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Ansche Chesed Monthly Bulletin |
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CANDLE LIGHTING TIMES
6/1 Light Shavuot candles 8:03 6/2 Light candles 8:03 Shabbat & Yom Tov ends 9:13 6/9 Light candles 8:08 Shabbat ends 9:19 6/16 Light candles 8:11 Shabbat ends 9:21 6/23 Light candles 8:13 Shabbat ends 9:23 6/30 Light candles 8:13 Shabbat ends 9:21 SERVICE TIMES Evening Minyan (Ma'ariv) Shabbat Services Family and Children's Services 11 a.m. SHABBAT STUDY TALMUD STUDY WEEK OF JUNE 1 WEEK OF JUNE 4 WEEK OF JUNE 11 WEEK OF JUNE 18 WEEK OF JUNE 25
Last month, the Israeli novelist A. B. Yehoshua gave large
segments of world Jewry a stroke, thanks to his Zionist polemic at
a 100th anniversary celebration for the American Jewish Committee.
Israeli identity surpasses a merely Jewish identity, Yehoshua said; only Israelis must confront difficult political and social realities. Only Israelis approach these problems – from tax policy to solid-waste disposal, from fire prevention to healthcare scarcity, from air pollution to security issues – from the standpoint of Jews creating a Jewish country. Only Israelis have an indelible identity, while exilic Jews at best are second-class members of the family. We Israelis have history and daily life, he said. You Diaspora Jews prefer to hide in culture. Being Israeli is our skin, he said, while Jewish citizens of other countries are merely wearing ethnic jackets they can slip on and off. This speech prompted a thoughtful discourse (including contributions by Shulamit Aloni, Ze’ev Bielski, Avrum Burg, Yosi Sarid, Natan Sharansky, just to name the politicians) in the pages of the leading Israeli newspaper, Haaretz (worth reading in English at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/715037.html. AC member Fred Rein contributed a letter to the editor, which ran in the Hebrew edition also – yasher koah!) I would add a couple of thoughts. First, although it was obnoxious to show up at his hosts’ gala to call them a bunch of cowards, Yehoshua and the old- school Zionists have a point. Israeli life bears a social weight that American Jewish life does not. The Torah and the Sages prescribe a rounded Judaism that is both religious and political. Judaism is concerned with tax fairness, ecology, and economic development, as well as with eating matzah and shaking a lulav; it demands that we feed the poor, but forbids cooking for them on Shabbat. These mitzvot hold true for Diaspora Jews as well, and I am proud to remain one. But it seems to me that Israelis have the opportunity to shape a Jewish society in that dual way more fully than we do in the republics of the Diaspora. And the course of Jewish history will turn on what our people can create in the State of Israel. So I was not terribly insulted or surprised by this classical argument for Shelilat HaGolah (“negation of the diaspora”). But I was astonished by Yehoshua’s attack on Torah study as a kind of sham Jewish identity for “liberal Jewish circles” and on “manifestly secular people who return to the synagogue – not in order to find God, but to clutch onto identity.” Yehoshua described himself as “incensed by the increasingly dangerous and irresponsible disconnection between the glorification of the texts and the mundane matters of daily life. Instead, I propose that we continue to nurture the concrete and living value of the Moledet (“homeland”) rather than the dull and worn-out value of Jewish spirituality.” Our obsession with “ ‘the Jewish texts,’ which many Jews today consider to be the core of their identity, did not help us to understand better the processes of the reality around us” during the 1930s, as the Nazi storm gathered. “The Jews were too busy with mythology and theology instead of history,” and did not take the one path open to them – Zionism – which would have saved them. To Yehoshua, then, the Torah and the immensely rich traditions of learning are primarily a diverting fantasy, shifting our focus from real life with its threats. This mystifies me. Culture is not a diversion. Culture – especially the culture of our sacred texts – helps us frame life and death questions to begin with. I think of culture as the way people make their lives meaningful as they engage stories, themes and ideas that transcend their own personal time on earth. To be a Jew is to live through Jewish cultural life. For me, that is a manifestly religious project. For others, it may be a secular quest. But in all cases, it is by virtue of being intertwined with our canonical texts that Jewish identity can be shared among us, can link us to past generations and to future ones, can point us toward questions of ultimate value. Being a Jew is worthwhile precisely because, by encountering sacred texts together, we build wise, deep, ethical, communal and finally holy lives. My sense of myself as a Jew hearkens back to the teaching of R. Saadia Gaon (10th century, Egypt and Babylonia), who asserted: “This nation is a nation only by virtue of its Torah.” I would give R. Saadia a modern paraphrase: we are a nation only by virtue of our shared texts, our unending study of our particular canonical stories, teachings, laws and practices that propel us to seek the meaning of Jewish life. I take my deeply held Zionism largely from Ahad Ha- Am, the essayist who wrote a century ago (in “The Spiritual Revival”) that the political building in the Land of Israel is incomplete unless it grounds a revived inner cultural life. “The whole point of the material settlement consists in this: that it can be the foundation of that national spiritual center which is destined to be created in our ancestral country. . . Little by little, willing hands must be brought into our country to repair its ruins and restore its pristine glories. But at the same time we must have hearts and minds endowed with knowledge and sympathy and ability to repair our spiritual ruins.” The Jewish fullness of Israeli life is so intense and worthy. But we Diaspora Jews need not be ashamed before anyone for the depth of our lives within Jewish texts. Lord God, make the words of Your Torah sweet in our mouths, and all the mouths of Your people Israel. May we and all our descendents, wherever they live, know Your name and study Your Torah for its own sake. Blessed is God, who teaches Torah to the people Israel.
It’s probably a misnomer to use the word “retreat” to describe the
gathering of Ansche Chesed’s b’nai mitzvah of 5767, since, as my
son Jacob reminded me as we set out to the synagogue Sunday
morning, spending the day in shul was not exactly a withdrawal.
Our gathering, however, marked something more important: an
engagement and a reconnection and a step forward, which came
through in every aspect of the program, beginning with the
havdalah ceremony marking space and time, to our children finding
their portions in the Torah from which they would read at their
bar or bat mitzvah, to the different break-off discussion groups
that we joined.
But the most memorable part of the day for me came as we walked over to the Jewish Home for the Aged. I looked at my son and the other children, struck by what a sweet group of kids they were. Many had been in Hebrew School at Ansche Chesed since kindergarten, while others were meeting for the first time, yet it was hard to tell who was new and who’d been together for years. And that quality came through all the more when we reached the Jewish Home and our kids sang and danced and talked to the people there. On our way home, I asked Jacob how the day had gone. Pretty good, he said, but was disappointed we hadn’t left the city and gone away. “You know,” he said again, “it really wasn’t much of a retreat.” I didn’t argue. But I thought of our visit to the Jewish Home and of watching him and the others talking and listening to the residents there. And I found myself thinking about my mother who passed away last year. I could picture her looking at him and could hear her saying in that Hungarian voice filled with pride and a touch of paprika: “Kik auf mein einikel, look at my grandson! See how he has advanced.” -- Rob Rosenberg
SHAVUOT SCHEDULE
THURSDAY, JUNE 1 7 p.m. AC Tikkun Leil Shavuot 9 p.m. Teen/’Tween Tikkun 9:30 Minyan M’at Tikkun Leil Shavuot 10 p.m. – 5 a.m. Stay the Night! Community Tikkun Leil
Shavuot FRIDAY, JUNE 2 SATURDAY, JUNE 3 Parents are invited to bring their “first fruits” – babies born since last Shavuot – to the Sanctuary on Shabbat, the second day of Shavuot, for a special aliyah to welcome them to the community. The Sanctuary Minyan will also honor this year’s graduates.
SUNDAY, JUNE 11, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Please join us up on the roof for the launch of Scribblers on the Roof: Contemporary American Jewish Fiction Edited by AC members Melvin Jules Bukiet and David G. Roskies, Scribblers on the Roof (Persea Books) includes both established masters and the newest generation of gifted storytellers. Its 20 short stories sparkle with originality, vitality, and chutzpah. Among the authors who you will have a chance to meet are Jonathan Ames, Janice Eidus, Dara Horn, Jonathan Levi, Cynthia Ozick, Jon Papernick, Lynne Sharon Schwartz, and Aryeh Lev Stollman. Suggested contribution of $15 includes hors d'oeuvres, cocktails and a copy of Scribblers on the Roof. SCRIBBLERS ON THE ROOF 7th SEASON BEGINS JUNE 19! Here is this year's line-up:
NEW GAN PROGRAM THIS FALL
Ansche Chesed is proud to announce the formation of a new enrichment program for entering kindergarten students and their families for 2006-2007. The program, which will meet monthly (mostly Sunday mornings, but also occasional Friday and Saturday evenings) at Ansche Chesed, is designed for families to learn together about holidays, Shabbat and tzedakah. The learning and activities will be fun, hands-on, and age-appropriate. The program is for all families, regardless of background. Families may also choose to enroll their child in the Gan class of the Ansche Chesed Hebrew School, which meets weekly. These programs are contingent on enrollment, so please contact LKurland@AnscheChesed.org now for more information. EIGHTH GRADE CLASS BEGINS NEXT YEAR TODAH RABBAH - Many thanks to: Michelle Pomerantz And to all of the Shabbat service leaders:
ISRAEL: THE EARLY YEARS
Wednesday, June 7, 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Come hear Yocheved Muffs, who was a kibbutz pioneer during the War of Independence, speak about the early years in Israel. Bring a dairy or parve lunch and we will provide beverages and cookies.
FREE SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: All's Well That Ends Well
Saturday, June 3, 7 p.m. See live Shakespeare in Central Park presented for free in a unique setting. The performance begins at 7 p.m. at West 103 Street and Central Park West. AC will meet at 6:45. No reservations necessary. For more information visit www.newyorkclassical.org/. WHITEWATER RAFTING
TUV HA’ARETZ – Community-Supported Agriculture Project
Tuv Ha’Aretz is back at AC for a third season! As a member of Tuv Ha’Aretz you’ll receive 22 weeks (June-November) of delicious and healthy organic produce that you pick up once a week on Wednesday night at Ansche Chesed. Support local farmers Chris and Eve from the Garden of Eve Farm, help build community, and enjoy amazing organic produce grown locally! Register now! You can download an application at www.hazon.org/CSA or email Leah@hazon.org for more information. Tuv Ha’Aretz is sponsored by Hazon, AC, and the Garden of Eve Farm.
MAZAL TOV TO:
May's B’nai Mitzvah: Marni Epstein Nicholas Heim Rachel Katz Abigail Noy Rosa Schwartzburg Ethan Linden and Liba Kornfeld on the birth of their
son, Adin Elya. CONDOLENCES TO: TODA RABBAH TO MAY SHELTER VOLUNTEERS
GENERAL DONATIONS
Deborah Brodie in honor of Judy Margolin and Seth Schwartz's engagement, in honor of the birth of Shuly Schwartz's first grandchild, Eliezer Aharon, in honor of Rabbi Marion and Bill Shulevitz's granddaughter Rose's bat mitzvah, in memory of David Kraemer's father, Paul Kraemer, in memory of Mildred Sharzer Feygele Jacobs and Michael Cholden- Brown: Mazel Tov to Mayer and Suzanne Cavalier on the birth of granddaughter Rachel and thanks to David Fishman for his kindness during the shiva for Michael's father Diane Cohler-Esses and Larry Cohler in memory of David Kraemer's father, Paul Kraemer Sitta Zorn and Elaine Van Deuren Mindy Fischer in honor of the Hebrew School graduates Debra and Martin Greenberg in honor of Rachel Salzman's college graduation Vicki and Michael Gross Bethamie Horowitz and Barry Holtz in memory of David Kraemer's father, Paul Kraemer Carol Ingall in memory of Mildred Sharzer Linda Gerstel and Edward Joyce in honor of Rabbi Kalmanofsky Shuly Rubin Schwartz in honor of Len Sharzer; in honor of Dina Rosenfeld and Howard Berkowitz and Deborah Brodie for their help with the bris of Eliezer Aharon Schwartz Frances L. Stern with appreciation for the community's support after the death of our mother, grandmother and mother-in-law, Anne Stern YAHRZEIT DONATIONS SHELTER FUND PRAYER BOOK FUND RABBI'S DISCRETIONARY FUND KIDDUSH FUND MUSIC FUND HEBREW SCHOOL FAMILY PROGRAMS
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