Joyfully Answering the Call

CNS Homepage  |  Make a Gift!  |  CNS Calendar  |  Rabbi Creditor's Blog From Rabbi Creditor:  Joyfully Answering the Call February 28, 2017  Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5777 Dear Friends,   It is a Jewish tradition, on the first day of the month of Adar (today), to increase joy. (Mishnah Ta'anit) Importantly, that is not the same as saying one is naturally happier on a specific day on the calendar. Moods seldom follow instructions, and time has a funny way of surprising even the expected. But a mindful dose of recommended joy sounds great to me! I'd like to share with you a story, a real experience that occurred today at shul. A young man came to sit with me. I didn't know him. He had left a message on the shul's voicemail about feeling despondent about the current situation in America, and wanted to sit with a rabbi. When we sat together just today I learned that he was a punk rock musician, and an anarchist living in Berkeley. More than that, deeper than that, he shared with me that he was deeply afraid, not only about threats to free speech, health care, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, and others (each of which he named).  What scared him? He was afraid of his own response to a proposed Nazi march in Berkeley. He was afraid of his own rage and fear and hopelessness, not sure where to turn. So he looked for a synagogue, a safe place. He looked for a rabbi, someone to sit with and trust. It's not that there were any "fixes" for the things that worried him. But, when we had spoken for a while, he looked at me and said something we all should hear and take to heart:  "  Thank you for being here. I'm so grateful this synagogue is here           and open. I haven't been to shul for many years. I feel a little less     afraid now." Friends, I'm sharing this with you because the thought that there is an "out there" and an "in here" when it comes to the work of a shul is a misperception. No, we can't care for everyone everywhere. Yes, we are struggling with a staff shortage and are gearing up for the deeply-needed and much-anticipated upgrade to our Youth Community. Yes, the board is working incredibly hard to strengthen every aspect of our work as a community. Yes, all of this is blessing, pure and profound. Yes: it is important that we see the work we do "inside" the shul as being in service with the world "out there." How can we be communal healers if we don't visit each other when we are ill? How can we effectively pursue a just society if we don't build the strength of our shul? Where would that young man have turned if we hadn't built a shul on University Ave? There is much to do. Again, Jewish wisdom helps: Ours is not to complete the work. Our is to start. (Pirkei Avot)  We should celebrate what we've built here, the holy community known to the world as Netivot Shalom. And we should see the strength we continue to build as a shul in service of this fragile world we share. That kind of purpose is what some might even name "a calling." How blessed we are to answer that call. Love, Menachem ----- netivotshalom.org Join Our List CNS Mission Statement Netivot Shalom invites you to engage in a cross-generational discovery of Jewish inspiration and purpose. Our community is defined by the values of: Belonging - we believe, as a participatory egalitarian community, that every member has a voice. Learning - we provide introductory and continuing encounters with Jewish wisdom. Ritual - we strive to deepen personal engagement with the sacred. Justice - we embrace Judaism's call to perfect the world.

My thoughts, after meeting with a very special, very scared, young man. This is dedicated to him, and through him, back to us all. #BuildOnLove

Take Back the Narrative: We Are Better than This

Building a Beloved Society: Rules, Kindness, Resoul-ing

God is in the Details

So moved. Ellen Allard and other loving souls singing #OlamChesedYibaneh in #StLouis, as we answer hate with love. #BuildOnLove

Hours after the attack on a Jewish cemetery in St Louis.was announced, the American Muslim community came together to raise the funds necessary for repair of the stones.

the way (a #poem)

the way
(c) Menachem Creditor

keep working your own heart.
open yourself to the next flower,
the next breeze,
the next person you see.

take a moment.
perhaps ask the flower what it needs,
ask the person what she needs.
(dare you ask yourself what you truly need?)

don't worry so much about the way to God.
if you can open yourself to another,
the way to God will reveal itself
that much more clearly.

A reflection on Revelatory Relationships: Contact, not Content

#Revelation Begins With You

To the One: We're Still Here

To the One: We're Still Here
© Rabbi Menachem Creditor

Dear One,

We know. We've given You reason to wonder if we're still here. So this is just to say we get it. We're in pain too, and ready to restart the work. It can feel like there too much to do. But when has ever not been the case?

We understand. We're listening again.

There are good people everywhere, singing and praying and marching and loving each other. We're in. Thanks for giving us each other. That's all we need. You're the best.

Love,
Us

Powerful moment yesterday in shul

Powerful moment yesterday in shul:

"Rabbi, I get why some people have a hard time with hard-hitting sermons. We leave feeling more deeply. And that hurts. We leave with a burden. But we need it. It's what we need."

One take-away among many: We, members in socially engaged faith communities, must love each other well and fully, so that pain (real, important, global, calling) has a #soulcushion strong enough to absorb, a heart resilient enough to smile at the world we're together building (while also collectively crying/raging at the world we're experiencing).

Love is as real as pain, and exponentially stronger - once exposed to the air and shared freely.

Upon Being Arrested

CNS Homepage  |  Make a Gift!  |  CNS Calendar  |  Rabbi Creditor's Blog From Rabbi Creditor:  Upon Being Arrested February 8, 2017  Shevat 13, 5777 Dear Friends,   As you likely already know,  I was arrested two nights ago in New York City as part of an act of civil disobedience with 18 other rabbis. We joined with hundreds of other rabbis, Jews, and others to protest President Donald Trump's refugee ban. I am still processing the experience, and am profoundly moved by the responses I've received from many of you. (I've pasted at the end of this email a reflection I wrote an hour after being released from jail.) I'll be sharing my reflections on this experiences as the drasha this Shabbat. (Rabbi Sarah Shulman, Director of Camp Ramah in Northern California, graciously offered to deliver the introduction to the Torah reading in my place, freeing me to offer the drash.) I had the opportunity to share with our Preschool students and with the Wednesday Afternoon Torah Study group some thoughts, and will share some time with our Amitim and Madrichim students this Shabbat afternoon, discussing the role of Tzedek (Social Justice) within a Bat/Bar Mitzvah journey. I'm writing to keep you all informed, to let you know I'm well, and to thank you for being the kind of community that sees the work of a Jew in the world holistically, both tending to the inner needs of our community and helping perfect the world through Jewish learning, being, and doing (letaken Olam bemalchut shaddai, as we say in the Aleinu: to fix the world by spreading sanctity - this is the root of the phrase Tikkun Olam.)  Also, just last week, we were thrilled to share the publication of " We Will Not Be Silent," a collection of passionate voices of #JewishResistance, including drashot and essays by our very own Renee Rubin Ross, Yossi Fendel, Rabbi Michael Rothbaum and Rabbi Carol Cain. Also included in the collection are national Jewish leaders Rabbis Sharon Brous, Eve Posen, David Wolkenfeld, Rav Shmuly Yanklowitz, Michael Adam Latz, and Aaron Alexander. All tezedakah proceeds will be donated to the holy work of CNS. All purchases will be through this online link. We are part of raising each other up, and maintaining the sacred values of a Beloved Community. This is one of the ways our gifts as a participatory shul bless the world beyond our building.  Finally, here are a few news links, and a call to action for this coming Sunday, where I hope you'll join me in SF at 3pm for the National Day of Jewish Action for Refugees. For a few articles about the protest and the arrests of the 19 rabbis, click here. For more information about this Sunday's National Day of Jewish Action for Refugees,  click here. With much love, and deep gratitude for our shul's deep commitment to Justice, Menachem ************************* A Reflection Upon Being Released from Jail Rabbi Menachem Creditor Tuesday, Feb 7, 2017 (1:30am) Praise to the Holy One for my freedom. I was arrested tonight in New York, along with 18 other holy brothers and sisters, standing, marching, singing, praying, and raging at the hate and injustice being launched by the President toward immigrants, toward Muslims - toward vulnerable 'others' - being created and encoded in American law, media, and culture. We sat, blocking traffic, in front of Trump Tower. We sat, arm in arm, davening and singing. We walked together, singing songs of Love and Freedom (including my soul's song Olam Chesed, sung by hundreds as I walked the very blocks upon which I carried my newborn daughter as I composed the song for her). We spent some of the night in jail. I was released 30 minutes ago. The Rabbis with whom I spent tonight in jail are my sisters and brothers. We davened, sang, spoke, joked, and learned. I will need time to process this, but I am humbled to have been part of this holy act of #JewishResistance. Tonight was the most Rabbis arrested in one action in US history. And, all the while, even as I was handcuffed and processed, even as the NYPD treated us with respect, I know the fight has barely begun for the soul of our nation. I invite you to join this movement. This is what Judaism looks like: marching for justice. This is what payer looks like: putting your body where your words are. This is what Torah looks like: righteous people doing good. ברוך מתיר אסורים / Blessed is the one who frees the bound. My deep thanks to Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster and the team at T'ruah, for including me, and for leading us all. More tomorrow perhaps. In this late moment, reeling from a surreal experience of moral courage, a short time in jail, and the real sense of 19 rabbis who sang and danced together outside the police precinct at 1:30am, I'm more aware of the work ahead than ever before. And the need for rest. Bless you all. Lets go! Here's video coverage from NBC New York: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Rabbis-Sit-in-at-Trump-Tower_-19-Arrested_-NYPD_New-York-412974603.html Here's video coverage from FOX New York: https://youtu.be/16rKur8j1g8 click the photo for the Times of Israel News Story ----- netivotshalom.org Join Our List CNS Mission Statement Netivot Shalom invites you to engage in a cross-generational discovery of Jewish inspiration and purpose. Our community is defined by the values of: Belonging - we believe, as a participatory egalitarian community, that every member has a voice. Learning - we provide introductory and continuing encounters with Jewish wisdom. Ritual - we strive to deepen personal engagement with the sacred. Justice - we embrace Judaism's call to perfect the world.

............................ Rabbi Menachem Creditor Rabbi, Congregation Netivot Shalom Chair, Rabbis Against Gun Violence (#RAGV) Scheduling Inquiries: ra@netivotshalom.org or (510) 549-9447 x103 ▶menachemcreditor.org ▶netivotshalom.org To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com!

Arrested rabbis take Torah to the streets in defense of the vulnerable

EMERGENCY FAITH BRIEFING CALL TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES - today, Thursday 2/2, at 4pm EST.

Dear Rabbi Creditor, Since last week, we have been hearing rumors that President Trump is preparing to issue an Executive Order that would legalize wide-ranging discrimination against LGBTQ people. A leaked draft shows that an Executive Order of this type could be devastating to the LGBTQ community. This type of Executive Order violates the core values of equality and inclusion that are at the heart of Keshet’s mission and the very ethos of Jewish tradition. Already, since the election, we have heard from many queer Jewish teens – and LGBTQ people of all ages – who feel vulnerable and fearful that their rights will come under attack under this administration. We cannot stand by and watch these fears become our new reality. Please join Bend the Arc Jewish Action, in partnership with Faith in Public Life and Keshet, today, Thursday 2/2, for an Emergency Faith Briefing call at 4pm EST. Legal experts from Lambda Legal and Americans United for Separation of Church and State will join the call to answer questions. Also, since this Executive Order may come under the guise of “religious liberty,” we’ll hear from messaging experts who can provide guidance on the best ways to respond to this type of attack. This Executive Order may masquerade as protecting the rights of people of faith. But, as Jews, we know that discrimination does not protect our religious freedom; it defiles it. Our history and tradition teach us that a just society makes us all stronger.  EMERGENCY FAITH BRIEFING CALL TO PROTECT OUR COMMUNITIES TODAY, 2/2 at 4pm EST Dial: 857.232.0159 At the prompt, dial 212788 to join the call. I hope you can join us during this crucial time for action. L’Shalom, Idit Klein Executive Director

 

#RaisingTorah, Day 33 at Netivot Shalom! with Rabbi Michael Rothbaum