Author Archives: tstinj

Reading Room: “Stop Blaming Hebrew School”

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SafariIn her Rosh Hashanah sermon Rabbi Miller mentioned this article. Here are the first few paragraphs and a link to the full piece.

Stop Blaming Hebrew School

by
Nina Badzin | Sep 20, 2011

Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, is a wonderful time to assess the past year and consider what we hope to achieve, spiritually speaking and otherwise, in the year to come. It’s also a time when hoards of Jewish adults show up at a synagogue for the first time since Yom Kippur of the previous year and make self-deprecating jokes about their lack of Jewish literacy.

By Jewish literacy, I don’t mean Hebrew skills or the ability to keep up with the prayers, though that’s certainly a major obstacle for many Jews (including yours truly). I’m referring to a full array of knowledge such as what the holidays mean beyond a surface level, or other information like the Jewish stance on marriage, friendship, free will, business ethics, suffering, and so on.

Why am I harping on Jewish literacy? It bothers me when Jewish adults blame childhood circumstances for the holes in their Jewish education. If you’re forty-two years old and you get nervous when someone invites you to a Shabbat dinner because you don’t know the long version of the kiddush or even the short one, I don’t think it’s fair to blame your childhood rabbis, the denomination in which you were raised, the Hebrew and/or religious school you did or didn’t attend, or your parents’ lack of observance. Same goes for not knowing why your kids are making Sukkot decorations at their preschool, or that in Judaism giving charity is a mitzvah–which means “commandment” and not “good deed.”

You’re an adult. It’s time to take some ownership of this area, because you’re likely missing out on wisdom that would make your life more fulfilling and meaningful (which is a key point, though one I’ll save for another post).

There’s no opportunity as fruitful as the Jewish New Year to study an element of Judaism you never understood before, or to simply learn the basics (like naming the five Books of Moses, the Ten Commandments, and knowing the difference between the Torah and the Talmud.)

Being a literate Jewish adult doesn’t mean you’re obligated to become a religious one. Sure, adding new rituals could bring a welcome sense of rhythm to an otherwise chaotic world, but there are benefits to knowing the answers to basic questions as well as deeper ones, or least having people in your life you can ask such as teachers and rabbis.

When we’re at work, when we’re speaking to our children, traveling, or in any situation where someone might look to us as a representative of Jews in general, I believe we each have a responsibility to speak somewhat intelligently about who we are.

Read the rest of the article.

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Have you ever wondered about the artwork in the sanctuary? In 2000 temple member Mimi Braun put together an explanation of the artwork. The one major change since then is the fact that, in the mid-2000s, the sanctuary was retrofit to make it as barrier-free as possible. The Bimah was lowered and ramped and the pews were replaced by movable chairs. 

You can find it here on the TSTI website.

Update on Israel: worth reading today…

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With thanks to Mike Sachs

 

Northeast Regional Director

AIPAC • The American Israel Public Affairs Committee

 

Israel Slams “Outrageous” Erdogan Remarks

In a weekend interview with CNN, Turkish premier Erdogan claimed that the number of Israelis killed in the conflict with the Palestinians was up to “200,” while “hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were killed.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday described these remarks as “outrageous,” noting that thousands of Israelis had been killed in Palestinian violence and that Israel had certainly not taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. (AFP)

 

PA Unilateralism May Cost Them Post-Oslo Gains – Tovah Lazaroff

The Palestinians could lose the achievements of the last 15 years if they continue to pursue their unilateral statehood bid at the UN, Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday. It’s understood that unilateral moves would harm the Palestinians’ aspiration to statehood and would jeopardize agreements that Israel and the U.S. have with the PA, he said. “We were pleased to see that the Quartet has called for an immediate return of the Palestinians to the negotiating table with us, without pre-conditions,” he added. (Jerusalem Post)

 

 

 

Egypt Gas Pipeline to Israel Blown Up for Sixth Time

The Egyptian pipeline in Sinai that supplies Israel and Jordan with gas was blown up again on Tuesday. The pipeline has been blown up six times since February. (Reuters-Ha’aretz)

 

Abbas Strikes Out – Elliott Abrams

The rapturous applause that greeted Mahmoud Abbas at the UN General Assembly was deceiving. The states that swooned when he spoke will never give him a state – nor even the foreign-aid money to pay his delegation’s hotel bills. His statehood project depends on Israel and the U.S., and to a lesser extent on the Europeans (and a bit of Gulf Arab financing). His UN gambit has annoyed or offended all of those parties.

The Abbas speech was a nasty piece of work filled with harshly worded denunciations. His reference to the “Holy Land” as the home of Jesus Christ and the place from which Mohammed ascended to heaven excluded all references to Jews and Jewish history. The Abbas speech will end up strengthening Netanyahu’s tough approach to Israeli security. Abbas’ UN ploy may work for him in terms of his own domestic politics – for a while, anyway. Instead of being the man who lost Gaza, he may briefly be the man who “bravely” took the statehood issue to the UN. But he did not take the Palestinians one step closer to peace. The writer was the deputy national security adviser handling the Middle East in the George W. Bush administration. (National Review)

 

The False Palestinian Narrative – Moshe Ya’alon
The Palestinians have submitted a series of false claims. The first is that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is territorial in essence, and its solution is well known and could be accomplished in a short time if both sides would only show a great deal more flexibility. The truth is that even though the conflict has a strong territorial component, the heart of the conflict centers on the Palestinians’ refusal to recognize the Jews’ right to build their national home, whatever its borders may be.

Israel has no interest in ruling over the Palestinians, nor does it have any interest in maintaining the status quo, but it wants to make certain that the situation that replaces the current one will be no worse nor more dangerous. Even today, the Palestinians have control over all civil aspects of their lives except for those that have to do with Israel’s security.

No political agreement between the sides will stand the test of time as long as the young generation of Palestinians is taught to deny the existence of the Jewish people and the connection between the Jews and the Land of Israel, and is educated to glorify suicide bombers. Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon is Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs. (Israel Hayom)

 

Abbas Moving Closer to the Anti-U.S. Camp – Khaled Abu Toameh
By rejecting President Obama’s requests to avoid a UN bid for Palestinian statehood and to return to the negotiating table, PA President Mahmoud Abbas is hoping to join the few Arab and Muslim leaders who have dared to stand up to the Americans. By distancing himself from Washington, Abbas has moved closer toward the Arab world’s anti-U.S. camp, led by Iran and consisting of Hamas, Hizbullah and other radical groups.

Further, Abbas has not only turned his back on the Americans; he is now also whipping up anti-American sentiment among Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. Speaking to journalists in Ramallah, top Abbas aides accused Obama of “surrendering to Zionist pressure” and being influenced by “Zionist and pro-Israel” advisors. One official in Ramallah even called for a boycott of U.S. envoy Dennis Ross under the pretext that he was “pro-Israel.” On instructions from senior Palestinian officials, demonstrators took to the streets to chant anti-U.S. slogans and burn portraits of Obama. (Hudson Institute New York)