Thanksgiving: A holiday for everyone.
What a great American tradition that helps unite all.
Food, family, friends, community gatherings, all combine to make this holiday a lot of fun. Yes, we have all heard the stories and seen the movies about the dysfunctional families that come together on Thanksgiving-the wayward son, the divorced mother, the insensitive parent, the wacky uncle and the sourpuss aunt. I remember the scene in the movie, Avalon, when the entire Thangiving dinner is basically ruined by latecomers to the table..." I can't cut the turkey, until everyone is here" (said in a thick yiddish accent).
Yet in spite of all the stereotypical depictions of the holiday, Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for all of us to give thanks and to celebrate together. Enjoy the holiday!
Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
General Assembly
Having just returned from the GA, the annual conference of the Jewish Federations of North America, I was struck by the issues we are now facing as a global Jewish community:
- the worldwide effort to de-legitimize the State of Israel
- the growing distance between the Jews of the Diaspora and the Jews of Israel
- the changing affiliation and identity patterns of today's Jewish community.
Yet I was encouraged by the efforts to face the new realities and our communal efforts to deal with these issues.
- A new initiative called the Israel Action Network-a community driven effort by the North American Jewish community to proactively lead the conversation about the legitimacy of the State of Israel and counter those who challenge her legitimacy
- A new focus on Jewish peoplehood and an expansion of exchanges of Israeli and North Americans. Over 250,000 young people have experienced Birthright Israel. Our own young emissary program is creating a new understanding of our connection to Israel.
- Re-imagining the Jewish community to meet the diverse needs of an ever changing Jewish population not tied to the traditional modes of identification. Check out our own community Young Jewish professional group. We will be hearing from Dr Steven Cohen this weekend who is the preeminent scholar researching these new trends and offering innovative alternatives.
Lots of important issues that we all need to be aware of.
- the worldwide effort to de-legitimize the State of Israel
- the growing distance between the Jews of the Diaspora and the Jews of Israel
- the changing affiliation and identity patterns of today's Jewish community.
Yet I was encouraged by the efforts to face the new realities and our communal efforts to deal with these issues.
- A new initiative called the Israel Action Network-a community driven effort by the North American Jewish community to proactively lead the conversation about the legitimacy of the State of Israel and counter those who challenge her legitimacy
- A new focus on Jewish peoplehood and an expansion of exchanges of Israeli and North Americans. Over 250,000 young people have experienced Birthright Israel. Our own young emissary program is creating a new understanding of our connection to Israel.
- Re-imagining the Jewish community to meet the diverse needs of an ever changing Jewish population not tied to the traditional modes of identification. Check out our own community Young Jewish professional group. We will be hearing from Dr Steven Cohen this weekend who is the preeminent scholar researching these new trends and offering innovative alternatives.
Lots of important issues that we all need to be aware of.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Learning Together
Our community has been organizing community wide learning programs for over 15 years. Yes, we were one of the first to initiate the concept of bringing everyone together to learn from one another within a community setting. Today we here about "innovative" approaches to community learning like Limmud and others.
We should all know that while others were thinking about this, we we were doing it!
Lets learn together this weekend at Torathon!
We should all know that while others were thinking about this, we we were doing it!
Lets learn together this weekend at Torathon!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Partnership 2000
This past week we were visited by Judith Antonelli and Eshel Fram from our community's Partnership 2000 community of Afula/Gilboa in Northern Israel.
We allocate $20,000 to fund programs in the region which help to create living bridges between our 2 communities. We are part of a 12 community consortium which includes all the 9 Federations in Connecticut, along with Springfield and New Bedford MA that partner with Afula/Gilboa.
Together our collective contribution to the region is over $200,000. What is so meaningful about this contribution is our ability to vet each program that we fund for its value and effectiveness.
One of the programs that you might be aware of is the young emissary program. This program now operates in 7 of the communities which make up our 12 community consortium. Two post high school students, who defer their army service for one year, spend a year in our communities working with many groups within our community to bring Israel alive, and to help build a better understanding between our 2 communities.
Another program which was established over 5 years ago is the Rape Crisis Intervention and Womens Empowerment Center in Afula. This program was established by funds we contributed to Afula/Gilboa, and would not exist without the contributions we provided. Since its inception, it has grown to be valuable and much needed service to the women of the Gilboa region. Hundreds of women have been saved and have been able to find dignity and value.
Often times,. people think, that when giving to the Federation, the funds just go into this big black hole....not true...and we will be more than happy to continue to highlight where our money goes.
Find out more...Attend services on Oct 22 at Bnai Shalom Westboro) at 7:30 PM,on Oct 23 at Beth Israel (Worcester) at 10 AM or join Temple Emanuel (Worcester) for breakfast at 10 AM on Sunday Oct. 24
We allocate $20,000 to fund programs in the region which help to create living bridges between our 2 communities. We are part of a 12 community consortium which includes all the 9 Federations in Connecticut, along with Springfield and New Bedford MA that partner with Afula/Gilboa.
Together our collective contribution to the region is over $200,000. What is so meaningful about this contribution is our ability to vet each program that we fund for its value and effectiveness.
One of the programs that you might be aware of is the young emissary program. This program now operates in 7 of the communities which make up our 12 community consortium. Two post high school students, who defer their army service for one year, spend a year in our communities working with many groups within our community to bring Israel alive, and to help build a better understanding between our 2 communities.
Another program which was established over 5 years ago is the Rape Crisis Intervention and Womens Empowerment Center in Afula. This program was established by funds we contributed to Afula/Gilboa, and would not exist without the contributions we provided. Since its inception, it has grown to be valuable and much needed service to the women of the Gilboa region. Hundreds of women have been saved and have been able to find dignity and value.
Often times,. people think, that when giving to the Federation, the funds just go into this big black hole....not true...and we will be more than happy to continue to highlight where our money goes.
Find out more...Attend services on Oct 22 at Bnai Shalom Westboro) at 7:30 PM,on Oct 23 at Beth Israel (Worcester) at 10 AM or join Temple Emanuel (Worcester) for breakfast at 10 AM on Sunday Oct. 24
Friday, October 15, 2010
Welcome Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Welcome to Worcester!
The NBA Hall of Famer and all time points leader will be our guest at the Hanover Theatre this Sunday Oct 17 at 4 PM. Thanks to the Harold N Cotton Memorial Fund, this program is free and open to the public. His book "Brothers in Arms" will serve as the focal point of his lecture.
Abdul-Jabbar has become an appealing speaker in the Jewish world.
Richard Lapchick, who chairs the DeVros Sports Busines Management Graduate Program in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida and directs the school's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports said "Many people no doubt come to see a basketball legend. But no one could leave thinking only about Abdul-Jabbar's athletic fame."
A Q&A and book signing will also take place.
The NBA Hall of Famer and all time points leader will be our guest at the Hanover Theatre this Sunday Oct 17 at 4 PM. Thanks to the Harold N Cotton Memorial Fund, this program is free and open to the public. His book "Brothers in Arms" will serve as the focal point of his lecture.
Abdul-Jabbar has become an appealing speaker in the Jewish world.
Richard Lapchick, who chairs the DeVros Sports Busines Management Graduate Program in the College of Business Administration at the University of Central Florida and directs the school's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports said "Many people no doubt come to see a basketball legend. But no one could leave thinking only about Abdul-Jabbar's athletic fame."
A Q&A and book signing will also take place.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
First Visit to Israel
It dawned on me about a week ago that my first visit to Israel was in 1970. Yikes....40 years ago....
It was a time when Israel felt invincible. I travelled the length and breadth of Israel without any fear or apprehension. Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Jericho, Sinai were within bounds to visit.
The Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem teemed with people every day.
We had access to the Temple Mount where the Al Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock stand. We went into the mosques and felt safe.
So many of the places mentioned above are now off limits,or have been given back or are now ruled by the Palestinian Authority. Those young soldiers who patrolled and fought for their country who were the same age as I was then, are now the parents and in some cases the grandparents or grandparents to be of the current soldiers.
The period between the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973 were considered to be the Golden Age of Israel...people felt safe, as they were lulled into a false sense of security and comfort.
Although many of the creature comforts that we were used to in North America were not available in Israel at the time, it really did not seem to matter. We felt connected and part of the nation building process. Naive? Idealistic? Perhaps.
Forty years later, so much has changed. Israel is a technological powerhouse. The 'Russian" immigration helped to propel the explosion of high tech innovations and discoveries. Every creature comfort you could possibly ask for is there....
But in spite of all the changes one thing remains elusive...for every step forward there always seem to be two steps back...in the pursuit of a lasting and true peace.
No matter how one feels about the current status of the peace efforts being undertaken...there is one thing that remains unshakeable to me: the importance that Israel plays in the lives of the Jewish people and the critical role that Israel plays in the identity of Jews worldwide.
Yes, the political forces that create roadblocks and seemingly senseless objections to peace from both sides frustrate and anger us. Our underlying support for Israel at times becomes shaky and suspect in light of what some see as unrealistic postions taken by politicians. But we must also remember that only 62 short years ago we could not have even had these disagreements...one segment of our people chose to join those who had lived in Israel for generations to rebuild a Jewish homeland where any Jew could reside in dignity and "peace".
Well we do now live with dignity in Israel....the peaceful part however is still elusive.
Yet we all have to believe that peace is attainable....as difficult as it always seems....one step forward 2 steps back. And I guess that is where the naive and idealistic parts of me return.
Over the years, we have heard that if peace does not happen now, it will never happen...For 25 years Israel was at war with Egypt...yet peace was achieved.....Jordan entered into peace with Israel years later....so even though we thought it could never happen, it did.
Prospects of peace with the Palestinians are so close but yet so far...and even if a peace treaty were signed tomorrow with the Palestinian Authority, what happens with Gaza and the ruling Hamas?
Yet, Israel is too important and vital to us to forget why it was finally reestablished as a sovereign country in 1948. As outdated and parochial as it sound today..It is a homeland for all Jews. And we are all better off because of it.
It was a time when Israel felt invincible. I travelled the length and breadth of Israel without any fear or apprehension. Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Jericho, Sinai were within bounds to visit.
The Arab market in the Old City of Jerusalem teemed with people every day.
We had access to the Temple Mount where the Al Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock stand. We went into the mosques and felt safe.
So many of the places mentioned above are now off limits,or have been given back or are now ruled by the Palestinian Authority. Those young soldiers who patrolled and fought for their country who were the same age as I was then, are now the parents and in some cases the grandparents or grandparents to be of the current soldiers.
The period between the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973 were considered to be the Golden Age of Israel...people felt safe, as they were lulled into a false sense of security and comfort.
Although many of the creature comforts that we were used to in North America were not available in Israel at the time, it really did not seem to matter. We felt connected and part of the nation building process. Naive? Idealistic? Perhaps.
Forty years later, so much has changed. Israel is a technological powerhouse. The 'Russian" immigration helped to propel the explosion of high tech innovations and discoveries. Every creature comfort you could possibly ask for is there....
But in spite of all the changes one thing remains elusive...for every step forward there always seem to be two steps back...in the pursuit of a lasting and true peace.
No matter how one feels about the current status of the peace efforts being undertaken...there is one thing that remains unshakeable to me: the importance that Israel plays in the lives of the Jewish people and the critical role that Israel plays in the identity of Jews worldwide.
Yes, the political forces that create roadblocks and seemingly senseless objections to peace from both sides frustrate and anger us. Our underlying support for Israel at times becomes shaky and suspect in light of what some see as unrealistic postions taken by politicians. But we must also remember that only 62 short years ago we could not have even had these disagreements...one segment of our people chose to join those who had lived in Israel for generations to rebuild a Jewish homeland where any Jew could reside in dignity and "peace".
Well we do now live with dignity in Israel....the peaceful part however is still elusive.
Yet we all have to believe that peace is attainable....as difficult as it always seems....one step forward 2 steps back. And I guess that is where the naive and idealistic parts of me return.
Over the years, we have heard that if peace does not happen now, it will never happen...For 25 years Israel was at war with Egypt...yet peace was achieved.....Jordan entered into peace with Israel years later....so even though we thought it could never happen, it did.
Prospects of peace with the Palestinians are so close but yet so far...and even if a peace treaty were signed tomorrow with the Palestinian Authority, what happens with Gaza and the ruling Hamas?
Yet, Israel is too important and vital to us to forget why it was finally reestablished as a sovereign country in 1948. As outdated and parochial as it sound today..It is a homeland for all Jews. And we are all better off because of it.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Yom Kippur
The holiest day of the Jewish year is upon us...Yom Kippur on the Sabbath is truly the holiest of all....
Take the time to cleanse your soul and your body over that 24 hour period.
Keep in mind the changes you want to make and the new paths you want to follow.
May we all be sealed in the Book of Life.
Take the time to cleanse your soul and your body over that 24 hour period.
Keep in mind the changes you want to make and the new paths you want to follow.
May we all be sealed in the Book of Life.
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