Happy Chanukah

For the second night of Chanukah, how about a lovely rendition of Ma'oz Tzur, or as it is known in the English translation, Rock of Ages?









This YouTube video was originally posted in 2008, with the following description:

The SHIRAH Choir performs "Ma'oz Tzur" Sunday, December 14, 2008 led Matthew Lazar, Founding Director and Conductor. This concert was held at the Eric Brown Theater, Thurnauer School of Music, Kaplen JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ. For more information, see www.jccotp.org.

Our thanks to our neighbors over in Tenafly for this marvelous Chanukah treat!

Happy Hannukah!

On behalf of Congregation Adas Emuno, we wish you all a very happy Hannukah!

The video comes to us from YouTube courtesy of

twingal01 , and features "pictures of menorah's around the world. 8 days of lighting candles. 2 songs."

D'var Torah for the Jewish Standard for Chanukah

D’var Torah for Jewish Standard: Miketz/Chanukah

As we reach the season of Chanukah this year, in many of our synagogues, our leaders will be discussing what we’ve come to call “The December Dilemma”. Chanukah can become a difficult time of year for us if we and our children are comparing our December holiday to our Christian friends’ celebrations during this time. The two holidays have absolutely nothing to do with one another in terms of theology. However, in today’s material world, the holidays have become intertwined as an interfaith “festival” of buying. If we fully embrace the materialistic notions of Chanukah, and neglect to consider the roots of our holiday, we have completely lost the essence of what Chanukah represents.

When we focus on the true meaning of Chanukah, we come back to the very root of the word. Chanukah itself means rededication. Our December holiday reminds us to celebrate the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem. It is significant that the word is rededication rather than dedication. Of course, the Beit Hamikdash had already been dedicated and it makes sense that as it was dedicated once again, it becomes a rededication. But as a spiritual commentary, the word rededication allows us to look within ourselves and see where we have not been as Jewishly dedicated as we would have liked to be.

In the prayer, Al Hanisim, we are also reminded to celebrate the rededication of our people to the very idea of Judaism! We recite, “the iniquitous Greco-Syrian kingdom rose up against Your people Israel, to make them forget Your Torah.” Later in the prayer, we say, “Your children entered the sanctuary of Your house, cleansed Your temple, purified Your sanctuary, kindled lights in Your holy courts, and appointed these eight days of Hanukkah in order to give thanks and praises unto Your holy name." In order to rededicate themselves, our ancestors had to first realize that they had lost sight of what was important. Once they had confronted their own failings, they could begin again to dedicate themselves through physical labor and spiritual endeavor in the holy Temple.

This year, may our December dilemma be, “How will we rededicate ourselves to living a Jewish life and living in the way that God wants us to?” and, “During our Festival of Lights, how will we rekindle the flames within our souls?”

I know that my own answers to these questions are unusual. Having recently returned from a journey to Rome with 19 other Reform cantors from all over North America to sing in the Italian State Basilica, my thoughts have been focused on interfaith relations and in particular, Jewish-Catholic relations. I have been formally involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue for ten years through the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT. My favorite thing about interfaith dialogue is that it always brings me back to my own faith with a deeper appreciation and understanding of our traditions.

Our journey was full of wonderful experiences and also some disappointments. While discussing some of the minor disappointments of the trip, Rabbi Mark Winer, a chair of the International Interfaith Task Force of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, responded to our regret. He reminded us to view our concert and interactions with Vatican officials as the beginning of a journey.

I returned home to hear news that Pope Benedict XVI had published personal comments calling Pope Pius a "great, righteous" man who "saved more Jews than anyone else". These comments cause pain to most Jewish people. My response to the comments this time was that I will continually rededicate myself to the important work of interfaith dialogue, no matter how difficult it becomes.

The last day of Chanukah marks the dedication of the altar in the Holy Temple. In some communities this is seen as the end of the High Holiday season and people wish each other, “Gmar chatimah tovah (may you be sealed for good).” As we enter this Chanukah season, may we confront our obstacles with the strength and ingenuity that our ancestors showed. May we rededicate ourselves as individuals and as a community to Jewish living and to righteousness.

Concert Video

Dear friends,

I just received a very special gift this Thanksgiving! The entire concert in Rome, To God's Ears, is posted on YouTube. I've enclosed the link. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/cantorialconcert

final Rome posting

Dear friends,

Please excuse me for taking so long to write about the final days of my journey to Rome. It's been a whirlwind!

For most of the day on Tuesday, we practiced. Part of our practice was at the Michelangelo Hotel, which is where most of the cantors were staying during our trip. We had a quick lunch and then continued our rehearsal at the Basilica. Here is a link to the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri: http://www.santamariadegliangeliroma.it/index.htm?lingua=INGLESE&cambialingua=SI The basilica sits on the site of the Diocletian Baths which were the largest of the Roman public baths. You can learn more about the Baths of Diocletian here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baths_of_Diocletian

The sound inside of the Basilica was tremendously beautiful. We worked hard for most of the day and took a short break, after which we came back to the Basilica and presented the concert. I was whisked away during part of the rehearsal for an interview as well. We were escorted to Rome by a film crew. The crew is filming a documentary called "To God's Ears". I spent most of my interview time talking about why interfaith work is so dear to me. I often hear the cry that children of intermarried couples will not remain Jews. As a child of a Jew and a Catholic, I like to say that I'm living proof that it ain't necessarily so. I feel that it's out duty to reach out to interfaith couples and provide them with a welcoming home.

The concert was truly beautiful. There aren't words to describe the feeling of joy and triumph as our voices echoed through the Basilica. Knowing that we were sharing the beauty of our musical and liturgical traditions with Catholics in their place of worship was a moment I will never forget.

As many of you know by now, Pope Benedict did not attend the concert. Unfortunately, our main contact to the Vatican, Cardinal Keeler, fell ill right before our trip and was unable to accompany us. However, this did not detract from the meaning of the concert. We had in the audience other cardinals and the American ambassador to the Vatican. Also, my favorite moment was realizing that Anthony, the student who we had spoken with the previous day, had come to the concert.

The next day, our group attended an audience with Pope Benedict. Some of us were given VIP seating and I was one of the chosen. From all reports, the two sections of seating were equally exciting, with different views. The whole experience had the feeling of a rock concert, with crowds of people, some standing on their chairs, yelling with joy. After this experience, we went on to a wonderful tour of the Vatican Museums.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I can say that I am so grateful to have been a part of this experience. Thank you all for helping me make this trip!

Back to Leonia

Hi everybody! I'm back in Leonia. I didn't get to update our final experiences & I won't get to do it today - too much to do in order to get ready for Shabbat. But I can assure you the concert was tremendously beautiful. I promise to post before it's too far removed from my mind. Thanks for all of your support along the way. I felt like you were all there with me.

Day 2

I woke up bright andearly in order to take in some sights this morning. I
joined together with Cantors Tracey
Scher and Rosalie Boxt and Rosalie's husband, Jason. We took a taxi over to the Colosseum at 7 am!

This is the arc of Constantine with the beautiful morning light.

After walking by the Colosseum, of course the first order of business was finding a place to have an espresso con latte. Everyone else had cappuccino as you can see. Molto bene!

After our pick-me-up we wended our way back to the Hotel Michelangelo to greet the rest of the cantors who were gathering together.

We walked past the forum and the circo massimo.

This outdoor market was beautiful. We were running late and I didn't have time to stop to buy any fruit, but I did get to snap this photo. Farmer's markets in the US are nice, but no comparison.

After our walk we met our colleagues and went to rehearse for the day. We spent the morning in rehearsal and took a break after noon to participate in a ceremony rededicating a Yom Hashoah Menorah.

Below is a photo of me at the ceremony with Rabbi Mark Winer.

Rabbi Winer is the president of the Foundation to Advance Interfaith Trust and Harmony. You can learn

more about his work at www.faithinterfaith.com.

After the ceremony, we joined together for lunch and interfaith dialogue with the seminarians studying at the North American College in Rome. I'm sorry to say that I didn't take any pictures because I became so engrossed in the discussion! Following our discussions with the seminarians we had a meeting at the Rome Synagogue with the Chief Rabbi of Rome and then we had a tour of the former ghetto in Rome. All of the buildings that made up the ghetto have been demolished, but there is a lot of history hidden in the cracks. Our guide for this part of the day was a woman from a Roman Jewish family whose family has been here in Rome since the 14th century.

This is a photo of our guide. After our tour we did some more rehearsing and then returned to the hotel to freshen up for dinner on our own.

I had a lovely quiet evening with Cantor Jonathan Grant and his wife Sharyn, two very close friends. We went to a "restaurant" called Da i Due Ciccione (the 2 fat guys) in Trastevere. My brother gave us the recommendation (thanks, Jesse!). The place had five tables, the stove was basically next to our table and it was a homemade, classic Roman meal. Very relaxing after a long day. Below are photos of bruschetta and me with the owner/chef. Time to get some sleep before a big day tomorrow!