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

From the desk of …                    

 Rabbi Barry Schwartz

    

OUR TALENTED PRESIDENT

No, I‘m not talking about the leader of the free world, but the president of our shul.

It’s not every day that a rabbi writes about his president, but Lance Strate is so talented that I’m moved to do so.

What other Temple president enlivens announcements with a witty comment on my sermon week after week?

What other Temple president writes a Temple blog complete with links to entertaining YouTube videos?

What other Temple president writes a column for the local Jewish newspaper (see the Jewish Standard for his latest, Zayde for President) that offers provocative commentary on the media and current events?

What other Temple president convenes a monthly “Poetry Garden” that includes readings of his own charming verse?

What other Temple president writes his own Purim spiels, including last year’s off­-off-­Broadway hit The Schnook of Esther and this year’s Shalom Shushan? The latter premiers in its entirety on Wednesday evening, March 23 at 7:00 pm­ don’t miss it!

What other Temple president has not only written several books, but contributed to a new one with his rabbi? You can find both our pieces in Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion (which you can find by visiting my Amazon authorpage). And look for information on a temple program about the book on Saturday, April 9 at 10 AM in a future post.



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What other Temple president manages to do this while juggling more than his share of family responsibilities and a professorship at Fordham University?

Lance is completing his second term as Temple president, and without term limits I do not know if he will remain in office or anoint a successor. If the former, we will continue to benefit from his dedication and wisdom. If the latter, then may this column serve as a word of gratitude and appreciation.

And let’s remember that the talents of our volunteers run wide and deep. Whether on the board, on a committee, in the school... in a small congregation such as ours, your contribution makes a difference. My highlighting our president is really a salute to all who lend a hand in sustaining our special community.

Our Souper Social Action!

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


 

A Report from Annette DeMarco
Social Action Committee Chairperson




 


We won the Souper Bowl with a score of 103 soup items collected!! This number included cans, microwavable cups, containers and cellophane wrapped soup mixes... all in a variety of shapes, sizes and flavors. A special thank you to everyone who "played" in our first ever Souper Bowl! A very, very special shout out to our religious school students and madrachim who helped raise the "score". I see a "Souper Bowl II" in our future....

Purim is coming, so in the true tradition of the holiday... let's fill a "community" Shalach Manot basket! When you attend the Purim service and festivities, please bring a nonperishable food item (or two or three) and place in the basket in the vestry room as you enter the sanctuary. Food can be brought on both days of the celebration (Sunday, March 20th and Wednesday, March 23rd). These donations as well as all food items collected through the end of March will be delivered to the JFNNJ (Jewish Federation of Northern NJ) for their March Mega Food Drive.

Thinking ahead... we will be collecting all leftover, unopened Passover food during the first three weeks in May. It will be brought to the Helping Hands Food Bank in Teaneck. A special box will be placed in the vestry for these donations.

Join Us!

Wednesday, March 9th the Social Action Committee met at 7:30 PM in the Social Hall. ­Our social action projects have been successful due to the incredible responses of our congregants, whenever called upon. In essence, you are all members of this committee! During this meeting members brought in new ideas, discussed the old ones and welcomed those who "never knew we existed" as a group. Couldn't attend? Just email your ideas to me. Thanks!

Thank you to all who donated to the Winter Clothing Drive. Items were brought to the Council of Jewish Women's thrift shop in Bergenfield.

The general food, household items and toiletries collection is ongoing.

Special regards,

Annette ­ Social Action Committee Chairperson

acheryl21 at gmail.com

Purim Purim Spiel

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

Shalom Shushan 

Adas Emuno Purim Spiel 

Wednesday Evening, March 23 

What Does the Fox Say? Everything is Awesome in the new Purim Spiel written by our own temple president, Lance Strate! The musical director is Elka Oliver, and the cast is, well, a group of enthusiastic members (young and not so young) who are Born to Run and will be Dancing in the Streets (or the aisles, anyway!) to deliver a great show! We’re not Losing Our Religion and We Didn’t Light the Fire but we hope you’ll join us as we light up the room in celebration with song parodies, silly antics and a super story to boot (as in These Boots are Made for Walking!). So join us on March 23 at 6:15 for Pizza in the Social Hall, followed by a Purim Service, the reading of the Megillah, and Shalom Shushan! Hamantaschen and other treats will be served after the spiel. (P.S. A few songs from Shalom Shushan will be performed on Sunday morning, March 20 for our Religious School students and anyone else who wants to come!) 

Spring Religious School News

From the pages of Kadima, the Newsletter of Congregation Adas Emuno:

Religious School News 

     from


Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Religious School Director

It’s holiday season! Not the kind where you get lots of presents; rather, two important Jewish holidays are coming up in March and April–Purim and Passover.

Our Religious School Purim celebration is Sunday March 20th. It’s “Silly Time”! Children are invited to come to school in costume, as one of the characters from the Purim story, or as something different. Here’s a challenge for those who choose not to come in a traditional Purim costume: be prepared to say which Purim character your costume most resembles! Who will you be–a hero or a villain, a queen or a king, or perhaps someone else from the Purim story? Classes will be learning about the Purim characters, so that might help you to decide.

Our Purim Tefilah service that morning will include excerpts from the Purim Spiel (Shalom Shushan!) and students will get to sing in the show! We’ll be reading from the Megilah and singing traditional and parody Purim songs. The morning concludes with hamantashen in the social hall.

As I write this, plans are still underway for our school Passover celebration on April 17. Also please note, we DO have school on April 10: this was originally scheduled as a vacation day, but we are using this as a make­up for the snow day we had earlier this year.

Please join us for the last two Family Services of the year–March 11, led by Grades 2 and 3, and April 1, led by Grades K­1. Our youngest students are busy learning songs and planning their presentations.

Finally–We Need Volunteers! 
Even if you have already signed up, we have vacancies in coverage for the Parent-­in-­Charge and for our Passover and Last Day programs. Please help! Here are the links:

Parent-­in-Charge

Volunteer Programs

 
DATES TO REMEMBER:

Friday, March 11
7:30 AM: Family Service led by Grades 2­3

Sunday, March 20
9:00 AM: School Purim Celebration

Wednesday, March 23
6:15 PM: Pizza for Purim in the Social Hall
7:00 PM: Congregational Purim Service, Megillah reading & Spiel (Shalom Shushan!) Costumes encouraged!

Sunday, March 27
NO SCHOOL (Spring Break)

Friday, April 1
7:30 PM: Family Service led by Grades K­1

Sunday, April 10
Religious School in Session (snow makeup day)

Sunday, April 17
9:00 AM: School Passover program

Sunday, April 24
No School (Passover)

Confirmation Class Sessions:
March 6, 20; April 3 (special visit to Natural History Museum), April 17 

Purim Time!

Our Sorry State of Debate

In keeping with the political theme of our last two posts, did you catch the op-ed by Rabbi Schwartz in the February 19th issue of the Jewish Standard? Entitled, Our Sorry State of Debate, Rabbi Schwartz addresses one of his favorite themes, and you can read the piece over on the Standard's Times of Israel site by clicking on the title, or read it right here on our Adas Emuno congregational blog:

The bedrock of a flourishing democracy is the informed consent of the governed.

If Sy Sym’s slogan that “an educated consumer is our best customer” is true for business, then “an educated civilian is our best citizen” is true for politics.

If the Talmud famously teaches: “Every debate that is for the sake of heaven”—machloket l’shem shamayim—“will make a lasting contribution,” it also warns that “Every debate that is not for the sake of heaven will not make a lasting contribution.” Our sages understood that debate for the right reasons enhances the community. Debate for the wrong reasons diminishes us.

That is why I so lament the sorry state of debate in our nation. It seems like things have gone from bad to worse. I’ve watched every debate, and my sinking feeling at the beginning of each televised travesty generally ends in depression. Millions of Americans are tuning in hungry for elevated conversation, only to walk away sated by a meal of junk food.

As Fergus Bordewich writes in America’s Great Debate, his book on the lofty abolition arguments of the mid-19th century, “The pool-tested, spin-doctored, shoddily argued and grammatically challenged ‘messaging’ that today passes for political communication is pathetic and often incoherent by comparison.” And that was before the spectacle that passes for debate this election cycle.

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The media is complicit in the farce. Candidates are given 90 seconds to make their case. In the Lincoln-Douglas debates each man spoke for 90 minutes! The moderators often pose inane questions that goad the debaters to attack each other rather than speak affirmatively about their platforms. When the candidates regurgitate their talking points rather than answering their questions, the response is mostly: “moving on….”

At their first debate, more than 10,000 people stood listening to Lincoln and Douglas for the entire three hours—there were no seats or bleachers. Similar crowds showed up for the next six debates, which were of such national interest that they were “broadcast” live by stenographers, who raced from the debates at set intervals with transcripts made in shorthand, which were then written out and conveyed by telegraph. Douglas began by acknowledging how significant debate was for addressing “the leading political topics which now agitate the public mind.” Abraham Lincoln opened his reply in feisty style: “When a man hears himself somewhat misrepresented it provokes him, but when misrepresentation becomes very gross and palpable, it’s more apt to amuse him.” Then, though, he got down to the serious business of educating the electorate about the ethical ills of perpetuating slavery.

Wael Ghonim, whose Facebook posts helped spark the Tahrir Square uprising that toppled a president but ultimately failed to bring democracy to Egypt, recently acknowledged that the Arab spring was aborted when true debate failed to materialize. Instead, he laments, social media “only amplified [the polarization] by facilitating the spread of misinformation, rumors, echo chambers and hate speech.” He concludes that “Today, our social media experiences are designed in a way that favors broadcasting over engagements, posts over discussions, shallow comments over deep conversations…. It’s as if we agreed that we are here to talk at each other instead of talking with each other.”

Contrast that with the Talmud’s description of Beit Hillel, who is said to prevail in its ongoing debates with Beit Shammai “because the followers of Hillel were gentle and modest, and studied both their own opinions and the opinions of the other school, and always mentioned the words of the other school with great respect and humility before their own.”

Likewise, as Bordewich avers on abolition: “Something else intrigued me, too, the more I read the records of the debate itself: never did American politicians speak to the nation more honestly, more persuasively, more provocatively and more passionately, in language that was often so splendid it nearly reached the level of poetry… men who believed in slavery said so, as did those who hated it, no matter how much odium their words attracted. By listening in on the debate, we can learn… not only about the profound ways in which slavery warped our political system, and about the creative craft of compromise, but also about how to talk politics to each other so that we actually listen.”

The lost art of debate is not lost entirely. An impressive organization called Intelligence Squared, begun in England, now hosts high-level debates on national issues in New York. Its mission statement proclaims: “From Socrates to the First Amendment, progressive democracy has relied upon civility, respect and understanding in public discourse. Debate is the cornerstone of American progress, the vehicle for new ideas and the platform for the synthesis of two opposing points of view.”

How interesting that the centrality of debate was expressed in very similar terms by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, when he wrote of Hillel and Shammai that “both views will have permanent value because… [they] shed new light on the issue under debate, and will have contributed to the attainment of the proper understanding of the question discussed. They shall be remembered as… advancing the cause of the genuine knowledge of truth.” Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav went even further, calling debate a holy form of communication because it echoes the divine process of tzimtzum, making space for the creation of something new. Just as God enters into an act of self-limitation in order to make possible the created world, so worthy debaters restrain themselves in order to make room for opposing viewpoints. As Rabbi Or Rose comments on this teaching: “When we disagree with one another, when we take sides, we create the necessary space for the emergence of new and unexpected ideas. Without machloket… the horizon of human discovery would be severely limited.”

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As a high school student, my experience on a nationally ranked debate team was profoundly enlightening. As a rabbinical school student, I learned to cherish the passion for debate that courses through our tradition, and years later it prompted me to write a book on the subject. As a student of American history, I know that worthy debate does not weaken but instead strengthens us.

We may need campaign finance reform, banking reform, immigration reform—but how about starting with presidential debate reform? The kind of reform that goes beyond sound bites and sniping to affirmation, in the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of “the dignity of difference.” Who knows—in the process we may not only gain a greater appreciation our marvelous diversity, but also the realization that what unites us is greater than what divides us.

Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side

The previous post on our congregational blog, America's Zayde, featured my op-ed from the February 12th issue of the Jewish Standard, where it appeared under the title of Zayde for President. And in the post, I made reference to another Sanders, Edward Sanders, no relation to Bernie, and not to be confused with the English movie star. The Ed Sanders I'm talking about is described on Wikipedia as, "an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author, publisher and longtime member of the band The Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have been active and 'present at the counterculture's creation'."

Originally from Kansas City, Sanders took up residence in Greenwich Village towards the end of the fifties, and among his many other activities, opened the Peace Eye Bookstore on the lower east side in the early sixties, an important center for the local counterculture. He also is the founder of the investigative poetry movement in the seventies. I pick out these points from his biography, which in truth are overshadowed by many other achievements, because they are relevant to the point at hand.been active and 'present at the counterculture's creation'."

The point being one of his poems in particular, "The Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side," which I quoted a few lines from in my op-ed. The poem tells the story of an important chapter in the history of the United States, New York City, American politics, and the Jewish-American experience. The focus is on the first two decades of the 20th century, and the rise and fall of a democratic socialist movement spearheaded by the Jewish immigrants living on the lower east side.

The poem concludes with the failure of that movement, but its influence was felt, in part through the participants that were still alive in the postwar period, in the protest and counterculture movements of the sixties, especially as one of the main centers of the movement, as it was called back then, was in Greenwich Village and New York's lower east side. Perhaps these things run in cycles, so we're seeing a revival of that sensibility from the turn of the 20th century and mid-20th century today in the teens of our new century.

Whether that's the case or not, the poem provides a quick and easy way to understand the milieu that Bernie Sanders come from, both the politics of his parents' generation and the political movement that he took part in as a young man.

The poem also communicates in a clear and stylish manner what democratic socialism is, and was, about. Not communism, socialist dictatorships, or totalitarianism. It was about human rights, many of them rights we take for granted today, rights denied to working people at the beginning of the century. I would suggest that it is vital to avoid having knee-jerk reactions to particular words, and instead try to understand what people really mean by them, and that includes socialism. From that perspective, I find it personally heartening to see how that term has been rescued and resuscitated in Bernie's election campaign. In the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (who many believed to have been a socialist), "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," and that is especially true when it comes to words.

So, now, I am pleased to give you two options for accessing "The Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side" right here and now. You can read the poem on the online Woodstock Journal that Sanders maintains, here's the link: The Yiddish Speaking Socialists of the Lower East Side.

<Or you can listen to a semi-musical recording of Sanders reading the poem, accompanied by an electronic instrument of his own invention, the Bardic Pulse Lyre. The recording was originally put out on vinyl, but there is a nice YouTube version with the printed words as the visuals, so you can enjoy the best of both words worlds.





I would suggest that this poem is quite helpful in understanding where Sanders the candidate is coming from, and perhaps also why his campaign is not reducible to simply winning or losing caucuses and elections.Whatever your own political views may be, I think it is important to understand this chapter in American and Jewish history, and to understand the background that the first major Jewish candidate for President of the United States comes from.

Of course, the views I've expressed here are my own, and not the views of Congregation Adas Emuno.