Finding Inspiration by Rabbi Adam Zeff
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Preliminary Findings 2007 National Spiritual Communities Study
EMERGENT JEWISH COMMUNITIES and their PARTICIPANTS: Preliminary Findings from the 2007 National Spiritual Communities Study Steven M. Cohen, J. Shawn Landres, Elie Kaunfer, and Michelle Shain Sponsored by The S3K Synagogue Studies Institute & Mechon Hadar November 07 2007 NATIONAL SPIRITUAL COMMUNITIES SURVEY: Report of Preliminary Findings The Growth of Emergent Spiritual Communities, 1996 – Present The last decade has witnessed an explosive growth of NGOs – thousands of voluntary, public sector non‐governmental organizations that operate on behalf of a wide variety of cultural, educational, political, and social causes all over the world. The reasons for this sharp growth are not entirely clear, but many observers credit the Internet and other technological advances for reducing the cost of organizing and helping people of particular inclinations to find each other and to remain connected. They also credit commensurate shifts in the wider culture for making the idea of self‐ organizing among like‐minded individuals more acceptable, expected, and feasible. Thus, creative and energetic social entrepreneurs have been reaching and organizing those around them in newly initiated groups, large and small, dedicated to serving the interests and realizing the values of specific constituencies with distinctive purposes, interests, values and aesthetics. Just as niche marketing has made numerous specialized goods and services available to specialized consumers, so niche organizing has brought together networks and communities to an unprecedented -
D.I.Y. JUDAISM: a ROUNDTABLE on the INDEPENDENT MINYAN PHENOMENON Moderated by Shifra Bronznick
D.I.Y. JUDAISM: A ROUNDTABLE ON THE INDEPENDENT MINYAN PHENOMENON Moderated by Shifra Bronznick Jewish prayer requires a community of ten - a minyan - but not a rabbi or a congregation. For most of the past century, when the primary organization of American Jewish life was the synagogue, the distinction was academic. Over the last decade, however, there has been a small explosion of independent minyanim, lay-led communities for worship. Often meeting in church basements and synagogue social halls, these minyanim are disproportionately composed ofyoung Jewish leaders and professionals - precisely the people the institutional community has tried and failed to reach with huge initiatives and costly programs. They are independent, communally governed, and non denominational - and they may be quietly changing the shape ofAmerican Judaism. For this conversation, Zeek brought together the leaders of six such minyanim for a conversation moderated by Shifra Bronznick herself a member of Minyan M~at, a lay-led minyan at Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York. The participants were Ben Dreyfus (Kol Zimrah, New York), Jo Ellen Green Kaiser (Senior Editor, Zeek), Elie Kaunfer (Kehilat Hadar, New York), Yehuda Kurtzer (Washington Square Minyan, Boston/Brookline), Sarah Lefton (Mission Minyan, San Francisco), Rachel Milner-Gillers (Tehillah, Mor Arkadir, Oil, Water Boston/Cambridge), and Beth Tritter (DC Minyan, Washington D.C.) other was that we wa: would want to go to ~ Shifra Bronznick (Moderator): What prompted you to start an independent minyan> Beth Tritter (DC M Orthodox shul and t1 Elie Kaunfer (Kehilat Hadar): Hadar started in April of 2001. We wanted a service that would combine egalitarianism, a traditional liturgy, and spirited egalitarian communil Orthodox backgroun davening. -
Composer Biographies and Annotations
The Composers — ROBERT APPLEBAUM (bobapplebaum.com) For many years, music was an abiding love but a professional sideline for Robert Applebaum, who taught physics and chemistry at New Trier High School, Winnetka, IL, from 1965 until his retirement in June 2000. He began composing choral music for the Jewish liturgy in 1980 and has written three Sabbath services, including one for choir and jazz trio. He has composed choral settings of many psalms as well as non-secular texts. Professional, community, and children’s choirs throughout the world have performed Applebaum’s music. Chicago a cappella included two of his Chanukah pieces on their 2002 recording Holidays Live and three of his settings of Shakespeare texts on their highly acclaimed 2005 Çedille release, Shall I Compare Thee? His setting of Im Ein Ani Li Mi Li is included on Chicago a cappella’s 2010 recording, Days of Awe and Rejoicing. As a jazz pianist/composer, he has three albums to his credit: Hora and Blue (Global Village, 1993) with the Modern Klezmer Quartet, The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree (jazz piano duos with his son Mark Applebaum (Innova, 2002), and Friday Night Jazz Service (2007). ROBERT APPLEBAUM on El Malei Rachamim “When Cantor Nancy Kassel contacted me with the assignment to set this prayer, my first re- sponse was ‘Thank you for giving me such a juicy text!’. Three images in this text resonated for me: A merciful and compassionate God, the wings of the Shechinah providing shelter and repose, and the binding of the souls of those who have died to Adonai, and by extension, to us, the living. -
Outside the Box: DIY Jewish BEN DREYFUS
presence in the world. Focusing all my energies began to feel the absence of prayer in my life. outward, trying to model a religious personality And when I did begin to pray regularly again, that would fit my ideal religious community, I the experience was more powerful than it had SHMA.COM had turned my own practice into a shell of what been in years. a religious experience should be. Now, in my final college year, I find myself Last summer, I spent two months in Tel drifting from extreme experiences toward a mid- Aviv. It seems ironic that the shift in attitude dle path. I hope that my enthusiasm for my own that would rescue my religious experience took halakhic observance continues to be a positive place in Israel’s most secular city. But my time force in shaping the spirit of my community. But in Tel Aviv was an exercise in taming a yetzer this can only be true if my observance also tov gone wild. Unattached to any religious com- shapes my own spiritual experience for the bet- munity in particular, I began to make religious ter. Looking outward toward the needs and re- choices in nobody’s interest but my own. Some actions of others is indeed a good inclination, days, I woke up late and — for the first time in but I am learning to temper that inclination with years — simply didn’t pray. After a while, I a healthy dose of yetzer ha-ra. Outside the Box: DIY Jewish BEN DREYFUS made history before I was born: I was the my own niche in the larger pluralistic Jewish first fetus ever to be ordained as a rabbi. -
WOMEN of GJC by Sandy Meyer and Vilma Lieberman Continued Women’S Club Has Changed Our Name to Women of GJC
SHABBAT & HOLIDAYS MAZAL November 3 & 4 Friday Night Kabbalat Shabbat Service & Saturday TOV! Charry Service welcomes Rabbi Idit Lev of Rabbis for Human Rights IN CELEBRATION OF… November 10-12 Sid August Rabbi Elias Charry Memorial Weekend on celebrating his 99th birthday on August 21st with Rabbi Emeritus Leonard Gordon Kol Zimrah Linda Cherkas & Chaim Dworkin Friday Night Shabbat Potluck & Program on the aufruf & marriage of their daughter Musical Marching Minyan Elie Dworkin and her fiancé David Kadosh 9:30 AM Charry Memorial Shabbat Service & Portrait Dedication for Rabbi Gordon Herb Levine Charry Memorial Kiddush & Afternoon Program on the publication of his new book Sunday Workshop with Rabbi Gordon "Words for Blessing the World" November 18 Naomi Klayman Kol D’mamah Jewish Meditation with Ari Witkin on her special birthday Shabbat Morning JAM December 2 Oliver Moscow BBMM Shabbat son of Dan Moscow & Sharon Strauss, Charry Service: 2nd grade Siddur Ceremony on becoming Bar Mitzvah December 8-9 Akhila & William Shapiro Stefan Presser Memorial Shabbat on the birth of their baby girl Dorshei Derekh Friday Night Dinner Dorshei Derekh and Charry Service: Dan Bacine Stefan Presser Memorial Shabbat & Afternoon on being honored by the Lawyers & Accountants Program Divisions of Philadelphia Israel Bonds Parashat ha-Shavua B’Ivrit Leah & Norman Schwartz December 13: Hanukah 2 candles on the birth (in Jerusalem) of their great-granddaughter, GJC Celebrates! Hanukah Esther Leshinsky, daughter of Chana & Shlomo Leshinsky, December -
Independent Minyanim 10And10-Minyan : 10 and 10: a New Minyan Page 1 of 2
Independent Minyanim 10and10-Minyan : 10 and 10: A New Minyan Page 1 of 2 Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Search: Web Search Sign In Groups Home - Blog - Help New User? Sign Up 10and10-Minyan · 10 and 10: A New Minyan Search for other groups... Search Home Home Join This Group! Members Only Messages Activity within 7 days: New Questions Post Description Files Welcome to the 10 and 10 Minyan, an exciting and innovative new Jewish Tefillah Service Photos located in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles, which is modeled after Shira Hadasha in Links Jerusalem. Our Minyan will start off operating on a monthly basis on Friday Nights. A woman Database will lead a lively and song filled Kabalat Shabbat and men will lead Mincha and Ma'ariv. Our Minyan embraces as a religious value the inclusion of both men and women in leadership and Polls ritual participation with a commitment to halakhah and Tefillah. Within the context of our Calendar halakhic duty to daven, we strive to make Tefillah a spiritual celebration that connects to and nurtures our religious lives as individuals and as a community. The mehitzah (partition) in our Promote Minyan runs approximately down the middle of our space, so that the men’s and women’s sections are side by side. Most importantly, we will only begin those parts of the service that require a Minyan with presence of both both ten men and ten women. We hope to make the Info Settings most of this opportunity to grow and nurture a community and an environment where everyone can feel involved in a truly engaging Tefillah experience. -
To Open the October 2018 Issue
KOLThe Monthly Newsletter of KORETemple Emanuel Kensington, Maryland Volume XXXVIII, No. 2 October 2018 Tishrei/Chesvan 5779 HIGHLIGHTS 2 From the Rabbi 3 From the Cantor 4 Tot Shabbat, Shabbat and Holidays 5 Member Updates, Sacred Story Shabbat 6 From the President 7 To Help Those in Need 8 Religious School News, October B’nai Mitzvah 9 Congregational Learning 10 From the ECC Celebrating Madeline Lowitz Gold 11 Art in HaMakom, Library News 12 Refugee Family, Play Reading 13 Global Mitzvah Early Childhood Center Shabbat – Friday, October 14 Adult Learning 12th at 7:30 pm followed by Special Oneg Shabbat 15 Warren G. Stone Rabbinic Endowment For 10 years Madeline Lowitz Gold served as the 16 WRJ visionary and extraordinary founding educator of 17 CSAC 18 Immigrant Justice Shabbat our Early Childhood Center. Join us as we honor 19 Brotherhood and celebrate Madeline! 20 Donations Friday October 12 at 7:30 pm – special oneg 21 Donation Opportunities 22 October Calendar celebration to follow! 23 November Calendar Featuring Kol Zimrah and Shabbat University: 24 Kol Kore Opt Out Creation Legends from Ancient Midrashic Traditions / KOL KORE | 1 from the Rabbi Special Shabbat on Justice and Immigrants, October 26th Guest Speaker: Heidi Altman, National Immigration Justice Center We live in a time of growing xenophobia and racism. As the world’s refugee population grows, so do efforts to demonize the refugee. Our own country has a history that is at best complicated and at worst, as we are currently witnessing, capable of demagoguery and cruelty. Jewish moral teachings are clear. Our very story in antiquity is that of refugees, wanderers from a land of oppression in search of a promised land. -
Rabbi Rebecca Richman: a Re-Introduction
Volume 26, Issue No. 6 Tamuz 5779 / July 2019 Rabbi Rebecca Richman: A Re-Introduction Two years ago, I sang at a Kol Zimrah country bicycle tour of the United States. (I first met Rabbi Zeff service with Nina Peskin and Rabbi in Haifa while he was on sabbatical.) Josh is a graduate student Zeff to conclude my internship as at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his Masters Student Rabbi at Germantown Jewish Degree in City and Regional Planning, and is pursuing his PhD in Centre. I remember a feeling of Urban Planning. sweetness as I sang and as I taught that night. My internship challenged This past December, Josh and I welcomed sweet Netta Nissim me in the best of ways, pushing me toward strength in davening into our lives. We are sleep-deprived but blissed out and in awe (prayer) leadership, presence in pastoral care, creativity with of this amazing new life. Netta will be starting at ECP this teaching, and confidence in my learning. I had hoped to return summer and continuing in the fall. We are beyond excited to to GJC again, but I never imagined I would be so blessed to become part of the ECP community. return as clergy. In mid-July, I will begin my half-time position as Assistant Rabbi As I write this piece, I am just one week away from being and Beit Midrash Director. It has been a joy to envision and build ordained as a rabbi. As I reflect on my four years of rabbinical my dream job. -
The Evolving Edah: the Influence of Social Trends and the Creation of Innovative Minyanim It Is a Phenomenon That Started In
The Evolving Edah : The Influence of Social Trends and the Creation of Innovative Minyanim It is a phenomenon that started in one night in a bar on the Upper West Side of New York. It is not a fashion trend or the use of the latest technological gadget, but a new movement in Jewish religious life. In what some journalists in the Jewish press have referred to as “Gen X Judaism,” twenty and thirty-somethings in urban areas have created new worship communities in recent years. 1 Over a round of drinks in the spring of 2001, three friends met and decided to create a Sabbath worship service that would be different than the many synagogues in this area of plentiful Jewish options: informal and lay led, spirited davening (Yiddish term for prayer) and singing, halakhic (the Hebrew term referring to the canon of Jewish law) and egalitarian. The worship group met for the first time in a founder’s living room and was an instant success, gathering sixty people just through word of mouth and e-mail communication between friends and acquaintances. The community, known as Kehilat Hadar (“Community of Glory”), now regularly draws 200 people to its Sabbath services and through social networks and the relocation of members to other northeastern urban cities, other innovative worship communities were established in Washington, DC and the Boston area.2 In contrast to the popular havurah movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s, these independent, non-denominational groups are comprised of tradition-oriented Jews who seek to maximize opportunities for women’s participation while staying within the boundaries of Jewish law. -
October 2019
Washtenaw Jewish News Presort Standard In this issue… c/o Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor U.S. Postage PAID 2939 Birch Hollow Drive Ann Arbor, MI Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Ruth Interfaith Lake to Permit No. 85 Bader Families Lake Ginsburg in Bike Books Path page 16 page12 page 15 October 2019 Tishrei/Cheshvan 5780 Volume XIX Number 2 FREE Hebrew Day School to INfuse Israel education into its curriculum Jennifer Rosenberg, special to the WJN ebrew Day School of Ann Arbor er, Milka Eliav, is the lead in both face-to-face and virtual contexts al- was accepted, along with eight learner in this program and lows us to explore, expand, and refine our H other day schools from across was accompanied by Head of thinking,” she says. North America, to the third cohort of IN- School, Jennifer Rosenberg, Head of School, Jennifer Rosenberg, sees fuse: Israel in Jewish Day Schools. INfuse is to the initial convening in this as a wonderful opportunity for Hebrew an initiative conceived and run by the iCen- Chicago in August. As a re- Day School. “I am thrilled that HDS has been ter, a national, Israel-education organization cent graduate of the Legacy accepted into the program and I look for- that focuses on supporting day schools in Heritage Teacher Leadership ward to a focused year of defining, designing, designing and implementing a thoughtful, program at Brandeis Univer- and implementing our vision. I am especially coherent, integrated, and developmentally sity, Milka is well prepared to pleased that this program recognizes that appropriate approach to Israel education. -
November 2020
חשון/כסלו תשפ״א • Vol. 50, No. 9 • November 2020 We've got you covered. IT'S JEWISH BOOK MONTH! p. 34 Weinberg Community Make sure every child has for Senior Living We Meet You Where You Are in Life. Especially Now. a warm coat this year. During the pandemic, Weinberg Community has met the intensified needs of our residents and family members with inventiveness, energy and positivity. Since 1997, Join JUF’s Chanukah Coat Club today! we have provided a safe and enriched living experience, by offering: An independent lifestyle in one- and two-bedroom A nurturing residence for persons with Alzheimer’s apartments at Gidwitz Place for Assisted Living. and other cognitive issues at Friend Center for Respite Care Stays. Memory Care—Bernard Heerey Annex. A gift of $18 to JUF’s Adult Day Services—Deerfield is suspended for now. For more information about Weinberg Community, call Chanukah Coat Club 847.374.0500, or go to our website at WeinbergCommunity.net, where you’ll find a link to a video tour. will give a local child in We are grateful to local restaurants, organizations, and individuals for generous need a new coat and donations when we needed them most. THE CJE ADVANTAGE: Our broad continuum of care offers people of all ages, faiths and incomes access to life-enriching opportunities, resources and healthcare. Our Jewish values accessories to brave make us the provider of choice for enhancing lives and navigating the positive aging process. a winter that will be WEINBERG COMMUNITY FOR SENIOR LIVING 1551 Lake Cook Road | Deerfield IL | WeinbergCommunity.net | 847.374.0500 CJE SeniorLife® is a partner with the Jewish United Fund in serving our community. -
Report of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies 2012
Report of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies 2012–2013 Report of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Report of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies 2012–2013 | OXFORD CENTRE FOR | HEBREW AND JEWISH STUDIES | A Recognized Independent Centre of the University of Oxford Contents Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Message from the Acting President page 9 Main Office President’s Message 11 Yarnton Manor, Yarnton Highlights of the 2012–2013 Academic Year 13 Oxford OX5 1PY, England Telephone: Oxford +44 (0)1865 377946 Oxford Seminar in Advanced Jewish Studies – Orthodoxy, Theological Fax: Oxford +44 (0)1865 375079 Debate and Contemporary Judaism: A Critical Exploration of Questions Email: [email protected] Raised in the Thought of Louis Jacobs Website: www.ochjs.ac.uk Orthodoxy, Theology and Louis Jacobs Dr Miri Freud-Kandel 27 Hebrew and Jewish Studies Unit Orthodox Judaism and Theology in the Twentieth Century: Oriental Institute, University of Oxford Two Projects Dr Adam Ferziger 35 Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE, England What is ‘Modern’ in Modern Orthodoxy? Professor Alan Brill 41 Telephone: Oxford +44 (0)1865 278200 Halakhah and Aggadah: The Modern Conversion Controversy Fax: Oxford +44 (0)1865 278190 in Light of Louis Jacobs’s philosophy Professor Arye Edrei 48 The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies is a company, limited by guarantee, Biblical Criticism and Late-Modern Orthodoxy in Israel incorporated in England, Registered No. 1109384 (Registered Charity No. 309720). The Dr Ari Engelberg 54 Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies is a tax-deductible organization within the United States under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Employer ‘Happy is He Who Loathes it, For it is Like a Dream That Flies Away’: Identification number 13–2943469).