Rachel Becker and Rabbi Birdie Becker at Shalom Park after the Erev Rosh Hashanah 2024 sermon.

I would like to join my voice in welcoming everyone and expressing appreciation for the support once again shown to our community and to Israel. A few housekeeping items. Please silence your phones.  Restroom are in the social hall building next door.  We are still raising funds for a ramp to make our historic sanctuary more ADA compatible so we apologize for that and hope to be able to correct the situation.  We would prefer to be totally inclusive.  Should an urgent situation arise, there are exits both through the doors you entered and through the back of the building.  Please follow instructions that may be given by security.
 
This community is no stranger to anti-Semitism and the very real violence that rhetorical hate and fear can generate. So we gather… in anger, in fear, in sorrow, in mourning for our people, our land, our generational trauma. We gather because we need to be together.  We need to know that the human soul rejects the inhumanity of terrorism that we watched unfold half way across the world and that we watched celebrated in some corners of our own country and state. 
 
Jews are 16 million people - .2% of the world population.  More than 7 million of us, nearly half, live in Israel.  It is not then surprising to find that for most of us, there is a direct relation or at most 1 degree of separation from what happens in Israel.  Many of us are overwhelmed and confused. How could this have happened… again?  Israel, a country deeply divided 9 days ago, is now one body, one soul and one motivation… survival.  Hamas is a terrorist organization with a mission, a charter, to annihilate Israel and the Jewish people. And by the way, the same charter, the Hamas charter, notes that the Islamic world view completely contradicts the idea of a secular Palestinian state as well.  This war does not advance the Palestinian cause. Terrorism is not resistance.  Israel has the right to exist and fight against terrorism.  We mourn for the loss of lives to terrorism.
 
I have been on countless conferences, webinars and constant contact with organizations both here and abroad since the end of Simchat Torah. Our hearts are with all the civilians, nationalities, families and individuals that have been effected by this war. Make no mistake, though Jews are the target, there are Israeli Bedouins, Druz, Kurds, Arabs, Palestinians, Christians, Bahai and others. Additionally, the last I heard, citizens of 49 countries are caught up in the chaos created during this past week of terror.  All will be effected by the outcome.  
 
Beyond headlines and geopolitical fighting… are real people … parents, children, grandparents, teachers, doctors, cooks, plumbers, the women and men we each encounter everyday who were just going about their lives, who were simply living. The party revelers, peace party revelers, the families starting their days, those filling synagogues for holiday attendance, the end of our High Holiday season; their lives will never be the same.  We pray that they will find a way to go forward with strength, courage and a resolve to make the world a better place.
 
We are a people who strives for shalem, completeness - and shalom, peace.  We are taught rodayf shalom, pursue peace.  We raise our voices every day seeking joy in the world and in the pursuit of God’s light.  We offer gratitude for the newness of each morning and for being held in protection, redemption and mercy each evening. We know we could not do so without our friends and supporters.  If you are clergy of any religion, please rise as you are able and remain standing.  We could not continue without the aid of our government and law enforcement. In particular, we know that our beautiful, historic building would not be standing without the assistance of the FBI, the Pueblo Sheriff’s Department and the local police. If you hold a governmental office of any type, represent law enforcement, assist in legal protection or security, please rise as you are able and remain standing.  We could not continue without fellowship, friendship, family both born and chosen. If you are Israeli, know Israelis, have lived in or visited Israel, support Israel and her existence, please rise as you are able. 
We thank you all.  You are our strength.  Please be seated.
 
We continue in prayer.  Ribbon shel Olam, Sovereign of the world, today is Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of a new month.  We should be singing songs of praise. But our hearts are heavy and our mouths utter, “open for us and our leaders the gates of wisdom, ah-nay-nu/answer us, hoe-she-ah-na/ save us.”
 
When the Hamas slaughter began, we had just begun to pray for rain, proper rain, in its season. May the rain wash away the blood and cause flowers to burst forth so a new day, a new season, a new life can begin. One with long termed, livable solutions throughout the land so that all the people, all the people, can follow a new path forward. Only then, can peace stretch across the land.
 
Hashkivenu Adonai Eloheinu.... Lay us down to sleep in peace, Adonai our God, and raise us up to life; spread over us the shelter of your peace. 
I invite you to sing with me.

I am Rabbi Birdie Becker and I sit on the Executive Board of the Rocky Mountain Rabbis and Cantors council. Prior to becoming clergy, I was a medical social worker and worked in the reproductive health field for nearly twelve years including as a visiting educator, head counselor, director of an outpatient surgical center and outreach lead for genetic testing and counseling centers. I was active in the field pre-Roe v. Wade and am therefore familiar with the legal restrictions around contraception for unmarried couples as well as the struggles, social, emotional, spiritual and legal, for access to abortion.

While in general it is safe to say that no one speaks for all Jews, it is also safe to say that in Judaism, life and birthing life is sacred. So much so that if a blind woman who is giving birth requests that a candle be lit on Shabbat, a clear prohibition of the Sabbath, one is nonetheless obligated to light that candle.

Laws around conception, life and birth endanger the separation of church and state by placing one religious belief ahead of others.  Jewish law says that life begins when the head appears or should it be a breach birth, when the majority of the fetus has emerged. Both the Torah and the Talmud tell us that a fetus is potential life but not a separate life from the mother.

Rashi, the pre-eminent Biblical commentator, (France 1050 CE, middle ages) goes so far as to say that a fetus is not nefesh, not a person. The Babylonian Talmud (Yevamot 69b) states that “the embryo is considered to be mere water until the fortieth day (after conception).” Thereafter the “fetus is as the thigh of its mother, i.e., it is deemed to be part and parcel of the pregnant woman’s body.”

This duality is easily expressed in the idea that if a pregnant woman converts to Judaism, her conversion applies to her fetus. That fetus is born a Jew because it was part of the woman carrying it. If it were a separate entity, it too, would need to undergo conversion upon birth.

The life that we know, takes precedent over potential life. The fully existent human life has control over her body. The fetus, is a rodef, a pursuer. In self-defense, the woman has the right to protect herself if the fetus places her life at risk. The Mishna describes the steps a woman endangered during childbirth is allowed to take in order to save her life.

In Mishneh Torah’s Laws of Mourning (1:6), Maimonides writes that “we do not mourn for fetuses, for anything which does not live for 30 days…” This is supported in the Shulchan Arukh, the compendium of everyday laws. (Yoreh De’ah 374:8)

The word halacha, Jewish law, comes from the word meaning to walk, to go. The sages of every era write responsum to bring the laws into a delicate balance of ethical teachings, historic and current values and current knowledge. Knowing what we know about pregnancy and childbirth, the halacha has not changed. Neither an embryo nor a fetus are recognized as fully formed human life. A woman, with the strength of family, medical assistance and her own spiritual counsel still controls her body. She has the right to weigh pregnancy against her physical, emotional, spiritual and economic concerns. She is the fully formed human being: the one to be protected. She is the sacred life around which decisions must be made.
"I'm proud to bring my faith into this important conversation." 
 
Rabbi/Cantor Birdie Becker
M.S.W., M.Ed., M.R.S., Ph.D.
Centennial/Pueblo CO 720-849-5270
www.rabbibirdiebecker.com 

Shalom Park, Rabbi, 
 https://shalompark.org
Certified Eden Associate

Temple Emanuel-Pueblo, Rabbi/Cantor Emerita, www.TempleEmanuelPueblo.net

Life Cycle Officiant, https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/rabbi-birdie-becker-englewood/d32f58f32e253da3.html

B'nai B'rith Colorado, Admin.  https://bnaibrithcolorado.org

 APPLES AND HONEY, violin-cello duo. HEAR US at
http://apples-and-honey.wixsite.com/music

Conversations at the Well: Where Modern Life and Ancient Stories Meet: available on KINDLE at: AMAZON/ paperback at www.rabbibirdiebecker.com

Proud to have signed the National Council of Jewish Women's Letter from Clergy

Dear Senators: 
As Jewish clergy leaders from across the United States representing all major denominations of Judaism, we write to express our strong and unequivocal support for the Women’s Health Protection Act and urge the Senate to pass the bill.
In partnership with the National Council of Jewish Women, we represent a network of over 1,500 Rabbis and Jewish Clergy for Repro who have pledged to speak out about abortion justice in our communities and to educate others about the Jewish values underpinning our support for abortion access for all. We work to ensure that our communities are places where anyone who has, or may ever, terminate a pregnancy feels loved and welcomed, where people understand what our tradition teaches about these issues, and where we emphasize the importance of fighting for reproductive health, rights, and justice for everyone.
The Women’s Health Protection Act embodies this mission and our hope for a future where all are free to make their own moral and faith-informed decisions about their lives, their futures, and their families without political interference. It is profoundly unjust that abortion bans and restrictions fall hardest on those already facing barriers to exercising their human rights — including Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC); those working to make ends meet; members of the LGBTQI+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; and people with disabilities.
In Judaism, we consider pikuach nefesh, the saving and preserving of life, to be one of our most critical principles. We affirm that protecting the existing life of the pregnant person is paramount at all stages of pregnancy. In Judaism, a fetus does not have the same personhood status as one who is already living and functioning in the world, up until and into the onset of labor and childbirth (Mishnah, Ohalot 7:6). The Talmud (Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 69b) asserts that the fetus is “mere fluid” for the first 40 days (from conception; that which would be considered 7 or 8 weeks’ gestation by today’s counting) and, following this period, the fetus is regarded as a physical part of the pregnant individual’s body (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 23b).
This is why we understand the goal of the Women’s Health Protection Act — ensuring equal access to abortion nationwide — not only as an abortion justice issue and a core social justice issue, but as a matter of religious freedom as well. The US Constitution demands that no one religion should be enshrined in law or dictate public policy on any issue, including abortion.
Policies granting “fetal personhood” rights or establishing that “life” begins at conception are contrary to the teachings of our tradition and violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by enshrining one religious view into law. What’s more, because Jewish law not only permits abortion in many cases but also requires it when the life or health (including psychological and physical health) of the pregnant individual is at risk, laws limiting or restricting access to abortion directly impede Jews’ ability to practice Judaism, further violating the Free Exercise Clause while simultaneously infringing upon the constitutional right to privacy found in the Fourteenth Amendment.
We need federal legislation now more than ever. With the passage of SB 8 in Texas and the strong possibility that the Supreme Court will overturn or significantly gut the protections of Roe v Wade this year, and over 100 new abortion bans passed in 2021 alone, there is more at stake now for reproductive and religious freedom than has been in fifty years. The Women’s Health Protection Act would create a new tool for safeguarding access to high-quality care and securing constitutional rights by protecting patients and providers from political interference. The bill guarantees providers the right to deliver abortion care — and people the right to receive that care — without limitations that single out abortion or impede access to care. Notably, the bill would also establish clear guidance for courts considering whether a requirement impedes access to abortion care in violation of Women’s Health Protection Act.
We call on the Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to protect access to abortion and to help us build a society where all can participate equally and thrive in our communities with dignity and freedom.


Respectfully, 

To see signers go to: https://www.ncjw.org/news/513-jewish-clergy-leaders-letter-support-whpa/#

INVOCATION: PROTECTING HOUSES OF WORSHIP 11.17.21

God spoke the world into existence and it was good.

But when God formed humanity in the Divine image no words were spoken. A breath, an energy, a spirit was imbued directly into them.

A blessing was offered to this life. The blessing was not for beauty or strength. The blessing was not for power or wealth. The blessing offered responsibility and restrictions. The blessing offered inclusivity and belonging.

When James Madison, in 1776, wrote, ​“That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it,…” he understood those responsibilities. He continued, “…(this) can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence;..” A reminder that power is ultimately with the Architect of the World, and no wealth is preeminent to the gift of life.  “…and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience;…” This completed for an emerging nation the connection to the emergence of humanity itself.

We come together to protect that breath that transfers from one Divine image to another. Breath that is altered too often with words that create distrust and distance.  Words that manipulate a blessing to fear and fear to hate. Words that encourage violence instead of protection. Words then carve out separations and forge narrow passages. Words that warp the sparks of creation.

In Genesis, Jacob and Esau meet after 20 years of separation and enmity. Jacob, now called Yisrael, had fled in fear from a hate born of a stolen blessing. Jacob approaches his brother and offers a gift to Esau saying, “…seeing your face is like seeing the face of God” (Gen 33:10).

Dear God, We turn to you, the Designer of all we have, all we share and all we are pledged to protect. We seek that connection, that kinship to all of creation that began with Your words.  We ask for wisdom, strength and endurance to remember that we all descend from a single blood line from those first beings, a single human heritage, the heritage of a Divine image in each person.  We implore you to bring soon, a time when every individual, each community and all of humanity act and interact, with all our differences acknowledged, as if in each encounter, we are blessed with ‘seeing the face of God’. We long for that day. For then, peace will reign on earth as in heaven.

Amen
 
 

The synagogue was established in 1730, not 1970. Sorry. I misspoke when recording.

The Seder Plate and its meaning

https://www.facebook.com/RabbiBirdieBecker/videos/2822597751129359/