Who knows 611?

Posted on March 20, 2012 by rabbisteinman

In the spirit of Passover when we sing who knows one Monday morning the CCAR conference honored the 610 women who have been ordained since the first, Sally Priesand was ordained in 1972. That makes 611 women rabbis. There are some who thought, “oh if only there were two more then there would be 613, a parallel to the number of commandments!” Then this morning, Rabbi Art Green, Ph.D., taught that the numerical value of the word תורה, Torah, is 611. How much Torah the world has known thanks to the role of women in the rabbinate!

It was an emotional moment for the entire conference and for the Jewish people.

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CCAR in Boston

Posted on March 18, 2012 by rabbisteinman

I’m blogging from the CCAR convention and on the blog for the conference. You can read one post here, http://wp.me/p2cHFQ-wo. I will continue to cross post, of course!

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Apricot, prune, cherry, poppy or apple?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by rabbisteinman

I’m speaking of hamantashen, the official baked good of Purim.

I am a lifelong fan of apricot hamantashen. I enjoy the other fruit flavors listed above, but I will always pick apricot. This, however, proved to be a challenge in the T-dot, my previous town. No matter which deli I entered, they had apple, cherry, poppy and prune but an apricot hamantashen was nowhere to be found. Without an apricot hamantashen it just isn’t Purim.

And now, a rant. I know many people enjoy chocolate. I too like chocolate. However, in my humble opinion chocolate has no place in hamantashen. I find that when chocolate chips or a chocolate kiss are used in the center is used the entire hamantashen is too dry. I’ve never had a hamantashen with the chocolate spread filling as suggested by @ImaBima on her blog and I might like to try some of the other varieties that she suggests, as long as I can have at least one with apricot filling!

I hope that you have a festive Purim! Remember to celebrate safely (and have an apricot hamantashen for me!)

And because one of the mitzvot of Purim is to give tzedakah, here is an important reminder of food issues and a great place to give, AJWS.

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8

Posted on March 5, 2012 by rabbisteinman

On Saturday night the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) hosted and live-streamed a reading of the play, “8”. Featured in the reading were George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jane Lynch, Matt Bomer, Matthew Morrison, Christine Lahti, Jamie Lee Curtis, Martin Sheen, and many more who have joined us in the fight for marriage equality. The play is based upon the court transcripts from the Prop 8 trial, Perry v. Schwarzenegger that resulted in Judge Vaughn Walker ruling that Prop 8 was unconstitutional (then came the 9th Circuit court decision upholding the ruling that Prop 8 is unconstitutional and the current holding pattern. For a summary, click here.)

I started watching the play last night and it is really amazing and simultaneously horrifying. Amazing to watch a real-life court room drama that is so poignant and brilliantly acted. The horrifying part is that the dialogue is taken directly from the court transcripts which means that there were actual witnesses saying deplorable things in a courtroom! People actually think and seem to believe they can prove (though they actually couldn’t) some bigoted things.

You can watch the reading below or by clicking here. 

 

This weekend I was also reminded when talking about issues of marriage the battle is about marriage equality and not gay marriage. A good reminder to all that we need to be mindful of our words because they really do speak to what the issues are and are not in these politicized times.

 

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A good coach

Posted on February 22, 2012 by rabbisteinman

In the last several months there have been some very disturbing stories about coaches and their abhorrent behaviors. It is hard to remember sometimes that there are a lot of good coaches out there that serve as role models for their players and the communities they serve.

This morning on my ride to school though, I heard a story on NPR that reminded me of the importance of good coaches, team sports, and the power of community. I admit, I teared up. You might, too.

 

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Mystery solved!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by rabbisteinman

I have excellent news for those of you who, like me, lost sleep over the case of the missing Machzor. The good news is that my machzor (High Holy Day prayerbook) has been found.

The book was missing for two years of High Holy Day worship. One year at TS which was somewhat complicated since I actually needed the book (though I did manage to get by with other resources (mostly a photocopied Machzor in a 3-ring binder). This year in MN I borrowed a Gates of Red from MY DAD for RH and the shul I attended for YK used a different book so it was all good.

I have no idea why it took 2 years to find this book. I know TS stores all of the books throughout the year but you’d think the large gold sticker (thanks to LBN for the awesome ordination gift, an embosser), the paper clips and the innumerable pieces of paper sticking out might have made it obvious or that the person who used the book may have found it, seen the priceless nameplate that this was a gift to me in celebration of my Bat Mitzvah and given it to someone.

Nevertheless, I am grateful to the person(s) who found my precious prayer book and gave it to someone who returned it to me. Thank you to THE POET friend for hand delivering the book to me in LA LA LAND, too.

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Let’s go to the movies…

Posted on January 30, 2012 by rabbisteinman

Don’t fall out of your chair. I know. Two posts in two days. Amazing.

After watching the SAG awards last night, I realized I have a lot to say about the movies that are in the running for these various awards.

The Help is one of the best films of the year. I blogged about it after I saw it months ago. This film tells the story of life a few decades ago yet rings true to issues that domestic workers have today all around us. Great acting. The book is also great.

The Artist besides the fact that the lead character looks exactly like my PAPA JOE, it is really a story and it is beautiful to watch. MY DAD told me that he heard people walked out of the theater because they had to read (it is mostly a silent film). WHAT? It is a great movie.

Moneyball I really enjoyed this movie. I appreciated that I walked out of it having learned something about the game of baseball. It won’t win any awards but it was a good movie.

Ides of March Good movie. Interesting ethical dilemma. Ryan Reynolds was fantastic.

The Iron Lady Meryl Streep is amazing in this film. The way the story was a surprise to me. I think people should see it and not pay attention to the critics’ reviews.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo MY DAD loved the opening sequence of this movie. I thought it was really weird. The movie was good. True to the book. Violent but if it wasn’t then it wouldn’t be true to the book.

Bridesmaids This movie made me laugh. A lot.

Footnote This movie is nominated for best foreign film from Israel and I heard somewhere that it mas a good chance to win which apparently does not happen that often. I thought it was a good movie. Not a great movie.

Beginners Christopher Plummer keeps winning awards for this movie. Is it because he is that great in it or because he is Christopher Plummer?

Albert Nobbs I have not seen this movie in release anywhere and I live in movie-land. Can’t wait to see it.

My Week with Marilyn On the list of movies to see.

The Descendents I a not going to see this movie. Mom dying, not a good movie for me to see.

Hugo Also on the ‘must see’ list. Just don’t know when.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy I never saw mini-series or read the book but I hear phenomenal things about this movie.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close I have no interest in seeing this movie.

Have you seen any of these movies? Thoughts? Opinions?

 

 

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Well hello there

Posted on January 29, 2012 by rabbisteinman

Why hello there

It has been an insanely long time since I wrote a blog post, mostly because I have lots of ideas running through my mind and not enough time to actually write things down. School is occupying the majority of my time right now. In lieu of a formal graduate thesis for this program I am tasked with writing a curriculum guide. Every graduate of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at HUC-JIR (did you know that if you are a rabbi or educator you can contact the Tartak Center at HUC in LA and get access to almost all of these guides?) writes this guide on a topic of their choosing for any of the following settings: camp, religious school, adult education or day school. My curriculum guide is about Modern Hebrew poetry for adult learners in the congregational setting. Exciting, right?

A lot of interesting things have been happening in Israel. By ‘interesting’ I mean completely ridiculous and offensive. The political cartoon connected to this post effectively sums up what is going on. If you haven’t seen the flash mob video from Beit Shemesh, you can watch it here.

What’s new with you?

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Looking for a good read?

Posted on January 10, 2012 by rabbisteinman

The Jewish Book Council just released the 2011 winners and finalists in a myriad of categories for their prestigious award. If you are looking for something to read, you might want to start here.

Mazal tov to all the authors, especially my Bible teacher, Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi for The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth and the CCAR Press for The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic. MY DAD will be pleased also because Sacred Trash: The Lost and Found World of the Cairo Geniza by Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole also made the list (and no I haven’t read it yet, DAD).

Happy reading!

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School days…

Posted on January 2, 2012 by rabbisteinman

Last night I read a fascinating article (posted by someone on Facebook) in The Atlantic about the school system in Finland. As you know, this year I am studying to earn a masters in Jewish education and am doing a lot of thinking about all different types of learning opportunities. This article struck a chord for many reasons.

First, the notion that there are no private schools is fascinating to me. My parents sent me to public schools in Lala land and Minnesota because as MY MOM always said, “I believe in public schools.” I never knew exactly what she meant by this, except that she believed in some of the principles of equality that are espoused by the Finnish school system. There is a lot of talk in the Jewish community about the pros and cons of day schools. I do not have an opinion I am willing to share about this here.

Second, the Finnish system proves that standardized testing does not promote the best educative environment for students (or anyone who works in the school). The power of the individual school principal to fix problems and the classroom teacher to establish assessments as s/he sees fit.

Third, teaching in Finland is a serious profession. Every teacher has a masters degree and I would like to believe is paid accordingly for their knowledge and skill. The pervasive issues in the news; tenure, under-staffing, burnout, would fall away in this type of environment (it seems to me).

There are some other major points that are outlined here, especially about equality, social services, and food, that I am not fully emphasizing and are also very important. What do you think about these issues? I’d love to hear!

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