Weekly Edition: May 19th, 2023

Shabbat shalom!

Join us at the Pearl Street Mall on Sunday, June 4th for The Boulder Jewish Festival. We can’t wait for this full day of festivities, live music, Jewish food, and Judaica, along with family-friendly activities provided by our community organizations. Open and inclusive to everyone, this festival is an amazing opportunity to connect, engage, and have fun. Hope to see you there!

More information at www.boulderjcc.org/BoulderJewishFestival.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with our brothers and sisters under attack in Israel, Ukraine, and the women of this country.

Stay warm, stay safe and stay healthy!

Here are stories from the last week:

News/Columns/Letters

• Birthright Israel Has First Second-Generation Participant (5/18/2023) - It was bound to happen, given Birthright Israel’s success for an extended period of time: A Birthright Israel participant is the offspring of previous participants. Continue Reading
• Column: Those Pesky Antisemitic Thugs: How Low Can They Go? (5/18/2023) - Two antisemitic thugs in London and Boca Raton, Fla., picked on Jewish targets their own size to badger, as disgusting as these attacks are. However, two of their confederates chose Jewish schoolchildren outside a religious school in north London to blare a Hezbollah battle song from their car. Continue Reading
• Letter: The Changing Demographics of Israel (5/18/2023) - The Rabbinic Council of Boulder is entitled to its opinion, but it ignores the fact that a fair democratic election was held in Israel. ("The Rabbinic Council of Boulder Aligns Itself With Israel's Protestors Against Judicial Reform," BJN 5/9/23). The majority, albeit a small majority, voted for the Netanyahu coalition whose platform included judicial reform.  Continue Reading
• ADL: Swastikas Drawn On Arms, Legs Of Denver Middle School Students (5/17/2023) - On April 28, a student at Campus Middle School in Cherry Creek School District allegedly drew swastikas on other students’ arms and legs. If that is not troubling enough, they did so after participating in a lesson about the Holocaust, the systematic murder of over six million Jews and five million others. Of the Jews… Continue Reading
• Support Rabbi Soloway on The Ride for the Living This June (5/15/2023) - . I’m participating in this important journey not only to remember the Holocaust and its victims, but also to celebrate the miraculous rebirth of Jewish life in Poland and to assist with relief efforts for the 150,000 Ukrainians who have moved to Krakow since the war broke out in February 2022. Continue Reading

Jewish Life

• Celebrate a Humanistic Shavuot Hike with Beth Ami (5/18/2023) - Humanistic Jews celebrate Shavuot with picnics featuring bread, dairy and fruit and may honor education. And because we are in Colorado, we can also hike! Continue Reading
• Leo Greenberg Bar Mitzvah (5/18/2023) - On Saturday, May 20th, 2023, Leo Greenberg will be called to the Torah as Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Har HaShem. Continue Reading
• A Eulogy for Tom Trager z”l (5/17/2023) - Rabbi Soloway provided his eulogy for Tom Trager, who passed away on May 14, 2023. Continue Reading
• I’m Cycling for Children’s Hospital (5/15/2023) - Melanie Gruenwald is participating in the Courage Classic Bicycle Tour in July to raise money for Children's Hospital Colorado patients and families because I want to help Children's Colorado ensure healthier futures for kids. Continue Reading
• Baruch Dayan HaEmet – Tom Trager z”l (5/14/2023) - Tom Trager (Avraham Yitzhak) passed away early on Sunday morning, May 14, 2023 at home with his devoted wife Barbara by his side.  Continue Reading
• Baruch Dayan HaEmet – Lois Kolodny z”l (5/14/2023) - Lois Kolodny (Leah Asne) passed away early Friday morning, May 12, 2023 at Life Care in Longmont.  Continue Reading

Arts and Culture

• Hearing The Cry of a Child (5/17/2023) - As graduation speeches and flying caps fill the air, we may wonder about the extent and duration of the influence that schools and individual teachers may have on students, both in knowledge and character. Rabbis in the past and present have given plenty of advice about how to teach. Continue Reading
• The Haggadah of Mad Max (5/17/2023) - I recently read a rather convoluted reworking of the message of the brilliant Arthurian-themed movie "The Fisher King" as an analogy to the Passover story (Fisher King- A Fictional Exodus Story, BJN 4/20/23).  For me it did not work. Continue Reading

Events

• Boulder JCC Hosts Blood Drive on June 7 (5/18/2023) - Do a mitzvah and donate at the Boulder JCC/Vitalant blood drive on Wednesday, June 7 from 11 am - 3 pm. The drive will be held indoors at the Boulder JCC. Continue Reading
• Life, Love, and the BRCA Mutation (5/17/2023) - Author Jessica Queller to Share Her BRCA1 Mutation Journey During Women’s Healthcare Month -- a free online event. Continue Reading
• Israeli NGO “Bartali – Youth in Movement” Organizes “Israel Ride” in Aspen, CO (5/15/2023) - Bartali - Youth in Movement (BYIM) is a unique Israeli nonprofit that operates a network of cycling centers for at-risk youth aged 13-18, who live mainly in youth villages and welfare boarding facilities throughout Israel, as a platform for social mobility. We want to invite you to join BYIM for three incredible days of road… Continue Reading