Rabbi Birdie Becker
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Attacked From All Sides

3/13/2020

2 Comments

 
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Dear Chevra,

I began writing to address the need to limit gatherings for ‘non-essential’ events when I heard about the fire in the social hall. It struck me that there are no non-essential gatherings for us. Every time we gather, we generate a spirit, a vibrancy and a relevance that simply cannot be duplicated across the digital void. A series of zeros and ones cannot substitute for a series of handshakes and hugs. Yet, we must face reality and recognize that our community contains a diverse population including elders and members of the vulnerable population, including people on medication, on ventilators and pre and post surgical candidates, among others.

Governor Jared Polis wrote in his declared Colorado state of emergency that recognizing “our role in helping lead the effort to help limit the potential spread of this virus locally… (means) those over 60 and those with chronic health issues are urged to avoid public gatherings.” However, those may be the people who are in the greatest need of socialization.

Most of us, like most of the cognizant world, are under stress from both an economic meltdown and the coronavirus proliferation. Our Temple community is handling additional stress from a confluence of attacks against our property directly and against our beliefs and identity as a result of those attacks.

We each approach this time and situation from our own perspective and with our separate resources. As I change the channels, I hear quite diverse information being espoused both within the United States and especially from abroad, about what is happening and how to approach it. We cannot control what is happening, except at an individual level, but we can control how we react to it. It is appropriate to be fearful, but not of each other. Now is the time to use our well honed skills of sharing with and listening to one another without condemnation or becoming offended.

So while we are being asked to build physical boundaries between us, 3 feet is the current recommendation, we need to continue to build bridges across the community, reaching out by phone or electronically to stay in touch and to check in, particularly with those in our vulnerable population. As a hugger, this feels like an immense loss, but losing members of our community would be a much bigger one. I will give up hugging to limit the number of names added to the Mi Sheberach list.

I don't know of a community that is more aware of or responsive to one another's needs. Other people are reaching out to assist us and we will continue to function even while our building is under repair. Meanwhile, we can be grateful that once again, no one was injured and the sanctuary was spared.

I appreciate all the work done behind the scenes by our board to keep Temple Emanuel up, running and serving the Jewish community of Pueblo and the surrounding area. I am thankful for the participation and support of all our members as well as our non-member support system and community.

May God grant us peace and understanding. May our world and the inhabitants upon it be blessed with rafuah shalaymah, a complete and speedy healing. May your Shabbat be filled with comfort and light.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Birdie Becker

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SHABBAT DROSH 11.8.19 by Rabbi Birdie Becker   (offered to those in attendance at Temple Emanuel – Pueblo)

11/22/2019

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One year ago, we gathered here in solidarity for a community 1437 miles away. They were not as lucky as we. This time, no one was injured and nothing damaged. Career professionals, the FBI and Law enforcement were on top of the situation and we are abundantly grateful. This was the 13th thwarted event against the Jewish community since Etz Chayim, the Tree of Life massacre just a little more than one year ago. We know we are blessed.
 
Thirteen in Judaism is an auspicious number. How many times last month during the holiday season did we recite the 13 attribute of God? A merciful, compassionate, gracious, forgiving God. Adonai abundant in kindness and truth. We say that God is One, Echad. The gematria, the numerical value of the Hebrew letters for Echad is 13, the age at which we are blessed to become part of the adult community, to observe commandments and witness that Oneness. This week, with support and love pouring in from around the world, ignoring borders, barriers and divisiveness of any kind, we have witnessed the oneness of God and the oneness of God in humanity. 

We pray that other communities are so blessed such that the counting continues only for impeded events and never again to count bodies for Kaddish.

This past week, from the Pearl St. Mall in Boulder to the door of our Temple, Coloradans confronted violence, hate and Holocaust denial. Repulsed by abhorrent behavior, people and communities have reached out to connect and support us, including friends as far away as Israel and Canada; and with Veteran’s Day in mind, from sea to shining sea.

This 119 year old congregation is warm, welcoming and open, not through naivete, but through carrying out the ethical, spiritual and religious tenants of our faith. We have, and will continue, to open our hearts to all who join us in study, prayer and celebration. It is therefore surprising, for some infuriating, and for others frightening, when a stranger raises the visage of the age old hatred of anti-Semitism. But our people have seen this ugliness before and met it panim el panim, face to face. We may be targets but we are not victims.

Hate is based in fear and fear is a fragile attribute. It reeks of weakness, broadcasting that it can only exist if it goes unchallenged. Judaism glorifies challenges of both soul and mind. Hate is based in ignorance where ideas cannot reach beyond the boundaries of the known. Judaism relishes the questions as much as much as the answers, maybe more so, for it takes heart and mind to where the body cannot travel. Hate quivers in isolation, desperate for acceptance from anyone, anywhere. Judaism delights in community but also elevates each individual as betzelem Elohim, in the image of God.  Hate requires constant fuel. Judaism has learned to enhance the rests between the notes.  

Thus we come together for this Shabbat. Recognizing that it has not been a usual passage of days. Our perceptions have been altered as this deprivation came to our state in a double dose and knocked directly on our door. So we welcome everyone here in body and in spirit, and those who are here only in spirit, and thank you for your presence as we welcome Shabbat menucha, Sabbath release, Shabbat rest
.


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Year Two Begins

12/6/2018

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Year two begins. I awake with tears in my eyes. You still aren’t at my side. Of course, I’ve learned over the year to sleep across the bed so there isn’t a lot of room left. It’s surprising how someone five foot one can take up a lot of space with a few pillows strategically placed and a body that doesn’t conform to head and foot edges of the bed.

I spent yesterday being occupied at one thing and another and waited for the year to end watching the Chanukah candles melt down on our Chanukiah. They burned perfectly evenly this night except the Shamash, the helper, that burned quickly down to match the height of the other four and then finished burning with them. Are you still sending messages or am I looking too hard; wanting too much for you to still be here, to wake up and find out this has been a dream, a mistake?
 
I’m fine. I’m fine. And then, I’m not. And then, I am again. One foot in front of the other: in house shoes, boots, tennis shoes or barefoot. One foot in front of the other, life goes on.
 
I hope the soul goes on and you know how much you are missed and loved every day. Your memory, the memory of you, my dear Jeff, is a blessing.


2 Comments

CORCRC Interview 11.2018

11/19/2018

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I have been a trustee of CO Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice since 2010. I have served as their treasurer since 2011.
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A Letter to God from a Healing Broken Heart (original poem half way down)

9/23/2018

8 Comments

 

I begin with a story. The Master Key by Rabbi Shlomo Yosef Zevin. A Chasidic tale.

One year, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov said to Rabbi Ze’ev Kitzes, one of his senior disciples: “You will blow the shofar for us this Rosh Hashanah. I want you to study all the kavanot (Kabbalistic meditations) that pertain to the shofar, so that you should meditate upon them when you do the blowing.”

Rabbi Ze’ev applied himself to the task with joy and trepidation: joy over the great privilege that had been accorded him, and trepidation over the immensity of the responsibility. He studied the Kabbalistic writings that discuss the multifaceted significance of the shofar and what its sounds achieve on the various levels of reality and in the various chambers of the soul. He also prepared a sheet of paper on which he noted the main points of each kavanah, so that he could refer to them when he blew the shofar.

Finally, the great moment arrived. It was the morning of Rosh Hashanah, and Rabbi Ze’ev stood on the reading platform in the center of the Baal Shem Tov’s synagogue amidst the Torah scrolls, surrounded by a sea of tallit-draped bodies. At his table in the southeast corner of the room stood his master, the Baal Shem Tov, his face aflame. An awed silence filled the room in anticipation of the climax of the day—the piercing blasts and sobs of the shofar.

Rabbi Ze’ev reached into his pocket, and his heart froze: the paper had disappeared! He distinctly remembered placing it there that morning, but now it was gone. Furiously, he searched his memory for what he had learned, but his distress over the lost notes seemed to have incapacitated his brain: his mind was a total blank. Tears of frustration filled his eyes. He had disappointed his master, who had entrusted him with this most sacred task. Now he must blow the shofar like a simple horn, without any kavanot. With a despairing heart, Rabbi Ze’ev blew the litany of sounds required by law and, avoiding his master’s eye, resumed his place.

At the conclusion of the day’s prayers, the Baal Shem Tov made his way to the corner where Rabbi Ze’ev sat sobbing under his tallit. “Gut Yom Tov, Reb Ze’ev!” he called. “That was a most extraordinary shofar-blowing we heard today!”
“But Rebbe . . . I . . .”

“In the king’s palace,” said the Baal Shem Tov, “there are many gates and doors, leading to many halls and chambers. The palace-keepers have great rings holding many keys, each of which opens a different door. But there is one key that fits all the locks, a master key that opens all the doors.

“The kavanot are keys, each unlocking another door in our souls, each accessing another chamber in the supernal worlds. But there is one key that unlocks all doors, that opens up for us the innermost chambers of the divine palace. That master key is a broken heart.”

I struggled this year to prepare for the holidays. I tried to write and nothing made sense. I tried to study and could not concentrate. As the days of Elul passed, I knew I had to do something. One morning I sat down and let the tears flow. Only after writing what I am going to share with you now, was I able to return the over the following day to write the more joyous sermons you heard on Rosh Hashanah and that you will hear tomorrow, but I want to share the process with you.

A Letter to God from a Healing Broken Heart by Rabbi Birdie Becker 8.2018
Dear God,
It’s been a year since last I stood before the open book.
Into your hands, I cast my lot, but found there no safe nook.
Instead it opened every door that ever I had closed
And made me open wide the gates to things I never chose.
What is a human being if not a working piece of art?
What is a soul if not the depth of heaven when it parts?
To look inside the melding body only leads astray
   the final outcome we each reach when it’s the close of day.
I thought I had it figured out, I thought if I believed
Then fate would deal a hand of kindness on all that I perceived.
I thought that prayers and pledges, pleading, promises and tears
   would safely guard the future from the ‘lions, tigers and bears’.
Love came, and I did not grasp it hard enough, to gather it forever.
It passed away and with it went the best of my endeavor.
How can you ask of me to stand again before your open book?
How can you dare to say to me that life still brightly looks
   ahead to beauty, to wonder, to fulfillment, to all the world can hold?
You surely should have warned me of the losses to unfold.
You did! You say.
Well, I reject the notion that you did.
My heart was breaking every day, and I believe you hid.
Who by fire? Who by water? Who by agony?
Who from age? Who alone? Who with family?
Why this day? Why this hour? Why that one and not this?
Who can justify the meaning of the latest kiss
of death that moves the soul beyond this land to its next hallowed   sphere?
I don’t care what I am told, I want my loved one here.
To have and hold and share another day another year…
Another hour?
Another moment?
This grief I cannot bear.
Yet.. I will.
I will continue for God, that is the way
That You tell us You are with us, each and every day.
In our thoughts and in our hearts and even in our tears.
You let me rail against the dark, against the black, against the coming years
Of memories that will grow deep and stories to be told
Of feelings bearable someday and even humor trolled.
Who am I to question You?
Not Job or Abraham.
Not Hillel, not Sarah nor even 'Sam I am'.
Yet question You is what we do, each and every day.
Because it lets us know that You are never going away.
You’re here, right here, by my side.
And, I, as mad as I may be,
I know that You will never go too far away from me.
Like all good friends, You’re there to let me give a primal scream.
And when I’m at my lowest, it’s upon You I can lean.
I may not always understand, it’s not for me to agree.
The sun has once again revolved,
A year has passed by Your decree.
Who remembered? Who forgotten? By woman or by man?
Each held in love, caressed by grace in Adonai’s grand plan.
From off the earth each one has touched Shechinah’s wings and flown.
Belonging now to eternity,
Divine and Thine alone.
 
Life is a journey, my friends. What I want to impart to you most is that all relationships require work but you need never journey alone.

May your journeys this year be sweet and fulfilling.

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In Loving Memory

1/1/2018

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For those who did not know him:
JEFFREY M. BECKER M.D.

Dr. Jeffrey M. Becker passed away Dec. 5, 2017. Funeral services occurred Dec. 8th at Mt. Nebo. Becker met his wife, Rabbi/Cantor 'Birdie' (Roberta Koslov), at a MOVFTY gathering in 1968. They reunited in 1972 in Columbia, MO where both were studying at the University of Missouri. They married in 1976 and Jacob and Rachel were born while they lived in Illinois.

A Board Certified dermatologist and Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology as well as the Society for Investigative Dermatology, Becker practiced medicine in Champaign/Urbana, IL for four years where he also served as a clinical instructor for the University of Illinois Medical School. He arrived in Denver in 1984, where he served the community until 2007 when he was recruited to build a Dermatology department in Albuquerque at the largest multi-specialty group in the state.

No matter where he practiced, his colleagues described him as always having a sparkle in his eye and a kind word to say, and more often than not a quick joke that took everyone by surprise. He felt a deep responsibility to his patients and always strived to provide excellent care. He retired last December to return to Denver and the other driving force in his life, his family.

A devoted father, he earned a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, which he attended several times a week for years with Jacob and Rachel. For many years he enjoyed the outdoor life in Denver by biking the majority of the Highline Canal, switching to hiking the Sandias for his time in Albuquerque. An avid camera enthusiast, he videoed his children and his wife in numerous years of theater performances.

Jeff had a generous heart, a brilliant mind, a pervasive sense of humor, and a courageous soul. He will long be remembered by friends, family, and the many patients whose lives he has touched. He died Tuesday, December 5th, 2017. He is survived by his wife and children. May the angels carry him. Baruch Dayan Emet. He is already missed.

Dr. Becker was the husband of Rabbi "Birdie" Becker; father of Jacob Becker & Rachel Becker; brother of Linda (Tom) Langsdorf & Foster Becker; brother-in-law of Marilyn (Ron z"l) Humiston, Marcia (Stephen Smay) Koslov & Steve (Mary Fulton) Koslov. Contributions to the medical or Jewish charity of choice is suggested.

Published in Denver Post on Dec. 31, 2017



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​A SEASON OF REJOICING

9/11/2017

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We will soon all gather to begin the holiday season. Due to the divisiveness within which we are living, it seems somewhat more difficult to make teshuvah, the turning required to wipe away the sins of our past year. It seems so much easier to be able to blame someone else this year for our difficulties, for our failings, for our discontent. Perhaps more than in other years that is why we really need to come together and pray as a community, be a community, know we are part of a community despite our differences.
 
While Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur focus us on the ‘me’, they are followed quickly by Sukkot, a definite ‘us’ holiday. In fact, Sukkot not only helps to focus on ‘us’, but brings the joy of the renewal, of freshness experienced at Yom Kippur into full measure.
 
We remember the blessings of annanim kavod, the clouds of glory that accompanied us through the desert; our clothing and foot garments never wore out and we were protected from the elements of nature. This was the blessing we received when Moshe Rabbeinu received the second set of Esert HaDibrot, the Tablets of Commandments. In return, we begin the year performing a mitzvah. We build and dwell in a Sukkah. So anxious was the Maharil[1] to perform this mitzvah, he had the custom of beginning the building of the Sukkah the night after Yom Kippur.  We open our temporary shelters to guests, both ancestral and contemporary.
 
Inside the Sukkah, we lift and shake the Lulav, the four species. The Bahir[2] compares these species to human anatomy and our senses. Hadas (myrtle) is the eye that we must keep open against hate, bigotry and bribery. Aravah (willow) are the lips with which we may speak out for justice. The Etrog (citron) is the heart so that we feel compassion, love and empathy. The Lulav (palm) is the spine, that we be straight and strong, to serve as God’s loyal and grateful people. In bringing the four species together and shaking them in all six directions, we are reaching out, pointing a way, to promote the recognition of divinity in relationships, in community and among communities.
 
With the rising hatred in the world, may this be the year the Sukkah brings people together for rejoicing. Ken yihi ratzon. So may it be God’s will.
 
From my family to yours, wishing you a joyous, healthy new year.
L’Shanah Tovah Umetukah
Rabbi Becker
 
 


[1] Yaakov ben Moshe Levi Moelin, Talmudist of German Jews whose minhagim was a source for the Shulchan Arukh.

[2] Bahir or Sefer HaBahir is an anonymous mystical work, attributed to a 1st-century rabbinic sage Nehunya ben HaKanah 
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Weeds for nausea

8/2/2017

26 Comments

 

I found myself in the garden today. I've ignored it far too long. In fact, I never finished planting this year as in June, my husband of 41 years was diagnosed  with glioblastoma multiforme, the brain tumor John McCain has made a household word. Only Jeff's was in a location that was not operable so radiation and chemotherapy have been our daily routine.

Today, Jeff was too nauseated to go to radiation and I had an hour before the sun got hot. So hat and sunglasses on, along with a slather of my favorite sunblock, I marched to the backyard with gloves, a trash bag and my phone - in case of a call from the clinic or the doctors.

Weed after weed came out in my hand. I saw the tomatoes and cucumber plants begin to take form. I was able to separate them from one another, direct the tomato stems up the planter poles and lay the leaves of the cucumber plant down and away from the tomatoes.

The weeds came away from the beleaguered  pepper plants that had become completely overrun and covered from the light of day. Flowers had managed to bloom on one of the plants and leaves remained on the other. Two earthworms squirmed toward each other as I removed their protecting but undesired invading leaf umbrellas and just prior to batting heads veered off in orthogonal directions.

How unfair that I can simply pluck the offending roots and growths from my garden but I am powerless against the tumor growing in my beloved's brain. I have to rely on medicine, radiation, chemotherapy and guesswork. Yes, since each person is unique, each tumor is as well and therefore, guesswork is part of the therapy.

Too bad the weeds I pulled from the garden went into a bag to be tossed in the trash. They were not the kind Coloradoans speak about as helpful for cancer. Rather, they are just offending growths that prevent the fullness of life from flourishing.

Weeds. Tumors. Nauseated.

26 Comments

Open letter on Paris Climate Accords from the Jewish Community

6/19/2017

1 Comment

 
Like governors, mayors and corporations around the country, Jewish leaders have joined together to lift our voices in support of the world wide desire to tend to and attend to God's creation, our earth. I was delighted for the opportunity offered me by Hazon to sign the letter that supported the Paris Climate Accord which was published June 13th, 2017.
It reads, 

"Dear Friends,

We are Jews, organizational leaders and rabbis, teachers and students who work passionately towards a bright American Jewish future. 
We are also human beings who care deeply about all life. 
And from this integrated Jewish and universal perspective, we are shocked by the US government’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. 

This decision stands against common sense. Across the whole world, governments, corporations, non-profits, religious communities, and families and individuals are doing the hard work of slowly trying to wean ourselves from our own unhelpful behaviors and our fossil-fuel based economy, and toward a brighter future that better protects our planet and all its inhabitants.
The Climate Accord is a voluntary framework, signed by every country in the world except for Syria and Nicaragua. The signing was one of the largest gatherings of world leaders in human history. The withdrawal of the United States is tragic, and deeply problematic.  As Jews living in a free society, we know the power of a shared framework which, even without legislative sanction, has a huge influence on the world. That’s what the Torah is; that’s why the Jewish people for twenty centuries have been on the right side of critical issues; and that’s why it is so critical that the Jewish community now stand up not merely to advocate for the Paris Climate Accord, but also to help implement it.
As Jews, we are also proud of our long history of economic innovation and entrepreneurship, so we are baffled by the false premise that withdrawing from the Paris Accords somehow prioritizes American jobs; on the contrary, our 21st century economy is driven by new energy technologies and our solar sector already far surpasses coal. Even so, we empathize with workers in the fossil fuel industry fearful of the changing energy economy, and strongly support business innovation and public policy to assist these workers during the transition to clean energy. Our nation’s economic interests are far better served by investments in this new energy economy than by the denial of climate science. Many experts agree that withdrawing from the Accord will weaken our economy – and threaten vulnerable populations both here at home and across the world.
In the face of this unfortunate decision, we applaud the leadership of mayors, governors, and businesses across the country who are taking responsibility for working towards the goals of the Paris Climate Accord.  The US federal government is a vital actor when it comes to fighting climate change, but there is much that we can do ourselves, as institutions and individuals. Our children’s future demands that we do all we can. 
Today, therefore, we call upon all Jewish federations, JCCs, synagogues, camps, day-schools, Jewish organizations, leaders, businesses, and community members to identify ways in which we, the organized and powerful American Jewish community, can and must respond to this climate crisis.  There could not be more urgency at this moment, and our moral courage and bold leadership is needed on a national and global scale.  
Here are some of the things that you can do:
  • Commit yourself and your organization to the Paris goals, as Hazon, Pearlstone and a growing number of Jewish organizations have done. Amongst other things, that means reducing your carbon emissions by about a quarter (26 to 28%) over the next seven years. 

  • Make sure your institution has a Green Team, to develop a multi-year process to work on sustainability. More than three dozen organizations have so far joined the Hazon Seal of Sustainability, and we invite you and your institution to join the Seal.
  • Encourage your people – members, participants, staff, kids – to take some steps to live more lightly – ride your bike, or eat less meat, or eat more local produce. And if you can switch to solar or wind power, do so.
We are committed to working with interested parties within and beyond the Jewish community on this critical issue that will define our generation’s legacy. 
In the Mishna, Hillel teaches us, “When no else is acting, act.” We stand together, united in our commitment to a sustainable future."

And, it is signed by individuals as well as organizations, both big and small.

Are you ready to observe the commandment of baal tashcit? To neither destroy nor waste but rather to be a caretaker of the environment.




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Women's March on Denver

1/16/2017

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   Are you planning to attend the January 21 Women’s March in Denver? Concerned citizens of the diverse communities of Colorado will come together to champion human rights and dignity, and to send a message to our elected leaders to act to protect the needs of women, their families and our society.         

In recognition that it is Shabbat, there will be a brief Shabbat service at 8:45 A.M. before the march begins. All are warmly welcome to come to share inspiration and hope. Meet at the First Baptist Church of Denver, 1373 Grant Street, downtown near the State Capitol. See more details at https://www.facebook.com/events/735818996567451/

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THE GIFT OF LOVE

12/16/2016

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With Jeff returning to Colorado in time for Chanukah after our being a commuter couple for eight years, I am sharing a story written 2/2015 with the belief that my gift keeps growing.

THE GIFT OF LOVE
Leaving the doctor’s office, I climbed into the car and started down the winding parking ramp. Breathe, I reminded myself as I replayed my conversation with the physician moments before.
 
“See how the white here turns gray there and when we turn it this way, the opposite is true? That’s the bone marrow. This should be that color and it’s not.”  His voice faded for me as he described the things it could be but probably weren’t. I heard clearly, “…of course we won’t know for sure. That’s why we need the biopsy. It’s easiest to go into the shoulder so we’ll do that and grab a few cells. Then we’ll know for sure and when we do, we’ll go from there. Of course, there’s a chance it’s something else.”
 
A chance it’s something else. I’d been trying to track down for a year what was wrong. This was the one year anniversary of finding out my husband of 38 years had leukemia. I had jokingly remarked then that we’d been together so long we were sharing the disease, I had the symptoms but he had the diagnosis.
 
I looked up and spoke aloud, “If this is how it’s going to be, You have to watch over my children.” No denial for me. I went straight to bargaining – I was good at that. It’s in the DNA. Abraham Aveinu (our father) haggled with God over whole cities. Jacob wrestled for a  blessing. Moses argued about taking a job. Surely, it was ok for me to request a little attention for my family.
 
In a few short weeks, I had gone from pain to preparing a bucket list. Upon returning to my physical therapist for a recurrent shoulder pain, he requested an MRI. The MRI led to a complete body bone scan and now a bone biopsy for probable bone metastases.
 
With Thanksgiving coming up, the procedure could not be scheduled for a week. Somehow, I had to get through the holiday weekend. I was determined not to spoil the holiday for everyone. I wouldn’t say anything. That resolve lasted about thirty seconds after my getting off the plane. At the airport, my sister was too perceptive.
 
“What’s wrong?”
 
“I’m tired.”
 
“What’s wrong?”
 
“It’s been a long day.”
 
“Ok, but what’s really wrong?”
 
I caved. After insisting I could not leave the family gathering without telling everyone, she also agreed to let me reveal it at a time of my choosing. 
 
Thursday was a hustle and bustle of last minute shopping, cooking, cleaning up, and setting the table. Part of the family participated in the annual city race and my 70 year old brother-in-law came in first in his age category. Friends and more family arrived for a splendid Thanksgiving meal, followed by games and music, smiles, laughter and love.
 
Gathered around the kitchen table, I shared the news Friday morning with my family: siblings and siblings-in-law, nieces and nephews. My children and husband already knew and one dear friend. After the initial stunned reaction, the love and support that flowed was beyond sustaining. Then came offers to be donors, to come to take care of me if needed, to be available day or night for calls and support, the love was palpable. So much so that the third generation, just over one year old, 4 ½ and 7, picked up on the energy. They danced and gave out hugs to everyone.
 
That evening was filled with good food, laughter, cuddling and hugs. The 4 ½ year old drew heart pictures for all the adults and requested letters back, to which we all complied. Notes filed with blessings and love and hugs and thanks were written back, allowing everyone to find a place of gratitude.
 
I finally convinced my son, who had driven 400 miles to be with us and would need to drive back the next morning, to get some sleep. Towering a foot over me, he was at once my little boy and my right hand guardian. I drew power from the near commanding, “You’ll be fine,” from my eldest sister as we hugged farewell. It was an echo of mom’s, z’l’* , “I won’t hear of it. You’re going to be fine”, when at age ten and sick with rheumatic fever, I had asked if I was going to die.
 
Anticipating the 5:45 AM flight home, I spent the night on the couch with my second sister, talking in whispers the way we used to do as kids. Holding hands, we fell briefly to sleep before the alarm woke us to final hugs, tears and well wishes.
 
My brother drove me to the airport. There are big brother hugs and then there are big brother hugs. This big brother hug anchored me like the roots of a tree. 
 
The morning of the biopsy came and my daughter drove me to the hospital at 5:30 AM.  She escorted me through the halls of check-in and preparation, staying with me until the nurse came to take me for the procedure.
 
“Don’t worry about elevated vitals,” explained the nurse, “it’s normal to be anxious.”
 
“I’m not anxious,” I replied. “However, my daughter might need something.”
 
Facing one more, large, ominous machine, this time with my arms velcroed down so I would not move during the procedure, the last thing I heard before succumbing to the anesthetic was, “You really aren’t anxious. Your vitals are terrific.”
 
A few hours later, I was back home resting, thanks to my daughter. By evening, I was back to being mom, sending her home with chicken soup and knadlach to help her recover from a cold.  Now there was nothing to do but wait for results. And so we did. We ALL waited.
 
If love and laughter, prayers and wishes can bring about miracles, I had a miracle. The reports showed no traces of cancer, no tumor, nothing of consequence to worry about. During the following weeks, I learned that scans, lab reports, symptoms of various minor illnesses and a few anomalies had converged to appear as one life threatening disease. I could go back to physical therapy and try again to heal. This time though, I would have the added strength of my entire family helping me.
 
Emails, phone calls, Skype calls went out to everyone. We cried, we laughed, we offered long distance hugs. I had been given the greatest gift one could know in their life time. Surrounded by family and friends, blessed with their support and their caring, I was encased in love and carried on the wings of Shechinah.
 
Chanukah is a holiday that celebrates the miracle of a battle, the miracle of light and the miracle of continued faith through daunting times. With the blessings of the first Chanukah candle, I knew that my miracle had arrived early, wrapped in the gift of love. Now, every morning, I awake with a new appreciation for life as I recite modah ani, I give thanks.

* Zichrona livracha: may her memory be a blessing

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INCREASING THE LIGHT

12/12/2016

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By Rabbi Birdie Becker
 
There is an ancient debate between the houses of Shammai and Hillel regarding how to light the candelabra called a Chanukiah. The House of Shammai extracts from the biblical diminishing of bull sacrifices for the holiday of Sukkot, the concept of decreasing the lights to be symbolic of decreasing evil, corruption and negative forces in the world. When the dark is decreased the light will shine through. Therefore, he ruled we should begin with eight candles and light one less each night. Hillel, on the other hand, believes that the concept of Kedusha, sanctification, asks us to rise above our human nature; to gain a higher level of holiness by reaching to the image of God within to expand light. He ruled that we should begin with a single candle and add one each night until the eight lights are burning.
 
On the High Holidays, we read a section called the holiness code whereby each sentence calls upon us to act and then sanctifies the action by concluding, "ki kadosh ani Adonai Elohaychem", because I, Adonai your God, am holy. This Torah imperative to be kadosh, holy, is the impetus to reach in, to reach up, to rise above. Thus, Hillel instructs us that increasing light, Divine light, b’tzelem Elohim (in the image of God) in the world will overpower negative forces.
 
Focusing on the destructive force of burning flames and fire, Shammi’s reasoning is a hope that when the flame dwindles what remains will be strong enough to have the desired outcome. Hillel, on the other hand, sees victory as requiring actions which build upon one another to achieve enlightenment. One might say he is seeking a spiritual high.
 
We know that just as the burning flame can spread light, so too can it spread destruction. Jews have a long history of being thrown into political flames, all the way back to the midrash of Abraham avinu (our father) being thrown into the furnace by Nimrod. Our memories, to name a few, include the enslavement in Egypt despite the marriage between Joseph and Asenath, daughter of the Priest of Egypt, their two children and subsequent descendents. Then there is the first crusades which began 1095 CE at the bidding of Pope Urban II against the Muslim kingdom and of course the subsequent crusades (ending 1290s CE– some like to say the Spanish Armada of 1588 CE but this is not the traditional historian’s perspective), the Pograms (beginning in 1800s), and of course the Holocaust. These destructive flames include the holiday of Chanukah, 167-164 BCE, the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire who attempted to impose Helenism on the Jews.
 
There is a reason Julius Rosenwald, Lillian Wald, and Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch were founding members of the NAACP and Jacob Schiff, Jacob Billikopf, and Rabbi Stephen Wise sat on their Board. There is a reason the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was drafted in the conference room of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism as was the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Expanding light is what we are called upon to do. Tikkun Olam (repair of the world) is a central piece of our tradition because we understand that all of humanity is interconnected and regardless of whether or not we seem to be directly effected, eventually, we are affected.

Like other holidays that are celebrated at this time of year, Chanukah is the light in the darkness. The word Chanukah means dedication. This year, Erev Chanukah falls on Christmas Eve. May our communities, as well as those observing other holidays, and those observing no holidays, be dedicated to bring a little light into the darkness that has played out in our country for many months. Which ever way you light your Chanukiah: may we never shy away from diminishing the darkness when we see it or hear it; may we garner the strength to increase light and enlightenment for the better of our world.
 
Blessings to you and yours for safe and joyous Holiday Season 

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YOM KIPPUR UNATANA TOKEF 2016

10/15/2016

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I read an article by a woman who wanted to be warned before the chanting of the Unatana Tokef so that she could walk out and not have to suffer from the images it evoked. On the one hand I thought, “Wow, a congregant who takes prayer seriously and knows what she is praying. This is wonderful!” On the other hand I wondered, “Isn’t this what prayer is supposed to do? Are we not supposed to wrestle with ourselves and yes, with God, too?”
 
Yisrael, God wrestler. That is what the word means. We are God wrestlers. We aren’t meant to leave the room when things get tough. We aren’t meant to be silent victims, either.  We are meant to wrestle, turning this way and that until we return to the text with new understanding. We return - T’Shuvah to Tefillah -prayer and with the hope it leads to tzedakah – good, charitable deeds. That’s what we say, T’shuvah, tefillah and tzedakah can amend the decree.
 
 
I remember as a child, all the children were sent from the sanctuary before yizkor, the memorial prayers were recited so as not to tempt the evil eye. I have often wondered if it was really to not see a lot of adults crying. Today, we don’t worry about that as much. About either – tempting the evil eye or adults crying. And, I don’t have a problem with making people uncomfortable with a prayer or at least having them wrestle with it.
 
Should we eliminate all the prayers and readings that might offend any sensibilities? Shall we preface each prayer with “you might wish to step out before we read this”? I have the feeling there would be  no prayers left and no one remaining to say those that were.
 
I have a friend who was raised as a Reconstructionist Jew. She recently changed congregations but didn’t want to take an aliyah because of the word differences. In Reconstructionism the aliyah blessing is changed from Bachar Banu mee kol ha’amim,
‘who choses us from all people’ to Kervanu l’avodato ‘draws us near to serve’. Both then continue, VeNatan Lanu et Torahto, ‘and gave to us his Torah. We discussed the differences and the interpretations held therein and afterward she was able to view the words of ‘chose us’ as an inference to being chosen to serve to present Torah to the world. When she finally took an aliyah, she said the words came easily. She had done the hard work, wrestling with the written words and the meaning, the spiritual intention and how they could speak to her.
 
Unantana Tokef is one of our more difficult prayers. For anyone who has experienced a recent loss, it often seems like a slap at this time of year when we are seeking solice. It doesn’t matter that Unatana Tokef was actually a poem probably written in 6th century Palestine and had nothing to do with the story we now read about the French rabbi being dismembered and burned. It doesn’t matter because we are to wrestle with the words of our prayers… just as we wrestle with Torah. We recite the words of this prayer because every year there ARE floods and fires, there ARE earthquakes and epidemics, there ARE famines and droughts. War has not ceased nor has poverty ended. People are afflicted by bullying, and teasing and domestic violence and chance violence. Corruption, rebellions, insurgencies and revolution happen around the circumference of the globe.  Although it is interesting to note that the Western hemisphere, is for the first time, without technical war, armed conflict between nations, although the final negotiations are back at the table in Columbia but there’s hope.
 
WE have a rather lengthy list of names…family and friends…for healing. Nearly every week, we have some catastrophe around the globe to add to our Mi Sheberach prayers. The spiritual, physical, emotional and mental welfare of community, country and world are constantly in need of abundant good wishes. Who are we to opt out when it strikes near? Shouldn’t that be a time to opt in? To lend our voice, in fact our entire being in support?
 
I hope it goes without saying that I am not indifferent to someone who has suffered and may feel deeply pained by the words we pray. I feel them, too. “Who shall live and who shall die? Who by fire and who by water?
 
It is just that our words tell our stories and our stories are what keeps us united as a people. Why else would we continue to read Torah without end - and I mean that literally; for no sooner do we finish Torah with the final verses than we begin again with the first verses of the scroll. Yes, why else read these stories without end? These thirty five hundred year old stories that we interpret and reinterpret and revisit and re-imagine. It doesn’t matter if they are scientifically accurate. It doesn’t matter if they are historically accurate. It doesn’t matter if they are a mix of Israel and Judaen stories. It matters only that they are OUR stories. So, too, it is with our prayers, with the Unatana Tokef prayer.

In this global world, we should all be suffering and this prayer should make every one of us ask, why anyone by hunger or thirst? Why are people in this country unable to drink the water that pours out of their own faucets? Not just Flint, MI. “The nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) tested municipal water in 42 states and detected … 141 unregulated chemicals for which public health officials have no safety standards, much less methods for removing them.” [1] And if you think that you can avoid the problem because you can afford to purchase bottle water, a Colorado proclivity, it is not a reasonable alternative since the source for many companies is “municipal” water, meaning you’re paying extra to drink bottled tap water.

Who by age and who not?” The tragedy of losing someone because they are an elder hurts no less even though the expectation rises for its eventuality. When illnesses and tragedies strike, we are all struck by the injustice held within the experience. When it occurs in violence, through bullying, hate mongering and categorizing the other, objectifying and enslaving a gender, we need to speak up and out. Half the world’s population is women, how many are lost through child marriage, sex trafficking or another form of emotional, mental or physical domination.

Why, let us ask, are so many still being driven out? Most by war but already many by environmental impact and that will only continue to escalate. And, I wrote this prior to Hurricane Matthew which has left beach erosion and coastal flooding in its wake taking with it things such as the eggs of this year’s Turtle Nests along with so many lives.

One of our incredible poetesses, Emma Lazarus, is memorialized on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your Tired, Your Poor, Your huddled masses yearning to be free, the wretched refuse or your teeming shores. Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the Golden Shore.”  Remember, it was not so long ago that we were the tempest tossed asking that quotas be lifted.

So let the awesome, sacred power of the day be proclaimed. Let it make us uncomfortable. If we remember our deeds, and we challenge ourselves, we can wrestle with prayers and …with God.


[1] How Safe Is Tap Water?, http://environment.about.com/od/healthenvironment/a/tap_water_safe.htm, Updated January 22, 2016.  This heartwarming yet chilling story was told by Rabbi Baruch Rabinovitch of Munkacs, father of the present Munkacser Rebbe, about his late father-in-law, Rabbi Chaim Elazar Spira (1871-1937), known as the "Minchat Elazar."
 

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ROSH HASHANAH DIN

10/4/2016

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EREV ROSH HASHANAH 2016
 
The first blast of the shofar was on Labor, the 2nd of Elul. As I blew the set of notes for a bat mitzvah ceremony, I realized that for me, they were not the normal attention call. I was wide awake. I had been awake all summer, in fact all year. And the din that I was hearing was a mix of the English din of noise and the Hebrew din of judgment.
 
With the first blast of the shofar, Tekiah, I was reminded that the holiday season arrives whether we are ready or not, or as is the title of Rabbi Alan Lew’s book, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared. You see, the holiday season is not as most people think 2 days or 3 days or even the entire ten days from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur known as Yomim Nori’im. It is actually 40 days, from the beginning of Elul, the month prior to Rosh HaShanah through Yom Kippur. Even then, the season doesn’t end for we have Sukkot, Shimini Atzeret and Simchat Torah in quick succession. But the point is, we have an entire month to prepare ourselves for the month to follow, to redress wrongs, to ask for forgiveness. We have the month for introspection, to look back on the year and see where we have fallen short. What expectations did we have that we didn’t meet? Where did we fail and how? And why? Did we not put in the effort or was the opportunity overlooked? How do we change the visions that we laid out as the year progressed? Did we give up too easily when we encountered an obstacle?
 
It was 15 years ago when I first came to this community, one week after 9/11. There was no din amongst the American people then. Having driven across the country, I remember that there was only a sense of unity, of oneness. This was as close as I can remember this country approaching indivisible.

9/11, more than any day, has become an American day of observance. While Memorial Day, Labor Day, the 4th of July and Thanksgiving have turned into joyous celebrations, on 9/11 we have begun to have holy gatherings. But how long will that last? Already there are those who don’t recognize the role of top players: first responders, rescuers, fellow workers; those who deny what was done altogether, ‘the conspiracy theorists’, and those who fight against providing these true, real life heroes with even the dignity of medical care.
 
Then there are those who don’t seem to understand the significance of the date. I have a group of 6th and 7th graders who have a program once a month after class to do community service. They were asked to write thank you cards to New York fire fighters and police on the first day of their meeting this year as that Sunday happened to fall on 9/11.  When I asked the follow Sunday what it meant to them, they said, ‘nothing’. They did it because they were told to. They had no feeling for 9/11 and some did not even know what it referenced.  Are we living in a time where everything passes so quickly that we can’t take a moment to remember those who have died, those who are suffering because of a tragedy and those who are making a difference in our world because of events that changed theirs? Have we lost the story so soon?
 
I’m not looking for the country wide silent moments such as those observed in Israel for Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance, just a simple recognition of one humanity. I suppose it is not so simple.  I wonder is it possible?  Will it ever be? 
 
What will happen to this point in time that was seems so prominent in our lives? An event which turned the course of our country’s basic philosophy regarding civil liberty and altered our march toward human rights acceptance. When will it be rolled into all other days of remembrance, lost in significance like Pearl Harbor Day or VJ Day? 

Speaking of which – did you all see that Greta Friedman died in September? She was 92.  Who was Greta? The woman in the famous picture that represented the end of WWII, the kiss between sailor, George Mendonsa, and a nurse, Greta.
 
Even these iconic images are becoming relics. As our culture changes, we take offense at old ways of viewing things. Rather than appreciating them for what they were within their context, we denigrate and deplore what they seem to represent now. George, a half drunk sailor, according to his own recollection, at the end of a war, in pure elation desired to share it, with the first pretty stranger he encountered. Would that picture now be viewed as a sexual assault?
 
This tendency to outdate, to view as passé, even offensive, happens also with our prayers.  Therefore have we added new prayers, new melodies, new words to old prayers and new translations to old words. Often we recite words but do know what we are saying. For the most part, does it matter? No. But here’s what does matter. That our minds and hearts are directed toward the prayers. That we allow the words and melodies to move us, to move through us so that we connect to something beyond ourselves. That we are spending the time not thinking about our next text message or who’s winning the football game, but that we spend it thinking about who’s winning our soul.
 
 
Through the Window (slightly Edited)
By Yerachmiel Tilles[1]

On Erev Rosh Hashanah (the first night of Selichot) over one hundred years ago, instead of going to the large Shul to signal the beginning of the prayers, the rebbe, Rabbi Shalom of Belz, ordered his attendant to harness the horses. He said they would be going into the forest.

The astonished attendant wanted to remind the Rebbe that thousands of chassidim were waiting in the Shul, but he knew better than to ask questions and went out to prepare the wagon. After a half hour drive the Rebbe signaled him to stop. They alighted and walked down a narrow path till they saw a small hut in the distance. The Rebbe signaled the attendant to wait for him, and then tiptoed alone up to the window and peeked in.

An old Jewish man was sitting alone at a table. On the table was a bottle of vodka and two small cups, one in front of him and the other before the empty seat opposite him.

Through the window the Rebbe couldn’t hear what the old man was saying, but he saw him raise his cup in a toast, drink it, and then drink the second cup as well. This he repeated two more times, after which the Rebbe tiptoed back to the attendant. They walked quickly to the wagon and the Rebbe motioned him to drive back to Belz.

Meanwhile the chassidim had been waiting for over an hour and were becoming worried. But when the doors of the Synagogue opened and the Rebbe entered, the congregation fell silent. All eyes followed him to his place at the front of the Shul, and then the room burst into prayer.

When services ended the Rebbe turned to his attendant and said, "There is an old man that came in after everyone and I’m sure he will finish after everyone also. He’s the one I saw in the house in the woods. Please wait for him to finish, and then tell him I want him to come to my study where I will speak to him privately."

Half an hour later the simple Jew was standing in fear before the Holy Rebbe.

"Sit down, Isaac," said the Rebbe, indicating a chair. "I want you to tell me what you did in your house before you came here tonight. What were those two cups of vodka for and what was that strange l’chayim you made?"

"The Rebbe knows that?" he exclaimed, his eyes bulging in amazement. Then he started to shake. "How does the Rebbe know?"

"I sensed that something important was going to happen," the Rebbe answered, "so I drove to the woods and peeked in your window. But I want to understand the meaning behind what you were doing."

"The Rebbe peeked in my window? The Rebbe peeked in my window? How could it be? I am a nothing!"

Now the poor chassid was really confused. He was silent for a moment. Then, realizing that there was no alternative, he sank down onto the chair and began to explain.

"I’m a poor man, Rebbe, I have no children and my wife passed on years ago. I live alone with just a few farm animals. That is, until a few months ago when my cow became sick. I prayed to G‑d to heal the cow. ‘After all’, I said to G‑d, ‘You create the entire world and everything in it; certainly you can heal one cow!’

"But the cow got worse. So I said ‘Listen G‑d, if You don’t heal that cow I’m not going to shul any more!’ I figured that if G‑d doesn’t care about me—I mean, it’s nothing for Him to heal one old cow—so why should I care about His place?

"But the cow died anyway. I got mad and … and… I stopped going to synagogue.

"But then my goat got sick! I said to G‑d, ‘What! You haven’t had enough? Do you think I’m bluffing? Listen, if this goat dies I’m not putting on tefillin any more!’ But the goat died and so I stopped putting on tefillin.

"Next, my chickens got ill. I told G‑d that if they die I’m not going to recite Kiddush or keep Shabbos. Well, a week later I was without chickens and G‑d was without my Shabbos.

"I held out for weeks until suddenly I realized that the holidays were approaching. I thought to myself, ‘What, Isaac, you aren’t going to go say Gut Yuntif to the Rebbe? What, are you nuts?’ But on the other hand I was angry with G‑d and had vowed I wasn’t going to the shul. So I held out.

"But then I remembered that once I had an argument with Shmuel the butcher. For about a month we didn’t even say hello. Then one night he came to my house with a bottle of vodka and said, ‘Let’s forget the past and be friends, enough enemies outside the community; why be enemies.’ So we made three l’chayims, shook hands and even danced around a little together. Baruch Hashem, we were friends again.

"So I figured I would do the same thing with G‑d. After all, Rebbe, we are told that on these days, we are forgiven - if we atone for the sins against God - as these are the only ones for which God can forgive us. So, I invited God to sit opposite me, poured us two cups and said, ‘Listen, G‑d, you forget my faults and I’ll forget yours. All right? A deal?’ L'chayim!

"So I drank my cup and understood that since G‑d doesn’t drink, He probably wanted me to drink His. And after we did it twice more I stood up and we danced together! Then I felt better and came to shul."

The Rebbe looked deeply into Isaac’s innocent eyes. In a serious tone, he said, "Listen to me, Isaac. Before we began, I saw that in heaven there was a terrible decree on our holy congregation, because the chassidim were saying the words in the prayer book but they weren’t really praying seriously to G-d. Of course, there are a lot of distractions and other excuses; nevertheless this terrible decree was looming.

"But you, Isaac, in your sincerity have saved the entire congregation! For you, Isaac, you talked to G‑d like He is your friend.”


-----
In our SALMON HANDOUTS PG 10, #24 we read together
24. A READING by Sheila Peltz Weinberg
 
O God,
Let me be willing to be a true friend,
To walk along Without always knowing the destination
Let me have enough faith in Your presence
To know that letting go is not giving up
Surrender is not annihilation
O God,
Help me move through the arid dessert of
Loneliness and fear
Toward Your creatures, Your creation
Toward Your outstretched arm of freedom,
Your protecting wing of peace.
 ------

May we each find our way to draw near to our friends on earth and in Heaven and bring healing into our lives and the world. AMEN

[1]http://www.kabbalaonline.org/kabbalah/article_cdo/aid/2299022/jewish/Through-the-Window.htm


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THE DANCE: Two step forward and three steps back

7/2/2016

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One Step Forward: Recently Israel, for the first time, took its place as Head of a Permanent UN Committee. Danny Danon, Israel’s envoy to the UN, will chair the UN’s Sixth Committee, which interprets legal questions in the General Assembly. Danon, appointed by Netanyahu, is opposed to a two-state solution. His election to the committee was opposed by the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) but supported by the Western European and Others regional (WEOG) group.

Second step forward: In 2018, for the first time, Israel will have the opportunity to run for a seat on the Security Council. This Council is obsessed with finding Israel as the world violator of human rights despite the multi-front wars occurring in nearby areas, and the devastation and expulsion or flight of millions of people who are now exiled and homeless. 

How can that possibly be? What creates the environment that allows an international community to agree to condemn Israel over other human rights violators? Wherever hate is unleashed, regardless of the perceived target, Jews have historically been, and will for the foreseeable future continue to be, recipients of the fallout of that hate.

One step back: In Brexit, the ‘other’ worker objected to were the Poles. Yet, swastikas are being found all over England. England was the voice of defense in the EU when issues of circumcision and kashrut arose. Who will speak up now in the EU? With the current sentiment against all foreigners, despite many living there for decades and generations, who will support the Jews in the UK? Jews had been expelled 200 years prior to Christopher Marlowe writing The Jew of Malta in 1594 and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice two years later. Will living with Jews make it more difficult to turn against them?

Second step back: Jews live without fear in America. Unless you are attending a university where hate crimes are up according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Contrary to popular belief, according to the FBI, 57% of religiously targeted hate crimes targeted Jews.

Are you on twitter? Have you seen or heard of the Jewish Cowbell? It looks like this:
((( NAME ))).

"The inner parenthesis represent the Jews' subversion of the home [and] destruction of the family through mass-media degeneracy. The next [parenthesis] represents the destruction of the nation through mass immigration, and the outer [parenthesis] represents international Jewry and world Zionism." 
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2016/06/02/the_jewish_cowbell_the_meaning_of_those_double_parentheses_beloved_by_trump.html

This internet meme began a few weeks ago as part of a response to a New York Times reporter, Jonathan Weisman’s tweet, regarding an essay by Robert Kagan on the emergence of fascism in the United States. Since then, I have had friends and colleagues report that they have been the victims of internet abuse and harassment. Many Jews are fighting back by encapsulating their own names in the triple parentheses announcing being a Jew is a source of pride. 

How is it then, that regardless of the fight, hate always exposes anti-Semitism?

Perhaps the answer is that being a Jew isn’t simple. It is not simply a religion although it revolves around a belief in an ethical monotheistic God. It is not a simple race since it is comprised of people of many races. Indeed, Israel may be the only country to fly people from other countries and of other races onto its land. It is not a simple culture since it draws from and blends with many cultures of the world. As Jews, we have lived in nearly every corner of the world.  While based on ancient texts, Judaism is ever evolving. Unless someone is keeping up, they will frequently make invalid suppositions. And,

Third step back: Scapegoating is a psychological defense mechanism that provides a sense of gratification or denial by targeting ‘others’ for justified aggression by projecting blame on them and convincing themselves (and often others) that negative occurrences are the scapegoat’s responsibility. In as much as the term scapegoat originated in the Torah, we have now completed the dance.

Nonetheless, if you saw the postings in Rabbis Against Gun Violence, they said, #DisarmHate. Our job as Jews is to keep looking to find the Divine in our fellow human beings, to view every human being b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God and to assist in ridding humanity of hate. Here’s a way to begin: attempt to go a week without using the word against, person, place or thing.

BTW: Ginger Rogers said her job was to do everything Fred Astaire did except in high heels and backwards. Sometimes, three steps back is the same dance as three steps forward.

Enjoy the balance of the summer.


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Alternative Shabbat: Gun Debate Review

2/29/2016

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What a delight it was this past Friday evening to gather with the Pueblo Jewish Community for dinner and to discuss/debate our views on gun issues. Using Jewish texts as our baseline, we entered into a passionate exchange of ideas around buying and selling, ownership and inheritance of guns, guns and ammunition restriction, licensing, registration, background checks, age limits, mental health and its various parameters including the emptying of the institutions decades ago and the lack of funds to assist people currently, parental responsibility, state versus federal regulations and of course, gun manufacturer responsibility. We even included an exchange on the safety controls that are both current and upcoming through R&D, the pros and cons thereof.

Who would have imagined that Biblical texts about dangerous dogs, roofs around parapets, not putting stumbling blocks before people and beating swords into plowshears could be so relevant! We even came to some consensus on a few issues.

Just as importantly, with the understanding that we gathered as community, friends, with regard for each other as individuals and respect for one another's opinions, thirty people with strong opinions spent an hour together and never once was anyone belittled, called a name, had their ideas dismissed or was cursed. Plus, the dinner was wonderful thanks to our chef and the volunteers who helped provide it.

Thanks to all who prepared and all who participated. I can't wait for our next alternative Shabbat.

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WELCOME THE LIGHT

12/31/2015

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“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.”[1]
 
The days have turned cold and dark. They always do at this time of year but like many, this year feels colder and darker to me. I write this on the shortest day of the year but it isn’t just the loss of a few minutes of daytime that creates the aura. All the Christmas lights and all the Chanukah candles did not seem to break through the darkness this year. We’ve become despondent and cynical and the cold has a dampening effect on everything we do because it is not only external. We are being bombarded with messages that tell us to internalize the dark in the form of fear and to embrace the cold in the form of hate.  
 
As Jews, we know that appealing to humanity’s dark side by dehumanizing the “other” works all too well. Dehumanizing includes not only pointing out someone’s differences but also denigrating normal human needs and reactions as if only one group or one person is affected by that quality or condition. Nor are disabilities and bodily functions disgusting unless one is three years old, perverse, a bully or immature.
 
The rabbis told us to light a candle rather than stumble in the dark. It was not only literal, it was also figurative. Lighting a candle kept shalom bayit, peace in a household that would otherwise become chaotic. Enlightenment kept the Jewish people at the forefront of science, knowledge, understanding, compassion, a broader vision of the world. The MiSheberach (the One Who Blesses) prayer is a result of adapting ancient blessings to current needs.
 
One of the most enlightened prayers Judaism has, gives praise for the proper functioning of the openings and cavities of the body. “… for if one of these would rupture or be blocked it would not be possible to stand before (Adonai)…” We recite this prayer upon exiting the bathroom and it is included in our morning service. We recognize the body as a house for the spirit, akin to the Aron Kodesh, the Holy Ark, which houses the Sifre Torah. Just like the Aron Kodesh, we need to guard our bodies and what we put therein. We would not desecrate the Aron Kodesh by ladening it with idols, nor would we dishonor it by eating, drinking, smoking, or engaging in numerous other activities nearby. So too, we should not demoralize and debase ourselves by filling our bodies and minds with hate and fear. 
 
As the light grows each day, may the light in our lives take hold. May the stories of strength and goodness begin to proliferate and remind us that being a light unto the nations requires seeing light in the dark.
 
Ever since I was a little girl, I have been proud that the words on Lady Liberty were written by the Jewish poetess, Emma Lazarus:
 
“…From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
‘Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’ ”[2]

For the mitzvah is a lamp and Torah is light. (Proverbs 6:23)

Wishing you and yours a joyous, healthy 2016.
 
[1] Rodgers and Hammerstein, You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught, South Pacific ,1949


[2] The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus.

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REACHING OUT

9/11/2015

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Our hearts go out to all who are in need, all who suffer, all who are persecuted. On World Prayer Day, I received the email posted below.

"In light of tragic events involving a swelling population of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers making their way from the war torn Middle East to the safe harbor of the European Union, JEWISHcolorado is responding by setting up the Syria Refugee Crisis Fund.

JEWISHcolorado and the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR) as we take part in a national effort to support refugees and migrants in Europe and the Middle East. Dollars raised from the Syrian Refugee Crisis Fund will provide immediate assistance to refugees and their families. 

JEWISHcolorado will absorb all administrative costs of this emergency relief effort so that 100% of collected donations directly support needs in affected areas.
You can go to jewishcolorado.org/syrianrefugeefund"

As we prepare to enter our High Holidays, our hearts also go out to those effected by the falling crane in the Grand Mosque in Mecca causing the tragic death of 87 and injury of over 200 as they are getting ready for Hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

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SUMMER IS TURNING

8/10/2015

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As we settle into the month of Av, having risen from the saddest day of the Jewish year, I want to revisit the cities of refuge which was the topic of our Friday night Torah exploration July 17th. For those who were not there, six cities were established, three on each side of the Jordan River, so that someone who had unintentionally committed manslaughter would have a safe haven from revenge until their case could be adjudicated. We explored many facets of the laws presented in the few verses and we recognized the foundation of some of our laws of incarceration. With this we end the fourth book of Torah.

 

We all have tasted bitterness, witnessed hate and viewed destruction. The loss of the 2nd Temple in ancient times, occurring on Tisha b’Av, is attributed to a society that bears witness to such enmity and does nothing to rectify the situation. As a community, a nation, we are currently guilty of such enmity, as well. It is not only that we turn a deaf ear to the victims and families of mass murder; mass murder which has become commonplace enough that the nightly news doesn’t report them all. It is that we are reduced to feelings of frustration and hostility because we do not believe we can do anything to significantly change the situation.

 

Taking a life comes in many forms these days. It is no longer relegated to the physical aspect of manslaughter. If one is ostracized from community, if one is shamed on social media, if one is ripped of their identity through rape[1] or theft or personal damage, this loss of identity is taking life from that individual.

 

Where is our refuge? Adonai is our refuge. When each of us acts b’tzelem Elokim, in the image of the Divine. That is our refuge. Communal actions begin with individuals; one individual reaching out to another. Individually, we are a refuge for those in need and together the community becomes a haven for those who join together.[2]

 

If we each consider during this month how we have failed to take the opportunity to lighten a burden, to turn a hate to a dialogue, perhaps to an understanding, to bear witness for empowerment rather than detriment or destruction, we will each enter the month of Elul with a lighter heart and an easier turning toward the holidays of repentance and repair.

 

When I turn on the news each day, I know I will find plenty about which to be depressed or angry. Before I do that, I will have a goal of taking steps toward connecting, finding ways to compromise, looking for projects with which to cooperate and taking a turn toward tikkun - repair.

 

May the rest of your summer be happy and light.




 


[1] (Deut 22:26) "Just as if one man jumped up and murdered his fellow, this [rape] is the same way." Why is the verse comparing murder to the violation of a betrothed maiden ... deadly force can be used to stop either, and one is obligated to be killed rather than transgress either.    http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/60792/is-rape-considered-yehareig-val-yaavor 7.26.2015

[2] I heard on Friday, July 17, from more than one person in attendance, that their cares fell away when they joined us. The URJ would be happy – I think it would fall under their ‘audacious hospitality’ category.

 

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Don't Take Us Back

5/13/2015

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They’re at it again! Congress! Another Anti-Choice/Anti-Abortion bill! Do not be fooled. This is not pro-life. It puts in danger the life and physical, emotional and mental well being of the women and girls and the families of those women and girls in need of services. Abortions beyond 20 weeks will be allowed to a sexual assault victim only after a 48-hour waiting period following ‘counseling’ or ‘treatment’. If the assault is also incest, the victim must be under 18 years of age. (Wouldn't you love to know what makes incestuous rape ok at age 18? So would I.)

Abortion providers will be required to report the procedures to the government. (Small government at work?) Fetal abnormalities will not be taken into account for decision making. (So much for genetic testing - oh, yes, that would count as science.) Physicians can be prosecuted by the law. They have been persecuted by the Anti-Choice activists for years; they, their families and their practices.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 205 anti-choice, restrictive reproductive laws have been past by states in the past three years. That is more than in the preceding decade. Along with this, in 27 states, more than half the Unites States, women are at risk of finding supportive, adequate health care; particularly low income and young women. You see, along with taking away support for choice, closing those clinics also eliminated health care providers for annual exams, urinary and vaginal infections, cancer screening, health and sexual education, pre-natal care, birth control and more.

I am certain that our legislators would be happy to live in a house for an extended period of time with someone who has assaulted them - after they have reported it. I have no doubt that they are happy to have their medical records on impotence and premature ejaculation released to the government. But I doubt that they are willing to cross picket lines to have prostate cancer tests.


Here in Colorado, the legislature attempted to circumvent two prior state votes against personhood by passing a personhood bill in April under the guise of ‘fetal homicide’. Fortunately, it was narrowly defeated. However, they did manage to block the funding that has reduced teen birth rates by 40 percent over the past five years. This brilliant action occurred the day after the funding program received a prestigious award recognizing the achievement at an annual conference by the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association.  

Do we really want to take the country back? Back to the days when we couldn’t discuss sexual issues, when we couldn’t find birth control, when having an abortion meant back alleys and the probability of not having children? If we are not vigilant, we will find ourselves back in the pre-Roe v. Wade era not only for abortion but for all women’s health issues. Don’t give away what was so hard fought and won. We’re near tilt now.

#http://ppact.io/1JC6Kth    www.PlannedParenthoodAction.com



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    Community educator, choreographer, composer, performer, Becker, M.S.W., M.Ed., M.R.S., Ph.D., serves as rabbi for Temple Emanuel-Pueblo, cellist for Apples and Honey and is a Storahtelling Maven.

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