I applaud the almost half-day old cease fire between Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt.
While I am doubtful that it will last six months (yet alone the years we need to restore trust and cooperation), it is a hopeful sign. Hamas is agreeing because it needs more than a few trucks of humanitarian aid to keep its people happy. In that sense, Israel's policy worked (although it took a lot longer than Israel expected). There have been reports about releasing Gilad Shalit (held captive by Hamas) or the two captives held in Lebanon (or elsewhere) by Hezbollah.
Still, I see some discouraging signs: 30 missiles were shot into Israel the day before the ceasefire. That d0es not bode well for the future--they had to know a ceasefire was coming. I actually never understood agreeing when to stop something when you could just stop something. (Once, an Israel roommate came to tell me he was having a party because he and his girlfriend decided to get engaged. Why didn't they just get engaged?) I understand that unilateral action has not worked well for Israel (ie. Lebanon and Gaza withdrawals and the resulting attacks on Israel from those areas that have led to the recent fighting) but if you are about to stop, stop and then say you stopped. Don't say we will stop and then stop.
I will probably not blog too much the next few months--I know that is not much of a change from the last few months but it is a realistic prediction. Peace or release of the hostages would obviously lead to some posting.
Visit me this month at Camp Ramah New England.
If you are coming to Smith or Amherst this fall as new students, Facebook me!
Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
Showing posts with label Smith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smith. Show all posts
8/30/2007
*Fun and Trembling: Playing Rosh Hashanah Blog Tag*
My friend and colleague Menachem has started a blog tag as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah.
Now that the new students have arrived at Smith & Amherst, I am reminded that relationships are often influenced by their beginnings. How/where one first meets someone and the impressions that are made influence human relationships. Still, it is possible to reset relationships--to bring them back to a balance. That is one of the main tasks of the Yamim Noraim.
Welcome to campus and good luck repairing your relationships and soul,
Rabbi Bruce
Now that the new students have arrived at Smith & Amherst, I am reminded that relationships are often influenced by their beginnings. How/where one first meets someone and the impressions that are made influence human relationships. Still, it is possible to reset relationships--to bring them back to a balance. That is one of the main tasks of the Yamim Noraim.
Welcome to campus and good luck repairing your relationships and soul,
Rabbi Bruce
7/30/2007
Rachel & Larry's Wedding
This Sunday, Rachel Bromberg will marry Larry Leibowitz. Rachel is Deborah's younger sister and we are thrilled. I will be co-officiating with my brother-in-law Rabbi Aaron Gaber.
More posts to follow soon,
Rabbi Bruce
PS If you are an entering Smith or Amherst College student, let me know who you are!!
More posts to follow soon,
Rabbi Bruce
PS If you are an entering Smith or Amherst College student, let me know who you are!!
5/17/2007
Commencement & Shavuot
Smith is gearing up for 2007 Commencement (the Baccalaureate Service is starting as I write this). Friday night, we will have Shabbat services and dinner at Neilson Browsing Room starting at 5:30pm.
This coming Tuesday night is Shavuot--the Jewish holiday commemorating Revelation at Sinai.
If you are in the Five College area, I suggest you check out JCA (features a panel between Smith's Joel Kaminsky and JTS's Eddie Feld) or CBI's (highlights include the start of a year of learning about Abraham Joshua Heschel) Tikkun Leyl Shavuot programs. If not, enjoy your learning and celebration in your city. Here is a great group of resources and the Shefa Shavuot Blog.
I plan to teach at CBI. Hopefully, more to come.
RB
This coming Tuesday night is Shavuot--the Jewish holiday commemorating Revelation at Sinai.
If you are in the Five College area, I suggest you check out JCA (features a panel between Smith's Joel Kaminsky and JTS's Eddie Feld) or CBI's (highlights include the start of a year of learning about Abraham Joshua Heschel) Tikkun Leyl Shavuot programs. If not, enjoy your learning and celebration in your city. Here is a great group of resources and the Shefa Shavuot Blog.
I plan to teach at CBI. Hopefully, more to come.
RB
4/18/2007
Virginia Tech: Senseless Tragedy and Selfless Herorism
The tragedy at Virginia Tech is almost beyond words. It shows the devastating consequences of complicated modern communication, ineffective gun control, and senseless violence.
My first thoughts were for Sue Kurtz, my Hillel colleague at Virginia Tech, and her family. Thankfully, they are safe--at least physically. I remember a conversation we had at a conference in November about how to bring Kosher food to their university located far from a Jewish community. Beyond her, my only connection to Virginia Tech is an alumna, Mara Seidel--a fellow Wilmingtonian and UMASS Hillel's JCSC Fellow.
Virginia Tech Hillel Director Sue Kurtz's speech at yesterday's Virginia Tech convocation.
Message from Hillel about Virginia Tech
Now, we are organizing a memorial vigil/service at Smith for this afternoon. For campuses around the country, it has brought disaster and crisis planning to its rightful place of attention (most campuses have been working on this because of an expected flu pandemic). At our Amherst staff meeting, we discussed how to balance the needs of Religious Advisors who only work at Amherst 1/3 time (and share the rest with Smith).
Below is the story of one courageous professor--survivor of the Holocaust and Soviet labor camp who lost his life after saving those of his students.
He demonstrates that the human capacity for evil (or sickness) allows for emergence of heroic acts of kindness. Let us follow Liviu Librescu's example and fill the world with acts of loving kindness.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the community of Virginia Tech (students, staff, faculty, parents, neighbors, alumnae, and more). May the memories of those whose lives were destroyed be for a blessing.
Rabbi Bruce
From the Times of London:
Liviu Librescu
One victim of the Virginia massacre left an incomparable legacy
The last person to see Professor Liviu Librescu alive appears to have been
Alec Calhoun, a student at Virginia Tech who turned as he prepared to leap
from a high classroom window to see the elderly academic holding shut the
classroom door. The student jumped, and lived. Minutes later, the professor
was shot dead.
There is no meaningful distinction between one relative's grief and
another's sorrow as the bereaved converge on Blacksburg from as near as
Roanoke and as far as India. But it is worth reflecting on the significance
of Professor Librescu's life of quiet heroism, which encompassed the
Holocaust, a career of internationally admired teaching and research, and a
final act of sacrifice that saved at least nine other lives.
The son of Romanian Jewish parents, he was sent to a Soviet labour camp as a
boy after his father was deported by the Nazis. He was repatriated to
communist Romania only to be forced out of academia there for his Israeli
sympathies. A personal intervention by Menachem Begin enabled him to
emigrate with his wife to Israel, from where he visited the US on a
sabbatical in 1986, and chose to stay. The appalling ironies of his murder
by a crazed student after a life of such fortitude and generosity will not
be lost on anyone who hears his story.
Yet neither should those who mourn him forget the role that America played
in his life. As for so many other survivors of the mid-20th century's
genocidal convulsions, the US was for this inspiring teacher both a beacon
of hope and a welcoming new home. Founded on the idea of liberty, it also
made, for him, a reality of that idea. Let those he saved now make the most
of it.
My first thoughts were for Sue Kurtz, my Hillel colleague at Virginia Tech, and her family. Thankfully, they are safe--at least physically. I remember a conversation we had at a conference in November about how to bring Kosher food to their university located far from a Jewish community. Beyond her, my only connection to Virginia Tech is an alumna, Mara Seidel--a fellow Wilmingtonian and UMASS Hillel's JCSC Fellow.
Virginia Tech Hillel Director Sue Kurtz's speech at yesterday's Virginia Tech convocation.
Message from Hillel about Virginia Tech
Now, we are organizing a memorial vigil/service at Smith for this afternoon. For campuses around the country, it has brought disaster and crisis planning to its rightful place of attention (most campuses have been working on this because of an expected flu pandemic). At our Amherst staff meeting, we discussed how to balance the needs of Religious Advisors who only work at Amherst 1/3 time (and share the rest with Smith).
Below is the story of one courageous professor--survivor of the Holocaust and Soviet labor camp who lost his life after saving those of his students.
He demonstrates that the human capacity for evil (or sickness) allows for emergence of heroic acts of kindness. Let us follow Liviu Librescu's example and fill the world with acts of loving kindness.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the community of Virginia Tech (students, staff, faculty, parents, neighbors, alumnae, and more). May the memories of those whose lives were destroyed be for a blessing.
Rabbi Bruce
From the Times of London:
Liviu Librescu
One victim of the Virginia massacre left an incomparable legacy
The last person to see Professor Liviu Librescu alive appears to have been
Alec Calhoun, a student at Virginia Tech who turned as he prepared to leap
from a high classroom window to see the elderly academic holding shut the
classroom door. The student jumped, and lived. Minutes later, the professor
was shot dead.
There is no meaningful distinction between one relative's grief and
another's sorrow as the bereaved converge on Blacksburg from as near as
Roanoke and as far as India. But it is worth reflecting on the significance
of Professor Librescu's life of quiet heroism, which encompassed the
Holocaust, a career of internationally admired teaching and research, and a
final act of sacrifice that saved at least nine other lives.
The son of Romanian Jewish parents, he was sent to a Soviet labour camp as a
boy after his father was deported by the Nazis. He was repatriated to
communist Romania only to be forced out of academia there for his Israeli
sympathies. A personal intervention by Menachem Begin enabled him to
emigrate with his wife to Israel, from where he visited the US on a
sabbatical in 1986, and chose to stay. The appalling ironies of his murder
by a crazed student after a life of such fortitude and generosity will not
be lost on anyone who hears his story.
Yet neither should those who mourn him forget the role that America played
in his life. As for so many other survivors of the mid-20th century's
genocidal convulsions, the US was for this inspiring teacher both a beacon
of hope and a welcoming new home. Founded on the idea of liberty, it also
made, for him, a reality of that idea. Let those he saved now make the most
of it.
2/21/2007
Back in the Chapel Again--On Rabbinic Reorganization
Some reflections on moving back into my Smith Chapel office:
Those who know me will find this quote that I have displayed in my office ironic:
"When I get a little money, I buy BOOKS; if any is left I buy food and clothes." (Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536)
I certainly don't lack for books, food, or clothes, but I buy books more frequently than the other two. Anytime these books are unavailable (and remember that our family probably has 800-1000 books at home and I keep hundreds more at Amherst), their absence weighs on me. It is hard for me to talk with students without pointing them to a book or author. . .
--
It is hard for a rabbi (especially me) to have one's library packet away. Since some of the book shelves (not to mention the books) were already in my office when I arrived, it is fun to set them up from scratch.
My files (also packed away for the last few weeks) are getting a once-over as well. At the same time, Smith asked us to examine files on the server's hard drive to save space. So they are being reorganized as well. (As I have been doing that, I realized that the web page I created for my writings is not yet up-to-date, so I have been adding things as I find them. Check it out.
Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
PS. Those who did not get to attend Smith's Rally Day today (where I substituted with an invocation already posted on-line), missed 5 inspirational alumnae.
Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
Those who know me will find this quote that I have displayed in my office ironic:
"When I get a little money, I buy BOOKS; if any is left I buy food and clothes." (Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536)
I certainly don't lack for books, food, or clothes, but I buy books more frequently than the other two. Anytime these books are unavailable (and remember that our family probably has 800-1000 books at home and I keep hundreds more at Amherst), their absence weighs on me. It is hard for me to talk with students without pointing them to a book or author. . .
--
It is hard for a rabbi (especially me) to have one's library packet away. Since some of the book shelves (not to mention the books) were already in my office when I arrived, it is fun to set them up from scratch.
My files (also packed away for the last few weeks) are getting a once-over as well. At the same time, Smith asked us to examine files on the server's hard drive to save space. So they are being reorganized as well. (As I have been doing that, I realized that the web page I created for my writings is not yet up-to-date, so I have been adding things as I find them. Check it out.
Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
PS. Those who did not get to attend Smith's Rally Day today (where I substituted with an invocation already posted on-line), missed 5 inspirational alumnae.
Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
9/24/2006
Richard Israel Z"L's Tashlich List
Today, students from Smith and Amherst did tashlich at the Smith pond. We read a few examples from this list.
Gmar Hatimah Tova - May you be sealed for a wonderful year,
Rabbi Bruce
Gmar Hatimah Tova - May you be sealed for a wonderful year,
Rabbi Bruce
9/11/2006
Back to School
It has been a very busy week.
Orientation started at Amherst on Sunday and I participated in pre-Orientation at Smith.
This shabbat I was at Amherst until just before candle lighting and then went to Smith to welcome the new students and their families today.
If you are a new students ('10, transfer, or Ada) or an upper-class reader, welcome back.
Bruchim ha-ba'im and Shavua Tov,
Rabbi Bruce
Orientation started at Amherst on Sunday and I participated in pre-Orientation at Smith.
This shabbat I was at Amherst until just before candle lighting and then went to Smith to welcome the new students and their families today.
If you are a new students ('10, transfer, or Ada) or an upper-class reader, welcome back.
Bruchim ha-ba'im and Shavua Tov,
Rabbi Bruce
8/02/2006
Second Letter Sent Before I Left for Israel
I would like to thank you for your wishes and support on my upcoming trip to Israel. On Tuesday I sent an email shortly after deciding to join the trip. My intention was to provide opportunities for the dispersed individual members of our communities to respond to the current crisis through letters, wishes, and acts of Tzedakah (Jewish righteous acts).
In our tradition, the highest form of helping is done personally or through the appointment of a shaliah mitzvah (a personal agent who will perform the act for you).
After consulting with colleagues at Smith and Amherst, I realize that many read the letter as a direct solicitation. While this was not my intent, I understand that my email is confusing and problematic from an institutional standpoint.
It would have been more appropriate for me to recommend organizations that you can support directly. Accordingly, I ask you not to send money and will be returning any money already sent.
I remain willing to take your personal letters or wishes (as long as they arrive ASAP). [obviously I can't do this now]
Here are a few ways, you can personally respond to the crisis.
Magen David Adom is the Israel Government mandated emergency and blood services and is the recognized member of the International Red Cross and Crescent Association. 95% of all ambulance services, 100% 0f IDF Blood service, 97% of all blood services are provided
by MDA as an unfunded government mandated operation.
They are running emergency blood drives and crash courses for MDA volunteers. For more information, visit their web site.
Yad Sarah, Israel's largest volunteer organization provides free or nominal medical care and equipment to any who ask (regardless of religion or nationality).
When my family lived in Israel, they provided medical equipment for our temporary use. Supporting this organization is a great way to support the most needy
among the sick, elderly, and injured. For more information, visit their web site.
I am a member of Rabbis for Human Rights North America. Rabbi for Human Rights is the sole Israeli organization, including rabbis from all the movements of Judaism, whose purpose is to give voice to the Jewish religious traditions of human rights and to strive for justice and peace as reflected in Israel's Declaration of Independence.
Rabbis for Human Rights educates Israelis in the schools, the army, and in local communities about the human rights and Judaism. It advocates for economic justice for all Israelis and protects the rights of Palestinians by preventing home demolitions and protecting olive groves and harvesters. For more information, visit their North American affiliate.
Additionally, the Ziv Tzedakah Foundation provides educational information about smaller non-profits doing direct service in Israel. Educator Danny Siegel created Ziv to spread the word about the important Jewish value of righteous, personal action. For more information, visit Ziv.
I look forward to sharing my experiences with you when I return. I am also happy to talking with any of you about this and/or my previous email. I will be thinking of all of you over the next week. Please let me know if there are individuals you would like me to reach while I am in Israel.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
In our tradition, the highest form of helping is done personally or through the appointment of a shaliah mitzvah (a personal agent who will perform the act for you).
After consulting with colleagues at Smith and Amherst, I realize that many read the letter as a direct solicitation. While this was not my intent, I understand that my email is confusing and problematic from an institutional standpoint.
It would have been more appropriate for me to recommend organizations that you can support directly. Accordingly, I ask you not to send money and will be returning any money already sent.
I remain willing to take your personal letters or wishes (as long as they arrive ASAP). [obviously I can't do this now]
Here are a few ways, you can personally respond to the crisis.
Magen David Adom is the Israel Government mandated emergency and blood services and is the recognized member of the International Red Cross and Crescent Association. 95% of all ambulance services, 100% 0f IDF Blood service, 97% of all blood services are provided
by MDA as an unfunded government mandated operation.
They are running emergency blood drives and crash courses for MDA volunteers. For more information, visit their web site.
Yad Sarah, Israel's largest volunteer organization provides free or nominal medical care and equipment to any who ask (regardless of religion or nationality).
When my family lived in Israel, they provided medical equipment for our temporary use. Supporting this organization is a great way to support the most needy
among the sick, elderly, and injured. For more information, visit their web site.
I am a member of Rabbis for Human Rights North America. Rabbi for Human Rights is the sole Israeli organization, including rabbis from all the movements of Judaism, whose purpose is to give voice to the Jewish religious traditions of human rights and to strive for justice and peace as reflected in Israel's Declaration of Independence.
Rabbis for Human Rights educates Israelis in the schools, the army, and in local communities about the human rights and Judaism. It advocates for economic justice for all Israelis and protects the rights of Palestinians by preventing home demolitions and protecting olive groves and harvesters. For more information, visit their North American affiliate.
Additionally, the Ziv Tzedakah Foundation provides educational information about smaller non-profits doing direct service in Israel. Educator Danny Siegel created Ziv to spread the word about the important Jewish value of righteous, personal action. For more information, visit Ziv.
I look forward to sharing my experiences with you when I return. I am also happy to talking with any of you about this and/or my previous email. I will be thinking of all of you over the next week. Please let me know if there are individuals you would like me to reach while I am in Israel.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
5/23/2006
Invocation Delivered at Smith's Commencement, 5/21/06
ברוכים הבאים בשם ה'
ברוך א ה' אלוקינו מלך העולם שהחינו וקימנו והגיענו לזמן הזה
Sovreign of the Universe, we praise you for granting us life, sustaining us, and helping us reach this day.
4/23/2006
Hunger Banquet at Smith 4/27
This Thursday, there will be a Hunger Banquet at 6:00pm at Smith's Davis Ballroom.
Tickets are $15 and $6 for students.
Proceeds will be split between the American Jewish World Service's relief efforts in Darfur and to stop starvation in drought-afflicted East Africa.
Dr. Eric Reeves will be the featured speaker, introduced by President Carol Christ.
All are invited.
This event is the first activity planned by TSEDEK--Smith's new advocacy and action group that brings together students from various faith traditions to change the world.
Donations can be sent to:
Smith College
Helen Hills Hills Chapel, attn Hunger Banquet
Northampton, MA 01063
B'shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
Tickets are $15 and $6 for students.
Proceeds will be split between the American Jewish World Service's relief efforts in Darfur and to stop starvation in drought-afflicted East Africa.
Dr. Eric Reeves will be the featured speaker, introduced by President Carol Christ.
All are invited.
This event is the first activity planned by TSEDEK--Smith's new advocacy and action group that brings together students from various faith traditions to change the world.
Donations can be sent to:
Smith College
Helen Hills Hills Chapel, attn Hunger Banquet
Northampton, MA 01063
B'shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
9/16/2005
First Week of Kosher/Halal Dining at Smith
Tonight will finish the first week of meals of Smith's Kosher and Halal dining.
The great food has attracted lots of different students to try kosher (or halal) food. The staff have been great and are working very well with Joe Morse (kosher supervisor). Rick Rubin and I have helped out a bit with serving. (check out smithkosherdining.blogspot.com for pictures.)
I have eaten there two nights for dinner and three times for lunch. Even though it is a very crowded place, it is nice to see Jewish and Muslim students congregating at Cutter-Ziskind. Some of them are students who ate this way in the past and others are students who are trying it out for the first time. What is especially nice about this set-up is that no one has to feel excluded in any way because they are eating a special diet. They can still eat with their friends and/or try the special food without committing to a special meal-plan or to come at any particular meal.
In all, I see it as a wonderful addition to Smith's diversity resources and an unqualified success at making our current students feel at home. It will all work even better when the last construction glitches are finished and additional seating is added (counters in the lobbies).
I look forward to dining with you a Cutter Ziskind some day soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
The great food has attracted lots of different students to try kosher (or halal) food. The staff have been great and are working very well with Joe Morse (kosher supervisor). Rick Rubin and I have helped out a bit with serving. (check out smithkosherdining.blogspot.com for pictures.)
I have eaten there two nights for dinner and three times for lunch. Even though it is a very crowded place, it is nice to see Jewish and Muslim students congregating at Cutter-Ziskind. Some of them are students who ate this way in the past and others are students who are trying it out for the first time. What is especially nice about this set-up is that no one has to feel excluded in any way because they are eating a special diet. They can still eat with their friends and/or try the special food without committing to a special meal-plan or to come at any particular meal.
In all, I see it as a wonderful addition to Smith's diversity resources and an unqualified success at making our current students feel at home. It will all work even better when the last construction glitches are finished and additional seating is added (counters in the lobbies).
I look forward to dining with you a Cutter Ziskind some day soon.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
7/29/2005
Common Calendar Forms Community
This summer I have busy preparing Kosher Dining at Smith, rearranging my office at Smith since I got new furniture, spending time at Camp Ramah New England, and getting ready for the upcoming academic year.
Although the summer has been busier than most and my reading pile remains higher than I would like at the end of July, I have had some time for learning.
On my own, I have been learning the first tractates few tractates of Mishnah. The first Seder (Order) of the Mishnah, Zera'im, deals with agricultural and tithing in the Land of Israel during the time of the Holy Temple. The very first Tractate, Brachot, deals with prayer and blessings and sets the stage for the rabbinic reinterpretation of Biblical Judaism.
This week, the Talmud hevruta (partnered--or in this case group--text study) I participate in resumed our study of the first chapter of Gemara Sanhedrin (Jews of Paradise contains a picture of us learning). This chapter deals with the types of courts that existed in the Jewish legal system of the Rabbinic era and why different types of courts need particular numbers of judges. The section we have been learning recently examines the Beit Din (rabbinic court) needed to intercalate the calendar (declare a leap year by adding a second month of Adar in the spring). Note: I am oversimplifying these complicated topics. Factors such as allowing time for rebuilding bridges and roads, making sure people in transit can complete their journey before Pesach, and that the proper grains can be prepared determine whether the Beit Din declares a leap year. The power given to groups that set a calendar is huge (witness the power school districts have on shopping and travel).
In Zera'im, the intricate laws of tithing and sanctity reinforce the elite status of the Rabbis. If you don't tithe properly and observe laws of sanctity, you are not able to eat with them or have them eat with you. But when it comes to exercising one of the greatest powers (ie., setting the calendar), the Rabbis take on a populist approach. They go out of their way to ensure the greatest number of people can observe Passover in Jerusalem.
I take that as a tremendous lesson: the way people mark time creates community. More than what we do with our own lives, how we interact with individuals, it is how we structure our lives through time that informs our identity.
I will continue to ponder this as we get closer to the High Holidays.
And now, I say goodbye as I join Jews the world-over in celebrating Shabbat tonight!
B'shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
Although the summer has been busier than most and my reading pile remains higher than I would like at the end of July, I have had some time for learning.
On my own, I have been learning the first tractates few tractates of Mishnah. The first Seder (Order) of the Mishnah, Zera'im, deals with agricultural and tithing in the Land of Israel during the time of the Holy Temple. The very first Tractate, Brachot, deals with prayer and blessings and sets the stage for the rabbinic reinterpretation of Biblical Judaism.
This week, the Talmud hevruta (partnered--or in this case group--text study) I participate in resumed our study of the first chapter of Gemara Sanhedrin (Jews of Paradise contains a picture of us learning). This chapter deals with the types of courts that existed in the Jewish legal system of the Rabbinic era and why different types of courts need particular numbers of judges. The section we have been learning recently examines the Beit Din (rabbinic court) needed to intercalate the calendar (declare a leap year by adding a second month of Adar in the spring). Note: I am oversimplifying these complicated topics. Factors such as allowing time for rebuilding bridges and roads, making sure people in transit can complete their journey before Pesach, and that the proper grains can be prepared determine whether the Beit Din declares a leap year. The power given to groups that set a calendar is huge (witness the power school districts have on shopping and travel).
In Zera'im, the intricate laws of tithing and sanctity reinforce the elite status of the Rabbis. If you don't tithe properly and observe laws of sanctity, you are not able to eat with them or have them eat with you. But when it comes to exercising one of the greatest powers (ie., setting the calendar), the Rabbis take on a populist approach. They go out of their way to ensure the greatest number of people can observe Passover in Jerusalem.
I take that as a tremendous lesson: the way people mark time creates community. More than what we do with our own lives, how we interact with individuals, it is how we structure our lives through time that informs our identity.
I will continue to ponder this as we get closer to the High Holidays.
And now, I say goodbye as I join Jews the world-over in celebrating Shabbat tonight!
B'shalom,
Rabbi Bruce
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