Last night I went to the MDNA concert. It was AMAZING. Two hours of pure entertainment.
Most of the concert was music and dancing. There were a few moments when Madonna spoke. While she used more explicatives than I might prefer to listen to, she had a few important messages.
1) Madonna reminded the crowd of the importance of love. Loving our neighbor just as they are.
2) Madonna encouraged all audience members to celebrate freedom. The best way to do that (her words not mine) is to exercise the right to vote. If you are in California the deadline to register to vote is October 22. You can register online here.
This past weekend I attended my elementary school reunion. That’s right, elementary school. I attended Baldwin Hills Gifted Magnet for all six of those years (until we moved from LA to MN). Thanks to the magic of Facebook. one of my classmates got enough of us together to make this amazing reunion happen!
Many people seem surprised that there could be a reunion from a LAUSD school. My class was different. Because we were in a gifted magnet program in a school essentially I went through every year with the same students. I believe in fourth and fifth grades we were in split classrooms but otherwise, many of the people in the picture to the left I knew for a long time!
Baldwin Hills was a really special place. Celebrating multiculturalism was a tenet of the school. We celebrated everyone’s holiday. We learned and performed an Irish jig, a Mexican dance and celebrated MLK day annually. Sitting around the fire pit at the reunion all of these years later, it was fascinating to hear how our collective experience at Baldwin Hills impacted our lives. We all feel so comfortable in multicultural settings.
I am so grateful that I got to attend this school. Grateful that one of my classmates organized this amazing reunion and that I got to be there! I am proud that each of these people were my classmates.
The Israel Religious Action Center is working on a petition to the Western Wall Heritage Council calling for diversity in the membership after four women were detained on Sunday morning for wearing tallitot/prayer shawls.
Here is a copy of the email I received…
Yesterday four women were detained at the Western Wall, each for wearing a tallit. The authorities say they were disturbing the public peace according to regulation 201 A4 of the Israeli legal code. The punishment for this crime is six months in prison. They also broke regulation 287A by performing a religious act that “offends the feelings of others.” The punishment for this crime is up to two years in prison.
When these four women wore their tallitot they challenged the division at the Western Wall. This is a place where men pray, dance, sing, sound the Sofar, read Torah, celebrate b’nei mitzvah, wave the lulov, and express their Judaism in any way they wish. Women, on the other side of the partition, stand silently in the little space that remains.
IRAC fights all layers of gender segregation in Israel, and I believe that the Kotel is ground-zero in the fight against gender exclusion. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. taught us, one of the main strategies of non-violent struggle is to “dramatize” the injustice. There is a real need for drama to actualize how far the situation of women in the public sphere in Israel today is from the dream of the State’s founders. Israel’s founding document, our Declaration of Independence, had a vision of full equality for all the citizens of Israel irrespective of religion, race, or gender.
According to that vision, we are working to create a reality that is currently hard for Israelis to even imagine. In this we mean a Kotel where Israeli families will be able to pray together as a family, a Kotel where families can celebrate a bat mitzvah, a Kotel where egalitarian services can be held proudly, instead of hidden out of view from the Western Wall Plaza. I want to live to see it and for that I need your help.
The key to changing the status quo is in the hands of the authoritative that run the Kotel, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. This is why IRAC and the IMPJ are about to go to Israel’s Supreme Court to demand a change in the make-up of the Western Wall Heritage Council, which is currently made up completely of Orthodox Jews. We want this body to resemble the real diversity of the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora.
Click here to sign our Kotel petition asking for the Western Wall Heritage Council to include a diverse membership. After you have signed it please help us collect signatures by forwarding this email, using our special tell-a-friend link, or by clicking here and then forwarding that link to as many of your friends as you can. We have over 10,000 names already, and we will reach our goal of 50,000 if everyone helps us get five more names. With that kind of support the Israeli Government will see that we cannot be ignored. Days like yesterday must stop.
L’shalom,
Anat Hoffman
Executive Director, IRAC
If your blood is not yet boiling, here is a video of one of the women being arrested.
The above photo is one of my favorites because it accurately displays my family’s devotion to one another, our sense of humor, and our collective strength. This photo was taken when MY MOM was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. By a professional photographer portrait style. My family is awesome.
I want to be very clear, MY MOM WAS A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR. Her death had nothing to do with breast cancer.
That being said, my friend LBN over at Freckles in the Fog posted about one of her friends who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29. Dena, whom I have not yet met, writes about the importance of young women doing regular self exams and how to do them here. She writes beautifully and thoroughly about why this is important and I encourage YOU ALL to read it, woman or man (Yes, men get breast cancer too).
I won’t promise that I will remind you every month to do an exam. I will tell you I am putting it into my calendar with an alarm for myself. Figure out what reminder might work for you. Do it.
________
Thank you, Dena for reminding me to be vigilant. May your strength and that shared by your family and friends continue to sustain you as you journey towards healing.
It might be only slightly hard to read, but I am published. My article, “The Stigma of Infertility” is in the Summer 2012 CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly (pages 102-110). The article is based onmy sermon from Rosh Hashanah several years ago. You can order your own copy of the journal, here. Happy reading!
It is hard to believe that my time in Israel is coming to an end. It has been an amazing few weeks. (Video, pictures, links and formatting to be improved when I get home).
The highlights (in no particular order)
1. Just being in Israel just a year after my last trip. In the past there were several years between trips so being able to be here for several weeks in July for two consecutive years has been amazing.
A goat!
2. On the Hartman tiyul (field trip) we went to this amazing moshav. There they grow vegetables and have goats and chickens and make their own cheese using the goat milk. The meal was amazing, and the cheese was off the charts good. This experience defined eating local! For more info (this would be a great stop with a tour group for lunch or dinner) you can visit here.
3. One Saturday night (after Shabbat) I was invited to visit Bar Noar, a program run by the Agudah for LGBTQ teens. Some of the teens shared their stories. How they cannot come out to their families because of religious issues, the stigma that exists in Israeli society about coming out, and how much the program means to them, their self esteem, and their future. One young woman shared a song she wrote and then a group of us started singing Adele together. We didn’t stay too long, after all it is the teens’ program, but words can’t describe how much the short visit meant and the impact it has.
4. I actually had 3 ‘real’ Shabbtot. Time to rest, be with friends, pray, and laugh.
5. The Israel Museum has an amazing exhibit about Hassidic culture. If you are going to be in Jerusalem, I recommend it.
Shakshuka, the yummiest food
6. Shakshuka, the freshest produce that tastes amazing , amazing hummus, pita, salatim, and… I could go on but I won’t.
Yummy cafe hafuch!
7. Time spent reconnecting with old friends and making new ones in various coffee shops and restaurants around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
8. Studying at the Shalom Hartman Institute with over 150 rabbis of every denomination. It felt so good after a year focused on education and pedagogy to get to study texts and not think about the other issues.
9. Spending some time with real-life hero, Rabbi Miri Gold. When the video is up, there will be a clip of her explaining what’s happening and happened with her supreme court case.
MK Einat Wilf
10. Visiting the Knesset and hearing from MK Einat Wilf.
Paratrooper training exercises
11. Tiyul to a military base where paratroopers are trained and parachutes are packed and cared for. I now know so much about parachutes and paratroopers.
Surprises/discoveries
1. Since when does everyone jaywalk in Jerusalem? Years ago it was like a game of chicken walking in a crosswalk. Now everyone crosses the streets in the middle of traffic no matter where or when! Super annoying, especially when driving.
2. Jerusalem is becoming increasingly religious and not in a good way. Areas that once seemed populated by hilonim (non traditionally observant Jews) seem few and far between. I heard more stories of Jerusalemites moving out of the city because of neighborhood issues.
3. Cinnamon ruggelah from Marzipan are even better than chocolate.
4. My Hebrew skills are better than I think.
5. I still have some PTSD from my year in Israel, 2003-2004. Whenever a bus goes by I feel an adrenaline surge. When I drive by memorials where terror attacks happened that year my heart skips a beat. I still can’t imagine getting on a bus. This doesn’t prevent me from doing anything really but it is more expensive.
6. I know of numerous people in Israel this summer (as heard that the tourism industry is doing great) shopkeepers are stating that business is down, and people might be here but they aren’t shopping. I didn’t run into one group on Ben Yehuda Street, the Mamilla shopping area, Emek Refayim or services at HUC. This seems strange and I am not sure what it means, if anything.
If you have been living under a rock you might not know that the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup on Monday night. It was a very exciting time.
I would not describe myself as a rabid hockey fan. The rink where I took figure skating lessons when I was in elementary school in Los Angeles was also the Kings’ practice rink. I enjoyed going to games when I was in high school, especially the state finals (Go Zephyrs!).
When I moved to Canada I knew it would be important to be versed in hockey. I was fortunate that I attended those games in high school and watched the occasional NCAA game (the University of Minnesota usually has a competitive team). It did not take long before I was asked who I preferred, the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens. I was (somehow) able to stay neutral in this. Nevertheless, I realized I needed to be versed in hockey. I regularly checked the scores and the rankings so I might have a clue what was happening.
I offered words of care and concern to those die-hard Leafs fans who have not won a championship since 1967. Though they are not what I might call a successful team, the Leafs have one of the most loyal base of fans in professional sports. Most of their fans will never get an opportunity to see a live game. Tickets are that hard to come by. I am truly a lucky person because I got to go to a Leafs game. It was lots of fun (though they lost). It will remain one of the many highlights of my time in Canada.
That being said I do not know if it is a coincidence, sign or portent that the Kings, a team that never won the Stanley Cup, win the year I move back to Los Angeles. I went to two Kings games this season and watched as many games as I could of the road to the final. I sat on the edge of my seat and cheered voraciously as the Kings skated victoriously.
No one can know what next season will bring. For now, Go Kings Go!
I’ve been ruminating. Dangerous. One of my least favorite moments of rabbinic life (and honestly, there aren’t that many), is when someone called me “Rabbi Ellie”. You see, I completed nine years of schooling to receive my rabbinic ordination and the sound of “Rabbi Ellie” sounds like nails on a chalkboard in my head. There is this uncomfortable trend I’ve both observed and heard about from many that male rabbis are referred to as “Rabbi LastName” while female rabbis are called “Rabbi FirstName” by default.
It is for this reason that when I started at my first synagogue post I was adamant that I was to be called Rabbi Steinman. The exception is for students under the age of Bar/Bat Mitzvah and remains that narrow. My congregants were more than happy to oblige. Not all of my colleagues felt the same way. Another rabbi and I were both recipients of an email that said, “Dear Rabbi FirstName and Rabbi Steinman.” Confusing.
I vividly recall a conversation with one of my uncles who puzzled at my problem with “Rabbi FirstName”. I stopped him in his tracks when I asked how he might respond if he was introduced as Dr. Louie (not his real name) instead of Dr. Steinman. I watched as the proverbial lightbulb lit up above his head. No further discussion. He got it.
What will I do when I again work in an environment when the custom is to refer to all of the clergy as Rabbi or Cantor FirstName? I do not yet know. I look forward to having that problem.
This whole issue begs the question that I would love some comments on, is this a gender issue or a societal change from formal to more informal? Do parents introduce their adult friends to their children as Mr. or Ms so-and-so? Does everyone go by first names? Thoughts?
Last night I went to the MDNA concert. It was AMAZING. Two hours of pure entertainment.
If you have been living under a rock you might not know that the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup on Monday night. It was a very exciting time.
I’ve been ruminating. Dangerous. One of my least favorite moments of rabbinic life (and honestly, there aren’t that many), is when someone called me “Rabbi Ellie”. You see, I completed nine years of schooling to receive my rabbinic ordination and the sound of “Rabbi Ellie” sounds like nails on a chalkboard in my head. There is this uncomfortable trend I’ve both observed and heard about from many that male rabbis are referred to as “Rabbi LastName” while female rabbis are called “Rabbi FirstName” by default.
