Mark Megibow, newly named Director of the J-Teen Program

The Boulder JCC is thrilled to announce that Mark Megibow will succeed Phil Rubinstein as the J-Teen Director. Phil is moving to Los Angeles to prepare for rabbinical school, and we wish him well in his future endeavors.

Mark Megibow has devoted the last 12 years of his life to serving and mentoring the teens of Boulder County, with a focus on Jewish organizations such as BBYO, CAJE’s Hebrew High, and now Boulder JCC’s J-Teen program. Through these organizations, Mark has helped hundreds of students build their life skills, relationships, and leadership. Part of his personal mission in life is to help high school teens figure out who they are, what they stand for, and how to be their best selves. In addition to his work with Jewish teens, Mark is also the founder of The Boulder Loft, which opened at Twenty Ninth Street Mall in 2010 as a combination dance club, cafe, and “sports bar” for high school teens of Boulder County.

Mark shares:

I am excited to work with the J-Teen members and help them continue to build this program into the most awesome thing it can be for Jewish teens in our community. Phil and the council have created an awesome program over the last few years. It is an honor to continue this incredible work. I’m looking forward to discovering what we can accomplish together.”

Jonathan Lev, Executive Director of the Boulder JCC, feels that hiring Mark is a great win for the community:

Mark’s great rapport with teens, connections in Boulder and the Jewish community and his strong mentorship background, make him a great fit for this position. I am excited to work with Mark as we continue to build out our teen program this year and into the future.”

Mark started work at the Boulder JCC on Monday. We hope you will join the board and staff of the JCC by welcoming Mark back to our community.

Come learn and network with participants in the new Jewish Community Career Network. Regular meetings offering a combination of speakers, workshops and practice feedback sessions are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. For information contact: info@jccnboulder.org.

Polis - Goldberg - Bennet

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) sat down with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Rabbi Josh Rose of Congregation Har HaShem to discuss Iran, Israel and the US on Sunday at Har HaShem.  Goldberg was Har HaShem’s Scholar-in-Residence this weekend, and this talk in front of a hundred or so community members capped his three-day visit to Boulder.

One of the key statements that all agreed upon was that there is “no daylight” between the US and Israel on Iran obtaining nuclear weapons capabilities. Senator Bennet went on to state that either party trying to use this particular issue in a partisan way during this election year only muddies what should be a clear and consistent message to the Iranian regime that whoever wins in November, US policy on this issue will be firm and unchanging.

Below the photos, a Storify-version of the tweets and video excerpts from the discussion.

Photos:

Giora and Edna Shaviv

Edna Shaviv, of Israel, received the 2012 Passive Pioneer Award:

The American Solar Energy Society has established this award for passive solar pioneers. It honors those in the passive field whose pioneering work set the stage for others to follow. Honorees are men and women who developed the theories, early research efforts, new concepts, and opportunities for later researchers to develop. Their foresight, innovative thinking, and creativity opened the doors for others.

Over the last 40 years, Shaviv has created software, integrated ideas on community design, and initiated research in the United States and in Israel changing the way buildings perform. Edna and her husband, Giora, lived in Boulder in the late 1970s.

Frank Kreith

Frank Kreith Professor Emeritus of Engineering, University of Colorado – Boulder, was honored with the Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award,

Dr. Abbot was a prominent researcher in solar energy. During his lifetime of 101 years, he developed a number of instruments for measuring insolation, determined the solar constant with great accuracy, and contributed greatly to the understanding of the solar resource on earth.

Dr. Kreith was honored for his innovative thinking that spurred many technology advancements. He has publicly promoted solar energy for decades while inspiring generations of young engineers. In addition to CU-Boulder, he has taught at Lehigh University, University of California, and in Israel “when there were only quonset huts in Be’er Sheva.”

The awards were presented during the World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver.

The simplest approach to identify in relation to Gay Marriage is one that could be called “Logical” and is an approach that is held by both proponents for and against Gay Marriage. I classify this approach as “Logical” as it tends to naturally and instinctively follow from one’s views on homosexuality itself. If one perceives homosexuality as a sexual practice to be morally legitimate and equally valid to heterosexuality as a sexual practice, then for many it logically follows to be in support of Gay Marriage. The reasoning being: why should a moral and valid way of practicing one’s sexual life and developing love relations be proscribed from the normative socio-economic institution of organizing and recognizing such committed relations, namely marriage? Conversely, if one holds homosexual sexual practice to be morally illegitimate and beyond the pale of how one is to practice one’s sexuality and develop one’s love relations, then for many it logically follows that Gay Marriage should not be allowed to become an institution in this country.

The second approach in relation to Gay Marriage is a more complex one and could be called “Neutralized”. This as well is an approach that can be held by both proponents for and against Gay Marriage. For example, a religious Jew or Christian who understands their Bible to prohibit homosexual sex and further understands these religious traditions not to recognize such marriages when and where they occur could nevertheless politically support Gay Marriage. How is this tenable? Such a person could take the view that what constitutes moral sexual behavior and what are valid bonds between humans fall under the domain of religion and as the United States is constructed with an intended Separation between Church/Synagogue/Mosque and State the Federal Government should not dictate what these sexual norms and the sociological institutions that emerge from them should be. To do so would violate, in their minds, limits that the Government should respect in relation to its authority and jurisdiction. In short, one can hold one’s religious belief to be true but one can neutralize such a religious belief in the political sphere and not use the instrumentation of Government and Politics to impose it on another. I classify this approach as “Neutralized” as the individual who holds such an approach essentially has one political principle they respect neutralize another religious principle they hold dear. The latter, left to its own devices would lead to the more “Logical” approach elucidated prior.

Likewise, a person who believes that homosexual sex is morally legitimate and supports the idea of Gay Marriage could take the view that this country, informed as it is by a Judeo-Christian heritage, in the construction of its Constitution and laws never intended to allow men and women to marry persons of the same sex and that the Founding Fathers could not conceive of this as being a restriction of their equality or pursuit of happiness. They would further recognize that there are other laws in this country that can trace their roots or influence to the Judeo-Christian heritage, for example the illegality to commit suicide and practice euthanasia and these laws as well could equally be overturned among others if we seek to neuter this country from any religious moral influence whatsoever affecting its laws. The reasoning goes: If we seek to legalize Gay Marriage and divorce the country from its former moral underpinnings on the issue, what laws will be next? This individual could take the view that while they personally disagree with the religious basis for the current predominant definition and legal status of marriage they nevertheless do not believe that this is what the Founding Fathers were concerned with when they established the Separation between Church and State and nor is it what they conceived of when they were enshrining as core values of this country equality, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Here as well, this approach shows the “Neutralized” quality I refer to, as one principle in this case their understanding of the Constitution and their belief about how it should be interpreted neutralizes what their belief about the moral validity of homosexual sex and marriage would “logically” lead to.

People can also take an approach that this is a “States Rights” issue and put their personal and or religious views aside and take a principled Political/Constitutional stand as to how they see this country is supposed to function when an issue is not clearly and unambiguously addressed in the Constitution. In this case as well this would be another example of a “Neutralized” perspective.

Lastly there is an approach that can be classified as ”Triage”. In this approach the person regardless of their view on homosexual sex and Gay Marriage and regardless of their views on the Constitution and its interpretation see the country as in need of a certain kind of “Change”. In light of this desired change they put aside their views on the above issues and subordinate their decision around Same Sex Marriage to what they deem most critical for the country as a whole. For example, an otherwise Socially Liberal Democrat could feel that this country needs a new economic direction and vote for Romney with the hope that Mr. Romney will bring a different approach to resolving the current economic distress we are facing.  Alternatively, a moderate Republican could feel that the Grand Old Party has taken a very scary direction and would prefer President Obama’s general policies and tone than what the Tea Party, Religious Right and Conservative Republicans are offering. In the “Triage” approach Gay Marriage while an important issue is not viewed as a critical issue and they relegate it to a secondary status in their politics.

In general, people who galvanize around the “Logical” approach tend to construct this issue in terms of “Good vs. Evil” or “Progress vs. Fundamentalism”. They also tend to bring significant energy to the debate with very strong and at times hardened views. Individuals in the other approaches described tend to be less committed one way or the other and are less useful in steering the issue one way or another, as the momentum on this issue is usually being dictated by activists within each camp or political expediency feeding such activism.

It seems that our Presidential candidates are each appealing at present to an element of their base of support and are taking the “Logical” view on this issue- logical that is to those individuals who hold deep convictions one way or the other on Homosexual Sex and Marriage and what naturally follows for them from these views. One of the consequences of the discourse being constructed to those within the “Logical” approach is that there are many people who will stand aside from the debate and leave it to the extremes within each approach to battle till kingdom or utopia comes. I am not convinced that this is what is best for the country or for our public discourse but I am convinced its plenty good for Talk Radio and the news Media who have their cliché images and sound bites with which to bombard us.

Michael Rosenzweig

The Boulder JCC recently received a grant from Roots and Branches, an initiative of Rose Community Foundation. The purpose of this grant is to create a lighthearted, innovative, friendly network of young Jews in Boulder who are interested in, and excited about, programming for the young, Jewish Boulder crowd. How are we going to do this, you might ask?

The way we plan on accomplishing this is for me to personally have conversations with 100 different people in this demographic. The goal of these conversations is to gather information about what people are truly looking for with regards to young adult programming within Boulder County. After speaking with outreach specialists, what I’ve learned is the best way to dive into such a broad topic is to have 1-on-1 conversations, to get to the core of what drives and inspires you. At the end of this project, I will develop a network map of Jewish Boulder, and with that knowledge, create a leadership team to plan a year’s worth of events that people are interested in and excited about.

I began working at the Boulder JCC this summer, and immediately fell in love with Boulder, and the vibrant Jewish community here. Having lived all over the country and holding jobs in numerous industries, I already feel like Boulder is home. On top of Boulder’s vivacious culture and all of the outdoor activities here, Jewish life is energetic, adaptive, and welcoming to all .
So now that you know a little bit about this project and me, here’s where you come in: if you are a Boulder Jew between the ages of 25-35, give me a shout. I would love to take you out for coffee and talk about where you came from, where you are headed, and what you are looking for in terms of programming for young, Jewish Boulder. If you know someone that fits this age group, feel free to send them my information or shoot me a line with theirs.

I look forward to better getting to know those of you whom I already know, meeting more amazing young Jews here, and ensuring that young adult programming in Boulder is relevant, stimulating, and well attended for years to come! Follow along with this project as I’ll be blogging weekly about these conversations, right here on the Boulder Jewish News.

If you will it, it is no dream.”  Theodore Herzl

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Professor David Shneer , Director and Jamie Polliard, Assistant Director.

Professor David Shneer, Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, invoked Herzl’s famous quote as he presided over the Program’s inaugural degree granting ceremony in the Board Room of Old Main on the University of Colorado’s Boulder campus today.

He recounted the four-year journey of the program from certificate to major, and thanked everyone who had made it possible, from the students to the faculty to the family and community that supported him and the program over the years.

Certificates in Jewish Studies were granted to: Corey Rachel Jaffe and Emilia H. Levin (Winter, 2011); Ren Thomas Scherling, Zachary Joseph Siegel, Evan Francine Taksar, Veronica Lee Victor and Meghan Elizabeth Zibby.

2012 Majors in Jewish Studies: Rachel Ariella Allen, Carly Richelle Coons and Irene Deborah Skupsky.

2012 Minors in Jewish Studies: David Alexander Feldman, Miraim Arielle Olin and Rebecca Jo Tosenberg.

From left to right Evan Taksar (certificate in Jewish Studies) Becky Rosenberg (Minor in Jewish Studies) Carly Coons (Major in Jewish Studies) Stephanie Echer (2012 Graduate and Intern in Jewish Studies for BCAP) Irene Skupsky (Major in Jewish Studies) Rachel Allen (Major in Jewish Studies)

Beginning this year on Wednesday evening and continuing through Thursday, the festivities are in keeping with Bar Yochai’s instruction to celebrate the day as heralding the dissemination of the Torah’s esoteric teachings. One of the preeminent students of Rabbi Akiva, Bar Yochai authored the Kabbalistic source text known as the Zohar.

In Westminster Rabbi Benjy and Leah Brackman, co-directors of Chabad of NW Metro Denver, are getting ready for some golf and go karts. On Thursday afternoon May 10, they’ll be heading to Adventure Golf and Raceway in Westminster for a community Lag B’Omer barbeque and other outdoor activities.

They’ll be cooking up the usual fare – hot dogs, chicken wings and hamburgers – for the community, and will also be giving away Mother’s Day gifts to those who register ahead of the event.

Unlike other holidays, which have various ritual requirements, Lag B’Omer’s main focus is gathering Jews, especially children, for a day of pride and togetherness, explained Rabbi Benjy Brackman. “They’re just being Jewish, that may be the point. Just being Jewish, and being proud: That’s a big part of what Lag B’Omer is.”

After nearly a decade of Lag B’Omer events, including a bike ride last year, Brackman said he’s excited to try out the spot, which he has been driving by every day for years.

“It’s totally new venue for our programs,” he said. “We hope to engage people who perhaps would not be coming to a Torah class or Sabbath morning services.”

WHERE: Adventure Golf and Raceway – 9650 Sheridan Blvd Westminster, CO 80031

WHEN: Thursday May 10, 5:00 pm to 7:30 pm

COST: $10 per person – (covers bbq, a round of mini golf and go karts) $45 family maximum

RSVP @ www.COJewish.com or call 303.429.5177

Story was originally filed on Chabad.org by Karen Schwartz