February 2020 | Shevat/Adar 5780 | Vol. 46 No. 5 MUSIC A PATH TO CONNECTION AT TEMPLE EMANU-EL COVER STORY PP 10-11 Deborah Temple Lipstadt: Welcomes Conscience HUC’s and Courage New President A CONCERT P 3 P 13 P 19 CLERGY MESSAGE Making Inclusion Real In our Building, in our Hearts my Ross i A bb a R abbi Yochanan teaches in Our schools have been engaging in this work for quite some the Jerusalem Talmud that time. In both our Youth Learning + Engagement program and each of the 40 days Moses Early Childhood Education Center, we have robust programs was on Mount Sinai, God dedicated to identifying and meeting the needs of each of our Rtaught him the entire Torah. And students with disabilities. We have inclusion coordinators in each night, Moses promptly forgot both schools and partner with professionals to provide services. what he had learned. This went on for We have a sensory gym onsite and both schools participate in 40 whole days until finally, God gave Torah an inclusion experience designed to give typically developing to Moses as a gift. Rabbi Yochanan suggests students a sense of what it might be like to live with a disability. that God waited to give Torah as a gift until the 40th day in We also have a “no-shush” Shabbat service called Shabbat order to encourage the teachers of those who learn in a non- B’Yachad, dedicated to creating space for children and adults traditional manner. of all ages to pray in whatever way the spirit moves them. While I appreciate the sentiment, I am not settled with this We can be incredibly proud of the work we have done with answer. After all, why put Moses—and God for that matter— inclusion in our schools and with Shabbat B’Yachad. Alongside through such a painful and tedious exercise day after day for CHAI, Temple Emanu-El was given an award by the Special 40 full days? And why go through the same exercise over and Needs Partnership at Jewish Family Service, recognizing us for over if the point is to encourage teachers to try non-traditional the work we have done in the realm of disabilities inclusion. methods? And we cannot stop here. I believe that God, like Moses, spent those 40 days According to the Ruderman Family Foundation, which learning. Except instead of learning verses of Torah, God works to advocate for and advance the inclusion of people with was learning about Moses. God was getting to know Moses disabilities throughout society, Jews with disabilities account and his learning style, so that God could give Torah to Moses for 20 percent of our community. Temple Emanu-El’s Core in the way he would best be able to receive it. God did what Values Statement clarifies that, “For us, community means a all master teachers do—figured out how to meet the learner sense of warm welcome, meaningful relationships, and mutual where he needed to be. And then, God took God’s time and responsibility.” For approximately 20 percent of our community, saw the lesson through to the end, trying and failing and a warm welcome means ensuring that accommodations for learning and trying again until the formula was just right. participation are considered in advance and acted upon. It The month of February is Jewish Disability Awareness, means understanding that inclusion is a spectrum rather than a Acceptance and Inclusion Month, otherwise known as checklist. It means recognizing that some disabilities are visible JDAIM. During this month, as stated in the organization’s and obvious and others are invisible and less obvious. It means mission, Jewish communities around the world unite to “raise honoring our mutual responsibility to create space where all awareness and champion the rights of all Jews to be accepted Jews can be comfortable gathering, regardless of ability or and included in all aspects of Jewish life like anyone else.” disability. It means being aware that Jews with disabilities are But what exactly does that mean? What does awareness, part of our community and that our community is not whole acceptance and inclusion look like? until every person feels welcome and feels a sense of belonging. Our Talmud story has some light to shed on this question. Though we may not know exactly where it will lead, we do God shows us that it starts with getting to know the needs of know the path forward. We know that, like God, we need to take those in our community—both those who feel comfortable the time to get to know the needs of those in our community. within our space and those whose needs are not yet met. Once We need to ensure that we have the resources needed to create we are clued in to the needs, then comes the trial and error of inclusive experiences that honor our definition of community working to meet those needs. Just as God spent 40 days figuring and are welcoming of all. Most of all, we need to remember each out exactly the right way to give Torah to Moses, so too do we month of the year what we learn and are reminded of during need to be intentional in creating spaces that feel welcoming this month of disability awareness—that through awareness, to all who enter. acceptance and inclusion, we can realize the ideal set out for us in the book of Isaiah, that our synagogue will not only be called a house of prayer for all peoples, but that it will truly become one. 2 The Window • FEBRUARY 2020 COMMUNITY THE 2020 RABBI DAVID LEFKOWITZ MEMORIAL LECTURESHIP IN THIS ISSUE HOLIDAYS & PRAYER PAGE Thanks Y’all Shabbat 4 Shabbat Services 8 Purim 9 Tu BiSh’vat 12 COMMUNITY PAGE “Like a fire set by an arsonist, passionate hatred and conspiratorial worldviews reach well Clergy Message 2 beyond their intended target. They are not rationally contained. But even if the antisemites Deborah E. Lipstadt 3 were to confine their venom to Jews, the existence of Jew-hatred within a society is an Social Justice Update 3 indication that something about the entire society is amiss. No healthy society harbors Our Community 4 extensive antisemitism—or any other form of hatred.” Party Expo 5 g2g Events 5 –Excerpt from A Note to the Reader, Antisemitism Here and Now, by Deborah E. Lipstadt Temple Cares 5 Temple Votes 100% 5 Deborah Lipstadt: Conscience and Courage World Zionist Congress elections 7 Israel Policy Forum 7 We invite you to gather in awareness and love of Judaism as we welcome Dr. Deborah Cover Story: Music 10-11 Lipstadt to Temple on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7PM. Welcoming HUC's President 13 It’s All Good Concert 19 Dr. Lipstadt, Dorot professor of Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, has published and taught about the Holocaust for nearly four decades. The author of six books The Cantor's Couch 19 and numerous articles, Dr. Lipstadt is widely known because of the libel FOR FAMILIES PAGE lawsuit brought against her in 1996 by a Holocaust denier. That suit was Family Shabbat Experiences 18 also the subject of a 2016 motion picture, Denial, starring Rachel Weisz. Parent Education 18 In her book, “Antisemitism: Here and Now,” Lipstadt explores difficult YL+E Registration 18 questions of antisemitism in a series of letters to fictional composites as she Parent’s Night Out 18 seeks to define antisemitism and different types of antisemites, contextualize their actions, and provide frameworks for real-life responses. WRJ & BROTHERHOOD PAGE Pamela Nadell: America’s Jewish Women 6 To prepare for this important event please visit tedallas.org/antisemitism. WRJ Events 6 There you’ll find a study guide by Dr. Erica Brown, former scholar-in-residence for the History of Israeli Fashion 7 Rabbi Levi A. Olan Memorial Lecture, a copy of Rabbi Stern’s Rosh Hashanah sermon on Brotherhood Community Breakfast 13 antisemitism and more. RSVP requested for security: participate.tedallas.org/lipstadt Brotherhood Monthly Meeting 15 The Rabbi David Lefkowitz Memorial Lectureship is made possible by grants from the Rosenstein-Sonnentheil Brotherhood Israel Book Club 16 Family Fund of the Temple Emanu-El Foundation and the Florence Foundation. FOR 20s AND 30s PAGE Goin’ to the Chuppah 16 ADULT LEARNING PAGE Social Justice Update The Conversation Project 15 The North Texas Food Bank estimates that one in every six people—including one in 92nd Street Y 16 five children—in the DFW area are food insecure (about 800,000 and almost 300,000 Torah and Talmud 16 respectively) which means they don’t always know where they will find their next nutritious Book Clubs 16 meal. To help with this great need, Temple donated $12,000 from our High Holy Day Yoga Emanu-El 16 Hunger Relief Fund to the following agencies this season: The Well 16 History of The Cantorate 17 • Heart House in Vickery Meadow • Oaklawn United Methodist Church Jewish Cultures 17 • Jewish Family Service • VNA Meals on Wheels Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz 17 • Vogel Alcove • North Texas Food Bank • Family Gateway • Austin Street Center PHILANTHROPY PAGE • MAZON—a Jewish response to hunger • The Bridge Homeless & Recovery Center Annual Fund Spotlight: Josh Ozer 12 To donate funds to hunger relief: participate.tedallas.org/hungerrelief. Contributions 14-15 If you’d like to be involved with our social justice efforts, please contact Alexandra Horn, FROM THE ARCHIVES PAGE Director, Social Justice & Small Group Engagement, at 214.706.0000 ext. 126. A Century Plus of Social Justice Back Cover FEBRUARY 2020 • The Window 3 COMMUNITY OUR COMMUNITY BECOMING B’NAI MITZVAH NEW & RETURNING MEMBERS Annie, Tad, Jackson & Eleanor Kirk, Kathleen, Charlie, Fallows Caroline & Quinn Kaminsky Barbara & Harvey Gollman Jay & Liz Kleinman & Charlene Howell Avery & Landon Meiteen Frieda