…but it’s also fun to put those minds to work!

Check back to the comments section to see a list of men who solve the puzzle. Can you be the first with the solution? All men who solve the puzzle will also be listed when we publish the next puzzle and be recognized at the FJMC International Convention in Massachusetts, July 2013

THIS MONTH’S PUZZLE:…suggested by Ken Turkewitz

There are four men on one side of a cavern needing to get to the other side.  They must cross an old rope bridge.  No more than two can cross at any one time.  They have a lantern and they must carry the lantern with them whenever anyone crosses.

  It takes man A 10 minutes to cross.

 It takes man B 7 minutes to cross.

 It takes man C 2 minutes to cross.

 It takes man D 1 minute to cross.

 When two men are traveling together, they travel at the speed of the slower man.

 There is no other way to get across than to use this bridge.

 What is the minimum amount of time it can take for all four men to get across the cavern?

Try to solve the puzzle.  And, when you do, send the answer along with your synagogue and city and get your name listed in next month’s issue.

Arnie Miller (miller.arnold@comcast.net)

Morey Waltuck (mwaltuck@comcast.net).

Last Month’s Puzzle and Solution:

Mentschen Puzzle #15:  “Judaism, IKC & the # 5”

The # 5 is significant in Judaism:

• The gematria of the Hebrew letter ה
• The books of the Pentateuch
• The sections of the book of Psalms
• The number of knots in the tzitzit
• Number of aliyot on Yom Tov that does not coincide with Shabbat
• Date in Iyar of Yom Ha’atzmaut
• Number emphasized during Mimouna

The # 5 is also significant for FJMC’s IKC….this inspired this month’s puzzle:

Five (5) different single-digit whole numbers add up to 15.

Multiple those same five (5) numbers together, and the result is 120.

Can you determine what those five (5) numbers are?

A + B + C + D + E = 15

A x B x C x D x E = 120

Answer:  the numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

BONUS:

Five (5) different single-digit whole numbers add up to 30.

Two of them are given as  “1” and  “8”.

Multiple those same five (5) numbers together, and the result is 2520.

Can you determine what the other three (3) numbers are?

 A + B + C + 1 + 8 = 30

A x B x C x 1 x 8 = 2520

Answer: the numbers are 1, 5, 7, 8 and 9.

 Puzzle #15, “Judaism, IKC & the # 5”  solved by :

Ed Blachman, Temple Emunah, Lexington MA
Richard Gorman, Har Shalom, Potomac MD
Moshe Adler , Temple Beth El, West Palm Beach, FL

Stu Kaplan, Cong. Beth Sholom, Teaneck NJ
Stan Greenspan, International Vice President, FJMC, IKC: “1 of Fifth”.

Congratulations!

Looking into Kaplan’s Diary

Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983) was ordained at JTS and served as a member of its faculty for over fifty years. All the major leaders of the Conservative movement were his students. His ideology eventually resulted in Reconstructionism.

Religion as Government – First Installment

Kaplan is a rabbi and theologian of great standing but perhaps his greatest talent lies in the field of intellectual history and the sociology of religion. He is at his best when explaining to us how certain ideas and institutions functioned in the past. If we understand the function of these ideas we will appreciate them more in their original setting and we might be moved to try to capture the same function for ourselves.

In the passage below Kaplan talks of God and revelation and the way in which God’s relation to Israel is similar to our sense of government. Government is supposed to be the collective expression of our values and of our desire to live together in mutual harmony, peace and justice. It doesn’t always function that way but that is the ideal. In the same way, we need to think through the way in which our religion and our Torah can help us to live together and function in the best way possible. To do this would make God more present in our lives. It is fitting that we begin this series in this election year with a statement about government.

Sunday, October 11, 1936.

How did the belief that the Torah was given at Mount Sinai and that it was revealed from heaven come about? First of all, we must leave our thought world and try to penetrate the thought world of our forebears. There was a time when it was impossible to conceive of the existence of any nation without it having a god who was its father and patron, just as it is impossible for us to conceive of any nation without a government which unites it and makes it into a unit. Indeed, the concept “God” played the same role then as the concept “government” does in our time. This being so, the bond between the nation and its god existed from the time it became a nation. And because the Children of Israel believed that they had become a people before they entered the Land of Israel, they drew the conclusion that the bond existed in the wilderness where they wandered about before entering the land. Because the concept “God” filled the same function in the past as does the concept “government” for us, the result is that the basic bond between God and the nation is expressed through the statutes and laws by which it is governed. Therefore they had to attribute to God all the laws by which they lived.

In other words, where there is no information about the past based upon facts and experience, reason and imagination attempt to describe it, and that is what happened to our ancestors when they sought to shed light on the darkness of their past. This aspiration in itself has great value and does honor to our forebears. But those who are stubborn in their faith that it is impossible to conceive of the past in any way other than the imaginings of our ancestors block the path of our people’s spiritual development.

Do you find the comparison of religion to government helpful? Does it undermine or strengthen your faith in the belief that the Torah is divine? In what way?

Our government is set up by our constitution. Would it be helpful to see the Torah as the constitution of the Jewish people? Would this conflict with our loyalty as American citizens?

This week’s special commentary was written by Mel Scult, professor emeritus of Jewish thought at Brooklyn College, who received his M.A. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University. He has taught at Brandeis, Vassar College and the New School for Social Research. Scult is the author of a biography of Mordecai Kaplan, Judaism Faces the Twentieth Century, and has co-edited, with Emmanuel Goldsmith, Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai Kaplan and The American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan. Scult is also the author of “Schechter’s Seminary,” an essay which appears inTradition Renewed: A History of JTS. He published Communings of the Spirit: The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, 1913–1934 (2001). 

I Samuel 20:18-42

This week’s Haftarah connects not to Parashat Sh’mini, the selection from the Torah for this week, but to the arrival of the Hebrew month of Iyyar on Sunday (and Monday). The Haftarah from I Samuel 20 is referred to as Machar Chodesh, “tomorrow is the new month,” as this fact forms the basis for the action in the Haftarah. Israel’s first king, Saul, is extremely concerned—one might say obsessed—with controlling his own reign and passing it along to his son Jonathan. Jonathan’s dearest friend and brother-in-law, David, is clearly a threat to the royal line, and both young men fear Saul’s temper. They devise a plan in which David will be absent from his normal place at the royal Rosh Chodesh meal, Jonathan will gauge his father’s reaction, and then Jonathan will communicate to David via a rather elaborate scheme whether or not he must flee for his life.

At the center of this fascinating narrative are 2 interconnected yet contrasting relationships that give us insight into the meaning of Rosh Chodesh, the imminent new month. One relationship is that between father and son, Saul and Jonathan, and the other is between dear friends, Jonathan and David. The father-son relationship is obviously strained in our narrative, with Jonathan barely communicating with his father. It is Saul who is motivated by his desire to preserve his son’s right to rule, and yet we see that he has no qualms about raising his spear against this same son when it becomes clear that Jonathan favors his alliance and friendship with David. Unlike the ideal parent-child relationship based on unconditional love, this relationship is unravels quickly and is truly broken.

In contrast, the relationship between Jonathan and David is completely unconditional, held up as an example of this kind of love by our rabbis in Pirkei Avot 5:16. The very heart of the Haftarah’s narrative is their plan to communicate from a distance, something Saul cannot manage even in the same room as his son. When David receives Jonathan’s clear message that he must run away, the friends cry and embrace one another—a display of emotion that almost counteracts the violence and anger we see in Saul.

As the Haftarah concludes, we are left hoping for the day when the two friends are reunited. While we know from reading further in I Samuel that they are not (Jonathan dies in battle along with his father), the Haftarah wisely concludes with the potential for reunification and renewal of friendship, a theme that ties into the occasion of Rosh Chodesh.

The wholeness and the brokenness of these two relationships have what to teach us all year long, but they are particularly pertinent to Erev Rosh Chodesh. As we anticipate a new month beginning with the end of Shabbat, the renewal of the moon is on our minds, and with it, the renewal of the entire natural world—ourselves included. Will the new month bring brokenness in our relationships? A breakdown of communication with those we love? Or will it bring open communication and unconditional love with our family and friends? Surely we pray for the latter, finding inspiration in the beauty of the love between David and Jonathan.

This week’s Haftarah commentary was written by Rabbi Ita Paskind of Congregation Olam Tikvah in Fairfax, VA. Machar Hodesh was Rabbi Paskind’s Bat Mitzvah haftarah! A native of Lakewood, NJ, she has been Assistant Rabbi at Olam Tikvah since July 2010. She was ordained by the JTS in May, 2010, having received a BA and MA there, as well as a BA in Psychology from Columbia U. Prior to coming to Olam Tikvah she was active with preteen and teens programs through USY, Nativ, Ramah camps and as a Solomon Schecter school teacher, and has continued this work as an active teacher and spiritual leader at Olam Tikvah. She is also an avid cyclist.
Filed under: Heartfelt Judaism ]]> http://mentschen.org/2012/04/18/the-unraveller-parashat-shmini-by-rabbi-ita-paskind/feed/ 1 mentschen RabbiPaskind http://mentschen.org/2012/04/12/the-unraveller-the-song-of-songs-by-rabbi-jeff-pivo/ http://mentschen.org/2012/04/12/the-unraveller-the-song-of-songs-by-rabbi-jeff-pivo/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:25:07 +0000 mentschen http://mentschen.org/?p=351 Continue reading →]]> Pesach VIII

Song of Songs

On the 8th day of Pesakh, we read the Song of Songs (Shir haShirim) as part of the morning service. It is a truly unique book in the Tanakh. Its poetry, its extended use of a woman’s point of view, and its focus on the natural world and physical attraction all mark it as distinctive in biblical literature. It is beloved to us for both its poetic and its allegorical virtues, as a representation of the loving relationship between God and the people Israel. As with all literature, the variety of ways in which it can be enjoyed is the proof of its greatness.

Adopting the view that the Songs of Songs is an allegorical description of the relationship between God and the Jews can lead us to new insights into that relationship. If the people and God are lovers, what are the contours and content of that love? It obviously lacks the physical component that is so prominent in the Songs of Songs, but our tradition is filled with other possibilities.

The first is intimacy. When a loving relationship begins, its depth is measured by its intimacy. Do the lovers feel an attraction to one another? Do they share common values, beliefs, hopes for the future? Will their initial attraction be augmented by shared experiences over time? The Torah employs the language of intimacy during the Torah reading for the intermediate Shabbat of Pesakh when it quotes God as saying “Ki matzata khein b’einai v’eida’akha,’ ‘You have gained My favor and I have come to know you.’ The verb ‘come to know you’ carries the specific meaning of intimate knowledge, including sexually intimate knowledge between people, the same allegory employed by the Songs of Songs.

A second aspect of a loving relationship is loyalty. A lack of loyalty in a relationship constitutes a betrayal of trust that is difficult or impossible to repair. Loyalty in a human relationship is the soil in which the early words and acts of our love take root and flourish in future years. That same trait also pertains to our relationship to God. The covenantal relationship described throughout the Torah makes explicit just how jealous a lover God is. The effort required by our ancestors to remain loyal to one, universal God was enormous, requiring sometimes drastic measures of enforcement. All traces of any competing god – or lover – had to be gotten rid of, destroyed, forgotten. ‘Throw away your old love letters, the gifts from old boyfriends,’ God says, ‘I won’t have any of that stuff around.’

A third marker of a loving relationship is shared time together. For human relationships, that means birthdays, anniversaries and family gatherings. The Torah has something similar in mind when it teaches us that God commands our attention during the three harvest festivals, Pesakh, Shavuot and Sukkot. These are ‘date nights’ with God. Two of them are more like week-long getaways, one in the fall and the other in the spring. In order to establish their love for God, our ancestors brought offerings to the Temple and then, when the Temple no longer existed, offered words and songs to God in the communal setting of the synagogue.

Each of the aspects of love I have mentioned – intimate knowledge, loyalty and shared time – mark a healthy relationship between us and God, just as they do between two people. And just as Shir haShirim reminds us of the dimensions of our love for God, it also serves as a great source for expressing plain old human love. It is the source for the popular phrase “I am my beloved’s, and he is mine” and “I have found what my soul loves,” as well as many others. Toward its end it offers words that can apply to relationships human and divine: “Let me be a seal upon your heart, like the seal upon your hand, for love is as fierce as death, passion is mighty as Sheol.” Even those of us with the slightest poetic sensitivities understand those words and images. Using the same terms that an allegorical reading of the poem applies to God, we can also find the words for our own flesh and blood lovers.

This week’s Haftarah commentary was written by Rabbi Jeff Pivo, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Judea in Long Grove, IL. Rabbi Pivo has been at Beth Judea since July 2011, after serving at synagogues in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in Jewish Studies in 1994 and received his Masters in Hebrew Literature and was ordained as rabbi in 2000 at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
Filed under: Heartfelt Judaism ]]> http://mentschen.org/2012/04/12/the-unraveller-the-song-of-songs-by-rabbi-jeff-pivo/feed/ 0 mentschen rabbi jeff pivo photo for web http://mentschen.org/2012/04/01/when-it-doesnt-work-by-joanne-palmer/ http://mentschen.org/2012/04/01/when-it-doesnt-work-by-joanne-palmer/#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:21:58 +0000 mentschen http://mentschen.org/?p=343 Continue reading →]]>

This story was originally published in CJ:Kolot Voices of Conservative/Masorti Judaism and won a Rockower award from the American Jewish Press Association, placing first in the personal essay category. According to the AJPA, it is “an emotionally wrenching, theologically insightful, beautifully written memoir of the author’s struggle to say Kaddish after the death of her daughter.” 

Before I ever had to say kaddish as a mourner, I was entranced by its music.

In 1934 the British writer Dorothy Sayers published The Nine Tailors, a fairly unconvincing mystery that provided a framework for a pastoral idyll. The book centered around bell-ringers who climbed up a church tower to pull the massive ropes attached to the brass behemoths that hung there. They were ringing the changes, following mathematical formulas that permitted subtle variations, playing the huge bells with paradoxical delicacy.

The kaddish is like that, I used to think before I had to say it. As we say the words, our voices ring the changes on them. As the kaddish shifts back and forth between Hebrew and Aramaic, the consonants that sound so strongly stay the same while the vowels that connect them move and flex and alter. And then the consonants change too, and the vowels begin their dance with them again. It is an incantation, I thought, hypnotic and beautiful. Surely the sound must soothe mourners as it sweeps over them.

And then, in December of 2000, my daughter Shira Palmer- Sherman died. I had to say kaddish for her. And it didn’t work.

I suspect that as is often true when a death is sudden, as Shira’s was –a college junior, she was a hit by a car as she tried to cross a street – the funeral was surreal. The mourners are still in shock; even the finality of the sound of dirt as it is heaped on the grave sounds as if it comes from another planet. Then shiva is like an oral exam in social skills, as people from the most unlikely recesses of your life, flushed out by tragedy, materialize in front of you. Shiva is a brilliant institution; as your numbed senses regain some feeling they are buffered by the demands imposed by all those people! In your house! Wanting to talk to you! Right now!!! I know that shiva is supposed to be quiet – visitors are supposed to sit respectfully silent until they are spoken to – but it didn’t work that way. The silence was a kind of vacuum that demanded to be broken.

Shira died on the first night of Hanukkah, so each day the morning shiva minyan included a Torah reading. The Torah scroll stayed in our playroom those days, lying covered with a blanket, entirely out of place but looking natural, one more piece of oddness among many. We should have said hallel too, but we didn’t. “There cannot possibly be hallel in this house,” said our rabbi. We lit the Hanukkah candles each night but we did not say Sheheheyanu on the first night, when we normally would have. There was nothing about that night that made us grateful to have reached it. We said kaddish many times during all those minyanim; I recited it numbly, not meaning it, just mouthing it.

Shira’s funeral was on a Sunday morning – Christmas Eve – and so shiva ended on Friday. After shul on Shabbat we walked around the block and a long tail of people followed us, singing a slow sad mournful niggun. It was snowing lightly that day, and the snow sparkled all around us; we walked through a shower of sparkling light and we stepped on the glitter. As we walked on Broadway I saw the shopkeepers peer out at us but the curtain of spangles separated us from them. “Is white the color of mourning?” I asked our rabbi. “No,” he said. “White is the color of Shira.”

And then we started going to the minyan, where we were to remember Shira by saying kaddish for her. At first I was protected by numbness, but as it wore off it was replaced by rage. The inadequacy of the tradeoff – Shira for kaddish – ate at me. I kept thinking of the t-shirts that say “My parents went to Las Vegas and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.” “My daughter died, and all I get is this stupid prayer,” I’d tell myself.

As my feelings resurfaced, I paid more and more attention to the words of the kaddish. They are not at all about death or memory. They are all about God. As we remember our dead, we praise God. That might work well when you say kaddish for a death that is more or less normal – for a parent, perhaps even for a spouse or a sibling who has had a long, full life. Then the words can help you remember the world’s glories as you recite God’s. They can help you hang on to the knowledge that life continues, that generations connect, that death is an inevitable part of life, and that as you say kaddish you are becoming part of an enormous chain of Jewish life, linking at least as far back as the rabbinic period and as far ahead as imagination can take us.

But when the death is not normal – and when you tend to be word-conscious and naturally contentious, as I am – then the kaddish is not necessarily so helpful. I know that the general experience of saying kaddish is that the words cease to matter. It becomes a mantra, I am told; as you say it your mind might wander but saying it nonetheless anchors your day. The minyan becomes your community, and you go from being a raw tear-stained newbie to an old-timer who has learned to integrate grief into life and who can help the next batch of mourners learn how to live with joy once more.

When you cannot heal, though, the words of the kaddish can come across as a fresh insult each time you say them, scraping off what little scar tissue has managed to grow over the wound since the last time. I found myself increasingly unable to say the words except theatrically, in a kind of lockjaw. Yitgadal vyitkadash shmei rabah, I’d drawl, as my lips stiffened on the words. Yeah, right, I’d tell myself. The only way I could permit myself to say them without choking on my own dishonesty was to tell myself that they were in the future tense. May Your great name be glorified and sanctified, may You establish your kingdom, may You bring peace. May that happen soon. Faster, please.

Mourners often use the minyan as a way to structure their day. That worked for me too. I would go every morning; I’d walk into the room and rapidly find myself propelled out of it. I’d go downstairs, to a room where folding chairs were kept, and I would throw the chairs. They’d thud against the walls – it was audible upstairs, I soon learned – and that would give me some relief. Then, my rage spent, I’d pick them up and restack them, and hurry upstairs to make sure I didn’t miss kaddish.

But it is also true that there is nothing else in American culture – and as Jewish as I am, the culture in which I live is American – that allows us to express grief or continue to mourn. We are supposed to move on. We are supposed to gain closure. There are no American mourning rituals; if we grieve too visibly we are sure to be offered medication. There is no structure to shield us as we regrow our flayed skin. The minyan, and the kaddish at its core, give us that structure, and it is pharmaceutical-free.

Now, seven years later, I still cannot say kaddish except ironically; my husband and daughter cannot stand too close to me when we say it because my still-burning rage continues to sear. I do not stay for yizkor because the idea of setting aside time to remember Shira makes no sense to me. As if I could go for as long as an hour without remembering! I wander in Riverside Park instead, and if it is warm enough I sit on the bench that bears her name, in front of the garden dedicated in her memory.

But when I look back I realize that the kaddish did help me after all. The words to some extent are a blank canvas, or perhaps a Rorschach test; you see in them what you bring to them and at times you get from them what you need from them. I needed a focus for my rage – and there it was. I needed a place where I could go and cry and throw chairs, and that’s what the minyan gave me. As imperfect as it is, it’s the best we can do. How I long for a world where no one else ever will have to say kaddish for a child. But that world is not ours.

In loving memory of Shira Palmer-Sherman, z’l.

 A two state solution is necessary for a democratic Jewish state to exist.  The alternative is a majority of the Israeli population composed of Palestinian citizens.    History has not been kind to societies with an over class and an underclass.  First they are branded “apartheid”, and then they fail.

In a recent op-ed piece in the New York Times, Peter Beinart advocates confronting the settlement movement in Israel with a boycott.  In Letters to the Editor, Abraham Foxman posited that such a campaign will create more anti-Israel feelings around the world.  Another letter writer felt an anti-Palestinian boycott would be more appropriate.  Even the sympathetic letter writer offered faint support.

Fran Gordon has written a thoughtful response on the Shefa website suggesting working to create a culture change in Israel.  She recommends the support of elements within Israeli society that favor the creation of a more modern democracy.  By nurturing a “middle” ground in Israeli society, the population will become prepared for a two state solution.  It’s hard to argue with Ms. Gordon’s call for positive change, but her dismissal of confronting the settler movement misses an opportunity to take difficult but necessary steps.  Beinart begins his essay by acknowledging that Israel is “caught between the jaws of a pincer”.   Gordon ends her essay by eschewing entering the jaws.  She prefers engaging in a “positive, productive conversation with the pro-Israel community”.

Were this purely an internal dispute, Ms. Gordon’s position would be true.  An introspection of Israeli and Jewish values would be correct.  In fact this is occurring now in Israel with issues such as women’s rights and the question of who is a Jew.  But an occupation of another society has changed the venue.

Jewish values call for action, when a wrong encountered.  Abraham Joshua Heschel knew that when he saw people who were not receiving equal protection under the law.  He confronted injustice by entering the jaws of a pincher.  Conversation was inadequate.  As a “pro-Israel community”, we must confront those who manipulate Israel away from a place where democracy can flourish.  Rejection of a wrong, not introspection, is needed.

This Shabbat, is the third of four special Shabbatot prior to Pesach. It is called Shabbat Parah. The Haftarah, taken from the prophecies of Ezekiel, is a little strange. That is to be expected coming from the prophet who brought us visions of the Merkavah, the mystical vision of the chariot as described in Ezekiel Chapter 1. Staffed by beings obviously not of this world, it brought God’s presence to our ancestors in exile. The strange apparition gave comfort for it proved that the Divine Presence had followed Israel into strange lands.

This week’s Haftarah, begins with God’s lament. “When the House of Israel dwelt on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds. So I poured out my wrath on them…. I punished them in accordance with their ways and their deeds. But when they came to those nations they caused My Holy Name to be profaned, for the people said: “These are the people of the Lord, yet they had to leave His land.”

Once again, our ancestors displeased and embarrassed our Creator. Last week, after we read of the sin of the golden calf, God was angry. God was so angry that the Holy One threatened to destroy Israel and start over with Moses. At that time it was Moses who convinced The Almighty to relent. He said: “Let not the Egyptians say, it was with evil intent that He delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.” Moses appealed to God’s self image and the message that would be left among the peoples of the ancient Middle East. Don’t rely on this God. That One will help you until He becomes angry with you and then destroy you. Moses convinced God not to start over.

This week’s Haftarah, finds Israel in exile because of their lack of commitment to the Covenant of Sinai. Like the golden calf incident, they strayed from the path God had set. Now God is embarrassed. Israel in exile has become a profanation of God’s holy name. Ezekiel demonstrates the fact that God is a learning God. God learns how to deal with Israel. Rather than threatening destruction, God responds with an act of great love. God responds with a spiritual mikvah. Promising pure water to be sprinkled upon Israel to purify them, God will return our ancestors to their homeland.

As we prepare for the Pesach, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt, Ezekiel gives hope to both our ancestors and to us. God does not seek our destruction. Rather, God desires our commitment to our covenant. Through that commitment, God will decide to grant us the future of security in our ancestral homeland for which we dream.

This week’s Haftarah commentary was written by Rabbi Murray Ezring, Temple Israel, Charlotte, NC. Rabbi Murray Ezring has been the spiritual leader of Temple Israel since the Summer of 1994. A native of Rock Island, IL, he received his Liberal Arts Degree in History and Social Studies from the U. of Illinois. Rabbi Ezring received his MA and ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), taking his first pulpit in Oakhurst, NJ for ten years, followed by six years in Boca Raton, FL. 

The theme of this year’s conference was Shared Values Shared Vision. The purposes of this “blog” are:

v To give you insight regarding how we navigated the POLICY CONFERENCE in hopes the you will join AIPAC’s Israel Advocacy efforts

v Provide you uncut excerpts of major policy conference addresses from the key speakers

v To solicit your involvement to join MERCAZ, the Zionist Organization of the Conservative Movement, and join their Israel Advocacy initiative. The next Israel Advocacy retreat will be in Chicago, April 22 and 23. See their website (http://www.mercazusa.org/programs/israel-advocacy.html) to sign up for this exciting opportunity to support Israel.

The 2012 Conference set many precedents regarding the special relationship between the United States and Israel, including:

• Most attendees: 13,000+ attendees, including over 2000 students
• The first time both the Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) and President (Shimon Peres) have both attend the Conference
• Over half of the members of the Unites States Congress attended portions of the Conference
• All Senators and well over 50% of House members met with Conference attendees on capitol hill to discuss two major issues facing the US – Israel alliance:

v Continues United States foreign aid to support Israel’s self defense: BOTTOM LINE – Under the Bush administration, the US agreed to provide Israel  ~$3 billion/year for 10 years. The Bush and Obama administrations have maintained this commitment. About 80% of this aid is returned to the US economy in the form of foreign military sales. Additionally, Israel has provided the US valuable technology to incorporate into our countries weapons systems. The best example of this win-win partnership has been the Israeli IRON DOME anti- missile system, currently deployed in Israel.

v Joint efforts to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons capability: BOTTOM LINE – The US and Israel have agreed the “containment” of a nuclear armed Iran is not an acceptable policy. Iran will be prevented from attaining nuclear capability. The question is how this will be accomplished.

The Conference ran Sunday through Tuesday using the following general format:

v Saturday: Check-in between 3 – 8PM. Early check-in is strongly recommended so that you are ready for Sunday programming. On line registration is available at the AIPAC website www.Aipac.org. You can register for next year’s Policy Conference today at this website. Although you can check-in on Sunday morning, because President Obama was to speak, two security checkpoints had to be navigated. The normal AIPAC security check is conducted whenever you enter the Convention Center. A separate Secret Service checkpoint was set up for entry into the Opening Plenary session. Both checkpoints used magnetometers, and search of any bags. The secret Service checkpoint included dogs. A similar dual checkpoint was set up for Prime Minister Netanyahu.

v Sunday:

• 9:30 – 11:30 : Opening Plenary
  • Tribute to Israel President Peres, followed by his following remarks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFuswVH5LOE&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C3a51b4eFDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

• Address by President Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUPcELRwReE&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C3a51b4eFDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

• 12:00 – 4:30: Two breakout sessions.Breakout sessions can be selected online prior to the Conference or at the numerous computer terminals available throughout the Convention Center. The breakout sessions are a real highlight of the Conference. These sessions include:
  • Panel discussions
  • Town Hall Meetings
  • Class of Instruction
  • Meet the Author of recent books
  • Scholar-in –Residence
  • Expert Lectures

During the four breakout sessions Ruth and I attended the following:

• WORDS THAT WORK: Communicating Israel’s Side of the Story
  • Dr. Frank Luntz, one of the world’s foremost experts on political communications, hosted a dynamic session exploring how supporters of US – Israel relationship can get their message across most effectively. Outstanding audience participation discussion!
  • A FINAL SETTLEMENT: The Past and Future of Peace Agreements
    • Ambassador Indyk and Elliot Abrams reviewed past peace agreements and projected the outline for future peace initiatives. Excellent session, although not very optimistic in the short term, complicated by the “Arab Spring”.

• A YEAR OF TURMOIL: The Impact of the Arab Spring on the Arab World
  • Three academics and two served US Ambassadors to Middle East countries give the Arab perspective of the “Arab Spring”. This is clearly not a unified movement. Monarchs are weathering the storm best. End result will be a requirement that all Arab leaders listen to the voice of the people. 
  • NUCLEAR INTENTIONS: Why Iran really wants Nukes
    • A Congressman, journalist, and non-profit director discuss the internal politics driving Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons. A complex situation used to unite the Iranian people and distract attention from real internal problems facing their nation.
    • ISRAEL AND THE DIASPORA: Challenges and Opportunities
      • Town Hall Meeting led by David Horovitz, Editor of the Jerusalem Post and founding editor of The Times of Israel. Magnificent discussion! After all is said and done, we must remember that it is the sons and daughters of Israel that will continue to put their life’s on the line in the IDF in defense of their country.

This is a small sampling of the many fascinating breakout session held during the conference.

• 5:00 – 7:00: Evening Plenary: VOTE 2012
  • Panel discussion with TV personalities Paul Begala, Donna Brazile, William Kristol, Mike Murphy, and Frank Sesno. It must be noted that AIPAC is a non partisan organization that has a sole purpose to enhance the US-Israel relationship with our government’s political leaders regardless of political affiliation.
• 8:00 – 10:00: Film Festival: Follow Me – The Yoni Netanyahu Story
  • A phenomenal documentary followed by a discussion with the movies directors and producers. This movie will be released to the general public in May. Strongly recommended. Four other feature titles were screened as part of the Conference film festival.

The first day of the conference lasted from 7AM through midnight! There is kosher food available in the spacious AIPAC Village and other spaces in the Convention Center. The Village also included:

• Minyan lounges
• Bookstore
• Multiple lounges
• Multiple displays of Israeli technology

v MONDAY

• Morning Plenary
  •  Address by Senator Joe Lieberman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqBapC7hhsk&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C3a51b4eFDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

• Address by AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QmR1KU3KNI&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C363a311FDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

• Morning and afternoon breakout sessions
• Gala Concert
• Policy Conference Gala
  • Address by Senator Mitch McConnel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq31-GVpXRc&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C3a51b4eFDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

• Address by Congressman Nancy Pelosi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq31-GVpXRc&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C3a51b4eFDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

• Address by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2K_0quLcW8&feature=BFa&list=UUxG28n8wj0thZukIZ56-9uQ&lf=plcp&context=C3a51b4eFDOEgsToPDskJHuUnI8v4Vv7Xwx7Wa4dTa

v TUESDAY – Conference attendees meet with their congressman and Senators.

Ruth and I were bused to Capitol Hill. We met with our Congressman Tim Scott and Senators Lindsay Graham and Jim DeMint. It is amazing to see almost all members of the Congress and Senate in their offices discussing Israel advocacy simultaneously.

Parashat Tetzaveh

Ezekiel 43:10-27

La-y’hudim hay’tah orah v’simhah v’sason kikar. Ken tih’yeh lanu.

Blessings of light, gladness, joy and honor.

Since attending and participating in a community wide Havdallah service months ago here in Dallas, I have a new found appreciation for and excitement over reciting Havdallah in our home with our 3 ½ year old son, Benjamin. I’ve always enjoyed Havdallah, but at the JCC that night, the children were given small, round, silver colorb’samin boxes. Benjamin received one, and we are diligent about Benjamin using his new spice box when we do Havdallah as a family. And, in addition to his desire to hold the box, he has even begun imitating my wife and me as we extend our hands toward to the candle, watching the reflection of the dancing flames on our hands and fingernails. This last part has me reflecting on some of the words of Havdallah and their appearance in this Shabbat’s haftarah.

We tend to talk about programming or thinking “outside the box”, a phrase that has become somewhat cliché over time. There is of course much going on outside (and inside) the box. The spaces outside of our synagogues and homes are deserving of our attention; the periphery is as important as the center. As a new rabbi in Dallas I endeavor to spend equal time on both so that our core can exist inside the building and elsewhere.

I view the construction of the mishkan and Ezekiel’s message this Shabbat in a similar fashion. While the tabernacle and the area around it was the intended space for God’s spirit to reside, the periphery was equally important and should not be neglected. Might God have also chosen to dwell in those spaces less centrally located? A lot happens on the outside. While the ner tamid reminds us of God’s everlasting presence and the increased sanctity inside the sanctuary, the ner tamid also relies upon human beings to ensure that it is never extinguished.

Further indicated by the words of Havdallah is our sacred role to create and sustain this light, any light. The word order in Havdallah, and what appears as a musical interlude in Megillat Esther as well, portrays our role in finding and demonstrating the sacred that is both inside and outside of the box, the light in the center and on the outside. “Light” appears first, and without that light, we struggle to achieve the other components of gladness, joy and honor.

Might we see the light within ourselves and our ability to strengthen not only our core – our center – but other spaces as well. Ezekiel challenges us to marry our ritual and ethical behavior, focusing on more than the symbolic light bulb above our heads in the sanctuary but on the flames we can ignite elsewhere. While we focus on an everlasting light and hope that people will join us as we gaze in the flame, may we find ways for the candles within us to burn stronger and brighter leading us to gladness, joy and honor.

This week’s Haftarah commentary was written by Rabbi Rafi Cohen, spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Torah in Richardson, Texas. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Rabbi Cohen is a second generation Conservative rabbi and has been at Congregation Beth Torah since the summer of 2011.