Rabbi’s page – Page 7 – Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven

Havdalah at the Lincoln Memorial

2014-03-25 21.20.54 — Havdalah at the Lincoln Memorial

I just returned from a long weekend in Washington, D.C. where I accompanied two TE teens (Noah Simon and Anne Ryack) who attended the L’taken seminar of the Religious Action Center (RAC) of the Reform Movement. They were part of a 12-strong group from New Haven area, bringing together teens from Temple Emanuel, Congregation Mishkan Israel and Temple Beth David. I have asked Noah and Anne to share some of their thoughts about the experience with you all, and they have provided a wonderful report below. All I can add is how much I was impressed with our kids, their incredible ability to discern important issues, their passion for justice and their grasp of what matters in this world. It made me truly proud of our kids and of the life lessons they are able to draw from their heritage and Jewish identity. My heart was filled with pride as I ‘kvelled’ at the way they presented themselves and the issues they felt passionate about: gun control, stem cell research, LGBT rights and protection for people with disabilities. The response of congressional staffers and Rep. Rosa DeLauro was a great testament to the work that went into the visits.

As part of the weekend, we got a chance to have Havdalah ceremony with 300 other Jewish teens, rabbis and educators at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. In the heart of the capital, with the Lincoln Monument behind us and Washington Monument and the Capitol building ahead of us, we celebrated the end of Shabbat and the transition from sacred to ordinary. It was an amazing opportunity to acknowledge the blessings bestowed upon us all – a simple act, unthinkable in virtually any other place in the world. The words of Rabbi Michael Namath of the RAC rang so true that night, as he reminded us that while we work to make our country a better place, we show tremendous gratitude for all the wonderful freedoms and opportunities that we get to enjoy every single day.

The teenagers left Washington, D.C. with a renewed sense of commitment to making our country better for all its citizens. I leave humbled by their talents and their passion for justice – and awed by the Havdalah lights at the Lincoln Memorial… Until next year.

Rabbi Farbman

2014-03-24 13.29.11 — Visiting the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro

In our opinion, it is not unfair to be skeptical about the L’taken seminar when you are first told about it. It wasn’t until the program actually started that we realized the power that it can offer for us and for our Jewish peers. The program is run by the Religious Action Center, a Union of Reform Jews determined to fight for what they believe in, and incorporates numerous workshops to inform you about various issues such as gun violence prevention and LGBT equality while also connecting it to Jewish values. With all the new information you accumulate over the weekend, you have the opportunity to write a speech on a topic of your choice and walk up Capitol Hill to lobby about it. Even in our packed schedule, we still had time to go to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Museum of American, walk around Georgetown, see the MLK, Jr. Memorial, as well as have Havdallah at the Lincoln Memorial. And on top of that, we had the privilege of staying and hanging out with 10 other great kids and meeting a ton more. We highly encourage anybody that is thinking about taking the seminar when it is available to do so. It was an unexpected, though pleasant, surprise that turned out to be much more than just a trip to D.C. We were able to connect to our religion as well as learn about Congress. Learning all the Jewish perspectives on the different policies we thought we knew so well was a truly new and wonderful treat. But we both agree, meeting and bonding with hundreds of other Jewish teens was the greatest part of the trip and is something that we could do more often.

-Noah Simon and Anna Ryack

On Legacies, Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Future Generation of Jews

I am writing this column at the end of a very long Sunday. This morning our Hebrew School marked Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy and engaged in a series of projects to make the world a better place. The students shared their dreams and prepared gifts for those in need. It was a perfect way to celebrate this day in a very Jewish way.

The day continued with the second session of our new teen program that brought together 17 teenagers from Temple Emanuel, Congregation Mishkan Israel (Hamden) and Temple Beth David (Cheshire). The program is dedicated to exploring the issues of Social Justice with our teens, and one of the important elements of the program is the residential weekend in Washington, D.C., the ‘L’taken’ seminar organized by the Religious Action Center (RAC) of our movement, that we will attend in March. This Sunday, in honor of MLK Jr., we wanted to engage our students in both learning and action, allowing them to experience first-hand the opportunity to engage with the world’s problems, and to heal the world in a small measure with the work of our hands.

After a few ice breaker games, allowing the teens to get to know each other a little, Rabbi Brockman spent some time teaching about the ancient biblical laws of ‘peah,’ that required the farmer to leave the corners of the field unharvested, thus allowing the stranger and the widow and the orphans – the unprotected within the ancient society – to have access to food required for basic survival. In the following session, I asked the students to come up with the dinner menu for a family of four, create a shopping list and then price out the dinner. The four teams came back with $18.50, $21, $25 and $63 meals (the last one clearly sounded like a gourmet dinner!) You can imagine their reaction when I shared the SNAP (formerly food stamps) numbers with them: a family of four has a maximum of $17.73 per day to spend on food… A wonderfully sobering discussion ensued, one that helped us frame in very Jewish terms what we were going to do for the rest of the day.

With the help of Harvey Cheskis, a leader of the group ‘Life is Delicious’ from Congregation Mishkan Israel, our TE kitchen and social hall were transformed into a buzzing, pulsating ‘cooking central.’ Within a few hours, the teens had fully prepared from scratch a meal for nearly 120 homeless men. There was meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad, fresh fruit salad and sponge cake. While the food was in the oven, we watched a recent documentary “A Place at the Table’ that discussed the realities of hunger and food insecurity in our country. Listening to the students discuss the film with Rabbi Whinston was one of the highlights of the day; they were not afraid to probe the issues, to raise their concerns and to listen to each other. They were truly engaging with the challenges of the world, making their teachers and their rabbis beam with pride…

The long day ended at an overflow shelter of Columbus House, a sobering room filled with over 100 homeless men who were yearning for some homemade food and a kind smile at the end of a very cold day… The students helped serve about 120 meals and then were cheered and applauded, quite appropriately, by a room full of strangers who appreciated their kindness. They did a great deed that day, but they gained far more than they shared.

I could think of no better way to spend the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, than to be able to go on such a journey of learning and service with a group of phenomenal Jewish teens.

Happy Thanksgivukkah?

For the last few months I seem to have received the same article once a week on average – in emails from friends and congregants, on Facebook. and through every Jewish news outlet and magazine online. Haven’t you heard yet? This year’s Chanukah starts as early as the day before Thanksgiving!!! According to the fascinating article, this has never happened before (it actually did fall that early once, but that was before Thanksgiving was proclaimed!), and it will never happen again – at least not in my lifetime (next time Chanukah will coincide with Thanksgiving is reported to be in over seventy thousand years from now). By all accounts, a pretty unique scenario!

The event has already been dubbed ‘Thanksgivukkah,’ and an entire menu appropriate for the day has been suggested, including a Manishevitz-soaked turkey (yes, really). A special chanukiah shaped as a turkey (I believe they call it ‘menorkey’) is on sale – and I’m sure that by the time you get to read this article, there will be even more paraphernalia on sale marking the ‘special’ occasion.

It is indeed highly unusual to have Chanukah fall that early. It is indeed pretty special to know that for the first time in our lifetimes we will have a chance to light Chanukah candles at the Thanksgiving table, most likely with our entire family in one place! But rather than spending time on coming up with funny names and questionable menu choices, I propose we spend some time going ‘back to basics’ of both Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Gather our families and remember to say what we are thankful for this year – and every year! Enjoy food and company, and remember to share both of these things with the homeless, the lonely, and the shut-ins by donating a turkey and some time to the ICM Thanksgiving dinner or inviting someone who doesn’t have a family to share this day with to be at your table. Let’s mark Chanukah, the festival celebrating the Jewish independence in the land of Israel, by engaging more with our community! Let’s engage with our own Jewish identity! Let’s commit to gaining a little more Jewish learning and maybe even to visiting Israel, the modern Jewish state, to celebrate what our ancient ancestors fought to have – and our contemporaries strive to protect, an independent Jewish country, where Chanukah is not competing with Christmas and where Rosh Hashanah is off for everyone…

Let’s not call it Thanksgivukkah. Let’s not diminish the special message of Thanksgiving and the powerful message of Chanukah by fusing them together – even if they do happen to fall on the same day this year. Let’s give each festival the proper honor and attention they deserve, and let’s use this opportunity to try and become better people and better Jews while celebrating each.

As this year’s Shabbat Chanukah falls on the Thanksgiving weekend we will not be holding our annual Chanukah dinner – but if you are in town on November 29, please come to celebrate Shabbat Chanukah at TE at 6:30 pm – and don’t forget to bring your chanukiah so that we can fill our sanctuary with an abundance of light (even if it does look like turkeyJ)!

Wishing you all a happy and joyous Chanukah, filled with light and wonder – and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy October!

On Sept 23^rd I met with Laurel, our High Holy Day Cantorial Soloist, to go over the recent High Holy Day services while the memory is still fresh in our minds. We reviewed our notes and made some corrections and adjustments to the service to make it run a little smoother and to make sure it doesn’t run longer than it should. At the end of our meeting I pointed out that we just had our post High Holy Day review meeting – and it’s not even the end of September yet! To make it feel even more unusual, we took a look at next year’s dates – and with Rosh Hashanah on September 25, 2014, next year we will not have even started the festival cycle! 🙂 The Jewish calendar works in mysterious ways, as we will all discover once again this year when we gather at Thanksgiving and light a SECOND Chanukah candle!

Since all of the Festivals of Tishrei fell on September this year, October will end up being an ‘empty’ month – no Jewish festivals to celebrate, just ‘regular’ weeks of school, Shabbat, and family time. And while it may sound strange to think of October without the Jewish festivals, the month of Cheshvan is in fact the month that is always free of any festivals or special dates! The traditional name for the month of Cheshvan is Mar-Cheshvan, and according to at least one interpretation it is ‘mar’ (bitter) because it has no festivals to celebrate! 🙂

Be it as it may, although October does not have any Jewish festivals for us to celebrate, there are plenty of opportunities for us to engage with our community and with each other. Whether it is getting together for a Shabbat meal with friends, Shabbat Morning Torah service with discussion of the weekly portion on October 5^th, Sisterhood Book Club on Oct 7^th, coming to Bnei Mitzvah Class Shabbaton on October 12^th, attending the first in the series of Adult Education programs on Shabbat afternoon (also Oct. 12^th), coming to a special program on Genetics with Rachel Barnett from Yale, or participating in the Cook and Care Walk-a-Thon (both on October 20^th), there is hardly a weekend when you don’t have a chance to engage with your community and with Judaism in a meaningful and powerful way. (Not to mention the regular Shabbat services, Torah study, and Religious school and family programs!) Whatever you choose to do, neither October nor MarCheshvan have to feel empty – or bitter! May it be the month filled with the warmth of the special TE community spirit. Check out the Shofar and our website for more info on all of these programs – and make sure you find something that’s right for YOU!

Happy October, everyone!

True Heroes…

Today I met Natan Sharansky. A legend. An icon. A man, who had the audacity to stand up to the entire Soviet machine and insist that Jews, even Russian Jews, even Soviet Jews, had a right to explore their Jewish identity by learning Hebrew and being Zionists and – shock and horror – move to Israel if they felt so moved. A man whose stubborn refusal to give up that dream made him a pariah at home – and a hero worldwide, the very symbol of defiance of free human spirit against the totalitarian system.

I never heard about Sharansky as a child. It is easy to forget that the Iron Curtain was not just protecting the Soviet citizens from outside influences – it was also a heavy cloud that prevented news of such heroic defiance ever making it onto the front pages of the newspapers – unless it was of course to condemn the traitor and an agent of foreign intelligence agencies… At the time of Sharansky’s trials I was 3 years old and by the time I was a teenager, the Soviet Union was slowly but surely unraveling – and together with the rest of the country I was thoroughly immersed in learning about the dark pages of Soviet history, the lies and the myths… I was also busy exploring my own Jewish identity, a gift unimaginable even to my brother who is 9 years older than I am, let alone to my parents… And so, even though I may have heard Sharansky’s name, I had no idea who he was – or what he stood for. When I visited England in the early 90’s, Sharansky’s name would come up in every conversation – a name of a hero, a symbol, a legend, whose personal story – full of tragedy and suffering, yet ultimately a story with a happy ending – had defined the plight of the Soviet Jews for the world at large…

I read the books and the stories, I learnt of the struggle and the bravery. In a way, I learnt my own history that I never had a chance to know – even though I lived through it! I met dozens, perhaps hundreds of Jews from all over the world who told me stories of travelling to the Soviet Union, meeting refuseniks, meeting Sharansky and his friends, demonstrating and demanding his release. Wonderful people who were inspired by Natan’s struggle – and inspired others to follow in their footsteps.

Hollywood movies often have a happy ending – the hero gets the girl and saves the world. Natan Sharansky was reunited with his wife and went on to help inspire thousands of American Jews to come and march in Washington DC, demanding ‘Let my People Go’. Everybody loves a happy ending. But we know that happy endings are never the end – instead they are just the beginning. Even a hero, whose act of defiance turned him into an icon, needs to figure out what to do next. Natan Sharansky entered Israeli politics and created a party that united the ‘Russian street’, over a million of recent immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. His politics were very conservative and for many years I felt disappointment – a man who, to some degree, owed his freedom to liberal Jews all over the world who fought tirelessly for his release, was now towing a political line that was very far indeed from the agenda of liberal Jews…

In 2009 Natan Sharansky became the Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel – a role that, according to many, is a perfect fit for this man, whose very name is synonymous with Jewish identity and freedom. A few months ago Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Natan Sharansky as a one-man commission to determine the way to solve the controversy around the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem – a Holy site for Jews worldwide, a spiritual center of the Jewish universe. The site is controlled by ultra-orthodox Jews and women are prohibited from wearing a tallit, a prayer shawl, when praying at the wall. The public reading of Torah from the scroll is also out of reach for these Reform, Conservative and modern Orthodox women, yet every month they come for Rosh Chodesh, New Moon, a traditional monthly Jewish ‘women’s’ day, to have this extremely powerful spiritual experience. Many of them get harassed by orthodox men and women around them, some get arrested by police. Yet they refuse to give up their right to pray at the Wall – and the rest of the Jewish world, inspired by their defiance, refuses to give up that right together with these brave women.

Together with Sydney Perry and a small group of people from New Haven I had a chance to meet with Natan Sharansky and to tell him that the Jewish world really needed this issue solved once and for all. He listened to us and offered some insights and some promises. In fact, the very next day, at the end of a long process of world-wide consultation, Sharansky announced his proposed plan which would ensure a creation of an egalitarian section at the expanded Wall Plaza that would allow Jewish women to pray the way they feel moved – and non-Orthodox Jews to pray together, as families, just as we do in our synagogues. The solution has its challenges – but it is a compromise that Women of the Wall, as well as our worldwide movement, have gladly accepted as a huge step forward for the benefit of the entire Jewish people. But even before I knew the results of this enquiry, I left the meeting feeling inspired. I met a man who was able to use all of his life experience, all of his political savvy and knowledge, all of his gravitas for one simple goal: looking after the needs of the Jewish People, all of the Jewish People…

A real hero is someone who can figure out a way to survive the ‘happily ever after’ moment. The man I met today is not just a hero of the past – he is a Jewish hero who continues to use his energy and his strength for the good of the Jewish people and his beloved State of Israel. It was an honor – and a privilege – to meet a real hero…

Ein li Eretz Acheret… Israel @ 65

Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, marks the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. It is observed on or near the 5th of Iyar in the Hebrew calendar, which usually falls in April. This year on April 15/16^th we shall be marking the 65^th anniversary of the creation of the modern State of Israel. A miracle. A promise. A challenge and a joy. A country that has captured the imagination of people all over the world with its amazing narrative of rebirth. A country that is deeply rooted in the past, boasting three millennia of rich history – but also the country that is very much at the cutting edge of modernity in technology, in art, in business and in medicine… A country where East truly meets West, where tradition meets modernity; a country full of contradictions that contribute to its richness and uniqueness. A Jewish homeland that is also home to the largest Jewish community in the world once again, after nearly two thousand years of expulsion…

A number of events in and around New Haven will be celebrating this wonderful milestone. I especially recommend seeing Israeli singer Noa (Achinoam Nini) who will be performing in New Haven on April 24^th, a rare treat outside of Israel. Temple Emanuel trip to Israel this summer will be our way of connecting to the land of Israel in this historic year, and I am very excited to be leading this tour! (If you are considering joining us, please do not delay – go to the TE website and register!)

Israel is not just a wonderful tourist destination – it is also a living, vibrant modern country. A democratic state, it has a multi-party political system that requires most of Israeli prime-ministers to build a coalition with other parties in order to govern. NOT an easy task J! As a result, despite multiple changes of governments and prime-ministers over the years, there are certain aspects of Israeli society that are consistently governed by ultra-religious political parties. This has presented multiple challenges over the years, to Israel as a country, to secular Israelis and indeed to non-orthodox religious movements, who have struggled without recognition and support of the state. Some of that is about to change. Many of you have followed the recent Israeli election which had two new parties, ‘Yesh Atid’ (there’s future) of Yair Lapid and ‘HaBayit haYehudi’ (the Jewish homeland) of Naftali Bennett win enough seats in the Knesset to be able to form a coalition government with the majority party led by Benjamin Netanyahu. This new coalition, for the first time in recent history, will not have any ultra-orthodox parties included, paving the way for some of the much-needed debate about the new civil society in Israel. As with any other political reality, the balance is fragile – but it is also an extremely interesting development for Israel, the one we all will be watching very closely.

It is hard to understand all of the nuances that take place thousands of miles away. We rely on journalists and media outlets, as well as on friends and family members, to keep us informed. This April we have a wonderful opportunity to learn a little more about the processes taking place in Israel today from Rabbi Meir Azari from Beit Daniel (flagship Reform synagogue in Tel Aviv) who will be coming to Temple Emanuel on Sunday, April 7 at 10:15 am. Rabbi Azari is a former teacher and a very dear friend and I am extremely excited to welcome him to Temple Emanuel for his talk “New Horizons: new civil society emerging in Israel”. I hope to see many of you there!

In the meantime, I wish ‘Yom huledet sameach’, a happy 65^th birthday to my beloved Israel and I look forward to sharing this joy with all of you over the coming month!

Rabbi Farbman.

Chag Purim Sameach!

As I write this column, the music from our 2^nd Annual Debbie Friedman z’l memorial concert is still ringing in my ears – what an incredible event it was! I want to take this opportunity to once again thank all our wonderful musicians who dedicate their time and talents to the TE band which, under Laurel Shader’s remarkable leadership, continues to go from strength to strength! I also want to thank all the volunteers who made the event such a success, as well as all the TE bakers for a yummy reception!

This year’s calendar is quite unusual as many of the Jewish festivals seem to be falling earlier than many of us can remember! Purim in February, Passover in March, Erev Rosh Hashanah on September 4th (!), and Chanukah will begin the day before Thanksgiving! Just in case you are beginning to doubt if you have ever experienced Chanukah so early, do not be alarmed – you haven’t! It happened once before in 1888, and according to someone’s smart calculations, next time this will occur (if no adjustments are made to the Jewish calendar) will be in the year 79,811! So for all of you ‘once in a lifetime’ experience collectors, this is the one for the books J.

Chanukah may come early this year – but it is still a long way away! Purim, on the other hand, is coming up on February 23/24! Our multi-talented Chasen family is once again preparing an incredible celebration entitled “This is Purim.” If you are over 21, you do not want to miss this! The event is free this year, so please bring your friends and family, as well as anyone who is interested in Temple Emanuel.

Our adult Purim parties are notoriously fun, and we get to celebrate non-stop as we gather on Sunday morning, February 24^th for a family Purim event as part of our religious school celebration. This year we will be joined by students and families from Congregation Sinai Hebrew School, and I want to encourage all TE members to bring their grandchildren (especially the ones who are not enrolled in our Hebrew school) in costume to join in the fun!

As we prepare to have lots of fun on Purim, I also want to encourage you to attend the Interfaith Scholar in Residence Learning Experience on March 10^th. This year Temple Emanuel is hosting this annual community event, and I hope many of our members will take part. And before you know it, Passover will be on our doorstep – please make sure you mark your calendars for the Annual TE 2^nd Seder on Tuesday, March 26^th. The flyers for both of these events are enclosed with the Shofar, so please register soon!

As you can see, the next few months at Temple Emanuel are packed with exciting events, as well as our regular services, educational programs and discussions. Be sure to check out all of these wonderful opportunities, and let me know what other ideas you might want to see come alive at Temple Emanuel.

B’shalom,

Rabbi Farbman.

Temple Emanuel goes to Israel!

Join Rabbi Michael Farbman and Temple Emanuel of Greater New Haven on a family friendly experience in
ISRAEL July 27, 2013— Aug. 9, 2013

On This Outstanding Journey, together we will…

Explore the many faces that make up Multicultural Israel
Enrich our knowledge of Jewish and Ancient History
Enjoy outdoor adventures and the beauty of the land itself
Encounter firsthand the Modern Miracle of the State of Israel
Immerse in Israeli Culture — Art, Food & Wine
Engage with the Progressive Community in Israel

Read the full itinerary and register today online at:

www.ayelet.com/FarbmanJuly2013.aspx

It is a Tree of Life to those who hold fast to it…

From its very inception, Reform Judaism has looked for new ways to engage with Jewish ritual. Jews all around the world have looked for ways to make the traditional prayers and customs inspiring and attractive to a modern Jew. Services were shortened (mainly through the removal of repetition of certain prayers that arose at various points in our history) to encourage better atten- dance; Dvar Torah, or sermon, was introduced in vernacular; prayers were translated and often read in the language of the land. Instrumental music was brought back into Jewish worship after centuries of absence following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70CE. At every point in the last 200 years our movement has looked for inspiring ways to engage the Jews. Temple Emanuel has always been at the forefront of that search for meaningful and inspiring opportunities to be Jewish as part of our community.
A number of years ago a Torah Service was added to one Friday night a month in order to provide our small congregation with an opportunity to interact
with the Torah scroll and the ritual associated with reading Torah from the scroll since we do not have a regular Shabbat morning service (when Torah is traditionally read). Every Shabbat morning a committed minyan of TE members comes together in TE’s library to read and discuss the weekly Torah portion in great detail—a wonderful tradition and a very special part of my weekly life at TE. But much as I enjoy our wonderful Torah discussions, I also miss the wonder and the joy of raising the Torah and reading the ancient words from the scroll on more than one occasion a month.
On the first Shabbat morning of January (Jan. 5th at 10:30am and every month after that), we will be adding one more opportunity to engage with Torah at Temple Emanuel—a special Torah Service with an extended discussion of the portion. Come enjoy the ritual and the joy of Shabbat and Torah celebration, as well as an opportunity to learn wisdom from its timeless teachings and the warmth of TE community. “It is a Tree of Life to those who hold fast to it!”

Praying for Peace…

About a month ago I read about a phone app called “tzeva adom” (code red), an Israeli early-warning service. Intrigued, I installed it (it was free) and tried to see what information it could provide. All the menus were in Hebrew — and in small print at that—making it hard to read quickly. I almost deleted the app—I figured I would be better off getting news updates from Israeli English-speaking newspaper websites such as haaretz.com, but I got distracted and the app stayed on my phone.
A few weeks later I heard a strange alarm coming from my phone. The screen was flashing “tzeva adom Sderot,” a red alert for the town of Sderot. Suddenly the notifica- tions started coming every few seconds, listing the names of small towns and villages in the south of Israel. For the next week, my phone went crazy—the notices were coming fast and furious, listing names of bigger towns and cities every day: Be’er Sheva, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem… Each “tzeva adom” was referring to a rocket—or series of rockets— fired from the Gaza strip towards the Israeli cities. By the time I opened my eyes in the morning, my screen was filled with updates, and it kept buzzing all day long.
After a few hours I silenced my phone—the constant beeping was making it impossible to work and was unsettling to my children. I simply watched the buzzing screen, flashing the names of towns I love and places I have never heard of. I have to tell you that this little app provided one of the most powerful experiences for me. Every time my phone buzzed, thousands of Israelis ran for cover, having 15 seconds or less to reach the bomb shelter’s safety. I read the news and letters from friends and family members who were afraid to take a shower for fear of not being able to make it to a safe place when the sirens went off. I read about repeated PTSD among the children growing up in the south of Israel, children whose playgrounds and kindergarten classrooms are built as
bomb shelters… Every time the “red alert was sounded, they had to run for cover. I could silence my phone and go about my life…
By the time I got to write this column the fragile ceasefire has been renewed. The operation “Pillar of Cloud” ended without the ground invasion of Gaza, allowing most of us to breathe an uneasy sigh of relief. As we mourn the loss of life on both sides of the border, we also know that the timing of the fragile ceasefire helped avoid many more deaths that are inevitable in any military action.
Here at TE we have renewed our conversations about Israel and peace, continuing to search for ways in which we can engage with each other, reveal and debate our differing positions in a respectful environment of a loving community.
I want to draw your attention to a special program we had planned months ago when working on the TE calendar for the year. On January 12th we will hold a second in the series of TE “Divrei Laila” events, following the great success of TE Soap Box in November. We will be discuss- ing the “green line”—or the lack of it—on the maps of Israel. While the exact details and the members of the panel are still being worked on by Debbie Elkin and members of Social Action Committee that organizes this event, I encourage you all to save the date and make sure you come and join in.
I am looking forward to my phone not buzzing red alerts any time soon. Being a realist, I will not be removing the app just yet…
Wishing you all peace and quiet, happiness and joy as you celebrate Chanukah! I look forward to seeing many of you at our Shabbat Chanukah celebration on December 14th at 6pm. Check the website for more details, and sign up for dinner!