Posts

Showing posts from 2017

Keeping the Willows Alive

Image
For the first two parts of this series on the Four Species, see http://rabbischeinberg.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-lulav-growth-frozen-in-time.html and http://rabbischeinberg.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-fruit-that-remembers-what-botanists.html .  Hopefully part 4 on the Myrtles will be ready in time for Sukkot 5779. Sukkot is a holiday of technological challenges, major and minor, that pit a Jew against the forces of nature.  Challenge #1:  Build a structure that is temporary and flimsy enough that it meets the criteria for a sukkah according to Jewish law, and strong enough to withstand the wind and rain that many Jewish communities can expect at this time of year.  Challenge #2:  Keep the Lulav’s willow and myrtle branches looking fresh, with vibrant green leaves, when natural processes lead the myrtle leaves to dry out and the willow leaves to turn black and grow mold. Our synagogue distributes care instructions with the Lulav and Etrog sets that we sell.   Fortunately, the etrog

The Lulav: growth, frozen in time

Image
I have lived most of my life far away from palm trees.  But on my visits to palm trees in places like Florida, California, and Israel, I have always been captivated by how majestic and (to me) exotic and unusual they are.    On a visit to California several years ago, I started paying attention to how palm trees grow.  Most of the fronds of a palm tree are bent over to one direction or another. But at the very center of the top of a palm tree (at least for the date palm and other varieties that I observed) is a small “closed frond” that is not bent in one direction or another.  Rather, it points straight up.  As this “closed frond” grows, it will eventually open, and its leaves will separate and some will flop this way and some will flop that way.  But at the moment, the “closed frond” is united and undifferentiated. Jews have a special name for the “closed frond”:  it is the Lulav, the palm branch that is one of the Arba Minim, the four kinds of plants that are used ceremonially

Jerusalem of Iron, Jerusalem of Gold (2nd day Rosh HaShanah 2017 / 5778)

Image
Much of the first part of this sermon is adapted from the account in Yossi Klein Halevi’s masterful book about the Six Day War, Like Dreamers , which devotes significant attention to the life and work of Meir Ariel, and from a video interview with Israeli composer Gil Aldema, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7KZO-jMdck . Many thanks to the United Synagogue of Hoboken Choir for singing so beautifully during this sermon! Plenty of songwriters start out with the intention of writing a truly iconic song, but few actually succeed. And no songwriter can count on writing a true classic. But let me tell you the story of one of the most well-known Hebrew songs of all time, an instant classic, and how it came to be written.   It was early 1967.  The state of Israel was 19 years old, and life in Israel felt as precarious as it ever had. Whatever hopes that the new State of Israel would be welcomed into the middle east had not been realized.  Both Syria and Egypt were using increasingly di

"What if?" "Lulei" and Counterfactuals for the New Year (Rosh HaShanah eve 2017)

Image
This Hebrew year 5777 that is now coming to an end - it could have been different. You probably think I have some specifics in mind -- which I do, but actually I am making a comment that would apply equally to every year in the history of our world.  We can always imagine how things would have gone differently.  In fact, focusing on some of the ways that things could have gone differently is one of our tasks now, on the cusp of a new year. There is a particular Hebrew word that refers to the contemplation of something that didn’t happen but could have happened.  The word is ' lulei ' לולא, and it means 'we're it not for.'  It's a word that introduces a counterfactual, an alternative that did not come to be.    Most kids in our educational programs first encounter the word Lulei in a Purim song about Haman’s 3-cornered hat.  According to the song, ‘ lulei hayu lo shalosh pinot לולא היו לו שלש פינות - had it not had 3 corners - lo hayah zeh ha-kova she

Hurricane Harvey - helping those who are affected

This is the note I sent to my synagogue community on August 28, 2017.  The images of the devastation of Hurricane  Harvey , in Houston and other communities in Texas and Louisiana, is devastating. It is on pace to be one of the worst episodes of flooding in recent American history. Many of us in Hoboken know what it is like to be evacuated, stranded, and/or to have flooded homes and cars or other property. For many of us, this prompts a desire to help others, just as others around the country came to the aid of our community at our time of need. In addition to aid organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army, there are a number of Jewish organizations that are providing non-sectarian disaster relief. The following are some of the organizations that are accepting donations -- together with some thoughts about how these same organizations assisted us after Sandy. The United Synagogue of Hoboken Rabbis Discretionary Fund is making donations to all of these organ

What does the Torah say about ... insurance?

Every so often I will get a question from someone in this community or outside of it, of the form “Rabbi, what does Judaism say about X?” Like “What does Judaism say about genetically modified organisms?” Or “What does Judaism say about Snapchat?” The answer, of course, is that the Torah and other classical Jewish texts basically doesn’t say anything about any of these issues.  However, the Torah includes ethical teachings that can shed light on all of these issues. In this vein, a question on my mind over the last few months is: What does the Torah say about insurance? Ostensibly, the answer is nothing.  The first insurance contracts date from the 14th century. The idea that you would pay a small amount of money on a regular basis, to someone who would pay you a lot of money to help you if something bad happened to you - seems like a new idea.  And that you would buy insurance for just about everything in your life - to insure your family against someone dying, or against hav

Hoboken shelter Civic Champion award to Erica Seitzman: presentation by Phil Cohen

This week, USH member Erica Seitzman was honored by the Hoboken Shelter. The following is the text of the speech delivered by USH member Phil Cohen to present the award (also presented on behalf of USH member and Shelter board member Rebecca Kramnick who was unable to attend) Erica Seitzman Introduction Presented by Phil Cohen at the Hoboken Shelter’s 35 Anniversary Gala June 13, 2017 It’s my privilege to introduce you to Erica Seitzman. This weekend, our family watched the movie Wonder Woman .  In Wonder Woman , the heroine has amazing powers given by the God Zeus, which she uses to save civilization and bring peace to the world. Erica is the Hoboken Shelter’s Wonder Woman.   Erica’s parents, who must have given Erica her amazing powers, are here with us tonight.  Can we please recognize Erica’s parents?

Fifty years since the Six Day War: Thoughts on Yom Yerushalayim 2017 / 5777

Image
On this 50th anniversary of Yom Yerushalayim , I am reading Michael Oren's history of the Six Day War. (Ok, I'm actually listening to the audiobook.) I am learning more deeply about various details that I had known before but not fully understood or appreciated. I am learning about the tense atmosphere in May 1967 with escalation of troops and rhetoric from Egypt and Syria and their pledges to destroy Israel once and for all, as well as the USSR's pledge to support Egypt and Syria in this endeavor. I am learning about the US 'Regatta' plan to assist Israel in challenging the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, a plan that the US eventually decided not to undertake because it would entail too much risk for the US.  In other words, at the same time, the US was telling Israel 'you will only be alone if you go it alone,' but also giving Israel no option but to 'go it alone.' I am learning about the agonizing discussions in Israeli Prime Minister Lev

Thoughts for Yom HaShoah 2017 / 5777: Remembering Gertrude Grossbard z"l, Rabbi Herman and Lotte Schaalman z"l, and Elie Wiesel z"l

Tonight begins Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day - the day when we remember the effort by the Nazis to obliterate the Jewish people -- and how they nearly succeeded in their diabolical plan, murdering ⅔ of the Jews of Europe, approximately 6 million men, women, and children.   The Holocaust continues to exert an influence on the life of our community today, as so many of us have family members who are survivors and so many of us have family members who were killed during that terrible era.  (Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uK5uz7d-Oo to see a video of how Yom HaShoah is marked in Israel today -- with a two minute siren that brings the entire nation to mournful standstill in tribute to those who were killed.) Many of us gathered at Congregation Bnai Jacob this afternoon for a moving tribute to those who died, including presentations of music by the USH Choir and memorial prayers chanted by our member Rebecca Weitman.  Our older Learning Center students in grade 6