Irene and her sisters were always known as the vier shwester, the four sisters, who all survived the Holocaust and remained together throughout the nightmare in the ghetto, three concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and a Displaced Persons’ camp; they were never separated during these unspeakable horrors. Until last night, all four sisters were still alive, and our hearts go out to Irene and the rest of the family on this very sad loss.

Irene will be sitting shiva from Sunday until Wednesday morning and the family have requested shiva calls only from 1:00 pm – 8:00 pm.

There will be three shiva minyanim for ma’ariv on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings at 6:00 pm at Irene’s home.

Irene keeps a strictly Kosher home and has indicated to me that she is fine and does not want meals provided at this time, but people are encouraged to bring simple food like fruit and Kosher cake for the shiva home. Irene has specifically asked for nothing beyond this, but thanks everybody in advance for their love and support.

Shalom al nishmat Esther bat Yisroel v’Bluma Hendel – Peace on Esther’s soul. Hamakom y’nachem – May God grant comfort and strength to Irene along with all the other mourners of Israel.

Blessings,

Rabbi Marc

Written as a clear promotion of Orthodox Judaism and a subtle attack on the other denominations, Rabbi Goldfeder, who really is my friend by the way, falls into some very dangerous and murky waters in defending a Judaism whose name means “the right way to think,” and therefore implies that anyone who thinks and acts differently is wrong. This “right-way-to-think Judaism” has, in my view, allowed and even promoted, unspeakably wrong and immoral acts in the world, including abuse of animals and workers, profound gender warfare, culminating in spitting on and verbally abusing a 12-year-old girl in Israel, extreme homophobia and the incitement of hateful racism in an endless series of statements and actions by Orthodox rabbis in Israel.

I am not, for even one moment, suggesting that Rabbi Goldfeder and the Aish Kodesh community does any of these things and I know that he (and hopefully they) are equally appalled by them. I am, however, challenging the assumption that Orthodox Judaism = right and non-Orthodox = wrong. This is borne out neither historically, morally nor educationally. The notion that there has always somehow been only one correct way of being Jewish and that any other expression of Judaism is an aberration shows a lack of knowledge of our history and our sociology. True, contemporary Jews are all descendants of rabbinic Judaism, which was an ingenious paradigm shift that allowed continuity and survival after the destruction of the Temple in the year 70CE, but in its inception, this Judaism included a multiplicity of voices.

I do not claim for a second that Conservative Judaism is the only right way, in thought or in practice, but I do believe that it is an authentic, if imperfect, expression and interpretation of that rabbinic Judaism, integrating halacha (Jewish law) and modernity with a considerable amount of intellectual honesty, even if it is sometimes clumsy and a little too dry. Conservative Judaism has never defined itself outside Jewish Law, but has rather followed the tradition of the rabbis of the Talmud in recognizing that there are times when that law changes, when its original context has changed.

In my view, Orthodoxy has again and again taken the category of pattur (meaning exempt) and changed it into assur (meaning forbidden.) For instance, there are sources that clearly allow women certain ritual roles, including being called up to the Torah, but does not obligate them, which eventually led to strict prohibitions and gender separation that some scholars assert was not always the case. This is one example in which Conservative Judaism allowed halacha to evolve, just as it had in other areas of law in the past.

Rabbi Goldfeder implied in his article that we, whoever we are, are somehow only putting our energy as activists into issues of global poverty in the developing world and environmentalism while ignoring the plight of Jews. Well, where is he and his community every Passover, Rosh HaShanah and Hanukkah when I, along with dozens of my congregants and members of other shuls run programs for Jewish seniors in conjunction with Jewish Family Services? Our Hesed Initiative provides hundreds of meals and visits to members of our community in pastoral need.

The Torah, in my reading of it, so clearly and strongly demands of us that we also must have concern for the stranger, for the vulnerable in our world, for the hungry, outside our own. An Orthodoxy that promotes Jewish welfare only to serve other Jews, especially in a world where there is considerable affluence in some Jewish communities, and that we ignore the plight of millions of starving children, also God’s creatures, is a damaging misreading of the Torah that I hold sacred; a Torah that demands of me that I have compassion for God’s creatures in their suffering.

I have been to too many events within the Orthodox community, ok excepting Aish Kodesh, where 100s and 100s of Styrofoam cups, plastic plates and cutlery are thrown out, destined for landfills to leach their toxins into our rivers. Is this “right Judaism” when our Torah and rabbinic tradition so clearly demand of us that we are guardians of this earth? The statement that we liberal Jews are somehow only concerned with ‘trivial’ matters, like our planet’s survival and humanity dying of starvation and curable diseases from unclean water, while we ignore the plight of our Jewish brothers and sisters, is so absurd.

Yes, I was twice co-chair of Hazon’s Jewish Food Conference, looking at issues of health and sustainability around our food system, while some so-called Kosher food continues to poison us and is too often corrupt in its production; yes, I went to Ghana last summer with AJWS and worked with an NGO rescuing children as young as six from slavery. It is precisely my love and my connection to Judaism and my reading of Torah that obligates me to do this, not some wishy-washy liberal version of it that betrays our tradition.

I passionately believe in a pluralism that places real value on the different expressions of Jewish life and I actually love Aish Kodesh and its rabbi and really want that community to succeed and grow, as I am so grateful for the depth of Torah and the fervent connection to mitzvot and authenticity that emanates from those walls. I also am so grateful for and indebted to the Reform movement, in which both Rabbi Goldfeder and I were raised, and which has contributed so much to the world in its prophetic vision of social justice and we are blessed with powerful and wonderful Reform Rabbis in Boulder to continue that vision. I also feel connected to the accessible spirituality and depth that has emerged from Jewish Renewal. I am comfortable in my discomfort as a rabbi and teacher of Conservative Judaism, but I will never, ever claim that it is the right and only authentic expression of Judaism.

Leave the monkey outside and let’s get a beer.

Limmud UK

Can you imagine 2,500 Jews of every shape, size, age, belief, color, practice, political perspective and affiliation, all gathered in the same place to study, dance, drink, debate, perform and just celebrate the vibrant tapestry of Jewish life? Pretty hard to imagine and even harder actually to describe the reality of this phenomenal event from which I have just returned. Over thirty years ago, an inspired group of Jewish educators and their families escaped Christmas in London and other British cities to spend a week being and learning Jewish together for a week and created the first ever Limmud. Who could have dreamed that it would evolve into the largest residential, multi-day Jewish event in the world? I feel honored to have played a role in the UK’s Limmud Conference as co-chair in 1997 and 1998 and seeing the event pass the 1,000 participant mark for the first time. At a certain point, the Limmud brand became viral!

During the five days of Limmud, some 400 presenters lead about 800 sessions on every aspect of cultural, religious and political life, including this year representatives from Britain’s large Muslim community, creating the possibility for panels of rabbis and imams engaged in dialogue. There were some stunning performances, including Kosher Gospel and Girls in Trouble; film screenings and art projects, as well as a tremendously vibrant night life in the bar and disco until the early hours of the morning before the programme starts all over again. Session titles ranged from “Racist Rabbis and the State That Ignores Them” to “Scandals of the Talmud: the Stories They Wouldn’t Teach You in Cheder” to “How Has the Arab Spring Really Changed the Middle East and Israel’s Security Situation?” to name just a few out of the hundreds.

Limmud “the Mothership” has inspired Jewish communities all over the world, and according to Limmud’s Chair, my old friend Carolyn Bogush, there is now a Limmud event somewhere in the world every week of the year! Even in Colorado. In fact, Limmud Colorado is coming up really soon on Saturday night January 21 and all day Sunday January 22 in Denver. Check it out at limmudcolorado.org.

Even though we Jews of Boulder are lucky and blessed to be part of a community where there is so much collaboration between the different shuls and organizations, across denominational and political boundaries, there is still something so powerful about being in an environment where all of those labels that can divide us and box us in disappear and we are just one unique community of Jews celebrating our diversity in a space where we all have a place, a voice, something to learn and something to teach.
If, like me, you suffer from FOMO Syndrome (fear of missing out) then you will want to join in the action and be at the most exciting event in Colorado’s Jewish calendar later this month.

Blessings,

Rabbi Marc

This year, Reb Zalman has agreed to lead our Thursday morning shacharit service in honor of the Holiday on Thanksgiving morning at 8:00 am at Bonai Shalom (1527 Cherryvale, Boulder), offering us a wonderful opportunity to begin the day with intention and spirituality.

We hope you will join us for this traditional morning service, with some seasonal and creative additions. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The First Thanksgiving

I was not brought up with Thanksgiving. Guy Fawkes night on November 5th, with bonfires and fireworks, yes, but Thanksgiving, no. In fact my first exposure to this very American holiday was when I was in Yeshiva in Jerusalem, where a group of American students enjoyed the opportunity to invite a Hungarian, South African and an Englishman (that would be me) to their festive gathering. There was a politically correct and insightful reenactment of the story with puppets, rituals of gratitude and, of course, great food! As a vegetarian who occasionally indulged in chicken or turkey, but strictly no red meat, I really relished this almost religiously required ritual of ripping into a turkey. It was so delicious. In Hebrew, there is even a pun to increase the force of the obligation: hodu means both ‘give thanks’ and turkey! That joyful gathering in Jerusalem was not my last turkey dinner on Thanksgiving.

On Yom Kippur, I gave a sermon on the holiness of eating that focused on the horrors of factory farmed meat production. For years, I believed that occasional forays into the flesh of chicken or turkey was relatively harmless and certainly nothing like on the same scale as getting bloated on beef. Since reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s book “Eating Animals,” however, I have come to realize that industrialized poultry is actually the worst, in its cruelty and the amount of disease and drugs carried in these poor birds. As delicious as that turkey dinner is on Thanksgiving, it is an increasingly ironic way to celebrate freedom and gratitude. As Jonathan Safran Foer puts it:

Food is not so much a symbol of freedom as the first requirement of freedom. We eat foods that are native to America on Thanksgiving to acknowledge that fact. In many ways, Thanksgiving initiates a distinctly American ideal of ethical consumerism. The Thanksgiving meal is America’s founding act of conscientious consumption.

“But what about the food we feast upon? Does what we consume make sense?

“All but a negligible number of the 45 million turkeys that find their way to our Thanksgiving tables were unhealthy, unhappy, and – this is a radical understatement – unloved… Today’s turkeys are natural insectivores fed a grossly unnatural diet… Given their vulnerability to disease, turkeys are perhaps the worst fit of any animal for the factory model. So they are given more antibiotics than any other farmed animals. Which encourages antibiotic resistance. Which makes these indispensable drugs less effective for humans. In a perfectly direct way, the turkeys on our tables are making it harder to cure human illness.”

Bah humbug. How dare I, an Englishman, not brought up with this sacred turkey fest, spoil your appetites? Well, in some ways, this distance gives me a perspective to see the irony of a tradition that started with wild birds and that has now created a demand on a scale that can only be met by factory farms. Forty-five million turkeys! There are many countries in the world with smaller populations.

I really like the idea of a ritual meal focused around local food, freedom and gratitude and we have some wonderful traditions around eating in Judaism and every meal has a whole liturgy of thanksgiving attached to it. The early rabbis, in their ingenuity, taught that after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the festive table of Shabbat or a Holiday, is like the altar, and our meal is a sacrificial feast. This is one of the ways that Judaism survived; that it was able to take rituals that could no longer be performed and give them a new application, in the Jewish home. So, what are we sacrificing on that mizbeach, the altar? What are we complicit in when we consume factory-farmed meat? If the rabbis’ intention was to elevate a communal meal into a holy offering, can that offering be something that has suffered so much and is so full of drugs and disease?

There are producers who are supplying ethically produced, anti-biotic free, kosher turkey, allowing us to choose conscience over convenience; and there are also delicious local winter squash and yummy alternatives to birds. Since being a member of our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and enjoying the delicious fresh weekly offerings from Red Wagon Organic Farms, I have found it so special to express my Thanksgiving for the earth, the bounty and the wonderful farmers who have grown this food.

May we all be blessed with the appreciation of our abundant gifts and the wisdom of our choices as consumers! May every meal be a sacred act of Thanksgiving!

Postscript – Information on Organic, Ethical, Kosher Meat
Soon, there may well be a supply of locally raised organic chickens, ritually slaughtered here in Boulder by the group who recently learned this. This would be a small scale operation, but an important service for our community. There are three companies that I know of currently that provide good quality, ethical Kosher meat, one in Colorado and two on the East Coast.

EcoGlatt Inc., based here Colorado, so local and I have met some of the animals as well as the farmers!

Grow and Behold, OU certified, based on the east coast, but with buying clubs nationally. I know the owners of this company well through my work with Hazon.

Kol Foods, OU or Star K certified and also on the east coast, but available nationwide too. Worth noting that some of their less expensive meat comes from South America, which is grass fed and grass finished and well raised, but the local practices of slaughter are problematic.

Ariel Amaru and I were both on different life changing programs this summer with AJWS in Ghana and we have collaborated to bring this program to Boulder.

On Friday night, November 4, we will be having Kabbalat Shabbat services at 6:00 pm, which will include a special prayer for people living in hunger and Ariel will share some reflections about her time in Ghana. Our sold out dinner after the service will include some important discussions around awareness of hunger and some of our own challenges with the food that we eat and don’t eat.

On Saturday morning, our service, which starts at 9:30 am, will also be focused on Global Hunger with readings, discussions and reflections. I will be speaking briefly about my work with Hazon and AJWS and Ariel will share some of what she has learned at various food conferences, including Panim al Panim’s Poverty, Bread and Justice in DC, and will especially talk about US Food Aid. There will be an opportunity at kiddush for congregants and community members to share ideas on how to address hunger in our own community and how we can commit to taking action. Kiddush will be in honor of Lisa Bates who has worked tirelessly as the site coordinator for our CSA program, which has donated much local, organic, fresh food to the hungry, as well as provided great produce to those of us who have been part of this. The recognition of Lisa and the work of other volunteers for the CSA and our farmers is an obvious partnership for this Shabbat and this season alone, our Jewish CSA has donated approximately 800 pounds of fresh produce to people in need in our community, as well as to EFAA (Emergency Family Assistance Association.)

We have so much abundance and yet so many in the world, locally and globally, are hungry. We hope that you will be able to join us for this Shabbat as we consider these questions that our lives of privilege demand that we ask in a world where so many have so little.

There will be a chance to hear Ruth Messinger, President of AJWS, speak on Tuesday night at Har HaShem.

From Janine:

My mom, Chana Devorah bat Chasya Fayge v’ David Jonah passed away before sunrise early this morning. She was a beautiful large-hearted soul who was much loved by all her three children and a favorite aunt to my cousins.”

Peace on Chana Devorah’s soul and strength and comfort to Janine and her family in their mourning.