-
Shop at Amazon?
Click the logo below and a percentage of your purchase will automatically help support our online congregation.
Gun Totin’ Rabbis
Okay, now some rabbis have taken it to a whole new level. Check out this video which shows rabbis learning to shoot guns and defend their congregations against potential attackers.
Unfortunately, synagogue safety is a very serious matter and there absolutely should be safety procedures. At big events, there should probably be a police officer or other trained security official. But, I say let those professionals do what they do best and let the rabbis do what we do best.
I need to go write my Rosh Hashanah sermon, so I won’t say more about this here. But, to hear more about it, click here to listen to this brief podcast from my colleague, Rabbi Robert Barr.
Streaming Shabbat #6: Liturgy
On September 4, our streaming Shabbat service included a discussion of liturgy. Join us next week for conversation and an abbreviated Shabbat service including candles, challah, and wine.
You can tweet in to participate.
Ad Campaign in Israel Seeks to Prevent Intermarriage
There are many things I love about Israel – but a recent ad campaign from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Jewish Agency is not one of them. They have launched a campaign – called the Masa Project – which is designed to strengthen Jewish identity among youths in the Diaspora and their bonds to Israel. That sounds great. But the way they are doing it is appalling.
One of the video ads presents Jews who intermarry as missing persons. As if we should all be looking for them and bringing them back to their single life where they can find a nice Jewish partner.
According to Haaretz, Masa’s goal is for the public to help prevent Jews from marrying non-Jews, “which Jewish Agency officials believe is tantamount to a ‘strategic national threat.’”
Israel likely has many national threats and issues to grapple with: wars, boundary-issues, violence, terrorism, availability of natural resources. It seems to me the government should be worrying about those issues – not about whom we choose to marry.
Intermarriage is a reality. Rabbi David Ellenson (president of HUC-JIR) has compared this to a debate in the Talmud which asks: is it good that we are born? Ellenson’s point is that although that may be interesting to discuss philosophically, it’s rather irrelevant once we are in the situation.
The reality is that intermarriage exists and can even enhance the Jewish community. Trying to prevent intermarriage is foolish. An ad campaign like Masa’s will only push people away from Judaism. Israel, like much of the organized Jewish community throughout the world, needs to embrace the present realities and figure out how to engage blended families.
-
- — Baum's Blog on Facebook Adds Organ Donation feature
- — Baum's Blog on Memory and Independence
- — Learn how to make a map of Israel with ice cream and candy
- — Barr's Banter on what the Boy Scouts can Learn from Conservative Judaism about Inclusion
- — Join us for streaming Shabbat every Friday at 6 PM Eastern Time