IJII

Shalom. I hope you've been having a good summer, and I wish you all the best. Here are a few items of importance for members of the University Network of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.

1. Please make sure that we have your correct mailing list on file. You may go to our website, jewishideas.org, and check your My Account page. We plan to mail out the new issue of Conversations (Orthodoxy and Ethics) in early September, and it's important that we have your correct mailing address. 

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I recently attended Shabbat morning services at a synagogue that was having a "Carlebach Shabbat". A group of "Carlebachians" led the services, and sang many of the prayers to music composed by the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.

I happened to be sitting next to one of the organizers of this Shabbat event, and I asked him: what does a "Carlebach Shabbat" service provide, that seems to be lacking in the "regular" synagogue service? He pondered for a few moments, and then answered in one word: "Yearning".

I have been pondering this response ever since.

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Shalom uvrakha. I hope you have been having a good summer.

We recently returned from a 3 week stay in Jerusalem. I spent a lot of time meeting with like-minded individuals and organizational leaders, in order to foster cooperative relationships between our Institute and Israeli modern Orthodoxy. Below is a report on activities we have already undertaken, and that we are expanding in the coming years.

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This week's Torah reading includes the Shema--the classic statement of Jewish faith: Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.  We are commanded to recite this passage each morning and each evening as a confirmation of our "accepting the yoke of the kingdom of Heaven". 

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The State of Israel has unfortunately surrendered responsibility for conversions to a Hareidi-dominated bureaucracy. The Chief Rabbinate and their courts have insisted on imposing stringencies far beyond what halakha demands; the negative attitude of many of the rabbinic judges further alienates potential converts to Judaism. 
  The "Rotem Bill" will serve to further alienate potential converts to Judaism. It will create a breach between Israel and the Jewish diaspora. It will not only alienate non-Orthodox rabbis and communities, but will deepen the rift between the Israeli rabbinic bureaucracy and the Modern Orthodox rabbinate in the diaspora.

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We recently returned from a wonderful trip to Israel. As we sat in the waiting area of the BenGurion airport terminal before the flight, we noticed a young family nearby--a husband and wife and their little children aged 12 and under. As could be expected, the children were restless and wanted to run around and play.

The mother, in a soft voice, spoke to the children: It's fine to play, but please remember: everything you do should be a "kiddush Hashem" (a sanctification of God's name). The children understood their mother's message, and they played nicely and quietly.

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Rabbinic literature includes the names and teachings of many great and well-known sages. Yet, the rabbi who is mentioned most often in our liturgy is Rabbi Hananya ben Akashya—an obscure figure about whom we know almost nothing. We quote him at the end of our Musaf service, before the kaddish; and after every public Torah study session, to introduce the recitation of kaddish.

“Rabbi Hananya ben Akashya says: The Holy One blessed be He wanted to increase the merit of Israel; therefore He increased the Torah and mitzvoth for them”.  This one statement is Rabbi Hananya’s claim to immortality; this is what he has left to posterity. Without this statement, he would be totally forgotten. Why has this statement proven so meaningful to the Jewish people?

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Among Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik’s lectures, was one that dealt with the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. “A grandfather stands before his newly born grandchild filled with paradoxical thoughts. Feelings of renewal merge with fading memories of the past.”

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 “Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.”

 

Bil’am is hired to curse Israel—but instead he showers blessings on the Israelites. Among his statements is the above-quoted phrase that has generally been understood to mean that Israel is fated to be alone, isolated from other nations.  Yet, if this is what the verse means—it doesn’t seem to be much of a blessing. Rather, it would be condemning Israel to permanent outsider status. It encourages Israel to self-pity and to righteous indignation; it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that can lead to a deep alienation and malaise.

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