Jul 31, 2013
Marla Bennett z"l & Ben Blutstein z"l -- 11 years ago today. #Zachor
Marla Bennett z"l & Ben Blutstein z"l and others were killed and wounded in the bombing at Hebrew University's Frank Sinatra Cafe 11 years ago today. May their memories be a blessing. May hatred cease, comfort flow, and peace rear its head one day soon.
Jul 30, 2013
from Molly Shapiro: "Howdy Y'all!"
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Death is Not Alone
Death is Not Alone
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Death happens, not always in due season, it's true.
But it is not alone.
Miracles pop into life.
Laughter bubbles during grief.
Sadness clouds happy eyes.
What does this mean?
Death, miracles, laughter, grief, sad, happy.
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Death happens, not always in due season, it's true.
But it is not alone.
Miracles pop into life.
Laughter bubbles during grief.
Sadness clouds happy eyes.
What does this mean?
Death, miracles, laughter, grief, sad, happy.
Jul 26, 2013
A Pre-Shabbes Note! (It's Good to be Home)
Jul 24, 2013
So emotional. Just got back from Josh Kornbluth's "Sea of Reeds."
So emotional. Just got back from Josh Kornbluth's "Sea of Reeds," which (in part) depicts Josh's and my shared journey towards his Bar Mitzvah. There is no way I'll be able to express what tonight meant for me. As a person, as a rabbi, as a soul, I feel so incredibly known, so understood. The amazing Amy Resnick did more than portray me. She showed me the me that I pray every day I am. I do know myself. But that internal sense of who I am is hard to imagine anyone could truly know. I can barely breathe with the realization that I'm not alone, that there's more hope. That my work as a rabbi, as a teacher, as a friend, matters. Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Amy.
The Adoption and Jewish Identity Project is looking for stories!
The Adoption and Jewish Identity Project is looking for stories!
Are you, or is someone you know, an adoptee between the ages of 18 and 36 who was raised in a family that identified at least in part as Jewish?
In the coming year, we will be gathering stories from young adult adoptees raised in American Jewish families. This effort is part of a research study by the Adoption and Jewish Identity Project (AJIP), which aims to improve the lives of Jewish adoptive families by creating broader understanding of the unique religious, cultural, and identity issues they face.
Adoptees will be able to share their experiences and perspectives in a variety of formats. Anyone may submit his/her story either in writing or using other media (audio, video). We will also be conducting 15-20 in-depth interviews with selected individuals, as well as a number of focus groups. The collected stories will be used (either anonymously or for attribution, depending on your wishes) for a book about the complex identities of adoptees raised in American Jewish families.
If you are an adoptee interested in sharing your story, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AJIPAdopteeQuestionnaire to tell us a little bit about yourself, and we'll be back in touch with you with more details.
If you know adoptees who might be interested in participating, please send them this announcement and link to the online questionnaire, and invite them to participate.We will keep all information provided in these questionnaires completely confidential. Adoptees will be given the opportunity to choose whether to be identified by name or to remain anonymous in any publications or products that result from this project.
Please note: Adoptees do not have to identify currently as Jewish in order to participate.
The Adoption and Jewish Identity Project is dedicated to improving the lives of adoptees raised in Jewish families by creating broader understanding of the unique religious, cultural, and identity issues they and their families face. AJIP is directed by Dr. Jennifer Sartori and Dr. Jayne Guberman. Sartori is Associate Director of Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, and Guberman is an independent scholar and oral history consultant.
--
Laura Callen
Founder and Director
Adoption Museum Project
Oh My Heart
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Oh my heart, full to bursting,
soaking in her eyes, his smile,
hug, hurt.
Oh my soul, captured,
unprepared, surprised by life,
gratitude, pain.
If only it could always be this way,
but then again,
it can't.
Jul 22, 2013
Religious Progressives Predicted To Outnumber Conservatives, Survey Finds
July 22, 2013
Religious Progressives Predicted To Outnumber Conservatives, Survey Finds
A new study has found that while the number of religious conservatives is still greater than that of progressives, the religious left may have a better chance of maintaining its foothold with Americans over time.
"If you’re using a generational snapshot today as a proxy for the future, it is is safe to say that religious progressives hold a stronger appeal among Millennials," said Robert Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, which surveyed 2,000 adults in partnership with the Brookings Institute.
While the Christian right makes up 28 percent of the population and garners more cultural attention -- Jones found that there are 27,000 global monthly Google searches for “Christian Right" compared with just over 8,000 searches for “Christian left" -- religious progressives are only 9 percentage points behind, with 19 percent of the population.
With each generation, the popularity of religious conservatism has declined. Forty-seven percent of the Silent Generation (ages 66 to 88) are religious conservatives, compared with 34 percent of Baby Boomers, 23 percent of Gen Xers and 17 percent of Millennials.
"What we see is not a one-to-one replacement of religious conservatives with religious progressives," Jones explained. Instead, the ranks of religious conservatives over time are declining, while religious progressives maintain their share of the population. "But there's also this growing number of non-religious Americans." If the trends continue, religious progressives eventually will outnumber religious conservatives.
The findings echo research earlier this year that found the number of people who don't consider themselves part of a religion has hit its highest point since pollsters began tracking religious affiliations in the 1930s.
Claude Fischer, a sociologist at University of California Berkley, told The Huffington Post when the findings were released in March that Americans' move away from organized religion can in part be explained by politics.
"Increasingly, people identify and link organized religion with anti-gay attitudes, sexual conservatism, a whole range of those kinds of social cultural values," Fischer said.
The new survey raises the question of whether a religious left stands a chance of causing its own political groundswell. Jones, with the Public Religion Research Institute, noted that other findings in the survey show there would be considerable hurdles to such a movement.
Unlike conservatives, concentrated largely in the South and the Midwest, religious progressives are scattered throughout the country. They're also less likely to have a close attachment to religious institutions, to rate religion as a strong priority or to view religion as something that should be part of public debates. On top of that, progressives are a more diverse group of people when it comes to race and religion.
"If you want to turn to the question of like what does this mean about a progressive religious movement, you clearly have to think about some caveats," Jones said. "It becomes a very complicated heterogenous group of people to communicate with and organize with."
The Public Religion Research Institute survey was conducted May 30 to June 16 and has a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
Jul 19, 2013
Jul 16, 2013
Jul 15, 2013
Tisha B'Av with Community Learning Schedule 5773
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Jul 13, 2013
One Rabbi's Thought on White, Black, and Brown in America
One Rabbi's Thought on White, Black, and Brown in America
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Friends, I don't claim to speak with authority on legal cases. But i do know this: I am a proud American who acknowledges that white Americans do not have the same daily experiences as black and brown Americans. Tonight's verdict is a symbolic reinforcement of the feelings of so many black and brown young men (and their families) in our communities. And so, though I don't know if my readers are feeling personally assaulted by tonight's news, I offer the following thought as an American rabbi:
(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Friends, I don't claim to speak with authority on legal cases. But i do know this: I am a proud American who acknowledges that white Americans do not have the same daily experiences as black and brown Americans. Tonight's verdict is a symbolic reinforcement of the feelings of so many black and brown young men (and their families) in our communities. And so, though I don't know if my readers are feeling personally assaulted by tonight's news, I offer the following thought as an American rabbi:
God, always in our world, is writhing in agony at the commonplace disenfranchisement of our children, particularly our young men. Each of us is a precious image of God, worthy of human respect, worthy of dignity. Each of us is called to champion the call of justice, so that no human soul is forgotten.
Jul 10, 2013
Jul 8, 2013
Judaism's "Version" of Utopia
Judaism's "Version" of Utopia
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Dara Horn's reframing of Olam haBa as "the world to come will come" (ie, we build the world that will come), means Jews don't worry about Utopia. We believe in human responsibility for this world. (As Reb Huey lewis taught in a berraita: "there ain't no perfect world anyway.")
Though the rabbis call Shabbat a "taste of the world to come," the permeating language of God's Creative Power throughout the "day of rest" awakens the power (and need) within every Image of God to create once the havdalah wicks are ignited.
I am Not Free When my Sister is Silenced
I am Not Free When my Sister is Silenced
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Today I am a sad Zionist. I am not free when my sister is silenced, when my mother is in exile, when my sister is assaulted.
Today women were cordoned off from their People, not even allowed to approach our Wall. The prayers of every Jew are null and void today. No voice counts unless all voices are heard.
Today God cries. It's the month of Menachem Av, a month of sadness. The Talmud tells that God coos like a dove amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, saying, "Oy to my children, who caused their own exile from My home." Today God wails with that two-thousand-year-old cry again.
Oy for our children, who deny the prayers of their mothers.
Oy for our sisters, who throw eggs at their sisters.
Oy for our People, who writhe with anger at difference.
Oy for our spirit, placed in exile by the Police in the Jewish Homeland.
Oy for God, who still cries because our sins.
Oy for our sisters, who throw eggs at their sisters.
Oy for our People, who writhe with anger at difference.
Oy for our spirit, placed in exile by the Police in the Jewish Homeland.
Oy for God, who still cries because our sins.
I am Not Free When my Sister is Silenced
I am Not Free When my Sister is Silenced
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Today I am a sad Zionist. I am not free when my sister is silenced, when my mother is in exile, when my sister is assaulted.
Today women were cordoned off from their People, not even allowed to approach our Wall. The prayers of every Jew are null and void today. No voice counts unless all voices are heard.
Today God cries. It's the month of Menachem Av, a month of sadness. The Talmud tells that God coos like a dove amidst the ruins of Jerusalem, saying, "Oy to my children, who caused their own exile from My home." Today God cries that two-thousand-year-old cry again.
Oy for our children, who deny the prayers of their mothers.
Oy for our sisters, who throw eggs at their sisters.
Oy for our People, who writhe with anger at difference.
Oy for our spirit, placed in exile by the Police in the Jewish Homeland.
Oy for God, who still cries from our sins.
Jul 7, 2013
Ynet News: Cabinet Adopts Haredi Draft Bill
13:36 , 07.07.13
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Cabinet Adopts Haredi Draft Bill
Despite some inside criticism, ministers approve outline for haredi enlistment, to be put in action in four years; Lapid: Historic day; MK Porush: Black day for Jewish settlement Omri Efraim The cabinet adopted the equal share of the burden outline, according to which 21-year-old haredim will be drafted to the IDF, beginning in 2017, excluding 1,800 who have proven themselves scholarly-gifted and will continue to study the Torah. Fourteen ministers voted in favor of the outline, while only four opposed it. The outline, finalized last May by a committee headed by Minister Yaakov Peri, also recommends that haredi draft-evaders will be criminally sanctioned. The bill will be presented later for a Knesset vote. Related stories:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the thorny issue at the outset of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday and assured the haredi sector that "we will make the change gradually while taking into account the special needs of the haredi public." "We have two aims in mind," the PM said, "integrating haredi youth in the IDF and in the civil service, and integrating them in the work force. "I consider it very important to integrate Israeli-Arabs, as well. The outline is incomplete but this issue must be dealt with," he added. The outline for the haredi draft, one of the last elections' main issues and an ancient divide inIsraeli politics, is based on the Peri Committee's conclusions, which set out to enlist all yeshiva students for the first time in either military or civil service. Finance Minister and Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid, whose election campaign relied heavily on the issue of the haredi draft, called the outline a "historic change," and claimed it will benefit both the haredi sector and Israeli society as a whole. "There will be real equality after the cabinet meeting," the finance minister said before the vote. 'Sad day for haredi Jews'Lapid's enthusiasm was not met in kind by the haredi MKs occupying the opposition benches. "This is a sad day for haredi Judaism," exclaimed MK Meir Porush, of the United Torah Judaismparty."The government's abuse of the haredi minority verges on persecution and cruelty," he accused. "This day will be marked a black day in the history of the Jewish settlement." A reluctant ally to the haredim, Minister Amir Peretz (Hatnua) called the outline "problematic," and added that though grandiose statements are made, the faults are being ignored: "Everyone wants civil service," he said, "but that's something that should be financed. A thorough discussion should be held." Hatnua Chairwoman and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni was also unenthusiastic. Though she voted for the outline, she termed it a "lesser evil," and criticized it for affixing inequality between haredim and hesder yeshivas. "The source of this inequality is in the political power exchange in government," she accused. "The haredim's seat in government was taken by the representatives of the hesder yeshivas' students." "Since the attorney general determined the subject of inequality should be addressed the day the haredi draft is implemented, we postpone this struggle for that later date. We'll demand the improper deal with the hesder students be reopened." Kobi Nachshoni contributed to this report | |||||||||||||
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