Reform Jews For Israel

“If you will it, it is not a dream!’  -Theodore Herzl

There are many forms of Zionism: religious, political, etc.  At its core, Zionism is the belief, the movement that supports Jews and Jewish culture in the reestablished Jewish homeland called Israel. As part of the historical development of Zionism, an organization called the American Zionist Movement (AZM) was created.  Currently, it is holding elections to determine US Jewish representation to the World Zionist Congress (WZC), the highest legislative body of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). What this does is provides a forum for all the world’s Jews to come together and deliberate about issues affecting both Diaspora Jews and the state of affairs in Israel.

There are 145 seats in the Congress dedicated to the AZM. Its composition has both financial and policy implications in Israel, as resources are directed to recipients in Israel based on the power each party holds within the Congress, and the policy positions of those parties.

In short, these elections are the strongest way for American Reform Jews to promote and encourage the ideals of justice, equality and democracy in Israel itself and help build the kind of Jewish state we all know is possible.  What can you do? REGISTER & VOTE! RIGHT NOW!

It is in our power to create an Israel that values the Reform Jewish Movement as much as the Reform Jewish Movement values Israel.

This is the time. Tomorrow will be too late. Let’s make history.

http://www.reformjews4israel.org/vote

Modern State of Israel

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.  

May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, 

if I do not raise you above my highest joy. " (Psalm 137:5-6)

     The modern State of Israel, unlike the vision of peace we pray for, is subject to the grit and grime of reality: living in a hazardous neighborhood, at times subjected to questionable ethics by some of its political leaders, with a unique challenge of existing as a Jewish nation and a working democracy. These should not repel us from its heart and soul. The birth of any nation comes at a price, and Israel's birth was no different. Yesterday, on Yom HaZikaron, and as Israel mourned its losses, we too held a service here in the Micah sanctuary in honor of the soldiers who paid the ultimate price in giving their lives for the country. The mood in Israel quickly shifts, as now the country and our community celebrates Yom Ha-Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. Please join Rabbi Laurie as we celebrate at the Gordon Jewish Community Center this evening marking the holiday with songs, speeches, torch lightings and more!!!

The Pursuit of Harmony

The Pursuit of Harmony 

Sermon & Song at Congregation Micah

6 p.m., Friday, May 8

Can a Jewish American and Palestinian Muslim find a common bond through music?

Join celebrated Jewish American songwriter/producer Michael Hunter Ochs and noted Palestinian songwriter/commentator Alaa Alshaham for an intimate evening of song and conversation at Congregation Micah for Shabbat Service at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 8. You will be inspired as these two improbable friends retrace their steps through the security checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank, across the Middle East – eventually finding themselves performing together at the United Nations.

Michael and Alaa will sing Michael’s liturgical music – in English, Hebrew, and Arabic - as well as songs with spiritual overtones that they wrote together. Using video and musical accompaniment, Michael and Alaa will share some of their songs and what they learned traveling together throughout the Middle East to Israel and the West Bank. They will discuss how their friendship endured through the recent conflict in Gaza.

The personal stories, stunning photographs and exclusive video accompanying the music will sweep you into this incredible experience. Hear the story, hear the songs...and feel the hope. For more information, visit: www.thepursuitofharmony.com

Thankful for our Metro Officers

“Regulations concerning danger to life are more stringent than ritual prohibitions.”

-Babylonian Talmud, Hul. 10a

 

     Rabbi Yannai of the Talmud once said, “One should not stand in a place of danger in the expectation that a miracle will be wrought on their behalf.” (B. Shab. 32a) We Jews live in a dangerous world, as was evidence by the shooting this week at West End Synagogue here in Nashville. Thank God no one was injured, but our need for diligence with regard to security in the Jewish community remains strong.
     Thanks to our security and building assessment fee, we were able to act immediately to secure more police for Micah and the Children's Academy. We want to thank all those individuals who have paid their Security and Building Assessment Fee. Please know that your funds (not miracles) are what help keep all of us safe and secure.
     We take the safety of our congregants very seriously, which is why these funds are earmarked directly for improving our campus. Finally, our community is blessed to have a wonderful relationship with the local police department; please say thank you to the officers when you see them on our campus.

Remembering Where We Come From...

In his autobiography, Billy Crystal offered a comic reflection on the Jewish holidays:

Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. A fantastic tale. Moses frees the slaves who were building the pyramids, we're lost in the desert for forty years, cross the Red Sea, get to the Holy Land, and we celebrate by eating cardboard and a fish called gefilte that is so lacking in flavor that you have to cover it with horseradish and bitter herbs. Not one chocolate bunny. We do have eggs, except that they're hard-boiled and served in salted water. My mouth is watering as I type this. Every year at the lengthy Seder serve, we ask the four questions. Why is this night different from all other nights - And it's not: it's ten-thirty and we still haven't eaten! ...

Despite Billy Crystal's frustrations with the holiday, one of the most poignant moments in his memoir reminded me of the true meaning of Passover.

He recalled that when he was a boy in New York, he would watch the Oscars each year but would get sent to bed before the show was over. As he was getting into bed, he would brush his teeth, holding the toothbrush, pretending that it was an Oscar and thank people. Once Billy Crystal grew up and became a famous comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer, he hosted the Oscar nine times. He wrote that when hosting the Oscars he "kept a toothbrush in my breast pocket, just to remind myself where I'd come from."

What a powerful reminder that toothbrush must have been! This reminder must have heightened his joy at the moment of achievement, by viewing it through the eyes of the child he had been. Indeed, Crystal recounts watching his mom in the audience "smile and shake her head in proud wonder at me, her little Shredded Wheat eater, hosting the show it had once seemed I'd never be old enough to watch to completion." I suspect the toothbrush also kept his success from going to his head - allowing him to tap into the little boy's sense of awe and wonder.

What Crystal didn't mention in his explanation of Passover is that the "cardboard" - the Matzah - is our communal toothbrush, a reminder from where we've come. Whereas other cultures take pride in descending from great kings or mythic heroes, Jews are constantly told to recall our enslavement in Egypt. The Torah reading for the last day of Pesach from Deuteronomy concludes its description of Passover with the refrain - "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall observe and do these rules." This punch-line is also offered as the rationale for many practices in the Torah: from keeping Shabbat, freeing slaves, leaving food for strangers and orphans, and doing justice. These reminders of our slave roots intend to prompt us to become more generous and compassionate to those in need.

Both communally and individually, we need frequent reminders from where we've come. As for Billy Crystal, these reminders can come from childhood objects, from visiting places we went to earlier in life, or from gathering around the Seder table. Often when I get bogged down in daily frustrations, I try to see my day through the eyes of my younger self - who longed to reach this stage of life. This mental shift snaps the day back into perspective.

Both in times of frustration and in joy, God reminds us: Recall that you were slaves in Egypt, and Billy Crystal reminds us: Wherever you go, don't forget your toothbrush.

-Rabbi Ilana Grinblat

Passover is a time to End Slavery

"In every generation, each of us must see ourselves as if we personally went out from Egypt."

 –The Haggadah

     This Shabbos, the Jewish world embarks on a journey. Pack your stuff, we are leaving quickly! Take some wafers and prepare to be a wayfarer or willing to accept one in. For as we retell the story of our sacred passage from slavery to freedom, Micah prays that one day, all people who are still enslaved will be free. We celebrate Passover not simply to repeat the tale of our enslavement and liberation, but to find new and personal meaning in that narrative each year. The Seder - its rituals, narrative, prayers, and songs - helps us remember what slavery felt like - to fuel gratitude for our liberation and to remind us not to oppress the stranger, for we were once strangers in Egypt.

     Last year at this time Rabbi Flip traveled to Turkey and along the way made several contacts. One such friend is Wayne Barnard, Director of Church Mobilization in the Southwest for an organization called International Justice Mission https://www.ijm.org The Haggadah calls upon us to not avert our eyes from bondage in the form of human trafficking. Slavery remains very much alive in our world. There are people who are doing something about it.