Mishpachah Matters Issue 76.1 and 76.2 Mishpachah Matters Elul 5775 The Newsletter of Bet Mishpachah, Founded in 1975 - Tishri/Cheshvan 5776 by Members of the Washington, DC, Gay Community September and October 2015 It’s a New Year, a New Page, Rabbi Green’s Fall Class a New Way Forward! Crowdsourcing: Communal Ethics in Judaism and in Real Life By Liora Moriel, VP Religious Affairs Police Brutality! Political Gridlock! Workplace Politics! Rosh ha-Shana, the Jewish New Year, does not match up with the Gregorian calendar that we use in our secular What do all these things have in common? They demonstrate lives. It can seem that it is early, when it is near Labor the dysfunction of communities. What does Jewish tradition say Day, or late, when it seems to introduce Halloween. But as about communal ethics? We’ll look at controversy and decision the late, great Barrett Brick told us time and again, it is making, balancing peace and security, crime and punishment, really neither early nor late: it is always on time on the public accountability and how to oust bad leaders. How should Hebrew Calendar. When Elul ends, Tishrei begins, our neighborhoods, schools, synagogues, and workplaces run? moving us from the last month of the year just ending to the first month of the year we now begin. Rabbi Laurie Green will be teaching this fall class on Thursdays October 29, November 5, 12 and 19 at the DC JCC from 7:00- Rosh ha-Shana, unlike many other holy days, does not 8:45 pm. begin on a full moon. Rather, it starts us off with a new moon, new hopes, and new ideas. For those who attend The first class will be preceded by a reception at 6:15 pm in services twice a year—in the ten-day interval from Rosh ha memory of Barrett Brick (z’l), may his memory be for a blessing. -Shana to Yom Kippur, usually as bookends—the elegance, Barrett, a Past President of both Bet Mishpachah and the World pomp and circumstance may seem bewildering. Typically, Congress of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Jews we have two or three dozen people at a Shabbat service, (Keshet Ga’avah), had not only a passion for Torah and a deep while the High Holy Days attract hundreds. Also, while interest in Jewish ethics, but was always a voice for the sanctity shorts and tees are to be seen at weekly services, the dress of our community. If you plan on attending the reception, please code on the High Holy Days (HHD) is formal and dressy. RSVP to [email protected] by Thursday, October 22, so we can plan accordingly. Moreover, HHD services utilize Bet Mishpachah’s unique liturgy, written and assembled by the dedicated members Table of Contents: of the Liturgy Committee. Small wonder that our services appeal not only to our own congregants, but to many Page 3: Page 10: visitors as well. Not surprisingly, some of the latter Gossip and Punishment: Race, Northern Virginia Chavura, become members, many of them active and thriving in our Gender and Rioting In Baltimore Another Awesome Event wonderfully eclectic community. Page 4: Page 11: The Challenges Bet Thanks to Our July and August (Continued on page 8) Mishpachah Shares with the Oneg Shabbat and Kiddush Wider Washington Jewish Sponsors Community Thanks to Our July and August HHD Logistics Volunteers Service Leaders www.betmish.org Needed! Become a Member of Bet Bet Mishpachah Mishpachah in 2015-2016, Now Has a List Serve Our 40th Anniversary Year Page 5-6: Page 12: Washington DC’s September and October September and October Calendars Birthdays and Anniversaries Egalitarian Synagogue Page 7: Welcome to Our New Members High Holy Days Schedule Mazal Tov Embracing a Diversity Page 9: Page 13: Contribute to Bet Mishpachah Donations of Sexual High Holy Days Collection Drive Page 14-18:: Benefitting N Street Village! Member Yartzeits Text Messages: Torah for Page 19: and Gender Identities Today Directory Mishpachah Matters—Elul 5775 - Tishri/Cheshvan 5776/September and October 2015 Page 2 Bet Mishpachah Communications Electronic Newsletter Subscription This newsletter is published bimonthly by Bet Mishpachah, Do you want to receive Mishpachah Matters electronically and P.O. Box 1410, Washington, DC 20013. Articles must be in living color, while saving the synagogue money? 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Bet Mishpachah holds Shabbat services every Friday at 8:00 Bikur Cholim — We Care About You pm and the second and fourth Saturdays of every month at 10:00 am at the District of Columbia Jewish Community Become a partner in the mitzva of Bikur Cholim—visiting the Center (DCJCC), 16 and Q Streets, NW. Sign Language sick—by advising our Bikur Cholim Committee, rabbi, or interpretation is available by request to [email protected] with president when you or a relative is hospitalized. We can stay a minimum of two weeks notice. Any changes to this regular informed ONLY if we receive the information. Please email us schedule will appear on our website (www.betmish.org), in the at [email protected]. month’s printed calendar, and/or in our electronic bulletin Death Notices, Bereavement Services board ATCBM. If you are in need of bereavement services or to announce a Enter the DCJCC building on Friday nights through the Q death in your family, email [email protected]. Street door. You will be buzzed in by our shammas. Shabbat worship will be in the DCJCC Kay Community Hall, on the Donations right as you enter. A parking lot is available behind the To make a donation to our congregation, please send it to Bet DCJCC and may be entered from Q Street. It has Mishpachah, Department 0520,Washington, D.C. 20073-0520. approximately 20 spaces, including one designated for disabled Or you can donate via PayPal from the “Donations” page on drivers. our web site, www.betmish.org. Parking: Additional free parking for Friday night services is To Schedule a Bet Mishpachah Event available at the surface lot at the Scottish Rite Temple starting at 7:30 pm. The lot will be closed and locked and all cars must Email the date, space needs, and number of expected attendees be removed by 10:30 pm. Parking is at your own risk. The to [email protected]. Temple is at 16th and S Streets NW; entrance to the lot is from To Sponsor an Oneg Shabbat or Kiddush the alley that connects 15th and 16th in the block between R and S Streets. Send an email to [email protected], with the date you’d like to sponsor, and the occasion. Mishpachah Matters Staff Newsletter Coordinator — Amy Heffernan Bet Mishpachah’s Affiliations Design/Layout — Amy Heffernan Bet Mishpachah is a member of: Network of Independent Proofreaders — Eytan Apelberg, Alex Carter, Jewish Communities and Havurot; Jewish Community Council Mindy Gasthalter, Elke Martin, and Martin Robinson of Greater Washington; World Congress of GLBT Jews: Transliteration Consultant — Scott Reiter Keshet Ga’avah; Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington; and Celebration of the Spirit Coalition. Mishpachah Matters—Elul 5775 - Tishri/Cheshvan 5776/September and October 2015 Page 3 Gossip and Punishment: Race, me. No doubt they felt they had reasonable concerns, perhaps even noble intentions. But that doesn’t make gossip Gender and Rioting In Baltimore and slander any less damaging. By Rabbi Laurie Green We all know how hard it is to forget a rumor once we’ve heard it. Lashon hara changes our perception of a person in I live in Baltimore. The actual City of Baltimore, not the such a fundamental way that every member of the community suburbs. I live in a transitional neighborhood with a notable is contaminated. Perhaps that is why the metaphorical number of interracial families and same-sex couples. I live punishment for lashon hara is an illness. When we speak ill three blocks from Greenmount Avenue, and close to Johns of a member of our community, we spread an illness which Hopkins University. harms everyone. When we spread ill will, we spread a All week I had been hearing the same thing from several contagion that sickens us all.