Rabbis Rice: Oseh Shalom

Martin Luther King taught: "When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout angry words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love."

We are tremendously saddened by the tragic news of bombings at the Boston Marathon this week. We are shaken to the core by these acts of violence and destruction, and we mourn the loss of life and pray for those wounded and their families. Yet, in the midst of this tragedy, heroes also emerged--first responders who ran towards the blast to help, runners who changed course to go to hospitals to give blood, and citizens of Boston who opened their homes to marathoners who needed a place to stay.

This week, as a Jewish world, we marked Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day. Then, on the very next day, Israel celebrated Yom Ha'atzma'ut, Israel's Independence Day. The juxtaposition of these two days is very intentional. Israelis are always mindful of the destructive acts of violence and war, and the powerful, redemptive actions of heroes. We at Congregation Micah are particularly mindful of the fragility and preciousness of life, felt in the life of Israel this week, and sadly, here at home with the tragedy of the Boston Marathon explosions, as well as the plant explosion in the city of West, TX.

Oseh Shalom--May the one who makes Peace in the Heavens, make peace in Israel, in Boston with the victims and their families, for all those affected in West, TX, and in our world.

Sunday at the Movies: April 21, 28, and May 5

Join us at Micah for Sunday at the Movies, an adult education series. For three consecutive Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., we will screen a movie with discussion following. Choose just one or come for all three! Light snacks will be served.

April 21: "The Other Son" 

"The Other Son" is the moving and provocative tale of two young men -- one Israeli, the other Palestinian -- who discover they were accidentally switched at birth, and the complex repercussions facing them and their respective families.
Directed by Lorraine Levy, released in France in April, 2012.

NY Times Review:
"The film is propelled by a hopeful, good-hearted humanism, and it sets out to show that, in spite of political, religious and cultural divisions, people are people."

602 IMDB users rated the film at 7.1 out of 10 stars.


Upcoming Screenings
April 28: "Hollywood: An Empire of Their Own"
May 5: "Walk on Water"

Raise the Roof with Laughs at Micah: Info + Videos

Love to laugh? Congregation Micah is hosting a comedy night with NY Comedian Johnny Lampert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 18 in our social hall. The event, Raise the Roof, will be an entertaining evening with an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, dancing, fun, and of course – comedy!

Lampert has made a name for himself around the country with club, television, and casino performances. He often appears at New York and Los Angeles clubs such as The Comic Strip, Caroline’s Comedy Club, and The Improv; and can be seen on TV with MTV, HBO Comedy Showcase, and Comedy Central, among others. Trump Plaza, Trump Castle, The Sands, and The Claridge are casinos that have welcomed Lampert to work with stars such as Dana Carvey and Chris Rock. Lampert has also performed at many Jewish events and is raved about by The Jewish Reporter. His success is expounded upon on his site, johnnylampert.com, and is the reason he was picked to entertain at Raise the Roof.

Tickets are available at Micah for $50 per person. Patron Levels are at the following prices and include two tickets to the show: $250 – Jackie Mason, $500 – Billy Crystal, $1,000 – Mel Brooks, $5,000 – Jerry Seinfeld. For more information, contact the Micah office at 615-377-9799 or at office@congregationmicah.org.

Videos of Johnny: 

Micah's B'nai Mitzvah Kids Featured in The Tablet

Sometimes we can get so distracted by the busy nature of our own lives that we miss all the myriad of ways that our wonderful congregation is reaching out to and affecting the larger community and world. Our Micah professional leadership is often just as busy around Nashville as they are at Micah, participating in boards, sitting on panels, and delivering lectures. But Micah's outreach into the community doesn't stop there. Even our religious school teachers and students are having an incredible effect on the larger community.  Check it out!

  

 

From Tablet Magazine - Written by Marjorie Ingall 

     "...At Congregation Micah in Nashville, Tenn., teacher Rachel Tawil Kenyon ensures that there's Jewish perspective and pedagogical value to mitzvah projects. She told me, "Stuff is more tangible to kids than money. We just did a collection for Children's Family Services and the YES program that ended up with maybe $1,000 in school supplies, but that doesn't mean much to kids. What matters to them is seeing the pencils, and carrying the backpacks out to my car. They can wrap their brains around that much more easily than [the abstract notion] of a dollar."

     Last year, Kenyon's seventh-graders did a project to help a local shelter for battered women. "We started with an education component, talking about domestic violence," Kenyon said. "What you learn about relationships as a teenager affects your relationships later. We've had a representative from a shelter and a former resident come speak. The kids learn about what you might need if you flee your house with nothing but a backpack. Even upper-income women may not have access to money. So, we make care baskets-personal hygiene stuff. The girls get really into getting hair products. Kids will say, 'iPhones!' and then we say, 'OK, if we can't give them iPhones, what can we do?' We get them calling cards. And we keep impressing on the kids that our projects are not about going home and asking your parents for money, though they may choose to give some of their bar or bat mitzvah money."

     Kenyon has her students do independent research and interviews, then do a Shabbat presentation to the group about their cause. "Suddenly they feel personally connected," she said. "I grew up in a theater family, and I know that for adults who don't go to the theater as a child, it's like pulling teeth to get them to go as adults. But if you start as a kid, you grow up to be a theatergoer. Doing something well now makes it become second nature."...."

Click here to read the full story.

Yom Hashoah Commemoration: April 7

Join us for the community-wide Yom Hashoah Commemoration from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 7 at Micah.

Local rabbinic and cantorial leaders will join together for the day, accompanied by pianist Russell Davis. Cellist Michael Samis will be a featured performer.

The Jewish Federation and Jewish Foundation of Middle Tennessee are co-sponsoring the event. Contact our office for more information!

Rabbis Rice: Let Loose on Purim

   This week the Jewish world turns its traditions on their heads. Why? In celebration of Purim; the fun, boisterous holiday that commemorates the foiling of a plot to kill all the Jews of ancient Persia. Its observance comes with its own set of unique and sometimes surprising commandments. One of which is to get drunk. Not just to have a sip or two of wine, but to get so sloshed that you are unable to discern the difference between the names of Purim's hero Mordechai and its villain Haman. You might think that the origin of this practically pagan-sounding ritual is fundamentally hedonistic. However both ancient and modern Jewish sources cite a rather esoteric explanation for drinking on Purim: alcohol sublimates rational thoughts and reduces inhibitions. The advantage of this altered state is that the drinker is truly humbled once they are stripped of their intellectual cynicism. With alcohol in their system, drunken Purim partiers are paradoxically enabled to appreciate that only a higher power can truly discern between good and bad, between Mordechai and Haman. Or so goes the rationale.

     Perhaps this belief is better illustrated by an old parable: a time-honored institution in many Jewish communities is the shadchan, or marriage broker. More than an on-line dating service, he accompanies the deal from its inception all the way to its conclusion. He meets with the respective families, notes their desires, demands and expectations, and presents them with a proposal. He then presides over the negotiations, convincing each side to make the concessions required so that the deal can be closed. Then the boy meets the girl, and the shadchan’s work really begins. The boy wanted someone more beautiful, the girl wanted someone with better prospects. So he explains, cajoles, clarifies, and even exaggerates. (Not unlike a friend who sets you up on a blind date.) More meetings follow, and the engagement is formalized. In the critical months between the engagement and the wedding, the shadchan advises, encourages, assuages doubts, and heads off crises. Then comes the wedding. The bride and groom stand under the wedding canopy, and the shadchan is the proudest man in attendance. At this point, the shadchan is discreetly taken aside and told: "Thank you very much for what you did. Without you, this union could never have been achieved. Now take your commission and get out of our lives. We don’t want to see you ever again."

     In the cosmic marriage between God and Israel, the intellect is the shadchan. Without it, the relationship could not have been realized. But there comes a point at which the shadchan’s brokering is no longer needed, for something much deeper and truer has taken over. At this point, the shadchan’s continued presence is undesirable. Purim is a wedding at which the shadchan has been shown the door. So we are serving drinks! Please note that there are "drunks" who achieve a state of cognitive oblivion, but in no other way do they resemble stereotypical drunks. On Friday night, you will not see them hurling fists, insults, or obscenities at each other, or slobbering over their domestic troubles. Rather you will see outpourings of love. You will experience pure, unbridled joy.

     For 364 days a year, we have no other choice. Our minds must exercise complete control over our emotions and behavior, lest the animal in us rage rampant. We need the mind not only as guardian and regulator, but also as facilitator of our highest potentials. It is the mind that enables us to sustain and improve our lives and imbue the world with the wisdom of Torah. So if the mind does all these things within the finite parameters of reason, it remains the most effective tool we have with which to access the truths of the universe. Still, there is one day in the year in which we enjoy direct, immediate access to these truths. This day is Purim. The Jew who rejoices on Purim has no need for reason. The mind becomes utterly superfluous, something which only encumbers the outpouring of their soul; something which only quantifies and qualifies that which is infinite and all-pervading. So join us, and put your mind to sleep for a few hours. For Purim at Micah is a time of revelry and rejoicing. And for many of us, that will include enjoying a few drinks.

     If you are among those planning to enjoy our festivities this Purim, please remember to drink responsibly and not to drink and drive.

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Love your neighbor as yourself!"

-Leviticus 19:18

     Love is in the air. Can you feel it? Advertisements are flooding our airwaves for flowers, chocolates, jewelry, and other gifts that have become part of the rituals of the day on our secular calendars dedicated to expressing the emotion we know as affection. "So rabbi, is it okay for me to celebrate Valentine's Day?"

     The correct rabbinic response is that we should celebrate love every day of the year! While it is true that the full name of this holiday was at one time, "St. Valentine's Day," because of its legendary link with the apocryphal story of one of the earliest Christian saints, academics and others have recognized the dubious historical basis of this connection. Even Vatican II, the landmark set of reforms adopted by the Catholic Church in 1969, removed Valentine's Day from the Church's calendar, asserting that "though the memorial of St. Valentine is ancient... apart from his name nothing is known... except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on 14 February."

     As Reform Jews and advocates of universal celebrations, Valentine's Day is something that people of all faiths may in good conscience observe. It is a day in which to acknowledge the power of love to make us fully human. For at least one famous Talmudic Sage, love represents the ultimate commandment.  For when a non-Jew asked Hillel to, "teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot," i.e. to summarize its essence, his response was basically the idea implicit in "love your neighbor as yourself." So for some, loving others is the summum bonum of Judaism.

     And yet, the way Valentine's Day is observed leaves out the one person worthy of love who is almost universally ignored.  While a beautiful thing to acknowledge love for another, a closer look at the biblical verse that makes "love" a commandment, points to someone who needs to be loved even before the object of your Valentine's Day passion. The first necessary step to loving others is to love oneself.

     The verse in Leviticus 19:18 reads, "love your neighbor as yourself." There are two instructions given here, and in very specific order. The verse is commonly used to remind us to love others, but we ignore, at our own peril, the first necessary step that has to be taken in order to accomplish the goal of loving others. Love your neighbor, the Bible teaches, as yourself.

     Deep-seated hatred manifested by tyrants or criminals is often in reality self-hatred turned outward. To be truly human, you must begin with self-acceptance and self-esteem. Only then can you move forward to a feeling of affection for others as well.

     The Chasidic Rabbi of Kotzk was right when he witnessed a man beating another and said to his disciples, "See how even while performing an evil act, this Jew fulfills the words of the holy Bible. He demonstrates that he loves his neighbor as much as he loves himself. We can only pray that he eventually comes to love himself, so that he may alter the way he treats others."

    It is not egotistical to make sure that you are likable in your own eyes. According to the Torah, it is a first step we all have to take before we proceed on the journey of love of others that will grant us the greatest fulfillment. So here is our suggestion for Valentine's Day (and as all the other 364 days of the year). Live in a way that earns your deepest respect and admiration, and come share your love of others with us at Micah!