Dec 5, 2010

post-Carmel Fire: now the mourning/accountability/healing must begin. how about starting with this one

now the mourning/accountability/healing must begin. how about starting with this one: "Despite circumstances of death, Rabbinate refuses to bury Prison Service cadet Tania Lansky in main plot, as her mother is not Jewish."-- http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3994736,00.html



18:12 , 12.05.10

  
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Final Struggle
Source of inspiration. Lansky
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Fire victim buried in non-Jewish plot

Despite circumstances of death, Rabbinate refuses to bury Prison Service cadet Tania Lansky in main plot, as her mother is not Jewish
Shmulik Hadad

Sad ending – Tania Lansky, 23, from Ashkelon was laid to rest on Sunday at the city's military cemetery.

 

Tania was on board the trapped bus that caught fire on Thursday while making its way to Damon Prison in order to help evacuate prisoners. She died along with 41 of her friends. 

 

Heroic Death

Teen hero killed while fighting Carmel blaze / Yael Branovsky

16-year-old Elad Riven lost his life while volunteering in battle against Carmel hills fire. Birthday balloons still decorate his home. Mother: He was my whole life
Full story
However, even in her death Tania had to struggle – The rabbinate refused to bury her in the cemetery's main plot, because her mom is not Jewish.

 

The mourning mother, who firmly objected to the Rabbinate's decision at first, finally conceded to bury her daughter in the non-Jewish plot after many discussions with officials and the intervention of Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin.

 

 

Tania's sister, Vicky, eulogized her siebling: "My little sister, a huge heart, beautiful, amazing, Israel's hero. Our heart is torn longing for you. My daughter Liam, keeps asking why we are crying, where's Tania? How can I explain a three-year-old? I embrace your clothes, keep checking your phone, and wait for you to walk in through the door."

 

Lansky served at Nafha Prison as part of her mandatory service and was extremely appreciated and loved by her friends and commanders.

 

"From the very beginning, it was clear you had the determination and character of a commander," said Nafha Prison Commander Hezi Markovich. He added that Tania and her boyfriend Roman were planning to get married after she finished the cadets course.

 

Sergeant Gal and Sergeant Nofar, who served with Tania, eulogized their friend and spoke of her work ethics, noting she was a source of inspiration. "You enjoyed life, you always encouraged and supported us; showed us the light at the end of the tunnel," they said.

 


Tania was raised in Ashdod and moved to Ashkelon with her family two years ago. Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin said the municipality "will embrace and help the family as mush as possible."

 

According to Vaknin, Tania was an outstanding student both in high school and at the Prison Service. "You did not ask any questions when you were asked to board that bus – you were one of the first people on it."

 

 




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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
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Dec 3, 2010

A "Big Fat Jewish Email" & New Adult Learning!

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Congregation Netivot Shalom
from Rabbi Shalom Bochner,
Director of Life-Long Learning
Dear Chevreh,NSLogo

I'm writing to share with you an upcoming opportunity for Adult Learning, a series which promises to be one-of-a-kind. 

As you may know, Josh Kornbluth, a comedic monologuist based in Berkeley, joined Netivot Shalom after collaborating with Rabbi Creditor and Dan Schifrin in the monologue "Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?"  Josh's Jewish journey has been touched by our community's approach to learning and living, and I'm proud to share that the next step Josh plans to take is an invitation to us all as he prepares for his own Bar Mitzvah!

Josh will be learning with Rabbi Creditor in preparation for his planned Bar Mitzvah in Israel as part of the CNS Israel Trip this July!  (Josh's email is below this introductory note.)

You are invited to join Josh and Rabbi Creditor in "My Big Fat Jewish Learning," a wide-ranging course that will explore many meaty topics (which, as Josh assured us, will not be mixed with milky topics).  The course curriculum and schedule are online on Josh site here: http://joshkornbluth.com/wordpress/?p=704.  Please register with Rachel in the CNS office at office@netivotshalom.org.  She will provide registration costs, and be helpful with any questions you might have.

The first meeting will be a public event on Jan. 16, 11 a.m. at Afikomen Judaica (which has kindly offered a discount on all the books in our syllabus), followed by six sessions atCNS.  Each class will be 90 minutes long.  

There are many other Adult Education opportunities at CNS, and I'd love to hear any ideas for future courses you might have!  Please email me at education@netivotshalom.org.

Shabbat Shalom, and Channukah Sameach!

Rabbi Bochner, CNS Director of Life-Long Learning

from Joshkornbluth.com

MY BIG FAT JEWISH LEARNING


Hi Friends:

One of the most unexpected turns of my life -- and career -- has been, in my 50s, becoming captivated by Jewish culture, history, and religion.  Ironically, the inspiration came from a lifelong Catholic, Andy Warhol: in 1980 he took a detour from Marilyn, Elvis, and Campbell's soup cans and did 10 portraits of famous 20th-century Jews -- and last year the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco commissioned me to create a solo piece that responded to those portraits.  The result was my latest show, Andy Warhol: Good for the Jews?, with which I'll be touring next year.  (See the "gigs" page of my website for the confirmed dates; Berkeleyites can catch it at the lovely Ashby Stage in February.)  But while that was the result, the process has continued: I have found myself in the thrilling position of being a lifelong casual Jew who has, somewhat belatedly, stumbled onto the gates of Jewish learning.  And as with Kafka's protagonist in his novel The Trial(originally titled Der Process, actually), I have encountered an intimidating guard at those gates: myself, with my complicated (and largely unexplored) relationship to my own Jewishness.

Fortunately, a great new friend has taken my hand and offered to lead me past that guard: Rabbi Menachem Creditor, of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley.  As I describe in the Warhol show, Rabbi Creditor has shared with me a vision of God -- as a creation of the collective human imagination -- that has finally permitted me to explore the rich intellectual and mystical traditions of "my people."  And ironically (or not), this exploration has brought me closer than ever to the power and beauty of the progressive political tradition that was my birthright -- as well as leading me to inspirational prophetic writings in other religions.  And everywhere I go, I keep encountering one of Warhol's 10 subjects (and the one with the most impressive beard), Martin Buber -- which is as it should be, since Buber, the author of I and Thou, was a philosopher who believed that God could be found only through encounters between human beings.

So when Rabbi Creditor recently suggested that he and I put together a tour of Israel next summer, with the goal of having authentic, Buberian encounters with a wide range of Israelis -- of various religious, cultural, and political stripes -- I was overjoyed.  I've never been to Israel -- when I was growing up, the "holy land" for my family was the Soviet Union -- and the thought of going there now, as I am focusing on Jewish stuff for the first time in my life (not counting my long-held love of knishes), makes great sense to me.  So we're going to do it -- from July 13-24, 2011!  And I'd like to invite you to join us!  There are a limited number of spots available for this tour (a bus can hold only so many), and several folks from Congregation Netivot Shalom have already signed up.  Rabbi Creditor has led many trips to Israel, and I have led none -- so on average we've led quite a few.  The rabbi knows quite a lot about Judaism, and I know just a little bit (so far) -- so together we represent a wide range of Jewish learning.  We will go to amazing places and encounter amazing people -- including one another -- in what I expect will be a peak experience of my life.  (You can see a provisional itinerary on my blog.)  I'm sure it will at least be pivotal, as I am planning to have my long-overdue bar mitzvah during our Israel trip; yes, my fellow travelers will actually see me become a man before their eyes!  (Hmm, that came out sounding kind of weird.)  So if you're interested in going on our Israel trip, please email Vicki at vicki@israeltour.com for more information.  (Use the code CREDITKORN for a special early-bird discount, if you order before Dec. 15.)

And if that's not enough Jewishness for you, from January through April of next year Rabbi Creditor and I will be co-teaching a short course in introductory Judaism, "My Big Fat Jewish Learning" -- beginning with a public event at Afikomen Judaica bookstore in Berkeley on Jan. 16 at 11 a.m.  Well, to be more accurate, the rabbi will be teaching the course -- and I will be engaging with the other students in dialogues relating to our shared reading (yes, like our Israel trip, the whole experience will be quite Buberian!).  The topics will be wide-ranging and mind-blowing, and I am almost certain that there will be very strong coffee available.  (See the class schedule, along with an early draft of the syllabus, on my blog.)  For more info on this short course (six 90-minute sessions, plus the Afikomen event), please email Rachel at office@netivotshalom.org.  (The folks at Afikomen have kindly offered to give us a discount on all the books in the reading list.)

Please also feel free to email me directly for more details on either the trip or the course -- or to express your deep concerns about what's become of me.  In any case, I wish you and yours -- Jewish or otherwise (some of my very best family members are Gentiles!) -- a very happy Hanukkah, as well as a lovely holiday season, in these times that so greatly test our spiritual buoyancy.

Take care,
Josh

P.S.: Speaking of Jews and progressivism and spirituality, it has recently been my honor to write some quite silly humor columns for Tikkun magazine.  If you subscribe, you can see all of my articles (along with others of much more substance) online.

P.P.S.: On March 22 I will be engaging in an onstage conversation with Rabbi Creditor at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.  We will wrestle with all the deepest problems of humanity, and sketch out our plans to remake the "road pictures" of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, only reset in a series of shtetls and possibly without singing "White Christmas."

P.P.P.S.: My online store is having its annual holiday sale: you can get $10 off your order with the code JOSHOLIDAY.  By my calculations, this amounts to a savings of thousands of shekels!

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Masorti Fire Emergency Fund

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the masorti (conservative) movement in israel - promoting religious pluralism and building community through inclusive, traditional, egalitarian Judaism
 
Dear All:
 
You are all aware of the devastation of the fires in Israel.
 
Organizations of the Conservative/Masorti movement are jointly working to support a Fire Emergency Fund which will be used as follows:
 
  1. Immediate assistance to those in need;
  2. Funding to support NOAM and MAROM youth in the clean up and relief efforts which will likely be required over a longer period of time;
  3. Any remaining funds will be delivered to JNF as a gift from the Conservative/Masorti movement.
 
Contributions can be made in the following ways:
 
  1. Go online to www.masorti.org, click on "Make a Contribution," and in the Program Designation, click on the line for "Fire Emergency Fund."
  2. Check mailed to the Masorti Foundation 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 832, New York, NY 10115 with the notation "Fire Emergency Fund"
  3. Call the Masorti Foundation at 212-870-2216 and make a credit card contribution
 
I have kept this brief and to the point because you all know the problem. I do want to note, however, how appreciative Masorti is of the support and cooperation of the other arms of our movement.
 
Sincerely,
 
David H. Lissy
Executive Director and
Chief Executive Officer
To learn more, please contact:
Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 832
New York, NY 10115-0068
(212) 870-2216; 1-877-287-7414
http://www.masorti.org/; info@masorti.org



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Special Prayer in response to the fire in the Carmel: תפילה מיוחדת בעקבות האסון בכרמל

Dear Chevreh,

Attached (and available as a jpeg here: shefanetwork.org/masortitefilahfire.jpg) is a prayer just written by Rabbi Simchah Roth on behalf of the Masorti Movement, to be recited this Shabbat in response to the fire ravaging the North of Israel.  I've crafted a very rough translation (unauthorized), which I offer below. 

May the fire go out, and may healing begin.

Shabbat Shalom,
Menachem

Special Prayer in response to the fire in the Carmel: תפילה מיוחדת בעקבות האסון בכרמל

Adonai, our God, Source of the Spirit of all flesh, in Whose hands rest the souls of the living and the dead, lovingly accept the souls of your creatures, lost in the terrible fire which has ravaged our sacred Land.  Parent of orphans, Judge of widows, bring Your Great Comfort to families in mourning, and strengthen them in their moment of loss and anguish.  Grant wisdom to elected officials and order to our country, that they should be able to investigate and respond to this fire until it is extinguished.  Please God, send rain quickly to our dry, sacred ground, so that we will experience this great pain no more. Though Shabbat is a time to refrain from crying out, may comfort soon arrive, and let us say, Amen.

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti  ||  ShefaNetwork.org 
Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 
CNS Blogs:  Shorashim | Preschool | Edah |  Announcements

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Dec 2, 2010

Bay Area Masorti Emergency Email: 40 dead as northern Israel burns

Bay Area Masorti Emergency Email

Dear Chevreh,

For those who have not yet heard, at least 40 people have been killed in a massive fire in northern Israel that is still raging out of control. Israel has appealed to the United States and others for help.  Please include all the families who have lost loved ones and all the Israeli rescue workers in your hearts and prayers.  Here are a few news links, and we will share updates we receive with ways to help.  
May the light of Channukah be experienced as warmth and safety in Northern Israel and in our homes,

Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Chair, Bay Area Masorti

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti  ||  ShefaNetwork.org 
Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 
CNS Blogs:  Shorashim | Preschool | Edah |  Announcements

To join Rabbi Creditor's email list, send a blank email to thetisch-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
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Dec 1, 2010

Channukah Sameach from Bay Area Masorti!

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Channukah Sameach!
from Bay Area Masorti

Erev Channnukah , 5771

December 1, 2010

Dear Friends,Bay Area Masorti logo

Bay Area Masorti has made significant steps this year, expanding our network to USCJ-affiliated shuls accross the Bay Area, bringing in scholars like Dr. David Breakstone, vice-chair of the World Zionist Organization, convening Conservative/Masorti rabbis for networking meetings, supporting Masorti committees and adult education in shuls, cosponsoring events like the Women of the Wall lecture with Dr. Nitzhia Shaked in Oakland, and more!  Our email list and Facebook groups are reaching more and more people, and we're proud of all we've accomplished during the past year.   (To join the Bay Area Masorti email list, send a blank email to bamasorti-subscribe@yahoogroups.com!)

We will be thrilled to help you form a Bay Area Masorti Chapter or an Israel Committee, or to help your Israel Committee bring a Masorti perspective to its work. Please contact Bay Area Masorti Visiting Scholar Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch at avideu@gmail.com to invite our involvement in these exciting initiatives.

This year has been one of difficulty for Israel internationally, for Israel internally, and for many of us globally.   Through the passion and determination of Rabbi Novis-Deutch, we are blessed to see our network flourish with the limited means at our disposal.  We are determined to generate support for and increased awareness of the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, led by David Lissy and the Masorti Movement led by Yizhar Hess (both Bay Area Masorti Board members).

I'm writing to ask your help because it is necessary, especially this year - especially right now.  We can only continue our efforts with your continued support. 

I'm asking you to reread our commitments (tiny.cc/bamasorti )
and to make an end-of-the-year Channukah gift to Bay Area Masorti. 

To support Bay Area Masorti,send a check to CNS / 1316 University Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94702.  Checks should be made out to "Rabbi's Discretionary Fund" with "Bay Area Masorti" in the memo line.  All gifts are tax-deductible nand very appreciated.  Your gift is the only way we can accomplish our goals!


Chag Channukah Sameach!

 

Rabbi Menachem Creditor, Chair

Bay Area Masorti


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Bay Area Masorti. Supporting Masorti. Supporting Israel.  tiny.cc/bamasorti
Rabbi Avi Novis-Deutsch, Bay Area Masorti Visiting Scholar 
avideu@gmail.com //  home: 510-524-1473  //  cell: 510-323-5869

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti  ||  ShefaNetwork.org 
Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 
CNS Blogs:  Shorashim | Preschool | Edah |  Announcements

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Rabbi Yehuda Gilad in the Jewish Week: "The Chief Rabbinate Is Over" -- http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial_opinion/opinion/chief_rabbinate_over

Rabbi Yehuda Gilad in the Jewish Week: "The Chief Rabbinate Is Over" 
http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial_opinion/opinion/chief_rabbinate_over

Published on The Jewish Week (http://www.thejewishweek.com)

Home > The Chief Rabbinate Is Over

The Chief Rabbinate Is Over

Friday, October 29, 2010
Rabbi Yehuda Gilad
Special to the Jewish Week

If there is to remain any meaning to the terms state Rabbinate and religious Zionism, then the recent decision casting aspersions on IDF conversions, should be "last straw" in our relationship with the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

As a religious Zionist who believes that Israel is the beginning of our redemption, it is not easy for me to come to terms with this realization, but it seems to me that that the time has come to say honestly, sincerely, and painfully, that the Chief Rabbinate as it stands today has run its course.

The Rabbinate's resolution, besides transgressing the biblical prohibition of oppressing converts, (reason enough to reject it), clearly demonstrates its complete abnegation of responsibility to Clal Yisrael and the Jewish character of the state, and preference for a sectarian approach that sees reality through an ultra-orthodox lens .We have reached an absurd situation in which the state's own Rabbinate, bowing to the Chareidi position, is endangering the past achievements and future potential of Israel.

The high degrees of assimilation of the Jewish people in exile means that Am Yisrael is losing thousands of Jews each year. The State of Israel was until recent decades the only place in the world where assimilation was nearly non-existent. Marriage between Jews and Gentiles living in Israel, Arabs and Druze, etc. are rare, and Israel was the only place that guaranteed the demographic future of the Jewish people.

Our people has never in our history faced a challenge like this one before. This is the time to engage in a broad national campaign, to encourage halachic conversion of large segments of this population. This should be a watershed moment for a state Rabbinate that has the considerations of the entire Jewish people before its eyes.

It must be stated clearly; there are only two options: One is a sweeping effort towards creating an halachic, friendly, and welcoming conversion process based on the large body of lenient opinions articulated in the halachic corpus over generations, that would allow acceptance of many of these immigrants into the Jewish people. The alternative is an unyielding adherence to the most stringent positions in halachah, according to which one may not accept conversions of these immigrants, even at the price of creating thousands of mixed marriages between Jews and Gentiles.

There is a known and accepted principle in the world of Jewish law that under pressing circumstances, one may rely upon a minority opinion. It seems that there could be no greater pressing circumstance or emergency than the current situation! Moreover, there is no need to rely on isolated or obscure opinions but rather there is ample and prevalent precedent in Jewish law for a more permissive approach.

Ultra-Orthodox who adopt the strict approach are apparently unconcerned about the demographic disaster of assimilation. According to them, intermarriage is a phenomenon only in the secular society, and they can therefore can absolve themselves by saying "its not our problem." However, those who are concerned for the future of Israel as a Jewish state cannot remain indifferent to the present situation that is developing before our eyes. In only a few years from now, we will split into two separate peoples. Both will be Israelis, Hebrew speakers, and self-identified as Jewish, but only one will be technically and halakhically Jewish.

As important as issues such as kashrut, Shabbat and religious services are, there is currently no Jewish communal matter that comes close to approaching the significance of this challenge upon which our future here as a Jewish state rests. We must admit and say honestly, the current Chief Rabbinate (with all due respect to the many fine individuals who make up its ranks), as an institution, has neither the desire nor the ability to cope with this challenge. Unfortunately, it buries its head in the sand, and even kowtows to the Chareidi community, which is ambivalent at best, and antagonistic at worst to the very state the Rabbinate is meant to serve.

Despite the pain and difficulty involved in breaking with this institution that we had great dreams for, I hereby call upon the lay people and the Rabbis of the religious-Zionist community to say openly what many of us have already felt in our hearts for some time. The Chief Rabbinate has run its course.

Rabbi Yehuda Gilad is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Maale Gilboa and Rabbi of Kibbutz Lavi.

 

Read more: 
Copyright 2010 The Jewish Week
Source URL (retrieved on 12/01/2010 - 12:14): http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial_opinion/opinion/chief_rabbinate_over

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Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Congregation Netivot Shalom  || Bay Area Masorti  ||  ShefaNetwork.org 
Rabbis for Women of the Wall  ||  menachemcreditor.org 
CNS Blogs:  Shorashim | Preschool | Edah |  Announcements

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