HEY JEWS

never realized scheduling a wedding was so difficult. Shabbat + Daylight Savings Time = good luck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buQ1C5RJ2Vk#t=1655

If you've spent most of your time lately thinking about Israel/Palestine, this is a good thing to watch

happy jewish valentine's day!

great clip Hurting thx for posting

well I took Veronica to her first day of hebrew school at the reconstructionist temple ("don't let your child go shul-less!" lol). before class all the parents and kids and teachers sang some songs I probably haven't heard in 25 years, that was a trip.

yay

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/rabbis-find-talk-of-israel-and-gaza-a-sure-way-to-draw-congregants-wrath.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

only read the first two paragraphs but afaik they're not accurate - rabbi sharon's fight w/ her congregants goes beyond mentioning the names of dead civilians in prayer alongside israeli soldiers: http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/182756/cbst

I don't see what's innacurate...? I guess some previous issues are glossed over, but the general sequence of events seems the same in both articles

w/out the background is makes the resignation seem incredibly petty

it*

wtf is this:
http://www.thekitchensf.org/mission/

Welp, just booked a getaway for Rosh Hashanah because I couldn't get two days over the weekend, and now I feel guilty about it. Every year I go through some variation on this pain.

would like to try out the family service at this temple we just joined but I uh already had a recording date booked so that is happening instead

ty, making me feel a little better

In another quandry, some are worrying about whether to get tickets for baseball postseason games that might happen (time tba) on Kol Nidre (friday oct. 3) and Yom Kippur Saturday October 4th and/or whether to check the scores or watch on tv etc (and will any Jewish players sit out such games)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/whats-a-faithful-jew-to-do-the-yom-kippur-baseball-dilemma/2014/09/18/c3319b7a-3f5c-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/09/18/choosing-shul-over-nats-park-on-yom-kippur/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/09/18/choosing-nats-park-over-shul-on-yom-kippur/

lol i feel like they run those articles every year

here's a local philly interest version from a few years ago:
http://articles.philly.com/2011-10-07/news/30253608_1_yom-kippur-sundown-kol-nidre

at least since Sandy Koufax's day

xp

it's a perennial, alongside article, 'can you believe jews live in Y?'

and 'yiddish is dying' which i just saw an article about this week and i lol'd
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/yiddish-has-a-problem/379658/

Yeah, seems like one of those "What do vegetarians eat on Thanksgiving?" type stories.

I'm not sure why or how mainstream religious or secular Jews in America would somehow also maintain a vital Yiddish-language culture; Yiddish was the Jewish vernacular of a time and place where Jews lived largely in isolated communities and its linguistic heyday in America was during a period of immigration. It's no surprise that it's now only a native language in insular Haredi communities.

haha I remember reading one of those stories over the course of a Jewish lit class I was taking in college. I remember it specifically because there was a quote from an old guy pointing out the Yiddish word for condom (shmekldekker) as evidence of the language continuing to grow/maintain relevance.

i like the bashavis singer quote that hung at the yiddish newspaper i worked at in crown heights - (paraphrasing:) "people say yiddish is dying. may it continue to die for many more years to come." the truth is that for a language that most communities don't need, it's still remarkably vibrant w/ institutions, camps, newspapers, etc. not even talking about kiryas yoel or wherever they don't additionally speak english.

did we discuss this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/us/rabbis-find-talk-of-israel-and-gaza-a-sure-way-to-draw-congregants-wrath.html

they kind of bury the lede... the article tries to be even-handed, discussing how rabbis are worried of both criticizing and defending israel in fear of alienating parts of their congregations. but then 3/4 into the article they say that a study showed that rabbis are much more fearful of criticizing israel than defending it. honestly this is one of the major reasons i'm pretty alienated from organized judaism. although my old congregation is mentioned at the end, as the one whose soon-to-step-down rabbi is actually a supporter of BDS (!).

btw the article suggests that the (modern?) orthodox account for about 10% of american jewry. i wonder what % are haredi/ultrareligious. i imagine it's a growing number.

xpost

i like that quote about yiddish

not to mention ongoing interest in preservation of the cultural work and ephemera that the Yiddish heyday in the US and in Europe produced, the importance to secular scholarship of studying literature in the original rather than in translation, translation projects, etc. Might as well lament the decline in Aramaic speakers in the Jewish community.

kol nidre is happening the same day as my birthday this year.

not to mention ongoing interest in preservation of the cultural work and ephemera that the Yiddish heyday in the US and in Europe produced, the importance to secular scholarship of studying literature in the original rather than in translation, translation projects, etc. Might as well lament the decline in Aramaic speakers in the Jewish community.

― Spirit of Match Game '76 (silby), Monday, September 22, 2014 3:41 PM (31 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's a brand-new archive of yiddish music and culture at the university where i study. it's pretty neat; they sponsor a klez-camp every summer. i haven't yet made an appointment to go listen to some of their 78s.

re: Israel, let's be real, the most liberal of Reconstructionist shuls, whose rabbis happily conduct gay interfaith marriages, are still gonna have congregants divided on Israel right now. That a pro-Israel stance among Jews is seen as "right wing" by leftist commentators is sort of garbage.

re: Yiddish, the National Yiddish Book Center was on my college campus! It was really cool, and you can buy any of the books they have out and take them home with you. It was an incredible project. Much nicer building than any of the actual school buildings too, what with that Jewish philanthropy strike force.

honestly this is one of the major reasons i'm pretty alienated from organized judaism. although my old congregation is mentioned at the end, as the one whose soon-to-step-down rabbi is actually a supporter of BDS (!).

i kinda wonder if this dynamic is the issue though? are ppl who are more likely to resonate w/ issues like BDS also ppl who feel alienated from the jewish community in the first place? tho judaism as a theology+philosophy has a lot of space for outsiders to the community (both culturally - spinoza types - and even within the religion there are traditions of hermits and theological anarchists like the kotzker rav), the jewish community isn't separable from tribalism really.

are ppl who are more likely to resonate w/ issues like BDS also ppl who feel alienated from the jewish community in the first place?

I don't think this is so.

well, maybe more likely, but I think you'll find tribally-engaged Jews floating around campus BDS groups as often as not.

ok, maybe not. that's just my impression reading jews who are active in BDS. i guess jewish voices for peace would be an exception - as a jewish community organization forming exclusively around the issue.

i think it's always going to be controversial suggesting boycotting coreligionists for political (as opposed to theological) rifts. that'll never be mainstream jewish community.

are ppl who are more likely to resonate w/ issues like BDS also ppl who feel alienated from the jewish community in the first place

I would say yes probably to some limited extent

tho judaism as a theology+philosophy has a lot of space for outsiders to the community (both culturally - spinoza types - and even within the religion there are traditions of hermits and theological anarchists like the kotzker rav)

this is one of the best things about the tribe imo

yes for sure, and i've benefited tremendously from it. i think there's actually been a breakthrough in a some traditional jewish communities around recognizing this. i think it's why i can participate in an orthodox community without fully committing to a 100% orthodox lifestyle, and i'm accepted in the community and invited for meals and my kids go to the school, etc. i see this in chabad and in modern/open orthodoxy and in traditional/conservative too. actually the conservative synagogue near my house is the supplier for free-range kosher chicken, as well as hosting the hazon sustainable food convention this year, which is being orthodox catered. there's a lot of commingling among millennial jews i find in this community from a kinda broad spectrum of practices.

like for sure the historically traditional model of halachic performance was that everyone lived in the same community and you did what you did and some ppl were probably very stringent and some ppl weren't -- i think the worldwide jewish community kinda lose the thread on this post-WW2 (maybe for good reasons) but it seems to be making a comeback.

That a pro-Israel stance among Jews is seen as "right wing" by leftist commentators is sort of garbage.

i have a hard time parsing this comment. surely many of those jews who are critical of israel's recent attacks in gaza and their policy of expanding settlements are very pro-israel in a more meaningful, existential sense?

Well, yes.

so what is your point?

and which part of the article are you referencing?

I'm not sure what I was reacting to with my comment, just built up ambiguous anguish.

This is one of those extra-long Yom Kippur+shabbat years, huh.

I mean the service is extra long. I assume the year is the usual number of days, although iirc that kinda varies with the Hebrew calendar?

it's a 3-day yom tov aka two day yom tov + shabbos for the third day.

so many lolz
http://www.shabbosapp.com

Seattle's Reconstructionist chavurah doesn't ticket their HHD services so I might actually go to Kol Nidre on Friday.

http://finkorswim.com/2014/10/01/the-shabbos-app-yes-it-is-real/ < this is crazy and worth reading. if any of the language or references in it are confusing ask me but it's, imo, a game changer (probably over time tho - but ppl in my frum world on fb are already asking how long it'll be before mainstream orthodox opinion is that electricity is okay on shabbat).