We don't judge people for having cancer. We shouldn't judge anyone for having a mental illness either. #samelove #divineimage

Life is so very precious.

From Rabbi Creditor: Etrogs in Elul, Selichot, and Pre-Holiday Energy!!

Order Lulav and Etrog from Afikomen by Aug. 30! Sukkot is around the corner-it starts on September 18th! Order your lulav and etrog from Afikomen by Aug. 30th. $60 a set. Orders can be placed on line at afikomen.com, by phone, or by email with credit card information provided over the phone (510-655-1977). Quick Links CNS Homepage CNS Blog CNS Preschool  Ketzev! Rabbi Creditor's Blog Make a Donation!   click the picture for info about the film! Selichot are next Saturday Night! SATURDAY EVENING, August 31 9:00 PM: MOVIE: THE FLAT Followed by DISCUSSION with RABBI CREDITOR  Slichot begins at 11:00 PM  A Note from Rabbi Creditor  Dear Chevreh, We've had an intense past few weeks.  With too many losses of precious community members, and never enough (though we've had many!) celebrations of engagements, anniversaries, weddings, bnai mitzvah, the launch of our Ketzev Youth Chavurah - with all of this, preparation for Rosh haShannah and Yom Kippur seems calm! I write to share my own enthusiasm for the year to come. Many rabbis and synagogue leaders experience deep stress during these pre-Chagim days. But here in our sacred home, the partnerships that support our lives, our celebrations, our mourning - all of them are in full effect. How could that generate anything other than pride? Rosh haShannah and Yom Kippur - and Sukkot and Simchat Torah and Channukah, Tu biShvat, Purim, and Pesach - are going to be simply amazing. Because we get to share them together as a shul. May the days leading into the Yamim Nora'im be touched by more love than anything else. An early Shannah Tovah, friends - I can't wait for us to be together for the chagim! Rabbi Creditor --- netivotshalom.org

haYom Harat Olam // Today the World is Born: a Kavannah

haYom Harat Olam // Today the World is Born: a Kavannah
Rabbi Menachem Creditor


God, we stand waiting for a world, this world, our world to be reborn. It's not a statement we make lightly; it is a statement of need. This world needs rebirthing. Our hearts need deep healing. Our lives need rebuilding after all the pointless deaths we've endured this past year. Dear God, Guns and violence have destroyed tens of thousands of lives in America this year. Tens of thousands. We call to You, Adonai, and beg that you stand in Din, in Judgment, of our carelessness and our callousness at the senseless, avoidable loss of many human lives. We call to you, Adonai, to infuse our souls with Chesed, Your Love, so that we really start to cry out from the pain our nation has endured for far too long. May we be inspired by You and act to save many, many lives this coming year. We know, I know, that only then will we be worthy of a world reborn. 

End #GunViolence Now!!!

Shmot/Exodus begins tomorrow! Join the #Torah journey!

Shmot/Exodus begins tomorrow! Join the #Torah journey! -- https://m.facebook.com/opensourcetorahproject

Craig Taubman Takes on Wilshire Blvd. Temple Critics

Craig Taubman Takes on Wilshire Blvd. Temple Critics

Posted by JewishJournal.com -- August 21, 2013 | 1:11 am

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Craig Taubman

A heated Facebook debate has broken out over whether the $120 - $150 million rennovation of Wilshire Blvd. Temple in Los Angeles is worth it.

A front page New York Times story on the campaign led by Rabbi Steve Leder to restore the grand synagogue in L.A.'s Koreatown neighborhood and turn its adjacent property into a community social service center promped Rabbi Charlie Savenor, director of congregational enrichment at the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, to post a criticism on his Facebook page.

"Intriguing article about a synagogue facelift," Savenor wrote.  "While I respect their leadership's conviction and sense of purpose, $150 million can buy a lot of Shabbat dinners and hire an army of engagement/outreach professionals. What do you think?"

Dozens of Rabbi Savenor's Facebook friends weighed in, most of them equally critical of the project.
That prompted Craig Taubman, the Los Angeles activist and musician, to send an e-mail to rabbis and other Jewish professionals taking issue with the critics.  Taubman, who requested his message be quoted in full, wrote:

From where I sit in sunny California - reading the critiques of Rabbi Steve Leder’s $150 million project…I read "envy".

From where I sit, I see a visionary man leading his flock,  raising millions and inspiring a community to create a center of healing, hope and promise in the heart of Los Angeles.
From where I sit, I question how people can question whether the money can be used more wisely?

Some other thoughts:

1.  It's his vision and charisma that has motivated his people to pony up. He’s banking on the future and I say Kol Hakavod - all honor to him and his generous trusting flock!

2. The USCJ by it's own admission  “according to a financial audit obtained by JTA, the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism reported back-to-back losses of $3 million in 2012 and $2.7 million the previous year” Assuming this information is accurate, the USCJ just might be bankrupt possibly before Wilshire Blvd completes it’s historic build out.

3. If I were an investor in the futures market, I’d bank on Rabbi Leder before the USCJ.  He has a vision of the future and based on his portfolio it seems likely he will be in business for at least another 100 years (Since its founding in 1862 when Abraham Lincoln was President)

4.  From where I still sit in sunny California, while I know the convention planner are working like dogs with nothing but the best intentions, I question the value of the USCJ hosting yet another “conversation of the century" Franky I think it's time we (us, you, me) take action and make gutsy "movement" that informs the future rather then yet another talk about the future.
Why? Because long after the newspaper articles and Facebook critiques have been written and read.  Weeks, months and years after the "conversation of the century" has taken place, Rabbi Leder will have created a model and a foundation that will speak far more loudly than our words.  He will have laid the foundation for his truth based in the conviction of his actions. A truth that reflects his spirit of hope, and his faith in the potential that we all have reverberate today, tomorrow and perhaps even into yet another glorious century.

Talk is cheap.  Ought we not walk the walk?

Craig Taubman

(In sunny California)

Taubman's wasn't the first defense of the grand vision behind the rennovation (see this Jewish Journal column here), but it is definitely, judging by the numbers on Facebook, in the minority.

To quote Rabbi Savenor: What do you think?

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