Rabbi's Ramblings...... 

 

Shalom Congregants and Friends.....    

 

We have a bar mitzvah coming up this Shabbat! Share services on Shabbat morning with the Howell family as Joe becomes a bar mitzvah in our sanctuary. The portion is Yitro... stand before Sinai and hear and receive the Ten Commandments anew this year!

 

Friday night, on this Shabbat before President Abraham Lincoln's birthday, I will be talking about President Lincoln and sharing some often little-known facts about his connection with the Jewish community then in the United States. Do you know, for example, about Isachar Zacharie, a podiatrist whom President Abraham Lincoln trusted not only with his feet but with a peace mission to the Confederacy?

 

We have almost 70 people attending the TuBishevat seder. It should be both enjoyable and educational. If you'd like to look at  the special Haggadah that we used, just stop by the office. And it's never too late to plant a tree in Israel through the Jewish National Fund!

 

I am very happy that Beth Hillel has restarted its Hesed Committee. Read about it below under Social  Action below.... and consider taking part!

 

Have you ever seen "kosher hams?" Well, they're a bunch of rabbis enjoying being  on stage and entertaining. The Hebrew Academy is holding a fund-raiser, "My Rabbi's Got Talent," on Saturday evening February 25. Come "cheer me on" as I participate along with a number of other rabbis in the commmunity -- and have a fun evening!

 

 Shabbat Shalom u'm'vorach......

 ...... Rabbi Gary and Iris Atkins

Why belong to  a synagogue?........ to help you

 "To Learn, Live, and Love Jewishly...."

The B eth Hillel Synagogue Mission Statement.....
 

Beth Hillel Synagogue takes its mission statement very seriously:

 

"Beth Hillel is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue rooted in the ancient traditions of the Torah while growing to meet the changes and challenges of our world. Its core are the many people of different ages and backgrounds who have chosen to make it their spiritual home, joining together for prayer, learning, and celebration. The many branches of Beth Hillel's community provide support to its congregants, reaching out to each other and welcoming our neighbors as together we learn from the past and teach for the future."

 Services & Candle Lighting Times

   

Friday, February 10,  8:00P.M. (CLT 4:57 EST) 

Saturday, February 11, 9:30 A.M.; Mincha, Maariv 5:00 P.M

Update on Magayn Tzedek

   

The mission of Magen Tzedek,,,,

is to bring the Jewish commitment to ethics and social justice directly into the marketplace and the home. The Magen Tzedek seal of certification will help assure consumers that kosher food products were produced in keeping with Jewish ethical values and ideals for social justice in the areas of labor practices, animal welfare, consumer issues, corporate integrity and environmental impact.

 

The Magen Tzedek program is a comprehensive ethical certification for retail products and synthesizes the aspirations of a burgeoning international movement for sustainable, responsible consumption and promotes increased sensitivity to the vast and complex web of global relationships that bring food to our tables.

 

Magen Tzedek Mission and Background

The kosher food industry has become an important part of the American food industry. It is estimated that over 40% of packaged foods in America have a kosher mark. The focus of kosher standards has historically been solely on the Jewish laws of Kashrut. Judaism is a religion of many laws, including many involving social justice. For some Jews, both types of laws, kosher laws and social justice/ethical laws are important. For others, the social justice/ethical laws are of primary importance. Many non-Jews purchase kosher products intentionally and others buy them without knowing it. Assurance that social justice/ethics standards are being met may be very relevant for these purchasers. The primary goal of the Magen Tzedek comprehensive ethical certification program for retail food products is to establish an exemplary level of social justice expectations for kosher foods to assure consumers that the foods they purchase are consistent with traditional and 21st century Jewish and American values.

Humor for the Week  
 Painter: What's your opinion of my painting?
Critic: It's worthless
Painter: I know, but I'd like to hear it anyway.
Torah Commentary of the Week  
by Rabbi  Matthew Berkowitz of the Jewish Theological Seminary  
 

Having experienced the first great moment of liberation by reaching the other shore of the Red Sea, the Israelites now live through the second transformative event: divine revelation on Sinai. While the crossing of the Red Sea represents a physical transition (in literally leaving the land of Egypt), Sinai symbolizes spiritual metamorphosis-propelling the young nation from a mentality of slavery to one of self-determination. As the Ten Commandments are introduced in Exodus 20, God declares, "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery" (Exod. 20:2). Why must God qualify Egypt as beit avadim (the house of slavery)? What does this add to the text as well as to our perception of self?

 

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains,

 

Beit Avadim, "house of slavery," describes Egypt as a place in which we were born slaves, where, accordingly, the fact that we had been forcibly robbed of our freedom was completely forgotten, and slavery was regarded as our natural condition and status. Reminding us of this brings into our minds the thought of how complete our social degradation really was when God called us to freedom and independence. From this fact comes our complete and quite special "belonging to" God. It was only directly from God's Hands that we have our heads, our hearts and our hands, that we have our own personality, and the right to earn, to possess, and to dispose of our own property . . . Whereas other nations are only beholden to God for their actual creation, their physical existence, we are also beholden for our historical and social existence. We passed directly from the slavery of Pharaoh to the service of God and our Hallel hymn sings, "I am Your servant, for you loosened my shackles."  (Commentary on the Torah: Exodus, 259).
 
Hirsch is perceptive in emphasizing two points. First, the qualifier "house of slavery" suggests a psychological state in which slavery is understood as a "natural condition." In the absence of choice and freedom, routine was defined by the suffering and mundane tasks of enslavement. Second, since God, as Redeemer, brought the Israelites out of bondage, there is a keen sense that we are obligated to God for our physical, historical, and social selves. We have become the free and willing servants of God in the hope of bringing God's hesed (loving kindness and presence) into the world. In communicating these ideas, Hirsch prefigures the powerful observation of Bernard Levinson: "Within the narrative structure each former slave, who previously lacked all sense of history and community, acquires an 'I' at Sinai. The transformation of the slave into a person in narrative terms points to the direct address as requiring a personal response-the creation of a moral self-on the part of the reader or hearer" (The Jewish Political Tradition, Volume I: Authority, 26). May we all merit freedom as our natural condition; and may we truly answer the call of Sinai with a personal, moral, and inspired response.
Social Action Updates     
HESED COMMITTEE

At every funeral I have conducted, those present may remember that I try to end the service the same way. I tell them that they have done the true mitzvah of "Hesed shel Emet," true lovingkindness, in accompanying the deceased to his/her final resting place, as there is no way that person can "repay" the kindness in this world.

 

However, there are many acts of "Hesed," kindness, that we can do for those who are alive in this world.... We can reach out to the ill, the elderly, those recuperating from hospitalization, the homebound, etc., with (for example) phone calls, visits, cards.

 

Beth Hillel Synagogue is renewing its "Hesed" Committee, guided by Joel Neuwirth and Iris, to carry out these meaningful mitzvot... and thus help us live out our mandate to be a "caring congregation." We invite all interested in sharing in this mitzvah work to contact either Joel, Iris, or myself. The only requirements are a caring heart and the ability to maintain confidentiality.

 

Be aware of those less fortunate than we are!!

 Carry out the mitzvah of tikkun olam!

 

A mitzvah we can ALL DO: Visit a friend in a nursing home or assisted living center or who otherwise can't get out!

 

Or bring someone to a service here who couldn't get here on their own!

 

Donate to an AREA FOOD BANK. THE NEED IS GREAT!

Beth Hillel Synagogue Library    

Lots of new books and videos......  

 Read contemporary newspapers and magazines!!

Upcoming Synagogue Events    

* Feb 11 - Bar Mitzvah of Joe Howell

 

* Feb 15 - Sisterhood General Meeting - Joel Kent, Guest Speaker

 

* Feb 16 - Shmooze and Lunch

 

* Feb 18 - HAV-DELI - please rsvp NOW!

 

* Feb 23 - Prophets Class

    

* March 3 - Bat Mitzvah of Jamie Waldo
 
* March 7 Purum Services at Emanuel
 
* March  8 - Lunch and Learn with Rabbi Atkins
 
* March 10 - Saturday Sundaes
 
* March 16 - Congregational Shabbat Dinner

Community Events...    

Tuesday, March 6, Vashti's Banquet... A Celebration of Women.....Emanuel Synagogue, 5:30-9pm. Flyer available in synagogue 

 

Wednesday, March 14 - Women's Seder with Julie Silver... at Emanuel Synagogue

News from Israel.... from Newsweek Magazine.... 

Israel and Iran on the Eve of Destruction in a New Six-Day War ....

 

There are plenty of arguments against an Israeli attack on Iran. And all of them are bad.

  

by Niall Ferguson February 6, 2012

 

It probably felt a bit like this in the months before the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel launched its hugely successful preemptive strike against Egypt and its allies. Forty-five years later, the little country that is the most easterly outpost of Western civilization has Iran in its sights.

 

There are five reasons (I am told) why Israel should not attack Iran:

1. The Iranians would retaliate with great fury, closing the Strait of Hormuz and unleashing the dogs of terror in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iraq.

2. The entire region would be set ablaze by irate Muslims; the Arab Spring would turn into a frigid Islamist winter.

3. The world economy would be dealt a death blow in the form of higher oil prices.

4. The Iranian regime would be strengthened, having been attacked by the Zionists its propaganda so regularly vilifies.

5. A nuclear-armed Iran is nothing to worry about. States actually become more risk-averse once they acquire nuclear weapons.

 

I am here to tell you that these arguments are wrong. Let's take them one by one.

 

The threat of Iranian retaliation.

The Iranians will very likely be facing not one, not two, but three U.S. aircraft carriers. Two are already in the Persian Gulf: CVN 72 Abraham Lincoln and CVN 70 Carl Vinson. A third, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush, is said to be on its way from Norfolk, Va.

 

Yes, I know President Obama is a noble and saintly man of peace who uses unmanned drones only to assassinate America's foes in unprecedented numbers after wrestling with his conscience for anything up to ... 10 seconds. But picture the scene once described to me by a four-star general. It is not the proverbial 3 a.m. but 11 p.m. in the White House (7 a.m. in Israel). The phone rings.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Mr. President, we have reliable intelligence that the Israeli Air Force is in the air and within an hour of striking suspected nuclear facilities in Iran.

POTUS: Damn. What should I do?

CJCS: Mr. President, I want to recommend that you provide the Israelis with all necessary support to limit the effectiveness of Iranian retaliation.

POTUS: But those [expletives deleted] never ran this past me. They went behind my back, goddammit.

CJCS: Yes, sir.

POTUS: Why the hell should I lift a finger to help them?

CJCS: Because if the Iranians close the Strait of Hormuz, we will see oil above $200 a barrel.

POTUS [after a pause]: Just a moment. [Whispers] How am I doing in Florida?

David Axelrod [also whispering]: Your numbers suck.

POTUS: OK, General, line up those bunker busters.

 

The eruption of the entire Muslim world.

All the crocodiles of Africa could not equal the fake tears that will be shed by the Sunni powers of the region if Iran's nuclear ambitions are checked.

The double-dip recession. Oil prices are on the way down thanks to concerted efforts of Europe's leaders to reenact the Great Depression. An Israel-Iran war would push them up, but the Saudis stand ready to pump out additional supplies to limit the size of the spike.

 

The theocracy's new legitimacy.

 Please send me a list of all the regimes of the past 60 years that have survived such military humiliation. Saddam Hussein's survival of Gulf War I is the only case I can think of-and we got him the second time around.

 

The responsible nuclear Iran. Wait. We're supposed to believe that a revolutionary Shiite theocracy is overnight going to become a sober, calculating disciple of the realist school of diplomacy ... because it has finally acquired weapons of mass destruction? Presumably this would be in the same way that, if German scientists had developed an atomic bomb as quickly as the Manhattan Project, the Second World War would have ended with a negotiated settlement brokered by the League of Nations.

 

The single biggest danger in the Middle East today is not the risk of a six-day Israeli war against Iran. It is the risk that Western wishful nonthinking allows the mullahs of Tehran to get their hands on nuclear weapons. Because I am in no doubt that they would take full advantage of such a lethal lever. We would have acquiesced in the creation of an empire of extortion.

 

War is an evil. But sometimes a preventive war can be a lesser evil than a policy of appeasement. The people who don't yet know that are the ones still in denial about what a nuclear-armed Iran would end up costing us all.

 

It feels like the eve of some creative destruction.