The Launch of Rabbis for Obama

I am a proud member of www.RabbisforObama.com! Here is today's press release, which I endorse completely.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 10, 2008
Group of over 300 Rabbis Join to Support Obama

WASHINGTON – Today, group of over three hundred American rabbis released a letter in support of Senator Barack Obama's historic candidacy. "Rabbis for Obama," through its website, www.RabbisforObama.com, aims to spread an awareness of Senator Obama's message of change and repairing the world, which is steeped in the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam and the values of the Hebrew prophets.

"Rabbis for Obama" is a grassroots effort founded by Rabbi Sam Gordon of Wilmette, IL, and Rabbi Steven Bob of Glen Ellyn, IL. Its members represent every corner of the American Jewish community, including rabbis from each of the major Jewish Movements in the United States (Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist). Many are distinguished clergy and educators known for their publications and teachings.

Among the rabbis are prominent figures such as Rabbi Elliot Dorf (Los Angeles, CA), Rabbi Jack Moline (Alexandria, VA), Rabbi Burton Visotzky (New York, NY), Rabbi Janet Marder (Palo Alto, CA), and Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus (Homewood, IL). They join over three hundred others in making a clear statement of Senator Obama's strong support from the Jewish community in America.

"Rabbis for Obama" marks the first time in American history that such a large group of rabbis has supported a candidate for political office. The support of rabbis nationwide is a testament to Barack Obama's strong support in the Jewish Community, and demonstrates that he shares the values and principles so important to the American Jewish Community.


Chair:
Rabbi Sam Gordon, Wilmette, IL
Co-chair:
Rabbi Steven Bob, Glen Ellyn, IL

Vice- Chairs:
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, New York, NY
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, Homewood, IL
Rabbi Steve Foster, Denver, CO
Rabbi Dayle Friedman, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Laura Geller, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Don Gluckman, Pikesville, MD
Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Wyncote, PA
Rabbi Charles Kroloff, Westfield, NJ
Rabbi Richard N. Levy, Encino, CA
Rabbi Brian Lurie, San Francisco, CA
Rabbi Rachel Mikva, Rye Brook, NY
Rabbi Jack Moline, Alexandria, VA
Rabbi Charles Simon, New York, NY
Rabbi David Teutsch, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Ethan Tucker, New York, NY
Rabbi Burt Visotzky, New York, NY

Members:
Rabbi Jonathan Aaron, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Bruce Abrams, Cleveland Heights, OH
Rabbi David Adelson, New York, NY
Rabbi Adam M. Allenberg, Mountain View, CA
Rabbi Victor Appell, New York, NY
Rabbi Stephen A. Arnold, S. Easton, MA
Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Omaha, NE

Rabbi Larry Bach, El Paso, TX
Rabbi Andy Bachman, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Chava Bahle, Suttons Bay, MI
Rabbi Andrew Baker, Washington, D.C.
Rabbi Michael Barenbaum, Marin, CA
Rabbi Benjy Bar-Lev, Cincinnati, OH
Rabbi Lewis Barth, Encino, CA
Rabbi Morris Barzilai, New Rochelle, NY
Rabbi Elliot Baskin, Greenwood Village, CO
Rabbi Renee Bauer, Madison WI
Rabbi Pamela Frydman Baugh, San Francisco, CA
Rabbi Leonard I. Beerman, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Annie Belford, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Karen Bender, Tarzana, CA
Rabbi Donald R. Berlin, St. Michaels, MD
Rabbi Linda Bertenthal, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Marjorie Berman, Philadelphia PA
Rabbi Phyllis Berman Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Jonathan Biatch, Madison, WI
Rabbi Michael Birnholz, Vero Beach, FL
Rabbi Aaron B. Bisno, Pittsburgh, PA
Rabbi Joshua Boettiger , Bennington, VA
Rabbi Terry Bookman, Miami, Fl
Rabbi Jill Borodin, Seattle, WA
Rabbi Mark Borovitz, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Neal Borovitz River Edge, NJ
Rabbi Sara Brandes, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Herbert Bronstein, Glencoe, IL
Rabbi Lester Bronstein, White Plains, NY
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, New York, NY
Rabbi Gustav Buchdahl, Baltimore, MD
Rabbi Caryn Broitman, W. Tisbury, MA
Rabbi Daniel M. Bronstein, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Carol Caine Berkeley, CA
Rabbi Debra S. Cantor Newington, CT
Rabbi Carie Carter, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Kenneth Chasen, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Steven Chester, Oakland, CA
Rabbi Diane Cohen, Los Angeles
Rabbi Hillel Cohn, San Bernardino, CA
Rabbi David J. Cooper, Piedmont, CA
Rabbi Julian I. Cook, Denver, CO
Rabbi Mychal Copeland, Stanford, CA
Rabbi Laurie Coskey, Poway, CA
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, New York, NY
Rabbi Meryl M. Crean, Media, PA
Rabbi Menachem Creditor, Berkeley, CA
Rabbi William Cutter, Los Angeles, CO
Rabbi Eric Cytryn, Harrisburg, PA

Rabbi Harry K Danziger, Germantown, TN
Rabbi Andrew Davids, Croton On Hudson, NY
Rabbi Stanley Davids, Santa Monica, CA
Rabbi Jerome Davidson, Kings Point, NY
Rabbi Eliezer Diamond, Teaneck, NJ
Rabbi Fred Dobb, Bethesda, MD
Rabbi Wayne Dosick, San Diego, CA
Rabbi William Dreskin, Greenburgh, NY

Rabbi Renee Edelman, South Orange, NJ
Rabbi Amy Eilberg St. Paul, MN
Rabbi Bruce Elder, Highland Park, IL
Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Daniel Fellman, East Brunswick, NJ
Rabbi Brian Field, Denver CO
Rabbi Daniel Fink, Boise, ID
Rabbi Reuven Firestone, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Adam D. Fisher, Stony Brook, NY
Rabbi Alan Flam, Barrington, RI
Rabbi Nancy Flam, Northampton, MA
Rabbi Ellen Flax, New York, NY
Rabbi Robert Frazin, Hollywood, FL
Rabbi Michael Friedland, South Bend. IN
Rabbi Joan S. Friedman, Wooster, OH
Rabbi Marsha Friedman, Elkins Park, PA
Rabbi Ronne Friedman, Brookline, MA
Rabbi Stacy Friedman, San Rafael, CA
Rabbi Randy Fleisher St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Serena Fujita, Lewisburg, PA

Rabbi Jack S. Gabriel, Sonoma, CA
Rabbi Ruth Gais Summit, NJ
Rabbi Hillel Gamoran, Seattle, WA
Rabbi Robert T. Gan, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Rachel Gartner, Montclair, NJ.
Rabbi Ruth Gelfarb, New York, NY
Rabbi Jonathan Gerard, Easton, PA
Rabbi Kim Geringer, Short Hills, New Jersey
Rabbi Gary Gerson, Oak Park, IL
Rabbi Gordon Gladstone, Bayonne NJ
Rabbi Miriyam Glazer, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Steve Glazer, Herndon, VA
Rabbi Mark Glickman, Woodinville, WA
Rabbi Arnie Gluck, Skillman, NJ
Rabbi Shai Gluskin, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Rosalind Gold, Reston, VA
Rabbi Gerald A. Goldman, Holyoke, MA
Rabbi James Stone Goodman, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Joseph Goldman, Denver, CO
Rabbi Andrea Goldstein, St Louis, MO
Rabbi Jerrold Goldstein, Sherman Oaks, CA
Rabbi Jeffrey W. Goldwasser, Williamstown, MA
Rabbi Linda Henry Goodman, Garden City, NY
Rabbi Stephen Goodman, Garden City, NY
Rabbi Donald Goor, Tarzana, CA
Rabbi Seth William Goren, Washington, DC
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, Pasadena, CA
Rabbi Alan Greenbaum, Grass Valley, CA
Rabbi C. Michelle Greenberg, Northfield, IL
Rabbi David Greenspoon, Baltimore, MD
Rabbi Suzanne Griffel, Chicago, IL
Rabbi Daniel Gropper, Rye, NY
Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer, Santa Barbara, CA
Rabbi Susan Grossman, Columbia, MD
Rabbi Joshua Gutoff, Brooklyn, NY

Rabbi Debra Hachen, Demarest, NJ
Rabbi Shoshana Hantman, Katonah, NY
Rabbi Maurice Harris, Eugene, OR
Rabbi Robert Harris, White Plains, NY
Rabbi Alan Henkin, Northridge, CA
Rabbi Jeffrey Hoffman, White Plains, NY
Rabbi Elliot Holin, Elkins Park, PA
Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, New Haven, CT
Rabbi Linda Holtzman, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Margaret Holub, Mendecino, CA

Rabbi Abie Ingber, Cincinnati, OH

Rabbi Steven B. Jacobs, Woodland Hills, CA
Rabbi Devorah Jacobson, Amherst, MA
Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe, Lexington, MA
Rabbi Jennifer Jaech, Peekskill NY
Rabbi Rebecca Joseph, New York, NY

Rabbi Bruce Kadden, Tacoma, WA
Rabbi Amy Kalmanofsky, New York, NY
Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky, New York, NY
Rabbi Ben Kamin, Del Mar, CA
Rabbi Debra Newman Kamin, Highland Park, IL
Rabbi Susan Kanoff, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Ken Kanter, Cincinnati, OH
Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Palo Alto, CA
Rabbi Henry Jay Karp, Davenport, IA
Rabbi Mario Karpuj, Sandy Springs, GA
Rabbi Nancy Kasten, Dallas, TX
Rabbi Jim Kaufman, Valley Village, CA
Rabbi David Kay, Orlando, Florida
Rabbi Benjamin G. Kelsen, Teaneck, NJ
Rabbi Jimmy Kessler, Galveston, TX
Rabbi Ralph P. Kingsley, Aventura, FL
Rabbi Andrew Klein, Barrington, RI
Rabbi Jason Klein, Baltimore, MD
Rabbi Jonathan Klein Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Lori Klein, Capitola, CA
Rabbi Myriam Klotz, Bala Cynwyd, PA
Rabbi Norman Koch, New Milford, CT
Rabbi Debora Kohn, Berkeley, CA
Rabbi Stephanie D. Kolin, Boston, MA
Rabbi Neil E Kominsky, Brookline, MA
Rabbi Sandford Kopnick, Cincinnati, OH
Rabbi Ira Korinow, Haverhill, MA
Rabbi Allen Krause, Mission Viejo, CA
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, San Francisco, CA
Rabbi Noa Kushner, San Anselmo, CA
Rabbi Steven Kushner, Montclair, NJ
Rabbi Harold Kudan, Glencoe, IL
Rabbi Judith Kummer, Roslindale, MA

Rabbi Gail Labovitz, Los Angeles
Rabbi Susan Laemmle, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Lynne Landsberg, Washington, DC
Rabbi Shira Lander Baltimore, MD
Rabbi Michael Adam Latz, Seattle, WA
Rabbi Alan LaPayover, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi William Lebeau, New York, NY
Rabbi Morton Leifman, New York, NY
Rabbi Michael Lerner, San Francisco, CA
Rabbi Carol Levithan, New York, NY
Rabbi Charles S. Levi, Deerfield, IL
Rabbi Joel Levine, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Rabbi Yael Levy, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Valerie Lieber, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Rebecca Lillian, Chicago, Illinois
Rabbi John A. Linder, Phoenix, AZ
Rabbi Steven Lowenstein, Glencoe, IL

Rabbi Jonathan Malamy, White Plains, NY
Rabbi Jonathan Z. Maltzman, North Bethesda, MD
Rabbi Howard Mandell, Virginia Beach, VA
Rabbi Janet Marder, Palo Alto, CA
Rabbi Jeffrey M. Marker, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Susan Marks, Sarasota, FL
Rabbi Simeon Maslin, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon, New York, NY
Rabbi Dennis N. Math, New York, NY
Rabbi Gary Mazo, Marstons Mills, MA
Rabbi Bernard Mehlman, Brookline, MA
Rabbi Jim Michaels, Rockville, MD
Rabbi Shira Milgrom, White Plains,NY
Rabbi Bennett Miller, Monroe Township, NJ
Rabbi Joshua Minkin, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Victor Mirelman, River Forest, IL
Rabbi Michael A. Monson, West Orange, NJ
Rabbi Leon A. Morris, New York, NY
Rabbi Jay Henry Moses, New York, NY
Rabbi Anat Moskowitz, Denver, CO
Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, Tarzana, CA
Rabbi Shelly Moss, Sun City, AZ

Rabbi Robin Nafshi, Lebanon, NJ
Rabbi Perry Netter Los Angeles, CA

Rabbi Avi S. Olitzky, St. Louis Park, MN
Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky, New York, NY
Rabbi Shaul Osadchey, Houston, TX

Rabbi Melinda Panken, Manalapan, NJ
Rabbi Julie Pelc, Venice, California
Rabbi Daniel Plotkin, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Dan Polish, Poughkeepsie, NY
Rabbi Jeffrey Portman, Iowa City, IA
Rabbi Linda Potemken, Wynnewood, PA
Rabbi Amber Powers, Philadelphia, PA

Rabbi Dan Rabishaw, Northbrook, IL
Rabbi Bruce Raff, Woodland Hills, CA
Rabbi Avram I. Reisner, Baltimore, MD
Rabbi Michael Remson, Kenosha, WI
Rabbi Dorothy A. Richman, Berkeley, CA
Rabbi Yair Robinson, Holland, PA
Rabbi Liz Rolle, Stamford, CT
Rabbi Norman Roman, West Bloomfield, MI
Rabbi Jack Romberg, Tallahassee, FL
Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose, Creve Coeur, MO
Rabbi David Rosenn, New York, NY
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, New York, NY
Rabbi Donald B. Rossoff, Morristown, NJ
Rabbi Dennis S. Ross, Worcester, MA
Rabbi Gloria Rubin, Oakland, NJ
Rabbi Sarah Niebuhr Rubin, Keene, NH

Rabbi JB Sacks-Rosen, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Selig Salkowitz, Fair Lawn, NJ
Rabbi Joanna Samuels, New York, NY
Rabbi David Sandmel, Chicago, IL
Rabbi Marty Scharf, Scottsdale, AZ
Rabbi Phil Schechter, Stamford CT
Rabbi Leonard A. Schoolman, New York, NY
Rabbi Bob Schreibman, Lincolnshire, IL
Rabbi Barry Schwartz, Cherry Hill, NJ
Rabbi Allen Secher, Whitefish, MA
Rabbi Ron Segal, Atlanta, GA
Rabbi Allen Selis, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Gerry Serotta, Chevy Chase, MD
Rabbi Ike Serotta, Deerfield, IL
Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro, Longmeadow, MA
Rabbi Mark S. Shapiro, Glenview, IL
Rabbi Richard J. Shapiro Port Washington, NY
Rabbi Roxanne Shapiro, Milwaukee, WI
Rabbi Leonard Sharzer, New York, NY
Rabbi John Sherwood, Oxnard, CA
Rabbi Howard Siegel, Houston, TX
Rabbi Howard Singer, Hinsdale, MA
Rabbi Jonathan Singer, Seattle, WA
Rabbi Suzanne Singer, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Eric J. Siroka, South Bend, IN
Rabbi Eleanor Smith, Evanston, IL
Rabbi David Sofian, Dayton, OH
Rabbi Ruth Sohn, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Myra Soifer, Reno, NV
Rabbi Felicia L. Sol, New York, NY
Rabbi Rav Soloff, Lansdale, PA
Rabbi Eric M. Solomon, Raleigh, NC
Rabbi Jennifer R. Solomon, Raleigh, NC
Rabbi Marla Spanjer, Fort Wayne, IN
Rabbi Bernard Spielman, Boynton Beach, FL
Rabbi Judy Spicehandler, Glencoe, IL
Rabbi Reena Spicehandler, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi David Spitz, Vernon Hills, IL
Rabbi Moishe Steigmann, Mamaroneck, NY
Rabbi Margot Stein, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Ron Stern, Los Angeles, CA
Rabbi Shira Stern, Marlboro, NJ
Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Kurt Stone, Coral Springs, FL
Rabbi Elliot Strom, Yardley, PA
Rabbi Joshua Strom, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Shira Stutman, Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi Alvin M. Sugarman, Atlanta, GA
Rabbi Brooks Susman, Freehold, NJ
Rabbi Karen Sussan

Rabbi Susan Talve, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper, Redwood City, CA
Rabbi Joshua S. Taub, St. Louis, MO
Rabbi Michael Tayvah, Portland OR
Rabbi Betsy Torop, Largo, FL
Rabbi Abby Treu, New York, NY
Rabbi Leonard B. Troupp, Melville, NY
Rabbi Annie Tucker, Princeton, NJ

Rabbi Brian Walt, West Tisbury, MA
Rabbi Gerry Walter, Cincinnati, OH
Rabbi Andrew Warmflash, Hewlett NY
Rabbi Pamela Wax, Hartsdale NY
Rabbi Joshua Waxman Fort Washington, PA
Rabbi Donald Weber, Marlboro, NJ
Rabbi Michael Weinberg, Evanston, IL
Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, Amherst, MA
Rabbi Martin Weiner, San Francisco, CA
Rabbi David M. Weis, Northfield, NJ
Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, Brooklyn, NY
Rabbi Binah Wing Rockford, IL
Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, Chicago, IL
Rabbi Leo R. Wolkow, Homewood, IL

Rabbi Stanley Yedwab, Redmond, WA
Rabbi Ira Youdovin, Chicago, IL

Rabbi Sara Zacharia, Newton Centre, MA
Rabbi Joel H Zaiman, , Baltimore, MD
Rabbi Mary L. Zamore, Westfield, NJ
Rabbi Deborah Zecher, Great Barrington, MA
Rabbi Elaine Zecher, Newton, MA
Rabbi Michael Zedek, Chicago, IL
Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel, Washington, DC
Rabbi Brian Zimmerman, Dallas, TX
Rabbi David Zucker, Aurora, CO
Rabbi Josh Zweiback, Los Altos, CA


______________
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
-- www.netivotshalom.org
-- www.shefanetwork.org
-- menachemcreditor.org

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Observant Jews and the Halacha of Eating Out

[cross-posting from the ShefaNetwork.org conversation referenced below]

Dear Chevreh,

I'm grateful to Rabbi Leff for beginning this conversation, and am thrilled that Shefa has provided a forum for thoughtful dialogue leading up to a conversation at the CJLS. On this topic it is clear that we bring much life-experience and engagement-with-halacha to the table. Here's what I'm hoping, and what has defined (and will continue to define) the ShefaNetwork as a place of positive purposeful dreaming:

We have seen fruit already, with gatherings of Shefaniks at various Conservative Movement conventions, with a surge in subscription to the email list (currently around 450 college students, USY'ers, professors, rabbis, cantors, FJMC/WLCJ leadership, shul leaders, USCJ professionals, JTS/Ziegler/Machon Schechter rabbinical students, early childhood educators, Israeli Masorti members, potential Jews undergoimng conversion in Europe, etc...). There have been over 40,000 hits on Shefanetwork.org! We have been featured in the Jewish Week and in Movemental publications. The Shefa Learning Mission to Israel two years ago is preparing for a sequel in the Winter of 2009. So much building to do - so many connections brimming to the surface!

The question of eating out in non-kosher establishments is one very much alive in the daily choices of Conservative Jews. I myself have a policy of eating out "cold-dairy", asking questions when relevant about food preparation and proximity in storage. Rabbi Leff's forthcoming teshuvah is an opportunity to effect a more widespread conversation with those who see their current eating practices as 'treif' and a capitulation to convenience. If we can, as halacha has always striven, talk about elevating mundane acts, then we aren't condoning treif practice. We are engaging on a campaign of mindful halachic engagement, true to the historical commitments of Conservative Judaism.

There are some who, when they navigate tradition while eating in non-kosher establishments, take off their kippah. This is a long-standing practice tied to the halachic concept of "marit ayin", or a "deceiving eye", which means that one should never, through personal choices, lead others to believe that a questionable practice is kosher. So, for instance, when my family and I ate at the cafe of the incredible San Francisco Contemporary Jewish Museum just last month, someone saw my kippah and asked me if the food was kosher. I responded that the food was kosher in its preparation, but that no rabbi had supervised its production. In effect, I said, it was kosher because I trusted the descriptions as published and the food preparer's testimony. (the food also happened to be vegetarian, with only acceptable fish being served). This conversation only occurred because I was wearing my kippah. And I was not misleading someone into misguided practice - I was demonstrating that it's possible to keep kosher in the world.

To the question of "who needs kosher bakeries/restaurants then?" I believe the advocacy falls primarily on synagogues - and Conservative/Masorti shuls should, as some have, "take back kashrut" from the Orthodox establishment which was handed, through recent decades of Conservative Movemental neglect, a virtual monopoly on the claim to general authenticity and kosher supervision in particular.

Why should there be kosher establishments if you can keep kosher in non-kosher ones? Because the navigation of the world through tradition Jewish eyes cannot compare to the creation/sustaining/celebration of a Jewish home. If you can be holy without being Jewish, why be Jewish? Because it's your home. And other people have special homes, but it's not the same. The rhythm of a Jewish eatery is particular - would you hear Israeli folk music or Mattisyahu or Moshav playing in the speakers at a Starbucks? Do Jewish professional/volunteer meetings suddenly contain more pride when the menu affirms their identity and commitments? Is the "schlokiest" falafel joint an opportunity to affirm a relationship with Israel because it carries both "Mitzli" and Snapple, both Ha'aretz and the New York Times?

We need Kosher establishments because they embody the affirmation of a shared Jewish authenticity, the opportunity to have Jewish community where everyone (strict and lenient) can have a common meeting place. This is why I'm hoping that, though the Conservative Movement (in a tehuvah by Rabbi Elliot Dorff) has allowed wine both hechshered (certified) and not, we should support kosher wineries through shul policy - because in today's day and age, you have to try to not buy kosher wine. It's easy - online in in stores. This is a matter of convenience and flavor-preference as opposed to commitment.

When kosher choices are called for because the menu includes non-kosher choices, Rabbi Leff's teshuvah is important as a "how-to." And yes, let's create (maybe as another dreamful 'Shefadik' conversation?) a "how-to-drive-to-shul-on-Shabbat" with a clear ideal of living close enough to shul to make it irrelevant. This doesn't stigmatize those who drive - it channels the necessary choice, based on legitimate factors, into a path of kedusha/holiness - within the Halacha as already validated by the Conservative Movement. When we call into question the Conservative Movement's decisions, we are actually denying our own legitimacy and demonstrating radical, harmful, envy for whichever form of Judaism we claim has it "right" where we don't.

Orthodoxy is based largely on the concept of "yeridat hadorot", that every generation since Sinai has less authority due to the forward march of time. Reform is based on Sacred Autonomy coupled with prioritizing the prophetic (moral) voice of Judaism over rabbinic halachic norms. We are called, I believe, as Conservative/Masorti Jews, to bring Sinai and Torah with us everywhere we go. We stand on the shoulders of giants and are called to be giants of yiddishkeit ourselves, mitzvah heroes (including the Social Justice innovators of Danny Siegel's former Ziv-network) who care about Torah with open eyes and actual decisions. We challenge the inherited halacha and embrace the tension of holding onto ideals without rejecting new authentic possibilities. We retranslate the triumphalist Aleinu's "literal" meaning and still sing it. I'm not worried about being judged authentic by my Orthodox friends - and they aren't worried about being judged as authentic by me. We have work to do, and each community must follow its own authentic path, guided by genuine established commitments (Halacha & Social Justice being the Conservative Movement's, I believe).

I believe we are called to be a Kosher Movement, and that this conversation is about increasing the Kashrut in many people's lives. May the conversations we are so blessed to share on the ShefaNetwork become contagious - throughout our Movement and beyond.

Kol Tuv,
Menachem

Rabbi Menachem Creditor
-- www.netivotshalom.org
-- www.shefanetwork.org
-- menachemcreditor.org

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Tisha Be’av 5768: “Fire Scars”

Tish Be'av 5768: "Fire Scars"

© Rabbi Menachem Creditor

I stood today in a burnt Holy of Holies, staring at the scorched walls reaching toward the sky. I was moved to tears at the ancient loss, standing in island of black. It was a sacred experience beyond time and it will remain with me.

The holy "fire scar" I witnessed was not in Jerusalem, but rather deep within the Cathedral Grove of Muir Forest. This native sanctuary has weathered wildfires which occasionally kill mature trees and open holes in the canopy toward which younger successors grow. Nearly every big redwood at Muir has a fire scar, a place where long ago flames burned through the bark and cambium layer. But, ever resilient in the face of such phenomena, redwoods slowly cover the scar with new wood; eventually there will be no external sign the burn ever occurred. How familiar this feels to the Jewish soul.

Tisha Be'av, this coming Sunday, is the day upon which we remember (and some mourn) the lost Jerusalem Temples. Tradition has suggested as well that that the following tragedies occurred on Tisha Be'av: the negative report of the spies in the desert, Betar, the last holdout of the Jewish people in the Bar Kochba Revolt fell, the edict for the Spanish expulsion of Jews was issued, and World War I began. Historicity is perhaps less important than meaning here. Tisha Be'av is a day of loss. It is, simply said, a very sad day for the Jewish people.

And yet there is laughter and life and sweetness. As I stood within a tree whose center was burned away I felt both sad and inspired as I contemplated possible connections between two devastated and reborn sacred places. In a place of desolation a determined forest thrives.

I've emphasized, when teaching about Tisha Be'av, not the restrictions similar to those of Yom Kippur (intimacy, washing, eating, drinking, cosmetics), but two prohibitions unique to this day: greeting people and learning Torah. Both Torah and community, two sources of comfort and strength, are circumscribed on this day. So strange, so very not-Jewish! And yet there is a time for this as well, a place for loss and sadness.

The restrictions common to both Yom Kippur and Tisha Be'av set the contexts for their radically different intents. Yom Kippur is about being reborn, about re-establishing connection with God and community. But Tisha Be'av is very different - it is about losing our center.

I don't pray for restoration of the Temple. The Jerusalem Temples were crucial to the development of Modern Judaism, but their place is in our cultural memory - not current practice. I do mourn, however, for the loss of a common center. I don't truly believe that all Jews looked to one place in the same way - I think our modern differences have their roots in the past. But a deep part of me wishes we could have that today - a common center.

When we read on Tisha Be'av the words "my eyes run with water" (Lam. 1:16), we allow ourselves to penetrate deep within to acknowledge and reflect on our own "fire scars." Jerusalem is both a physical place and an aspect of the soul. There is life and there is loss, connection and aloneness. Healing begins, perhaps, when we face our scars.

I walked in a cathedral today, stopping to daven mincha within a tree, and prayed that our scarred centers be safe places from which growth is possible. We pray this Sunday, and every day, for the peace of Jerusalem - both the one we see and the one we contain.

Pinchas 5768: "The Blessings of Brokenness"

Pinchas 5768: "The Blessings of Brokenness" 

(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

The great Israeli poet Chaim Nachman Bialik once said that reading a translation is like kissing through a veil.  The beginning of Parashat Pinchas illustrates this quite clearly.  And not only does the biblical Hebrew lose its power refracted into the vernacular, but even if the Hebrew of a handheld Chumash is consulted, there is much missing which can only be experienced by direct contact with the Torah scroll itself.

First the language.  We read (translate) the following:

"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Phinchas, son of Elazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the Israelites by displaying among them his jealousy for Me, so that I did not wipe out the Israelite people in My Jealousy. Say, therefore, 'I grant him My 'Covenant of Shalom'. It shall be for him and his descendants after him a pact of priesthood for all time, because he was jealous for his God, thus making expiation for the Israelites.' Numbers 25:10-13)"

The beginning of Parashat Pinchas recounts in only the vaguest of terms that which Pinchas actually did.  He killed an Israelite who was publicly licentious with a Moabite woman.  Pinchas struck them both through with a spear.  This act, incredibly violent, is narrated in the conclusion of the previous Torah portion, separated from ours, perhaps in order to demonstrate an ancient discomfort connecting God's blessing to Pinchas' violence.  

The word for God's "jealousy" is also curious, offered sometimes as "passion" or "zealousness."  But the ugliness of jealousy captures the text's rawness better than those other terms, and still falls short.  God is jealous, and Pinchas' act is connected to that angry, self-doubting emotion.  Whenever Israel cheats on God, straying from theological monogamy, God gets jealous.  

Indeed, it might be possible to read the text as suggesting that through Pinchas' ugly act, God learns.  God's Jealousy is manifest on a human scale through Pinchas' violence.  Perhaps the Covenant of Peace is one which God only recognizes as necessary when the raw divine emotion actualizes through Pinchas and wreaks havoc in the human sphere.  It is as if God says to God's Self, "Gevalt.  Look what jealousy, connected with Me, does on earth."  Pinchas teaches God through demonstrating the wrong example, an imperfect response to personal pain.  He certainly needs God's Covenant of Peace - as does God in moments of Divine Anger.  It is just too easy to think small and foment pain in the world.  If I feel threatened, my natural inclination is to lash out.  Our vision of God, connected in its Essence to our self-understandings, makes this very clear.  If God learns by observing violence in God's name, how can we not?  Limited religious vision in our day and age results in violence.  Wouldn't we accept the Covenant of Shalom if offered? 

Now to the Biblical text itself.  The traditional calligraphy of the Torah intentionally includes two oddities in the opening verses.  The 'yud' in Pinchas' name is incredibly small, and the 'vav' of the word 'Shalom' is broken in half.

The small 'yud' is connected to tradition of biblical names which refer to God's own Name.  Avram becomes 'Avraham', where the letter 'heh' is part of God's Mysterious Name, and Ya'akov becomes 'Yisrael', including the name 'El' from 'Elohim', another Name for God.  Here, Pinchas' name includes a holy 'yud', but that visual connection to God's Name is reduced.  Perhaps Pinchas' essential holy connection is reduced through the smallness of his act.  Violence is effective and flashy, but not sustainable, not healthy - and not holy.  Pinchas cares deeply about God but fails to be a partner in conversation, forgetting to mediate the intensity of Divine emotionality with the individuality of being an other to God's Self.  

Rashi suggests that Pinchas wasn't officially a priest until this episode, and so we might imagine that Pinchas was jealous of the honorific, the respect, the public acknowledgment of being a servant for God in the world.  And perhaps his violent act suggested to God the need for more structure, more rules.  Being a priest included certain garb, certain rituals, certain decorum - all rationales for curbing the powerful emotional instability Pinchas (and others) demonstrate.

The broken 'vav' in the word 'Shalom' means that God's blessing to Pinchas is a Covenant of Broken Peace.  When we believe we contribute to the world and that we are whole as we do so, we forget that the world which calls our attention so loudly needs the care of a similarly broken soul.  As Parker Palmer suggests in A Hidden Wholeness (2004):

"Wholeness does not mean perfection; it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life.  Knowing this gives me hope that human wholeness... need not be a utopian dream, if we can use devastation as a seedbed for new life. (p.5)"

May we all be blessed by God's Shalom, the awareness that righteous indignation has its place but is deeply misplaced when manifested as an attack.

May we remember that our vulnerable selves are holy and that the wholeness we seek is sought too by the Holy One.

            Amen.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor
-- www.netivotshalom.org
-- www.shefanetwork.org
-- menachemcreditor.org

A Note from Rabbi Creditor: "Continuous Creation" in honor of David Stein and Aliza Segal

A Note from Rabbi Creditor:

"Continuous Creation"
in honor of David Stein and Aliza Segal

  15 Tammuz 5768
July 18, 2008

While tradition teaches that "kol hatchalot kashot/all beginnings are hard" there are times when beginnings are moments of palpable love.

One year ago, when we arrived in Berkeley with almost 3 children and many dreams, we took a step forward into the unknown.  Netivot Shalom, a place of deep Torah and caring, was a new and mysterious community.  I remember that very first day in my office, that very first Shabbat, those first friendships.  Two of those first friends, two beloved members of our community, are making new beginnings in the coming weeks.  I'm humbled to return the care with which they welcomed my family as they prepare for their next steps by sharing these words.

The Torah's first story recounts the difficulties involved in creation.  Mystery and challenges in the narrative speak to and about people who are at the junction of faith and history, of science and future promise. The Hebrew text is so pregnant with meaning that it can fill whole libraries dedicated to Midrashic thought and interpretation.  But there is one clear direction of creation, in which God takes the waters that were a primordial void, divides and stops them up in the Heavens above ("shamayim", the Hebrew word for the Heavens, is actually two words "sham mayim: there is water") and the sea below.

One would think that this divine effort would last.  But it doesn't.  The very next Torah portion, the story of Noach, includes an undoing of creation.  God "takes out the stoppers" for the waters above and releases the fountains below, erasing the creative event.  Only through an ongoing creation, sustained in every subsequent story, can history flow and gain strength.  Creation undone is rupture, and only a temporary accomplishment - even for God.

It is in light of this thought that I turn to the grand work of David Stein and Aliza Segal.  It is because of their generous spirits and profound commitments to our community that we are where we are.  This shul community is growing in strength, numbers, and intimacy.  We understand more about systems and communication.  We have a better understanding of the responsibilities each role in our shul demands.  They have empowered our community to continue the process of creation they tended so well.

Aliza greeted my family the very day we arrived for the interview Shabbat.  With her she brought abundant food and overflowing grace.  She helped us know the soul of Netivot Shalom by sharing her own with us.  And then, when we were blessed to move here, she and her family moved just 4 doors down from our home.  We had a little "kibbutz" of a block with children visiting all the time, parents sharing Shabbat and the park.  But when I began my work as rabbi of Netivot Shalom, it was Aliza's mind and skill that inspired me the most.  She brought real care and mindfulness to our office, to our shul.  And with the blessing of Tova Nechama in their lives, she and Yehoshua's decision to take their next step as a family is, while natural, a loss to us all - to me.  I'm proud to be Aliza's friend.  We'll miss the Segals very much, and are proud to always be their home.

David Stein.  All I can do is start by saying his name and smiling.  My first moment with David was informative - we spoke for just a few moments in which he made clear to me his passion and skills, and his commitment to continue as executive director for one year of the next rabbi's tenure, a promise of continuity and stability.  No gift could have meant more to me personally, professionally, and to our community as a thriving, dynamic entity.  And I have loved David since meeting him.  He is my friend and my teacher.  When he and Bill moved to Berkeley, in order to be close to our shul, I was inspired.  When we sat to plan the transition to a new executive director, I was overwhelmed.  David has worked harder than we could have asked.  He has cared more than we will ever know.  And we are blessed that he and Bill are - and will always be - members of the Netivot Shalom community.  Because of David's gifts, we are ready to continue creating.

Every transition is an opportunity to realize the blessings we already share, and to envision the blessings to come.  Aliza and David were honored by our shul community last Shabbat in a Friday night celebration.  Today, "Sabbah Daveed" was the guest of honor at the Preschool "pretend Shabbat."

May Aliza and her family feel our love and our gratitude every step of their ways.

May David and Bill enjoy their new "civilian" roles in our community.

May they and we always feel this kind of love and gratitude, experiencing the ongoing creation of healthy, holy community.

Shabbat Shalom.

--
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom
1316 University Ave, Berkeley, CA
www.netivotshalom.org
510.549.9447

links for Living a Mythic Life: Mythic Conduct

Lieberman's Sabbath has deep spiritual meaning (CNN)

Kashrut and Nonduality (ZEEK: Jay Michaelson)

Why Beat the Willow? When tradition is silent, symbolic explanations arise. (Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson)

A Reflection on Jewish Law for the Modern Jew

A Reflection on Jewish Law for the Modern Jew
Rabbi Menachem Creditor

For those who have not heard of the decision by Church of England this past Monday (July 7) to endorse women as bishops, the relevant New York Times article should be read as a potential tool for re-understanding the tension felt by any living spiritual community:  how to remain both religiously authentic and honestly responsive to the world in which we live. 

There are those in every faith tradition who would depict responsive traditionalists as "manipulators of [Religious Law] to justify their abandonment of whatever elements of Jewish religious law frustrate some of their congregants' wishes or clash with contemporary societal mores."  These were the words of Rabbi Avi Shafran, in the sequel to his now-infamous "The Conservative Lie (Moment, Feb. 2001)," in which he claimed that "while proclaiming fealty to halachah [Jewish Law], the movement's leaders have brazenly trampled the very concept."  Compare them, in tone, to the following words in reaction to the Church of England's decision this week:

"It's getting worse; it's going downhill very badly," the Rev. David Houlding, a leader of the traditionalists, said after the York vote, according to a report by the newspaper The Guardian. "It's quite clear that there is a pincer movement, and we're being squeezed out." But he added, "There will be no walkout — yet."

How do those who advocate for a responsive tradition respond to both the claim of inauthenticity and the threat of walkout by self-described 'traditionalists'?

Charles Taylor argued in his classic The Ethics of Authenticity (1992) that "we are only individuals in so far as we are social... [and that] being authentic, being faithful to ourselves, is being faithful to something which was produced in collaboration with a lot of other people."  Taylor points out that the concept of "authenticity, of self-fulfillment... seems to render ineffective the whole tradition of common values and social commitment."  Whereas Taylor carefully pointed out the perils connected to modernity's inclination towards self-realization, he was not as quick as others to dismiss it, calling for a "freeze on cultural pessimism."

Some words from the masterful new book by Rabbi Elliot Dorff, For the Love of God and People: A Philosophy of Jewish Law (2007) are useful here.  In rejecting the theory of Legal Positivism, embraced by some including Rabbi Joel Roth, and positively pessimistic in my understanding of Taylor's term, Dorff writes:

"[Legal Positivism is] the doctrine that the law is totally encompassed by what the legislators say it is in the the law they posit.  They may have had all kinds of reasons to enact a particular law - moral, social, economic, political, or simply the pressure of time - but none of that matters in interpreting and applying the law; what counts is what the law says (49). ...Roth gives less weight to [external] factors than to the stated law itself, evidenced by the very term he uses: by describing such factors [as moral, social, economic, etc...] as extralegal, he clearly asserts that for him their are, literally, outside the law (50).  ...This immediately identifies the law with the received, written tradition.  Other theorists of the Law [including Dorff] would disagree with him completely, pointing to the oral nature of most of the tradition from its very origins and the immense role that custom, morality, economics, politics, and even style have played in the history of Jewish law, especially as Jews spread all over the world.  As a result, despite Roth's conscientious effort to demonstrate the role of such extralegal elements in the law in the past, his theory seems to limit the scope and the methods of the law far too much to be historically accurate, and many would find his definition of Jewish law too narrow to form a wide basis for making Jewish legal decisions in our own time (52). ...Finally, with Roth's understanding of the nature of the law, there can be no serious moral or social critique of the law.  Instead either the law is accepted forever as the criterion of what it means to be moral or it loses any claim to morality. ...  This was clearly in evidence, for example, in [Roth's] method for justifying the ordination of women [in the Conservative Movement], by which he based his argument solely on what he could find in precedents without mentioning morality as even one of several motivating factors for the change (57). ...[The] continuing interaction between received Jewish law with both internal and external factors is the reason that Joel Roth's claim that law must be 'the dog wagging the tail of theology' cannot be right.  It is rather that Jewish law, theology, morality, and political, social, technological, scientific, and economic developments in the Jewish community and in the larger communities within which Jews live are all intertwined, and each affects each other in critical ways in an ongoing basis (68)."

There are important balances to this philosophy of responsive traditionalism, including deliberately maintaining the integrity of the system while celebrating every advance.  But the claim that introducing change into religious tradition is corrosive presumes a limited legal approach similar to Roth's and is damaging to both the relevance and the authenticity of a modern traditional Judaism.  After Roth resigned from the Conservative Committee on Jewish Law and Standards due to the acceptance of a legal response permitting most sexual activity between men, sexual activity between women, commitment ceremonies and ordination for LGBT Jews, he wrote in the JTA op-ed Committee on Gay Ruling Stepped out of Halachic Framework (Dec. 10, 2006):

"Despite the popular view of what we were arguing about, I believe that the subject of gays was not what we were really divided over. It happened to be the specific subject that revealed the real fault lines in the committee, and in the Conservative movement in general. ...I believe we were divided over the following irreconcilable issues: How entitled are we to overturn longstanding and uncontested precedents of Jewish law? ...What divided us was the question of our right to adopt a legal stance... Even if the prohibition against sexual behavior other than male intercourse is rabbinic in authority and not biblical, what justifies our abrogating that prohibition? ...How halachically defensible does an argument have to be before it can be considered within the halachic ballpark?"

Roth was right about the questions being asked.  But embodied in his response is the presumption of modern powerlessness in the face of imperfect inherited tradition.  Older Jewish codes which are challenged by new questions were themselves, so many times, challenges to earlier articulations of tradition, none of which were infinite in their future vision or authority. 

The authenticity of each generation's religious voice and the parameters by which they are commanded must include the wisdom gained by their own experience and an expansive and textured love for the God who has yearned along with every generation of spiritual seekers.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor
-- www.netivotshalom.org
-- www.shefanetwork.org
-- menachemcreditor.org