Rabbi Eleanor Steinman

I’m headed your way with 11 grade 10 students, 2 Israeli shlichim, and Dr. S.  We will be running around the city and I’m going to tweet the whole experience (never exactly where we are or any of the kids names, of course).

This trip is a great example of the importance of informal education.  In one weekend, we will do more in group building, learning about the immigrant narrative, and have fun all at the same time.  (This of course is similar to what it is like at Jewish summer camp though on a smaller scale).  I’m lucky to work at a synagogue that has a rich tradition of taking trips.

I hope you enjoy the tweets.  I will do my best to report back next week about all the antics!

Shabbat Shalom!

My sister, frequently referred to as THE DIVA is called such because she is amazingly talented.  She is smart, creative, organized, thoughtful, hard-working, dedicated, and generally all around awesome.

On Friday she officially announced that after eleven years of living in New York she is moving to Los Angeles.  She writes,

I am writing to you to let you know my big plans but also ask for your
help.  I am taking this big leap with no job lined up yet!  It is
exciting and scary.  I will be staying at my current job at Paul
Labrecque Salon and Spa until the end of October.  On Nov 4-14 I will
be going to LA to find an apt, get a car and most importantly, get a
job…  I am asking all of you for your assistance.  If you know
anyone that you could connect me with for a possible job, please let
me know or give them my information.  I am very open to many different
types of jobs and would be interested into looking at all the
opportunities that come up: Personal assistant work, management in
many fields, PR, Event planning, beauty industry, retail and more.  I
would be happy to send along my resume if necessary.

THE DIVA needs a job and I know that you can help!  So all you need to do is start thinking about who you know in Los Angeles and send me an email which I will forward to THE DIVA and she will get in touch with you and be amazingly grateful and follow-up on any leads.

There is just one thing you should know.  THE DIVA is a Yankee fan.  I know, not everyone can be perfect.  And maybe, just maybe when she spends some more time in Los Angeles she will convert to the Angels or Dodgers. Or she can remain a Yankee fan, I guess.  In the grand scheme of things this is really not that big a deal since so many people are Yankees fans.  This should not impact your decision to hire her in any way.  As I said she rocks.

Thank you for HIRING MY SISTER!

I have a toothpaste problem.  For years I have used Tom’s of Maine toothpaste.  I’ve tried several other natural brands and this is the one that suits me best (usually I use spearmint, on occasion cinnamint, and for a brief period, fennel).  When I moved to Canada I wasn’t sure of the availability of Tom’s so I decided to bring a few tubes with me.  When my supply was running low, I happened to be on a trip to the good ‘ol US of A and I was planning on checking a bag so I bought five tubes.  That was over a year ago.

Now I am out of my toothpaste.  One might think this isn’t a big deal.  That one would be wrong.

I went to buy more toothpaste.  I went to three stores.  Sadly, I refuse to pay 3x the price for my delightful Tom’s of Maine toothpaste.  That’s right.  Tom’s of Maine toothpaste was 3x the price of the more popular brands.  So now I am using something that was less expensive that I don’t like as much though it is clearly doing the job.

Thus ends the tale of the toothpaste conundrum.

Yesterday’s post upset some people who shall remain nameless.  I wrote a random list of things that I want.  Not things that I need.  I know the difference.  Believe me.  And I meant what I said, PLEASE DON’T COMPREHEND PURCHASING ANY OF THEM.

I was trying to be cute and a little cheeky and apparently it didn’t come across as clearly as I hoped.  Please forgive me blogosphere.

So after being really sick last week and working crazy hard during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  So I am going to be a little shameless.  Here is a list of things that I want and do not need (and no one should buy me any of these things because that would be weird and it could be difficult to find things to place on this list).

1.  Nikon D90.  I want some lenses, too. (And to make things more complicated the new Nikon 3100 is ideal!)

 

1b.  They just introduced this bag.  It obviously goes with my unending love for all products timbuk2 and would fit the Nikon D90 perfectly!

2.  Not-a-paper-cup.  I think this would be great to have at the office where, as you know, I drink most of my coffee.  I particularly think the lid is important.  Sometimes I spill.

3.  Ipad.  Under no circumstances should anyone buy this for me.  My parents were just here for Yom Kippur and I was using their iPads and it is amazing.  Again.  I do not need an ipad.  I have and love my kindle and my ipod touch.  I do think they’re ridiculously cool.

 

4.  Texting gloves.  As much as I don’t want to admit it, winter is coming.  These would help.  They would be better if they were cashmere or something though.

5.  This necklace.  In rose or yellow gold.  I don’t know why I like it.  A lot.  I would probably need the chain to be longer than this artist makes it.  That would make it more complicated.  (Remember, this is a list of things I want but do not need.  I have so many beautiful pieces of jewelry.  I don’t need any more!)

Now I’m starting to feel guilty.  There is no reason that I’m even writing this blog post except that I was relaxing and browsing the internet.  I’m being really serious, no one should buy me any of these things, ok?  Promise?  If you were going to buy me something, donate the money in my honor to a worthy cause.  That’s better!

Last week there was a very interesting article in the National Post.  In it, Toronto was named the 8th most expensive city in the world.  More expensive than Dubai, Paris, London and Los Angeles.

Some of this has to do with currency rates and inflation, etc., but I have been saying since I arrived in Toronto that this is a very expensive city.

And because I am that kind of person, what does this mean for the people who are poor?  This study doesn’t say anything about poverty in any of these cities.  Seems that there has to something more to say about this.

Here is the sermon I delivered on Kol Nidre at Temple Sinai Congregation of Toronto.

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I love to read.  I always have at least one book going, sometimes more, and then there are the magazines.  I probably inherited this trait from my father who is also a voracious reader.  The people at the local library know him by his first name and he knows theirs, too.  My dad probably got his love of reading form his father and mother, but really, who doesn’t love a good story?

Us lovers of a good story also can whet their palates with the texts of Jewish tradition.  And the close study of these texts, just like the close study of any of the classics of English literature reveals more layers, more masterful artistry and more knowledge to be unearthed.

So too, the scholars of Jewish tradition have created a PaRDeS, an orchard of opportunity.  PaRDeS is an acronym for four different levels with which one can delve into a text.  The pshat, the simple meaning or what the text says literally.  Remez is the hinted or allegorical meaning of the text.  Drash is the metaphorical meaning usually ascertained through a story, parable or sermon.  And Sod, the deepest meaning is a secret layer within the text that is often a mystical interpretation.

And this PaRDeS method can be applied to all types of texts.  I recently read in an article by Alex Sinclair and Esti Moscovitz-Kalman in which they suggest a text I never considered before.  The State of Israel is a text.  Israel is “… a Jewish text like all other Jewish texts… We know how to deal with a text that we don’t understand.  We know how to grapple with a text we find problematic.  We know how to incorporate the ideas of texts into our own lives.  We know how to appropriate texts intellectually, spiritually or emotionally, so that we ‘speak in their language’.  We know how to re-interpret texts that have become antiquated.  We know how to juxtapose texts to make them more than the sum of their parts.”[i]

Israel is text.  Just like any great classic text there are parts of the plot that we can like less or more.  There is room for deep analysis.  Characters who make our skin crawl.  Even parts we don’t like are allowed!  We have permission to probe the text and we can use the classical, Jewish, PaRDeS methodology.

I will always remember the first time I saw the glorious Jerusalem skyline.  I was in high school and was taking part in a program where we learned about the history of the Jewish people and would travel to the sites throughout the land.  Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds.  As a group we traveled to Jerusalem, directly to the overlook from Mt. Scopus.  We were prepared for drama as we walked with our eyes closed holding hands with the person in front and behind us so that the big reveal would be simultaneous and dramatic.  We were grouped together and pointed in the correct direction and on the court of three, we were all opened our eyes to the collective “wow.”

The glittering skyline of the Old City on a warm June day is breathtaking.  The Jerusalem stone, that pale limestone with an almost golden hue, sparkled and my sixteen year old eyes took it all in.  I was ready to fall in love with our holy city, and within ten seconds, it happened.  Jerusalem was a city of tremendous beauty.  I was blinded to the reality: the poverty, the religious divide, and the political jockeying of the government at the expense of the ‘average’ Israeli.  I was in love, blind love for the idealized Jewish state.  This love affair was only strengthened through my seven-week experience.

The pshat the simple meaning for me is the memory of that first view.  Yes it is emotional.  The simple meaning can be that way.  It is the first glace, our gut reaction that melds intellect and emotion.

Because I’m a text lover, I have to delve more deeply into the story, and dig deeper.  That is when it gets complicated.  For the hinted meaning within our text expose both vulnerabilities and opportunities.  Recently, Israel has been in the news because of some challenges with the children born in Israel of foreign workers with proper work credentials.  However, when a foreign worker with proper permits has a child in Israel she immediately loses forfeits her work permit and is subject to deportation along with her children.[ii] There are presently 1,200 children subject to deportation.  An inter-ministerial committee charged by Prime Minister Netanyahu created criteria that would permit 800 of these children to remain.  According to this committee, “children who were born in Israel, have lived in Israel for more than five years, speak Hebrew and are registered in Israeli schools, should be granted permanent resident status along with their families.”[iii] However there are 400 children under the age of five that facing deportation.  This news story is an example of one of the pieces of the plot, pieces of the story, elements of our text that is difficult.  So many questions emerge.  How can a Jewish state deport children?

Immigration issues in any country are complicated. This looks bad for Israel in the already biased media and it doesn’t feel like the Jewish State is acting with very Jewish values.  And so we dig deeper.

Rabbis for Human Rights has the right idea as they unpack and explain our text, they drash. Using Israel’s Declaration of Independence Rabbis for Human Rights turned it into something Jews are a bit more comfortable with, a page of Talmud.[iv] The Declaration of Independence states, “The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants.”

Just like any great text, the major players in any age speak with one another. David ben Gurion said months before the founding of the Israel, “in the Jewish state we will not be responsible for the Jews alone… but for all the residents of the state in equal measure.  Our concern will no longer be devoted solely to Jewish locales alone, or to the education and health services of the Jewish Yishuv alone – but to every locale.  Jewish and Arab in equal measure, without any discrimination and distinction.”[v] For the past 62 years Israel has lived out the explanation of this text, the drash.  In numerous count documents, Justices of the Supreme Court in Israel have upheld the legal rights of the minority groups in Israel.  As Justice Aharon Barak stated, “Each member of the minorities living in Israel enjoys complete equality of rights.”[vi]

The drash on our text, on Israel, is that yes, there are challenges and problems. However at her core there are these clearly laid out ideals of equality, justice and democracy.  With this knowledge, it is possible that the already existent courts of justice will find an appropriate solution to the 400 children facing deportation.

Yet there’s still another layer.  What is the hidden meaning of the text, the sod, of Israel?  It is best outlined by a Galician Jew, Naftali Imber in his poem, “Tikvateynu”, “Our Hope”.[vii] We know it better as Hatikvah, The Hope, the national anthem of the State of Israel.  Imber wrote,

As long as the heart within,

a Jewish soul still yearns,

and onward towards the ends of the east,

an eye still gazes toward Zion;

Our hope is not yet lost,

the hope of two thousand years,

to be a free people in our own land,

the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

At the core of our text is hope.  Hope that Israel will be a homeland for the Jewish people and a country that will rule with justice, and equality.  Hope that the visions of a sixteen-year old North American teenager upon seeing Jerusalem for the first time will be the experience of all those who make pilgrimages to her.  Hope that the visions described by our prophets will come to fruition.  A belief that the government of Israel will come to understand that the deportation of children is not Jewish and even as we welcome the minority groups within her border, Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people.  Like any great text, there are elements of the story that make us uncomfortable, characters we love to hate, and we hope some heroes in the near future who will give us a peaceful ending to so many years of strife.  Only then can the next piece of our text be created.  Israel is our text.  And she will always be our hope.

Ken y’hi ratzon.

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[i] Sinclair, Alex and Esti Moskovitz-Kalman.  “Bringing Conversations about Israel into the Life of American Congregations,” S3KReport.  Fall 2009, Number 6. 1-2.

[ii] http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=182945.  September 16, 2010.

[iii] ibid.

[iv] www.rhr-na.org/files/RHR-NA_Yom_H’Atzmaut_Israeli_Arabs.pdf.  September 12, 2010.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hatikva.html.  September 16, 2010.

AJWS has incorporated this incredible website and opportunity to give tzedakah before or just after Yom Kippur.  AJWS sent me an email saying,

Reflect Back: Fast Forward invites you to donate the “savings” from your fast—the money you would ordinarily spend on a day’s worth of food—to help combat hunger around the world.

AJWS fights hunger at its root causes. Donating the “savings” of your fast is far more effective than simply donating food, because it enables people in the developing world to feed themselves. Your “savings” will travel to communities in Africa, Asia and Latin and Central America to help promote sustainable farming, secure access to clean water and high-quality seeds, and protect land from degradation.

AJWS is a wonderful organization.  I support them personally and if you feel so moved, I recommend that you do too.

May you have an easy and meaningful fast.

This is the season of confession, so here goes…

My Gates of Repentance (GOR) is missing.  It has been missing since last year when I figured that I forgot to bring it to my office at the end of Yom Kippur and it got picked up by the most fabulous, diligent maintenance staff and they put it in the boxes with the thousands that TS owns and puts out every holidays.

I should mention that this is not just any GOR.  It is the GOR that I was given on June 20, 1992 for my Bat Mitzvah.  It has a lovely book-plate inside that indicates such.  Also, it has my copious pencil writing throughout that indicate the cues for the services on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Oh and did I mention it has my name ALL OVER IT?

I made a desperate plea at Rosh Hashanah services for it to be returned.  The staff at TS has been looking for it as they put out the prayer books for the holy days.  No one can find my GOR.

Can you help?  Have you seen my GOR?  I would really really really like it back.  Please?

As you know, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a major issue in the United States and more importantly, my own family.  (If you don’t remember my previous post you can read it here).  Recently a Federal Court ruled that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is unconstitutional.  (For an analysis of the ruling, go here)  This is really amazing, unfortunately there is much more that needs to happen.

When I wrote Uncle Alan on Sunday about the ruling, this was what he responded to me:

This was clearly a judicial victory, but it is alas very far from the last word. The whole ball game is going to be decided in the next two weeks in the Senate. We need to have the Defense Authorization Bill, with the DADT repeal amendment intact and unaltered (which is the major risk) passed, and then DADT will almost be done. If the Senate passes that bill, then everything depends on whether the Pentagon Study findings show that implementation will not be a problem (which I expect them to do). After that, it will take a few more months to implement, so that if everything goes as we want, DADT will be gone by next Spring.

This judicial decision is nice, but it has a long way to go (ultimately to the Supreme Court), which will take many years. It will, however, be our last chance if the Senate doesn’t act favorably, or if they fail to take up the Defense Bill before the elections. If the Senate doesn’t act before the elections, there’s no doubt DADT won’t get repealed legislatively, as the Republicans will gain so many seats in the House and Senate that it will likely be impossible to recreate the current majority votes in favor of repeal we now have. Thus, the judicial pathway will be all that’s left to us for a long time — and given the conservative nature of the Supreme Court, a victory there is far from certain either. Sigh.

It will be greatly helpful though, in any event, if the Pentagon’s Study shows the stupidity of the current law — it will likely do that. That might be all we end up getting, if things break badly for us.

Sorry to be less than totally optimistic — but the politics of this is what dictates my outlook. McCain and his ilk are the real problem in the Senate. I don’t think they have enough votes to successfully filibuster, but they could try to get the repeal amendment taken out of the Defense Authorization Bill (I don’t think there’s enough votes to do that either), or they could try to alter the bill (any change whatsoever, even just a punctuation mark change, would require the repeal amendment to go back to the House for a Conference Committee to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions), and because the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee opposes repeal of DADT, we’d be outvoted in Conference Committee 3-1. So it’s crucial that the amendment remain totally unchanged. The best option the Republican opponents have is to propose a seemingly reasonable amendment — something like requiring all the military Chiefs of Staff to sign-off on the Pentagon Study findings (instead of the current requirement where only the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, SecDef and President have to sign-off on it) – so they might pry away some fence-sitting conservative Democrats or moderate Republicans away from their previous commitment to the current version of the amendment — thus requiring the Conference Committee action, and thus killing the repeal effort.

So that’s the complicated political lay of the land at the moment. First up, though, is convincing Senator Reid to bring the Defense Authorization Bill to the floor for a vote.

Please pay attention to what is happening about this vitally important issue.  I will try to keep everyone up to date with this blog.  However, with it being the Jewish busy season, I know that might not be entirely possible.

Keep up the fight!