Jewish Continuity
What good was it if God blessed Abraham and Sarah "with all things" if they had no one to pass their spiritual inheritance down to? You could say they faced the first ever crisis of Jewish continuity. In last week's parsha we saw they had lost hope in ever having an heir, notwithstanding God's promise, "to make of them a great nation." Then, after he is nearly sacrificed on the altar, their prodigal son Isaac shows little interest in marrying or starting a family of his own. Perhaps part of the problem was that his parents forbade him from taking a wife from amongst the local Canaanite maidens, like his half-brother Ishmael did, and there were no Yiddeshe maidlach in the area. In sending his servant Eliezer abroad to find a wife for his scholarly homebody of a son Isaac, Abraham in effect created the world's first concierge dating service!
The Jewish community is as concerned today about the Jewish future as Abraham and worries about the same challenge: how do you make a compelling argument for the value of particularism and tribalism in today's increasingly universal and pluralistic world? Are these values, in fact, mutually exclusive?
Instead of answering this question directly I'll invite you to join me for the 25th Anniversary of Lou Balcher's YJLC, Young Jewish Leadership Concepts, at 5:30PM Sunday afternoon, December 11th, downtown at Congregation Mikve Israel. We can discuss the relative importance of our enduring Jewish values directly with GenY.
Yesterday our synagogue hosted all the congregational Rabbis and Jewish educators from the counties on both sides of the Delaware for an exclusive lecture and discussion (and bagel brunch) with Dr. David Bryfman, a Jewish internet maven. He did not just come to promote J-Date. Rather we talked about bringing virtual resources into the classroom, and sharing more values-laden Torah online. We'll be exploring the quickly changing ways we can engage our children and grandchildren in Talmud Torah and Jewish living at services this Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
By the way...Care to guess the two most common queries on JewishLearning.Com? First, how do I mourn for and bury my loved one in a traditionally respectful way? That's actually another dilemma Abraham faces in Chayyei Sarah, and he buys a cave in Hebron called Marat HaMachpelah. What's the second most asked online Jewish question? The best recipe for hummus!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Tragedy of Bari
The Tragedy of Bari
On this day in history Dec. 3rd 1943 the tragedy of Bari occurred. (I first heard about this when I was in the port of Bari, Italy during my service as a Navy Chaplain 42 years later!) It was like a second Pearl Harbor, but in this case the German Luftwaffe sent over 100 fighter/bombers in a surprise attack against allied shipping destroying 17 ships, damaging 7 more, and killing over 1000 merchant marines. There was a secret cargo of 2000 poisonous mustard gas bombs aboard one American Liberty ship that was blown up that caused 628 people to suffer "mysterious burns". 69 died with two weeks.
What amazes me is that the British historian writing the article says: "The Bari raid produced the only poison gas incident associated with WW2, made worse by the perceived need for secrecy in wartime. " He goes on to report that the ship, "John Harvey, already on fire, suddenly blew up, disappearing in a mighty fireball, casting pieces of ship and her deadly cargo of mustard gas all over the harbor. Mustard gas gives off a garlic odor, and now it combined with oil in the harbor, creating a deadly and volatile mixture. People were noticing a smell of garlic in the air, already doing its deadly work. "
I beg to differ. The only gas incident??? We were allowed to handle an actual gas mask worn by a Jewish slave laborer in Dachau, one of the Nazi death factories, during our synagogue's tour of the Holocaust Museum at the Klein branch JCC recently. Does the gassing of millions of Jews with Zyclon B gas by the Germans and their allies in the death camps not count as an incident? What about the gassing of "imbeciles" who were forced into specially rigged "vans" so that the exhaust gasses would kill the human "cargo?" Perhaps the author decided that since the Germans, who had invented Sarin gas, never deployed it on the battlefield, that this was the only "incident?"
Continuing the legacy of never again...
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
On this day in history Dec. 3rd 1943 the tragedy of Bari occurred. (I first heard about this when I was in the port of Bari, Italy during my service as a Navy Chaplain 42 years later!) It was like a second Pearl Harbor, but in this case the German Luftwaffe sent over 100 fighter/bombers in a surprise attack against allied shipping destroying 17 ships, damaging 7 more, and killing over 1000 merchant marines. There was a secret cargo of 2000 poisonous mustard gas bombs aboard one American Liberty ship that was blown up that caused 628 people to suffer "mysterious burns". 69 died with two weeks.
What amazes me is that the British historian writing the article says: "The Bari raid produced the only poison gas incident associated with WW2, made worse by the perceived need for secrecy in wartime. " He goes on to report that the ship, "John Harvey, already on fire, suddenly blew up, disappearing in a mighty fireball, casting pieces of ship and her deadly cargo of mustard gas all over the harbor. Mustard gas gives off a garlic odor, and now it combined with oil in the harbor, creating a deadly and volatile mixture. People were noticing a smell of garlic in the air, already doing its deadly work. "
I beg to differ. The only gas incident??? We were allowed to handle an actual gas mask worn by a Jewish slave laborer in Dachau, one of the Nazi death factories, during our synagogue's tour of the Holocaust Museum at the Klein branch JCC recently. Does the gassing of millions of Jews with Zyclon B gas by the Germans and their allies in the death camps not count as an incident? What about the gassing of "imbeciles" who were forced into specially rigged "vans" so that the exhaust gasses would kill the human "cargo?" Perhaps the author decided that since the Germans, who had invented Sarin gas, never deployed it on the battlefield, that this was the only "incident?"
Continuing the legacy of never again...
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
Gift of Life Shabbat/Organ Doantion
In this week's parsha Vayishlach, our matriarch Rachel was in child birth and she had hard labor. The midwife said to her at the height of her pain, "Have no fear, you're going to have another boy." However she was in so much pain she had trouble focusing on the fact that God was answering her prayer for another boy and instead she said, "Name him Ben-Oni, child of pain or child of mourning, because he is killing me." Then she died and she was buried on the road to Ephrot which is now the city of Bethlehem. Her husband, Jacob, said, " We won't call him Ben-Oni instead we will call him Ben-Yamin," (Benjamin) which means son of my right hand.
I wonder how Rachel's difficult birth might have played out in a modern hospital today. God willing, her life might have been saved through an emergency C-section or another of today's revolutionary lifesaving techniques. However, had Rachel passed away, it's possible that her family might have remembered a discussion they might have had about organ donation. Or possibly they might have seen that she marked "organ donor" on her driver's license and after she passed away they might have donated her organs in order to save another person's life. In that case her body would have been treated with the utmost dignity and still could have been prepared for a Jewish burial according to our traditions without any undue delay.
This coming Shabbat morning Seymour and Donna will be sponsoring the Kiddush in honor of their son Garren's full recovery. We will be celebrating Gift of Life Shabbat to recognize the mitzvah that Garren donated half of his liver to a very sick young man he had never met named Marco, and Garren will share his experience. If you would like to test yourself to see what you know about Jewish law regarding organ donation, you could take this quiz from the Halachic Organ Donor Society, just click HODS quiz.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
Thursday, November 17, 2011
After the Tsunami
This year at Passover I’m thinking about the natural disasters that have struck our planet; including earthquakes, tsunamis and floods. A friend of mine from the Rabbinic Training Institute, Rabbi Menachem Creditor wrote a beautiful prayer that I would like you to consider saying at your sederim. Please also consider adding a fifth question to the traditional four questions posed by the youngest child at the table, “Why on this night are millions of people going hungry?” Mazon, a Jewish Response to Hunger, has provided us with a placemat that we can use at our seder table to remind us of families that live from hand-to-mouth, not knowing where their next meal is coming from. In the Passover Hagadah, we read “Let all who are hungry come and eat.” If you have an extra place at your table, or would like to accept home hospitality from one of our members, please call the office so that we can all celebrate in this Feast of Freedom.
Wishing you a zissen Pesach,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
A Prayer in Response to the Earthquake and Tsunami
March 11, 2011
Dear God,
Many, many images of God have been lost in earthquake
and fire and mighty waters today.
And so we turn to You, Adonai,
and we ask for Your strength and comfort.
We open our hearts one to the other
as brothers and sisters struggling in Your world.
“Above the thunder of the mighty waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea is Adonai (Ps. 93:4).”
Be with us as we offer what we can, through prayer and action,
to our sisters and brothers who are suffering in Japan
and who stand on alert around the world.
We ask for You to be the still, small voice after the fire,
allowing space for mourning and hope in the face of tragedy.
We see Your sheltering Presence and Your holy tears
in the receding waters of the Tsunami
and in the rescue work being carried out
by so many for the sake of a fragile world.
May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors,
to send healing to the injured and comfort to those in mourning.
May You be with those who are engaged in the sacred work of rescue.
Be with us as we bring shelter, food, and water to those in need.
May we merit to save many lives.
May those affected by this disaster know Your comfort.
May we act when we learn how we can help.
May our world be blessed by peace. Amen.
Many, many images of God have been lost in earthquake
and fire and mighty waters today.
And so we turn to You, Adonai,
and we ask for Your strength and comfort.
We open our hearts one to the other
as brothers and sisters struggling in Your world.
“Above the thunder of the mighty waters,
more majestic than the breakers of the sea is Adonai (Ps. 93:4).”
Be with us as we offer what we can, through prayer and action,
to our sisters and brothers who are suffering in Japan
and who stand on alert around the world.
We ask for You to be the still, small voice after the fire,
allowing space for mourning and hope in the face of tragedy.
We see Your sheltering Presence and Your holy tears
in the receding waters of the Tsunami
and in the rescue work being carried out
by so many for the sake of a fragile world.
May it be Your will, Adonai our God and God of our ancestors,
to send healing to the injured and comfort to those in mourning.
May You be with those who are engaged in the sacred work of rescue.
Be with us as we bring shelter, food, and water to those in need.
May we merit to save many lives.
May those affected by this disaster know Your comfort.
May we act when we learn how we can help.
May our world be blessed by peace. Amen.
Do Something Jewish This Summer
Summer is often times seen as a time to take a vacation from religion, however ours is not a pediatric faith, and just because school is out and the High Holy Days won’t be celebrated until the fall doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be engaged in Jewish life and Torah study. It gives me great pleasure to share with you a list that our newest teacher, Bill (who grew up at CBOI), sent home with his 4th grade students at the end of religious school year. To round out his eight suggestions for ways to be involved in yiddishkiet on these long summer days, I’ll add; come to our weekly Talmud class and make an appointment to come see your Rabbi. We could sit together and learn or debate Jewish philosophy or just catch up with what’s going on in our busy lives. I have an open-door policy and I’m always interested to hear from you.
DO SOMETHING JEWISH THIS SUMMER
Visit a Museum
- Philadelphia-American Jewish HistoryMuseum
- New York – Jewish Heritage Museum of Tolerance, The Jewish Museum
- Washington DC – Holocaust Museum, B’nai B’rith Museum
- Amherst, MA – Yiddish Center
Shop for something Jewish at our own Brothers of Israel Gift Shop or perhaps Judaica Plaza in Lakewood, NJ
Have a Shabbat Picnic – make small challah roll sandwiches, drink Kedem juice, make Kiddush and Motzi [our gift shop stocks Shabbat travel candlesticks]
Read a Jewish book together (from your library or a book store) [or borrow one from the synagogue library]
Watch a Jewish movie together. Some examples: Exodus, Cast a Giant Shadow, Yentl, Fiddler on the Roof, or an Israeli movie
Come to Shabbat Services [our fabulous annual Shabbat Under the Stars will be Friday night, August 19th]
Observe Tisha B’Av – fast (part of the day), come to services [visit the Garden of Reflection 9-11 Memorial in Yardley with us]
Review Hebrew and Prophets study sheets.
Hope you’re having a wonderful Jewish summer. Having just come back from the Congregation’s pilgrimage to Israel, I know I am.
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
Salute to Israel
We have been getting tremendous positive feedback on the Salute to Israel that we hosted this past month. Our honoree, Bill Sutter of the Friends of Israel, spoke magnificently about his love for Israel while quoting extensively from the Torah, Psalms, and Prophets. For those of you in attendance, you’ll know what I’m talking about, when I say that the camaraderie, and the spirit of hundreds of Christians and Jews raising their voices together to sing Hatikvah, was profoundly uplifting. My heart swells with pride that we were able to bring together such a passionate group of diverse people in order to support our beloved Eretz Yisrael.
Most of the hard work and dialogue of interfaith relations takes place behind the scenes and relationships take years to develop, but every once in a long while we’re able to come together to celebrate, to support one another, or to raise money for a common cause and the result is overwhelming. This past month we did all of these things. We put Brothers of Israel on the map as a leader in interfaith relations in our Jewish community, made a lot of new friends in the broader community, and raised over $3,000 for the American Friends of Magen David Adom, and over $1,000 for the Jewish National Fund to plant trees.
The Israel Forum, under the leadership of Alan and Albert, is already hard at work planning a follow-up event. I wouldn’t blame Lou, Frank, Allan, Dan, Mike, and Fred if they decided they wanted to take a break for awhile, but we’re on a roll and there’s no stopping us now! If you would like to receive a commemorative posted envelope (collectable cachet) from the afternoon like the one framed over the piano in our lobby, please call the office or speak with Dan Schreiber.
This coming Shabbat, Friday night May 6th, our fourth graders will be leading our services and singing Hatikvah with our choir in honor of Yom Ha’Zikaron and Yom Ha’Atzma’ut, Israel’s Memorial Day and Independence Day, which will be observed this year after Mother’s Day, on Monday and Tuesday, May 9th and May 10th. Additionally our Cantor, Ellen and the rest of the choir will be sharing a special Zionist Friday Night Live with us on May 2oth.
On Passover there was a group of us that were able to say “This year in Jerusalem,” because of our upcoming trips to the Holy Land. If you would like to appoint me your shaliach, I would be honored to carry a note to the Kotel for you and place it in the wall along with our prayers.
Happy Yom Ha’Atzma’ut,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
I would like to share with you the beautiful note I received from William Sutter.
March 30, 2011
Dear Rabbi Plotkin,
This is to express my deepest appreciation to you and Congregation Brothers of Israel for the wonderful event last Sunday afternoon. Your “Salute” was received by me and the Christians who attended, as a wonderful blessing from the Lord.
I know that it took many of your people to plan, program, and guide such a successful event.
I believe everyone, Christians and Jews alike, had a strong sense that what Brothers of Israel had accomplished was historic.
My colleagues at The Friends of Israel and I are in awe of the custom, stained glass, artistic creation featuring the Star of David along with the unique commemorative envelope.
Words fall short of expressing our real heart-felt appreciation to you and your people. Surely, the Lord is pleased.
May you and the members of Congregation Brothers of Israel be blessed in your activities and service for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Warmly,
William Sutter
Interfaith service
I have the honor of leading a Talmud class each week for my fellow rabbis in which we have been studying Chapter 4 of Ta’anit. Ta’anit sets forth the laws pertaining to public fasting. Days of fasting, prayer, and shofar blowing were often proclaimed in order to beg God’s forgiveness and to stop punitive acts of God. For example if a community was struck by a plague, or crop blight, or sickness, or draught then everyone was commanded by the sages to spread forth their hands toward heaven in supplication, confess, repent, and observe a series of increasingly stringent fasts until the disaster was alleviated (First Kings 8:35-39).
During the Second Temple period, the entire community of Israel was divided into 24 m’amadot, corresponding the 24 mishmarot of Priests and Levites. The Israelites in each district chose pious and sin-fearing people to represent them for the 2 weeks a year to make communal sacrifices in the Temple in order to continue receive God’s blessings for the safety, health, harvest, and success of the entire community. Since not all the representatives of the community were able to make the strenuous pilgrimage to the Temple, the ones who were left behind assembled in local proto-synagogues to offer their prayers to God on behalf of the Nation. These communal prayer spaces developed into the first synagogues as we know them today after the destruction of the Temple and the unified sacrificial cult in Jerusalem. One of the main purposes of Congregation Brothers of Israel is to give God fearing people in our community, far from the land of Israel, a place to pray to God for peace and health, sustenance and well being.
On Friday night November 11th Reverend Lillian Gail Moore of Newtown’s Macedonian Baptist Church will be our pre-Thanksgiving guest speaker. She is a friend of mine from the Newtown Interfaith Ministirium and she will speak about the importance of Brotherhood. Last year she invited me to chant the Ten Commandments from her pulpit during their annual Martin Luther King Day observance. It takes an entire community of Jews and non-Jews, Cohanim, Leviem, and Yisraelim working together in order to build a just and righteous society. Please consider yourself to have been elected a member of the Congregation Brothers of Israel m’amad to represent our people before the Holy One, blessed be He.
Chaplain's Hill
Shalom Haverim,
Last month I wrote our bulletin, The Voice, about the effort to have a plaque placed on Chaplain's Hill at Arlington Natl. Cemetery to memorialize Jewish chaplains.
It's been a tremendous struggle to gain recognition for the 14 Jewish Chaplains that made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, but it's finally happening! There will be a commemorative ceremony honoring fallen Jewish military chaplains on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m at the new National Jewish History Museum. A plaque honoring the chaplains will be on view at the Museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plaque will be installed at the end of October on Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery. A Museum military-themed highlights tour will be available for museum guests during the day.
Would you like to join me on October 18th for the moving service at 2pm when we'll say the kaddish for our fallen Jewish Chaplains? If so then I will organize a special Sukkot Jewish Heritage trip for that afternoon. Please let me know by October 14th, so arrangements can be made.
My family and I are looking forward to welcoming you into our sukkah this Sunday for our annual interfaith openhouse. Please stop by.
Hag sameach,
Rabbi Shalom Plotkin
Rainbow Covenant
In this week’s parsha, God promises Noah and all mankind that He will never again cause a deluge that destroys the world. The sign of his covenant is the rainbow, which is a symbol of peace between God and His children. This Friday night we have an opportunity to celebrate consecration with our children in the Alef Class. They have begun to learn their prayers and they have earned their first prayer book, Siddurenu. Their families’ commitment to Torah, learning, and Yiddishkeit and the sweet voices of the children singing Shalom Aleichem will brighten up our sanctuary like a rainbow. Whenever we see a rainbow we say this blessing; Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, Creator of the universe,
Who remembers the covenant, is trustworthy in His covenant, and fulfills His word.
Please join me this weekend in blessing our synagogue’s children.
Yasher koach to Eric who will be helping me to read Torah this Shabbat. And Mazel Tov to Dr. Mark who will be chanting the Haftorah he read 50 years ago at his Bar Mitzvah.
Thanksgiving Mitzvot
I can’t smell the turkey yet; however I can hear the wild ones in my backyard at the end of a crisp fall day. Yes, football games, family celebrations and Cyber Thursday are only three weeks away. The headline in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer reads that there is, “A crisis in food and funding in area pantries”. With the exception of canned corn, beans, grapefruit juice and fresh venison, the shelves are emptying out. However, there are 65% more hungry families seeking nourishment than 2 years ago. The pantries in South Jersey report that they need 50,000 more turkeys for the holiday, plus gas money for their trucks. Closer to home the kosher food pantry in Princeton is looking for a donation of 150 Shoprite scrip cards, which will enable local families to purchase all the trimmings at The Kosher Experience. You may purchase scrip whenever the synagogue office is open from our Sisterhood, and we will make sure that the cards go to needy individuals through the offices of the Jewish Family and Children's Services.
In addition, you have an opportunity to help feed, clothe, inspire, and learn from the Jewish immigrants, seniors, and survivors at the Klein JCC (N.E. Philly) next Sunday the 13th . Please plan for a full day of mural painting, music, cooking, food sorting, classes, and service. We will also tour the Holocaust Awareness Museum and Education Center with the curator, Dr. Don W. This Jewish Heritage Tour and mitzvah project replaces our regularly scheduled youth and Adult Education. The synagogue will be closed. Please meet Scott and me at the Kohl’s parking lot in Yardley (by the bank) at 9:30am to carpool down. RSVP to the office.
In this week’s parsha, Lech Lecha, Abram and Sarai face a severe famine in the land of Canaan and they were forced to sojourn in the land of Egypt, which put them in mortal danger (Genesis 12:10). The families of our community that are forced to cope with food insecurity on a monthly basis are also in peril. In more prosperous times, Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:2-10) had the zechut, the merit, to be able to open their tent and offer their hospitality to passing strangers. They received God’s blessing for their hospitality. May God bless you for supporting last month’s Operation Isaiah (High Holiday) Food Drive and for partnering with others in our congregational family to continue to meet the growing hunger in our community.
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