To use Tevye’s method of dissecting a problem, on the one hand, Judaism is an ancient religion. We, as Jews, define ourselves by our ability to act within a unified community where our practices bind us to each other and God. By bending Judaism to the aesthetics of a modern world, it loses its identity and ceases to be the community-defining force it has traditionally been.
I grew up in a silent spiritual world, the seed of what was yet to come, planted so deeply, it took years to sprout. But when it did I discovered healing, wholeness, a sense of belonging—to my synagogue, Shir Tikvah, and Judaism. But it took a long time, and required a lot of help, to get there, to get to this moment.
Sefer Bereshit starts out with the Hebrew letter “bet”. The first Midrash Rabba (and echoed in Yerushalmi Chagiga 2:2) notes that the reason this is not an “alef” is because […]
Is it possible to give something our full attention and find meaning in that moment, as well as everything else we do in life? How is this possible when we […]
Everyone knows someone who is affected by mental illness. Even if it’s not you personally, trust me, it hits much closer to home than you may think. In the Jewish community we assume those things don’t happen to us and therefore we don’t talk about it. This is a huge mistake. I think Jews, especially, take on the feelings of shame and guilt when we’re forced to keep secrets about loved ones and issues of mental health. That shame and guilt can eat away at you and make your quality of life miserable.
“A Rabbi and a dozen Jews hop onto a bar… and start pedaling…” It’s not the start to the weirdest clergy joke you’ve heard lately. Instead it’s a fun new way of taking Torah study out of the temple and onto the streets.
Israeli documentaries, Russian-Jewish photography from the early twentieth-century, and Yiddish radio – these are a just a few of the topics that will be covered in this year’s Community Lecture Series, presented by the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota. The series is celebrating its tenth year, and will kick off the season with three exciting programs in October.
We have so many choices to make in our lives. This is both a blessing and a curse. Personally, I was able to choose the college I wanted to attend, the country where I wanted to study abroad, the city I wanted to live in after graduation, the profession I wanted to pursue. When I was ordained I was able to take the job that was the best fit regardless of the location. In my personal life I can choose to date or not to date, I can choose whether or not to get married and if I want to have children. I can choose to be vegan or vegetarian, to eat only organic or only unprocessed foods that are not GMO. At the grocery store there are endless options for everything I want to buy from toothpaste to shampoo to nut mixes. We are very lucky to have all of these choices, but they could drive a person crazy.
Today Yiddish is a language now spoken by less than half a million people worldwide. So why would the Sabes JCC host three weeks of Yiddish related festivities? And why would the community, even teens and young adults like me, be interested in hearing a speaker like Aaron Lansky, the famous preserver of Yiddish books? The bigger question is – Why, in 2013 should anyone care about Yiddish at all?
We are here tonight to measure ourselves against a cosmic yardstick as our planet has turned once more around the sun. We are here to notice how we have been buffeted, dented, shaped, polished by the world this year, and to notice the dimensions of the imprint that we have left in the world this time around.