Happy Yom Ha'atzma'ut!

Dear Friends,

Happy Yom Ha’atzma’ut – Happy Israel Independence Day! Today we celebrate Israel’s 64th birthday. In case you don’t know, Yom Ha’atzma’ut commemorates when David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, publicly read Israel’s Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948. According to the Jewish calendar that year May 14 was the fifth day of the month of Iyar. So, usually Yom Ha’atzma’ut is celebrated on the fifth of Iyar. But, if the fifth of Iyar falls on a Friday, as it does this year, Yom Ha'Atzma’ut is observed a day earlier so that the festivities do not interfere with preparations for the Sabbath. (And, by the way, if the fifth is a Saturday, the holiday is celebrated the prior Thursday, on the 3rd of Iyar.) Ah, to have a Jewish State!

Yes, there are many mishugeneh things about the State of Israel, some trivial, like the confusing calendar, and some not so trivial, like the internal divisions over religion and politics, and the seemingly intractable conflicts between Israel and her neighbors. But, today is not a day to dwell on such things. Today is a day to appreciate and celebrate the miracle that is the State of Israel. It is a day to recall the Zionist Movement and Israel’s early pioneers, the “chalutzim,” who built the state. It is a day to remember those who defended the state through its trials and tribulations. It is a day to celebrate all that Israel has achieved, all that Israel has become: a vibrant democracy; a technological and economic success story; the living, breathing homeland of the Jewish People who returned to Zion after 2000 years of statelessness!

I hope that you can join us tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. as we bring the special spirit of Israel into our Shabbat services in a unique way. In place of a number of our usual readings from our prayer book we will be reading the poetry of several Israeli women. Featuring the voice of Israeli women is a positive way for us to assert our Reform Jewish belief in egalitarianism while also celebrating the importance of Israel in our lives.

An important way to demonstrate your support of Israel as Reform Jews is to contribute to the Association of Reform Zionists of America/Reform Israel Fund (ARZA). This organization supports the growth and development of Reform Judaism in Israel. Your Temple dues statement includes a check off option to join ARZA for $36. Do you know if you have paid these ARZA dues? Contact Jeff Katz in our office to make sure at jkatz@templesinaibc.org. Let him know you want to support ARZA . For additional information about ARZA go to www.arza.org. At the same time I hope that you also contribute to the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, which sends a substantial portion of your contributions to the Jewish Agency for important projects in Israel.

Perhaps the best way to support Israel (short of making aliyah!) is to travel there. Temple Sinai is planning a congregational trip for this coming December (December 20, 2012 – January 1) during the holiday break. Now is the time to register. For more information contact me at rabbimillstein@templesinaibc.org.

Happy Yom Ha’atzma’ut!
Rabbi Jordan Millstein

P.S. While Israel is turning 64, don’t forget that our very own Temple Sinai, born just a few years later, is turning 60. You can still get an ad into the journal for the May 12 celebration if you contact the office immediately. Also, please RSVP that you will be attending our 60th anniversary bash asap. Contact Hillary in our Temple office at hhans@templesinaibc.org. Go to the Temple web site, www.templesinaibc.org for more information.

Don't Be Silent

Dear Friends,

In 1958 Olga Owens Huckins wrote a letter to the editor of the The Boston Herald in which she described the death of numerous birds around her property due to the aerial spraying of DDT to kill mosquitos. She sent a copy to her friend, Rachel Carson, already a well-known naturalist and writer, and former Editor-in-Chief of publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Carson had already begun collecting research on the effect of pesticides, especially DDT, as far back as the 1940s when it was used extensively during the Pacific war effort. Huckin’s letter, by Carson’s report, was the spark that led her to embark on the project that would eventually become, Silent Spring, the book that many argue launched the environmentalist movement.

This is the 50th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring. The Tenafly community, along with many others, will be marking this anniversary this Sunday on Earth Day, founded a few years after the publication of Silent Spring, in 1970. Tenafly Interfaith Association, led by Temple Sinai, the Church of the Atonement and the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly, will be holding a brief, interfaith creative service this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Tenafly Nature Center, in the Pavilion – rain or shine! (The Pavilion is covered in case of rain). If it is not raining you are encouraged to come early and enjoy the trails and nature center before our service. Light refreshments to follow the service. Please bring your own reusable water bottle to refill at the pavilion.

If it is not raining, after refreshments we will carpool in groups to cleanup an area of land along East Clinton Ave. This would be a great project to join in with your kids or grandkids. Safety apparel, traffic cones, and cleanup equipment will be provided by the town of Tenafly. .

It is hard to imagine what our world would be like had the environmental movement not come into being in our country. I wouldn’t want to speculate. And to think that it was one person’s letter to the editor that triggered the book that began this movement which has made this a safer world for all of us….

Hope you can join us on Sunday at the Tenafly Nature Center at 2 pm – rain or shine!

Shabbat Shalom,
Jordan

This Year In Jerusalem!

Dear Friends,

Chag Sameiach and Shabbat Shalom – A happy Passover to all of you! And to those on this list on this Good Friday who are not Jewish – Happy Easter this coming Sunday!

With all the spiritual energy in the air today you might think that I would give you a lengthy message filled with teachings for the holiday. However, it is my hope that you are all going to be experiencing that this evening in the form of a seder. Consequently, I did not think such a message was necessary. Plus, I have to finish getting ready for my own family seders. Tonight at my sister’s in Nyack we have the “gantze mishpucha” – the extended family - a truly diverse group including 3 rabbis, many secular Israelis, Christians, secular American Jews, Asian Americans, Jewish day school kids, “New Age” spiritual non-conformists, etc. Perhaps, you have a similar gathering. After all, why should the rabbi’s family be different from all other families? Tomorrow night we have a second seder at my house in Demarest with just my two sisters’ families and my parents. You would think that this would be a seder where we would delve into the deep meanings of the Hagadah, debate the various ins and outs of the midrashim, go on for hours and hours. But, guaranteed, after 15 minutes the choruses will begin, “Do we really need to do that part? Can’t we skip it? When are we going to eat?” Dayeinu.

If you are looking for last minute help with finding material for or organizing your seder I suggest going to www.urj.org, our Reform Movement web site, or www.myjewishlearning.com, which has a guide for leaders of a seder. If you’ve got no Hagadah and a group that won’t tolerate a seder of more than a half hour, you can download a seder for about $20 from www.30minuteseder.com. To be clear, I have not used this seder but friends from the Temple whom I trust say that it covers all the bases, even if it’s not so scintillating.

In order to make your seder a little more interesting I am attaching two documents. One comes from our Reform Zionist organization, ARZA, and is a really clever take on the splitting of the middle matzah in order to create the afikomen. It’s an artful way to communicate the relationship between American and Israeli Jews and its importance.

The other is the itinerary for our congregation’s Israel trip this coming December. At the end of the seder each year we say, “Next year in Jerusalem.” In context, this is an age-old prayer for the coming of the messianic time, when, tradition teaches, all Jews will be united again in Israel and the world will be at peace. This year we can, quite literally, say, “This year in Jerusalem!” Why not take a few minutes at your seder this evening or tomorrow evening and discuss joining my family and other members of the Temple Sinai community and their families on our grand adventure to Israel? For additional information, including costs and information on the optional trip extension to Eilat and Petra, please see the “Shavua Tov” Constant Contact email blast that will come out Sunday evening this week. If you would like to receive all the information on the trip or have questions please email me at rabbimillstein@templesinaibc.org.

This year in Jerusalem! This year may all be free!

Chag Sameiach,
Jordan

p.s. Don’t forget we have no services tonight at Temple Sinai but we do have a service (not a seder) at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. We will be hosting members from Temple Emeth in Teaneck and Congregation Adas Emuno of Leonia. It is followed by a Kiddush lunch. Please join us!