Israel – Page 3 – Rodeph Shalom

Opening to Risk and Praying for Israel: Crowdsourcing Sermon from last Shabbat

“You shall love the Eternal your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. Set these words upon your heart.”

Why? Why does it say to set these words of love and of Torah, upon your heart? Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz teaches: we place the words of Torah upon our hearts so that they can lay there, wait there, for the day our heart breaks. And when it does break, those words of love sitting on our heart will fall right into the crack. That’s when we will really know Torah.

With fear comes distancing, the building of walls, the closing of hearts. But with openness—sometimes even just a crack, exposing our heart—comes the trust and faith that can allow for risk-taking.Continue reading

We Stand With Israel

Dear Congregation Rodeph Shalom,

As we gather this evening to celebrate Shabbat, our hearts are filled with concern for our beloved Israel. Once again, our brothers and sisters in our spiritual homeland are under attack, as over 500 rockets have been fired from Gaza by Hamas.

Now is the time for our congregational family to stand in solidarity with the State of Israel, its citizens and armed forces. Of course we grieve for all the innocent people who are affected by this situation, but today, we need to be clear that Israel has the right to exist and to defend herself from enemies who seek her destruction.

Our thoughts are especially with our beloved Cantor Erin and David Frankel and their precious daughters Sivan and Meital, as they have been in Israel the past two weeks. We pray for the safety and the return to security of all the people of the Land of Israel. May there be a speedy resolution to this crisis.

Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu, v’al kol Yisrael.
May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, let peace descend upon us, on all Israel and on all the world.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi William Kuhn
Lloyd Brotman, RS President

Three Kidnapped Israeli Boys Found Dead Outside Hebron

‘A Voice Says: Cry Out! And I Say:
What Shall I Cry?’ (Isaiah 40:6)

With the discovery of the bodies of the three kidnapped and murdered students, Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach, we are left numb. Grief, anger, sadness, disappointment and hopelessness have all converged in our hearts and souls.

We, their extended family in the House of Israel, mourn their loss.

How filled with anger we are at the realization that these tragic deaths came at the hands of those who would do anything to impede the forces of peace. The murderers’ hands are bloodied, not just with the blood of these innocent young men, but with the shattered hopes of those in Israel and the Palestinian community who wish only for peace to reign throughout the land.

The World Union for Progressive Judaism joins all of Israel and those who seek peace within her borders and with her neighbors, in offering prayers of comfort to the grieving families of Gilad, Naftali and Eyal.

We vow to continue to support the efforts of all those who are working for peace.

The prophet Isaiah reminds us that we have been called upon to bring comfort:
נחמו נחמו עמי
“Comfort My people, Comfort them.” (Isaiah 40:1)
And so, we hold the memories of these three young men in our warm embrace, and resolve that we will not allow the terrorists to achieve their goal of destroying the dream that will, speedily and soon, lead to peace in the land.

Rabbi Daniel H Freelander Michael Grabiner
President-Elect Chairman

The Presbyterian Church’s Divestment Decision and Jewish Community Response of Multi-faith Coalition

Thank you to URJ president Rabbi Rick Jacobs, who on CNN shared that in his address to the leaders of the Presbyterian Church, he explained the pain their decision to divest from 3 American companies doing business with Israel, would cause the Jewish community. He spoke of a more effective and values-driven way to pursue our shared goal, a 2-state solution, inviting Church leaders to join him in a meeting with PM Netanyahu to say that the settlements do not help to advance peace in the Middle East. The Church’s vote and decline of that invitation doesn’t represent all of its leaders. In fact, local Presbyterian clergy has reached out to the Jewish community and I was invited to join the signatures to the below Statement for next week’s Exponent. Both Rabbi Jacobs for the URJ and the Jewish Community Relations Council (who co-authored the statement below) teach us the path to multi-faith relations and to peace is not in division or hate but in dialogue and relationship.

Interfaith Statement Concerning the Presbyterian Church USA Decision to Divest from three American Companies because of their Sales to IsraelContinue reading

Counting the Omer: Yom Hazikaron

On this daily count of the Omer, as Yom HaZikaron (Israel Memorial Day) begins, we honor the memories of Israel’s fallen soldiers.

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elohenu Melech ha-olam asher kidishanu b’mitzvotav vitzivanu al s’firat ha’omer. Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the universe, who makes us holy with sacred actions and enjoins us to count the omer.

Hayom esrim yom, shehem shnei shavuot v’shishah yamim la-omer. Today is 20 days which are two weeks and 6 days of the Omer.

Wishing you a meaningful omer– Your RS Clergy

Counting the Omer: Jerusalem of Gold

Counting the Omer today with inspiration from Naomi Shemer as we anticipate Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) Sunday evening and Yom Ha-atzme-ut (Israeli Independence Day) Monday evening.

The mountain air is clear as water
The scent of pines around
Is carried on the breeze of twilight,
And tinkling bells resound.

The trees and stones there softly slumber,
A dream enfolds them all.
So solitary lies the city,
And at its heart — a wall.
Continue reading

Israel and the Changing Middle East: Trudy Rubin Speaking at RS

Join us to hear Trudy Rubin, the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, speak on “Israel and the Changing Middle East,” Wed., Nov. 20 at 7:00 pm. Rubin will lead a provocative discussion about how Iran talks, a crumbling Syria, and a new military in Egypt will have an impact on Israel. Check out her latest column: Seeking a ‘Good Enough’ Iran Deal.

Thank you to the Joseph J. & Lulu S. Rosenbluth Fund for sponsoring.Continue reading

The Arab Spring Two Years Later: The Changing Middle East and its Impact on Israel

Starting this Sunday, 10:15am, join an important discussion about the Middle East and deepen your understanding of its impact on Israel, with our congregant and expert, Nurit Shein. We will connect with each other as we learn and grapple together with the challenges of the Middle East. At RS Sundays, Nov. 17th, 24th & Dec. 8th 10:15am-11:15am. A native of Israel, Shein served as a career officer in the Israeli Army, working in intelligence, women’s corps, and as commander of the army’s education corps before retiring as a colonel. Nurit Shein serves as the Executive Director of Mazzoni Center, an LGBT health, education and advocacy center.

Hate Crimes: A Desecration of God’s Name

Rabbi Dr. Ron Kronish has spent decades pursuing reconciliation in Israel. As director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, Kronish teaches that Judaism, Christianity and Islam all teach peace. Too often, however, they are corrupted to fuel hatred and violence. Kronish works to harness the teachings and values of the three monotheistic religions and transform them into a source of reconciliation and co-existence. Here is his Huff Post column about this week’s extreme vandalism against Arabs in Israel, and his call to understand such distortion of Judaism as a desecration of God’s name.

Mideast Peace Talks: Love for Israel Doesn’t Require Hate of the Other

As we witness Mideast peace talks, the voice of Jewish support is in our hands. When we speak to our friends, when we advocate to our leaders, when we teach our children, what will our rhetoric be? What will be our perspective of the other? This is the question asked in this D’var Torah I delivered Friday night.

Last week, I visited “The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats” exhibition at the National Museum of American Jewish History. Keats, an author and illustrator of 85 books creates characters and art that come to life on the page; but true appreciation of this children’s literature requires context. For in 1962, Ezra Jack Keats’ book The Snowy Day, became the first full-color modern children’s book to have an African-American protagonist.