Odds & Ends

Two forceful advocates discuss the existence of God and the value of religion… CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS is the author of the best-selling book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. A prolific writer and polemicist, he argues that religion is a toxic force that makes the world a more dangerous place.  RABBI DAVID WOLPE is the author of the new book Why Faith Matters. Rabbi Wolpe is the senior rabbi at Temple Sinai in Los Angeles and argues powerfully for the place of God, faith and religion in modern life.   click audio only to hear the debate. Wait a minute to start...click the triangle below the top picture to hear and see the abridged (16 min) debate. click the triangle below the bottom picture to hear and see the complete (103) min) debate.

Make sure sound is on. Click on the triangle. Video will start in a few seconds...  The Hatikvah, Israel's national anthem, was written by Naftali Hertz Imber, a Galician Jewish poet, in Zolochiv in the Ukraine in 1878 as a nine – stanza poem named "Tikvatenu" (Our Hope). The poem was an expression of Imber's thoughts and feelings for the establishment of Petah Tikva, one of Israel's first Jewish settlements. Following the poem's publication as part of Imber's first book – "morning star" (Hebrew – Barkai) the poem was adopted as the "Hoevei Zion" anthem as well as the Zionist movement anthem, , later on, in 1897, during the first Zionist Congress. The melody (of folk origin) was arranged by Samuel Cohen, a Moldavian immigrant. The lyrics were also later on revised by the Rishon LeZion settlers. The anthem's underlying message is about "hope" the wish of attaining national independence…

HIRBET QEIYAFA, Israel, Oct. 30, 2008An Israeli archaeologist has discovered what he believes is the oldest known Hebrew inscription on a 3,000-year-old pottery shard ˍ a find that suggests Biblical accounts of the ancient Israelite kingdom of David could have been based on written texts.A teenage volunteer discovered the curved shard bearing five lines of faded characters in July in the ruins of an ancient town on a hilltop south of Jerusalem. Yossi Garfinkel, the Israeli archaeologist leading the excavations at Hirbet Qeiyafa, released his conclusions about the writing Thursday after months of study.He said the relic is strong evidence that the ancient Israelites were literate and could chronicle events centuries before the Bible was written. This could suggest that some of the Bible's accounts were based on written records as well as oral traditions ˍ adding credence to arguments that the Biblical account of history is more than myth.The…

Today, November 2, the Balfour Declaration is 91 years old. It was the crucial first official recognition of Jewish national aspirations. Although the declaration itself had little legal status, it was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty with Turkey and the Mandate for Palestine, adopted unanimously by the League of Nations in the San Remo Resolution of 1920. This lent Zionism a legitimacy enjoyed by few national movements before or since. Perhaps most astonishing today, the leader of the Arab movement, King Faisal, supported the declaration when it was referred to in the Faisal-Weizmann Agreement of 1919. Although many have since attempted to deny the central nature of the document and its relationship to the Mandate, that's not how its British drafters saw things. In fact, as stated in the 1937 Royal Commission Report, "the primary purpose of the Mandate, as expressed in its preamble and its articles, is…

The Walking With series is an adult education course comprising twelve learning units.The course material below opens and read with Adobe Reader. Use as you wish. If you don't have the FREE Adobe Reader in your computer, download it by clicking Walking With series has been created by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in partnership with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, and the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs. It has been made possible by the generous support of the Held Foundation, and is dedicated to the memory of Louise and Harold Held. [U1] Social Justice - An Introduction [U2] The Prophets and Social Justice [U3] The Ethical Impulse in Rabbinic Judaism [U4] A Torah of Justice - A View from the Right? [U5] A Torah of Justice - A View from the Left? [U6] Environment [U7] Social Justice and the World of Business [U8] Am I…

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Hagbah Properly raising the Torah Traditionally, one of the most important yet overlooked of all Torah honors is Hagbah, the raising of the Torah after the last aliyah. For Men's Club members (and others, web master), especially for those on the larger side of average, this honor is the one that they are often chosen to perform, but without any assistance or instruction. There is no hebrew/english ''crib card'' like the one for aliyot, no instructions in the siddur, only the fear of dropping a Torah in public. While not the easiest of aliyot, Hagbah has it's tricks and a few tips can make it an easy way to show your expertise in the rituals of the service. A few points: Who: Hagbah can be done by any Jew - Cohen, Levy or Israel What: Lifting the Torah from the reader's table and carrying it vertically for a short distance,…

During the month of Elul — the 29-day atonement period that falls in September this year and is meant to prepare Jews for the Days of Awe — a growing number of synagogues and Jewish groups are using the Internet as a tool to help Jews reflect. From Southern California to New York City, some congregations and Jewish activists have created Web-based programs in an effort to engage their constituents in the process of soul-searching. Using the Internet as a tool of High Holy Day reflection is the latest example of the expansion of Jewish life on the Web. In the case of Elul, the Internet is being tapped as a way to engage a broader swath of Jews in holiday preparation, as well as to help foster a stronger sense of community. Still, some observers — even proponents of the technology’s fusion with Judaism — note that there is…