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December 16 - December 30, 2005 local
Stories
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Public
Chanukah Displays Meet Resistance Ben
Harris When the first candle of a giant Chanukah menorah is illuminated at the Peabody City Hall Dec. 25, not everybody will be celebrating the beginning of the eight-day festival of lights. The Peabody Clergy and Ministerial Association (PCMA), an interfaith group of rabbis and Catholic and Protestant leaders, lodged a complaint with the mayor, arguing that a menorah is a religious symbol and has no place on public property. A compromise was reached under which the menorah could remain, provided no lighting ceremony took place and the menorah was clearly marked as privately owned. Rabbi David Klatzker, of Temple Ner Tamid in Peabody, worked out the compromise with Rabbi Nechemia Schusterman, rabbi of the Chabad of Peabody, who placed the original request to display the menorah at City Hall. “I’m not entirely happy,” said Klatzker. “I’d rather see no menorah there at all. Given the reality of the situation, and given the fact that apparently it is legal to have a menorah at City Hall, at least we’ve reached a compromise here.” The placement of public menorahs by Chabad rabbis has stirred controversy around the state this year, with rabbis in Shrewsbury and Wellesley facing opposition to their displays, according to a recent report in the Boston Jewish Advocate. Public menorahs are motivated in part by the mitzvah of pirsumei nisa, or ‘publicizing the miracle’, the idea that Jews are obligated to spread widely the message of the Chanukah miracle. While many fulfill that obligation by placing their menorahs in windows or in front of their homes, Chabad rabbis around the world have taken the tradition to another level, placing oversized menorahs in public squares, shopping centers, and even on the roofs of cars. “The concept of pirsumei nisa means the world should learn about the miracle,” said Schusterman. “One way to do that is a big splashy menorah in a big splashy place.” But many rabbis say that place should be limited to the private sphere, rather than on a town green or at City Hall where, out of concern for separation of church and state, all religious symbols — whether Christmas trees or menorahs — should be banished. “I
don’t believe there should be any religious rites conducted on city
hall property,” said Rabbi Howard Kosovske, rabbi of Temple Beth
Shalom in Peabody and a member of the PCMA. Kosovske believes that City
Hall is not “an appropriate place” for religious expression,
which should be properly confined to the synagogue or the home. Many rabbis dispute that characterization and continue to oppose menorahs on public property, often for non-legal reasons. “I find that people putting a menorah on public property equates the menorah with the Christmas tree,” said Rabbi David Meyer of Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead. “You run the risk of diminishing the meaning and the value of the Chanukah menorah.” Meyer added that he finds “abhorrent” the practice of conflating Christmas and Chanukah into what some have dubbed “Chrismmukkah.” Rabbi Klatzker agrees. “My major fear was that there would be a cheapening of the symbol, which to me is a religious symbol,” he said. “For me to see a menorah at City Hall surrounded by a Christmas tree and tinsel and what not, is really demeaning to my Jewish symbols. The only way to keep my Jewish symbol holy is to keep it on private grounds.” Schusterman also considers the menorah a religious symbol, but he gives less weight to the church-state concerns. “My
objective is to get the menorah in a very visible public setting,”
said Schusterman. “While the menorah is a religious symbol in my
heart, there are others who have established it to mean something beyond
that.” In the Merrimack Valley, Chabad Rabbi Asher Bronstein has plans to place a menorah at the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem, NH, on the commons in North Andover, as well as in front of his own Chabad House. Like his Chabad colleagues, Bronstein feels the church-state issue has been settled and he doesn’t see much harm in the menorah. “There’s so much shmutz going on in the world, so much tsuris in the world,” says Bronstein, that by comparison the placing of a menorah seems insignificant. “Is that a crime? I don’t think so. It will bring a little bit of light. A little bit of light will push away lots of darkness.” The menorah may not be a crime, but Bronstein’s colleague, Rabbi Robert Goldstein of Temple Emanuel in Andover, worries about the blowback effect on Jewish students in public schools. “I think when there is a menorah in a public place … it somehow gives permission for much more Christmas activity in public schools,” says Goldstein. “The constituency I represent, and the overwhelming number of Jews in my congregation and in America, are not in day schools. And I think it’s very important that they not feel excluded at this time of the year.” Elena Rasner, a French and Russian teacher at Masconomet Regional High School in Topsfield, thinks Goldstein has it backwards. “My personal opinion [is] the more you prohibit, the more difficult things become,” she says. Rasner feels Jews should have the right to make public declarations of their faith just like Christians, and that the proliferation of religious symbols empowers her to resist activities which she opposes, like school prayer. “If we had this prohibition [on public menorahs], it would be much more difficult for me to express my free will to support my faith,” she says. “I believe that it gives me the right not to teach, let’s say, French religious songs.” Any infringement on the church-state division, she says, is an “extremely minor thing.” JRC Makes Jazz Singer’s Dream Come True Susan
Jacobs SALEM — Ruth Brown arrived at the Hawthorne Hotel in a sleek white limousine and was transported by wheelchair to the Grand Ballroom, where a twinkling sign announced “Welcome to Ruth’s Special Dream Come True.” Inside
the stately ballroom, a standing-room only crowd of 200 guests patiently
waited for her to take the stage. When
she finally took the stage, five decades after her last professional tour,
the Boston native appeared quite comfortable in the limelight —
cradling the microphone in her manicured fingers and smiling at the crowd.
The elegant gala, which was free and open to the public, was hosted by the Jewish Rehabilitation Center, where Brown has been a resident for over a year. The
JRC put the event together as part of its Dream Program. This innovative
program is associated with Second Wind Dreams, whose mission is to enhance
the quality of life for seniors living in elder care communities. Some of the wishes were simple for JRC Dream Committee coordinators Roberta Graffam and Ina Hoffman to fulfill: a television with a remote, a computer, a family portrait. Others
proved more challenging. One woman dreamed of a shopping spree at Filene’s
Basement, which the JRC pulled off with a flourish last week. A bedridden
woman who wished to hear the Chopin music she remembered from her childhood
was delighted when a pianist recently gave her a private concert in her
room. Local sponsors who donated products or services to help make Ruth’s dream a reality included the Hawthorne Hotel, Infinity Boutique, The Party Specialist, My Florist, Cassidy’s Limousine Service and Gerry Barrett and the Special Edition Swing Orchestra. Brown rehearsed only once prior to the actual performance. Her repertoire included 10 classics such as “Hello Dolly,” “Satin Doll” and “Young at Heart,” which she sang from her wheelchair, snapping her fingers with the music. Although her late husband Harold could not be with her, four generations of her family were present to support her, including son Irwin who lives on the South Shore, and grandson Kenneth, who came down with his son Matthew from New Hampshire. “I live 45 miles away in South Easton, and I drive up here two to three times per week to visit her,” says Irwin. “It would certainly be more convenient to have her near me on the South Shore, but the JRC is fantastic. Their incredible staff made this whole thing happen.” “It is not true that our dreams disappear as we age,” say Dream Program coordinators Graffam and Hoffman. “They may be a little more difficult to achieve, but with the assistance of loved ones, committed professionals and the community, dreams will come true.” Jewish
Federation to Sell Downtown Salem Offices Ben
Harris SALEM — At its November meeting, the board of directors of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore decided to proceed with the sale of the Federation building on Front Street in Salem. The three-floor, 10,000 square-foot building in downtown Salem — home to both Federation and Jewish Family Services — was purchased seven years ago for $621,580. Another $92,000 was spent on office improvements in 2001. Federation is asking $1.45 million for the property that was put before a closed bid process beginning Dec. 13. Federation director Merritt Mulman says that the building is inadequate to the organization’s needs and would require several hundred thousand dollars of improvements to bring it up to code. Mulman cited the lack of parking spaces, the need to upgrade windows and sprinkler systems, and the building’s non-compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“It’s a shandeh.”), the rectification of which could cost more than $500,000. “The building needs a lot of upfit for it to be truly workable for us,” said Mulman. “The question is, is this where we want to place a half a million dollars?” Prior
to occupying its current home on Front Street, the Federation worked out
of offices at the Jewish Community Center in Marblehead. Neil Cooper,
the Federation director at the time, described those quarters as “impossible.”
Along with Federation president Shepherd Remis, Cooper raised enough money for a down payment on the Front Street property. The building was purchased in June 1998. The departure, in May 2004, of an attorney who had leased space in the building prompted the board to consider how best to use the extra space. According to Mulman, a subsequent investigation determined that the cost of upgrading the building was prohibitive. Mulman says there had been tremendous interest in the property even before the board decided to sell. Federation would prefer to find a buyer directly, but Mulman says that if no suitable bids are made in the closed process, the property will be formally listed by a realtor. With the sale of the property, Federation will take up temporary quarters, most likely around the corner at Lafayette Plaza. Mulman says the organization will probably remain there 2-3 years until it can be determined whether the Federation should seek to purchase another property or move towards a “campus-style facility” that would include other community agencies. “We want to make sure that whatever decision we make is in the best interest of the community and not just the Federation,” said Mulman. Jazz Project Bridges Divergent Communities Susan
Jacobs MARBLEHEAD — “To the children and parents of KIPP Academy, Marblehead might as well be Romania,” remarks musician/composer Mike Palter. In other words, KIPP Academy, a charter elementary school in the ethnically diverse urban community of Lynn, and the predominantly white and suburban Marblehead, are worlds apart. To
help bridge that gap, Palter created a performance piece called “Jazz
is a Rainbow,” in collaboration with his wife, Lynne Jackson, and
artistic director Robb Dimmick. “Jazz, our national music, is a wonderful, joyful tool with which we may work to forge a few, modest bridges,” says Palter, who with Jackson wrote the script and arranged the music. “The project represents one of the few steps at creating communication between the disparate communities of Lynn, Marblehead and Swampscott, where there are enormous racial, religious, national and class differences. This is one of the reasons I decided that a show at Cohen Hillel was crucial to this project.” For Cohen Hillel Academy, the project was a first — attracting a multigenerational, racially-integrated audience. Support also came from Temple Emanu-El in Marblehead and several local Jewish philanthropists. “From a Jewish perspective, it is not lost to us — or to our audiences — that this script has been created, the words written and the music selected, by Jews,” admits Palter. “We are Jews dealing with very different sorts of people. You would be amazed at how much our casts do not know about us... and about how much we do not know about them.” In addition to the Cohen Hillel show, “Jazz is a Rainbow” was performed three times at KIPP Academy to enthusiastic audiences. Organizers have received inquiries to stage the show again both locally and as far away as in Oakland, CA. Palter and Jackson, who reside in Manchester-by-the-Sea, are no strangers to social projects. “We have been involved with children’s causes for many years. The most public was with UNICEF writing the ‘We Dream A Brighter Day’ anthem for the organization, which we performed on many occasions at the United Nations,” says Palter.
Their song “Lullaby” was used to raise money for medicines and prosthetic limbs for war-injured children in Central America, and they’ve worked with Special Friends, an organization devoted to challenged teens and adults on Cape Ann. With “Jazz is a Rainbow,” Palter and Jackson wanted to reach out to the African American community. “For many years, Lynne and I have been concerned about the disappearance of great music from our culture and, more specifically, from the consciousness of our children. Even African American youth remain ignorant of jazz, the art form created by their ancestors,” explains Palter. Through their old friend David Gass, they applied for and received a $1,500 grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Josh Zoia, principal of KIPP Academy, learned of the project from Gass. Since KIPP serves a diverse student body, it seemed like a good match. Auditions
were held, and nine KIPP students were selected to participate. Teacher/performer
Doreen Murray was chosen as the storyteller, since the concept included
an adult passing on the stories, songs and myths of the past. With the
help of artistic director Robb Dimmick, the entire show came together
in less than two weeks. “I used to explain that we do not seek to change the world,” said Palter. “But this explanation deceives. We do, in fact, aim to achieve just that. Whether it is through our anthems, our songs written for the children of the Middle East in Hebrew, English or Arabic, or our roles as parents, our aim is to contribute something positive to this often unfair and violent world. Our aim is very modest: One child at a time. One school. One community.” Project
Solel Update: Ben
Harris
Leaders of Project Solel, the community’s long-term strategic planning process, are now formulating a plan of action to address the six areas where they believe the North Shore community most needs improvement. The recommendations will be presented to the community for feedback and “validation” in January and February 2006. The priority areas — which include the formation of a Jewish communal identity, support for lifelong Jewish education, creation of opportunities for social interaction, and the establishment of a leadership and governance structure (see box) — are the product of several months of data collection overseen by Solel’s consultant, Mark Friedman, president of RealTime Strategy. (Friedman is also the president of Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott.) The data, collected through focus groups, written requests, and interviews with various constituencies, demonstrated that there is an absence of communal identity on the North Shore, a sense that the lay and professional leaderships needs improvement, and a lack of standards of acceptable behavior. It further showed that the community is not Jewishly knowledgeable, not accepting of ideas emanating from other communities, and not inspired by synagogue services. On the positive side, the data showed general agreement that the community possesses the necessary infrastructure, comes together well in crisis, and possesses certain notable programs for youth, including the popular Youth to Israel (Y2I) program and USY youth programs. Interviewees also cited nondenominational events like the Jewish Film Festival and the Great Shofar Blowout as positives for the community. “The steering committee will develop from this data a series of recommendations which will then, through a public process, be validated and, if necessary, be revised or modified,” said Friedman, in a written response to an inquiry by the Journal. “That process will involve input from throughout the community.” Friedman said that once the recommendations are fully developed, they will be presented to the community through various channels, including public forums and the Jewish Journal. “Following a review of the input from the validation process, the recommendations will be revised (if necessary) and a broad-based community education effort on the plan, and its underlying rationale, will occur,” said Friedman. “Then implementation will begin.” Funded and managed by the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, Solel was begun this fall in effort “to ensure the previous strength of our Jewish community continues well into the future,” said Solel steering committee chairperson Jerry Somers, also in a written reply. The project was motivated, according to Somers, by the decline in several “key indicators” for the community, including the Federation campaign, synagogue membership and day school enrollment, and the increased difficulty in recruiting leaders and volunteers. Those declines convinced the Federation board that a serious community planning effort was necessary. “As
with most successful enterprises, having a clear plan or path to follow
— with identifiable and measurable objectives — is necessary,”
said Somers. “A community — our community — is no different,
and a community-wide strategic plan will, we believe, provide the path.
Thus, the name of the project is Solel, meaning pathfinder.” Somers said Friedman was unanimously chosen from a field of four “nationally known” consultants “based on his understanding of the process and his clear and demonstrated success in achieving strategic plan implementation — for making it happen.” Friedman is a strategic planning consultant with more than 15 years of experience who has provided services to a number of Fortune 500 companies. Somers emphasizes that Solel is principally about creating a brighter future for the North Shore community by meeting the needs as expressed in the data collection process. “It is important that we not become fully focused on what exists, but that we rather look beyond the horizon as to what our needs are and how we meet them in the future,” said Somers. “Indeed, it is a communal responsibility that we do so.” Once the input from the validation process is reviewed, the recommendations will be revised and implementation will begin. Shirat Hayam Hires Russell Finer as Executive Director Jared
Pliner
“It took a little bit of thinking to leave a place after twenty-something years,” said Finer. “But it was an exciting thought to join something in its infancy and help it grow.” With deep roots in the Springfield area, the move was naturally difficult for Finer and his wife, Pamela, who served for 13 years as director of Rachel’s Table, an organization providing food to the hungry and homeless of Worcester. The move does put the Finers closer to their children. Their daughter Rachel, 24, works in graduate education at Simmons College in Boston, while their son Daniel, 22, is in his senior year at Northeastern University. A Massachusetts native, Finer has been involved in youth sports, Boy Scouts, and community service projects throughout his life. Growing up in Everett, he was heavily involved in his local congregation, Tifereth Israel, and the local chapter of B’nai Brith, of which he was president. A graduate of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Finer will oversee operating systems for the congregation. He wants to be seen as the “go-to guy” and anticipates success for the future of Shirat Hayam, the product of a recent merger between two Swampscott temples. “I look forward to working with the board and officers, and working with and for the members of the congregation, creating a presence on the North Shore and a standard of excellence,” said Finer. The Finers arrived in the community on Nov. 10, and Finer officially began his duties on Nov. 14. JFS
to Provide Heating Oil For Needy Families This Winter Ben
Harris SALEM — Jewish Family Service of the North Shore has announced the formation of the Stanley D. Black Oil Assistance Program, which will provide home heating oil this winter for local families in need. The
program was made possible due to the donation of 2,750 gallons of heating
oil by Peter Lappin. Lappin said he was “honored” that the program was named in memory of Stanley Black, the philanthropist and entrepreneur who died last month. “I’m honored that it’s in Stanley’s name,” Lappin told the Journal. “I’m very sad and I will miss him greatly. This will make me think about him and all the things he taught me.” The heating oil donation will buttress JFS’ existing emergency fund, which provides resources to families that suddenly find themselves unable to pay for basic necessities like housing or health care. “In essence, this is adding money to the pool to help families because we can directly give them fuel that Peter’s paying for,” said JFS director Jon Firger. “It’s a real mitzvah he’s doing.” Firger says families have been expressing concern this fall about rising fuel prices and their ability to heat their homes this winter. Instead of providing money to pay for oil, Lappin’s donation will make it possible for JFS to supply qualifying families with a tank of heating fuel. “I think that two or three years ago, many people in our community were unaware that there were Jewish families that were in financial trouble,” said Firger. “We’ve done a campaign twice as a community for an emergency fund and let people know. I think the publicity around the community campaign has made more people aware that this is a real issue on the North Shore.” Iranian
Threat Surfaces as Hot Issue in Israeli Elections Leslie
Susser JERUSALEM (JTA) — Iran may be just months away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb, and a fierce debate is raging in Israel over how to react. The
critical date could come in March, when a series of developments will
converge: Both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office and Israeli defense officials dismissed the Sunday Times story as a “baseless fabrication.” At the same time, Sharon says Israel will not be able to tolerate a nuclear Iran and that the Jewish state has the capability to act to prevent it. “We have the ability to deal with this and we are making all the preparations to be ready for such a situation,” he declared in an early December news conference. But
does Israel really have a military option against the Iranian nuclear
threat? And can it go it alone, as it did against Iraq’s Osirak
nuclear reactor in 1981? Most leading Israeli pundits are skeptical. And
some fear election rhetoric could compromise Israeli policy, hurt Israel’s
international standing and generally prove counterproductive.
Indeed, Netanyahu seemed to play into Sharon’s hands by declaring that if he became prime minister, he would bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities the way Israel had bombed the Iraqi reactor under Menachem Begin. This drew a sharp response from the daily Ha’aretz. “Whoever publicly recommends an Israeli military option sins doubly. He incites the Israeli public unnecessarily; presents Israel as pushing the U.S. into a major new war; drags this sensitive subject into the overheated rhetoric of an election campaign; and invites Iranian threats and various anti-Israel reactions,” Ha’aretz wrote in an editorial. Official Israeli policy remains deliberately vague. On the one hand, Israeli officials insist that for now the policy is to help mobilize international pressure on Teheran, but they refuse to rule out a future Israeli military strike. “At the moment, in the current phase, the focus is in the sphere of international diplomacy,” Amos Gilead, head of the Defense Ministry’s strategic policy team, explained on Israel TV. But then, commenting on the Sunday Times story, he said he denied “the specifics” of the report, including the timetables and the Israeli intelligence operation in northern Iraq. But, he added, “it’s impossible to say in advance that all the options will be ruled out.” Leading Israeli pundits, however, doubt whether Israel really has a military option. Writing in the Ma’ariv newspaper, analyst Ben Caspit pointed out the chief difference between Iraq in 1981 and Iran today: Whereas Iraq’s nuclear capacity was concentrated in one weakly guarded reactor, Iran’s fuel enrichment program is via centrifuges housed in several well-protected sites across the huge country. “To attack, we would need a lot of intelligence, multiple strikes, the ability to hover over Iran for long periods and in large numbers, lots of luck, lots of bunker-busting bombs, and with all that, the chances of success would be slight,” Caspit wrote. The former commander of the Israeli air force, reserve Maj. Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliyahu, said that if there is an attack some time in the future, Israel would only be part of a larger force — partly because the job is just too big for Israel to handle alone. There would be too many targets, each target would need several fighter-bombers, protected by fighters, accompanied by rescue planes to pick up crew members who might be shot down. “Maybe,” Ben-Eliyahu said, “there will be a joint decision for joint action one day, involving countries like the U.S., Britain, Germany and Turkey.” Reuven Pedatzur, a strategist at the Netanya Academic College, said he doubts that any such joint action will ever materialize. Nor is it likely that Israel or any of the other players will take action to stop Iran alone. “Iran may well come to possess nuclear arms,” he said. “And if that happens, Israel will have to learn to live with the Iranian threat and to neutralize it by means of credible deterrence.” Israel’s deterrent capacity is impressive. Its Arrow anti-missile defense system is the most advanced of its kind in the world. Israel, according to foreign sources, also has an impressive second-strike capability: F-15 fighter bombers that can reach Iran without refueling, Dolphin submarines that can launch nuclear weapons from the sea and long-range missiles of it own. Theoretically, an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel could be blocked by the Arrow system, while an Israeli second strike could destroy Iran. That equation, strategists like Pedatzur believe, should be enough to deter Ahmadinejad and the ayatollahs who effectively rule Iran, even if they do finally manage to produce a bomb. Conservative
Movement Wrestles With Molly
Shaffer
BOSTON — Leaders of the Conservative movement gathered for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism’s International Biennial meeting at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel Dec. 4-9. With Ismar Schorsch stepping down as Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and with increasing numbers of lay people leaving the movement for Reform and Orthodox synagogues, the conventioneers discussed a new direction for a movement whose hallmark seems to be its multitude of voices. These divergent views were evident in different strategies for reform proposed by the convention organizers and its keynote speaker, Rabbi Neil Gillman. While the official policy adopted at the convention looked outward toward converting the spouses and families of intermarried Jews, Gillman, professor of Jewish Philosophy at the movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary, urged rabbis to look inward and examine their core teachings. “We must abandon the claim we are a halachic movement,” Gillman said. “This claim has failed to engage our people.” Proposing that halacha, Jewish law, is constantly changing in response to aggada, cultural evolution, Gillman suggested that this ambiguity and tension is at the heart of the movement and the key to its renewal. It is also a result of the movement’s position in the middle of the Jewish theological spectrum, between Reform on the left and Orthodoxy on the right. “Polar
positions are clear; centrist positions are complicated,” said Gillman.
“Our approach to halacha is a sublime example of living with tension.
The hallmarks of our belief are relativity, uncertainty and tension.” “We
have to teach kids that tension and uncertainty is good,” he said.
“Are we prepared to do this?” Rabbi Amy Eilberg, the first woman ordained by the Conservative movement 20 years ago, agreed with Gillman’s proposal to embrace ambiguity, but admitted, “it’s a message many in the movement do not want to hear.” Layleaders seemed less inclined towards introspection when they introduced the movement’s new outreach initiative, Edud, the next day. As explained by Rabbi Moshe Edelman of the USCJ, Edud aims to be “an encouraging and passionate outreach movement directed at intermarried families.” USCJ leaders hope the new initiative will teach intermarried families of the “joys of being Jewish,” and will encourage them not just to convert, but also to be educated and committed Jews. Some believe encouraging conversion is a departure from Judaism’s long-standing aversion to proselytizing. But with their congregations shrinking every year, the Conservative movement’s leaders are grappling with what is permissible under rabbinic law. In contrast, Gillman questioned Conservative Judaism’s ultimate commitment to rabbinic law. “How many laypeople care about the decisions of the law committee?” he asked, referring to the movement body that makes decisions concerning Jewish law. The law committee, as Edelman explains, wants members of the congregations to be “more knowledgeable and halachically observant.” He and others hope that Conservative Jews will think in terms of “going to shul on Shabbat, rather than staying home on a Saturday morning.” With that goal in mind, he and his colleagues have spent more than a dozen years developing leadership programs for the movement’s leaders and layleaders, so they “will know and observe the mitzvot” and pass on to the rest of the congregation. In a closing-day speech, Ismar Schorsch appeared to take issue with Gillman’s formulation, hotly defending the Conservative movement’s traditional emphasis on emet and emunah, or truth and faith, as unambiguous, and urged the movement not to change its positioning. “We are the only Jewish group that has the courage to struggle with the polarities of emet and emunah, he said, contrasting that stance with “our friends to the left, who lack emunah” and “our friends to the right who are threatened by emet.” Giving up either polarity means, he said, “we cease being Conservative Jews.” While the Conservative movement long has walked a fine line between adhering to halacha and embracing a less traditional approach to Jewish observance, Schorsch — who is retiring this summer after some 20 years at the Seminary’s helm — has often come down on the side of tradition. In 2003, for example, he questioned the Conservative movement’s 1950 decision to allow driving on the Sabbath to encourage synagogue attendance. There was no formal discussion at the convention of the hot-button topic of whether or not to ordain openly gay rabbis, a decision that will be made by the law committee or by the next JTS chancellor, and not by the United Synagogue. But that didn’t stop people from talking about the gay ordination issue. Most said it will and should happen — and, as University of Judaism Rector Rabbi Elliot Dorff put it, “it won’t split the movement” the way the decision to ordain women did. Even two decades after the movement began ordaining women, egalitarianism remains a touchy subject in some corners of Conservative Judaism. “Just because I favor a non-egalitarian, traditional Judaism doesn’t make me immoral and a misogynist,” said Sheldon Serota of Richmond Hill, Ontario. “I was taught the Conservative movement had room under its tent for all forms of Conservative Jewish expression.” Warning
that a closer embrace of liberal values “will cost the movement
congregations,” Rabbi Philip Scheim of Toronto said that “without
halacha we are lost. If we want to be sustained by ambiguity, we have
no future.” “I prefer services in Hebrew and I keep a kosher home, and you don’t find that in Reform,” said David Brotman of Westfield, N.J. Judy Gatchell of Portland, Maine, was one of several women laying tefillin during morning prayers. She said she’d like to see the movement focus on turning congregations into warm communities “There’s a real hunger among people to find communities,” she said. “We tend to stay in our own home and space and not reach out as well as we could.” David Brotman of New Jersey wants to see a greater emphasis on ritual observance, but says that has to come from a place of understanding and education. “I’d like to see the leadership reignite a commitment to religious practice among Conservative Jews of my generation,” he said. Rabbi Dorff agreed. “We have to do much more work on worship,” he said, picking out Hebrew literacy as an area for the movement to focus on. In general, though, the main reason most participants gave for affiliating with Conservative Judaism was familiarity. One elderly Louisiana woman who declined to give her name said she didn’t understand all the fuss about trying to come up with a new definition of Conservative Judaism: It’s just where she feels right. “It’s what I grew up with, and it’s just where I go,” she said firmly. “I think most of the people here feel that way.” Sue Fishkoff of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency contributed to this report. Reform Movement Calls for Push Toward Conversion Sue
Fishkoff HOUSTON (JTA) — The movement that was the first to welcome intermarried families into its synagogues nearly three decades ago now will focus on actively inviting non-Jews to convert to Judaism. That was one of the initiatives announced by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, during his Shabbat sermon at the movement’s 68th biennial here. More than 4,200 Reform Jews from 504 congregations in nine countries, most from the United States, attended the four-day event at the George R. Brown Convention Center, which most recently sheltered thousands of Gulf Coast evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane relief, aid to Darfur refugees and opposition to the Iraq war were other major topics at the conference. The atmosphere at the biennial was decidedly upbeat, reflecting the confidence of what the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey pronounced the country’s largest Jewish stream. Addressing a Shabbat break-fast meeting of Reform rabbis, cantors and educators, sociologist Steven Cohen, a research professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, said the Reform movement is the institution best placed to lead the American Jewish community. “The federation system has abdicated,” he said, “the Conservative movement doesn’t have the wherewithal or the confidence” and the “Orthodox have become sectarian,” Cohen said. No one in the room disagreed with his analysis.
Neither did Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the Hebrew Union College. “There is an affinity between the ideals marking Reform Judaism — inclusion, pluralism, the individual search for meaning — and the sensibilities that mark most non-Orthodox Jews in the United States,” he said. That confidence was evident in Yoffie’s Shabbat sermon, in which he urged Reform congregations to find tangible ways to honor non-Jewish members who are raising Jewish children, while not shying away from suggesting that these non-Jews convert. Noting that fewer non-Jewish spouses are converting to Judaism than the movement expected when it instituted its open-arm policy toward interfaith families in 1978, Yoffie suggested that perhaps “by making non-Jews feel comfortable and accepted in our congregations, we have sent the message that we do not care if they convert.” On the contrary, Yoffie continued, “it is a mitzvah to help a potential Jew become a Jew-by-choice.” In fact, he said, “we owe them an apology” for not inviting them to convert sooner. “Conversion first is always desirable” though not always possible, Yoffie said, “so we have to welcome the non-Jewish spouse and embrace them, to the extent that they are raising Jewish children.” Yoffie’s conversion initiative met with only a smattering of applause from the 3,000 attendees at Saturday morning services, in contrast to the loud approval that greeted his call for honoring non-Jewish parents raising Jewish children, his plea that Reform religious schools not accept students who are also being educated in another faith, and his criticism of the religious right. Afterward, however, people seemed to agree with Yoffie’s approach. Inviting non-Jews to convert “is nothing new, it’s just fallen by the wayside,” said Steven Joachim of Temple Emanu-El in Atlanta, as his lunch companions nodded their agreement. All of them said they should be more open in discussing conversion with their non-Jewish friends in the synagogue. The challenge of balancing openness to the intermarried while encouraging conversion is a major challenge for Reform congregations, movement leaders agree. “On one hand, the Reform movement has to be welcoming, while at the same time conversion has to be presented as an optimal alternative,” said Ellenson, who called Yoffie’s approach “a move toward tradition.” The topic was well represented at the biennial, with half a dozen workshops devoted to outreach and intermarriage. “How many of your congregations have a policy on non-Jewish participation?” asked Rabbi Brian Beal of Temple Beth Torah in Nyack, N.Y., at a session devoted to the role of non-Jews in synagogue life. Just six out of 45 people in the room raised their hands. Several people at that workshop said more than half the members of their congregations were intermarried, and not having clear guidelines led to confusion and hurt. Rabbi
Arnie Gluck of Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, N.J., said his synagogue
prepared a policy booklet outlining what non-Jews may and may not do,
along with the reasoning behind each decision. Having a clearly outlined position can encourage conversion by enhancing the value of becoming a Jew, he added. Some Reform Jews would prefer fewer limits. Debbie Kujovich of Congregation Kol Ami in Vancouver, Wash., said most of her congregation is intermarried, yet her non-Jewish husband is not permitted to hold the Torah during services. “My husband is not going to convert, yet I have to create a good environment for him in the congregation so I can participate,” she said. Young Activists Issue ‘Wake-Up Call’ at Federation Conference Rachel
Pomerance TORONTO (JTA) — Marcella Kanfer Rolnick is the kind of young leader Jewish federations are dying to draw to their graying ranks. Rolnick, 32, is the bright and eloquent daughter of parents steeped in Jewish federation life. Her father, Joe Kanfer, of Akron, Ohio, chaired the 2005 General Assembly, the annual conference of federations, which ended Nov. 15 in Toronto. But at the same conference, his daughter felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck in conversations with several federation professionals. “It was a ‘we know better than you’ attitude,” she told JTA, saying the system tends to focus on sustaining itself rather than considering the wide range of challenges and opportunities for the Jewish people. If a daughter of the system is turned off by it, how can federations hope to attract her peers? The subject of ensuring the participation of the next generation of Jews in their local federations — a long-standing concern of the federation system — was a theme at the recent G.A. Rolnick in fact was given a platform, along with other young activists, at the closing plenary, which highlighted the issue. The centerpiece was a report by Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg, who found that the organized Jewish community is “somewhat out of touch” with young Jews. Among 18- to 25-year olds, Judaism, while a source of pride, is “fairly low on their list of things that they think about,” Greenberg said. These younger Jews have multiple identities and Jewish officials might do well to “stop thinking about them as being Jews,” and reach them through other interests, mentioning that evangelical Christians offer “extreme skateboarding” at some of their forums. The panel of young Jewish activists that followed Greenberg was moderated by Jennifer Meyerhoff, of Baltimore. She called the closing plenary a “loud and reverberating wake-up call” to federations to make themselves relevant to the next generation. Howard Rieger, UJC president and CEO, closed the G.A. by urging federation leaders to “relinquish some control” and give opportunities to young Jews. But several young Jews in attendance said key obstacles block their participation: the federation system’s financial expectations of its activists, its bureaucracy and resistance to welcoming new ideas and young people to decision-making positions. “You
have to respect the $18 donation as much as you respect and go after the
$5,000 donation,” Aaron Bisman, founder of JDub records, a company
that promotes Jewish music, said at the G.A.’s closing session.
“If
what we do doesn’t work for you, then you have to find something
else or you have to start it,” he said. Representatives of both generations say a healthy respect is lacking between them. At the “Rebels With a Cause” session, Edward Spilka, president of Connecticut’s United Jewish Federation of Greater Stamford, New Canaan and Darien, asked the panel: “Is there a way other than spiking my hair for me to authentically connect to you guys?” Karen Lombart, a vice chair of the women’s campaign of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater in Virginia, said younger Jews should realize their knowledge is based on limited experience and that the older generation has learned from the many innovations they themselves employed in younger year. At the same time, she said, the older generation should listen to today’s youth. Meanwhile, several federations are trying new ways to connect to this population. The UJA-Federation of New York has increased its investment in its young leadership division, and reorganized its approach to offer specialized programs by interest and profession rather than a broad-based method, said John Ruskay, its executive vice president and CEO. Steven Rakitt, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, said Jewish federations need to reach out with a diverse, welcoming approach. “It’s not one size fits all,” he said, suggesting that federations need to provide young Jews with fulfilling social, religious and business opportunities, for example. But some see another reality. Barry Shrage, president of Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies, lamented at the G.A. that thousands of young Jews were turned away from Birthright Israel due to insufficient funds. Since last winter, Birthright has turned away more than 20,000 people, and has closed registration early for the last two sessions because they don’t want to disappoint people, given the high level of interest, said Deborah Mohile, director of communications for Birthright. “We would take more if we had the money,” she said. Rolnick says she supports the federation system because it offers a social safety net, but she added, “I have no intention in the future to give my time and my energy the way the current system is designed.” If it fails to embrace change and support young people, “we’re going to go elsewhere.’” Executive Director: North Shore Federation Must Reform Itself When a panel of young Jewish leaders told the delegates assembled at the General Assembly in Toronto last month that the American Jewish community must be more responsive to their needs, the echo was heard on the North Shore. “The issue of engaging the next generation of Jewish leaders is a local issue as well as a national issue,” Federation Executive Director Merritt Mulman told the Journal. “Part of it is that young men and women really are committed to participating in any number of social causes, including Jewish life, but they feel a sense of obligation and entitlement to owning and making the future of the Jewish community reflective of them. They’re just not going to drive their father’s Oldsmobile.” In Mulman’s view, that’s not a bad thing. “These are great men and women,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to figure out the way to harness, encourage, mentor and develop their passions and their commitments.” Doing so, Mulman said, requires relinquishing a measure of control. Echoing the sentiment expressed in Toronto, Mulman argued that young people are hesitant to take leadership roles in organizations that don’t reflect their needs and their interests. “If you don’t have ownership you don’t have investment,” said Mulman. Mulman says that a meeting last year with a group of local Jews that “everyone anticipates” will someday assume leadership roles in the community, revealed three major issues that impact the willingness of younger community members to step up: directed giving, reforming Federation governance, and a redesigned allocation system. Some
proposed changes —Ben Harris
Festivus Shmestivus: Tis’ the Season to Air Your Grievances Paul
Berger As millions of households across America decorate Christmas trees and light Chanukah candles this season, a small but growing number of families will erect an aluminum pole, announce what they hate about each other, and then wrestle the head of the household to the floor. This is Festivus, whose somewhat unorthodox celebrations may sound familiar because they were first broadcast on the television show “Seinfeld.” Since that inauspicious day – Dec. 18, 1997 – when Frank Costanza declared “Festivus is back! I’ll get the pole out of the crawl space,” a growing band of dedicated – and some would say nutty – people have embraced the holiday as their own. With its blend of austerity, irreverence and rebelliousness it is an antidote to the commercialism of the holiday season. Festivus has caught on. But for almost a decade it has been a little-known antidote, quietly marked around Dec. 23 behind closed doors, until an article about Festivus appeared in the New York Times at the end of last year. That article, written by Jewish investigative reporter Allen Salkin, grew into Salkin’s recently published first book “Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us,” a work that has validated the existence of Festivus festivities around the world. As Salkin, 39, found out in his almost yearlong study, Festivus is the perfect alternative holiday for people of all faiths. It requires absolutely no decorations apart from a pole. It requires no gifts. And rather than having to be nice to each other, guests perform a verbal Airing of Grievances before a physical contest in Feats of Strength. It is, says Salkin, a festival quite suited to Jews. “Even though the Costanzas are supposed to be Italians on the show, there are a lot of nationally Jewish aspects to Festivus,” he says. “Is there a Jewish family that can get together without airing its grievances?” Salkin, who lives in New York, first stumbled across Festivus last December when a friend told him he was going to a Festivus party in Ohio. He wondered how many other Festivus parties there were and set out on a quest that brought him into contact with dozens of Festivus devotees, all of whom were unaware that across America (and in Canada and Europe) likeminded people were doing the same. Although Salkin wrote much of the book with his tongue placed firmly in his cheek, it is also a work of journalism, chronicling the anecdotes and rituals of a sub culture that is growing by the month. A company in Milwaukee that makes aluminum railings has started selling “Festivus Poles” online. And a Google search for “Festivus” that returned 100,000 results in April now returns almost 500,000 results. People are not substituting their Christmases and Chanukahs for Festivus, but it does appear to be growing as an addition to the holidays. So what is Festivus? Well, in the “Seinfeld” episode Festivus guests participate in a verbal Airing of Grievances, where they unleash a year’s worth of pent up frustrations that is followed by the physical release of Feats of Strength. On the television show this Feat of Strength was manifested in George unsuccessfully trying to pin his father Frank to the floor. But Salkin discovered other contests that included arm wrestling, leg wrestling, thumb wrestling and head dunking in ice water. The one thing that unites Festivus celebrants, says Salkin, is an unwillingness to be told what to do. “They seem to be the kind of people who wave a flag that says, ‘Don’t Tread on Me,’ who want to have a holiday that’s completely inclusive, that all their friends can come to, and where nobody feels like they don’t belong.” Having been popularized by a predominantly Jewish television show – and with a name that so easily rhymes with Shmestivus – it’s easy to assume that Festivus is a Jewish creation. Yet the word “Festivus” has its roots in ancient Rome. And the holiday as it is now celebrated was born in the household of one Daniel O’Keefe, who instituted the holiday and its rituals in Chappaqua, NY, in the 1960s. One of his sons, also called Daniel, went on to become a writer on Seinfeld where he adapted the family holiday for the Festivus episode. Indeed, it is possible that Festivus, although widely regarded as an antidote to all commercialized holidays, is especially targeted at Christmas. There is the stark metal pole in place of a tree, the Airing of Grievances and the combative Feats of Strength in place of Christmas goodwill. And there is a blatant disregard for presents. Salkin says that whereas Jews may have inflated the importance of Chanukah in order to turn it into a gift-giving equivalent of Christmas, Festivus has taken the opposite route. “So many Jews have to go to gentiles’ houses and to be polite and tell them their tree is beautiful,” says Salkin. “By having the Festivus pole it is kind of a joke that dispels the tension of having to please people.” But, despite appearances, Festivus is not about the negative. As Jerry Stiller, who plays Frank in the television show, says in his foreword to the book: “All I’m saying is, if you celebrate Festivus, you might live a little longer. “You are getting back to the essentials, to the days of gods on mountaintops and howling wolves. Because you are saying the holidays are in the heart, a celebration of being alive with our fellow humans. For that purpose, an aluminum pole will do just as well as anything else — as long as its not stuck in the wrong place.” Paul Berger is a freelance writer in New York City. For more information and to air grievances of your own, visit www.festivusbook.com. New Road Films Portray Jewish Families at Their Best and Worst Susan
Jacobs Road films are a popular genre for filmmakers. In classics such as “Thelma and Louise,” “Easy Rider,” and “Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” characters escape the narrow confines of their world(s) and hit the road seeking excitement and redemption. Two highly original road films made by independent Jewish filmmakers have recently come out, and both are worthy of mention. The
Talent Given Us When
grown daughter Emily visits, Judy impulsively decides that she, Allen,
Emily and older sister Maggie should cram into the car and embark on a
cross country road trip to visit their estranged son/brother Andrew in
Los Angeles. Never mind that Emily just flew in from L.A. Viewers will feel like they have stumbled into Ozzie Osbourne’s reality television show, as the Wagners openly curse and argue with each other with no concern or inhibition. Those who dislike confrontation will wish they had gotten out of the car in Hoboken. By the time they reach Chicago, peacemaker Maggie has had enough of the constant bickering and hops a plane back to New York. The richly developed character piece was written and directed by Andrew Wagner. The Brown University graduate conceived of the film in 1991, but didn’t make it until 2003. “I was 28 when I wrote the first draft of “Talent” and on an intuitive level I understood I was not ready to direct a film about mid-life alienation,” said Wagner. “But in 2002, I found the script in my closet and dusted it off. I was [then] 40 and more than ready to make a film about waking up to a feeling of profound dissatisfaction with one’s life.” Using the $30,000 nest egg he and his wife Chelsea had saved for their first home, Wagner made the 97-minute piece, which has won numerous indie awards and was featured at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The brilliance of the film lies in the realistic dialog, which feels improvised but was actually scripted. The characters deliver the raw and emotional lines with an honest intensity that is almost uncomfortably intimate. The discomfort is aggravated by the seriousness of the film’s themes — divorce, depression, alienation — but the comic elements take much of the edge off. Certain scenes are hilarious — such as Emily leading the entire family in yoga at a highway rest stop, or Judy kvetching about a steak that “tastes like it’s been aging in the refrigerator for 40 days and 40 nights.” The
ending of “The Talent Given Us” is a little too pat, but it
serves as proof — if any more was needed — that in road films,
as in life, the destination is less important than the journey. Ami Ankilewitz was born in Laredo, TX to a Mexican mother and Israeli father. At the age of one, he was diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy, and given six years to live. The documentary “39 Pounds of Love” opens with Ami celebrating his 34th birthday in Israel, where he has lived most of his life. His disease has left him confined to a wheelchair, weighing just 39 pounds, and able to move only one finger on his left hand. The trilingual quadriplegic communicates via a headphone set. Though he may be weak, Ami is definitely not feeble. The outlaw cowboy has a tattoo on one withered arm, and a habit of smoking stogies and drinking whiskey through a straw. He works in Tel Aviv as a 3-D animator. Because of his physical condition, Ami requires fulltime help. Christina, a vibrant 21-year-old Romanian, attentively bathes and dresses him, and even scratches his itches. He falls hopelessly in love with her, but she views the relationship as purely platonic. Emotionally frustrated, he fires her and decides to take a road trip to America. Ami has two goals: to find Dr. Cordova, the San Antonio physician who proclaimed his early death sentence, and to ride a Harley-Davidson. His overprotective Jewish mother Helena frets over his decision to visit America. For Ami, the challenge of the trip is equivalent to an able-bodied person climbing Mount Everest. Determined, Ami convinces his friend (and former caregiver) Asef to accompany him. Dani Menkin, a television reporter and the film’s director, is invited to tag along. They fly to Los Angeles with a seven-member film crew and set off in a specially equipped RV. The trip is physically arduous for Ami, who faints in the Grand Canyon, but he perseveres through the Southwest, pausing in Dallas to surprise his brother Oscar whom he hasn’t seen in years. When Helena shows up unannounced in Dallas in a scene reminiscent of “This is Your Life,” the estranged family reunites, and everyone gets on the bus for the expected encounter with Dr. Cordova. When they arrive in San Antonio, they discover that Cordova has retired and moved to Miami. No problem — what’s another 1,400 miles when you’re making a road film? The
group pushes on to Florida, but not before Ami gets his long-awaited ride
in a red sidecar attached to a Harley. He is currently touring with the film, which is playing at select theaters around the country. The quirky 70-minute piece, which includes some of Ami’s cartoon animation, won Best Documentary in 2005 from the Israeli Academy of Film & Television, and is currently a semi-finalist for the 2005 American Academy Awards. It was featured at the recent Boston Jewish Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. “The Talent Given Us,” is playing through December 30 at the MFA in Boston. For tickets, call 617-369-3770 or visit www.mfa.org/film. “39 Pounds of Love” will be shown on HBO in March.
The Holiday Spirit It’s holiday season again, and that means the time is ripe for the annual permutation of the holiday wars. In this year’s var | |||||||||