Rabbi Eleanor Steinman

Do you remember your first trip to Israel?  I went on an eight-week high school program and fell in love with the country.  In particular I remember going to the Western Wall, the Kotel, on the 9^th of Av and the maze of people gathered there.  The 9^th of Av commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem.  Looking into our past as a people there is much to mourn, however it is our present that is of imminent concern.

On Monday, Anat Hoffman, the director of the Israel Religious Action Center was arrested for carrying a Torah scroll at the Kotel plaza.  Hoffman, one of the founders of Women of the Wall was supposedly in violation of a high court ruling that forbids women from reading Torah at the Western Wall.  As the video from You Tube shows, Hoffman never intended to violate this court order.  She simply removed the Torah scroll and was leading a procession to Robinson’s Arch where Torah reading by women is permitted.

Anat Hoffman was released from police custody the same day and is forbidden from approaching the Western Wall plaza for 30 days.

Fortunately for us, Temple Sinai is hosting Anat Hoffman as our pulpit guest this Shabbat morning, July 17 at 10 am where she will report on recent events.

I hope that you will join me in welcoming Anat to our community and learning what we can do to make a difference.

There is a significant confusion when I describe what I do to a Hebrew speaker.  I use the word ‘rav’ rabbi and they tell me that isn’t possible because I’m a woman (as if I didn’t know). (Rav u’morah is what it says on my smicha).   Sometimes a Hebrew speaker uses the word ‘rabanit’ which is a term of honor for a rabbi’s wife, the rebbetzin.  Nope, not one of those either.

There is no word in the Hebrew language for a female rabbi.  Some of my colleagues like to use the term, ‘rabbah.’  I’m not one of them.

Interestingly though, Rabbi Avi Weiss recently ordained the first female rabbi.  There is a fascinating article from New York magazine that is worth the read both for its profile of Rabbi Weiss who is an important figure in our day, and of the notion of the ordination of women in the modern Orthodox movement.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this.  Feel free to comment.

Oh and in case it wasn’t clear, you can still call me rabbi.

This is from ARZACanada.  They’ve made it really easy to do something very important.  If you’re not in Canada, please follow this link.

Take Action – Send a Letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Please cut and paste the following text in an e-mail to Prime Minister Netanyahu, with a copy to Israeli Ambassador to Canada Miriam Ziv, and Consul General Amir Gissin.

Anat Hoffman clutches the Torah scroll

And real life hero, Anat Hoffman.  That’s right.  The Jerusalem police force arrested Anat Hoffman on Rosh Chodesh Av, Monday, July 12, for carrying a Torah scroll at the Kotel plaza.

You can read about it from many different perspectives here, here, and here.  My classmate and colleague, Leah Berkowitz also took this video. 

Anat has been banned from the Kotel for 30 days.  Fortunately for all of us, she is coming to Toronto and will be speaking from the bima at Temple Sinai on Shabbat morning at 10am.

Please go to the Women of the Wall website.  On the bottom left there are a number of actions that can be taken, that must be taken.

As if all of this wasn’t enough.  The Rotem conversion bill went before the Knesset.  Please sign this petition in support of liberal Jewry.

There’s work to be done!

Blogosphere, I am going to be away for two weeks and am taking a vacation from blogging.

See you on the other side…

Glad it wasn't like this for URJ biennial!

You might not be aware (and ‘you’ would definitely not be living in Toronto if this is the case) that the G20 begins this coming weekend.  All of downtown Toronto has been transformed into a security zone, it seems.  Last night I was lucky enough to go to the Rogers Centre for the Jays v. Cardinals and downtown was deserted except for the groups of cops.  (What do you call a group of cops standing around?  A gaggle is geese…)  The protests are apparently under way.  People who work downtown are being advised to stay away or to come to work in street clothes.

Apparently over 1 billion has been spent to keep everyone safe.  We should expect highways to be closed down for up to 45 minutes at a time.  I live well north of the area where all of this is happening and have no plans to go downtown or anywhere near downtown.  I’ll stick to the suburbs until this is over.

And because I had to look it up, therefore it is probably worthwhile knowledge to share.  The G20 is composed of…

The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (known as the G-20 and also the G20 or Group of Twenty) is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 countries plus the European Union. Recently summits meeting at level of Heads of government have been introduced. The 2010 chair country of the G-20 is South Korea.

Countries included are: South Africa, Mexico, Canada, USA, Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, EU, France, Germany, Russia, Italy, UK, Turkey and Australia.

This list is oddly similar to the World Cup qualifying teams… hmmm.

Here’s a map to show the security zone. 

They’re projecting that the downtown businesses will lost $1 billion in revenue though this will not be measurable or be recovered at any point.

If anyone wanted my opinion on how to spend $1 billion, well, I can think of lots of ways and places.  It definitely wouldn’t be on security for a bunch of people in Toronto.

And by Venice I mean Italy not California.  An easy thing to confuse.

When I was a first-year student at Brandeis I took this awesome class called, “Merchants, Moneylenders and the Ghetti of Venice” taught by Dr. Benjamin Ravid who is an expert in this field.  Needless to say the class was fascinating though I was totally ill-equipped in my first semester at university for such an intensive, seminar style course.  Fortunately, I had opportunity to travel to Venice after my senior year, though only for one day, and tour the Jewish Quarter.

I am resisting every urge to go into a lengthy history lesson about Venice and the pivotal role of this community in post-inquisition Europe (Venice is one of the first stops on the way to the Levant/Ottoman Empire where many Jews continued on).

So, instead, I will just encourage you to read this article.  If you have opportunity to get to Venice, definitely stop in the Jewish quarter (and then have some gelato for me anywhere in Italy).  It is nice that there is a Chabad presence in Venice and I, or course encourage any liberal Jewish visitor to seek out the appropriate organizations that will meet her/his needs.  Regardless, there is very important history and culture of our people in Venice!  Go and see and learn.

With the World Cup on in the background, I just read of the passing of Manute Bol.  You can read an obituary, here.  I don’t know much about Bol beyond the basketball court but it seems after his career in the NBA ended his real work began.  Hailing from Sudan, he did lots of work to bring peace to the region torn apart in horrendous armed conflict.

I wonder where this type of hero is?  With the world’s attention on the pitch in South Africa are there players who are planning on making the world better when their professional career comes to an end?  I hear lots of people around me idealizing hockey stars, I do live in Canada after all.  Are there organizations they support that go beyond the rink?  How about in addition to listing stats relevant to the game we could also learn about the work people are doing so that we can idolize the talents not just in the professional sporting arena?

I don’t mind when professional athletes have flaws, they are human after all.  I do not condone their behavior when they do things that are illegal or are things we do not want our children to know about.  What about the player who makes the most assists and doesn’t score all the goals or points?

I guess in the end I’m still holding out for a hero.

Recently, I came across this article.  Conversions in Israel are a major issue not only for the Jews living there, for the entire Jewish people.  At the time of the founding of the State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion made an agreement with the Orthodox rabbinate that they could run the affairs of state.  (I’m summarizing greatly).  Now, 62 years later it is time for the government of Israel to eliminate the control of the Orthodox rabbinate.  A summary of how we got to this place is here.

Cantor Katie Oringel and Farmer Daniel Hoffman

What would bring multiple generations of community together, embed Jewish values, and enable social justice values in one place?  Food, food access, healthy food choices, and the environment are clear issues in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).  Temple Sinai is located in the middle of what some call, the doughnut of poverty.  I like to think of it as a bagel of poverty, myself.  There seemed to be opportunity knowing this.
Through meeting with various community groups members of the Social Action Committee (SAC) and I met Daniel Hoffman.  Daniel is a social worker by training and started an organization called The Cutting Veg.
The Cutting Veg runs Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs and it seemed this would meet several of Temple Sinai’s goals.  Daniel describes a CSA as, “a mutually beneficial partnership in which individuals or families receive fresh, local, organically grown produce weekly, while supporting our local farmers and sustainable growing practices.”

The best asparagus I have ever tasted.

The SAC gathered together and with the help of Daniel, started to recruit members for our CSA.  We tabled during religious school, went to various committees including the Board of Trustees, created a facebook group and used our regular temple publications to recruit.  The CSA selected the name Pri Adamah, fruits of the earth.  I spoke about Pri Adamah, our CSA, on the first morning of Passover as well.  Our goal was to have a minimum of 50 families by the middle of the farming season.
Some of the reasons we like The Cutting Veg as a congregation is because of a special Tzedakah component.  The Cutting Veg makes a commitment to tzedakah and any member of Pri Adamah is also able to donate any produce that is not picked up to a local youth shelter.  There, the food is used in cooking classes.  We’re also hoping that the connection between Temple Sinai and the youth shelter will reap many benefits.  Three weeks in we are already seeing a partnership emerging.
Our CSA works on a point system.  A large share is 18 points per week, a regular share is 13 points per week.  Each individual (or if a shareholder is two households and splitting) gets to pick their own produce based upon the point values.  The entire enterprise is run on the honor system and works quite well.
The Cutting Veg asks for members of CSAs to think about volunteering on the farm.  In addition, we have access to the farm and our nursery school and young families group are planning trips in the fall.  During the CSA pickup times we need volunteers and already we’re finding that share members are sticking around the tent on temple property to share recipes, learn one anothers’ names and create community.

Selections from our first week

I’m happy to report that at the end of business on the first day, Pri Adamah had 54 shareholders.  Many came from the congregation, others are people in the neighborhood interested in organic, local produce.  We’ve had two successful weeks of Pri Adamah.  Already I’ve feasted on spinach, green garlic, green onion, snap peas, asparagus, apples, rhubarb, peppermint, potatoes, and kale (also available where radishes, turnips, bok choy, asian mix greens, salad greens and herbs).  Members have posted demonstration videos of recipes.  Several have mentioned that they noticed they were eating at home and cooking more.

Going forward there is still a lot to be done.  As mentioned above, we’re already seeing an emerging partnership with the youth shelter.  There are other things that they need and we are looking to coordinate drives through temple.  The SAC is considering printing CSA bags with our logo as a means of marketing.  We are also hoping to engage even more community members, perhaps people who are growing things on their own.  We have launched a blog which we invite you to visit and comment or ask us questions.  The plan is to highlight CSA members and gardeners as well as lots of Jewish content.

If you have more questions about how to start a CSA of your own, there are a lot of great resources out there and I’m happy to help point you in the right direction.  If you’re in the Toronto area you are welcome to join Pri Adamah!  You can download a registration form or come on Tuesday from 2:30-6:30 to Temple Sinai with your checkbook in hand.

I love Pri Adamah because it enables me and all of the shareholders to live our values while nourishing our bodies.  I hope you think about joining a CSA or starting your own.

Betay’avon!