Jay Sanderson has reworked his amazing archive from the Jewish Television Network into a well done presentation of video on line that will set the standard for all the new TV ventures that plan on reaching out to the Jewish community via broadband. Here is a sneak peak of his line up with a Hanukkah focus. It’s worth going through the various presentations. Jay and Harvey, mazel tov, Yossi
http://www.jewishtvnetwork.com

Living Dr. King’s Dream, Jewishly by Yosef I. Abramowitz

In a society that equates heroism with physical strength, the non-violent legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. is an opportunity to teach our children important Jewish values. “Who is mighty?” our rabbis ask and then provide two counter-intuitive answers: A hero is “one who can conquer his or her own evil inclinations” and “one who can transform an enemy into a friend.”

The dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. challenges America, and ourselves, to face even subtle racist inclinations. He also led a movement that transformed the beliefs of millions. Our children are so removed from this magic moment in American history. Our challenge, as Jewish parents, is to make this history relevant.

The pursuit of justice and peace is a fundamental theme in Jewish text and law. Read more

from the NY Jewish Week
Educate By Teaching Jewish Values
Yossi Prager and Yossi Abramowitz

In Jewish communities around the world, there is a yearning to find new ways to successfully boost Jewish identity. New programs for youth and educators alone, however, are not likely to generate the rejuvenation of the Jewish people without a new educational framework.

Much of the substance of Jewish day school education today consists of the study of Hebrew language and sacred Jewish texts (books of the Bible, chapters in the Mishnah or Talmud). In congregational schools, much of the time is devoted to bar and bat mitzvah preparation, with the remainder to acquiring knowledge about Israel, the Holocaust and basic Judaism. Taught as they are presently, these subjects can feel external to the students’ everyday life concerns. If we want our children to fully connect with their Judaism, we must teach them to experience everything in their lives — from today’s headlines to tomorrow’s conflict with a sibling — from a Jewish perspective.

Our work together suggests an approach for achieving this: Focus on Jewish values in a way that highlights the distinctive contribution Judaism can make to the challenges of modern life. Read more

Today, right before havdallah on kibbutz ketura, the graduate students from the Davidson School for Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary invited me to speak to them, based on an article one of them read in Hadassah magazine. The students who did speak up were very appreciative of my thesis, even though I am sure they agreed with the basic four points and not the main conclusions about Christianization, which was meant to provoke.

After wishing them all a Merry Christmas, I outlined the following:

1. I am a traditional, egalitarian Jew, but not a Conservative Jew and I implored them to untether themselves from the Conservative movement. I let them know that I was a graduate of Solomon Schechter Day School and also attended–and was almost expelled from-JTS during the 1992 Law Committee debates on homosexuality.

2. There are four reasons to back up my assertion on the impact of Conservative Judaism: Read more

The next President of Israel is going to make choices about which initiatives should be undertaken by the World Jewish Forum. Here’s another in an exclusive series of what is being considered.  This is one of two that has had the most traction so far with audiences of leadership. In the 1980s as chair of WUJS, we ran under the leadership of Bella Borstein Project Areivim, which sent out idealistic Israelis to small Jewish communities. I think JAFI has taken it over. The idea below is this combined with the U.S. peace corp model.

 International Year of service. Linking youth from Israel and Jewish communities worldwide to work in teams of 4-8 around the world in service initiatives for sustainable development in third world countries as well as service in small Jewish communities and in at-risk neighborhoods in Israel. A two month orientation in Israel will be followed by 8 months of field work. Third world work can be streamlined into the UN Millennium Village, to cut hunger in half in the next decade by promoting new farming practices throughout Africa, while studying relevant Jewish texts. JDC/JAFI, as well as American Jewish World Service, Avoda: Jewish Service Corp, HIAS and others, are natural partners. Linking the whole initiative with a certificate program or college credit from a prestigious university would further help transform this into a norm among Jewish youth. Goal is to ramp up to send 10,000 youth a year on year-long Jewish service programs after 5 years.

Arava Institute Brings Petition to Israel’s Supreme Court: Court Rules That Sweeping Ban on Palestinian Students Studying in Israel is Unreasonable

On Monday, Dec. 18, 2006 students, faculty, alumni, and staff of the Arava Institute traveled to Jerusalem to hear the petition of the Institute to the Court. In response to the petition the court called the sweeping ban against Palestinian students studying at Israeli universities unreasonable and ordered the military to set criteria for admitting at least some Palestinian students into Israel for purposes of study. Read more

submitted by Yaakov Rosenbaum:-)

10.   Botched Ark Opening -   (aka. The undetectable curtain string)  Any ark opening delay whatsoever triggers the entire congregation to respond with the “It’s on the other side!” scream  coupled with some gabbai flailing hand gestures for further instruction  and further humiliation      

9.  The  Asher Bachar Banu, Asher Nasan Lanu  Mix-up -  The real reason men close their eyes during aliyos : they are praying they remember which  line is first.  

8. Walking in During Kedusha - Once you see the tippy-toeing Kadosh-Kadosh-Kadosh it’s stop-drop-redlight-greenlight-1–2-3-Freeze mode.  You take one step in and you’ve pretty much forfeited getting an aliyah for the next year.  

7.  The Mashiv HaRuach Skip  –  If you are chazan and you skip this, people will react as if you just ate bacon and had sex with their wife in the kodesh kedoshim.

Read more

Chag sameyach v Shabbat shalom!  I’m giving (last minute) the Shabbat/Hanukkah drash at shul on Kibbutz Ketura, which is traditional egalitarian but all in Hebrew.  I will be comparing and contrasting the story of Hanukkah and the story of Yosef, which starts this week with parashat Vayeshev.Top 7 similarities:

7.   Both have the central characters be people of action.

6.    Both characters have strong beliefs in God.

5. They both took place around the land of Israel.  Moddim for the macabees and this area desert for the beginning of the Yosef story and also, of course, where he is buried.