News You Can Use from METNY USCJ

MERCAZ USA sponsors an annual speaking tour, the "Lech Lecha" tour, which brings back to the USA former Americans who are now living and working as Masorti rabbis in Israel. The purpose of the 10-day speaking tour is to expose our Diaspora community to a message about what life is like in Israel, its challenges and its benefits, towards the goal of encouraging more travel to Israel, volunteer and study programs in Israel and, for some open to the idea, aliyah.

MERCAZ is now planning its seventh such tour, and for the first time, we will be concentrating the entire tour in the New York/New Jersey area. The featured speaker is Rabbi Jeffrey Cymet, now the fulltime rabbi at Congregation Tiferet Shalom in Tel Aviv. For more about Rabbi Cymet, go to http://www.linktoisrael.org/link/comings_and_goings.html. He will be in the New York area from Thursday, October 14, through Sunday, October 24.

To coordinate an event with Rabbi Cymet at your congregation, please contact Rabbi Charles Savenor.

JTA Op-Ed: "Israeli Chief Rabbinate is thwarting religious expression, democratic principles"

By Eric Yoffie and Steven Wernick · September 7, 2010

(Rabbi Eric Yoffie is president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Rabbi Steven Wernick is executive vice president and CEO of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.)

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/09/07/2740824/op-ed-the-israeli-chief-rabbinate-is-thwarting-religious-expression-and-democratic-principles

NEW YORK (JTA) -- We are saddened by the contempt that Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, expresses for Reform and Conservative Judaism at this High Holidays season.

The Reform and Conservative movements in Israel are small but vibrant, and growing rapidly. This growth comes despite longstanding Israeli government policy that funnels taxpayers' money only to Orthodox institutions, forcing Conservative and Reform Jews to fend for themselves. Government recognition and equitable funding of Reform and Conservative rabbis and synagogues would lead to even faster growth, and polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Israelis favor such recognition.

Polls also demonstrate the massive unpopularity among Israelis of the Chief Rabbinate and its religious bureaucracy, which sanctions discrimination against the majority of world Jewry. Coercive, punitive, inefficient and often corrupt, this bureaucracy has driven Jews from Judaism and brought Torah into disrepute. We find it troubling that Rabbi Amar prefers Israelis to be secular than to identify as passionate Jews through Reform and Conservative institutions.

The Conservative and Reform movements were backbones of the Soviet Jewry movement and have remained deeply engaged in efforts to support Russian olim in Israel. We have always supported those elements of the conversion bill proposed by Knesset member David Rotem that would add flexibility to the current conversion system and truly help those immigrants interested in conversion.

We doubt very much, however, that the Rotem bill would have helped Russian immigrants in a significant way. Because its demands are so stringent, it is likely that it would have helped only a few. And underlying the rhetoric about helping Russians convert halachically is a power play to grant the Chief Rabbinate far more authority over conversions than Israeli law now provides.

If the Chief Rabbinate were given total authority over conversions, we know what would happen: The Rabbinate would use this authority to change the definition of conversion under the Law of Return, overturning the status quo by rejecting Reform and Conservative conversions done in the Diaspora. Some Israeli rabbinical courts already have begun to do this. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in cases related to the rights of our converts also would be greatly limited.

Under current law, we have yet to lose such a conversion case before the Supreme Court. But with the law changed, the Chief Rabbinate would reverse the results of our important past victories.

This explains the alarm that swept North American Jewry, where 85 percent of Jews are non-Orthodox. Rabbi Amar is fooling himself and his followers if he thinks that our movements artificially generated this anger. It was the heartfelt response of Jews throughout North America who were outraged by proposals to reject the legitimacy of our rabbis and of the way we practice our Judaism.

When Rabbi Amar asks why members of the U.S. Congress should care about this bill, he should remember that the vast majority of the Jewish caucus in Congress consists of Reform and Conservative Jews. Indeed, there are 535 senators and representatives in Congress, and the great majority of the rabbis they know, the synagogues they visit and the Jews who vote for them are Reform and Conservative. They are gravely concerned when our rabbis and movements are delegitimized by the actions of the Knesset.

If Rabbi Amar and others are worried about the reactions of the American Congress, they should remember this: It is perilous to create schisms that will alienate our friends and split the Jewish people, and they should be prepared to take responsibility for their own actions.

We are stunned by the suggestion that Israel's religious monopoly represents democratic principles. Such a system exists nowhere else in the democratic world. We appreciate Rabbi Amar's commitment to his understanding of Jewish tradition, but we wonder why he lacks the confidence to give Israelis free choice in religious matters. The principle that should guide us is that the Jewish state should support all religious streams equally or none at all.

We have very different ideas on how to assure Jewish unity. Israel's Supreme Court ruled in 1986 that Reform and Conservative conversions must be recognized for the purposes of obtaining Israeli citizenship. The decision noted that Israel was not founded "in order to drive a wedge into the people who dwell in Zion, and divide it into two peoples, Jews and Israelis." When the Jewish state takes an inclusive approach to the Jewish people, unity will become possible.

At this most sacred season, let us set aside the ugliness that too often invades our hearts, and let us affirm the ties that bind us, Jew to Jew.

The Conservative Movement's Mahzor Lev Shalem, The 'Complete Heart'

It is not too late get your mahzor new

own copy of our movement's new High Holyday Mahzor Lev Shalem. Even if your congregation will not be using this volume for 5771, it can be purchased by individuals through the USCJ's Book Service.

This beautiful work is receiving amazingly positive reviews from newspapers, scholars and synagogue members. It will enhance the meaning and joy of your High Holy Day observance and celebration! It is an excellent addition to your home library that can transform your holyday tefillah experience.

Check out this review from the Wall Street Journal, click here.

For programmatic tools, look at this website:

http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/welcome.html

For a video trailer, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFkxoqlr264

A copy of this letter can also be accessed in the "This Week's Downloads" box.

Sukkot
The stolen lulav, ethical consistency and funding for global justice

From the Sourcesis designed to facilitate study around issues of social justice and the Jewish holidays. We explore global justice issues through Jewish and secular texts and questions to spark reflection and discussion. We invite you to engage in the texts and use them to learn, teach and take action.

Introduction

The festival of Sukkot is also known as chag ha-asif (the harvest festival), and during it, we are commanded to bring together four agricultural species, the arba minim, to bless and use in prayer services. A discussion in Mishnah Sukkah, however, indicates that one is prohibited from fulfilling this mitzvah if it comes at the expense of other ethical considerations. The text places restrictions on the means of obtaining the lulav, the palm branch at the center of the arba minim, introducing challenging questions about whether and when the ends justify the means, questions that are important in our daily lives and, increasingly, in philanthropy, international development and global justice. Through wrestling with this provocative question-"Can unjust means be used to pursue justice?"-we can explore some of the tensions surrounding the imperative for ethical consistency and the desire to act and be a force for change in the world.

Click here to read the full version of this text study.

For more information on this and other educational resources from AJWS, please contact us at education@ajws.org. To subscribe to this resource, click here.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism's imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.

return to top

UJA-Federation of New York Jewish Resource Center

There's Nothing New Under the Sun? Sukkot and the Book of Ecclesiastes

Join our community for the first beit midrash of 2010-2011 with Rabbi Michael Paley, UJA-Federation of New York's scholar-in-residence.

Monday, September 20, 2010 at 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.

UJA-Federation of New York
Seventh-Floor Conference Center
(between Lexington and Park avenues)

130 East 59th Street
New York City

This session is modeled after the traditional beit midrash, a rabbinical house of study featuring interactive group discussions. Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to learn with friends and colleagues!

To register or request an assisted listening device, please contact Rebecca Russo at russor@ujafedny.org or 1.212.836.1661.

Save the Date! Tuesday, November 30, 2010 on Chanukah and the Book of Maccabees.

Yom K'Purim

No, it's not a typo. Our sages teach that in the time of the Messiah, the day which is currently the most solemn of our year - Yom Kippur - will instead be a day like Purim, a day of joy and merriment. In that spirit, we would like to offer you a little bit of "K'Purim Torah," in the guise of this clip from The Colbert Report. This video clip features Rabbi Ron Fish, the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth El in Norwalk, CT. We hope you enjoy this funny clip.

Rabbi Fish participated at the Women at the Wall service at the Kotel with Rabbis Steven Wernick, Mark Greenspan and Charlie Savenor in July.

Tefillah for Geshem

On September 30, we celebrate Shemini Atzeret, when we will begin to add the phrase "משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם" to the Amidah - "You cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall." The line is introduced in the Geshem prayer, which invokes our ancestors and their relationships to water, asking God to grant us water on their behalf.

In preparing for that holy day, we would like to share with you an egalitarian text for the Geshem prayer, an additional stanza composed by Rabbi Jan Uhrbach, spiritual leader of the Conservative Synagogue of the Hamptons. This text can be found in Siddur Hadash, published 2000 by the Prayer Book Press.

METNY's Biennial Convention

The place to be on Sunday, November 14 is the METNY Biennial Convention! We hope that you will join all of us from around METNY at Beth El Synagogue Center in New Rochelle for our 2010 Biennial Convention!

Our theme will be "The Charismatic Kehillah". Using the pillars of the book, The Charismatic Organization, we will learn how to transform your congregation into a dynamic kehillah, or community, that is mission-based, forward thinking and attracts and retains volunteers through meaningful engagement and contemporary communications.

Confirmed speakers include:

Jeremy Fingerman, Executive Director, The Foundation for Jewish Camp
Ruth Messinger, Executive Director, American Jewish World Service
Rabbi Alan Silverstein,

The convention committee is hard at work planning the day's program, including the installation of the District Council and synagogue recognition awards. More details to follow soon.

You may have already seen information about the awards process. Material about all of METNY's awards and applications for the Rothschild Leadership Awardmay be accessed by clicking here. These materials will be due Oct. 12. For more information, please contact Rabbi Moshe Edelman, METNY District Associate Director, at edelman@uscj.org or 212-533-0800.

METNY Candlelighting Magnets 5771

METNY mailed magnets to METNY lay, professional and spiritual synagogue leaders this past week. We appreciate the calls and emails of appreciation!

If you would like extra magnets for members of your kehilla, community and family, please contact our office at metny@uscj.org and 212-533-0800. We will be happy to send you up to 25 magnets.

Shana Tovah & Shabbat Shalom!

Iran 180

This year the JCRC-NY, UJA-Federation of New York and a host of non-Jewish organizations, including the NAACP, has launched a new initiative called Iran180. Iran180 demands a complete "turn around" in Iran's human rights and nuclear policies.

Iran180 has issued a call to New Yorkers to support them by signing their e-declaration demanding a 180 in Iran. They will be presenting this declaration at a major press conference on September 20th at the UN and they need thousands of people to sign on. Please take two minutes and go to www.Iran180.org and sign the declaration and send it to your friends.

The goal of this campaign is to send a clear message to President Ahmadinejad when he comes to New York in a couple of weeks: we demand acomplete reversal of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the way it treats its citizens. We demand that Iran make a 180 degree change and say Yes to human rights, no to nuclear rights.

The cornerstone of this effort is an e-declaration that we intend to present at a major press conference at the UN with a host of elected officials on Monday, September 20. Live web streaming of the press conference will be available.

We will present the Iran180 Declaration with all of the signatures at a major press conference on September 20, 2010 at the UN, in anticipation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's address to the General Assembly on September 23.

To learn more go to www.Iran180.org, where you will have an opportunity to sign the Iran180 Declaration. You also can email info@Iran180.org or call (646) 789-1488.

Help support Iran180 by forwarding this email to a friend. Thank you very much for your time and consideration in support of such an urgent cause!

Birthright Registration Opens This Week!