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Here is a poster from the Israel Museum that depicts the fantasy most Zionists had of the land of Israel before their arrival. Read More
On the one hand, Freeganism is an extreme example of the mitzvah "Bal Tashchit"--"Do Not Destroy." The Rabbis of antiquity extended this Torah mitzvah, which refers to fruit-bearing trees on the land of one's enemies, to also include any usable, salvageable materials (clothing, pottery vessels, building materials, etc.) or consumables (food, especially) that might be carelessly discarded. On the other hand, the practices of Freeganism also challenge other Jewish laws and values. I'll write more on this later, but will leave readers (yes, you!) with some links to learn more."It's not how much or how little you have that makes you great or small, but how much or how little you are with what you have."
- Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
(Horeb, vol. 1, pg 46)
Round One:
Round Two:
Round Three:
Round Four (Final):
· Who donated the money that kept the early olim from
Dear Israeli Friends,
Shalom from the United States!
We are very excited to learn about you and to tell you about ourselves. We have many questions about you and your lives in Israel, but we'll start with a description of our class. We are students at Congregation Etz Chayim, a liberal synagogue in Palo Alto, California. Palo Alto is near San Francisco. We go to "regular" school for about seven hours a day, five days a week (Monday through Friday). What is it like to go to school six days a week?
We do our Jewish learning here. On Wednesdays, we come to the synagogue after school for two more hours of Jewish Studies and Hebrew learning. We also come here at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays and stay here until noon.
One of the nice and unusual things about Etz Chayim is that we have some shared customs and also allow people to follow their own traditions. At our synagogue, men and women sit and pray together, without any separation. We all welcome non-Jews into our services and community. However, some of us sit for the Shema, while others stand. We are interested to know how many of you go to synagogue and what types of synagogues you attend.
Most of us are eleven years old. Many of us have already traveled to other countries including Israel. Some of our favorite vacation spots are Los Angeles, Hawaii, Mexico and Greece. A few of us are planning to visit Israel this summer. Do you have any recommendations for where we should go and what we should do? What are your favorite places in Israel? And have any of you traveled outside of Israel?
When we are not busy at school or the synagogue, we like to "chillax"—chill out and relax. A bunch of us like sports; American football, soccer, baseball, gymnastics, skateboarding, and snowboarding are popular with us. Some of us like to doodle and draw, others like to play video games and surf the internet. All of us like to hang out and chat with our friends!
We are really excited that Hanukkah is almost here. Many of us like spending Shabbat and holidays with our families and friends. What are your favorite Jewish holidays?
We can't wait to hear back from you!
Best wishes,
Kitah Vav
Michael Becky Aaron D. Aaron H. Josh Hannah Maya Frieda Eli Rex Harrison Andy Matt
Rachel Tatiana Ellie Andi Lisanna Jack Talia
Isabel Sasha Alex Ilan Sophie
and their teachers, Rachel and Noya
The Sticker Song
haDag Nachash
Translated by Dan Rice
A Whole Generation Demands Peace
Let Tsahal Win
A Strong Nation Makes Peace
Let Tsahal Play Hardball
No Peace With Arabs
Don't Give Them Guns
Combat is the Most, Bro
Draft Everybody Exempt Everybody
There's No Despair in the World
The Territories Are Here
Na Nach Nachman me-Uman [religious chant]
NO FEAR - Mashiach Is Here
No Arabs, No Bombings
The Supreme Court Endangers Jews!
The Nation is With the Golan
The People are for Transfer
Driving Test in Yirka
Friend, We Miss You
The Holy One Blessed Be He, We are Voting for You
Direct Elections Are Evil
The Holy One Blessed Be He, We are Zealots for You
Death to Zealots...
How much evil
Can you swallow?
Father have mercy
Father have mercy
My name is Nachman and I stut- stut- stutter
How much evil
Can you swallow?
Father have mercy
Father have mercy
Blessed Be God that I breathe, and so,
A Religious State , There Goes The State
Whoever Was Born Won
Long Live King Messiah
I Feel Safe With Sharon 's Peace
Hebron Always Forever
And Whoever Wasn't Born Lost
Hebron Forefathers Peace Transfer
Kahane Was Right
CNN Lies, We Need a Strong Leader
Bravo for Peace!
Thanks For the Security!
We Have No Children to Spare for Unnecessary Wars
The Left Helps the Arabs
Bibi is Good for the Jews, Oslo Criminals to Justice!
We're Here They're There
Brothers Don't Desert
Uprooting of Settlements Divides the Nation
Death to Traitors!
Let the Animals Live
Death to Values!
How much evil
Can you swallow
Father have mercy
Father have mercy
My name is Nachman and I stut- stut- stutter
How much evil
Can you swallow
Father have mercy
Father have mercy
Blessed Be God That I Breathe, and so
Wipe Out, Kill, Deport, Exile,
Exterminate, Extradite, Death Penalty NO FEAR!
Destroy, Eradicate, Overthrow, Mop Up
Everything for You, Friend!
Should a fashion trend be illegal?Who should determine the standard for these local dress codes? The only other fashion statement I can remember drawing attention from lawmakers is the displaying of gang "colors," which never spread through the larger youth community the way ultra low-riding pants have. Unlike colors, which revealed the wearers gang sympathy or affiliation, baggies are worn by young people of all races and economic backgrounds. If anything, I find it to be a sign of disaffected youth, sticking it to "the man" (who is probably still imagined as a middle-aged white guy) by refusing to conform to social expectations about dress.
Sep 12th, 2007 | PINECREST, Fla. -- Dinner was over by the time the party's honored guest showed up at the table. She didn't speak a word. And she left in the rabbi's arms.
The visitor to this family home was no lady. It was a torah.
Most Jews see the holy scroll only in their synagogue and have rarely held one. But one synagogue in Miami is taking the unprecedented step of allowing congregants to host Judaism's sacred text in their homes in exchange for a donation. They call it a torah time-share.
For a one-time gift of $1,800, members of Temple Israel can sponsor a section of the scroll. Each year, during the week before that section is read at Shabbat services, donors can keep the torah in their home _ an event that has prompted families to host scripture studies, parades and dinner parties.
"When it's brought into a house, it makes the house more holy," said Rabbi Mitch Chefitz, who came up with the idea. "If the torah's in your room, then you have an honored guest."
Chefitz showed up at Sandy Grossman's house this Rosh Hashanah week with the torah in a wheeled black duffel bag. After dinner, while children were dancing the "Macarena" and pounding on a bongo drum, he put it on the dining room table, and everyone's attention shifted.
Chefitz took off the torah's white fabric covering, or dress, as he called it. He sat at the head of the table and began to slowly unroll it.
"She's a she," he explains, "because she wears a dress."
As for its age, the rabbi said you shouldn't ask a lady. But she's about 160 and appears to have originated in Poland. The scroll later was bought by a couple who dedicated it to their only son, William Earnest Jacoby, who died in World War II.
The torah was in need of cleaning and repair _ to patch holes and fix lettering _ so Chefitz came up with the time-share project.
About 40 of the 52 available weekly torah time-shares have been purchased at Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue. Other members have given $18 to sponsor a single letter of the scroll, and all five books have been sponsored for $18,000.
All told, the project raised about $325,000 for the temple, far more than the restoration cost. Still, Chefitz quips, he should have thought about charging annual maintenance fees, just like real time shares.
Chefitz has been at Temple Israel for six years. Before that, he served as the rabbi of the Havurah of South Florida, which serves Jews disconnected from formal synagogue life. Because they had no actual temple, members took turns taking the torah home with them, an experience that led to his idea at Temple Israel.
Temple Israel's program is believed to be the first of its kind. Chefitz said it has since inspired a Tel Aviv temple to start its own.
Last year, Chaim LieberPerson picked the torah up from the temple, put it in the passenger seat of his car and fastened the safety belt. He said he was giddy about taking it home. As a Jewish educator, he is used to handling torahs, but this was different.
"Every time that a torah is opened, I'm like a young child again," he said. "Having it in your home is kind of like having somebody from TV or the movies or someone famous in your home."
LieberPerson and his wife hosted a "Torah Tea Party" for their two children and several dozen others. They decorated torah-shaped cookies, made T-shirts with their Hebrew names on them and paraded around the mango tree in the backyard, singing, playing instruments, and hoisting the scroll.
The family also hosted a more traditional adult study gathering, which Chefitz led. At night, the LieberPersons put the torah in a closet to protect it from two cats and two children.
Like real estate time shares, participants in the torah project can swap weeks. And some, like Randi Trazenfeld, have bought "futures" to ensure their children will have the torah in their home before their bar or bat mitzvah.
Trazenfeld remembers that as a child she'd stand on her chair in temple to just to get a glimpse of the torah on the High Holidays. It was in the distance. She wants her children to have a more intimate experience.
"I can't tell you how emotional it was," Trazenfeld said, "and we're not a religious family at all."
Because Rosh Hashanah marks the start of the Jewish calendar year, the torah was at the end of its five books when it arrived at the Grossmans' home a few days before the holiday. Chefitz, with help from those at the gathering, rolled back through Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus and Exodus, to the start, in Genesis.
As the 120 feet of parchment unfurled, Chevitz gave lessons on its production and its content, discussing the painstaking lettering, the way it is spaced and the stories within. The guests were riveted.
"It suddenly gives you a relationship with something you always hear about," Grossman said.
When the torah was rolled back to the beginning, children took turns holding it, and the rabbi returned it to its bag.
"Time for cake?" he asked.
When Grossman first had the scroll in her home last year, she had a gathering for friends and family. When the guests left, her 12-year-old daughter, Bari Pasternack, ran to the torah and kissed it. She read from it, and she took it to her bedroom with her and chanted prayers.
The mother watched. All her life, Grossman said, she never truly understood the torah. But that night, it came alive.
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This is where Rabbi Rachel Solomin collects items of interest to her students and friends from newspapers, blogs, and other websites.