my support of MOCHA

Dear Masako Kalbach and Hilmon Sorey,

I am a rabbi of a Jewish congregation in Berkeley, and I can only imagine the many, many letters, let alone the social media blitz that has attacked MOCHA for the decision to cancel the exhibit featuring children's art from Gaza.  I wish to offer my support, and the support of my community, and our gratitude for your decision.  I have experienced great hatred aimed at many kinds of people since arriving in the Bay Area 5 years ago, and was proud that, just this past Sunday, my Jewish community stood and prayed with our Turkish Muslim friends at the Pacifica Institute for the health of American and the world.  I am a rabbi who prays for a Palestinian State to emerge safely, someday soon.  

I am so sorry for the inundation you must be dealing with.  It should alert us all to the highly politicized campaigns being wielded surrounding Israel/Palestine.  I am here to assist you to engage and share the conversation, should you ask.

With prayers for peace,

Rabbi Menachem Creditor

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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Urgent Action: Show Your Support for MOCHA

Tuesday, September 13, 2011   Chevrei, Over the past weeks, we have come together as a community to express our collective concern over the "Child's View from Gaza" exhibit that was scheduled to open this week at MOCHA, the Museum of Children's Art, in Oakland. As I shared with you before Shabbat, MOCHA's Board of Directors heard our concerns and has decided to cancel the exhibit. Now MOCHA is being inundated with letters, emails, Facebook and Twitter posts accusing MOCHA of censorship and insisting that the decision be reversed. WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW. MOCHA needs to hear from the Jewish community that we applaud their decision and that we are grateful that the children of the East Bay will not be exposed to violent propaganda within the walls of an important community institution. To support MOCHA's decision to cancel the scheduled "Child's View from Gaza" exhibit in the face of immense public criticism from anti-Israel groups we urge you to TAKE ACTION: Educate yourself about the proposed content of the exhibit: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/project/let-children-play-and-heal/childs-view-gaza Email MOCHA to express your gratitude for their decision to cancel the exhibit: Executive Director: Masako Kalbach, masako@mocha.org Chair of MOCHA Board: Hilmon Sorey, hilmon@sandler.com Visit Mocha's Facebook to express your view. The page is inundated with anti-Israel responses. Write letters to the editor supporting MOCHA's decision to your local media, in particular to newspapers that, in our view, have published an inaccurate or partial description of the exhibit. These include the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, and the Contra Costa Times. Help change the tone of the @JFEDeastbay twitter feed by mentioning us in your tweets in a positive manner. Potential talking points for supporting MOCHA's position: This exhibit, sponsored by a well-known political advocacy organization (the Middle East Children's Alliance), constitutes propaganda aimed at indoctrinating our children under the guise of art. There is no context given to understand the complex issues facing Israel and the Palestinians, nor is there recognition that Israeli as well as Palestinian children are the continuing victims of the conflict. The exhibit contains images of extreme violence that demonize and dehumanize an entire ethnic and religious population. A biased, one-sided perspective filled with depictions of violence has no place in a community-based museum dedicated to serving very young children, including three-, four- and five-year- olds. The museum's leadership recognized the negative effect that this exhibit — ripe with violent imagery often focused on Jewish and Israeli symbols such as the Jewish Star — would have on young children, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, and that the exhibit would have created a very divisive and potentially unsafe atmosphere for Jewish children. The political organization that created this exhibit also planned to arrange for a cartoonist, Khalil Bendib, to work with children visitors to the exhibit. This cartoonist's work is known to contain extremely offensive and anti-Semitic imagery. http://bendibexposed.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/12 For further information, please see and forward our recent press release, The Jewish Community Applauds Children's Art Museum's Decision on Exhibit. With appreciation to Federation's Partnership for Israel, the Jewish Community Relations Council, and the Anti-Defamation League, and to you for your ongoing support of our community and our People, l'shalom,

A Powerful Journey!

Find Netivot Shalom on: From Rabbi Creditor A Powerful Journey 14 Elul, 5771 September 13, 2011 Dear Chevreh,    We are two weeks away from Rosh HaShannah!  Unbelievable!  Many of us heard  Ruth Messinger deliver an impassioned drasha at shul this past Shabbat morning, calling us to action.  She had called personally to ask if she could speak at Netivot Shalom - just let that sink in.  Ruth is a modern prophetess, leading all of North American Jewry forward through the amazing commitments of American Jewish World Service, and she asked to speak at Netivot Shalom.  We are so blessed.  And so obligated to gather up our strength within our community, so that we can be strong enough to answer her call.    Many of us gathered this past Sunday for our 9/11 Ten Year Memorial, organized by Karen Juster Hecht and cosponsored by our friends at the Pacifica Institute.  We  stood, remembered, and learned each other's names.  We prayed, and our Muslim sisters and brothers prayed in our Preschool room.  Just let that sink in.  We have built, during these past years, a textured relationship with our Turkish Muslim friends, enough of a relationship that they knew their prayers and ours were aligned.  We are so blessed.  And so obligated to be strong as a shul so that our loving, safe space can be many Peoples' home.   Here are some of the ways our creative potential will be manifest this coming year.  These efforts are reminders of the power of the Netivot Shalom community: 1) Nov. 19th, 8pm: Josh Kornbluth performs "Love and Taxes" (interspersed with clips from his upcoming film release) at CNS 2) Dec. 4th, 8pm: Release concert of my new CD "Within" (a collaborative shul effort with Cantor Jennie Chabon, Liz Creditor, Julie Batz, Rabbi Kelman, Alison Jordan, Claudia Valas, Nina Meigs, Nadine Samuels, Karen Friedman, Justin Garland, Helen Schneider, and Willa Mamet) 3) Dec. 10th, 10am: a special brunch to celebrate the Publication of Netivot: Paths of Torah, our professionally-published collection of 20 years of CNS Drashot, edited by Peter Strauss and Judith McCullough with contributions from over 50 shul members and a foreword by Rabbi Kelman 4) February 11, a Night at CNS with Anat Hoffman, director of Women of the Wall Please mark your calendars, and fill your sails with wind - these events are more than simply events.  They will each empower us to fulfill "the mitzvot for which there is no measure", as Rabbi Kelman championed from the earliest days of our shul's life.  Feel the power of belonging to such a special community!  Let that sink in!  And then harness it for the sacred work ahead!   It is our duty to generate the power to make miracles real.  Two weeks until Rosh HaShannah. The world is about to be born anew.   May it be blessed by conviction and strength, and may Netivot Shalom be a channel for these blessings to spread throughout the world.    Kol Tuv, and an early Shannah Tovah! Rabbi Creditor   p.s. For more information, checkout the CNS Blog!

"10 years later" by Yonina Creditor

"10 years later" 

by Yonina Creditor

Would you believe me if I told you that I was envious of Job - how there are similarities  between my life and his.

Job loved God and shunned evil and through a bet between God and the Adversary, Job is tested through loss. 

His children die tragically and all his possessions are destroyed or taken. 

His friends and wife are no comfort to him. 

Eventually Job cries out to God for answer and he is given one. He is told that he does not need to understand why things happen in the world. 

God restores Job's wealth and children and lives to be 140. 

We have both lost in traumatic fashion. He lost his children, and I lost fellow EMTs and firefighters in New York City who were like family. 

We both know that we did nothing wrong and regardless of how many times we tell ourselves this, it does not lesson the burden of summering and feeling the guilt of having survived. 

I do not envy Job with friends who did not support him. I at least had support from fellow unit members and family. But both of us still sit with all this pain that we can not seem to set aside. 

And despite all of this, I envy Job. 

I am envious because though he had experienced total loss, God returned everything to him.

I have lost friends who are irreplaceable.

I have lost a part of myself. 

I am not the person I was before 9/11.

That person is gone and never coming back. 

I envy Job most of all because after all his suffering, he got an answer. 

It does not matter to me whether the answer was enough - he got one.

I am still waiting. 

I want to know that their deaths had meaning, that they served a greater purpose.

I envy a man who was made whole again. 

Because after 10 years, I know that I am not. 

I wonder if he looks at his grandchildren and sees the echos of the children he lost. 

A look, a laugh, a gesture. 

Does he see ghosts like I do, walking around the streets of Manhattan?

Do his ghosts disturb his sleep like mine?

Does he feel like he has lived his life remembering and honoring his dead children?

Does he carry the burden like me, that I should live my life because others died in my place?

Does he look back and realize he's changed and misses who he once was?

Does he laugh less like me?

Does he commemorate the day with others or does the overwhelming pain choke him into silence?

Does he feel guilty that it has become easier to mark the day and feels like that alone is doing his children a disservice?

Did he ever explain to the new children about where their names came from?

We both have one day that we mark to remember publicly with private moments throughout the year. 

As time passes, it feels different and uncomfortably comforting.

We set this time aside to remember, to not forget the sacrifices of those we have lost. 

We rely on the strength of those around us to carry us when we have not the strength to commemorate alone. 

We give ourselves permission to share our grief today with you. 

We allow ourselves to feel the pain this day, rather than hide behind the armor of numbness with which we walk around all year.

We remember them today and always. 

Through us, their brave spirits carry on. 

Through this moment of sharing, they live on through you now too.

Yonina Creditor

NYS EMT 1999 - 2009 

JTS Rabbinical School 2012

A Reflection of Psalm 1

A Reflection of Psalm 1

(c) Rabbi Menachem Creditor

with gratitude for the sacred friendships of Pastor Dana Cunliffe, Pastor Michael McBride, and Reverend Sarah Isaakson

Blessed is one who neither walks, 

nor stands, 

nor sits in cynicism 

but rather delights in the Wisdom of the Infinite, 

meditating and acting wisely 

day and night. 

That one shall be like a tree 

planted by the rivers of water, 

that brings forth nourishment when needed, 

who succeeds and gains in strength over time. 

Scornful people are not like this. 

They are like chaff driven by the wind. 

Abuse and hurt will not last in a just community. 

God knows us deeply and is the love we seek.

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti ||  ShefaNetwork 

Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 

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

Save the Dates for Upcoming Speakers!

Congregation Netivot Shalom Save the Dates: Upcoming Speakers! Netivot Shalom Links... CNS Website CNS Blog CNS Calendar CNS Preschool Shorashim Hebrew School Amitim Midrasha CNS Adult Education Make a donation to Netivot Shalom!   Congregation Netivot Shalom is an egalitarian, participatory Sacred Community that encourages and engages in Tefilah(Prayer), Torah (Learning), Tzedeka (Social Justice), and Kehillah (Community) within our congregation and the broader community.  Our mission is to inspire Jewish practices among individuals and families who are considering Judaism, are intermarried, or Jewish. We share a commitment to Masorti (Conservative) Judaism and furthering individual and communal spiritual growth, while recognizing a range of personal philosophies, practices and needs.   Upcoming Speakers at Netivot Shalom!   September 10: Ruth Messinger, President of American Jewish World Service   Ruth Messinger turned the American Jewish World Service into a communal powerhouse. During Messinger's tenure, AJWS has pioneered a unique blend of support for grass-roots efforts in the developing world with advocacy for social change, all in the context of Jewish teaching. Messinger's leadership again galvanized the world through her extraordinary efforts after an earthquake devastated much of Haiti.  Just hours after the earthquake tore into the poorest nation in the hemisphere, Messinger arranged for AJWS grantees to coordinate relief activities and galvanized a fundraising effort that eventually brought in more than $6 million to 17 Haitian organizations.   November 17: Jay Michaelson, Author of "God vs. Gay"    Jay Michaelson is a writer, scholar, and activist whose work addresses the intersections of religion, sexuality, spirituality, and law.  His newest book is God vs. Gay?  The Religious Case for Equality, will be published in October, 2011, by Beacon Press.  Jay is is the author of three other books and over 200 articles, essays, and works of fiction.  He is the Associate Editor of Religion Dispatches, a Contributing Editor to the Forward newspaper, and Founding Editor of Zeek magazine.  His work on behalf of sexual minorities in religious communities has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, and NPR, as well as several anthologies.    February 11: Anat Hoffman, Chairperson of Women of the Wall   Anat Hoffman is the chairwoman of Women of the Wall. She is the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center, the legal and advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel. Previously she held a seat on the Jerusalem City Council, where for fourteen years she stood in opposition to the policies of the city's right-wing and ultra-Orthodox administration. She has dedicated her adult life to the Jewish principle of tikkun olam, which literally means repairing the world.

JTS's Conservative Judaism Blog: "Jews and Others: The Responses"

Dear JTS Family, Why do we label ourselves and others, and what can we learn from it? This week, in "Jews and Others: The Responses," I rejoin the lively conversation that is taking place on the JTS blog. Conservative Jews are sharing their experiences and discussing their beliefs on a variety of topics. Read the essay and let me know what you think. Visit the "Conservative Judaism: A Community Conversation" blog—and follow me on Twitter @Arnold Eisen (twitter.com/ArnoldEisen) as well. Sincerely, Arnold M. Eisen Chancellor The Jewish Theological Seminary