Climbing Mt Sinai, Together!

Shavuot has tremendous depth for me. I get very excited about our Shavuot Celebration even though it seems to lack the customs that fill up the other two pilgrimage festivals (yes, our ancestors would make pilgrimages to worship at The Holy Temple/Beit HaMikdash on Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot). It doesn’t have anything like a sukkah; there is no seder. So what can bring people together for Shavuot?

Torah!

Shavuot has two fundamental meanings for us. The original meaning was the offering of the first fruits of the season once we arrived in the Land of Israel. After Pesach, the festival of our liberation from slavery, we had to give an offering expressing our gratitude for our freedom and for our land. It makes perfect sense! Look how far we have come as a people since the degradation we experienced in Egyptian slavery…

But the rabbis of old give us another message. They teach us that God gave the Children of Israel the Torah on Mount Sinai. It wasn’t just the Ten Commandments, but the entire Torah. God gave it Moses at that very spot and ever since, we pour over these words to help us live a life filled with meaning and hope.

So when we gather for Shavuot, it isn’t that we remember getting the Torah. We symbolically return to Sinai ourselves! We stand there together again ready for the Kadosh Baruch Hu / The Holy One of Blessing to give it to us…again and again.  That is why it is a celebration of Matan Torah, the Giving of the Torah. God continues to give it to us as an act of love, but it is up to us to receive it.

So maybe…we don’t need a seder or a sukkah. All we really need is the Torah. Nothing can parallel that gift, a gift given out of love. I see it as my Mother’s gift… a reservoir of teachings and lessons to help me stand up and face the trials and tribulations of life. It is also the rules of my Father’s house…instructing me to live a life of integrity, generosity and dignity. You see, I see God as my Ultimate Parent, so to reaceive the Torah as an inheritance from my parents and grandparents, given all the way back to Sinai by God, is a powerful image for me.

I love Shavuot beacuse we get to re-enact this giving and receiving as our ancestors did thousands of years ago. I yearn for the opportunity for us to come together, climb Mt Sinai together, receive this precious gift and pass it on. We are told over and over again that we were all at Sinai. So let’s go to the mountain, let’s accept this precious gift, and share it with others in our homes and in our community to make Torah a living, breathing, relevant, compelling gift.

Some connections for you…below is what we are doing at Temple Beth Tikvah. Below that are some web links to build greater bridges for your Shavuot experience. 

For TBT’s celebration
http://www.facebook.com/groups/13497023374/#!/events/205494806238534/

Saturday night, May 26
Please join us for our service or our study or BOTH!

7:00 p.m. Shavuot Service
In the Alterman Outdoor Chapel (it’ll be warm, feel free to dress comfortably). Chairs will be available on the first level for those who need them.

8:15 p.m. Tikkun Leyl Shavuot – An Evening of Adult Learning
“Remembering Sinai Together”
There is a tradition that we all stood at Mount Sinai at that fateful moment when God interacted with the world in a way that changed the course of Jewish and human history forever. In one mysterious moment in time and space, God gave the Jewish people Torah. Since that time, our Rabbis, commentators, and philosophers have grappled with how to understand revelation at Sinai and what impact that understanding has upon the way we imagine God, Torah, and Jewish peoplehood in our own day. This program aims to encourage participants to actively reflect on their own understanding of what Revelation of Torah means in their lives by exploring some of the traditional texts that describe such revelatory moments in our people’s sacred literary and historic traditions. Even more, participants are invited to see themselves in conversation with the texts and add their voices to our age-old tradition of Talmud Torah and its commentary. (There is a writing component for this exercise — writing your own commentary; it will be fine if anyone prefers not to…we can all still particpate)

Resources from the Reform movement: http://urj.org/holidays/shavuot/

MyJewishLearning.com

 

In Her Own Words ~ What The Walk Meant to Yael

Reblogged from Puzzled:

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Yael, Leora & Noa ready to walk for The YaYa’s!

Today Yael wanted to share her own thoughts with you. So, here is her perspective on today’s Georgia Walk for Autism.  In her own words…

This is our fourth year walking for autism. While we were driving to Atlantic Station, my Mom and I were talking about why we do the walk.

Read more… 276 more words

I can't resist...Here is my daughter's first shot as a guest blogger. I am super proud! This is her doing her work of TIKKUN - bringing healing to our broken world...

Parashat Emor says…do your part!

“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the ETERNAL am your God.” (Leviticus 23:22)

This passage from Leviticus is a powerful window of how I see the world. What we have is not really ours. It is that simple. Our possessions, our accounts, our homes are all lent to us. If we subscribe to Psalm 24:1, “The Earth is the ETERNAL’s,” then we ought to be thankful for what we have because we do not know for sure how long we are going to have it. The natural next step is to acknowledge that if we have enough…then we have to do our part to help someone else.

The text above instructs us to leave some of the harvest from our “own” property and leave it for someone else who is down on their luck. They don’t even have to ask for it. The don’t have to worry about the humiliation that might come with asking for a handout. God’s vision here is that if you need a hand, some of our land will be reserved for you. Go with your dignity and take enough to care for yourself and your family.

If that vision of our society would be fulfilled, our world would be far less broken.

How do we respond to that vision?

If one of your neighbors is in need in any community of yours, you must not harden your heart nor close your hand against your neighbor in need…. (Deuteronomy 15.7)

I am thrilled to be one part of a group of clergy and faith leaders to support the work of the North Fulton Housing & Homeless Continuum of Care. In this small city of Roswell, North Fulton’s most significant agencies are here and ready to help the most vulberable in our community.

Despite what most people think about the “homeless,” these are individuals, parents, teenagers, and families who have been our neighbors. Many have jobs. Many have gone to college. Many had nice homes at different stages in their lives.

All have found themselves in vulnerable positions because they have no safety net or they went through their savings or they were a couple of car payments behind and lost their cars… so they lost their jobs. We can go on and on and on.

This Continuum of Care is organized to have different agencies collaborate and offer the widest continuum of care possible. But it is no surprise to learn that these organizations face many challenges.

As I see it, the challenges isn’t simply the large number of people coming to them. To be perfectly honest, the challenges are that there aren’t enough people looking around and saying, “how can I help?” If the people of our faith communities - each and every household - would say: I am going to give from “the corner of my fields” – some of my precious resources – we could end hunger and homelessness in our community.

These organizations that are a part of this Continuum do such a good job of keeping people in housing (some temporary, others long term), our neighbors don’t even realize there is a problem!

But there is.

And while these programs are amazing, truly awesome, they are all at capacity. None of them have spaces waiting to be filled.

And there are still gaps! For example, there is no emergency shelter in North Fulton. When I get a call for someone who needs a bed that night, I have to see who will let him/her into their home, where to put them up at an extended stay motel, or send them into the City of Atlanta.  North Fulton doesn’t even have an emergency shelter for youth (and their are many homeless teens in our schools!). Nor is there sufficient affordable housing for seniors (senior living facilities at market rates are very expensive; to get affordable senior housing, you need to be on a weightlist).

I am writing this post because I think our community needs to learn more about these amazing resources.

Emergency assistance and family enrichment classes are being offered by North Fulton Community Charities. I am proud to be a part of their Board of Trustees and I have to say, it has opened my eyes about this community and its real needs.

Transitional Housing to women and children is offered by The Drake House. Drake provides short-term crisis housing, support, education, and empowerment to homeless mothers and their children.

HomeStretch  provides long-term assistance for homeless families. They offer transitional, supportive housing and educational skill building for low-income families who have nowhere else to turn.

Find A Way Home advocates for affordable housing within North Fulton. They also offer affordable housing for workforce families that don’t qualify for traditional housing programs because their income is too high, yet they can’t qualify for a mortgage or pay rent at a market value.

The newest addition to this Contiuum is a group our own synagogue is beginning to work with: Family Promise of North Fulton. As I have written before, our congregation is joining other houses of worship to host four homeless families for a week, four different times over the course of the year. I wrote about how our community can get involved in an earlier post. To learn more and volunteer at TBT, click here.

The Roswell Housing Authority is another great resource, but they don’t have enough units to care for all who need it. Of their 103 units of public housing, 61 are for the elderly and people with disabilities, and 42 are designated for families.

And while our Roswell agencies work with Habitat for Humanity – North Central GA chapter, our congregation has joined an Interfatih Coalition in Cobb County with Habitat’s NW Metro Atlanta Chapter. (If you read this far…good for you! Here’s a pitch: TBT is building on Sundays, July 15 & 22, 2012 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. To sign-up or to contribute please contact Jeff Willard at pursuejustice@comcast.net.)

Whew!

That was a lot. But I needed to get it all out to you.

We can make a difference if we just shared the corners of our own harvest. We are not instructed to give everything away. But can we ask… what’s the corner of your field? What would that represent?

What can you do? How can WE help as a community? Can you be a mentor to a family? Do you have apartments that you are renting that you can offer through a Housing Choice Voucher Program? Can you make an act of tzedakah? All of these websites have ways that you can make a difference in someone else’s life.

We are reinvigorating our own synagogue’s social action committee for the members of this shul. If you want to play a part, let me know. I’ll be glad to connect you to our chairs, Jeff and Rodney.

Wishing we go from strength to strength as we try to heal our fragmented world and return it to wholeness through acts of tzedakah and chesed (kindness).

The Power of the Synagogue

These words by Rabbi Alexander Schindler, zt”l, have always resonated with me: The synagogue is where Jews are made, where the individual soul and the community are joined…Only the, synagogue creates Jews child by child, family by family…

Jewish organizations, agencies, institutions, and chavurot are so important to engage and contribute to Jewish life. But, with all my heart, I do believe that it is the synagogue that is the foundation of Jewish life. Would you expect to hear such a thing from a rabbi? Probably. Sure, I am invested in this enterprise. But it is certainly not for job security. There is no other institution or center in the Jewish community that can bring people together, challenge their sensibilities, encourage a search for a transcendent God, and expect a standard of ethics beyond reproach.

And yet, we live in a time where personal connections are becoming harder and harder. Aside from the economic of being social (for some, that is a challenge), we look around and see people on some sort of phone, tablet, or screen. Kids can be around the table communicating without even speaking to one another.

Yes, as we see a greater distance in relationships, there is a yearning by many if not most to find meaning in their lives. The synagogue is the address that can bring spiritual responses to human joys and crises. It isn’t simply about doing what you are told because that is Tradition! It is about embracing a tradition that can shed light on life…real life!

One of my teachers, Rabbi Larry Hoffman, helped me to understand that the synagogue isn’t simply about the building or the programs or even the rabbi. It is to be a place of homecoming. People want to be known, cared for, to contribute to something powerful and vital, and to make a difference. The synagogue can receive all who yearn to be known. To be accepted for who you are. To be embraced, but also to be challenged and stimulated to journey forward. We can’t only be “receivers” always looking to be filled up, but contributors in an intimate relationship. We contribute by showing up for others, supporting the community through tzedakah, sharing our hopes and dreams together, and bringing up our tzures (life’s challenges) to find comfort. This is living in Covenant (Brit) with God and with our People.

This past year, I have seen some amazing acts of generosity of tzedakah and of spirit. I have seen people give their all to make this a place of meaning and power. I have seen sheer joy and the depths of sadness. I love it how people come together here. Even more so when folks who haven’t been so involved get to see how a community like our synagogue can make a difference in our lives, and yes…in our world.

So for all of you who give, I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. For all of you who journey through our different gateways, I hope it has been enriching and compelling. For those of you who are still unsure about where you are and how to find your own connection, give us a call. Let’s chat. Let’s find a way to help you tap into the power of being part of a sacred community like ours.

A Nuclear Iran and America

A nuclear-capable Iran would be a grave threat to American national security. Backed by an atomic bomb, the Islamic Republic could become even more belligerent and dangerous than it is today, jeopardizing our interests around the globe as well as the values we cherish.

A nuclear-capable Iran would be able to manipulate the cost of oil by coercing other oil-exporting nations to reduce their crude production. This could cause gas prices to skyrocket, well above the current national average of nearly $4 per gallon, impacting the cost of everything from food to construction and potentially stifling our economic recovery.

A nuclear-capable Iran would also pose a direct threat to U.S. soldiers stationed in the Middle East. The Islamic Republic has proven willing to target American troops by providing weapons and funding to groups fighting our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. As an emboldened regional power, a nuclear-capable Iran could dramatically increase its support to such groups.

Under an Iranian nuclear umbrella, terrorist groups like Hizballah and Hamas would be able to act with impunity in the Middle East and beyond. And Tehran would be able to provide nuclear materials and knowledge to its terrorist proxies as well as its allies in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia, bringing the threat of nuclear terror close to America’s shores.

Allowing Iran to develop a nuclear weapons capability would irreparably undermine nuclear nonproliferation efforts. Viewing Iran as a potential threat, Mideast countries would feel compelled to build their own nuclear deterrence against the Islamic Republic. Thus, the most volatile region on earth, with a rising Islamist influence, would become home to a nuclear arms race. And, of course, the more countries that possess nuclear weapons, the greater likelihood that they will actually be used.

In addition to constituting a military threat, a nuclear-capable Iran would endanger America’s position of leadership in the Middle East and its sway around the world. Under pressure from Tehran, Arab countries would be reluctant to cooperate with the United States in advancing regional peace and stability. America would be weaker and our influence would diminish as Iran’s would soar.

Emboldened by its success in overcoming U.S. opposition and international pressure, a nuclear-capable Iran would be in a position to further challenge American values, interests and concerns. It is therefore essential that the United States lead the effort to prevent one of the most dangerous countries in the world from having the most lethal weapon known to man.

To learn more about the threat of a nuclear capable Iran, visit www.aipac.org/Iran.

The above message was prepared by AIPAC’s Synagogue Outreach Dept.

I just saw “Bully” — We’ve Got Work to Do!

I just saw this new documentary, Bully. It was hard to even speak as I left the theater.

For those of you who don’t know it, Bully is a film that follows the lives of five different students. Two of the stories are about young kids who take their own lives because they just can’t take it anymore. The other stories range from the courageous, resilient Kelby who is a target because she is a lesbian, to the numb Alex who stops feeling anything because he is routinely pummelled on the bus and in school.

The stories are heartbreaking. Simply heartbreaking. But rather than for me to write a review, take a look at the trailer and then scroll below it because…well, we have work to do.

One of the most significant parts of attending the viewing of this film was the discussion in the theater afterwards. What emerged started off as a sharing of feelings — outrage, inspiration, disbelief, anger, and so much more. There was also a sharing of students and parents who were exasperated by not finding the support of schools or local officials. Students are missing school, their grades are dropping, the health is less secure, or they are leaving their schools altogether to be home-schooled because our public and private schools are not truly safe.

Their parents weren’t people who didn’t fight for their kids. These were parents who advocated, fought and lobbied to try to insure the safety of their children. Nothing less than that…their safety! And yet, they were frustrated from the brick wall of school administrators more interested in “Schools of Excellence” rather than citizenship, or that a slogan of “Bully Free Zone” will do the trick.

I saw people with pain today. The stories of these families in the film and the stories of the families in the theater ought to ignite a raging intolerance for this bullying in our schools.  We have to fight it because…it isn’t really bullying…it is abuse, assaults, and harassment.

I think right away to our Torah. Look at the very beginning of the Book of Numbers. It says that God instructs Moses to take a census. That makes sense since they were embarking on a long journey towards the Promised Land. They needed to know how many soldiers they would have during their travels. But the Hebrew is: S’u et rosh kol adat b’nai Yisrael – “lift the head up” of everyone in the community of the children of Israel. While the idiom used is simply for a census, I am struck by the idea that in order to take a count, we need to life up the heads of the people and have them feel like they count.

WOW! So to count heads is not enough. If we want to shape a good society and have everyone count, then we have to play a role and lift up the head of our neighbor. It isn’t enough to just take a count; we have to communicate that everyone counts! Everyone matters! Raise up their heads! This community can only make it to the Promised Land if we make sure that everyone is able to hold his or her head up high. Some of them might need some help.

Well, the same is true for today. That is the very least that we can do in our own communities, schools, synagogues, youth programs, and places of work. If someone’s head is down, we must raise them up.

As parents, educators, clergy, mentors or friends, we need to share with our young people that it isn’t only about getting good grades. As important as it is to reach your academic potential, it is just as important to stand up for your peer and take a stand against an injustice.

It’s that simple.

I was glad that our Jewish community got behind this film. The audience today was brought together by BBYO, NFTY-SAR, and a host of Atlanta synagogues and Jewish organizations (click here for info about the pledge to end bullying and who sponsored this gathering). I believe that this is something the Jewish community ought to talk about. It is not only that it is happening to kids in our community, but this is what we have been talking about for the entire past week — being redeemed from Mitzrayim/Egypt and the degradation of slavery. We know what it is like to be a stranger in a strange land, so we cannot tolerate it when it is done to others. Instead, we raise up the heads of others and have them feel like they count.

If there is one thing that I find myself saying over and over again…it is that the synagogue has to be a place where everyone feels safe. Not only is it a no bullying zone, it is where everyone gets to be themselves and be accepted.

I believe with all of my heart that every single person is created in God’s image. If that is our TRUTH, then we must live that way.

What are your thoughts?

Have you been a victim of bullying? How did you get through it?

Have you stood up for others? (Remember: “Don’t stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.”)

Here are a few other things to look at:

The Bully Project - there are great resources for parents, educators, and teens here.

Facebook.com/groups/standforthesilent

My wife’s blog on the film: Puzzled.

And to help you get started in this important task…here is a little inspiration –

A new announcement:

Please join us:

The BULLY Conversation (free to the community)

Sunday, April 29, from 2-4PM, MJCCA

Facilitated by Rebecca Stapel-Wax, Director, The Rainbow Center of Jewish Family and Career Services

For all parents, families, preteens, and teens who are ready to turn the tide on an epidemic of violence that has touched every community.

Registration will be open on Tuesday, and we will forward that link out to all of you as soon as it is up. (Check in with the MJCCA’s Teen Department).

Participation is not limited to those who were with us at the April 15^th screening. Everyone is welcome. We recommend that you see the movie prior to this event, but it is not required.

 

Passover’s Message: Let All Who are Hungry Come and Eat!

We say that message every year during the Passover seder: Let all who are hungry come and eat. It is an ultimate truth of our Festival day! We recall moving from the degradation of slavery to the liberation of journeying to the Promised Land. We celebrate our freedom by eating a bread of affliction, matzah. This “poor man’s bread” reminds us of how we were once strangers in a strange land. With that knowledge, with that memory, we are to be good, kind and generous to the stranger because we know what it is like to be a stranger. A stranger, after all, is someone who is a part of a society that is not his own. Without that support system, without a network, the stranger is vulnerable.

The Torah also teaches that if you are part of the community, not a stranger, then the community has a responsibility to take care of you when you are facing hard times: “If there is among you a poor man, one of your brethren, in any of your towns within your land that the Eternal your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him, and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.” (Deut. 15:7-10)

Passover’s message, then, of opening our doors to someone who is hungry, is of primary importance?  But would we really do it? We open the doors of our homes to symbolically welcome Elijah the Prophet to drink that fifth cup of wine reserved for him at our seders. It is the cup of redemption! The message is that if Elijah comes, we will mark the time of peace for our world. But our sages teach that Elijah will be dressed as a beggar, looking for someone – anyone – to welcome him in to a home for the Passover meal.

I believe it is time to take this message to heart. While we might have concerns about security relating to welcoming someone we don’t know into our homes, we have a chance to enact this tradition in a very real way through the Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) of Family Promise. We are launching a branch of Family Promise in North Fulton, rallying congregations of different faith traditions together to respond to people in crisis. The IHN is a program modeled throughout the country where congregations open their doors to homeless families for one week, four times per year. I am proud of our Board of Trustees to have agreed to join the IHN and for us to open our doors to support these families in crisis.

This is where we need you!

We will need volunteer teams to help make dinners, prepare cold breakfasts, organize a space within the synagogue, get supplies, provide welcoming gifts to our guests, and at least one man and one woman to stay overnight in the synagogue to be sure we are good hosts to our guests. (Since we will have families staying over, I will encourage our hosts to be families, too! My family will be participating in staying overnight, too). During the day, the families will either go to work, go to school, or go to a day center where they can receive the assistance they need. They will not be here during the day, but only in the evenings and to sleep at night. After their stay with us, they will go to their next synagogue, church or mosque.

People are still in a variety of “Egypts” today in our world. The Egypt of poverty and homelessness is more than most of us can even imagine. As we celebrate Passover this year, let us take these words to heart: Let all who are hungry come and eat! Let’s open our sacred house up to four families at a time that need the help of people of faith – of people who want to do God’s work. We need you to help us help these families.

To get involved, please contact Andy Friend, agf17@bellsouth.net, Marcy Fried, marcifried@bellsouth.net, or Jeanne and Jeff Schultz, asburypark@comcast.net. Watch for more information in May! The program will not formally start before the summer, but we want to get our teams together so we will be ready to launch.

The Torah of Purim

I admit it…Purim is a hard holiday for me. The silliness and costumes, the liberties we take are a little to risky for me. I like calm and controlled. I have a hard time with the creative, free-spirited spiels that Purim invites.

But the Torah of Purim…I get that!

I get it because it is our story… the ultimate Diaspora story.

When Rabbi Mark Borovitz was here last month, teaching about addiction and hopelessness, he said that the Jewish response is to see ourselves in our own texts. Can we see ourselves in the Torah? Of course we can!

Esther sees a job vacancy and wants to apply. She finds herself in the role of queen, but when she is looking to achieve this Persian title, she hides her real name, Hadassah, and uses Esther. While some say that Esther is of Persian origin (from the goddess Ishtar), the Hebrew suggests something grander. The Hebrew verb connected to Esther, or Ester, is L’hastir – to be hidden. It is fascinating to consider some of the meanings in this. Esther hides her true identity as she lives in the Diaspora of Persia (today: Iran). She represses who she is and doesn’t use her Hebrew name (Hadassah means “myrtle” – a part of the Land of Israel).  

I think that her experience can resonate with a lot of America’s Jews. We feel strongly about being Jewish but sometimes have a hard time expressing it outwardly. While past generations might have changed their ethnic names to American ones, we might be more willing to be identified as Jews than Esther or earlier Jewish immigrants, yet our drive to blend in is just as profound as Esther’s.

Remember, as Haman, the Purim story’s antagonist and ultimate enemy of the Jews of Persia, plots the annihilation of the Jews of Persia, Esther is reluctant to respond. She doesn’t want to do it. She doesn’t want to reveal that she is one of “them.” Yet, in a tremendous act of courage, she strategically reveals that Haman is plotting the extermination of her own people. Good for her! She stood up. But look at how long it took.

I think the Scroll of Esther is the ultimate Diaspora Jewish story, challenging our sensibilities about blending in and fitting in, rather than truly belonging to a meaningful community. It makes so much sense now, to consider how we put on these masks to celebrate Purim when, really all along, the story is about our ancestors and ourselves wearing masks. Can Purim be the time when we take them off and reveal our true selves the way Esther does? It might take time…we can’t really fault her for being afraid of revealing her authentic self. But once she does, she changes the world.

I love the Torah of Purim – let’s take off our masks and seek to be known. Let’s come together in fun to build a community where everyone can belong without any more masks.

The other most significant ultimate truth in the Scroll of Esther (for me) is that word – L’hastir – to be hidden. God’s name isn’t mentioned once in the Megillah/Scroll. Not once. Does that mean God isn’t present? Of course not… It means that God, too, is hidden. Not absent. Not AWOL. But hidden. The famous Chasidic story helps us understand why this is so: The Kotzker Rebbe was once asked: “Where does God dwell?” He answered, “God dwells wherever we let God in.”

This Purim, let us celebrate life with joy, let us strengthen our community by making sure everyone can feel like they belong (not just fit in) by removing the masks that are attempts to protect us. Let us be together and laugh together…even at ourselves. How liberating might that be!

Addiction in the Jewish Community

Min Hameitzar Karati Yah
In distress I called onto God. (Psalm 118)

I remember the day when I was first confronted with a congregant who was sharing about a spouse’s addiction. I had no idea. Now, that seems to be a silly statement. To say, “I had no idea” almost implies like I should have been able to tell because I was a rabbi. My conversation with the spouse related to a request for support.

At the time…I didn’t have much to offer. I had no books. I was unable to think of any sources for inspiration. I was a recently ordained rabbi and while I surely knew that there were people with addictions in the Jewish community…I never met any. Or, to be more precise, I didn’t know who might have been.

That has all changed. As I settled into my rabbinate over the past ten years, I have shifted a lot of my energy from programming and organizing to advancing healing and wholeness. In faith communities, there are plenty of things that folks just don’t want to talk about. Addiction is one of them. As a result, folks often feel like they cannot go to or depend on their clergy to support them in what seems to be an issue out of their realm.

I would like to say that I am proud of our synagogue’s leadership for acknowledging the need in the Jewish community to have a safe place to go to talk about addictions. We are one of the few synagogues in the country to host a 12-step meeting. We are host to a local Families Anonymous group, supporting families who love someone with an addiction. Not everyone who comes is Jewish, but many are – from within our synagogue community and from other congregations.

But now I would like to ask you to help me break the taboo of silence and shame about confronting addiction in the Jewish community. Jewish Family & Career Services is beginning to look at its own clinical offerings for individuals in recovery. Our own congregant, Jeff Fain, is working to develop a new non-profit organization called Nachshon to support Jewish families and individuals confronting addiction.

Along with Nachshon, TBT will be hosting Rabbi Mark Borovitz as a Guest Scholar. Rabbi Borovitz has been in the trenches, not just as a community rabbi who serves as the spiritual leader of the Beit T’Shuvah recovery program in L.A., or even as the rabbi of their congregation, but as someone who turned to a life of crime at a young age, who served his time in prison, only to emerge as a transformed human being who became a rabbi. He is going to be our teacher and I invite everyone to join us – whether you or someone you love faces an addiction or not.

Look at the schedule of events to see where you can join me to learn from Rabbi Borovitz, hear his story, and be inspired to help transform the lives of all who are in the darkness of addiction.

In Pslams, it says Min Hameitzar Karati Yah – “In distress I called onto God.” The term hameitzar has the same Hebrew root as Mitzrayim – Egypt. When we are in distress, when we are in an Egypt (sometimes an Egypt of our own making), we can find hope if we can call out to God for help. When our neighbors, friends and family members call out from hameitzar, we can serve as God’s agents and lend a hand. Join me in doing so…

Rabbi Mark Borovitz, senior Rabbi and spiritual leader of the Beit T’Shuvah recovery program and synagogue in Los Angeles, is the author of “The Holy Thief: A Con man’s Journey from Darkness to Light,” which chronicles his journey from drinker and con man to Rabbi and community leader.  He will discuss the issues of addiction, co-dependency and related harmful behaviors in the Jewish community.  Rabbi Mark draws attention to the problem of addiction and to the powerful ammunition against it, both in counteraction and prevention.

Rabbi Borovitz will speak to the metro Atlanta community on Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 7 PM at Temple Beth Tikvah.  RSVP is required: rsvp@bethtikvah.com.

Additional opportunities:

Parents and students in grades 8-12: Monday night, February 13 at 7-8:30 PM
Location: Temple Beth Tikvah
RSVP: bethtikvahrs@gmail.com
Other religious schools will be invited

Rabbis and Jewish Educators, contact rabbigreene@bethtikvah.com for more information.

Jewish Mental Health Professionals & Addiction Counselors: Tuesday, February 14 at 10-11:30 AM
Location: Jewish Family & Career Services, 4549 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Atlanta 30338
www.yourtoolsforliving.org
RSVP: outreach@jfcs-atlanta.org
A closed program for Jewish professionals who are licensed social workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, addictionologists, addiction counselors and psychiatrists

Labor is a Value – Help our Fellow Congregants Achieve Meaningful Work

This message was printed in the January edition of Temple Beth Tikvah’s Kol Tikvah.

We don’t consider manual work as a curse, or a bitter necessity, not even as a means of making a living. We consider it as a high human function, as the basis of human life, the most dignified thing in the life of the human being, and which out to be free, creative. Men ought to be proud of it.

David Ben Gurion to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
March 19, 1946

 One of the things that I have found most gratifying as a rabbi is to make Torah work in our every day lives. Maimonides, one of Jewish history’s greatest scholars and thinkers, developed a Ladder of Tzedakah. The bottom rung of the ladder is described as a situation where tzedakah is given reluctantly. The highest rung is when our actions will help another facing great financial distress secure assistance (even as a loan) to become self-sufficient.  It fulfills the commandment from Leviticus: “Strengthen him [the poor person] so that he does not fall [as distinct from the one who has already become poor] and become dependent on others” (25:35).

Times are still tough out there. That is not new Torah for anyone reading this article. But there is something we can do for others facing hard times in our community. Fulfill the mitzvah of helping to keep a person up, before they fall, through job and business networking.

If we believe in the power of community and the ideal that all of Israel is responsible for one another, then…I beg of you, let us take a little bit of time to help others in our community find a job, secure a better job, or enter into a partnership or collaboration to enrich their business opportunities.  Here is what you can do to help fulfill Maimonides’ vision:

1)      Come to our own Business to Business Networking Group. It meets on the first Thursday morning of every month (with few exceptions due to holy days). It is chaired by two amazing people who took on the challenge of bringing people together for mutual benefit over two years ago: Bart Segal and Wendy Klein. It provides a time for some networking and the group participates in a presentation on some aspect of leadership. Many of our very talented congregants have been guest speakers on such topics as marketing, leadership, insurance issues, social media, and much more. Perhaps you feel like you will not benefit from this experience.  That might be true. But you might be able to assist someone else make an important connection to a colleague, and you might find a worthwhile connection, too. You can get more info by joining Temple Beth Tikvah’s “group” on LinkedIn.com or by contacting Wendy at wendy.klein.hr@gmail.com or Bart at bsegal@trimedsolutions.net. All are welcome (and bring plenty of business cards).

2)      If you are looking for a new employee for your business or in your company, call our friends at Jewish Family & Career Services. Their Career Services Department has helped countless people in Atlanta’s Jewish community find jobs. Our own Wendy Siegel has recently joined their staff as a Job Developer, finding ways to connect people to meaningful work. JF&CS’ Employer Services prescreens job-ready applicants through experienced placement and career counseling professionals. This department has a large amount of applicants, but they always need potential employers. Helping others in our community find meaningful employment is a true act of chesed – kindness and loyalty. For more information on placement services for prospective employees and employers, go to https://yourtoolsforliving.org/services/careers.

3)      As I mentioned, TBT has its own group on www.LinkedIn.com. I have many congregants, as well as others in Atlanta, in my own personal network to help make connections for you. If I can be helpful, do not hesitate to use me for an “introduction” to a potential employer or client. I can’t guarantee it would work, but I welcome the opportunity to help our congregants support themselves and their families.

I believe an authentic Jewish orientation takes our spiritual energy and translates it into the world in very practical ways. Prayer and faith compel me to act. Join me in making a difference in the lives of our fellow congregants.