Jacob Galperin's D'var Torah

Jacob Galperin was Bar Mitzvah on December 3rd, 2011, and as you can imagine, it was an occasion of great happiness and pride for his family, and for all of us at Congregation Adas Emuno. In the photograph here you can see Jacob (center) with Rabbi Barry Schwartz (left) holding the Torah, and Student Cantor Luke Hawley (right), standing in front of the Ark.  And we are very pleased to welcome Jacob as a Guest Blogger here on our congregational blog, as he was kind enough to share with us his D'Var Torah. 

D'Var Torah

Jacob Galperin 

I

Torah Portion

My Torah portion is the famous story of Jacob's, Vayeitzei,  which means, and he went out.  This is when Jacob left Beersherba for the city of Haran, Rebekah's birthplace.

Jacob stops to rest his first night.  He places a stone as a head rest and then dreams of a ladder set upon the ground reaching heaven, with angels climbing up and down.

When Jacob awakens he makes a pact with God. If God kept him safe, Jacob would make him his God.

Jacob continues his journey to Haran to find his mother's brother, Uncle Laban.  In no time at all, Jacob was united with Uncle Laban, Leah, and Rachel. 

Jacob tells the story of his dream.  Laban was so happy about all that had occurred. Jacob was in love with Rachel, the prettiest and youngest of the two girls. 

Jacob asks Laban to marry Rachel, and that night Laban brought the bride to the tent.  The next morning Jacob finds out it was Leah along with her maid.

OMG! as we would say... Someone told a lie!

Jacob marches over to Laban's tent for an explanation and Laban tells him, "Not to worry...  The oldest daughter must be married first, however, so if you still want to marry Rachel, work for me seven years and she will be yours, with her maid."

He takes the deal.

II 

Theme 

The theme I have chosen is dishonesty, and the lack of bravery that is needed to tell the truth.

Rachel's father was dishonest with Jacob by sending Leah to Jacob's tent.  He then rationalized his lie with the truth that he was not brave enough to communicate beforehand. Perhaps like many of us, he was afraid Jacob would have said no, and his first child would be considered an outcast. Thus, Laban was willing to sin because he saw God's will directing him to care for his first born before his own soul.

We also know that Leah and her maid gives Jacob ten children and Rachel and her maid blesses Jacob with two children.

III

Discussion

According to my study, dealing with dishonesty is a question for us to ask ourselves. What is the Torah telling us,  how should we treat a person who is dishonest and may be stealing from us? 

Jacob investigated Laban when it came to Leah. He asked many questions, and he kept his dignity.  He did not yell, he did not lose his temper.  He did not attack Laban, and kept his emotions in check. Some commentators would say Jacob's handling of Laban is a good way to handle a situation like this.

Also, the Torah teaches us lessons in human conduct and self control, and anger is the emotion that should be used only in the last resort and then only in a controlled, thought out, and constructed form of communication versus an outburst.

I picked this theme because I find this part to be fascinating, and I can relate to being not brave enough to tell the truth at times, and obviously I have lied for the same reason.  I lied to my mother a long time ago because I didn't want to do my homework, and if I told her the truth, she would make me.  The part that is different here is that I was lying for my own selfish reasons, unlike Laban who lied, let's say, for the greater good.  And perhaps God said it was okay by blessing Leah with ten children, while Rachel had only two children.

  

IV

My Mitzvah Project

My Mitzvah Project will be occurring after my Bar Mitzvah due to a situation beyond my control.  They say there are no coincidences.  I have chosen to help the Cantor help the new Bar Mitzvah  students on Sunday.  I would like to thank all of you for being here, and just being awesome. I would also like to especially thank my Mom, Cantor Luke, and Rabbi Schwartz.  Without them. I wouldn't be here today.

    

V

My Preparation

My preparation has changed my view of Judaism. I have learned that it isn't so easy to become Bar Mitzvah. A lot of time has to be spent to make sure that everything sounds right and that everything goes perfectly. I have learned that now is my time to show that I can lead a service, and that I am a child of Jacob. Preparing has also shown me that although now I may be reluctant to come to synagogue and to return to religious school, I know that it's the best thing for me to do. God will always be there for me and I will always be there for Him, so I know that I would love to sacrifice the hour long services on the weekends for him.

And with that we offer our gratitude to Jacob and his mother Susan Galperin for sharing his D'Var Torah with us. And on behalf of Congregation Adas Emuno, we extend a warm and joyful Mazel Tov to the entire Galperin family!

Americans and God

Eric Weiner's opinion piece in yesterday's New York Times, entitled, Americans:  Undecided About God?, speaks to some important points about the status of organized religion in contemporary American society, and the relevance of Adas Emuno as part of the movement known as Reform Judaism.

Weiner begins by invoking the holiday season and its discontents:

The holidays are upon us again — it sounds vaguely aggressive, as if the holidays were some sort of mugger, or overly enthusiastic lover — and so it’s time to stick a thermometer deep in our souls and take our spiritual temperature (between trips to the mall, of course).


For some of us, the season affords an opportunity to reconnect with our religious heritage. For others, myself included, it’s a time to shake our heads over the sad state of our national conversation about God, and wish there were another way.


For a nation of talkers and self-confessors, we are terrible when it comes to talking about God. The discourse has been co-opted by the True Believers, on one hand, and Angry Atheists on the other. What about the rest of us?

It is certainly the case that the news media tend to focus on the two extremes.  After all, conflict makes for good drama, and drama is what attracts an audience.  But Weiner wants to frame this issue via demographics, and the formation of a new demographic category:

The rest of us, it turns out, constitute the nation’s fastest-growing religious demographic. We are the Nones, the roughly 12 percent of people who say they have no religious affiliation at all. The percentage is even higher among young people; at least a quarter are Nones.


Apparently, a growing number of Americans are running from organized religion, but by no means running from God. On average 93 percent of those surveyed say they believe in God or a higher power; this holds true for most Nones — just 7 percent of whom describe themselves as atheists, according to a survey by Trinity College.


Nones are the undecided of the religious world. We drift spiritually and dabble in everything from Sufism to Kabbalah to, yes, Catholicism and Judaism.

Weiner makes this sound like a new trend, but it is well documented that affiliation with organized religion has been in decline in the United States for over half a century now.  So perhaps what has changed is people's willingness to admit to it, and to identify themselves as having no affiliation whatsoever, as well as their willingness to experiment and mix and match among existing spiritual traditions.  Indeed, often individuals who distance themselves from religion at the same time embrace other forms of spirituality, which goes to Weiner's point about belief in a higher power divorced from identification with organized religion.  One reason may be that, in some instances, religions turn to matters other than those of the spirit:

Why the rise of the Nones? David Campbell and Robert Putnam, of the University of Notre Dame and the Harvard Kennedy School, respectively, think politics is to blame. Their idea is that we’ve mixed politics and religion so completely that many simply opt out of both; apparently they are reluctant to claim a religious affiliation because they don’t want the political one that comes along with it.




We are more religiously polarized than ever. In my secular, urban and urbane world, God is rarely spoken of, except in mocking, derisive tones. It is acceptable to cite the latest academic study on, say, happiness or, even better, whip out a brain scan, but God? He is for suckers, and Republicans.

 I used to be that way, too, until a health scare and the onset of middle age created a crisis of faith, and I ventured to the other side. I quickly discovered that I didn’t fit there, either. I am not a True Believer. I am a rationalist. I believe the Enlightenment was a very good thing, and don’t wish to return to an age of raw superstition.

So, health and aging put the "fear of God" into Weiner, or at least reminded him that there is more to life than our everyday concerns.  He does not detail what "the other side" was that he looked to, but I suspect that it wasn't Reform Judaism.  The Reform movement was a product of Enlightenment rationalism, and is it truly irrational to say that there is something more to the world than the things that we are aware of, more than human knowledge can encompass, or ever can fully understand?  And is it truly irrational to say that we Jews have an amazing, millennia-old evolving tradition that is worth maintaining and being a part of, just as it is worth the effort to adjust and adapt it to changing circumstances and changing times, that is, to continually take part in a process of reform?

Weiner goes on to say,

We Nones may not believe in God, but we hope to one day. We have a dog in this hunt.

And Reform Jewish congregations, such as Adas Emuno, are places where people go a'hunting for spiritual experience, for discovering for themselves their own individual understanding of and relationship to the divine.  And this same Jewish tradition is also one that emphasizes ethics, that above all else seeks to answer the question of how we should live our lives, to live them in a way that is consonant with the sacred and divine dimensions of creation, and in a way that does not harm others, and works towards the benefit of all human beings and of all living things.  Weiner goes on to note,

Nones don’t get hung up on whether a religion is “true” or not, and instead subscribe to William James’s maxim that “truth is what works.” If a certain spiritual practice makes us better people — more loving, less angry — then it is necessarily good, and by extension “true.” (We believe that G. K. Chesterton got it right when he said: “It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”)




By that measure, there is very little “good religion” out there. Put bluntly: God is not a lot of fun these days. Many of us don’t view religion so generously. All we see is an angry God. He is constantly judging and smiting, and so are his followers. No wonder so many Americans are enamored of the Dalai Lama. He laughs, often and well.

Ummm. Judaism and humor?  Hello????  Oh well, he is addressing American society as a whole, and Judaism represents only a small portion of that population.  So, anyway, Weiner continues with,

Precious few of our religious leaders laugh. They shout. God is not an exclamation point, though. He is, at his best, a semicolon, connecting people, and generating what Aldous Huxley called “human grace.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of this. 

God is a semicolon?  Maybe, in the sense that there are very few people left who understand or know how to use one.  Actually, I like the Kabbalistic Rabbi David A. Cooper's view better, as he says that God is a verb.  Anyway, it does seem that much of the criticism here is directed against the public face of organized religion:

Religion and politics, though often spoken about in the same breath, are, of course, fundamentally different. Politics is, by definition, a public activity. Though religion contains large public components, it is at core a personal affair. It is the relationship we have with ourselves or, as the British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “What the individual does with his solitariness.” There lies the problem: how to talk about the private nature of religion publicly. 

It used to be that religion and politics were subjects that were not brought up in public, in polite society, but then again, manners have kind of gone the same route as organized religion.  So what does Weiner conclude?

What is the solution? The answer, I think, lies in the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that has long defined America, including religious America.


We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious. Like Mr. Jobs’s creations, this new way would be straightforward and unencumbered and absolutely intuitive. Most important, it would be highly interactive. I imagine a religious space that celebrates doubt, encourages experimentation and allows one to utter the word God without embarrassment. A religious operating system for the Nones among us. And for all of us.

I don't know, maybe Weiner was thinking of some of those cartoons that appeared after Jobs passed away...

Whatever the reason, he might consider the fact that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, that to find everything he's looking for, he doesn't have to journey to New Delhi or Kathmandu or Tokyo or Tibet.  He can find it all right here, in the New York Metropolitan Area, across the river in northern New Jersey, in Bergen County, in the town of Leonia, in our little Congregation of Adas Emuno.  You are very welcome to come and join us for Shabbat evening services sometime, Eric, and see what you think.  And otherwise, we wish you the best in your seeking, may you find what you're looking for.

A Hanukkah Concert in NYC

For those of you who like jazz and can make the trip, or are working in the city, Eugene Marlow's Heritage Ensemble will be performing next week, and they're sensational.  Here's the info:

And of course, you might like to get a sense of what they sound like, so...

So, here's wishing you a very jazzy Hanukkah!

A Panel Discussion on Jewish Writers in NYC

I thought this event taking place just across the Hudson in Manhattan this coming Tuesday might be of interest:

Growing Up Chosen

Jewish Writers and Their Childhood

SPONSORED BY THE

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY

CENTER ON RELIGION AND CULTURE

Tuesday, 6 December 2011  |   6 - 8 p.m.

Pope Auditorium  |  Lincoln Center Campus 

Corner of Columbus Ave. & 60th St.

Q: What do you do with a Jewish childhood 

A: You write about it. 

The temptations, excitements, satisfactions and angst of going from childhood memories to written text--join us for an evening of readings and discussion with three distinguished writers. The discussion will be followed by a book-signing. 

 

 

MODERATOR

Anne G. Hoffman, Professor, Department of English, Fordham University

PANELISTS  

Joshua Halberstam, A Seat at the Table: A Novel of Forbidden Choices and Schmoozing: The Private Conversations of American Jews

Myla Goldberg, Bee Season, The False Friend and Wickett's Remedy

David Roskies, Yiddishlands: A Memoir

 

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

RSVP to crcevent@fordham.edu  |  (212) 636-7347 

(RSVP not required)

For more information, visit www.fordham.edu/ReligCulture

Come Join Us at Our Book Fair

News from the Religious School at Adas Emuno

from the pages of Kadima, the newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

News from the

Religious School

at Adas Emuno

Religious School Director
Jennifer Katz-Goldstein

It is hard to believe that we have entered the month of November, albeit with a bit of an interruption after the unexpected storms in late October. So we have had an incredible beginning in more ways than one! But our schoolhouse, as always, is filled with the energy and spirit of our students and teachers busy with their respective curriculum.

It is a pleasure to have our school gather to pray as a community each week. As we have settled into a routine, so too have our students become increasingly comfortable participating in services and sitting in prayer together. I am particularly pleased when our students assist the Rabbi and Cantor in leading portions of the services. In addition, our 7th graders are getting the opportunity to “practice” standing in front of their community and getting comfortable on the bima.

 One of the areas that we are focusing on to improve this year is the Hebrew level of our students. What we mean by this is increasing their ability to follow the service, read and/or chant the prayers and be comfortable with their own prayer participation. As such, we will be emphasizing more prayer chanting in our classrooms. Students will spend time as a group, in pairs and individually working on getting to know prayer tunes earlier so that by the time we begin to work on B'nai Mitzvah preparation, they will already have achieved a certain level of competency in many of the prayers they will lead during their B'nai Mitzvah service. 

One particularly exciting component to this is a website that student Cantor Luke Hawley has put together for Adas Emuno. With this site, a student or parent can have access to all of the prayers contained in our Shabbat worship service and eventually, to include holiday songs, blessings and Torah Portions for B'nai Mitzvah. One can follow along reading text or listening to the correct way to chant and learn at one’s own pace. All of our congregants will be provided with the website and password to gain access to this wonderful learning tool. Thank you Cantor Hawley!
 
Our Confirmation class also continually impresses me. Our students are consistently almost all in attendance for every session (all fifteen of them) and their enthusiasm for being at Adas Emuno and learning together is contagious. I must admit that being with this group, teaching and learning with them is one of my favorite aspects of my job. Our teens are quite impressive! I should also mention that many of these same Confirmation students as well as other teens are also assistant teachers in our school. Having these students helping out and serving as role models is invaluable.

We have begun our Family Shabbat Grade Participation services. Already grade seven has gathered in October for a family dinner and service participation which was truly impressive. Grade Six will participate on November 18, and on December 9, grades four/five will come together.  We look forward to sharing another special evening together with our students, parents and the Congregation.

In December, students will usher in the Festival of Lights with a special snack of latkes, applesauce and soufganiyot (munchkin donuts) a special student service focused on the “miracles” of Chanukah and in-class learning. A special thank you to the parent volunteers who provide the ritual foods and extra materials we need as well as setting up and cleaning up when we are finished. These unique days could not take place without you!! 

As the holidays approach, please be on the lookout for your child to bring home a copy of the “Parent Page”. This is put out by the URJ (Union of Reform Judaism) and serves as a guide to observing the holidays and includes history, blessings, stories and projects to help you and your family enjoy the holidays.
 
Progress reports will be sent home for every child in grades kindergarten through seven during the month of January. These are our way to give you a “glance” at what your child is doing in class. As always, please feel free to contact me at any time regarding these or any other school matter either by phone or email at Adasschool@yahoo.com.

L’Shalom, (go forward towards peace)

Jennifer Katz-Goldstein

Sephardic Music Festival

Something that may be of interest is the upcoming Sephardic Music Festival in New York City, on December 20-27th. Here's some information about it, from their website:

The Sephardic Music Festival showcases the remarkable diversity that exists within the Jewish community. Its tapestry of harmonies, rhythms, and cultural motifs are as rich, vibrant, and diverse as the Jewish world itself. Popular perceptions of Jews and Jewish culture are dominated by Ashkenazi images and symbols like bagels, gefilte fish, klezmer, and Yiddish. This is the first music festival to focus exclusively on the less familiar but captivating culture of the Jewish communities of Spain/Portugal, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.  The festival showcases artists from all over the world, representing cultural traditions from Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) to Mizrahi (Middle Eastern/North African) to Yemenite (Judeo-Arabic). In addition to traditional liturgical music, Shabbat songs, Sephardic folk tunes, and classic love poems (Romanceros), the festival also presents artists who fuse traditional rhythms, melodies, and themes with modern styles such as electro, hip hop, and dance music. The Sephardic Scholar Series, an important part of the Festival, brings performers, ethnomusicologists, and experts together to illuminate the historical and sociological roots of Sephardic music and culture.  quotes:  “This Hanukkah fest wants to school us in Jewish music—and not just your grandpa’s klez.” - Time Out NY “Thanks to events like the Sephardic Music Festival, the sounds of Sephardic Jewry are at last beginning to get their due.” – The Forward  “For most New Yorkers, “Jewish music” means klezmer: plaintive fiddles, wailing clarinets and other vestiges of a largely vanished Eastern European culture. But at the Sephardic Music Festival, a New York City tradition…, the world of Jewish music gets explored from an entirely different angle, focusing on the aural legacy of Jewish communities from Spain and the Muslim world.” – JPost  “Our Hannukkah-side suggestion is the annual Sephardic Music Festival…look at this festival as the un-Ashkenazi festival.” - National Public Radio, WNYC

And here's a video promoting and fundraising for the festival:



Sephardic Music Festival Promo Clip from ShemspeedTV on Vimeo.




And the write up on the fundraising page goes like this:

Over the past 6 years we have produced the Sephardic Music Festival in NYC. The Festival highlights the remarkable diversity that exists within the Jewish community. Its tapestry of harmonies, rhythms, and cultural motifs are as rich, vibrant, and diverse as the Jewish world itself.. This is the first music festival to focus exclusively on the less familiar but captivating culture of the Jewish communities of Spain/Portugal, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia.  The festival showcases artists from all over the world, representing cultural traditions from Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) to Mizrahi (Middle Eastern/North African) to Yemenite (Judeo-Arabic). In addition to traditional liturgical music, Shabbat songs, Sephardic folk tunes, and classic love poems (Romanceros), the festival also presents artists who fuse traditional rhythms, melodies, and themes with modern styles such as electro, hip-hop, and dance music. The Sephardic Scholar Series, an important part of the Festival, brings performers, ethnomusicologists, and experts together to illuminate the historical and sociological roots of Sephardic music and culture. The festival also produces Fashion, Art & Food events, all promoting and showcasing diversity.  Your money will help fund this year’s festival, which will take place in and around NYC from December 20th through the 27th.  We will produce an incredible diverse series of events including a Sephardic Story Slam night, a flamenco dance night, an Israeli & International Hip Hop night, a Kosher Taste Fest, a World music dance party alternative to the Matzo Ball on Xmas eve, a mega event with the Godfather of Israeli music (Miki Gavrielov). These are events that you will not see anywhere else and they are vital to the preservation and education of this rich culture. And here are some sights and sounds from previous years, representing some diverse musical tastes: And there's art and fashion too: And diversity! What a marvelous, exciting, and refreshing approach to Judaism! And so, in the Sephardic tongue of Ladino, let us remember: Boca dulce avre puertas de fierro (Kind words open iron gates)!