Happy Tu B’Shevat – Jewish New Year of the Trees

January 20, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

Today is Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees.  While it is a sunny 63 degrees Fahrenheit in Jerusalem and almond trees may be blossoming there, here where I sit in Cincinnati it’s snowing.

The messages of Tu B’Shevat have been adapted over time to reflect new and relevant meanings for the Jewish community.  You can read more about the background of Tu B’Shevat here and can also find readings and children’s activities for Tu B’Shevat as well.

Often today’s Tu B’Shevat celebrations treat it as an arbor day.  A day to focus on nature and ecology – and perhaps most important, to remember our responsibility to the environment.

But as I sit here in the snow (well, watching it from my window!) and know that in other parts of the world flowers are blooming in sunny weather, I am reminded of another message.  Our perspective is always limited.  Naturally, we see best what stands right before our eyes.  But I always appreciate a reminder to broaden our vision and to appreciate the  richness of diverse points of view.  To know that we are just small parts of a larger universe and that we can only begin to imagine what others are experiencing at any moment.  To know that our communities are comprised of people with different paths and different visions.  And to know that this makes our world a far more interesting place.

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Tu B’Shevat Lollipop Tree Project

January 14, 2011 · Filed Under Holidays · Comment 

Thanks to Sharon for submitting this idea that she does with her children for Tu B’Shevat (Jewish New Year of the Trees).  It involves a little “trickery” so only proceed with it if you’re comfortable.  Sounds like fun to us!

You need:

Without the kids seeing:
Glue all but one of the lollipops to the branch and hide this.

With the kids:
Cut the stick off one lollipop (this will be your “lollipop seed”).  Plant your lollipop tree seed in the potting soil.  Have the kids water it, but don’t let them water too much!  Tell them that in the morning there’ll be a lollipop tree, but Sharon writes “they likely won’t believe you. Kids these days aren’t so gullible.”

While the kids are sleeping, plant the branch in the same soil.

It’s as if lollipop trees really do grow overnight!

Feel free to submit your Tu B’Shevat ideas to us!

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Online Funeral Unites Jews Around the World

January 12, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 2 Comments 

Today I attended a funeral with over 7,000 people.  The funeral was at a synagogue in California and I was in Cincinnati.

The funeral was for Jewish composer and singer Debbie Friedman who died on Sunday at the age of 59.  Debbie’s death was sudden (from pneumonia) and came as a shock to many.

I did not know Debbie Friedman personally, but I certainly know her music.  What has struck me most these past few days as I’ve reflected on her death and life is that Debbie Friedman revolutionized Jewish music and Judaism.  While there are many potential ways to praise Debbie, what I’m thinking about at this moment was her ability to introduce something very new to Judaism (a new way to participate in services), i.e. to touch people’s minds and hearts in new ways.  Her music was meaningful to people across denominations, across age groups.  Her approach was inclusive, and she valued translating to English any Hebrew words (as do we).  Debbie touched many lives.

That was clear today while watching the live-streaming funeral.  We at OurJewishCommunity.org stream Shabbat and other holiday services regularly.  And for our sister-congregation Beth Adam, we have also video-streamed Bar Mitzvahs and funerals.  There’s tremendous power to use technology to reach people who otherwise would not have the opportunity to participate.  There’s also a community-building component.

As I watched the funeral today, there was a lot of chatting going on at the side of the screen, just like there is when we stream Shabbat and High Holiday services.  It was nice to see some familiar names in the chat stream and to also see some folks whom I’ve never met but whose reflections and perspectives I enjoyed learning from.

There are some who would have objections to streaming a funeral.  I choose to see the immense good that can come from such an opportunity.  In a day and age where people are often geographically separated from others in their community and when people have increasing demands on their time, we can use technology to unite us.

I’m used to being the person on the computer screen, but today it was nice to participate as someone looking at the computer screen.  It was nice to know that people had the opportunity to mourn and lean upon one another, no matter where they were in the world.

Debbie Friedman brought many people together in life.  So did she bring many people together in her death.  The streaming of the service allowed us all to remember Debbie and recognize her legacy.


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Jewish Singer-Songwriter Debbie Friedman Died this Morning

January 9, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

I was saddened to hear this morning the news of the death of Jewish singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman.  While I don’t know Debbie personally, I know her music – and I know that she had a power to bring people together through song.

Much of Debbie’s music is traditional (e.g. the Mi Sheiberach – traditional healing prayer) and thus  not part of our congregation’s community.  But others of her songs are ones we sing here – including her setting of Lech Lecha which tells the biblical story of Abraham’s journey into the wilderness.

More than just through the content of her songs, Debbie had the power to touch people’s hearts through song and she will be missed very much by many in the Jewish community.

May her memory be a blessing.

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Tragic Events in Arizona: Congresswoman Giffords Shot

January 8, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · Comment 

I’ve been glued to the TV this evening watching the coverage of the tragic shooting in Arizona.  As of now, six are dead including Federal Judge John Roll, Congresswoman Giffords’ aide Gabe Zimmerman, and a 9 year old girl.  Twelve were wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The events are simply tragic.  As a rabbi, I see many of the highs and lows of life.  Unfortunately, there is little that can bring us comfort or assuage our anxiety at times like this.

My thoughts certainly go out to all who are wounded and to the friends and family of those who were killed.  I also know that each day people are wounded or killed in far less newsworthy acts of senseless violence, and my heart also goes out to those affected by violence we do not see on the national news.

The JTA is reporting that Giffords is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Arizona and that she made her Jewish identity part of her campaign.  JTA reports that Giffords was raised “mixed” by a Christian Scientist mother and Jewish father; after a visit to Israel in 2001, she had decided she was Jewish only. She has attended services at a Reform congregation.  The great-granddaughter of a rabbi, when Giffords’ connection to Judaism was rekindled in 2001, she introduced legislation to help Holocaust survivors.

“If you want something done, your best bet is to ask a Jewish woman to do it,” Giffords said during her campaign.  “Jewish women — by our tradition and by the way we were raised — have an ability to cut through all the reasons why something should, shouldn’t or can’t be done and pull people together to be successful.”

It is my prayer tonight that Giffords and each person wounded can pull together along with his/her caregivers, families, and friends to survive this tragedy.


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The Chained Wife Problem in Orthodox Judaism

January 4, 2011 · Filed Under Baum's Blog · 13 Comments 

There’s an article in today’s New York Times about the “chained wife” problem.  In Orthodox Judaism, it is the husband who has sole control over whether his wife receives a get, a Jewish decree of divorce.

The article in the Times focuses on Aharon Friedman, a 34 year old tax counsel for the Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, who has refused to give his wife Tamar Epstein a get.  Their divorce has been finalized in the civil courts, but Friedman refuses to give his eyes a get – which means that neither can get married again in traditional Judaism.

Several groups and individuals have encouraged Friedman to give his wife a get.  This is common in Jewish communities where the Jewish community needs to apply pressure in order for the husband to give in.  Here, it is happening in the secular world as well, and there is pressure from many people.  Rabbi Jason Miller, a Conservative rabbi, blogged that Representative Dave Camp (Friedman’s boss) should pressure Friedman to do the right thing and grant his wife the get.

Here’s what stumps me.  Why is there this tremendous desire to change Mr. Friedman, rather than realizing that the system is deeply problematic?  Instead of focusing so much attention on trying to convince particular men to give their wives gets, it is time that we recognize the the inherent disparity in Orthodox Judaism’s treatment of men and women.

I’m troubled by the fact that everyone is focusing on Mr. Friedman’s obstinacy and refusal to give the get.  While I agree that he should give his wife a get, I wish the focus were on the need to bring bigger change.

Ms. Epstein realizes that she needs a get in order to marry another Orthodox Jew.  I’m not in her shoes, so I can’t understand her situation.  But I will say that as a woman, I would not choose to stay within Orthodox Judaism – especially when I see that it treats women as second class citizens – people who can be “chained” by their husbands (the translation for the Hebrew word agunah).  It’s time for Orthodoxy to recognize its inherent sex discrimination, and it’s time for men and women to stand up against the sexism.  Sexism in the name of religious observance is still sexism.

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