The prophesy of dry bones lives

היום חמשה עשר יום שהם שני שבועות ויום אחד בעמר
Today is fifteen days--that is two weeks and one day--of the omer
חסד שתפארת
A day of loving kindness in a week of compassion

A teaching from 2007 that touched me--one I continue to teach today. There are those that think I'm crazy, but I see this prophesy coming alive.

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Yesterday was the Shabbat between Yom HaShoah - a day of remembrance for all those lost in the Holocaust - and Yom HaAtzmaut - a day commemorating the 1948 formation of the State of Israel. Because of this, Rabbi Moshe Levin of Ner Tamid chose to change the haftarah that is traditionally read for the Torah parsha Tazria-Metzorah. Instead, the haftarah that we read on the Shabbat HolHamoed Pesach - the Shabbat in the midst of Passover - Ezekiel 36:37 - 37:14, known as the "Dry Bones" story. He felt that reading was much more appropriate to the Shabbat linking Yom HaShoah to Yom HaAtzmaut. Reading that story, I totally agree with him, and think it's a change that should be made at Beth Sholom when we are back together next year in our new synagogue building.

The amazing thing about reading that haftarah this past Shabbat was seeing the prophesy of Ezekiel fulfilled with the survival of Judaism after the holocaust and the birth of the Jewish homeland. The imagery couldn't be more appropriate and the words more direct. Ezekiel tells of his vision in which God takes him to a valley of dry bones. God says to those bones: "I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. And I will put breath into you, and you shall live again" (37:6). And so it comes to pass:

"The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude. And God said to me, "O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.' Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said Adonai, your God: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. You shall know, O My people, that I am Adonai, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves. I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I, Adonai, have spoken and have acted" (37:10-14)

Read it again and let it all sink in. Hope is gone, dried up like those bones. But just as those lifted from the graves, hope rises from the ashes of the Holocaust as our people are brought to a land that can be called ours - the State of Israel. All our displaced people can now find their way home.

A prophesy written before the common era fulfilled in the 20th century. While I find this somewhat chilling, it also helps me confirm my faith in my Jewish tradition.

Finding Common Ground in the Valley of Dry Bones

היום ארבעה ימים בעמר
Today is four days of the omer
נצח שבחסד
A day of perseverence in a week of loving kindness

Today on Shabbat Hol Hamoed Pesach--the Shabbat in the midst of Passover--the haftarah that is chanted is the "Dry Bones" story - Ezekiel 37:1 - 37:14. Rabbi Moshe Levin of Congregation Ner Tamid in San Francisco teaches that this haftarah would be better placed in the week between Yom HaShoah--Holocaust Remembrance Day, and Yom HaAtzmaut--Israel Independence Day. I very much agree with him. It is a story that gives me chills each time I read it, seeing an ancient prophesy that came to life. I wrote about this during the counting of the omer in 2007. That was when I first really read the story and saw the link to being lifted from the ashes of the Shoah, restored to life in a land that we can call our home.

Three years ago, on this same omer day, I found another layer to this story. I saw that redemption doesn't just happen, we need to hear the prophesies and find the ways and the leaders that will make this happen. Finding the right leadership in Israel right now seems even more urgent. I fear that if things do not move forward towards a two-state solution, there will be no land to call home.

This year, I add another layer of commentary. When I read this today, verse 9 popped out to me: "Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said Adonai/God: Come O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again." Not only do we need to be open to hearing the prophesy, but we, as Jews, need to come together from our different places, find a way to join our breath, our ruach, our spirit--physically, philosophically, theologically--to be able to live in our home. We need to find the commonality we have as a people in order to keep the land we call our home.

Once again I say:  "כן יהי רצון – May it be so"

Remembering the fallen . . .

היום שמונה עשר יום שהם שני שבועות וארבעה ימים לעומר
Today is eighteen days, which is two weeks and four days of the omer
נצח שבתפארת
A day of perseverance in a week of compassion

This eighteenth day of the omer, this day of חי -- of life, is also Yom HaZikaron, a day of remembrance for the Israeli soldiers who have, as Amichai Lau-Lavi puts it ". . . fallen for peace in Israel."

In this country, we've made Memorial Day a three-day weekend celebration of summer--going to the beach, taking advantage of sales. Most have forgotten the meaning of the day--the who, what, and why of what we are commemorating.

In Israel, there is no forgetting---everyone takes the time to remember.....

Refreshing our Prayers

היום שמונה ועשרים יום שהם ארבעה שבועות לעמר
Today is twenty-eight days, which is four weeks, of the omer
מלכות שבנצח
A day of majesty in a week of perseverance

Tonight I attended another class in liturgy taught by Rabbi Stuart Kelman. It's great to delve into the prayers led by a teacher who has such a passion for liturgy. I shared a teaching of his last year in "The Prayer Experience."  Today's session was on the Prayer for the State of Israel.

Once again, I find myself getting the teaching that I need to hear right when I need to hear it. This year I've been part of a group of Beth Sholom congregants participating in a nationwide program of the Jewish Community Relations Council, "The Year of Civil Discourse." At monthly meetings, we share with each other the difficulties engaging in discussion about our ties and feelings about the Israel of today. From our facilitator, Rachel Eryn Kalish, we learn tools to help us hear and react to differing viewpoints without being so overwhelmed with emotion that we are no longer communicating with each other.

In one session, we talked about our practice of reciting the Prayer for the State of Israel in every service. Although many of us are chanting the same prayer together, each individual's kavannah--intention--may be very different and often in opposition to each other. As we discussed some reasons for this, the idea emerged that perhaps we work together to write a new prayer. The process of writing the prayer could serve as a safe and sacred space where we could discuss these difficult issues.

Tonight I learnt that the Prayer for the State of Israel that we say was written in 1948, just after the founding of modern Israel with the Shoah--the Holocaust--all too fresh in all minds. Sixty-plus years later, the language needs to be updated to reflect the present face of the land. A prayer we all can say, as we can support the existence of Israel as a nation without agreeing with all its policies or politics.

Changing a community's standard liturgy can be very upsetting to its members, even when the new version will will speak more clearly to the spirit of the prayer. After so many years, we can recite the Hebrew with ease. It will be a while before we can recite the new words by rote--and that's a good thing. Refreshing the words will bring new focus to our minds--a focus that can lead to our hearts and souls. And as we chant, we can be linked together rather than be at each other's throats.

My Two Trees

היום עשרים יום שהם שני שבועות וששה ימים לעמר
Today is twenty days, which is two weeks and six days, of the omer
יסוד שבתפארת
A day of foundation in a week of compassion

I know this doesn't look like much, but amidst the dry dirt are two tree sprouts. Written on the back of this photo--"My two trees." These are the trees I planted in Israel during my United Synagogue Youth Pilgrimage trip in the summer of 1971. I can still remember the pride I felt, planting them with my own hands.

At that time, Israel was a place where I belonged. When George Wallace was running for president in 1968, I remember very consciously thinking that if he became president, I was going to Israel. I was not going to wait for "them" to come for me. Yes, I was an American, but as a Jew I knew that could be a tenuous connection--the German Jews were German, but ultimately they were considered "other." But as long as there was an Israel, I had a home.


Fast forward 40 years, and Israel is not a place where I belong. It's a sad irony that the one place where it once felt totally safe to be a Jew does not now support my Jewish practice--solely due to my gender. I have huge issues with the government's treatment of Israeli Arabs and the policies regarding the Palestinians.

My feelings towards Israel are so complicated, and for many years I felt alone as I held my thoughts. And then in September of 2009, I read an article in The Forward by Jay Michaelson entitled, "How I'm Losing My Love For Israel." Finally--someone who felt as I did, who understood being squeezed by all sides of the issues, and then needing to factor in those personal, inner feelings of unrest about what is happening and where, if at all, I fit in. As Michaelson concludes:

In my heart, I still love the stones and trees of Jerusalem, even though I know that love is sentimental, problematic and shared with people I mistrust. I am still awed by the tkuma, the resurrection and rebirth of my ancient people. And, yes, I feel like underscoring, I still support the State of Israel, its right to exist and the rest. Most important, it is still, in part, my home.
But especially on this side of the ocean, more and more of those who feel similarly have politics, agendas and overall experiences of Israel very different from mine. What they love is not what I love, and how they love is terrifying. And so while my love endures, my unease grows, and with it, the gnawing sense that this relationship is in trouble.

On this day of יום העצמאות - Yom Ha'Atzma-ut - Israel Independence day, I understand how important it is for Israel to survive as a nation and to guard the heritage of the Jewish people. But as things stand now it can not be my home. Knowing that makes me very sad.

Rosh Chodesh Sivan

היום חמשה וארבעים יום שהם ששה שבועות ושלשה ימים בעמר
Today is the forty-fifth day, making six weeks and three days of the omer
תפרת שב מלכות
A day of compassion in a week of majesty

Chodesh Tov! Today is the first of Sivan--six days to revelation.....whatever form that takes :)

I fulfilled the promise made in yesterday's post and dedicated my Rosh Chodesh Torah reading to Noa Roz and the Women of the Wall (WoW). Responding to a message from WoW posted on Facebook, I sent them the photo you see below so they can document the support coming to them from all over the world. I was glad to have my 90-year-old Russian friend Yitzchak in the photo with me. Sadly, because of circulation problems, he can no longer wear his tefillin. But he is proud and happy that I wear mine.

לדור ודור –– l'dor v'dor
from generation to generation
all genders included.

Shabbat Shalom

Israel emotions

היום אחד ועשרים יום שהם שלשה שבועות בעמר
Today is the twenty-first day, making three weeks of the omer
מלכת שבתפארת
A day of majesty in a week of compassion

This day, when we commemorate the founding of the State of Israel, is no longer a day of happiness and pride for me. The existence of Israel as a Jewish state, as a homeland for a people who had no homeland for centuries, is of paramount importance to me. My Bat Mitzvah took place the week after the 6-day war, and I can still remember feeling the joy of that triumph. As a young teenager, I looked to Israel as a place I would need to live if George Wallace ever became president of the United States--I was not going to wait for him to declare me "the other." I could feel my ties to Israel when I spent 7 weeks there on my United Synagogue Youth Pilgrimage tour during the summer of 1971. I yearned to be in Israel during the Yom Kippur War, wanting to protect that place that was part of my heritage.

My feelings are much more complicated now. Yes, I want and need the State of Israel to exist, but I cannot agree with the path the present government of Israel is taking to secure that existence. I feel resentful that I was not taught the full story of the people who were living in Israel at the time of its birth as a modern nation. I can't understand why those in power in Israel don't see that their hard line stance will do nothing to clear the way towards peace and coexistence with the Palestinians. Right now there is one more generation growing up in an atmosphere of hatred--and that's an atmosphere that is a huge threat to Israel's survival.

It's so hard to find a place for to talk of these feelings. If I express them in some of my Jewish circles, I will be called a heretic--how dare I speak a word against anything Israeli. In other circles, I'm derided for supporting a country that practices apartheid. Neither description fits where I stand--which is decidedly on shaky ground.

This is an emotional issue for me, and I'm not sure I'm expressing myself well. And so I direct you to this article by Jay Michaelson from the September 24, 2009 issue of The Jewish Daily Forward, entitled "How I'm Losing My Love for Israel". He speaks for the angst that rages within me.

President Obama's Cairo Speech

It's hard to believe that anyone hearing and/or reading this speech cannot see how important it is that Barack Obama is President of the United States at this time in history. Not only is he working to put this country back on track, but he is doing so much to help regain respect for America throughout the world.

When he speaks, he speaks with respect for others, which is why he is listened to and treated with respect--a respect that is earned by his words and deeds, not just because of his position. He is a true leader, who will work with other leaders to forge a road to peace.

If you haven't heard or read the speech, here is the link to the transcript and the video of the speech.

Click here for the transcript of the speech from the White House website.

Pope's mixed messages to Jews

היום שלשים יומים שהם ארבעה שבועות ושני יומים לעמר
Today is the thirtieth day of the omer - four weeks and two days
גבורה שבהוד
A day of strength in a week of humility



The photo above is from Time Magazine. If you click on the photo, you'll see an article on the seemingly ambiguous relationship the present Pope, Benedict XVI, has with Jews as he embarks on a trip to Israel. It is of some interest not just because of his role as head of the Catholic church, but because he is German who grew up under Nazi rule.

From the article:

" . . . since Benedict's election, his relations with Jews--although similar in broad outline to John Paul's--have been plagued by mixed messages that have caused critics to wonder whether he has botched the opportunity to redress past shortcomings and strengthen the church's ties to the Jewish people. Like John Paul, Benedict came of age in one of the Holocaust's European slaughterhouses, and many expected that the Bavarian, like the Pole, could turn his somber history into a special authority for combatting anti-Semitism and pursuing the pro-Jewish reforms the church enacted at the Second Vatican Council in 1965. But he hasn't done so. Instead, says David Gibson, the (Catholic) author of The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World, 'here's a Pope who grew up under the Nazis, who witnessed this whole thing, a man with such an acute and vivid sense of language and experiences--and yet for whom one of the great dramas of the 20th century is somehow invisible in what he communicates.'"

For instance, Pope Benedict reversed the 1988 excommunication of four bishops of an ultra-traditionalist Catholic group called the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a group that denies the existence of the Nazi gas chambers. Again, from the article:

"Then an unlikely figure entered the fray: Angela Merkel. German Chancellors don't usually weigh in on church matters, she said. But when the Vatican gave "the impression that it could be possible to deny that the Holocaust happened," she felt compelled to demand that the Pope repudiate the idea, lest it affect relations with "the Jewish people as a whole." In essence, Merkel (a Protestant) was tutoring the German Pope on his responsibilities to the Jews."

It's hard to for me to fathom that someone in such a position in this day and age can still be so clueless as to what it means to even hint at denying the Holocaust--especially someone who lived through that time, involved in the action. And especially someone who's words can make a big difference in healing the rifts that still exist. Maybe on his trip to Israel this week he will find those words.

American Idol in Hebrew

היום ששה ועשרים יומים שהם שלשה שבועות חמשה יומים לעמר
Today is the twenty-sixth day of the omer - three weeks and five days
הוד שבנצח
A day of humility in a week of endurance



I will admit it---I do follow American Idol, especially in the last couple months of each series. And in my opinion, this year's group is the most talented I've heard. My favorite, like so many, is Adam Lambert. The week he performed "Mad World" was the clincher for me. You can hear his rendition here.

Today on Facebook my friend Rebekah posted this link from Haaretz with a duet Adam sang with the Cantor of Temple of the Arts in LA. I then did some of my own clicking around and found this video from a Tribute to Rabin concert held at University of Judaism on November 29, 2005.

There's some discussion on this Haaretz page of whether or not he's Jewish---but there's no doubt he can sing.....

What a Good Publicist Can Do

I use a personalized excite.com page as my browser home page. I choose to get the AP Entertainment News headlines among the available categories. Today, the headline Israeli Sings for her Estranged People caught my eye. The lead paragraph reads:

"A mainstream pop album is an unlikely place to encounter an ancient tongue known to a total of 705 people in the Holy Land. But tucked between the smooth chords and Hebrew vocals on Israel singer Sofi Tsedaka's debut CD, listeners can hear the lilting language of the Samaritans."

The article goes on to recount the Samaritan background of Ms. Tsedaka, an apparently well-known Israeli actress, seen in soap operas and children's TV. She left the ancient sect, now numbering 705 by their own count, after finishing high school and converted to Judaism. The Samaritans excommunicated her.

My interest was piqued, and I googled "Sofi Tsedaka" to find out more, but the same AP story came up on different sites, with the one from the Boston Herald containing a photo. Now, I'm no where near famous, but there are more hits when you google my name than hers--even when you discard the German pages that deal with Marilyn Monroe and "Some Like It Hot." ("heiss" is "hot" in German). So there was no presence of her as an actress that I could find. And if you want to listen to her, you're out of luck. I couldn't find a place to buy the cd nor could I find a download.

Now, maybe some AP reporter in Israel needed a human interest piece and found her. Excuse my cynicism, but it seems more likely that this story was planted. She knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody, etc., at the AP.

I wonder if this will pay off, and news of her music spreads. One piece of advice to her manager. If you're going to plant an article internationally in order to influence people to listen to her music, you shouldn't include this quote from Ms. Tsedaka, "I'm not a great singer - I'm not Whitney Houston." I'm glad she's no Whitney Houston, but I don't know how smart it is to admit your failings as a singer when you're publicizing your new cd. . .

Take me out to the Ballgame...in Israel??

I'm somewhat uncomfortable with this story about of the scouting of players for the newly formed Israeli Baseball League. The new league "is welcoming Jews and gentiles alike in hopes of exporting America's pastime to Israel and turning the violence-torn Jewish state - a country with only one full-size diamond - into the next great baseball power."

Why? The operations director, Martin Berger-a Miami lawyer-has an answer "Baseball, to us, is the great American game and there's so many Americans in Israel and there's so many great supporters of Israel in America. It's just a logical thing to do."

Logical to Mr. Berger and who else? This just seems nonsensical to me. Let's break down his reasoning. Baseball is a great American game. There are Americans in Israel. There are Americans who support Israel. How does that add up to starting a professional baseball league in Israel?

I'm a huge baseball fan. The existence and survival of Israel is very important to me. But in no way do the two connect. And then there's the bit about their hopes to compete in the 2009 World Baseball Classic using Jewish major and minor league players. Now, if those players are Israeli or their parents are Israeli or they choose to be Israeli, that's fine. But just to allow the players on the team because they are Jewish does not sit well with me. Should the Vatican field a team made up of Catholic players?

I just don't get it. If someone reading this can bring a different perspective, please comment. If you're interested in following the league, the season will open June 24 with six teams--the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox, Netanya Tigers, Petach Tikva Pioneers, Jerusalem/Gezer Lions, Haifa/Nahariva Stingrays, and Tel Aviv Lightening.

I'm wondering how they are going to share that one field.