If you’ve been thinking about coming to LimmudNY 2008, now’s the time! Possible excuses and why these excuses are invalid include the following:
1. I always do everything at the last minute. Why not this? (This is my personal favorite, because until last week, it was my excuse!)
Late registration fees begin to accumulate in two days, on December 21. Waiting will cost you an extra $50.
More importantly, LimmudNY has sold out each of the three years that it’s happened, so waiting might cost you the whole experience.
2. I can’t afford it. (This was my backup excuse if someone found a way around the first one.)
There is still scholarship money available. It would be sad if the generous folks who gave money towards scholarships were left with the impression that their donations were unnecessary or not warmly welcomed. You wouldn’t want to make them feel bad, would you? I thought that there might be no scholarship money available to me, because I work full-time and am more than five years out of college. I was wrong. There was! You, too, can afford LimmudNY whether you’re a student, a recent graduate, un/under-employed, or just a hardworking non-profiteer like me.
3. I live in Brooklyn and don’t want to schlep up to the Upper West Side to take the bus.
There’s a bus directly from Brooklyn this year!
4. I’ll be bored.
This is the worst excuse of them all. It won’t hold water. There’s no way you’ll be bored! Just look at this list of presenters!
5. Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What is LimmudNY?
Okay, so I can’t answer all of your questions in one brief blog post. Start here for some basic information about LimmudNY and watch this space for more details.
[This post brought to you by ALG, alumna of LimmudNY '05 and '07.]
‘Course, that doesn’t appear to be what they’re looking for, anyway:
Grand describes how the group’s members help each other through divorce, job change, death and anything else that affects their lives.
“We all want the same thing — a connection to God, a sense that our lives are holy,” he said. “But some were afraid to use those words.”
Other men in the session talked about their loneliness, the difficulty of making friends and how rarely their sons ask them for advice.
“I think we go to poker games and play on softball leagues and help our buddies move because we hope we’ll have an ‘I-thou’ moment,” surmised Rabbi Dan Moskovitz of Temple Judea in Tarzana, Calif., editor of “The Still Small Voice,” a collection of Reform men’s essays just published by the URJ Press.”
Clearly none of these things could happen with women around. It’s just TOO embarrassing to talk about being human and wanting God with people who have breasts.
I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve always been opposed to separate women’s groups: Rosh Chodesh groups, whatever (Although healing circles, contrary to what the article says, aren’ just for women), found sisterhoods to have boring activities, preferring to play baseball and having barbecues (which is what all the men’s group’s in shul I know do, while the women are often snorting tea and discussing the moon). I’ve always had male friends – pretty much all my life had at least as many male friends as female. Never confused the guys I was dating with the ones I was friends with, never felt that friendships with guys were inherently different and always felt that separating off genders was asking for trouble. And guess what, I was right. At least that seems to be the excuse that the Reform movement is using, “but they did it first…..”
The Reform, who claim to see flagging numbers of boys are desperately grabbing at straws by trying to fix that problem under the assumption that 1. Boys would feel safer and better by not having girls around and that they’ll start showing up if they don’t have to share space with girls, and 2. That it reflects a social trend they need to cater to, rather than undermine.
This attempt to start men’s groups is not really news – they – and the Conservative movement oh, yeah and let’s not forget Robert Bly and his drums, have been experimenting with this for a while, even as women still have trouble getting higher paying jobs in the Jewish world, many Jewish institutions can’t be bothered to provide maternity (let alone parental) leave in most places, women rabbis still have trouble getting hired, and when they do it’s for smaller jobs and with fewer benefits, let alone salary, women lead very few philanthropic institutions, synagogue boards, and so on… shall I go on?
We have not arrived. Feminized my a**. More »
I. Youth culture contains the germ of the European ideal, writes Tommi Laitio: but more needs to be done at the public level to cultivate the conditions in which it can thrive.
II. Interwar European literature represented the US as the quintessence of unbridled modernity that prefigured the destruction of Europe. Jesper Gulddal surveys the uncharted territory of literary anti-americanism.
III. An Interview with Cheb Abid, an artist based in the Negev.
IV. The Meshketians, a population of about 20,000 people, were deported from the Republic of Georgia by Soviet authorities in 1944. This past year, the Georgian government began to discuss their repatriation.
V. And finally, the Caucaz News Service reports on a Jewish community in the process of rebirth, in the Krasnaya Sloboda mountains of northeastern Azerbaijan.
Isabella Freedman, the incredibly lovely site in the Berkshires at which the recentHazonfood conference took place is currently seeking to fill two senior level program positions.
They are a retreat center (with amazing, delicious, organic food), they sponsor all kinds of Jewish spirituality sessions and retreats (some of it silly, but lots of it interesting and powerful), hosting great programs like: the Jewish Multiracial Network, the ADAMAH Fellowship, and the Teva Learning Center
If I was nomad, I’d be there.
Deputy Director/Programming
Individual supervises directors of our core program areas: Senior Adults, the Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality, Adamah and rental retreats. Individual reports to the Executive Director and serves as part of our core senior management team. Individual should have a strong Jewish educational background and significant experience in Jewish program development, budget oversight and staff management. Must be willing to relocate for at least much of the year to be near our site in Falls Village, CT. Salary: Very competitive, (DOE). For more information and to apply, please visit: www.isabellafreedman.org/jobs
.Director of Senior Programs
Individual oversees all senior adult programming and is the on-site coordinator of these programs. Position also manages our programs for adults with mental illness (3 weeks) and the Jewish Multiracial Network retreat. Individual should have significant experience working with senior adults and managing staff. Must be willing to relocate for at least much of the year to be near our site in Falls Village, CT. Salary: Competitive, (DOE). For more information and to apply, please visit: www.isbaellafreedman.org/jobs.
In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar moved against Jerusalem with his whole army. He besieged it, and they built towers against it all around. The city continued in a state of siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
As I left my apartment this morning, I noticed that the weather in Jerusalem on 10 Tevet is rainy and very cold. (Not as cold as, say, the northern United States outdoors, but much colder indoors.) And I couldn’t help but wonder: What was Nebuchadnezzar thinking? Why pick this time of year to send his army to Jerusalem, where they’d have to build towers in the cold and rain? Everyone knows that military campaigns start in the spring. The besieged people inside were also presumably doing ok at that point, since they would have already harvested whatever they’d need for the winter. Indeed, according to Jeremiah 52:6, they didn’t run out of food until the summer (the fourth month is Tammuz). So what gives? Clearly, ìöòøðå, Nebuchadnezzar was successful in the end, but was this the most effective way of accomplishing his objective? Or is this the biblical narrative’s subtle way of indicating that the destruction of Jerusalem was divine punishment and not a mere human conquest, by showing that the destruction went ahead despite questionable tactics (cf. Elijah pouring water on the altar before it gets consumed by fire)? Any thoughts?
May this be the last year that the fast of Tevet is a day of mourning. (Since this is a sad day, I’m not going to amuse myself and about three of you by pointing out that, redemption or no redemption, 10 Tevet will in fact not occur in 2008.)
I began to become conscious of this question of body size and body image in our culture. I became more aware of what we’re bombarded with in magazines, newspapers and television commercials — “Lose 10 pounds in three weeks! Eat and be thin!” It’s incredible if you stop and think about it. I found this burlesque group in San Francisco called the Fat-Bottom Review. I made arrangements to photograph them in San Francisco and then again in Los Angeles.
(And do look at that link for the priestly blessing; I didn’t know there was a whole ring of “TrekJews”, and the link is to an excerpt from the upcoming Jewish Themes in Star Trek… just not my world…)
In the past five years, young Jews have seen a burst of philanthropies step up to the task of training Jewish leaders of the ‘next generation.’ The programs they have developed range in quality and length of engagement; however, what they all seem to have in common is an interest in both hearing about the experiences of the fellows as well as giving them some sort of opportunity to actualize an innovative project. In some cases they also include mentoring by a seasoned Jewish professional. Perhaps one day in the future Steven M. Cohen’s disciples will looks back and say: “How did the explosions of these fellowships shape young Jewish engagement in Jewish life? Did they in face develop the type of leaders they hoped to?”
Feel free to add anything I missed in the comments section, including similar fellowships you can think of from previous generations. Note: There are many more of these fellowships that are Israel specific – I have purposely left them out since I feel like those have their own set of goals and have been around much longer. The point of this post is that there are now many such fellowships in the US.
You may have already heard of ROI120 (a five day conference in Israel), PLP (which has both conferences and an academic fellowship), CLI/Leading Up, (Insight, a one year program working full time, Charlie, basically money and support to do a birthright follow-up program), Legacy Heritage Fellowship (a year long international professional mentorship program where the fellow works toward Middle East Peace) or , and the lesser known Muehlstein Institute (an 18-month certificate in non-profit management and Jewish communal leadership).
Well, it’s time to throw a few more into the mix. These new ones don’t have an ambiguous acronym or a particularly difficult to pronounce family name, though they both are only named for the sponsoring family. More »
‘Kosher’ was the most frequently used claim on new products launched in the US during 2007, while ‘All Natural’ and ‘No Additives or Preservatives’ were amongst the other most popular claims used on new products, reveals data from Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD).
…
The increase in the popularity of kosher products is not only because of a growing market focus on the needs of Jewish consumers.
In a survey conducted by Mintel in 2005, 55 percent of respondents who buy kosher foods said they thought they held a higher mark of health and safety than non-kosher items. Mintel identified demand for dairy- and meat-free products as driving forces behind market growth.
Moreover food that is certified as Kosher is also suitable for Muslims who follow a Halal diet.
I heard today that there was once a study done at Shaarei Tzedek hospital that cholent when eaten on Shabbat caused less of a rise in cholesterol than cholent consumed during the week. I also once heard that the extra soul we receive on Shabbat allows us to eat twice as much, but due to the fact that it departs as Shabbat ends, it sadly isn’t around to help us digest. Anyone who’s seen the vast numbers of falafel/schwarma huts in Jerusalem knows that kosher and healthy aren’t even close to synonymous. Fascinating that folks think so. Better that the thinking it’s an evil Jew tax.
After failing to win the democratic nomination for CT Senate in 2006, Lieberman is at it again. He has just endorsed Republican John McCain in the 2008 race for US President.
(Picture by Brian Snyder of Reuters)
I know there was a certain, shall we say, warmth in the relationship. Was this some sort of quid pro quo?
With Lieberman may be rivaled by Elliot Spitzer as the most visible Jewish politician, I wonder if their are implications for either the Jewish vote or McCain’s donor base.
British singer Lauren Rose has released a modern version of traditional Jewish song “Hava Nagila,” and gambling pundits have even given odds on the song to take the top spot in the U.K. Christmas pop charts.
According the British newspaper The Sun, bookmaker William Hill has given 17-year-old Lauren Rose a 16-1 shot at having Britain’s best-selling song on December 25.
The Sun also reports that Lauren’s father, Mark Goldberg, has quit his job as boss of Bromley Football Club to manage his daughter’s music career.
Lauren’s version of “Hava Nagila” is not the first by contemporary acts from both the pop and classical worlds. The list of musicians to perform the song includes Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Harry Belafonte, Julie Andrews, Ben Folds and violinist and conductor Andre Rieu.
The song, whose title translates as “Let Us Rejoice,” is de rigueur at Jewish celebrations, and is widely attributed to Abraham Zvi Idelsohn, who is believed to have penned the song at the close of World War One.
“Baby, just be free…
Now’s the time to do it,
Now’s the time to lose it…”
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series meant to both present excerpts from the introduction to a new book — The Inner Journey: Views from the Jewish Tradition — as well as spark discussion among Jewschool readers about the nature of Jewish tradition. The first two excerpts are here and here. We encourage you to read on to see the excerpt and share your comments.
The Jewish people have a love affair with the Torah. The Torah is not
simply the Five Books of Moses, or even the entire Bible. More
correctly, it is the whole gamut of Jewish teaching and wisdom
contained in the written law (Torah sheh B’chtav) and oral law
(Torah sheh Ba’al Peh). While Torah has all too often been
translated by the word law, its literal and etymological meaning is
more appropriately translated as direction, instruction and teaching.
The Torah is the prism through which one strives to understand the
significance of one’s self, the Jewish people, the world and the
Divine. It is that body of teaching that transforms Jews into seekers
of the truth that permits them to connect as a self to their people,
to the cosmos, and to the Divine. It embodies an ethic that directs
behavior toward all human beings, other creatures and the environment.
One sage goes so far as to say that for the sake of the study of
Torah, human beings were created. But what is of interest here is
that Torah must be received and understood in our own unique way.
Rabbi Jose’s statement, (Pirke Avot 2:17) “…What knowledge of
Torah a man acquires is personal to himself. It cannot be inherited
or bequeathed.”
Return to the great Jewish themes of outsider-ness & redemption with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”— in Yiddish! Performed by Kugelplex with vocals by Jewlia Eisenberg.
Shir-Yaakov (center) making some music with the fine folks last year at Isabella Freedman.
Giving some props to everyone’s favorite wandering Jewsician Rabbi Shir-Yaakov Feinstein-Feit for his new recordings, done this month out west (not yet mixed but on their way). Let me tell you folks, they sound even better when performed live in a cabin in thewoods with some magical Chanukah lights in the background and a whole bunch of back to the earth Jews with guitars and djembes. Stay tuned to Jewschool for more info on the new album, coming soon.
Here’s the official scoop on a new program called Tevel b’Tzedek that, it seems, is capitalizing on the Israeli fascination with the East to get people involved in social service. They’re currently taking applications for its next couple of cohorts, so check the information below if you’re interested.
Tevel b’Tzedek’s project is a 14 week residential program in Katmandu, Nepal combining learning and service to introduce Israeli and Diaspora young adults to the challenges and dilemmas of the developing world.
Tevel b’Tzedek believes there is great importance in creating opportunities for young Israelis and Diaspora Jews to experience their Jewish and Israeli identity (or identification with Israel) as a profound path into deeper connectedness with humanity and a platform for effective action in healing the world.
The first program will end on July 22nd, and the second one will begin on October 15th.
Program
The program will begin with a 2 week orientation and will be followed by a 9 week internship in which participants work on a project together with local NGO’s. A two week trip to the more rural areas of Nepal will be held in the middle of the internship period. More »
Since 1992, Israel has slowly been examining the legal status of, and equal rights of, homosexuals (specifically, gays and lesbians), starting with legislation prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. By comparison, depending on the definition of “sexual orientation” and employment in the public versus private sectors, only 20-30 US states have legislations prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexuality. In Canada, LGBT folks have been protected implicitly since the 1985 introduction of section 15 of the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the court explicitly noted the inclusion of sexual orientation in 1995 and added the language to the federal charter in 1996.
The main benchmarks for gay and lesbian rights in Israel include:
1992: legislation prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (this included exemptions for religious organizations);
1993: homosexuals can openly serve in the army;
1994: same-sex couples can register for common law marriage;
1994-2001: equal rights extended to same-sex spouses, including spousal benefits, survivor benefits, pension rights, and guardianship of spouse’s children;
2005: gays and lesbians can legally adopt each other’s children (more below);
2006: Israel recognizes same-sex marriage performed abroad (court case focused on gay couple married in Canada; actual registration of their marriage in Israel happened in early 2007).
Which brings us to today. The Israeli government is considering broadening adoption rights for lesbian and gay couples. (Or, as Haaretz has termed it, “single-sex couples.”)
Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog is launching policy that would allow single-sex families to adopt children in Israel who bear no biological connection to them. [Read more.]
It is legal in Israel for gays and lesbians to adopt the biological children of their partners. But, with the exception of one case in 2005, it has not been possible for a couple to adopt a baby/child whom they are not biologically related to.
I have a friend who works for Starbucks, and she claims that their Christmas Blend and their Holiday Blend are the exact same coffee–out of the same grinding machine and everything. Evidently, one’s packaged for the Christmas-averse crowd in a soothing blue and white package, and the other is full of bright red holiday cheer. If this is indeed true, it’s an irritating piece of marketing brilliance.
This week, the lay leadership (and most of the professional leadership) of the Union for Reform Judaism converged on San Diego, CA for the 69th (heh heh) Biennial. Basically, this is the big conference where Reform leaders educate themselves and each other, meet to talk about pressing issues, conduct the business of the Reform movement, and launch new products and initiatives.
Some Biennial news bites:
• Delegates (or, rather, anyone who managed to be at this morning’s Shabbat services) got to take home their own copy of the new siddur, Mishkan T’filah, which is now — after quite a few delays — officially out and available for temples or individuals to purchase. Fully discussing the new siddur would take a separate post, but I think it’s fair to say that most people here are pretty excited about it.
• Michael J. Fox received the Eisendrath Bearer of Light award for his activist work. People seemed to be inspired by his speech. I rode in an elevator with him when he was leaving his hotel to go to the award reception thing. He is, indeed, short.
• URJ Press and the Women of Reform Judaism (the movement’s sisterhood wing) released a new women’s Torah commentary. It is a hefty book and is the product of some serious scholarship. I don’t know who’s going to use it (and for what), but the buzz is that it’s a good thing.
Of course, one of the big highlights was the traditional Shabbat morning sermon from Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the URJ. In these sermons, Yoffie basically picks some big issues that the Union should be focusing on, and then unveils initiatives and programs that the Union is embarking on in order to address them. You can read the whole sermon (which took him an hour to deliver) here, but here are the big points, with some commentary:
If you’re in the DC area this weekend, come down to Busboys & Poets off U Street NW at 9:30 Sunday morning and to the Bossa Bistro later that day for a documentary, a Jew-grass concert, and a “symbolic peace walk” to benefit the Sulha Peace Project. I’ve got some dear friends in Israel right now who’ve been involved in the religious peace-building community there for a number of years and they’ve been gushing and firey-eyed about the amazing connections they made and experiences they had through the Sulha with Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Israelis, and others from around the world in one of the few truly grass-roots, spiritual, person-to-person endeavors to get the healing and understanding started between Israeli and Palestinian societies. More »
This week, the lay leadership (and most of the professional leadership) of the 
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