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| Volume 13 Number 25 | Sat Dec 6 23:55:02 US/Pacific 2003 |
From: Your Moderator <moderator@mljewish.org> Date: Thu Dec 4 9:52:24 US/Pacific 2003 Subject: Administrivia: v13n23 I"ve now sent out v13n23 about 3 different times, and I haven't received it back on my control account. Thus, for some reason, I believe it is just disappearing into the ether. Has anyone out there received v13n23? If not, I'll look into duplicating its content in a future digest. If others have received it, then I'll just presume that some mail filter somewhere is catching it in my case. Thanks, Daniel
From: ethel jean saltz <nietgal@airmail.net> Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 09:04:44 -0600 Subject: Conversion Controversy In Israel I try not to think about Israeli politics because it's a country with politics, just like here in the USA. I am apolitical. BUT, what I heard reported on NPR about the conversion controversy in Israel does effect me. Above all, statistics tell a story. If the Israelites are afraid the non-Jews are going to dominate then not getting busy converting populations to Judaism in a literary/philosophical/historical way seems idiotic. It hurts me. The best way to pray to God is to educate the population with love. Having read in great detail, MEIN KAMPF, and obtained additional info by Holocaust docent training, I am very uncomfortable with the idea of religion by blood. What Israel legally does with conversions does effect me in the USA. The non-Jewish world is watching. Because of current events which brings Mesopotamia and Persia of the Bible right into my home, I virtually am reliving the bible. I also am thinking of myself more as a denomination of the Abrahamic Faith. What this does, even using archeology and chronology, is simply makes me feel more "lucky" that I was born into a Jewish culture. I deeply am grateful for my Orthodox kheder. I've always tested my choices all my life and constantly am reborn Jewish. The historical facts simply provide more support. I, frankly, feel Christianity and Islam/Submission have usurped the "chosen" path. Just as Torah Scrolls have usurped polytheism. So if the Aggadic tale of Abraham destroying idols is viable, we Jews can also show that the Original Testament isn't Old at all. I do not hold to the theory that the sort order of the books makes a difference. My litmus test is that the verse, by book/chapter, can be read and tested in over 200 languages. I myself have it in English, Hebrew and Spanish. By supporting an Abrahamic Faith idea we can maintain the spirituality of Judaism. Jews merged all the Gods into one before, we can do it again. However, if we insist that one's blood cells determine who is a Jew, then we are perpetuating the "blood libel". What's wrong with a loving persistent all-Jewish world attitude? Be-ahavah oo-ve-shalom oo-ve-emet, Ethel Jean Saltz I will not submit;) Don't Hate -> Educate LANGUAGE, TRUTH AND LOGIC, A. J. Ayers A>ASSFAAF mailto: nietgal@airmail.net
From: Mordechai Horowitz <mordechai@jewishpride.org> Date: Fri Dec 5 15:10:26 US/Pacific 2003 Subject: Jews elections and religion I just saw this in an article someone emailed me "Jews are an older population and there are relatively few immigrants, so of those 42,000 a big percentage, certainly over 30,000, are eligible to vote," says Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, which encourages Jews to support Democrats. " Tell me what Jewish voters look like: Do they own guns?" asks Forman sarcastically. "They have one of the lowest attendances at religious services of any group in the country. I'm reading this and thinking how insulting. Of course Jews own guns :) At least we shouild but that's another discussion. But the fact that "Jewish" political activists see it as a good thing for them that we don't participate in our own religion. This shouldn't be seen as a political opportunity but as a commnal tragedy. I guess I see too issues to discuss. 1) Unfortunately Forman is right. We don't participate in Judaism as a community. We are assimilating at a horrendous pace. 2) Jewish political groups tend to put politics before Judaism. As a Jewish activist within the Republican party, I've seen the same problem on both sides of the isle. As my "Rebbe" of Jewish Republican poltics always reminds me, I was born a Jew, I didn't become a Republican until I was 18.
From: Rabbi John M. Sherwood <rabjms@earthlink.net> Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 02:33:39 -0800 Subject: Reading Torah on Friday Night We do not have Torah services on Friday night. We have a Shabbat AM service every week whether there is a BM (about twenty BMs a year) or not. At non BM services there are customarily three aliyot. With regard to Yahrzeits, our office is 100% flexible. It is the individual's call, and if people can not make the regular night, it is switched.. L'shalom, Rabbi John Sherwood
From: SLevr@aol.com Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 09:11:49 EST Subject: Reading Torah on Friday Night Our congregation has a lay Torah chanter once a month on a Friday night. If there is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah the following day, we try to do a different section of the weekly parsha than the child. On that Friday the reader, or another individual gives a d'var on the portion read. Because of time constraints, we try to limit the number of verses chanted, and keep the d'varim under 5 minutes. There is only 1 aliyah. We are presently attempting to get volunteers to chant Haftorah on occasional Friday nights, and more Torah chanters for the Saturdays when there is no Bar/Bat Mitzvah, when we only have a minyan service. Lauren Levrant (Lay Torah chanting coordinator) Oak Park Temple (Reform) Oak Park, IL
From: Howard Weiss <hsw@sparta.com> Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2003 10:15:00 -0500 Subject: Reading Torah on Friday Night Up until last year we read Torah every Friday night regardless of whether there was a Sat morning service or not. If there was a bnei mitzvah on Sat, we always read a different portion of the same parshat and the Rabbi typically would talk about what we were reading Fri night and to stay tuned to hear how the story turns out on Sat when the young person was being called to the Torah. Regarding aliyahs, we typically only had one on a Fri night and usually 3-4 during a bar or bat mitzvah. Last year and this year we have an "interim" Rabbi who is much more "classic" reform. I understand that he longer reads Torah every Friday nor does he do hakafah (which was done all the time with our old Rabbi). Yahrzeit announcements have always gone out before and the announcement at the service is always the Shabbat before. Howie Weiss
From: Johanna <rebiljoj@woh.rr.com> Date: Thu Dec 4 9:41:26 US/Pacific 2003 Subject: Reading Torah on Friday Night The Reform congregation to which we belong regularly reads Torah on Friday night. They have very small minyanim on Saturday morning where Torah is also read. Usually, it is the same section. I know other Reform congregations that do this as well. Recently, we had a Shabbat where there was a Bat Mitzvah on Friday night and a Bar Mitzvah Saturday morning. Different sections were read, only because the kids chose different sections of the sidra to read. Since it is not traditional to read Torah on Friday night (I have never known a Conservative or Orthodox congregation to do this), and I believe the practice was instituted much like the traditional Monday/Thursday (you read when the folks can get there to hear it), I don't see any reason why you wouldn't read the same part. But I'm not a rabbi, nor an expert on these things. It just makes sense to me. HTH Johanna
From: PDZ99@aol.com Date: Thu Dec 4 9:43:31 US/Pacific 2003 Subject: Reading Torah on Friday Night > (1) In your congregation, if a Bar/Bat Mitzvah is scheduled for the following > morning, do you read Torah the Friday night before? Do you read the same > portion as the child will read the following morning? Yes to both. Not everyone who is at Friday's service comes on Saturday for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, since we don't have Saturday services. We have a 2 hour Torah study class on Saturdays, which is well attended, but is not a service. > (2)Does your congregation regularly read Torah on a Friday night? If so, how > frequently, and how many aliyahs do you typically have? Yes, every Friday. There are no aliyot for Torah. People are asked to come up to do candles and kiddush. People may request to do candles and kiddush, and without asking, we've received a letter from the Temple asking us to do this. Pre-bar/bat mitzvah Friday, the family is honored with doing the candles and kiddush. We have services at 6 pm every Friday, which is very inconvenient for families and dinner, so it is usually attended by the older congregants, except when there is a b/b mitzvah. Torah is always read at this service. Once a month we have an additional "family service" that begins with dinner at 6pm, and continues in the sanctuary with a "casual" service" at 7:30 Torah is not read at this service. Another congregational survey question. > OUr congregation currently reads and observes Yahrzeits the Shabbat before > the date of the Yahrzeit. This is a relatively new change (past year), and > was done to accomodate the software we use to generate the yahrzeit > reminder letters (which couldn't do our old "after the date" approach). > Our understanding that there is no hard and fast rule regarding before > and after. I've now had a congregant asking to be a special case; their > family would like to observe "after" the date. > (1) What does your congregation do? We have the choice of having the yartzheit read on Hebrew date or English date. And yes, sometimes the Hebrew date is after the English date, which happened in the case of my mother-in-law' this year. > (2) Do you have a mix of before and after? See above. Ours is driven by the Hebrew or English date, but not by convenience. Hope this helps, Patricia D. Zake
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