpected aspects of ministry are not accidental but arise from an ongoing commitment to grow in one's pastoral imagination as well as one's theological and spiritual stature.
- Letting go of perfectionism and indispensability: Although they preach the grace of God to their congregations, many pastors are anything but graceful when it comes to their own personal lives. The wisdom of graceful imperfection is grounded in the pastor's humble recognition that grace abounds for her- or himself as well as for the congregation.
- Taking responsibility for your own health and well-being: Mindful healthy living enables us not only to prevent serious illness but also to experience greater energy and effectiveness in our own lives. Intentionality and regularity complement a commitment to transformation and novelty in ministry.
- Finding harvest in midlife: For most of us, our spiritual lives, like the seasons of the year, involve seedtime and harvest, but they also include monsoons and droughts, gentle breezes and hurricane winds. Doubt, uncertainty, and spiritual depletion are important seasons in the life of ministry. Accepting one's current spiritual experience as a window into the fullness of God's nature can be an opportunity to experience God in new and adventurous ways.
- Rediscovering your first love in ministry: When pastors rediscover their spiritual passions and are able to integrate them into their day-to-day ministries, miracles happen for pastors and congregations. New energies are released and new possibilities emerge.
Our word of grace to you is that you can be transformed. You don't have to leave congregational ministry to experience wholeness of mind, body, and spirit. You can experience vital and transforming ministry in every season of life. The good news of the gospel is that grace abounds and that pastors can change their habits, lifestyle, and approach to ministry! Pastors can become healed healers, rather than burnt-out functionaries.
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
SPEND A HIGH SCHOOL SEMESTER IN ISRAEL!!
SPEND A HIGH SCHOOL SEMESTER IN ISRAEL - Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY) , the spring semester program and USY High the 2 month, partial semester program sponsored by Ramah Programs in Israel is open to students in 10th, 11th and 12th grades. Come to our information session on either Wednesday, October 20, 8:30 p.m. at The Seife Home, 1837 Bret Harte Street, Palo Alto or Thursday, October 21, 8:30 p.m. at The Finkelstein Home, 5940 Wood Drive, Oakland, CA. Dr. Joe Freedman, Director of Ramah Programs in Israel, will be presenting an overview of the program and answering questions. High level academics/college prep program/full high school credit/AP courses and SAT available.
Explore and learn about Israel in classes that include biking, hiking, kayaking. For more information, please contact Judy Greene, ramahisrael@jtsa.edu or 212 678 8883.
Judy Greene
Coordinator, Ramah Programs in Israel
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
212 678 8883
Fax: 212 504 0858
jpost.com: "The leader of the opposition, and head of Kadima, on the rift between young Diaspora Jews and Israel – and what we can do to bridge it."
September 28, 110 Tuesday 28 Tishri 3871 10:09 IST  |
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| Like any good family, the Jewish people have shown time and again how we can unite in times of crisis. When Israel faced its enemies on the battlefield or when Jewish communities abroad have been threatened, we have come together and recognized our collective responsibility for one another. But if this alone is the nature of the ties that bind us, it constitutes a failure of vision and of leadership. To define ourselves only by the threats we face is to allow our adversaries to define us. It is a definition founded in fear. This may be a mechanism for Jewish survival but it is not a prescription for vibrant and meaningful Jewish living. Israel – as the homeland of the Jewish people – has a central role to play in developing a positive and unifying vision for the Jewish world. And yet, in my meetings with Jewish leaders and citizens from around the world I have been struck by the growing sense that Israel's place in Jewish life is eroding. For too many young Diaspora Jews that I meet, Israel is not the source of pride or inspiration that it was for their parents' generation. Living in vibrant Jewish communities abroad – within states that embrace multiculturalism and respect religious and minority rights – too many Jews no longer feel they need Israel as a safe haven or as an anchor for their identity. What's more, they feel they have been taken for granted – their loyalty to Israel is expected, but their voice and their concerns are not heard. Within this country, identity is increasingly pulled between two poles: one, a secular Israeli identity centered around army service and the Hebrew language; the other a growing but narrowly defined Orthodox or haredi Jewish existence. In the process, a common commitment to the ideas and values that unite us as a people and that can resonate with Jews here and around the world seems increasingly tenuous These trends should alarm anyone who cares about the unity and future of the Jewish people. They not only threaten to fragment the Jewish people, but they place the Jewish communities here and in the Diaspora on radically different trajectories which undermine and weaken both. THIS STATE of affairs requires a dramatic reframing of the role of Israel in Jewish life and the nature of the relationship between it and world Jewry that should be built around four key principles: First, if Israel is to realize its mission as the national home of the Jewish people, it must act like one. It must find ways to welcome rather than alienate Jews regardless of their opinions or the stream of Judaism with which they are affiliated. It must embrace an inclusive and pluralistic Jewish agenda that respects our traditions without denying the legitimacy of difference. While Israel must retain its sovereign authority to determine its own future, decisions taken in Jerusalem that affect the Jewish people as a whole require that we listen to, consult with and take account of the concerns and interests of Jews beyond our borders. Second, the relationship between Israel and world Jewry cannot be founded on shlilat hagola (negating the Diaspora), nor on the mistaken idea that Israel is no longer central to Jewish life. For the first time since the Babylonian age, the Jewish people live in vibrant communities both in their ancient homeland and abroad. The relationship between these communities should be seen as mutually reinforcing rather than hierarchical. As Zionists, we must continue to encourage aliya, but we also have a vital interest in the vibrancy and welfare of Diaspora communities. Similarly, Diaspora Jews have a critical stake in Israel's success and prosperity. This is not only because Israel must always be a place of refuge in times of need. It is also because Israel – through its rebirth and its very existence – gives sovereign expression to our people's collective right to self-determination and creates unimagined opportunity for Jewish renewal, creativity and engagement with the world. Third, if we are to encourage a common sense of purpose and belonging, there must be a place within Jewish discourse for responsible criticism of Israel's policies, even from overseas, without it being considered an act of betrayal. To equate supporting Israel with supporting the policies of any given government at any given time risks distancing Jews by forcing upon them a false choice between their commitment to Israel and their personal worldview. Israel is a confident and strong democracy and it is able to withstand and contain this kind of criticism. AT THE same time, those who criticize from within the family – those who criticize out of love – have responsibilities as well. They must be conscious of the fact that their criticism may be exploited for more sinister ends by Israel's enemies and they should shape the context and form of their criticism accordingly. They must also show sensitivity to the excruciating dilemmas and constraints under which Israel operates and not fall victim to the double standards that so often characterize its critics. Fourth, and most important, while in many ways Israel has realized the Zionist vision of establishing a Jewish state, we have yet to succeed in creating a Jewish society. By this, I do not mean a theocratic society founded on Torah. I mean a society that is inspired by Jewish values, tradition and experience – a society that is a source of meaning, identity, culture and spiritual growth for Jews around the world, and a source of leadership and moral example for the world as a whole. It is a society that answers the questions of what we stand for and what we contribute not because we are threatened by enemies that seek to delegitimize us, but because we owe it to ourselves and our children. This is not just a project for Israelis, it is a project for Jews worldwide – it is a responsibility that both communities share and neither can abandon. In 1897, at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, the overwhelming majority of the Jewish people were able to unite around a profound idea that transformed Jewish history – the miraculous rebirth of a state for the Jewish people in their ancient homeland. It is time for us to embark upon a new Jewish conversation with that same revolutionary spirit – a conversation that recognizes that Israel and world Jewry are together writing the next chapter of Jewish history. It is within our power and our responsibility to generate that conversation and articulate a new Zionist vision that transcends political differences and gives expression to the unity and vitality of the Jewish people, its values and its potential. The writer is leader of the opposition and head of the Kadima party. | |
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Sep 27, 2010
This Sunday @ CNS! "Israel Through the Eyes of a Bedouin Muslim Israeli"
A Shepherd's Journey
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Israel Through the Eyes of a Bedouin Muslim Israeli: A talk and book signing with Ishmael Khaldi
Introduced by Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch, Bay Area Masorti Visiting Scholar
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 AT 10:00 AM.
CONGREGATION NETIVOT SHALOM
1316 University Ave, Berkeley
Cosponsored by Congregation Beth Israel, Oakland Hebrew Day School, Hadassah, Tehiyah Day School, and Bay Area Masorti
Ishmael Khaldi, vice consul in San Francisco from 2006-2009, grew up one of eleven siblings in a tent in the Galilee. He went from tending goats to becoming Israel's first Bedouin diplomat and is presently Arab affairs advisor to the Foreign Minister. He has chronicled his unusual life in a highly-acclaimed memoir, "A Shepherd's Journey." A sought-after speaker both in Israel and the U.S., as a Bedouin, a Muslim and a proud Israeli, he brings a unique perspective to the discussion of Israel. See www.IshmaelKhaldi.com for more info.
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Sep 26, 2010
3 upcoming Adult Learning Opportunities at CNS!
Discover Judaism! Jewish Theologies
with Rabbi Menachem Creditor
What does Judaism think about "God?" How do the visions of God in the Torah, Prophets, Writings, and Rabbinic periods compare? Is it the same God? How do modern Israeli poets and post-Holocaust theologians grapple with the eternal questions of meaning and purpose in the world? Text-study and discussion will be the basis for these conversations with no expectation of solutions in the end. No Hebrew is required for this class.
Dates: Tuesdays, Oct. 12, 19, 26; Nov. 2 Time: 7:30 to 9pm
Place: Netivot Shalom, 1316 University Ave., Berkeley Class fee: $40-$60 — (sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds)
Please email Rachel at office@netivotshalom.org to register.
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Equal and Pluralistic – challenges and difficulties in Israel society
with Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch, Bay Area Masorti Visiting Scholar
Co-sponsored by Bay Area Masorti and Congregation Netivot Shalom
This is a sensitive topic, one we are committed to discussing in our passion for the Israel we dream of. The course will touch on the status and difficulty in Israel of:
1) Charedim ("ultra-Orthodox")2) Arab-Israelis3) Mizrachi/Sephardi Jews4) Russian and Ethiopian Olim5) The GLBTQ community
We will study texts, share conversations, and explore the realities confronting Israeli society in its struggle to be both Equal and Pluralistic to all its inhabitants.
3 Sessions: Wed. nights: Oct. 6, 20, 27 at 7:30pm-9pm
Class fee: $36-$50 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds.
Location: Congregation Netivot Shalom
Please email Rachel at office@netivotshalom.org to register.
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A Taste of Judaism: Are you Curious?*
with Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Co-sponsored by Congregation Netivot Shalom and Building Jewish Bridges
Enjoy a free, three-session class on the modern Jewish perspective on spirituality, ethics and community. This class is designed to give you a foundational understanding of Judaism in a fun, friendly environment. Everyone is welcome. You don't have to be Jewish to be curious. But, you do have to register so we can save you a seat!
3 Sessions: Thursdays, October 7 – October 21, 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Tuition: Free
Location: Congregation Netivot Shalom (1316 University Avenue, Berkeley, 510-549-9447)
*Please register with Dawn Kepler at dawn@buildingjewishbridges.org or 510-845-6420 x11.
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Sep 21, 2010
Upstart Bay Area: Dust and Dreams
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Sep 20, 2010
Rabbi Jill Jacobs in the Forward: "A Case For Shaping Civil Society With Jewish Law"
Rabbi Jill Jacobs in the Forward: "A Case For Shaping Civil Society With Jewish Law"
Public Judaism
By Jill Jacobs
Published September 15, 2010, issue of September 24, 2010.
The poster took my breath away: "The divine throne will not be complete until the idolatry of Zionism is uprooted. May it be Your will that we will soon be able to say, 'Blessed is the One who has uprooted idolatry.'"
I was not in Ramallah, but in Mea Shearim, the ultra-Orthodox enclave of West Jerusalem. Holding my bag of freshly purchased seforim, or holy books, I marveled at the irony: A member of the same community that routinely uses religious language to convey violent contempt for fellow citizens had just sold me the books that I would use to develop a Jewish call for a compassionate society.
My family's recent sabbatical in Israel yielded searing images of religious Jews behaving badly in the name of Judaism: Men in black hats setting fire to garbage cans to protest relocating ancient graves in order to build an emergency room to care for the living. Religious Jews evicting Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem. Male worshippers at the Kotel telling me and other women praying there with Women of the Wall that we are to blame for the Holocaust. A woman standing at a Beersheva bus stop attacked by a man who noticed tefillin marks on her arm. Haredi groups demanding more and more public support for their schools, which teach contempt for the society that subsidizes them.
It's no wonder that so many Israeli Jews want nothing to do with religion. Or that so many perceive Judaism to be a sexist, racist and oppressive force.
When I argue for bringing a Jewish voice into the public square, people sometimes respond by pointing angrily at the role of religion in Israeli politics. In Israel, it is religious texts and voices that are most often used to justify avoiding army service; to curtail the rights of women, gays and lesbians, and ethnic minorities; and to limit the ability of non-Orthodox Jews to marry or have their conversions recognized.
This situation results from a number of politically motivated compromises, notably the decision to give the religious establishment major control over matters regarding personal status, and the disproportionate power of small parties in a parliamentary system.
But — if Israelis were willing to open up space for a multi-vocal Jewish conversation about civil law, the result might be a state that cares more deeply for its citizens, and in which Jewish law is more alive, than at any other time in the past 2,000 years.When people ask me whether I think that Halacha, or Jewish law, should govern civil law in the State of Israel, my response is "No, but —." Given the current religious power structures in Israel, I shudder to think of the damage that might be done by Haredi authorities.
This spring, I received a phone call from a lawyer for Rabbis for Human Rights who was preparing arguments for the Israeli Supreme Court against Israel's "Wisconsin Plan," an ill-advised welfare-to-work program that resulted in thousands of people losing their benefits without being able to secure jobs.
The lawyer had been combing my book, "There Shall Be No Needy," for Jewish legal texts that would inform the case. Together, we decided that she should focus on a legal decision regarding national insurance by Hayim David Halevi, the chief Sephardic rabbi of Tel Aviv from 1973 until his death in 1998. In his decision, Halevi argued that the state holds ultimate responsibility for the wellbeing of its members.
The case against the Wisconsin Plan succeeded. The project was canceled (at least for the moment), and thousands had their benefits restored. I cannot say for sure that the citation of Halevi swung the case, but I certainly hope that it had some impact.
Again, the irony is rich: An American female Conservative rabbi introduces a text written by an Israeli Orthodox rabbi in order to stop an Israeli social program imported from the United States.
Halevi was not a liberal by any contemporary definition. Nor were other prominent rabbinic figures who tried to apply Jewish law to the economic and social concerns of the fledgling Israeli state. Eliezer Waldenberg, an influential religious judge whose opinions in support of labor unions I often quote, dedicated other legal opinions to railing against the Reform and Conservative movements. While neither of these men would have signed my ordination certificate, they and others like them were engaged in a sincere project of resuscitating Jewish civil law to create a state that would care for its citizens.
Today, this model seems like a distant memory. Rather than looking for ways that Judaism might be a positive force in the social and economic life of Israel, the religious powers engage in limiting the powers of non-Orthodox Jews, harassing would-be converts and even calling for the destruction of the state itself.
At best, the project of building a Jewish state involves creating a country that embodies the best of Jewish wisdom regarding the mutual responsibilities of individuals and communities. Achieving this dream requires all religious Jews — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal or others — to devote ourselves to this challenge.
Rabbi Jill Jacobs is the author of "There Shall Be No Needy: Pursuing Social Justice Through Jewish Law and Tradition" (Jewish Lights, 2009).
Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/131313/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailmarketingsoftware&utm_content=70949282&utm_campaign=September242010&utm_term=ShapingCivilSocietyWithJewishLaw#ixzz105BSS2qv
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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Sep 19, 2010
Yom Kippur 5771: "Not Up in the Air"
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