Wilderness Maggid

Yom Kippur Reterat 5768

2007-02-14T18:24:00.000-08:00

B"H

Here is an experimental flyer for a proposed Yom Kippur Retreat this year in Oregon. The Rabbi's name who may facilitate with me has been withheld pending his decision to participate.

(But Blogger is not cooperating-- so you'll have to wait to see!)

"Defining Liberalism" from Tziporah's View

2006-12-18T11:24:00.000-08:00

B"H

Friend Tzipporah has posted an excellent article on "Defining Liberalism" here:

www.midianitemanna.blogspot.com/

Silent Moments

2006-12-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

B”H

Silent Moments

One notable thing that stood out for me in the parasha this last week was Yaakov's silence when he heard the news of Dinah's abduction and rape. The brothers have a lot to say, but Yaakov says nothing-- until after Simeon and Levi take matters into their own hands and collectively punish the entire town of Shechem. This injustice he speaks to, but the tragedy of his own child calls forth no words, no thoughts, nothing for us to ruminate on as a reflection of our own tragedies except silence.

Where else in Torah do we see a grieving parent unable to bear witness except through silence? Aaron, at the deaths of his sons Nadav and Avihu. This horrendous thing happens to them in front of their father and the whole assembly of Yisroel, and what does the Torah say? "Aaron was silent."

Sometimes, Torah is telling us, our grief is so overwhelming, the shock and tragedy is unspeakable. There are no words for these moments. Silence itself is the loudest statement. Where then do we go after the silence? Simeon and Levi take silence as a failure to action and channel it into anger and rage. Aaron has no choice in his next actions and is obligated to anoint his younger son and continue the priestly rite. What after that? He is never the same again, and neither is the priestly mantle he conferred on his lineage.

Perhaps in learning to speak through the silence, or in its aftermath, we will become more able to carry the light of Torah into the world. Perhaps this is part of our mission to become a nation of priests, where each and every one of us must speak the truth of our silence, and in so doing help elevate those struggling around us. This is a large part of the narrative process. A communal gleaning of our shared wisdom as we struggle individually (yaakov) and collectively (yisroel) to come to healthier mechanisms within our self and the people. Silence for a moment gives space and time for absorption. Silence as a practice breeds isolation and imbalance internally and externally and creates a system in which others tell us how to process the reality of our lives and community.

Part of what draws me to the maggidic process, is that it encourages the individual and communal narrative to come up out of silence and form a critical interexchange of wisdom and experience. Through the maggidic experience of Torah we have the opportunity to be vitally human beings and vitally divine all in one fell swoop, and to do this as a rich and healthy people.

END PART ONE, TO BE CONTINUED.

struggling alongside yaakov

2006-12-10T17:49:00.000-08:00

B"H

Shabbos for me was difficult. Led services, but couldn't get my energy up. Most of the peppy regulars including kiddos were missing for various seasonal reasons, so it had to be all me, and due to melancholic mishegas with (things I can't speak about publicly,) could not get into shabbos light and services reflected this. In Hassid world someone else would have taken over, but in liberal world, we are performers as much as leaders, so no one else to do, or will. Can only be where I am, and no where else. Several times in service actually stopped and was quiet for a few moments while I found myself again-- and scrapped my whole d'var on the moment and spoke spontaneaously about struggle/yaakov/parasha of week/darkness,lightness, time of year/ and chanukah. Was an excellent drash actually, but not exactly high bright shabbos energy. Dark. Again, can only stand where we are, eh? Reminded myself that we do this week after week and that over the long haul the community will come with us, as we come with the community, traveling together.

Yaakov in the World

2006-12-09T22:56:00.000-08:00

B"H

This week I was thinking, how interesting that Yaakov buries Devorah under the Oak that weeps, in the hebrew it is plural and so by implication weeping for two– for Rivkah as well; then after this weeping HaShem names him Yisroel; and also states, I am El Shd-i. It occured to me that since Sarah died shortly after Yitzhak’s almost sacrifice on the mountain, Yaakov grew up without a maternal grandmother figure. Who then would have served this role? Devorah, the intimate figure in Rivkah’s life would have been his grandmotherly figure, so to lose both at the same time, what a loss, what a grieving. And yet, it is the growing point necessary for Yaakov to finally mature into himself, to walk the Yashar, the straight path to G-d (sometimes)(when he’s not still being Yaakov) and to warrent the addtional name Yisroel that is conferred on him. He is ready now to inherit and pass along the spiritual lineage of the people, but he is also on his own. Or is he? HaShem reminds him– I am El Shad-i, the nurturer, the sustainer, through me will you be held and cared for in the world.

Sukkot in the Woods

2006-10-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

B"H

Spent Sukkot with housemates up the Mckenzie River-- Lulav, Etrog, and everything. Still trying to figure it all out-- Hag on raging river, that is...

Painted Drum Round 2

2006-10-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

B"H

Blessings to you all!

thoughts on training up maggidim...

2006-10-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

B"H

A friend and mentor maggid asked me to write up my thoughts on requirements for training maggidim. As it is relevant to the conversation of just what a maggid is, and how maggidut differs from rabbinics, I'm posting it here. Some editing has been done to protect issues of confidentiality. All comments welcome!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

B”H

(--------), shalom shalom.

In my reply to your email I suggested that the first place to start for maggidic requirements is the ability to define what a maggid is. I wasn’t being funny. This is so important, without it I think a maggid is really dead in the water (so to speak.) In this reemerging field of maggidut there is a wide range of opinion about what exactly is a maggid, with each teacher/ school claiming its own definition. Storyteller? Rabbinic Pastor? Facilitator of Sacred Autobiography? Outreach Worker? Melamed? Personally, I think they are all true, since maggidut, like rabbinics or hazzinut, is A PROCESS. This is a very important statement, so important I’m putting it right up here at the beginning. Maggidut is a process that constantly informs the way that a maggid operates in the field. Understanding this from the start is crucial, as it also informs the way that a maggid learns the tools of the trade. When I study rabbinics, I am doing so through the eyes and needs of the maggid. I am learning (and teaching) the material from a different perspective than I would if I was studying to be a rabbi or a hazan, or possibly even a rabbinic pastor in the sense that institutions like ALEPH define that role. (Keeping in mind that there is a tremendous amount of crossover between the roles of rabbi/ hazan/ maggid/ pastor… and that the best rabbis are also maggidim, eh?)

What does this mean? A maggid’s primary job is to “Relate” to the people. To Relate. Everything must come through this perspective. When I am learning new material, I am constantly thinking about how to apply it in the field. Maggidut is not about performing, as can be the case with cantorial soloists, and not about executing, the case with rabbis who must form and hold the communal structure. The maggid must be a general practitioner whose skill sets and ability to perform on demand legitimate the maggid’s presence as a spiritual teacher and act as a vehicle for teaching. The maggid’s skills are not an end in themselves, but are vehicles to a higher end—being a relational mechanism between HaShem, the Jewish spiritual path/ tradition, and the everyday reality of people’s lives.

Am I making sense? I’ve been working on this line of thought for a long time, I call it maggidic methodology, but this is my first attempt to articulate these things in writing. Please do prod me for clarity if need be, as It will help me pull this stuff out of my head and into the world. The most important piece of all of that is that maggidut as a teaching mechanism can not wait until the end of the curriculum—it must be integrated into the learning process from day one.

As for necessary skills, the maggid as rabbinic pastor obviously needs to mirror the basic skill sets of the rabbi and hazan, but with less emphasis on classic texts (clearly more learning is better). More midrash, less halacha. Basic working knowledge of liturgy and hazzinut, both traditional and at least one other modality (renewal/reform/carlebach, etc…) *** The ability to craft liturgy/life cycle/ and adapted ritual spontaneously and on demand—a maggidic specialty!!*** (Seriously, I do more spontaneous, in the moment teaching and ritual than I can possibly tell you. It’s a major hallmark of my experience as a maggid)

Some level of Hebrew proficiency is required—and the ability to teach it at some level. This is an absolute requirement that should not be overlooked or shortcut under any circumstances. Having said that, what level of Hebrew proficiency and what kind of teaching can vary wildly and should be approached on a case-by-case basis.

Hassidus. How anyone can be a maggid today and not be studying Hassidus, at
some level, I don’t know. Working knowledge of the Hasidic masters is a must.
Who are they, where did they live, what were the hallmarks of each one, and then of course, the teachings and texts themselves. Which teachings and which texts, I leave to you. Myself, I would require ongoing Baal Shem Tov studies supplemented by Nachman’s Likutay Moharan and as many stories about the Berdichever as possible. More is better, but this is a minimum. I highly recommend students read Buxbaum’s Bescht book cover to cover, as it is not only scholarly and well written, but in between the lines of these simple anecdotes is a textbook manual in maggidut. I’m developing an entire course for maggidim using this book, and I think people will be amazed at how much depth is hidden beneath the surface of this book’s simplicity.

If you don’t know something about Kabbalah, just the basics, you can’t be a
maggid today. Period.

Storytelling/Music/Outreach/Community Organizing, etc, etc, etc… Clearly every maggid has areas of sub specialization. I don’t think I need to explain this one to you. Again, these tools are learned as teaching mechanisms—even entertainment, dancing, and churning up a raucous smicha are teaching events… especially so! Every single person watching Daniel sing his happy song at the wedding learned something about being Jewish that day, I guarantee it. Once you get maggidut into your system, you can’t ever not be a maggid—people see this and respond to it from their very souls. I have found that there is no better teaching mechanism than being awesomely, joyously present. People tell this to me all the time, so I know it to be true. If we can do that through storytelling or music or ecstatic davening, all the better.

On a more practical level, maggidic students should have some guidance in class development; teaching strategies; dealing with boards of directors, head’s of school and maggidic-rabbinic relations. These things have to be addressed or else we are tossing people out into frontier territory to fend for themselves, which isn’t right.

Maggidic students should be fully immersed in the life of a spiritual community, be it a single shul, a minyan, or as in the case of Berkeley, with the extended Chevre. How can you learn to lead community if you’re not participating in community? This has to happen. Paired with this, of course, is the cultivation of a personal spiritual practice, including elements of mussar and taking on midot. People will look to the maggid as a living example, so we must be just that and make sure that we do things like having mezuzot on our doors, among other things, eh? This is especially true of the maggid, because many people see the maggid as being more accessible, more approachable than the rabbi. The living example of the maggid is somehow more tangible to their lives than the living example of the rabbi. This is really important. Really, really important. Again, in this way, a maggid is teaching often just by being present in the environment. So many spiritual teachers don’t grok this, and so they miss the thousand and one teaching opportunities that arise from the fact of their presence. Being present is everything.

And finally, for now, I highly recommend some amount of pastoral counseling
education. If a maggid can do a one or two year program, that’s best. But
even some workshops would help. As you know, the issues that come up in the
field around spiritual development; crisis management; grief counseling; visiting the sick; etc, etc, etc… and on and on and on—these issues are legion. To have no training whatsoever is not only going to limit the maggid’s job performance, it’s outright dangerous. I’ve seen just about everything in the last four years of working in the field, and I’m still young and new at this. People need to be prepared to encounter these things, it just has to happen by some means.

Blessings to you friend for a healthful and prosperous new year.

With love and Blessings, M'Sarah Etz Alon

New Paint on Drum

2006-09-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

B"H

A friend was going to paint a drum for me-- been almost five months now so figured this was HaShem's way of telling me to paint my own drum. But with what design? Clearly I'm no pretender to super secret kaballistic/ shamanic symbols and incantations. So what then? Finally I settled on French Curves. How they became "French" I don't know, but from these three simple curves, all other curves can be reproduced. (Although it sometimes takes a bit of creativity and patience.... especially if you're trying to produce a circle! How fitting!)

Here it is:

New Youngster in the Community

2006-09-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

B"H

Congratulations to friends Aaron and Sarah on the birth of their son, Gabriel. From the look of him in his first picture, he is beautiful-- as expected!! Can't wait to see him in person. Blessings for health and longevity and wholeness of spirit. May he never know need and may he be filled with the light of the love of those around him. Mazel Tov to the whole family on their Simcha. What a Joy!

Emergent Conversations

2006-08-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

B"H

I'm Having a VERY INTERESTING and noteworthy conversation with working partner and chevrusa Maggid Joel Rothschild (Yoel Natan) and Shawn Landres of Synagogue 3000. Currently there are two main comment threads going with other "tributaries" out there... we are working the tech stuff out on how to present a thought stream like this cohesively so that you don't have to keep searching and reading individual links, but for now ind. links is all I've got for you-- here they are:

Moshav HaAm

Mishkaneer

Tisha B'Av is for Redemption Too!

2006-07-31T15:39:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Just to remind us, in these troubling (horrific) times, that Tisha B'Av is for Redemption Too-- here are two photos of me visiting the grandparents in Utah, where we are having a most excellent visit together. (actually, we are ranting and weeping and very heavy hearted... but also having joyous family time together-- so true to my birth parashot (this week) our time together has been about destruction and redemption.) OY!

Anyrate, in this particular photo moment, we have just gotten out of an excellent performance of "The Music Man" at the Utah Festival Opera. I know, I know, we're inside of the three weeks (and this was shabbos too) but while I tend toward Orthodoxy, they are Reform and the one time a year I visit I just have to bend-- it's the only honorable thing to do. Here we are:

Donations needed for ZAKA and other Relief Orgs in Israel

2006-07-31T15:30:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Civil Support Coalition Providing Medication
And Aid To Over 30,000 Residents In Northern Israel

ZAKA volunteers have joined together with volunteers from Meir Panim soup kitchen and EZRA youth group to form the Civil Support Coalition which is providing over 30,000 residents in northern Israel with food, medication, toys and host families on a 24-hour basis. This assistance is being given in addition to ZAKA's daily tasks of helping the injured and dealing with those killed as a result of Hezbollah attacks.

Since Hezbollah attacks began on July 12th, the Coalition has provided support for the people of Northern Israel affected by Hezbollah attacks in the following way:

Over 3000 people have been provided with vital medication
Over 2000 items of medical equipment have been distributed to citizens who are mainly in bombshelters.
Over 5,000 hot meals are being distributed daily
600 packages of food have been provided to families which will ensure they have enough food for the next 10 days
400 children are being hosted daily in Day Camps with care services being provided for children with special needs
7000 packs of nappies are being distributed
Over 2000 families have been hosted by people living in the southern parts of Israel
ZAKA volunteers have also made thousands of visits to bomb shelters to help raise morale and assist anyone with special needs requirements.

After visiting the volunteers staff headquarters, Major General Jerry Gershon Cohen, in charge of Home Command, commented: "I was astonished by the number of calls being received and amazing at the instant response and support given by volunteers."

The Mayor of Safed, Yishay Mymon, added: We always knew that if ZAKA were in the field, we could rely on them."

Dudi Zilbershlag, Director of ZAKA, said: We cannot underestimate the severity of the current situation in northern Israel. People are without food, without electricity, without shelter and without vital medication. ZAKA volunteers, together with the other Coalition members, are doing everything we can to ensure that the needs of Israel's citizens are provided for during this difficult time. Any additional support we can be given will be much appreciated and I can't thank our volunteers enough for the tireless 24 hour service they are currently providing – we are indebted to them."

prayers for deliverance

2006-07-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

BS"D

"My friend Ethan spent the first half of Shabbat trying to comfort a friend whose girlfriend works at Federation and who was missing until she turned up at the hospital with injuries from jumping out of a second-story window into a dumpster to escape the shooting. Then on his way home he walked past a big "No More War for Israel" banner and he wanted to cry."
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"Some 37 children were among the dead in the IAF strike early Sunday on a building in the southern Lebanon town of Qana, Lebanese police said. Several houses collapsed and a three-story building where about 100 civilians were sheltering was destroyed, witnesses and rescue workers said."
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"...while the evacuation of southern Lebanon has been heavily covered by the Western news media, the equally large evacuation of northern Israel is barely a story to the rest of the world. An estimated 500,000-700,000 people have left northern Israel to relocate to the centre and south. The remaining population, mostly the elderly, poor and new immigrants who don't have the family or financial resources to leave, is hunkered down in bomb shelters. The streets are empty. Factories and businesses are shut down. Restaurants and stores are closed. Fruits and vegetables are rotting in the fields. The entire north of Israel has become devoid of life and activity..."
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Oh G-d, help us. Help us. Help us.

Telling a story at Friend Ben's

2006-07-26T00:41:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Dancing Tzitzit

2006-07-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

BS"D

On the other hand, I just got back from walking the dog and I'm telling you, I'm out there in my jeans and birks, tallis katan under my favorite big orange shirt, and it's a windy day-- all kinds of wind, and it was awesome. AWESOME!! I had the best time, my tzitzit were flying and dancing for joy, swept up in all that wind. I was really having fun with the whole thing. So you see, this is what it means to struggle with joy. When we get to a time when all our struggles are like flying and dancing in the wind, then we will truly be in a time of peace.

Blessings!

Diving into Feminist Hot Water

2006-07-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Continued from comments to circumcise your heart post:

As for Tzitzit, I am partnered with fringes for life, so no worries there. The question for me isn't whether or not to wear tzitzit, but in what manner and when. I've never felt comfortable in a man's traditional tallit katan. Everytime I put one on I feel like I'm telling my breasts, you have no place here. It's not a very womanly thought, so it bothers me and inhibits the meditative process of tzitzit for me. The first set of tzitzit as tallis katan that I wore was a set I made myself that was more like an apron (a double apron, front and back, a skirted garment). This set of tzitzit was extremely comfortably and felt a lot more feminine to me. In fact, it enhanced my sense of being a woman and was a hugely positive meditation to be immersed in. So I'm going back to exploring skirted options for women's tzitzit.

Meantime, what about the when of wearing tzitzit? The experience I gave in the posting "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart" was just the beginning... fearing backlash from my feminist friends and also trying not to out a romantic interest prematurely I didn't give over the whole experience, but here it is now, because I think it's important to this discussion.
In fact, I'm going to create this as a new blog post-- see you on the main page!

Okay, so here we are now back at the main page and I'm going to do it-- I'm going to dive into Feminist hot water and none of you can stop me!

If you remember back a few posts (Circumcise the foreskin of your heart), I was explaining an experience I had at Jerusalem Camp which called me to question whether or not I wanted to continue wearing a tallis katan, and if so, how and when. (I could restate that more positively like "had an experience that empowered me to rethink my relationship to the mitzvah of tzitzit") There's more to this experience though, and I know I'm going to get myself into trouble, but here goes...

If you recall, on my second night in J-Camp one of the brothers offered me the tzitzit off his back, a gesture that touched my heart deeply enough to satiate my need, in that moment, to wear tzitzit, because the moment itself was tzitzit.
There's more though, that next day this same brother asked me if I had laid tefillin yet, to which I replied "I don't know how to lay tefillin..." I'm certain that had I asked, he would have taught me on the spot. It was another great moment of compassion from one soul to another that cut through gender and denominational lines as if none of that stuff mattered or existed. Only a little blip of a moment, but highly transformational. After that, when I would look over and see this person wearing his tzitzit, I felt like I was wearing tzitzit. And when I looked over and saw him laying tefillin, I felt like I was laying tefillin. I don't know how, really, to explain this, but I began to understand how it is that male and female Jewish spiritual expression intersect, even merge together in an immersed Jewish community. I began to understand how it is that gender differentiation of spiritual expression in the community can be an incredibly holy vehicle and how the foundation for that vehicle is the coming together of woman and man to create a Jewish family.

I know to many this will sound a lot like "If my husband is wearing tzitzit, then I don't need to...If my husband is wearing tefillin, then I don't need to...If my husband does whatever, then I can be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen...etc etc..." This is not what I am saying at all, and I hope that those of you who know me understand that this is never what I will be saying. What I am saying is that I've discovered a very deep integral spirituality between male and female jewish spiritual expression, and particularly between wife and husband in a Jewish household. I'm not doing this revelation justice, so you just need to trust me that this is deep, deep stuff and not to be dismissed lightly.

There are, of course, all manner of spin off topics, every single one of which gets me deeper and deeper into F.H.W. (feminist hot water)-- mechitza, seperate prayer services for men and women, women's torah services, shomer negiah (or not), issues of tamei and tahor, and the use of the mikvah in general. All of these are areas where I am religiously pushing the ritual boundaries, always I am out working in these frontier zones. But at the same time I am deepening my appreciation for the boundaries and am seeking to work with them within the context of being a 21st century global human being.

None of this negates my ability or desire to wear tzitzit and lay tefillin, but has changed my perspective about why I engage these mitzvot, and how I choose to do it. Personally, I think all of this makes me more of a feminist, not less, but whatever the label, I am what I am.

Thanks Ya'll for the prodding and encouragement both.

Brachot!

A few Highlights from J-Camp

2006-07-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Some J-Camp highlights courtesy of Zev. More to come, Brachot!

Circumcise the foreskin of your heart

2006-07-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Many of you know that I've been wearing tzitzit for years. Tallis Gadol, Taliis Katan, traditional, renewal, men's styles and women's styles-- I'm a woman of many fringes to be sure. But recently my thoughts on women and tzitzit have been shifting and I'm not so sure I need to be wearing them all of the time anymore. Something that happened a few weeks back at Jerusalem Camp/Rainbow reinforced this shift and now I find my self back out again in women's ritual frontier land, struggling as always, but with joy!

From Jerusalem Camp at the National Rainbow Gathering 2006
On my second morning in camp one of the brothers was asking if anyone had an extra tallis katan that he could borrow as his had become unusable. No one did, but since I am not obligated to wear fringes and he is, I offered him the set I was wearing. This all worked out briliantly except then I had no tzitzit, which was strange, like being naked somehow. I went up to a friend of mine and asked him if he knew where extra tzitzit were and he offered me the set off his back, and I mean literally off his back. It turns out his tallis katan was way too big for me, wearing this garment would have ridiculous on my part, but as I handed his tzitzit back to him I discovered my frenetic need to wear tzitzit satiated by the moment, as if the moment itself was tzitzit. Since then my need to wear tzitzit has greatly diminished because the memory of that moment inscribed itself on my heart and is there indelibly for permanent reference.

I still wear tzitzit, but as a meditative device. I find myself shifting shifting back into my tallis gadol and continuing to explore women's styles of tallisim, but the traditional tallis katan-- I think it needs to be for the guys!

Thanks Fellas for all of your support!!

Blessings!

Sinai Has Its Own Realities

2006-07-19T00:36:00.000-07:00

BS"D

First Jerusalem Camp Posts En Route--
mostly wrote the first posts for J-Camp but still need some editing-- stay tuned!
Peace!

Wilderness Maggid Website Up And Running!

2006-06-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Finally, Baruch Hashem, my new website is up and running. Haven't posted any substantial content yet, but the basic construction and inner navigational links are up, as well as my calendar, credentials, and photo gallery. This is exciting new territiory for me-- thanks all for getting me here, and especially to my web designer for his endless patience and support.

Here it is:

www.wildernessmaggid.com

If you can't remember that, then maggidsarah.com will take you there as well.

Blessings to you all!

Jerusalem Camp Needs Our Support!

2006-06-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

BS"D

My dear friends and supporters, Jerusalem Camp at the National Rainbow Gathering desperately needs our help. Every year Jerusalem Camp and it's Kitchen, the "Circle K" offer sanctuary, rejuvination, and a spiritual home for thousands of young Jewish souls. In addition, the kitchen feeds over ten thousand people during the week, many of whom have brought no source of food for themselves (rainbow mythology has it that you can show up with nothing and have all your needs met... a scenario which results in tens of thousands of half starved, sleep deprived, sun drenched young people who are essentially stuck at the gathering until their rides go home at the end of the week.) There is no way to describe in words the overwhelming act of compassion toward humanity that Jerusalem Camp's Kitchen represents. I've been there and seen the grateful starving masses and I'm telling you, this is tikkun olam at its best.

Beyond that, Jerusalem Camp represents one of the largest gatherings of Jewish people outside of the Land of Israel, and is probably the largest gathering of "alternative" community Jews in the Diaspora, maybe in the world. Something really important at the level of Peoplehood is happening there which must be supported. You can't go to Jerusalem Camp and not feel like you're at Sinai again. While heavily influenced by "traditional" Judaism, Jerusalem Camp is welcoming to Jews and Jewish expression from across the Jewish Spectrum. Two years ago this wild tzitzit wearing woman was encouraged to Daven, to leyn torah (from a chumash-- this year, Baruch HaSh-em we will have a sefer torah) and to be awesomely present in my yiddishkeit. This is an environment where religion isn't pushed on anyone, and secular Jews as well as non-Jewish spirit friends are welcome. Shabbos and Havdalah attract thousands of participants, and the post havdalah bonfire music jam can go way into the wee hours of the morning.

Rising Gas prices are putting the crunch on this essential Jewish experience, both in terms of gas to get there and the added cost of gas/shipping to all goods purchased for the kitchen. Please send money now! Donations can be sent to the link below, or, if you know me personally, can be funneled through me and I will send a collective check to Zev. Jerusalem Camp is a registered non-profit and all donations are tax deductable.

I thank you friends, and pray to Hashem that you be blessed with all of your needs.

With Peace, B'Shalom U'Vracha,
Maggidah Sarah Etz Alon

http://www.jerusalemcamp.org

Make a donation by check:

Make checks out to JerusalemCamp and mail to:
Jerusalem Camp
2887 College Ave Suite 305
Berkeley, CA 94705

Mezuzah/Amulet Crafting on Taos Peublo

2006-06-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

BS"D

Now that the shoes on the other foot...

2006-05-25T01:13:00.000-07:00

BS"D
Until this week liberal judaism was hanging out on it's own suffering under rules of non-acceptance by the chief rabbinate of Israel. Modern Orthodoxy thought this was just fine until their (our) rabbis also became disqualified. What next? Are we coming into an age where only jews born in the land of Israel will be recognized as legitimate jews? Maybe we should discount the Babylonian Talmud because it was written outside of the Land? What fundamentalist snobbery will we see next?

From Haaretz:

Rabbinate's ruling on overseas conversions riles U.S. rabbis

By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent

NEW YORK - "This is deliberate harassing of the modern Orthodoxy that was conceived and born in the United States," one New York rabbi said Wednesday in response to the decision by Israel's Chief Rabbinate not to recognize conversions by Orthodox rabbis abroad.

The rabbi, who does not serve in an official rabbinic capacity but is viewed by colleagues and the religious-Zionist public in the U.S. as a model modern Orthodox rabbi, said he had trouble choosing between two labels for the Rabbinate's decision: "horrific" or "folly."

By contrast, Rabbi Basil Herring, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) downplayed the impression of a crisis in relations with the Rabbinate in Israel. "The report in Haaretz was too sweeping," Herring said. "It isn't a matter of not recognizing all Orthodox conversions, but rather not recognizing them automatically."

Herring, whose organization is home to some 1,000 rabbis across the U.S., said he had no problem with someone in Israel saying that new standards for conversions needed to be put in place, but "you don't do that without consulting us and without informing us in advance."

Herring said that following Wednesday's report in Haaretz, he had been flooded by calls from European rabbis demanding explanations of the Rabbinate decision and from reporters seeking comments.

American Orthodox rabbis interviewed on Wednesday commonly expressed shock and feelings of frustration and anger. The differences in style and degree depended only on the extent of the speaker's dependence on the Orthodox rabbinic establishment and their obligations as rabbis of congregations.

Rabbis affiliated with the Orthodox establishment made a concerted effort to show restraint and temper their displeasure with a measure of hope that the issue of recognizing overseas Orthodox conversions will be resolved through mutual debate.

Rabbis active outside the Orthodox mainstream were more outspoken, though some asked to remain anonymous.

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, former president of Yeshiva University and a prominent figure in modern Orthodoxy, told Haaretz on Wednesday that the approach of Orthodox rabbis in the U.S. was always to accept the will of the Rabbinate in Israel.

"Now that the Chief Rabbinate is taking a step that indicates it does not recognize us as authorized rabbis, we will have to review and reassess our relations with the Rabbinate in Israel," he said.

Rabbi Shraga Schoenfeld, a former president of the RCA, also expressed dismay at the Rabbinate's decision. "I don't understand what happened," he said.

"We always recognized the Chief Rabbinate as a halakhic authority and suddenly they decided they would not accept American Orthodox conversion unless it has the official seal of the Chief Rabbinate. Something went wrong there in Jerusalem."

Sephardic Chief Rabbi and president of the Supreme Rabbinic Court, Shlomo Amar, categorically rejected the wave of protest from U.S. rabbis. According to Amar, "the rabbis and dayanim (religious arbitrators) overseas who were recognized until now continue to be recognized. We are saying only that new rabbis and dayanim who wish to perform conversion or rule on divorce matters will have to take an exam."

Amar said that a body of three dayanim was appointed to administer the exams. "I instructed them to conduct a special and easy exam," he emphasized, but acknowledged the inconvenience of taking the exam in Israel. "I am prepared to consider an orderly proposal to administer the exams for rabbis in America," he said. "But I do not promise to accept it."

What is a maggid (as sarah?)

2006-05-12T12:46:00.000-07:00

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Serving the Eugene Jewish Community informally as a maggid since January 2003, I recently received maggidic smicha (ordination) from Reb Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, authorizing me to teach and preach in Jewish communities. While the role of the maggid goes back into Jewish history as far as the Jews do, it is the Chasidic model of the maggid as teacher, preacher, and storyteller that most appeals to me. When working in the field I find myself leading prayer services, teaching classes, tutoring adults and children in Hebrew, trope, and Judaism 101, leading song nights, telling stories and playing music, facilitating torah study, giving d’vrei torah (preaching), speaking on behalf of the community at interfaith events, offering peer counseling, grief support, and crisis management, mentoring B’nei Mitzvah students, participating in family education, designing liturgy and life cycle ritual… and anything else that helps people relate Judaism to the reality of their everyday lives.

Born in the sleepy Deep South town of Gainesville, FL, I enjoyed a Tom Sawyer/ Huck Finn childhood until moving to Malibu and the California life when I was 12. Los Angeles was a great place to be a teenager, it had every kind of person, every piece of humanity you could imagine, and it taught me to be present with people, and to honor that the place where they are standing is holy ground. Bored with high school, I left early to attend UCLA and Santa Monica College, where I majored in American History and Astronomy until transferring to a combined BA/MA program at American University in Washington, DC. While studying at American University I discovered peace and conflict resolution studies, added that to my major, and went to work as the student coordinator of peace and justice ministries at our interfaith chapel on campus. This was an extraordinary time for me, as I became immersed in the progressive spiritual worker community—working and learning from the heart of the Latin American liberation theology and literacy movements. The value systems of these movements heavily influenced me and show up in my teaching today as I stress democratic processes on the pulpit and in the classroom. The more people that are empowered in their humanness, in their yiddishkeit, the happier I am.

Since leaving my University studies I have held a lot of jobs, in every kind of trade a person can have. I’ve managed construction sites for Habitat for Humanity, worked on a marine research vessel, trained service animals for people with disabilities, wrangled cactuses, taught classes for the Red Cross, gone on search and rescue missions, and managed horse barns. I’ve also held tedious jobs as a retail clerk, restaurant manager, sporting goods department manager, record store buyer, and clerk on Capital Hill. Like my teenage years in L.A., the decade in between my university and maggidic life exposed me to all manner of humanity, lending me a richness of experience from which I draw constantly in my role of spiritual teacher. Beyond that, this great sea of humanity I’ve been swimming in has taught me to be patient and forgiving with people. So very, very important.

At the end of 2002 I decided that I needed to make some changes in my life. After many years of floating through the world I settled down in Eugene and engaged my Jewish studies with commitment and purpose. Since then I have been immersed completely in the life of the Jewish Community in Eugene, and in Klal Yisroel. I find myself voraciously studying anything Jewish I can get my hands on with particular emphasis on liturgy, hazzinut, midrash, aggadah, trope, music, storytelling, chumash, halacha, and chassidus. I love working with community and teaching torah. I love it. I’ve worked in a lot of professions, but this being a maggid is the first career I could see myself doing for the rest of my life—in fact, I love this work so much, I can’t imagine not doing it. (I’m totally sold, can you tell?) Meanwhile, over the past several years I have become an enthusiastic and competent leader of shabbat and holiday prayer services, can mentor b’nei mitzvah students, teach in religious school, tutor adults, teach Judaic classes, counsel those who are ill or in mourning, offer spiritual guidance, participate (and facilitate participation in) community events, work with the kids, and generally uplift the life of the community. In addition, I’ve become an increasingly skilled liturgist and crafter of life cycle ritual, with experience in naming ceremonies for babies/teenagers/adults, mikvot, and shiva minyanim. I feel confident that I could officiate a brit milah or a funeral, should need arise. Like my work experience, my Jewish upbringing and learning comes from all over the Jewish spectrum, a fact I try to utilize as I draw on these many traditions to create a ritual experience that fits the spiritual needs of those present. Sometimes this looks more traditional, sometimes more liberal, but always I am aiming for awesomely Jewish. Ultimately, if the community is healthy and people have joy in their jewishness, then I feel pretty good in my life as a maggid.

Welcome Shonna to the Web!

2006-04-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

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Judaic Artist Eshet Hazzan Shonna Husbands-Hankin has a beautiful new website. Finally, her light is accessible to the world!

Smicha with Reb Maggid Buxbaum

2006-04-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

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Thank you Reb Maggid. I don't know how to describe what happened in that moment. You invoked the presence of so many holy souls-- Reb Shlomo, HaBescht, Eliyahu HaNavi... what words are there for a transmission of this kind? My life will never be the same. Peace to you.

Maggidim Without Borders

2006-04-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

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Woohoo!!

Coming this summer at long last: MAGGIDIM WITHOUT BORDERS will host the first interfaith maggid intensive for outreach workers in the field.

Featuring renown storyteller, teacher and scholar Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum, this intensive will bring together outreach workers from the Jewish, Hindu, Sufi, Buddhist, Pagan, Christian, and other traditions to inform, upshore, and cross-pollinate the work we do in the world.

Tentatively scheduled for mid-July in Eugene, Oregon. Stay tuned into this blog or contact altermaggid@moshavhaam.org for more details. This event will be free to teachers in the field and some scholarship $ for travel is available-- don't hesitate to apply.

Baruch HaShem, G-d is great and merciful.

Blessings!

Working Women in Ritual Frontier Land

2006-04-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

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Soferet has a digital camera-- and what a difference it makes! Here is an article of hers worth checking out (they all are) followed below by my comment to her: Netivat Sofrut comments

--Ick!! Soferet prepping skins for parchment... proof that there is holiness in all things. Even bloody gory icky skins can become a precious sefer torah.

Maggid Sarah:

As a working woman maggid (maggidah) in the field, I also am constantly up against the choice of lying to purchase my work and ritual needs, or of learning to make them myself. So far I've chosen to make them rather than imbue my work with the whacked vibrations of "the Lie".

I carved a Yod last year and a woman trope student of mine just wrapped it in beautiful beads and made a matching bag to carry and protect it. Such a holy holy holy way to learn and be present in the world. I think we women are in this position specifically so that we are forced to OWN the process from our womanness (word?) and not to just inherit the system by rote. Can't tell you how many others this empowers in turn to roll up their sleeves and engage themselves in yiddishkeit-- is this why we are commanded to write our own sefer torah? So we have to personally engage the process?

What a powerful and awesome age we live in. Baruch HaShem!

Blessings to you Aviel for this work that you do, and great job with the digital pics-- what a difference that makes, eh?

A Collaborative Effort of Redemption for the Pesach Season:
Hand Carved Yod by Maggid Sarah Etz Alon, Beaded and Decorated, with Inner and Outer Bag by Judaic Artist Susan Jacobson of Eugene, Oregon

Ohhhh Susan, you are awesome! How beautiful this is, I can't wait to initiate it with a sefer torah-- what an honor!

Thank you!

New Pesach Art from Shoshanna

2006-04-11T14:01:00.000-07:00

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As Always, I encourage you to support her work:
Shoshanna Brombacher

Too Excellent!

2006-04-11T01:04:00.000-07:00

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Flip Out Shabbos

From MOChassid-- I couldn't resist, too excellent!

"Shabbos Hagadol at my shul is a coming out party for those young men and women who are in the process of flipping out in Israel.

A lot of kids come back to the US for Pesach (BTW, I don't really get why kids would rather spend Pesach here than in Israel but that's just me. And, I digress).

Annually, on the first Friday night after the kids get home, the place is packed with kids who have never before stepped foot in the shul (some of whose parents must be horrified at the thought). The Rebbe and the shul have big followings among many of the seminaries and yeshivas in Israel so it is natural for the kids who are in the process of flipping to want to daven there.

On motsai Shabbos, when the Rebbe gives his 'motsai Shabbos Hagadol drasha' (Ed: the shul cannot fit the crowd that would come on Shabbos afternoon; so, for the past few years we have been holding the drasha on motsai Shabbos. We have video feeds into our social hall and bais medrash and are able to accomodate more than 600 people). Once again, the shul is teeming with flip-outs in training.

Aish Kodesh: The leading indicator of flip outs."

13 Attributes of Mercy

2006-04-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

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When exploring topics for this week's torah study, I discovered that I had outlined 13 seperate themes in the Torah readings for the Pesach season. One of the topics is the 13 Attributes of Mercy....hmmmmmm.... 13 topics for study, 13 attributes of mercy-- clearly no maggid worth her money could resist this one. Here they are set side by side together. The translation for the 13 attributes I'm using is gifted to us by R. David Wolfe-Blank (z'l). Keep in mind that the order of torah topics is as it came to me before I thought of this exercise-- sort of an I Ching approach to torah study. I wonder what we'll make of this? Let's see:

Ad-nai, Ad-nai

1) E-L : Expanding force of kindness

Moshe Rabeynu pleas to HaShem on behalf of the people

2) Rachum: Merciful Womb

Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

3) V'Chanun: Graceful Giver

On not seeing the Face of HaShem; On seeing the Back of HaShem; The dialogue between Moshe Rabeynu and HaShem

4) Erech: Long-Stretched Web

The Offerings for Pesach

5) Apayim: Many Faceted Jewel

The relevance of the Pesach offerings to our lives today

6) V'Rav Chesed: Maestro of Generosity

Peoplehood issues, including issues of the Proselyte and Stranger amonst us

7) V'Emet: Dispatcher of Truth

Kashrut Specific Commandments: Lo! ...kid in it's mother's milk; Lo! ...slaughter young and mother on the same day; Lo! ...take young before 8th day.

8) Notzer Chesed: Funnel of Kindness

Redemption of first born; Pidyon HaBen

9) La'alafim: Helper of Thousands

Counting of the Omer and the Pesach-Shavuot cycle

10) Noseh Avon: Tolerator of Distortion

Renewal of Spiritual Life of the People

11) Vafesha: Who puts up with intentional error

Mass Circumcision

12) V'Chata'ah: Shoulders of ommision

Ressurection of Dry Bones

13) V'Nakay: And Cleanses

Messianic Redemption

Minhagim for Passover in a Post-Exilic Age

2006-04-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

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Here are two excellent articles on food, Pesach and tradition for the modern age. I have some thoughts of my own to follow in the next few days, but for now check these out:

From Tzipporah, on choosing from many equally valid minhagim (customs). You'll see in the comments section that I've querried Tzipporah directly on the issue of kashrut-- but only because I know her kavannah to be on the highest level.

From Velveteen Rabbi, inspiring thoughts on the nature of matzah. Always thought provoking, thanks velvet!

From Maggid Sarah: Remember, whatever your pesach customs and observance, the most important thing is to be In Process and to be In Community. See you at the splitting of the sea!

Blessings to you all for a Hag Pesach Tov

Thought the wireless machine was freedom....

2006-04-04T00:58:00.000-07:00

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And then the check came. It's just beginning to dawn on me what freedom is going to mean. Is this what it felt like when the sea split? That first understanding of liberation? I still can't grok it myself. Oh liberty, how sweet thou are. Blessed be HaShem for freeing the captive. May we all have the parnassa to support our souls in the world. AmEn.

Freedom!

2006-04-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

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Yeah, Freedom! I just got a wireless card for my laptop and I feel soooooooooo liberated! For the first time in years I'll be able to work on the machine in my own space and time. Baruch HaShem.

Manna Energy

2006-03-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

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Fellow Blogger Tzipporah recently bemoaned her status as overworked volunteer extraordinaire in her community (Interpretive paraphrasing, of course). Here's my advice to her, I think we all could use a dose of it:

Perspective? Look to the name of your blog! (Midianite Manna) You are "manna" for your community. As such, the community needs to respect how much of your energy and efforts is healthful to take, and take no more. This is the principle of manna-- you get exactly what you need, what is healthful, and no more. Anything that is horded for future use becomes wormy and inedible. So too with your energy. Once the community starts hording your energy beyond what is healthful for you, then your efforts become wormy and of not constructive use to the community. This may sound like a big leap, but if you think about it it will make sense. Better for some things not to get done, than let the hording of your manna energy burn you out. Honest.

Overdue

2006-03-20T21:15:00.001-08:00

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Holy Reb Maggid Yitzhak, I haven't found the words yet to thank you for your mentorship and your smicha. You are a great awesome holy teacher who guided me with strength and compassion. Blessings to you Reb Maggid, my thanks are coming.

Spiritual Artist Shoshonnah Brombacher, please support her work

Speaking of Epihanal Moments

2006-03-20T19:09:00.000-08:00

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Wow. I had a great breakthrough a few months ago.

I was having real problems reconciling my hasidic spiritual life with the structure of my everyday world. I needed the structure of my life to be in alignment with my spiritual path. In Brooklyn, this would be easy, I'd just immerse myself in community, and that would take care of it. In Eugene, it's not so easy. And if you're a maggid working in liberal communities, it's even harder.

It can be done though. Reb (Yitzhak H.H.) gave me the breakthrough I needed. We were discussing what a good daily schedule would look like for me. I recalled reading an anecdote in Reb Maggid Yitzhak Buxbaum's book on the Holy Baal Shem Tov, about the Besct's daily schedule and decided to apply it. I told Reb, "I need to daven and study and teach." And then we laid out a schedule to that end, including saving most of the morning to daven and study. I really have to give him credit. Most people would have looked at that schedule and told me to go out and get a job. Seriously. But Reb looked at my schedule and made sure I included time to eat, and daven maariv, and have social time. Such a great moment of validation. Since then I've been implementing "the schedule" piece by piece (and contrary to it's ominous sounding name, the schedule actually has huge amounts of flexibility in it--anarchist, remember?) So far it's working out great. My daily meditations are coming back online. The cycles of my cycles of my cycles are all turning in the way that they should, or getting there.

So that was the breakthrough: The structure of my life and my spiritual path need to be in alignment. Sounds simple, eh? Try it!

Practice makes Epiphany

2006-03-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

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Yesterday while playing the guitar I discovered a new way to play an F. It was so totally excellent a moment, you have no idea. I've never really been able to play an F with consistency-- my rinky dink pinkies just don't cooperate on that one. So to finally work out that F was a moment of real joy for me. Once I got humming along, working it in to the other chord progressions-- suddenly all of those broken chords with missing F's became whole. Bits and pieces I'd been working on for years suddenly made sense and in one moment my musical skills took a giant leap forward.

Beautiful.

My prayer life is like this. Sometimes I will struggle and struggle with something, seemingly to no end and then all of a sudden I get it and everything falls into place. Often when I'm in a struggling place I try to remind myself that it's the daily practice, the daily to and fro, the wrestling that brings about those moments of epiphany.

Practice Works.

I've decided to apply to Aleph's Rabbinic Program. I figure six years of wrestling with rabbinical school should be fertile ground for epiphanal moments. So again, to all my friends and supporters who have been pushing and prodding-- okay, okay, I get it. I get it. I really do, I get it.

Patience and Faith.

Thanks to Bar Mitzvah Eli Siegle for his great d'var torah presentation in which he stated that holy space is a place which cultivates in us patience and faith. In his case the holy space in question was Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. In my case the holy space is in my heart. Same thing, eh?

Holy of Holies.

I have a lot of work to do this year in my inner holy of holies, the inside of my inside of my inside. I'm concentrating my inner work for a while on forgiveness, because that's where I think it's at. I just finished telling a class that we're constantly working on overlapping meditations on forgiveness. That forgiveness is central to our Jewish being. But you know, it's not so simple. Who are we forgiving? Ourselves? G-d? Others? It's quite complicated, actually. Somehow though, I think it's not complicated at all, that it's really quite simple, if only we'd see. And now I do see, and it is simple after all.

For Now.

I was reading in a commentary on the haftarot about Elijah and the prophetical schools. Prophetical Schools? Why did this not ever leap out at me before? It's so astonishing a concept, prophetical schools. Apparently there were so many prophetical students, they had to split them up into smaller bands of fifty for reasons of safety. Since when is fifty a small number of prophets? Wow! It really makes you think, eh?

Red and Gold.

What is the significance of the juxtaposition of the golden calf and the red hefer? Especially when Shabbat Parah and Ki Tisa fall on the same Shabbos? I know someone out there has the answer to this one. There has to be something, it's too tempting a topic for exploration for there not to be.

Again.

I taught a class last week on the siddur and I loved it. I had such a great time, I can't wait to do it again. Given the opportunity to teach with regularity, I think I could really develop a fluid style for this kind of class. Thanks to my friends in Eugene for bringing me along. Let's do it again sometime.

Blessings to you all!

Back into Blogging

2006-03-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

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Shalom Shalom!!

Here I am back in the world of blogging-- hopefully to stay! My introduction to blogging back in the fall was a little rough around the edges... My first blog conversation ever necessitated a public defense of my character! Not to mention being labled an anarchist!! (okay, so maybe I am just a wee bit anarchistic-- good call Yoel)

Three things, though, did bother me about blogging and it's for these reasons that I've not been around online since then. Here they are:

1) Anonymous slander. I know the internet is a free universe, but in the world of Jewish Blogging, I expect people to refrain from making anonymous abusive postings. It was so very hurtful to have friends, family, and students "google" me only to have the first three listings that showed up be abusive accusations against me. How was I supposed to defend myself against anonymity? Like the words we speak from our lips, our internet words exist in the universe forever in a way that we cannot take back and so require an extra measure of surety before we lash out ranting into the blogosphere.

2) Nouns verses Verbs. Kuddos to you, Reb David Cooper for G-d being a verb! I live my life IN PROCESS. A position I take today may be a point of humbling tomorrow-- and I'm just fine with that! Unfortunately, people read blogs and figure what you say today is ALWAYS where you're at. So I'm loathe to speak deep thoughts into the blogosphere for fear that comments will be isolated out of context and process and used to slander me (see comment 1 above)

3) Branding of Blog Signatures. It started to become a concern of mine that my blog signature "maggidsarah" was becoming a true signature or "brand" name. I'm not sure exactly why that bothered me, or where I sit with it now, but it's something I've been struggling with for months, to no end.

Having said all of that, I'm jumping back into the blog world anyway. Thanks to all of my friends who have been patiently waiting and prodding since October!!

Blessings to you all for a beautiful Spring.

Friend Ben

2006-03-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

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Friend Ben-- here's a link to his music at myspace.com:
Ben's Music

Trees for Tibor Eichenbaum Z'l

2006-03-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

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Maggiding the Interfaith Service

2006-03-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

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Smicha

2006-03-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

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Hungarian Jewry Rocks!

2005-10-19T23:35:00.000-07:00

This article taken in it's entirety from Jewschool

Habitus: Arthur Koestler in Budapest
Posted by Joshua | יום רביעי, אוקטובר 19, 2005 | Link

Christopher Hitchens reflects on anti-Communist writer Arthur Koestler and his milieu in Slate.

"There probably is a monograph by somebody, somewhere, on the single subject of Hungarian Jewry in the 20th century, from men of letters to political dissidents to economists to nuclear physicists. Think of the context: the cafe society of the twin cities of Buda and Pest, the end of Austro-Hungary, the cockpit of Bolshevism and fascism, the most ghastly closing scenes of the Final Solution and the first armed revolution against Stalin, all of this transmitted by a diaspora of the brilliant—and much of it mediated though a language that is almost impossible for an outsider to master."

Read the premier issue Habitus Magazine, out this spring, for a far-reaching, multi-voiced meditation on Budapest, with input from some of Hungary's leading Jewish and non-Jewish writers.

From the editor's desk of Habitus.

Best High Holiday Pic (so far)

2005-10-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

Found this goodie on Judapest, a Hungarian Jewish Blog. Check out their site, see what the Yidden in Budapest are up to, this is good stuff.

Not too badly slammed, it turns out...

2005-09-27T16:45:00.000-07:00

9/30
Update: Actually, the discussion is getting fairly interesting, stay tuned!

9/27
Well, that whole Blog comment string turned out well enough in the end. It's worth checking out, especially as one example of how a blog discussion unfolds.
Here's the link:

comments, Netivat Sofrut

Otherwise, go to Soferet.blogspot.com
August 2005 Archives
What Sort of Animal.......?
Comments

Blessings!

My first Web Slam!

2005-09-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

WoW! I took a real beating on the web ysterday-- my first slam on the internet! Some people just don't give you a chance, you know? They so want to be angry, that they look for situations to be angry about. Anyway, I tried linking the comment string here:

comments, Netivot Sofrut

Blessings!

Current Events, Ethiopian Jewry

2005-09-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Found recently in HaAretz:

Falashmura pledge to renew hunger strike demanding airlift
By DPA

"ADDIS ABABA - Members of the Falashmura community in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia complained Friday that police had prevented them from continuing a hunger strike to press their demand that they be taken to Israel.

Members of the Falashmura community, whose ancestors converted from Judaism to Christianity, had been on hunger strike for three days to publicize a promise they claim Israel made to airlift them to the Holy Land when police told them to disperse."

I remember back in the 80's when it was so cool to support the Falashmura.

SAVE ETHIOPIAN JEWRY! (NOW!)

Well, I'm not sure that our collective conscience lived up to the sentiment of those times. Maybe it's time for the Falashmura to come in Vogue again. I'm wondering what the haftarah for YK has to say about all of that? Thanks R.M. for re-introducing that text to me.

Blessings, Shanah tova!

2005-09-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Published on Sunday, September 25, 2005 by The Independent/UK

US Forced to Import Bullets from Israel as Troops Use 250,000 for Every Rebel Killed

There's something obscene about this statement.

Actually, many somethings.

Dangers of Catsitting!

2005-09-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

60. Other Sources of Impurity - She'ar Avos ha-Tumos

The corpse or severed limb of an animal make a person who moves or touches
it or a utensil that touches it impure, as it says "[One who touches their
corpses shall be impure until evening...]

Gevalt!! Today I found myself doing CPR on a chipmunk. Er... that's right, mouth to nose resucitation and everything. It died, of course. Before you think this maneuver totally absurd on my part, I successfully resucitated the cat's previous victim two days earlier (cardiac massage only, no nose kisses that time). Clearly, Elijah I am not, but you know, often the little beasts are basically unharmed and die from shock, so it is possible sometimes to revive them.

Good thing I'm going to the Mikveh tomorrow!!

My new favorite artist

2005-09-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

My new favorite artist, Shoshannah Brombacher. This piece is titled "The Berdichever and the Shechinah." Please support her work-- not only is she an awesome artist, she is a beautiful soul as well. Here is a link to her art on the web:

Shoshannah B. portfolio

Highlight from last year

2005-09-07T01:04:00.000-07:00

As we approach the new year, here's a great highpoint from last year's B'nai Mitzvah season-- Student Josh Melander is totally at ease with the Torah. Josh recently moved to Portland, I wonder how he's doing? Good luck Josh! Don't forget your hippie roots!

Sukkot Workshop

2005-09-05T18:06:00.000-07:00

One workshop that I began developing for next year, but that seems
relevant right now, is a Sukkot class/workshop which explores the Sukkah
as an exercise in remembering our state of being refugees. What does it
mean to be a refugee? How would we build a temporary shelter if we were
forced to leave our homes and everything we own and had to make do with
what we could find or salvage? What are some alternative building
techniques for building Sukkot that reflect this aspect of our very
human history? How does Sukkot, as a festival, help us understand the
experience of the millions of refugees around the world (and here at
home)? And how, really, does this relate to our lives? What does Torah
teach us about all of this?

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS?

2005-08-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

My friend Gary and I playing music at the 2003 Aleph Kallah. This is the best part of maggiding, right here, these moments.
Baruch HaSh-m!

The Blog Begins

2005-08-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today is the 14th of Av, a few hours before shabbos. I have recently discovered the blogs of some of my friends and peers, and have decided that as a maggid, clearly I must have a blog! I don't know what this will become, but at least it is starting, here.

Gut Shabbos, Gut Yontif!