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| Volume 4 Number 121 | Mon Feb 13 23:55:05 1995 |
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 08:45:05 -0500 From: ERGAS@ecs.umass.edu (Sarina Ergas) Subject: Affiliation I belong to an unaffiliated synagogue in Western Massachusetts. The synagogue has been in existance for 25 years or so, first under lay leadership and now with a rabbi from the reconstructionist movement. We are struggling with the idea of affiliating. I have been to several meetings on the topic and a committee has been formed to lead the discussion. Basically, what we've decided so far is that if we affiliate it will be with the reconstructionists, since they fit most with our current practice and don't have some of the negetives that conservative and reform judiasm are percieved to have. The pro affiliation group feels that we have a moral obligation to affiliate (much like people in the community that use our synagogue but are not members) to give back to the movement that trained our rabbi and put together our prayer books. Also, there are some benfits of affiliation such as help with youth programs and the ability to replace our rabbi should we loose her. The con group feels the expense of affiliation would be too high for our financially strapped community and that choosing one movement or another would be devisive. Some in the group against affiliation are founding members of our community and so are worthy of extra respect and consideration on this issue. I would be interested in passing on any additional information or experiences to the affiliation committee that this group can share. One issue that came up was, is there a way to give back to the movements without formally becoming a ______ synagogue? We will be meeting again on February 26th for a presentation on the reconstructionist movement. Also, a survey has gone out to see how the community (not just those of us who attend meetings) feels about this issue. Sarina Ergas ergas@ecs.umass.edu
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 18:08:22 -0800 From: mshulman@ix.netcom.com (Moshe Shulman) Subject: Re: Bat Mitzvah Ideas for Older Woman? Bill Wadlinger <wadlinger@turret.beaver.edu> writes: >I subsequently learned from one of my teachers, a rabbinical student, that >Judaism considers me a bar mitzvah by virtue of my status as a convert! The Rabbinical Student was reflecting the traditional Orthodox usage of bar mitzvah as refering to the time when a person has the personnal responsibility for performing the commandments (this being at 13 years of age for a boy, and 12 for a girl). One does not have to do anything to become Bar Mitzvah (although there are requirments that the person begin to wear tephilin and should be called to the Torah on the closest Shabbos after that date). However there is an interesting custom that might relate to your situation that you might consider. I know of a number of people who upon arriving at their 70th birthday have a festive meal for that occasion (as in Psalms it states that a man life is 70 years), then 13 years later they have a second 'Bar Mitzvah' with a special meal, and they get called to the Torah. Considering that the talmud teaches us that 'ger kenolad domi' (a convert is like one just born), your are really only as old as the years from the conversion. So when you get to 13 years, you might want to make a meal and try to get called to the Torah on that occasion.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 03:29:39 -0800 From: marty@spec.spec.com (Marty Hood) Subject: Re: Bat Mitzvah Ideas for Older Woman? This past Shabbat (Tetzaveh) I was part of an adult B'nai Mitzvah. We are the tenth such class at Congregation Agudas Achim. We are eight women and four men. We have members who: ignored the observant households in which they grew up, were raised by assimilated parents, or converted because of marriage or because their Jewish minds overcame their non-Jewish genes ;-). Many wanted to get a leg up on their children who are approaching Bar/Bat Mitzvah age. Others wanted an experience they were denied as teenagers. BUT, all shared a common desire to become more involved in our community and better educated about Judaism. We spent 14 months learning: to understand Hebrew in a rudimentary fashion (as opposed to just listening and not understanding), to chant Torah/Haftarah, to lead services. Each week we studied the weekly Parshat. We studied history, theology, and Zionism. It was like drinking from a fire hose. I highly recommend this experience to those of you who didn't have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah as a teen. But be aware that you will only scratch the surface and will be left with a desire to learn about the 10 new questions you discovered for each that is answered. My wife is looking forward to reclaiming some of the hours I've spent each week preparing so that we can get the `honeydo' list down to double digits. Learn in peace, Marty Hood
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 19:33:50 -0800 From: David T. Smith <dsmith@dna.com> Subject: Female Mohels As an aside, I'd like to ask the list what they think about female mohels? My son just had his brit milah and our (female) mohel was most caring but it was the first time anyone there had seen a woman in that role. I thought of Zipporah cutting off the foreskin of Moshe's son and wondered if there was a midrash on the subject. E-mail: "David T. Smith" <dsmith@dna.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 05:42:29 -0800 From: eaw94@aber.ac.uk (Ellis Weinberger) Subject: Hebrew Word Processing on a MAC The cheapest way to type in Hebrew on the Mac is to buy a Hebrew operating system for the Mac, type in your text using Hebrew Teachtext, and then format and print using any word processor which can use the Hebrew fonts. Clarisworks works for me. Ellis Weinberger eaw94@aber.ac.uk eweinberger@gn.apc.org
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 09:23:05 -0800 From: david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap) Subject: Hebrew Word Processing on a MAC Robin Guenther <JLP158@aol.com> writes: >I reviewed the archives related to this subject to find that all the >discussion is WINDOWS based. I'm interested in whether anyone has advice on >Hebrew word processing software for the MAC - Microsoft Word compatible or >other - and any experiences with it they'd like to relate. You can install the Hebrew edition of System 7 over your English edition. You'll end up with both the American and the Hebrew "script" installed. All applications should use both languages. All except Microsoft products, that is. Microsoft doesn't play by Apple's rules, so WorldScript doesn't work with their apps. I think Claris's packages are WorldScript compatible. Anyway, once you have the script installed, you'll see a "keyboard language" menu in the menu bar, next to the balloon menu. You can pick "USA" or "Hebrew" from it. (The menu will be either a Jewish star or an American flag to remind you of the active script.) Your keyboard will produce characters as mapped by the active script. Hebrew will be entered right-to-left, while English will be entered left-to-right. You should be able to mix Hebrew and English words with no problem. WorldScript should even get your word-wrap to behave correctly! The only catch you may have is that your fonts need the Hebrew glyphs. Hebrew System 7 comes with Hebrew versions of the standard Mac fonts, but third-party fonts probably will be English only. WRT how to get Hebrew System 7, contact Apple. If you're a registered developer, Apple releases a "System Software CD" every 3 months containing System 7 in every language they produce. If you're not a developer, I don't know who to contact.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 09:15:11 -0800 From: david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap) Subject: Re: Hellenists and Reform hrubin@stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes: >In those days, there were those who wished to be Hellenistic Jews, and those >who wished to be Hellenistic. There were a rather large number of >Hellenistic Jews under the Ptolemies; the Septuagint, which is the oldest >text of the Tanakh we have, is the product of such. According to traditional sources, the Septuigent was not the product of Helenistic Jews. It was written when Ptolmy ordered the creation of a Greek translation of the Torah. He gathered (probably kidnapped) 70 rabbis (hence the name "Septuigent") and locked them away in isolation. He ordered them to translate the Torah. Supposedly, having 70 independant translations would allow him to catch anyone deliberately mistranslating the text. The rabbis, however, did deliberately mistranslate certain parts in order to prevent misunderstanding of the text. A miracle occurred. All 70 translations were identical - with identical mistranslations. >There was no revolt until the Seleucids decided to stamp out Judaism... Who? Who are these Seleucids? Are they the "Syrian Greeks" that tranditional sources talk about in the Chanuka story? They were Syrians who had fully adopted Greek culture and religion. The rest of your description of this time matches what I know. I've just never heard the name "seleucids" before.
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 10:02:02 -0800 From: David Straus <DavidS7745@aol.com> Subject: Re: Is Jewish renewal facing a crisis caused by US society? Arthur, At the end of your message on the liberl-judaism mailing list, you mention another mailing list "Jewish renewal and US Politics." Is this a list? If so, how does one subscribe. Thanks David Straus
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 18:11:41 -0800 From: Laurence Guttman <GMAN94@aol.com> Subject: Sanhedrin and Capital Punishment I am aware of the statement in the Gemara that a Sanhedrin that permitted one exercise of Capital Punishment in 70 years was considered a "killer court". How is this consistent with the Torah view of the requirement for capital punishment for murder? I am also aware of the requirement that the murderer be warned and that there be two witnesses. However, it seems rather unlikely that in 70 years only one case that fit that requirement existed. Any ideas?
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 09:29:26 -0800 From: david@porsche.visix.com (David Charlap) Subject: Re: Shul in Santa Fe hsw@columbia.sparta.com (Howard Weiss) writes: >I have just found myself in Santa Fe for Shabbat and had the pleasure of >attending services at Temple Beth Shalom. They are actually a Reconservadox >congregation - Reform, Conservative, and Othodox share the genuinely unique >facility ... However, it does not appear that the three "flavors" have >homogenized: when I called I was told that a Conservative service would be >held at 5:30pm and a Reform at 8:30pm. ... This doesn't surprise me. Especially WRT the Orthodox group. There are certain things that no compromises can be made on. For instance, the orthodox will insist of separate male-female seating and no women being called to the bima for anything. The Conservative and Reform members will probably insist on the opposite. Similarly (I would think) with Reform and Conservative, although I don't know enough to give a specific example. Overall, though, this sounds like a great place for someone like me - I am not observant enough to consider myself Orthodox, but when I daven, I like to go to an Orthodox service. A synagogue where one can daven a-la Orthodoxy and later socialize with Conservative and Reform members of the same synagogue is wonderful. Especially if certain things (like kiddush and havdala) can be done together as one community.
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 18:08:22 -0800 From: mshulman@ix.netcom.com (Moshe Shulman) Subject: The Role of Women in Orthodoxy James F Greenwald <HYFLY1@aol.com> writes: Even according to the Orthodox there ARE many practices that women are not required to perform that have historically been taken as an obligation. The most prominant is to come and hear the Shofer blown.
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 10:58:59 -0800 From: A. Engler Anderson <anderson@philadelphia.libertynet.org> Subject: UAHC: President Elect Selected Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish JOURNALIST SEEKS INFO FOR STORY ON YOFFIE, UAHC AS THE AMERICAN REFORM MOVEMENT'S THREE ARMS UNDERGO CHANGES IN THEIR LEADERSHIP BACKGROUND The Union of American Hebrew Congregations announed last Thursday that its vice president, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, would be nominated to suceed Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, 69, as president of the North American Reform organization. Yoffie, former exec director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), seems to be known for his efforts to acheive official recognition for the Reform movement in Israel. During his tenure at ARZA, and later as a UAHC veep, the polemical volume between Orthodox and Reform was turned up several notches. He won the post -- to be confirmed by the 220-member UAHC board in Philadelphia in May -- over a Rabbi Knobel of Chicago. Knobel, a pulpit rabbi, is reportedly known for his work in revising the Reform liturgy. According to the _Forward_, the candidacies of Yoffie vs. Knobel represented two polar extremes in religious leadership: social and political issues for Yoffie, and a more religious, spiritual orientation for Knobel ('Fetal tissue and health care versus God,' as that newspaper's headline writer put it). Meanwhile, the Reform rabbinic arm, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) has a new incoming president later in the year (Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Pk., PA), and recently installed a new executive vice president. At the same time, Rabbi Gottschalk, a fixture as chief of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, is stepping down, as a search committee looks for a replacement. QUESTIONS Anybody have any thoughts on Yoffie and where the Reform movement is, and in what direction it's heading? Perhaps some rabbis out there have had personal experiences with Yoffie (good or bad) when he ran ARZA or veeped the UAHC. What kind of rabbi, administrator is he? How is he likely to compare with Schindler, in your predictions? Lay readers -- do you find Reform Judaism compelling, interesting, relevant? If you have any strongly-held feelings about the status of Reform, please don't hesitate to email me. How could Reform leaders make their denomination more relevant to you? What would you -- rabbis and laypeople -- tell Yoffie if you had his attention? And for the other arms of the Reform movement, the CCAR and HUC-JIR: what is your sense of where they're heading? Personal experiences, informed observations welcome from rabbis, congregational leaders, Reform educators, congregants and non-congregants. Some of the more obvious issues are the return to traditional ritual, Hebrew in Reform as "classical Reform" congregants die out, the politicization of the UAHC on social political matters, tension with Orthodoxy in America and Israel. Please email or telephone me at the locations below. Thank you. (NOTE DISCLAIMER BELOW) A. ENGLER ANDERSON | Special Projects Editor, Jewish Exponent, Philadelphia email: anderson@philadelphia.libertynet.org snail: Jewish Exponent/Editorial, 226 S. 16 St., Phila., PA 19102 telephone: 215.893.5740 (ofc) | 215.546.3957 (fax) DISCLAIMER: All views expressed herein are solely my own unless otherwise indicated.
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 1995 21:02:21 -0800 From: Walter Hellman <hellman@teleport.com> Subject: Why I feel I am Jewish The great variety of approaches to Judaism evidenced in the postings to this list has caused me to specifically question just what it is which makes me feel Jewish. Some responses to the question are simple; I was raised in a Jewish family, went to Hebrew school, observed the Jewish holidays with my family and was bar mitzvahed. These are indicators that I was raised as a Jew, but not that I should necessarily feel I am one now. We do many things in childhood which, as adults, we no longer continue. After thinking about this, I realized that the main reason for my feeling Jewish, aside from cultural upbringing, stems from the Jewish tradition of values as exemplified in Jewish history and Jewish history itself. For me the importance of the Ten Commandments story is not that God gave these commandments, but that a code of written law was to be followed by all, regardless of social or political stature, in a time when might was right. The writings of the Prophets, such as Isaiah and Micah, are significant to me not because they were "divinely inspired" because they were some of the first trumpetings of the voice of justice in an unjust world. The story of Jesus is critical to who we Jews are. Those who were skeptical of any claims of those supposedly speaking in God's name remained Jewish; we still feel that way today and remain a minority. Our great love of learning and reasoning is evident in the Talmud, and the disproportionate role of Jews in the professions. Then there is that mature view of the world...and sense of humor... that comes from an ancient people who have always been a minority in advocating justice, reason and social progress. I honor the history of my people because it and they produced much of what I value. The notion of God itself has little to do with my feeling Jewish. I know my ancestors saw their values as stemming from divine will, but I would hold these values even if the concept of God completely vanished from the earth. If religion truly stems from a core of beliefs which cannot be rationally proved, then the humanistic values which stem from the history of our people are my religious values as well. Theistically religious people often say that humanists have no solid set of values, that "anything goes." What I feel is that a commitment to a set of values depends on the strength of one's beliefs, whether those beliefs originate in humanism or theism. In an real sense, however, we are all humanists. Except for those who claim to speak directly for God (Jews showed their skepticism to this claim in the reaction to Jesus), all interpretation of events in our world, and even of scripture accepted as divine revelation, is done by humans, using human language, to try, as we all do, to figure out how to live life in ever changing circumstances. That even theistically religious people, using the same scripture as a basis, cannot agree on all moral and political issues supports this view. I feel Jewish, then, and share the values of our Jewish heritage, in spite of the fact that I do not share the divine source of these values that my ancestors held. Are all humanists Jewish then? Of course not. Judaism is more than a set of values. It is a culture and a history of that culture. God was a major part of that culture, but there is so much more to it than God. As a Humanistic Jew I not only celebrate my origins, but also seek to further carry forward and develop the values which are at the core of my religion. hellman@teleport.com Internet Public Access User Hillsboro, Oregon USA
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