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Rabbi's Corner

It is mid-January

As I write this in mid-January, I pray and hope that the situation in Israel will be better when you read this than it is right now. The pain and anguish continue; the despair about the hostages; the animosity of most of the world, all hang heavy and are factors in the collective trauma we all feel. With support for Israel’s Gaza invasion waning, Jewish people inside and outside of Israel have a frustrating problem. The mission of those who love Israel is to advocate for Israel and educate others on why Israel must destroy Hamas. Hamas’s heinous brutality demanded Israel’s just invasion of Gaza. We’re not surprised that much of the world’s shallow reservoir of sympathy for Israel and Jewish people is nearly dry. But American Jewish people couldn’t imagine how this anti- Israel hatred could metastasize into ugly verbal and physical violence in universities, public schools, and public squares. (more…)

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Israel Matters!

Israel Matters! – February 2024

Hamath

Eylon Levy is an official spokesman for the Government of Israel. A graduate of both the University of Oxford and Cambridge University, he became widely known following in interview with Sky News regarding the exchange of 50 Hamas-held Israeli civilian hostages for 150 convicted Palestinian offenders in Israeli prisons. The interviewer repeated the terms of the exchange — 50 hostages for 150 criminals – and then questioned whether this 3-for-1 ratio meant that each Israeli life was being valued by Israel as equivalent to three Palestinian lives. With an incredulous raise of his eyebrows, Levy proceeded to expose the idiocy of this proposition – of course Israel would agree to exchanging prisoners for hostages on a one-for-one basis, but we’re talking about Hamas here. (more…)

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President's Message

February 2024: President’s Message

This month, the Board of Directors will establish the Nominating Committee, which will be tasked with the responsibility of identifying candidates for various vacant offices, positions on the Board of Directors, and Trustee roles. Just like Groundhog Day determines if spring is just around the corner or 6 weeks away, the Nominating Committee determines what’s next for Temple Beth Sholom. (more…)

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Israel Matters!

Israel Matters! – January 2024

Doing Good When Times Are Bad

In 1973 I was a student in Jerusalem during the Yom Kippur War. Following several days in and out of bomb shelters, our student group was split into volunteer teams that fanned out across Jerusalem. I was dispatched to a poor neighborhood to go door-to-door and deliver new garbage bags to the residents. This was one small thing that I could do to help. (more…)

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Rabbi's Corner

Turning Curses to Blessings: On the Power of Words

TURNING CURSES TO BLESSINGS: ON THE POWER OF WORDS

In the Hebrew Bible, words are events. G-d creates the world through a series of speech-acts, starring with “Let there be light.” As events, once words are spoken, they cannot be taken back; they have happened. Words have independent power. There are many blessings and curses, invoking the name of G-d, and they affect the real world and change history. Once spoken, they are part of reality. (more…)

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President's Message

January 2024: President’s Message

#BeAMaccabee

A week before Hanukkah started, the USCJ, along with the Conservative/Masorti Movement partners, launched a hashtag campaign for Hanukkah to encourage Jews to post symbols of Jewish pride on social media. The campaign was a continuation of the solidarity efforts the Movement has been promoting since October 7, 2023. (more…)

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Odds & Ends / Webmaster's Odds & Ends

Wars and Peace: Memoirs of a Conflict

 

When I was an undergraduate at Columbia University in the late 1980s, I took a class on Arab nationalism at the School of International and Public Affairs. One day, I found myself vigorously sparring about Israel with some Muslim students in the course when a Palestinian student name Zuheir said, “I’ve been imprisoned and beaten in many Arab countries,” cutting the conversation short. After class Zuheir and I compared notes. (more…)

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