tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88774999582856054232024-03-19T05:26:20.121-07:00Rabbi Eric M. Berk: BlogRabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-72768472509963331882017-10-22T11:04:00.002-07:002017-10-22T11:04:35.816-07:00“... Don’t you want to be an air hostess?”What a loss for humanity, science, and culture if she had just done what everyone else - except her mother - said she should do: <div>
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“Everybody else laughed at me, but Mom didn’t. Women weren’t scientists. When I was growing up, you could be a nurse, a missionary’s wife, a secretary, and then, oh, how exciting, you could be an air hostess. A lot of people said to me, ‘Don’t you want to be an air hostess?’” — Dr. Jane Goodall, NYT 10/2017</blockquote>
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Read the full interview here:</div>
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/movies/jane-goodall-documentary-marriage.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/movies/jane-goodall-documentary-marriage.html</a></div>
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Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-77663195749039208502017-08-17T12:58:00.002-07:002017-08-17T13:00:06.755-07:00A Self-Assessment for Rosh Hashanah and Yom KippurThe High Holy Days are almost upon us! Now is the perfect time to engage in what we call <i>Cheshbon Ha’Nefesh</i> ,“an accounting of the soul,” when we take time to perform a self-assessment, looking back at the year that was, looking ahead to the year that will be, and asking ourselves some tough questions. Here are some to get you started:<br />
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1. During this past year, was I the best version of myself that I could be?<br />
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2. In the coming year, how can I become the best version of myself that I can be?<br />
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3. Choose three examples of when I came up short (such as when I lost my temper, or spread gossip), promise myself to be better next year, and then, the hardest part: apologize to those I wronged.<br />
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4. Ask those closest to me if I’ve done anything to hurt to their feelings, and if so, apologize.<br />
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5. During this past year, when did I let myself down? Can I ensure that I won’t let myself down in the same way, this coming year?<br />
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6. During this past year, when was I happiest? Can I promise myself that I’ll be that happy again, and again, and again?<br />
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High Holy Days are a time for introspection, honest self-evaluation, and change. Start the process of becoming the best version of you, now!Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-91835399769611439302017-02-23T11:54:00.000-08:002017-02-23T11:54:55.761-08:00Changes, Changes, ChangesDoesn't life still have a way of surprising us, regardless of however many experts tell us what the future holds? Our recent Presidential elections surprised many, although not all, of our fellow American citizens. It's proving to be an important reminder of a beautiful mystery of living life: we can't control the future, and we can't be absolutely certain of everything...but we'll experience it soon enough! The future is always just around the corner. How do we live a life that is full of uncertainty and change?<br />
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One Jewish way to successfully live a life that's full of uncertainty is to do something profoundly simple but deeply challenging: accept it. Accept that the only constant in life is its inconsistent nature; accept that the only constant in life is change.<br />
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We Jews have had to become experts at accepting changes great and small throughout our history as a people, and as an evolving belief system. How frequently has Jewish history shown us that an overriding belief of Jews in their safety and security often sadly precedes unexpected tragedy, expulsion, and loss?<br />
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And yet from the wisdom of Jewish Tradition we find a kind of reassuring familiarity in the unstoppable forces of change: it's how the whole story begins! Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden to forge a new and completely changed life. Later, God surprises Noah (and everyone else) with the Flood, springing on humanity the ultimate change of starting over. And much later Abraham is told by God "Lech Lecha," "Go forth, to a land that I will show you" - directing Abraham toward a radical changing of place, of purpose, and even of name (from Abram to Abraham).<br />
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Change is hard. Uncertainty is hard. But by accepting change and uncertainty as constants in life, we may find life to be less overwhelming, less surprising, less challenging. Think back to some of our earliest stories - of Adam and Eve, of Noah, of Abraham - and be reassured that God, Jewish Tradition, and the Jewish People have always embraced change. So can we.<br />
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<br />Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-64290747621129117922016-12-16T15:39:00.001-08:002017-03-10T02:33:33.222-08:00Hanukkah, Hannukah, Chanukah<span style="font-family: inherit;">As the holiday season quickly approaches, we naturally see an increasing number of holiday-themed articles, columns, and essays. This is one from today's New York Times, and what follows is my submitted comment in reply, which has been</span> categorized as a "Readers' Pick."<br />
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<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/well/live/when-your-holiday-is-chrisnukkah.html?_r=0" target="_blank">NYTimes: When Your Holiday Is Chrisnukkah</a><blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is rare and inspiring to find a soulful and moving account of a woman's perseverance through unimaginable illness and suffering while still embracing deep senses of wonder and delight. I dare say that anyone who struggles through such agonizing and debilitating illness can do whatever they like with holidays: combine, rename, invent.</blockquote>
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Nevertheless, the author's genuinely overwhelming experience of gratitude need not necessitate the conflation of two distinct holidays, regardless of whether they often occur in close proximity to each other or share a common element of using light to enhance the darkest time of year.</blockquote>
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While Chanukah and Christmas may be alike in some ways, they still remain very different holidays, celebrating very different things - and that is a good thing! Each on their own offers us much more than an amalgamation of the two. Let Christmas be Christmas, and let Chanukah be Chanukah. Most importantly, thank you to the author for her admirable strength and skill in sharing her story.</blockquote>
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Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-20556084975719976272015-10-23T01:34:00.003-07:002015-10-23T01:34:43.712-07:00What makes a Hero?Once, only hours after her death, a husband was speaking to me about his wife, and described her as "heroic." He told me about her difficult upbringing and childhood in a coal mining town, and the hard work it took for her to achieve all that she had: not only the first in her family to attend college but having earning a Ph.D. as well! Forging a successful career in a competitive field. Not to mention all that she had put into maintaining a strong marriage. <div>
<br />How do you define "heroic?" Perhaps you'd define it differently and expect greater achievements, or more impressive accomplishments, or memorable acts of valor or sacrifice? And you wouldn't necessarily be wrong. Surely each one alone could contribute to someone's being described as "heroic." And that's the point: heroism is hard define, but you know it when you see it. </div>
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<br />Have you ever thought of a loved-one as "heroic?" Was it because of their behavior in a particular instance, or was their heroism displayed over a series of events, each contributing to your thinking of them as heroic? Heroism is hard to define, but you know when you see it. </div>
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<br />Have you ever been called heroic, or a hero, or received praise for your heroism? If you have, did you think it was well-deserved, or did it surprise you to be thought of that way, as heroic? Perhaps a bit of both? It's not uncommon for an outsider to look into another's daily life and see what they do day-in and day-out, and marvel at how they do it!</div>
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<br />And yet that person could quite likely think nothing of it, perhaps thinking: "it's just my job," or "I'm so used to it by now," or" it was nothing." But that might only be because they define heroism as charging up a hill in battle or rescuing children from a burning building. Yes, those are certainly heroic but remember that <u>heroism is hard to define, even when you know it when you see it - and I challenge each of us to see it in ourselves; to value and appreciate that what we do, day-in and day-out, is considered heroic by some people. </u></div>
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<br />Maybe you've been told so, maybe you haven't. So tell yourself! <u>Define heroism not only by what you see in others, but also by what others see in you.</u></div>
Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-8279591550293414222015-07-19T21:21:00.003-07:002015-07-19T21:21:37.362-07:00What Do You Do Best? And What Happens When You Can't?There are skills we develop over the course of a lifetime. Some of those skills, maybe only a handful or less, are honed and refined into whatever it is that we do best. Sometimes that's a result of our own choices, having chosen to say: "I want to be the best at ...." And sometimes what we do best has had nothing to to do with what we chose, but instead had everything to do with <b>the situation we were in</b>: "It wasn't a goal of mine. I never thought I'd became the best at it...." Perhaps you've experienced this in the workplace. Perhaps you realized this at home, in relationships, friendships, hobbies, philanthropy.<br />
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How many people do you know, in your family or workplace, who have acquired skills and become increasingly, even incredibly!, good at doing something, something that they never did professionally or personally? Think for a moment. Maybe you count yourself as one. It's okay if maybe you don't - keep thinking. Because <b>each</b> of us has at least something - <b>one</b> thing - that we do best, that we do better than anything else. </div>
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But what happens when we can no longer do whatever it is that we do best? For <b>any</b> reason including retirement, aging, injury, or disinterest - then what? Are we condemned to a life of mediocrity? Must we live the rest of our lives as having minimal purpose, little usefulness, or minor contribution? The Jewish answer is: <b>No, of course not! </b></div>
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While we often encounter this later in life, the truth is we can face this at any time of our lives, frequently following what is usually the most <b>unexpected</b> of life-impacting events. Then then it hits us: whatever it was that we did better than anything else, we can no longer do as well - or <b>do at all</b>. And that alone is hard enough. But it is only when we are <b>able to accept that</b>, even reluctantly or begrudgingly, that we can in fact start to acquire one of humanity's <b>finest</b> skills: becoming t<b>he best you can be....at finding what it is you can still do</b>, and then doing it to the <b>best of your ability</b>. </div>
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This uniquely human ability to acquire expertise in, of all things, <b>skill-seeking</b> - is not shared with the animal kingdom. Consider these three animals: a dog, a tiger, and a snake. (I could include goldfish and parrots, but you get the point.) Are any of these animals capable of finding other skills to acquire, thereby redefining what it is they do best? Isn't it more likely that animals, especially as they age, <b>only do less and less</b> of what they <b>know how to do</b>. Because what they know <b>how to do</b> is <b><u>all</u> they know how to do</b>. But every human being, each of us, need not and should not limit ourselves in such ways. Judaism teaches us that this is a blessing of being created<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> "</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים</span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">," </span><i>be'tzelem eloheim</i>, "in God's image" (Genesis 1:27).<br />
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So, what happens when whatever it is that you do best, you can't do as well, or at all? Then you <b>can</b> do what it is that you, that each of us, can <b>always</b> do: <b>become the best</b> at <b>finding out what you <u>can</u> do best</b>. </div>
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Not only will you <b>discover</b> a skill or ability that you can do best, even if you think you haven't found such a skill, guess what: you already have! You will discover that what you do best is the <b>most valuable skill of all: the skill of becoming the best you can...at seeking out that which you <u>can</u> still do.</b></div>
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So what are we waiting for? Let's get doing!</div>
Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-16929450919206705362014-09-30T23:24:00.004-07:002014-09-30T23:24:53.253-07:00Three Free Tips (Not Just for High Holy Days)<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">Want to improve your life but don't know how? </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">Here are three tips, not just for these High Holy Days, but for the many days afterward as well.</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;"> </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">Tip #1: Be honest with yourself. If we can't be honest with ourselves, how can we be honest with anyone else? If you don't like something you've said or done, admit it to yourself. Once you've acknowledged it, do something about it (see Tip #2). </span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">Tip #2: Don't be afraid to say "I'm sorry," when you've said or done something that's hurt another person. And when you do apologize, make sure it's somewhere you feel safe, secure, and unthreatened; for some that's in public, for others it's in private. </span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">Tip #3: Accept a sincere apology. And if you're not ready to accept the apology and forgive the person, tell them so, and ask them to come back after some time has passed (whether it's a day, or a week, or longer). You can do that a second time and even a third time - just remember that Judaism and Jewish Tradition teaches us that even if the third sincere apology isn't accepted, that person can consider themselves forgiven. So, by that third sincere apology, seriously consider forgiving -- but know that you are not forced to forgive, either!</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;"></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">Follow these three free tips, and watch your life and your relationships improve dramatically. </span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 14px;">(If not, please contact me for a full refund.)</span>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-7671061418850266872013-11-18T00:14:00.001-08:002013-11-18T00:14:21.084-08:00Chanukah’s Attitude of GratitudeIt's that time of year again, isn't it? Even here, in beautiful and sunny Southern California, the weather starts to change. The days are rainier, the nights are cooler and if you're perceptive enough, you'll see leaves subtly changing colors. In this month of November it's impossible to overlook that most American of holidays; of course I'm referring to Chanukah.<div>
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No, I'm of course referring to Thanksgiving! But I will take this moment to mention what has consistently placed in the top three topics of Jewish conversation since late summer: How early the holidays are this year, especially Chanukah. </div>
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We all know that Chanukah is indeed "early" this year: its first night is the evening of Wednesday, November 27th, and the very next day is Thanksgiving. And just like that, we American Jews are presented with a rare and auspicious opportunity to celebrate two very different holidays with very similar themes of thankfulness, bravery, and religious freedom. </div>
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The Maccabees challenged Ancient Greece's overwhelming military forces in pursuit of their own religious freedom, much as the Pilgrims set sail in pursuit of their understanding of religious freedom. Chanukah celebrates the bravery of the Maccabees and their retaking, purifying, and rededicating Jerusalem's Ancient Temple; all culminating with, as Jewish Tradition tells it: the discovery of that one remaining cruse of untouched oil lasting a miraculous eight nights. Thanksgiving's celebration is also one of bravery: the bravery of two very different peoples, the Native Americans and the Pilgrims, courageously trusting and joining with each other to, as American Tradition tells it: sit down together for the first Thanksgiving meal. There is certainly much to celebrate. </div>
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Yet, many of us may feel conflicted, questioning how “Tradition tells it” and wondering if it's the literal and factual account of events. Not only is that okay, it is good and thoroughly Jewish to ask questions. However, there is one crucial element within both holidays that actually discourages us from questioning one thing in particular, and that is: <u>gratitude</u>.</div>
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Both holidays strive to inspire a deep sense of appreciation. But appreciation and thankfulness can be hard to find within ourselves when life leaves us feeling bereft, lost, and alone; when life is more lemons than lemonade. Which is why both holidays also emphasize bravery, courage, and trust: to be brave like those before us; to have the courage it often takes to feel truly thankful; and to fully trust those in your life by sharing it with them.</div>
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Our two holidays, Thanksgiving and Chanukah, strongly encourage us to feel grateful. But to feel grateful we must <u>be</u> grateful. As your Chanukah Menorah, or <i>Chanukiah</i>, illumines this year's Thanksgiving, may one remind you to <u>be brave</u>, and may the other remind you to <u>be grateful</u>. <i>Chanukah Sa’mayach</i> – Happy Chanukah! And Happy Thanksgiving!</div>
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Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-73752711645694967612012-11-08T01:25:00.000-08:002012-11-08T01:52:20.092-08:00Extra! Extra! Read All About It!Nowadays, everybody's got a <a href="http://www.rabbiberk.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #999999;">blog</span></a> or a <a href="http://www.bkb.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #999999;">website</span></a> or <a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #999999;">twitter</span></a> feed -- and usually,<b> all of the above.</b> Not to mention the literally<span style="color: #999999;"> <a href="http://newsroom.fb.com/Key-Facts" target="_blank"><span style="color: #999999;">one billion people on Facebook</span></a></span>! (No, I'm not one of the one billion...yet. But <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Congregation-Beth-Knesset-Bamidbar/108457222538630" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">my Congregation sure is</span></a>!)<br />
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Have you ever wondered just who, exactly, is reading all of these blog posts and tweets and Facebook updates? Who has the time? I'm sure there's a groundbreaking study somewhere that shows most of these blog-tweet-updates are most often read by the one who actually wrote them in the first place. Really, who else has the time?<br />
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Well, if you're reading this blog, and you're not me, than: <b>Thank You! </b>And secondly, where <i>do</i> you find the time?<br />
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Okay, so I'm joking...a little. But this next part is serious, and seriously impressive: <a href="http://www.bkb.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Congregation Beth Knesset Bamidbar has recently unveiled it's totally remade, entirely re-imagined, and brand-new website</span></a>! And while he'd be reluctant to agree, it's our <a href="http://www.lancaster.wholemegillah1.com/about-us/our-leadership" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Congregation's President,</span></a> Mr. Butch Ryti, who deserves the most praise and credit for making it all happen. But just take a look through <span style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="http://www.lancaster.wholemegillah1.com/media-galleries/newsletters" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">our equally re-created, re-imagined, and re-newed Bulletin, The Chai Desert News</span></a> </span>and you'll begin to see what makes this Congregation as special as it is: it's those active and involved and committed members who are so remarkably giving of their time and energy that, when they do give, it's often before they're asked.<br />
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As busy as you are, I hope you'll find the time to visit us online at <a href="http://www.bkb.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">http://www.bkb.org</span></a>. And I <i>really</i> hope you'll find the time to visit <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/7pJfL" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">us in-person too</span></a>! But "one step<i> </i><i>at a time</i>," right?</div>
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Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-52707430540462484212012-03-05T00:19:00.000-08:002013-11-18T00:05:10.515-08:00Cute and Furry and... in the Torah?!<div>
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If there’s one thing I’ve learned as the Rabbi of Lancaster's <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Congregation-Beth-Knesset-Bamidbar/108457222538630" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Congregation Beth Knesset Bamidbar</span></a>, it’s that we love our pets! </div>
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Most – if not all – are spoken of as members of the family; many share the family portrait; and quite a few enjoy privileges not bestowed upon other (human) family members. So it didn’t surprise me when I was recently asked, “What does Judaism say about how we should treat animals?” </div>
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Today, many of us experience a relationship with our domesticated family members (I’m referring to pets, not children or spouses,) unlike any previous era of human history. Nevertheless, within the sacred texts of our ancient past, <i>Torah</i> (The Five Books of Moses) and <i>Tanakh</i> (The Hebrew Bible), as well throughout the whole of Rabbinic Literature, it is made exceptionally clear that not only is cruelty to animals absolutely forbidden, but that compassion and mercy are demanded of humankind by God.<br />
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There is no question that Judaism consistently values human life more than that of other living things. And while the Ancient Rabbis were not completely opposed to animals coming second to the priority of human needs – they were completely and entirely against the causing of pain to animals. We know that many prohibited activities on Shabbat are permitted, even obligatory, when the purpose is to save a human life. Similarly, many activities that the Rabbis did not allow on Shabbat are in fact permitted when the purpose is to relieve animals’ pain. Their justification is found in their understanding of a particular verse, <a href="http://www.bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp?action=displaypage&book=2&chapter=23&verse=6&portion=18" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Exodus 23:5</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">,</span> “When you see the donkey of your enemy lying under its burden and would refrain from raising it, you must nevertheless raise it with him.” Talmudic sages hold that this commandment is meant to benefit the animal as well as its owner, and therefore cite it as the basis of our obligation to prevent animals from suffering (in Hebrew, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">צַעַר בַּעֲלֵי חַיִּים</span>, </span><i>tza’ar ba’alai chayim</i>) (BT Bava Metzia 32a–b). Thus, it is permitted to unload a burden from a laboring animal, even on the Sabbath (BT Berachot 40a).</div>
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A question: When you wake up, who eats first: you or your pet? </div>
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For the Rabbis, it was relatively clear, as it’s stated in the Talmud: “It is forbidden for a man to eat before he has fed his animal...” And why is this? Because, i<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #351c75;">n</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;"> </span><a href="http://www.bible.ort.org/books/torahd5.asp?action=displaypage&book=5&chapter=11&verse=15&portion=46" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Deuteronomy 11:15</span></a>, we read that the animals are mentioned first in text: “I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you shall eat and be satisfied.” Consequently, based on the same consideration, the Rabbis legislated that one is not permitted to buy animals unless one can properly provide for them. </div>
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Perhaps most moving, if not most telling, are the <i>mitzvot</i> (commandments) found in <a href="http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/kitetzei.shtml" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Deuteronomy 22:1-3</span></a>, in which we read that, “If you see your fellow’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow...You must not remain indifferent.” As Jews, we are obligated to not only prevent animals from suffering, but much more: we are taught to never turn away from it; never ignore it; to never turn a blind eye to the plight of those most in need of advocacy, shelter, and care. Which is only one of the many important reasons why Congregation Beth Knesset Bamidbar and our Sunday School Religion Class, taught by Kim Kilgore, selected as their Class’ Mitzvah Project, <a href="http://www.operationblanketsoflove.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #999999;">Operation Blankets of Love</span></a>, which collects and distributes blankets, towels and other pet items to animal shelters and rescue groups – and they need our help! We have been enlisted to collect blankets, comforters, bath-size towels, pet beds, and pet toys – and to drop them off in the large collection boxes in our lobby and Sanctuary. Studies show that soft bedding in shelters can immediately relax and calm an animal – and relaxed, calm dogs and cats have a much higher adoption rate. <br />
<br />
When you’re looking into the eyes of your loved one (the furry one this time), and thinking to yourself, “I could’ve named him ‘Jackpot’ because he sure hit it with me!” – take a moment to think about those dogs and cats who haven’t – yet – hit their own jackpot. And then help make it happen – not necessarily by adopting them all, but by making them better fit to be adopted and thereby expressing our genuine love for all animals, not just the ones fortunate enough to share our family portraits.</div>
</div>
</div>
Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-10389820202553321702011-10-03T19:38:00.000-07:002011-10-03T19:38:26.117-07:00Reconnecting During These High Holy Days<div>
Within the Calendar of Jewish Tradition, we have once again returned to the beginning of another New Year (<i>Rosh Hashanah</i>), and the ever-important intervening Ten Days of Repentance (<i>Aseret Yemei Teshuva</i>) until <i>Yom Kippur</i>, The Day of Atonement. We are taught to look back at the year that was, in order to better live the year that will be.</div>
<br />As any one of us looks back on our lives, whether it's the past one year or the past ten, we remember what we wanted to do - and did; what we needed to do - and tried; even what we should have thought twice about doing, before doing it. <br /><br />We've all probably heard, ”To err is human, to forgive is Divine"? Well, here's my retelling of a Jewish version of that, from 18th C. Eastern Europe:<br />
<blockquote>
To err is human... <b>and</b> brings us closer to The Divine. How? Every one of us has our very own connection with God, as if we are tied to God by a rope. Our errors and wrongdoings -- those weaken our connection, as if to fray the rope, even causing it to come apart. But when we see this and repent, ask for forgiveness, and refrain from repeating those same wrongs - our connection is repaired. It's as if where that rope had frayed and come apart has now been knotted back together. And with that knotting comes an even closer, even stronger connection. So yes, to err is human... <b>and so is doing something about it. </b>For it is in our doing something about it that we not only reconnect ourselves with The Divine, we <i>strengthen</i> that connection.</blockquote>
God, however frayed or broken we think our connection to You might be, help us to know that we are also blessed with whatever -- and whomever -- it will take to strengthen our reconnection to You.<br />
<br />
<i>Amen</i>. <br /> <br />
<div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">[Hasidic Teaching.
"Those Who Err Are Closest to God.” <a href="http://www.jewishlights.com/page/product/978-1-58023-437-5">Rosh Hashanah Readings: Inspiration, Information and Contemplation</a>. Ed. Dov
Peretz Elkins. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006. 5.]</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-51796873846840815432011-02-22T23:34:00.000-08:002011-02-22T23:34:59.565-08:00What to Do, What to Do<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Our lives are busy ones. Even when we're not busy, we're busy. If it's not work, it's family. And if it's not family, it's work. And somewhere in-between the two, we try, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">we really do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, we try to fit in all the rest: the reading and shopping and cleaning and driving and cooking and exercising and.... and....<br />
<br />
And so much more - it's endless really, all that fills our days. So much to do. So much. And sometimes it can seem like our being so busy actually makes life easier. Perhaps you've found yourself as I have, too busy to make certain choices, sometimes certain </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">difficult</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> choices. It is as if our being busy, our acting and our doing, is all that defines us and determines who we are: that who we are is what we do; and what we do is who we are.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
And yet, we are not merely animals acting on instinct. We do more than just "do." We do more than just "act." We are human beings, and we are not so simple as to act without choosing. For before we act, before we do,</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> we must choose</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">. That's what it is to be human: to be human is to choose. For the gift of free will is precious; we </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">all</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> make choices: good and right, bad and wrong. We all do. But as busy as we are and as busy as we make ourselves, our lives and our legacies are determined not only by our actions; our lives and our legacies are also defined by our choices.</span></div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">May we, who are so very busy, both find the time and make the time to make good choices.<br />
<br />
Amen. </span></div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-74544228697292055402011-01-16T02:25:00.000-08:002011-02-01T22:13:24.356-08:00Opening and Closing with Ecclesiastes<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Exciting news. I've recently been asked, "So, where have the blog entries been? Doing other writing, or what? " Well, I'm quite happy to say: yes, and it's now been published.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I have co-authored an article with </span><a href="http://huc.edu/faculty/faculty/cutter.shtml"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Rabbi William Cutter, Ph.D</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> which is based upon my research and rabbinical thesis, "Yehuda Amichai’s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Open Closed Open</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> and Ecclesiastes: An Autumnal Intertextual Relationship." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The article is titled, "Opening and Closing with Qohelet: The Late Work of Yehuda Amichai: A Discussion of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Patua</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ḥ</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">sagur p</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">atua</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ḥ</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> (</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Open Closed Open</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">)."</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
[Some background: Qohelet (<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">קֹהֶלֶת</span>) is the Hebrew title of the biblical book<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-English-Student-Publication-Society-America/dp/0827606974/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1295173327&sr=1-2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Ecclesiastes</span></a>. Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) is Modern Israel's most well-known and deeply beloved poet - and one of the Modern Hebrew Language's most important, as well. His final work is translated as <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Open-Closed-Poems-Yehuda-Amichai/dp/0156030500/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Open Closed Open</span></a></i>, and in its original Hebrew: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="http://www.stmus.com/prod/product_info.php?products_id=587"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">פָּתוּח סָגוּר פָּתוּח</span></span></a>, </span><i><a href="http://www.stmus.com/prod/product_info.php?products_id=587"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Patuaḥ Sagur Patuaḥ</span></a></i>.]<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The article has been published in the latest edition of <i><a href="http://vanhise.lss.wisc.edu/naph/?q=node/9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Hebrew Studies, Volume 51 (2010)</span></a></i>. Hebrew Studies is an academic journal devoted to scholarly articles on Hebrew language, linguistics, literature, and culture of all periods, which is produced by the <a href="http://vanhise.lss.wisc.edu/naph/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">National Association of Professors of Hebrew</span></a>. You can view the<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><a href="http://vanhise.lss.wisc.edu/naph/files/HS%20-%202010%20-%20TOC.pdf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Journal's Table of Contents (as a .pdf) here</span></a>; the article begins on page 175. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">(The journal is available through the managing editor, <a href="mailto:naph@mailplus.wisc.edu"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Dr. Rick Painter</span></a>.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">You can read <a href="https://files.me.com/ericberk/e69lwo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">the article's first four pages by clicking here</span></a>; it begins with<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><a href="https://files.me.com/ericberk/e69lwo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">the following abstract (summary)</span></a>: </span><br />
<blockquote>Many critics have noted the densely wrought structure in <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Patua</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ḥ</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">sagur p</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">atua</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ḥ</span></i>, and have called attention to its rich intertextual allusions and use of refrains and key words. (One thinks of Kronfeld, Bloch, Arpali, Alter, Band, and Gold.) But the major articles have not fully treated the heavy burden of association to the book of Ecclesiastes, Qohelet. In <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Patua</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ḥ</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">sagur p</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">atua</span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ḥ</span></i>, Amichai created a multi-layered foundation in classic sources which serves as an underpinning to the overall autumnal stance and skeptic’s vision of the 300 poem-units. In addition to the specific Qohelet allusions, there are nearly one hundred more elusive associations that emerge once the reader accepts the importance of the boldly etched references to Qohelet. The authors argue that, once Qohelet becomes the dominant metaphoric “trope,” other more transient and innocent associations to the biblical scroll take on greater significance. While resisting a glib “allegoresis” (a tendency to see Qohelet in every possible space), the fact is that the Solomonic wise preacher lies in wait in a surprising number of corners of this extraordinary and weighty collection.</blockquote><b><s><br />
</s></b><br />
The basis of the article, my rabbinical thesis, was the result of seemingly countless - and endlessly enjoyable - hours that I spent both translating Amichai's final collection in full, as well as identifying the truly overwhelming amount of biblical citations, references, and allusions. This was all a result of what I had discovered while reading and studying the book: there exists an intertextual relationship with Ecclesiastes that is profound in both depth and breadth.<br />
<br />
I welcome your interest in the article and thesis and would happily make them available (although the thesis is rather comprehensive and a sure cure for insomnia).<br />
<br />
I am deeply humbled, not only by Amichai's (greatest) work which continues to inspire, challenge, and delight, but also <i>this</i> work: what it took to do it, and what has come of it. It could not have happened without the assistance and guidance of so many exceptionally wise and remarkably patient people in my life: family and friends, mentors and professors, authors and scholars. Thank you all.Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-20307283534061487962010-12-07T14:02:00.000-08:002010-12-07T14:02:51.862-08:00A Light in the DarkWe find ourselves in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, lighting one candle a night, each night brighter and brighter with each additional candle lit. We do this for many reasons, one of which is to remind us that light can exist even in the darkest of times, when our winter days darken at their earliest. And that is why we still hope even when it seems hopeless; why we are still able to heal and be healed, even when there is no cure. So too can light exist even in the darkest of places: in a place and time of unknowable darkness, in the concentration camp of Auschwitz, an inscription was found etched into a barrack’s walls: <br />
<blockquote><a href="http://www.holocaust.com.au/mm/j_sister.htm">I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. </a><br />
<a href="http://www.holocaust.com.au/mm/j_sister.htm">I believe in love, even when I do not feel it.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.holocaust.com.au/mm/j_sister.htm">I believe in God, even when God is silent.</a></blockquote>Amen.Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-47294253898371612792010-06-02T00:05:00.000-07:002010-06-02T00:30:46.434-07:00The Flotilla, Gaza, and Humanitarian Aid: What Happened?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">On May 30th, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-world-criticism-won-t-stop-israel-s-blockade-of-gaza-1.293602"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">the "Free Gaza Flotilla" left the shores of Cyprus under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid, by sea</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">,</span> to the people of Gaza.<br />
<br />
Some background: Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, in August, 2005 gave Gaza's Palestinian people the opportunity of self-goverance; they freely elected to be governed, not by the Palestinian Authority (the "PA"," the governing party of Palestinians in the West Bank who have been partnered with Israel in peace negotiation and policing since the mid-1990's); but by Hamas. While similarly Palestinian, Hamas has been and is categorized by The United States, Canada, The EU, and Israel as a terrorist regime, and have</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israeli_humanitarian_lifeline_Gaza_25-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> frozen funds to the Hamas government since 2006, recognizing it as a terror organization</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with Hamas, as they launched upwards of 10,000 rockets from Gaza, bombing civiilian targets in Israel - very often with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza via the sea.</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><div><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Seizure_Gaza_flotilla_31-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Presently, Hamas is engaged in smuggling arms and military supplies into Gaza, by land and sea, in order to fortify its positions and continue its attacks. Under international law, Israel has the right to protect the lives of its civilians and has undertaken measures to defend itself, including the imposition of a maritime blockade to curb Hamas' rearmament. It is Israel's position that it cannot allow a sea-corridor to open to Gaza, which would allow weapons and terrorists to freely enter the Gaza Strip.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Law/Legal+Issues+and+Rulings/Gaza_flotilla_maritime_blockade_Gaza-Legal_background_31-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Therefore, Israel has effected a maritiime blockade off of the coast of Gaza. Under international law, a maritime blockade is a legitimate and recognized measure that may be implemented as part of an armed conflict, including in international waters, so long as it does not bar access to the ports and coasts of neutral states. Under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no boats can enter the blockaded area - including both civilian and enemy vessels.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Having presented the basic underlying facts, many of us are still left with pressing questions, including: </span></span><br />
<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Is such a maritime blockade truly warranted? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Why would Israel interfere with an attempted delivery of humanitarian aid? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Were those who organized the flotilla, launched from Cyprus, aware of the maritime blockade</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Who organized this flotilla? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Were they offered an alternative means to deliver their humanitarian cargo? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Did the humanitarian cargo make it off the boats at all? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Does Israel even allow humanitarian aid into Gaza? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">If five of the six vessels chose instead to dock in Ashdod (a port city just north of Gaza), what happened on the sixth vessel? What was the nature of the violence on the sixth boat? </span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">Where do we go from here?</span></li>
</ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Is such a maritime blockade truly warranted?</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b> </b>Even those of us who closely follow Israel might not recall </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=wXDCDPPeN_Q"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">the "Francop" cargo ship</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, also purportedly carrying humanitarian aid. On November 4, 2009, the Israeli Navy intercepted this vessel as part of the same maritime blockade described above, and discovered, hidden amongst the civilian cargo, 500 tons of weapons and weaponry of Iranian origin - bound, in this case, for Hezbollah, in Lebanon. </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=wXDCDPPeN_Q"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Video of the entire event can be seen here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">: </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=wXDCDPPeN_Q"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=wXDCDPPeN_Q</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;">So it would seem that Israel has reason to be suspicious.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #11285e;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal;"><i>Why would Israel interfere with an attempted delivery of humanitarian aid? </i></span></span><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2010/Gaza_flotilla-Statement_PM_Netanyahu_31-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">In the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:</span></a></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>Our policy is simple. We say: any goods, any humanitarian aid to Gaza, can enter. What we want to prevent is their ability to bring in war materiel - missiles, rockets, the means for constructing casing for missiles and rockets. This has been our policy and yesterday we told the flotilla - which was not a simple, innocent flotilla - to bring their goods into Ashdod. We told them that we would examine their cargo and allow those goods that could not be used as weapons or shielding materials for Hamas into Gaza. Five of the six ships accepted these terms without violence.</blockquote></div><div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><b>Were those who organized the flotilla, launched from Cyprus, aware of the maritime blockade? </b>Repeated requests were made to the flotilla's organizers as early as May 24, 2010.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/HumanitarianAid/Palestinians/MFA_Spokesman_Gaza_flotilla_24-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">At this same link, or here, you can view such a statement made by Israeli's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Yigal Palmor.</span></a><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b>Who organized this flotilla?</b> Primarily the Free Gaza Movement and IHH. According to</span> <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center</span></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">, </span></span><a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e105.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">IHH, which plays a central role in organizing the flotilla to the Gaza Strip, is a Turkish humanitarian relief fund with a radical Islamic anti-Western orientation. Besides its legitimate philanthropic activities, it supports radical Islamic networks, including Hamas, and at least in the past, even global jihad elements</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> [including Al-Qaeda.] Furthermore,</span></span></div><div><blockquote><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/world/middleeast/02activists.html?hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">“This is an Islamist charity, quite fundamentalist, quite close to Hamas,” said Henri J. Barkey, a professor of international relations at Lehigh University. “They say they do charity work, but they’ve been accused of gunrunning and other things, and their rhetoric has been inflammatory against Israel and sometimes against Jews.”</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">.....</span></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/world/middleeast/02activists.html?hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> On Tuesday in a bustling neighborhood in Istanbul, the Turkish organization was celebrating a strange success. “We became famous,” said Omar Faruk, a board member of the group, Insani Yardim Vakfi, known by its Turkish initials, I.H.H. “We are very thankful to the Israeli authorities.”</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 23px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/02/world/middleeast/02activists.html?hp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Five times the Free Gaza Movement sailed from Cyprus, where they are based, to Gaza. Israel ultimately came to believe that a threat was evolving, fearing that ships coming into port could transport weapons. Israeli officials said they feared the prospect of Hamas being as powerfully armed as Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.</span></span></a></span></span></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #11285e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: black; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b>Were they offered an alternative means to deliver their humanitarian cargo?</b> Here is an example of such a statement:</span><a href="http://The%20Israeli%20Navy%20addresses%20a%20ship%20nearing%20the%20Gaza%20shore%20,%20offering%20it%20to%20dock%20at%20the%20Ashdod%20Port%20and%20transfer%20its%20supplies%20under%20the%20ship's%20crew's%20supervision.%20The%20ship%20refused%20to%20comply."><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">video of the Israeli Navy addressing one of the flotilla's ships as it neared the Gaza shore, offering it to dock at the Ashdod Port and transfer its supplies under the ship's crew's supervision</span></a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">.</span> (The ship refused to comply.) Surprisingly, even the family of kidnapped Israeli soldier, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-4244,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Gilad Shalit</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">,</span> who has spent more than three years in captivity,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3895077,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></a><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3895077,00.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">offered to support the international flotilla to Gaza if its participants would demand that Hamas permit various organizations to visit the kidnapped Israeli soldier and allow him to receive packages. The organizers of the international aid mission to Gaza declined the offer.</span></a></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #11285e;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></span></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Did the humanitarian cargo make it off the boats at all?</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/HumanitarianAid/Palestinians/Humanitarian_aid_flotilla_transferred_Gaza_1-Jun-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Yes, the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) unloaded the humanitarian cargo from the Gaza flotilla</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">and </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=EVrhQTiAJxM"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">transferred the aid into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing.</span></span></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Does Israel even allow humanitarian aid into Gaza?</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Yes. Over the last eighteen months, over one million tons of humanitarian aid, from NGOs and governments including Israel herself, entered Gaza from Israel. (That's almost one ton for every resident of Gaza, roughly 1.4 to 1.5 million.) Some specifics: </span><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israeli_humanitarian_lifeline_Gaza_25-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">More than 738,000 tons of food and supplies entered Gaza in 2009. </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Furthermore:</span></span></div><blockquote><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israeli_humanitarian_lifeline_Gaza_25-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">In the first quarter of 2010 (January-March), 94,500 tons of supplies were transferred in 3,676 trucks to the Strip: 48,000 tons of food products; 40,000 tons of wheat; 2,760 tons of rice; 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear; 553 tons of milk powder and baby food.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span></blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israeli_humanitarian_lifeline_Gaza_25-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">[During] the week of May 18, 2010 there were more than 100 truckloads of animal food, 65 trucks of fruit and vegetables; 22 truckloads of sugar, some 27 truckloads of meat, poultry and fish; and 40 trucks of dairy products. At holiday times, Israel increases transfers. During the Muslim holy days of Ramadhan and Eid al-Adha, Israel shipped some 11,000 heads of cattle into the Gaza Strip.</span></span></a></blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1161856676"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Already in the first quarter of 2010, 23 tons of iron and 25 tons of cement were transferred to the Gaza Strip.... </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1161856676"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">On 13 May 2010, Israel allowed approximately 39 tons of building material into Gaza to help rebuild a damaged hospital.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span></span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1161856676"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">... On 24 May 2010 Israel opened the Kerem Shalom crossing to 97 trucks loaded with aid and goods, including six trucks holding 250 tons of cement and one truck loaded with five tons of iron for projects executed and operated by UNRWA. </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1161856676"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span></a></span></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Behind+the+Headlines/Israeli_humanitarian_lifeline_Gaza_25-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">According to the UN report of May 2010, 120 megawatts (over 70%) of the [Gaza] Strip's electricity supply comes from the Israeli electric grid, while 17 MWs come from Egypt and 30 MWs are produced by the Gaza city power station.</span></a></span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #11285e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; color: #11285e; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; color: black; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><b>If five of the six vessels chose instead to dock in Ashdod (a port city just north of Gaza), what happened on the sixth vessel? What was the nature of the violence on the sixth boat? </b></span><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2010/Israel_Navy_warns_flotilla_31-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Sadly, Israeli Naval personnel were met with violence and there was loss of life</span>.</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=gYjkLUcbJWo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Militants onboard the Mavi Marmara [the sixth vessel] attacked Israeli naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including guns, knives and clubs.</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=buzOWKxN2co"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Numerous Israeli soldiers were injured as a result of the extremely violent ambush, </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Two of them seriously while three are in moderate condition. The final number of militant fatalities has yet to be released, but initial reports place it at nine. Once again, those vessels that reacted peacefully to the operation were escorted unharmed to Israel, as had happened with previous vessels that tried to violate the maritime blockade. Unfortunately, it seems that the attack on the Israeli soldiers was premeditated.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"> </span></span></span></span><a href="http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2010/Israel_Navy_warns_flotilla_31-May-2010.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">The weapons used had been prepared in advance. </span></span></a></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote><a href="http://tinyurl.com/IHHViolence"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Huwaida Arraf, a flotilla organizer, foreshadowed the violence with her statement that: </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">"</span>They [the Israelis] are going to have to forcefully stop us." Bulent Yildirim, the leader of the </span><a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hamas_e105.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">IHH</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, one of the primary organizers of the flotilla, announced just prior to boarding: “We are going to resist and resistance will win." The militants whipped up the boarding crowd by chanting "Intifada, intifada, intifada!"</span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Where do we go from here?</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> Where can we go from here? We might give ear to the words of two contemporary, Israeli thinkers and authors, Rabbi Donniel Hartman, Ph.D., of the </span><a href="http://www.hartmaninstitute.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Shalom Hartman Institute</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">, and<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/11/08/041108fa_fact"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Amos Oz</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">,</span> the author and lecturer. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 1px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 1px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.hartmaninstitute.com/Opinion_C_View_Eng.asp?Article_Id=497"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Rabbi Hartman writes:</span></a></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is time for all those of decency to declare, "Enough." It is time to begin a new conversation, one in which legitimate acts of self defense on Israel's part are no longer labeled automatically as acts of aggression and war crimes. Nor should attempts to better the plight of Palestinians, including those affiliated with Hamas, be labeled by definition as anti-Israeli and political....<br />
<br />
People of decency can disagree. Decent people can make mistakes. It is only, however, if we recognize that decency can be found on both sides that a different future will become possible. </span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1161856775"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000;">Amos Oz writes:</span></a></span><br />
<blockquote>Even if Israel seizes 100 more ships on their way to Gaza, even if Israel sends in troops to occupy the Gaza Strip 100 more times, no matter how often Israel deploys its military, police and covert power, force cannot solve the problem that we are not alone in this land, and the Palestinians are not alone in this land. We are not alone in Jerusalem and the Palestinians are not alone in Jerusalem. Until Israelis and Palestinians recognize the logical consequences of this simple fact, we will all live in a permanent state of siege — Gaza under an Israeli siege, Israel under an international and Arab siege. </blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">...I do not discount the importance of force. Woe to the country that discounts the efficacy of force. Without it Israel would not be able to survive a single day. But we cannot allow ourselves to forget for even a moment that force is effective only as a preventative — to prevent the destruction and conquest of Israel, to protect our lives and freedom.</span></blockquote></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><b>And I write:</b></span><br />
<blockquote>Injury and suffering ought to be prevented, and loss of life is tragic, particularly when unnecessary, and that is always the highest price, regardless of the stakes. </blockquote></div><blockquote>This entire incident reminds me of that math problem from 5th grade: If train A is traveling west, and train B is traveling east.... does it really matter how fast they're going? Would it help if either train warned the other, if neither chose to alter their set course?</blockquote><div><blockquote>The two trains will meet. But trains don't just "meet." They collide.</blockquote></div><blockquote>They always collide.</blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-19776918488031022932010-03-28T20:01:00.000-07:002010-04-02T21:14:35.946-07:00Peace and Pizza in JerusalemThe following is<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #93c47d;"> </span><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=171770"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #93c47d;">a very good piece which furthers the Israel-Palestinian discussion</span></a> (although it suffers from an incendiary title):<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #93c47d;"> "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #93c47d;"><a href="http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=171770">Will Obama Ignite the Third Intifada?</a>"</span><br />
<div><br />
<div>The author, <a href="http://danielgordis.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #93c47d;">Rabbi Dr. Daniel Gordis</span></a>, is an American-born (Conservative) Rabbi and Ph.D who immigrated ("made Aliyah") with his family in the late 90's. He was the first Dean of AJU's (formerly UJ) Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, his movement's rabbinical school/seminary on the West Coast.<br />
<br />
He makes many good points (although he's a little hard on Israel's political Left). Before I comment on his political observations (in a forthcoming entry), I'll first share some memories brought forth by the article.<br />
<br />
He mentions the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo; I knew a woman who still lives there with her (very secular) family.<br />
<br />
He mentions what came to be known as "Camp David 2," when Ehud Barak, Arafat, and Clinton met to hammer out a deal. It's well-known that Barak offered as much as Israel had ever offered (sharing Jerusalem, etc.). Arafat infamously declined, repeatedly. Shortly thereafter, (with his and Fatah's, the still-dominant Palestinian political party, blessing and direction,) the Second Intifada erupted. I was living in Jerusalem at the time.<br />
<br />
I lived in downtown Jerusalem, across from the Tattoo Parlor and pizza place that served sausage, shrimp, and pepperoni. (I loved that, in the middle of Jerusalem, there was a relatively vibrant and young counter-culture.) Anyway, as I'm watching the news' coverage of Clinton's concluding press-conference, as he's telling us how disappointed he was in Arafat (and, it's assumed, his own evaporated hopes for a peace-treaty crowning glory for his second term,) the pizza delivery-guy rang the doorbell. (No, no pepperoni.)<br />
<br />
As I'm paying him, he looks at the television, and says, in his well-accustomed to this kind of thing tone of voice, in Hebrew: </div><div><blockquote>"Ain shalom....Mah la'asoat?" </blockquote><blockquote>"No peace. What're you gonna do?" </blockquote>And that was that. I paid, he left, I ate the pizza, and weekly suicide bombings began shortly thereafter.</div></div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-44071404710326942852010-03-24T21:16:00.000-07:002010-03-24T21:18:57.350-07:00Building in Jerusalem<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Recently, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/opinion/18oren.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6aa84f;">the planned enlargement of a north-eastern neighborhood of Jerusalem, Ramat Shlomo, has been the subject of some debate</span></a>. Home to nearly half of Jerusalem's Jewish population. It doesn't abut Arab neighborhoods, and is just a couple of miles from downtown Jerusalem (where I've lived). The accusations that this is "settlement expansion" is utterly false, misleading, and incorrect. </span></div><div><br />
</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A word about the West Bank. The West Bank is also known as Judea and Samaria. Jordan "renamed" that area as such in 1950, one year after their united Arab attack of 5 countries, on Israel, began in 1948 with Israel's declaration of existence. Jordan annexed that land, although not officially incorporating it within Jordanian borders. Non-Jordanian Arabs who lived in that area, now referred to as Palestinians, were, in fact, never welcomed into Jordan's borders or society. It was in 1967, again defending herself against invading Arab armies, that Israel not only succeeded in self-preservation, but captured land previously occupied, such as eastern Jerusalem and what had become known as the West Bank. It is overwhelming Arab, and almost certainly the future Palestinian state. One ought to remember that, again, the land was retaken by Israel in it's own defense. Nation-building and its wars often lead to territorial enlargement. Just look at Texas or California.</span></div><div><br />
</div><div>A word about "Palestine." The Roman Emperor, Hadrian, renamed what was known as Israel (or Judea) as "Palestina," following Rome's successful suppression of the Jewish revolt led by Bar Kochba in the 3rd century C.E. Rome often renamed defeated territory to, in effect, add insult to injury. "Palestine" is probably based on the name of the Philistines, an equally ancient, non-Jewish and Arab (although certainly not Muslim, until Islam's existence in the 7th century C.E.) population of the area.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Back to Ramat Shlomo and it's planned expansion. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Jerusalem was unified following the six-day war of 1967, only after Israel pushed back attacking and invading Arab armies. Today, anyone can live anywhere in Jerusalem. (Although the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods are, without question, an entity unto their own and do not welcome residents who are unlike them.) An Arab Muslim, or an Arab Christian, can live where he or she likes, and can afford (Jerusalem real estate and rent is, in fact, not cheap). The same is true for an Israeli, Jewish or not, as well as those with appropriate visas. (I lived in Jerusalem as a student, twice, renting apartments.)</div><div><br />
</div><div>Construction in Jerusalem, whether east or west, is therefore not only justified, but also necessary. Why? In part,<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #e69138;"> </span><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155639.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6aa84f;">because of the construction freeze in the West Bank</span></a>.</div><blockquote>"The housing shortage in Jerusalem has become more acute in recent years, especially in ultra-Orthodox areas, pushing thousands of ultra-Orthodox families a year to the Haredi cities Betar Ilit and Modi'in Ilit, in the West Bank. The West Bank construction freeze has increased the pressure to create more housing in Jerusalem."</blockquote><div>Neither Jerusalem, nor any part of it, is a settlement on occupied land.</div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span></span></div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-20069694526779083642010-01-10T16:36:00.000-08:002010-01-10T16:38:02.200-08:00What an Honor...<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm honored to<span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span><a href="http://rabbipaul.blogspot.com/2010/01/jews-and-blogs-its-big-blogging-world.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">have been mentioned in a blog posting</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> by my mentor and friend, Rabbi Paul Kipnes, Rabbi of </span><a href="http://www.orami.org/"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas, CA</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. I served as Rabbinic Intern for Rabbi Kipnes for two years (while a rabbinical student at </span><a href="http://huc.edu/about/center-la.shtml"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles Campus</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">): 2002-2003 and 2007-2008. I recently wrote the following in celebration of Congregation Or Ami's "Bar Mitzvah" (their thirteenth year) Celebration:</span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">A photo and a memory: Rabbi Kipnes and I, draped in our </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">tallitot</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, Torah Commentary in our hands, following verse by verse, as the week's portion was chanted aloud on Shabbat. This scene plays itself out in countless synagogues — but what has made Or Ami, and my internship, different? One hebrew word with many meanings: </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">ruach</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> [<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">רוּחַ</span></span>]</span><span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. Commonly translated as wind, soul, spirit, or breath, it also conveys intellect, passion, direction, and courage. As an intern over two years (2002-2003 and 2007-2008), you and your families, Rabbi Kipnes and Cantor Cotler, you nourished my soul, stimulated my intellect, strengthened my direction, and renewed my courage. I was given opportunities to teach every age, lead services, and deliver sermons. I studied under the careful, supportive, and exacting tutelage of Rabbi Kipnes. I say to you, Or Ami, what a child says to a parent, "If it weren't for you, there would be no 'me.'" A photo and a memory. One hebrew word with many meanings. One synagogue, with many defintions. Congregation Or Ami, thank you.</span></span></span></i><br />
</blockquote>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-48392628255947961812010-01-02T18:23:00.000-08:002010-01-02T18:26:20.790-08:00"They Don't Really Need Me...They Need What I Do"<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">Religion demands of us both courage and humility: a recognition of who we have yet to become is married to the hope, promise, and challenge that a refinement of oneself is both possible and necessary. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">And what is true humility? Rabbi David Wolpe, in his new book, <i>Why Faith Matters</i>, recounts his wife explaining just this to him, as a young rabbi overwhelmed and intimidated by his first "deathbed" visit. </span><br />
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</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">Rabbi David Wolpe, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Why Faith Matters</i> (2009), pg. 111:</span><br />
</div><blockquote>That night I came home and my wife asked me how it went. I told her I felt like a fraud, that I had an overwhelming sense that I was not up to shepherding a soul in its final moments on earth. <b>Who am I to do this? I felt unworthy. ‘You are right,’ she said. ‘You are unworthy. Anyone would be unworthy. But it is OK, because <i>you</i> are not doing it. It is being done <i>through</i> you.'</b><br />
</blockquote><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"><o:p><span style="font-weight: normal;">A similarly powerful sentiment is articulated by Bruce Springsteen, in which he recounts life after 9/11, and his experience with Americans' need for him to return to the music scene as both a source of artistic strength and a conduit of collective sentiment.</span></o:p></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"><br />
</span><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';">Bruce Springsteen, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rolling Stone Interview</i>, 10/14/2004:</span><br />
</div><blockquote>Interviewer: So you feel the call from your heart?<br />
</blockquote><blockquote>Springsteen: Yeah, I can hear the bells chiming. I’ve had a long life with my audience. I always tell the story about the guy with “The Rising”: <b>“Hey, Bruce, <i>we need you</i>!”</b> he yelled at me through the car window. That’s about the size of it: You get a few letters that say, “Hey, man, we need you.” You bump into some people at a club and you say, “Hey, man, what’s going on?”<b> And they go, “<i>Hey, we need you.</i>” <i>Yeah, they don’t really need me, but I’m proud if they need what I do.</i> That’s what my band is. <i>That’s what we were built fo</i>r</b>.<br />
</blockquote>Humility, expertly explained by a rabbi's wife and a guy named Bruce.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">You can read the full text of the Springsteen interview here:<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"><b><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.jannswenner.com/Archives/Been_Misled.aspx"><span style="color: #bf9000;">"Bruce Springsteen Talks About His Conscience..."</span></a></span></b></span><br />
</div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Wenner, Jann S. “Bruce Springsteen Talks about His Conscience and the Nature of an Artist and His Audience.” Rolling Stone. 14 Oct 2004. 26 Dec 2009.<span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.jannswenner.com/Archives/Been_Misled.aspx"><span style="color: #bf9000;">http://www.jannswenner.com/Archives/Been_Misled.aspx</span></a> ]</span></span><br />
</div></div></div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-18261872575608240082010-01-01T11:54:00.000-08:002010-01-02T18:10:59.806-08:00Months, Weeks, Days to Live<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of this week's most emailed New York Times article is </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/health/27sedation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">"Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation,</span>"</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> which chronicles and details some of the issues encountered by Hospice caregivers, patients, and their loved ones: how does, or can, one die peacefully, comfortably, free from pain, torment, and discomfort - safely, effectively, ethically, and legally?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This question is a familiar one to those of us in the field of Palliative Care. As a Rabbi, Spiritual Counselor, and Spiritual Care Coordinator of </span><a href="http://www.jha.org/about/skirball.asp"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">The Skirball Hospice</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">,</span> I experience these very questions, every day, with virtually every patient and family. It is, of course, far from easy, with a seemingly unending list of variables and facets. But there remain constants: our primary goal is to keep our patient as pain-free, comfortable, and as safe as possible. One must also remember that our unit of care is not just our patient - we are meant to care for the patient's family, loved ones, and friends.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a program of the </span><a href="http://www.jha.org/"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, we are Los Angeles' only Jewish Hospice, and our Spiritual Counselors specialize in in facing these issues, and more, from a Jewish perspective. (We, of course, treat patients of </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">every</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> religion, race, and nationality.)</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I previously posted in </span><a href="http://rabbiberk.blogspot.com/2009/12/s-were-all-aware-terrorist-attack-was.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">"All It Takes Is One,"</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> human life is of absolute primacy in the Jewish Tradition. Judaism insists that we endeavor to cure with the patient's well-being as our goal, and, traditionally, forbids the hastening of death. At the very same time, we must not prolong the dying process. The codified compendium of Jewish Law, </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Shulkhan Arukh</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, states that, "</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">One in a dying condition is considered living in all respects.” We call this patient, who is <span style="font-family: inherit;">typically within 72 hours of death, a </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goses</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> (</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">גּוֹסֵס</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">), one who is moribund, unable to swallow; his life is like "a flickering candle." (A <i>Go</i><i>ses</i> exists in a state of <i>gessisah</i>.) </span></span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> It is forbidden to treat the </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goses</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> as if he is already dead. It is forbidden to actively hasten his death, as he is alive and this would be considered murder. However, according to Rabbi Isserless’ (16th c.,</span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> The Rema</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">) gloss on this religious law (his gloss elucidates Ashkenazic Jewish Practice, as it differs from Sephardic custom), it </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">is</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> permissible to remove that which is hindering his death. In the words and time of the text:</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote><blockquote>It is forbidden to do anything to hasten the death of one who is in a dying condition... If, however, there is something that causes a delay in his death, for example, a nearby woodchopper making noise; or if there is salt on his tongue - and these prevent his speedy death [lit: "delay the soul's leaving the body"] - then one can remove them, because this does not involve any action at all, but rather, is only the removal of the preventative obstacle (to death).<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Author's emphasis] [S.A., Y.D. 339:1-2] </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Transl. Elliot Dorff, Matters of Life and Death, JPS: Philadelphia (2003) p.199 and Louis E. Newman, "Woodchoppers and Respirators: The Problem of Interpretation in Contemporary Jewish Ethics," Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality, A Reader. Oxford University Press: new York (1995. p. 145]</span></span><br />
</blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">We've been introduced to the legalistic response to impending death. What of the narrative response? We might to turn to the Talmudic tale of "Rabbi Judah's Handmaid:"<br />
</div><blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;">On the day that Rabbi Judah [Rabbi Judah Ha Nasi, 2nd C. CE, editor and redactor of The Mishna, the foundational rabbinic text] was dying, the rabbis [his peers and students].... offered a prayer for heavenly mercy [so he would not die]. Rabbi Judah's handmaid, instead, went up to the roof, and prayed [so that he would die]. The rabbis below kept on with their prayers that he might continue to live. From the roof, she took a jar and threw it to the ground below, interrupting their prayers. As they stopped their praying, Rabbi Judah died.<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Transl. based upon Louis E. Newman, "Woodchoppers and Respirators: The Problem of Interpretation in Contemporary Jewish Ethics," Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality, A Reader. Oxford University Press: new York (1995. p. 141-142.]</span></span><br />
</div></blockquote></blockquote><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The above story was interpreted by <i>Rabbeinu Nissim</i> (11th c. CE), as meaning:</span><br />
<blockquote><blockquote>Sometimes one must request mercy on behalf of the ill so that he might die, as in the case of a patient who is terminal and who is in great pain. <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">[Commentary to BT Nedarim 40a; Transl. based upon Louis E. Newman, "Woodchoppers and Respirators: The Problem of Interpretation in Contemporary Jewish Ethics," Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality, A Reader. Oxford University Press: new York (1995. p. 142.]</span></span><br />
</blockquote></blockquote><br />
I<span style="font-family: inherit;">f we return to how we started, with,<span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/health/27sedation.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">"Hard Choice for a Comfortable Death: Sedation,"</span></span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span>we read the words of Dr. Edward Halbridge, a Hospice Medical Director, who states: </span><br />
<blockquote><blockquote>“Do I consider myself a Dr. Death who is bumping people off on a regular basis?... I don’t think so. In my own head I’ve sort of come to the realization that these people deserve to pass comfortably.”<br />
</blockquote></blockquote><br />
And so we see, in this extremely abbreviated form, Jewish Tradition's different responses to death and dying: As pertaining to <i>Halakha</i>, or Jewish Law, which relies on precedents and analog; theory and general principles; moral intuition, conscience and specific decisions; and the larger societal, and medical influences.<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> [See Aaron L. Mackler, "Cases and Principles in Jewish Bioethics: Toward a Holistic Model," </span></span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Contemporary Jewish Ethics and Morality, A Reader</span></span></i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Oxford University Press: new York (1995. p. 177-193.]</span></span><br />
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</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now what? Prepare yourself. Visit the following sites for valuable resources:</span><br />
<a href="http://www.caringinfo.org/PlanningAhead/AdvanceDirectives/Stateaddownload.htm"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Create Your Advance Directive</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.caringinfo.org/UserFiles/File/PDFs/AdvanceCarePlanningLegalIssues/Legal_Guide_for_Seriously_Ill.pdf"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Download a Legal Guide for the Seriously Ill</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.asu.edu/clubs/bioethics/jewish.pdf"><span style="color: #bf9000;">"End-of-Life: Jewish Perspectives," by Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, PhD</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.caringinfo.org/"><span style="color: #bf9000;">National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.hospicefoundation.org/"><span style="color: #bf9000;">The Hospice Foundation of America</span></a>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-43439170861446742082009-12-26T21:32:00.000-08:002010-01-02T18:12:08.375-08:00All It Takes Is One<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">s we're all aware, a terrorist attack was attempted on Christmas Day, aboard </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Northwest Airlines Flight 253, in route from Amsterdam to Detroit. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Without any hesitation," says Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director who was seated in the same row as the terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab:</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><br />
</div><blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"I just jumped over all the seats. I was thinking, Oh, he’s trying to blow up the plane. I was trying to search his body for any explosive. I took some kind of object that was already melting and smoking, and I tried to put out the fire and when I did that I was also restraining the suspect.”</span><br />
</div></blockquote></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All it took was one: one brave soul to risk not just injury, but his very life. All it took was one. And another. And another - for Mr. </span><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Schuringa</span><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> was "</span><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">aided by other passengers." We can't help but be reminded of September 11, 2001 and United Flight 93, whose passengers learned, while in the air, about that day's hijacked airplanes. It was their bravery, their rising up in the face of certain danger and death, which prevented terrorists from destroying yet another building that terrible day.</span></span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In Judaism, there is nothing as precious as human life. Human life is </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">kadosh kedoshi</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">m, the holiest of all that is holy. Genesis' text tells us that, in the beginning, only one human being was created. Adam, then, constituted the whole of humanity. The Ancient Rabbis (200 CE - 500 CE) wondered why only one human was created first - and not many more. In the great anthology of rabbinic wisdom, The Talmud, the rabbis conclude that our account of creation intends to teach us that one person's life is considered to be as infinitely valuable as an entire world's population, for only one person </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">was</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the world's entire population. </span></span><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Tradition glorifies whoever saves a single soul, for it is as if he has saved an entire world." </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">[Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 37a]</span><br />
</div></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is reflected within the daily, lived life of Jewish Tradition through the ancient directive of</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">פִּיקּוּחַ נֶפֶשׁ</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><span style="line-height: 23px;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">pikuach nefesh.</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Meaning "saving a human life (literally: regard for human life);" it is based on the biblical commandment, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 23px/normal 'Lucida Grande';"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">";</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל־דַּם רֵעֶךָ</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"You shall not stand idly by your neighbor's blood" [or, "as your neighbor bleeds,"] (Lev. 19:16).</span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Jewish Tradition insists that one go to incredibly great lengths to save another's life; overriding </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">almost every commandment</span></i></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">. </span><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We are obligated to act to save another's life. (</span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">P</span></i></span><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">ikuach nefesh</span></i></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> also serves as the groundwork for the Tradition's direction to donate one's organs, a subject I will discuss in a forthcoming posting.)</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: normal;"></span></span><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Naturally there is </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">no</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> qualifier on </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">whose </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">life is in danger: any age, any religion, any race - anyone. Anyone. Any one.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wonder if I would have the courage to do what this one man did. But his having done it reassures me that anyone, any one person, can be - and in fact, is - capable of such greatness, capable of living up to that which Jewish Tradition demands of us. Even when you least expect it of yourself.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Read the story here:</span></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/us/27plane.html?_r=1&hp"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Passengers’ Quick Action Halted Attack</span></span></a></span><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[For more introductory information on </span></span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pikuach Nefesh</span></span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">, visit THE </span></span><span style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 16, pages 152-153.]</span></span></span></span><br />
</div></div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-42460479045010871062009-12-11T13:09:00.000-08:002009-12-11T13:12:23.458-08:00(Religious) State of the Union<span style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">From the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a highly-respected polling organization, comes these new statistics.<br />
</div><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">The poll... found that nearly half of the public, 49 percent, report having a "Religious or mystical experience… a spiritual awakening." That's up from 22 percent in 1962.... And 29 percent of Americans say they've felt in touch with someone who died -- that's up from 18 percent in 1996.</span><br />
</blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qpoyWc8ypIZP-cVmw2_RGrddemgU54cY9xnsbYHP51gMjQOlhIOrzZubd2jdohffbw0MgrOBfHdeXfbdeUJdYDynjMkifrngpn9-sn_rgdBAy7bW-EZkAk7vs-YPuoPYDe6dT_irfByN/s1600-h/mountain_top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9qpoyWc8ypIZP-cVmw2_RGrddemgU54cY9xnsbYHP51gMjQOlhIOrzZubd2jdohffbw0MgrOBfHdeXfbdeUJdYDynjMkifrngpn9-sn_rgdBAy7bW-EZkAk7vs-YPuoPYDe6dT_irfByN/s200/mountain_top.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">The poll went on to find that, "nearly six in 10 Americans from all religions blend their faith </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">with New Age and Eastern beliefs, and....yoga." It's comforting to know that, from the perspective of Jewish Tradition: "More than one path leads to the top of Mt. Sinai."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">You can read the article here:</span><br />
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/pew-study-finds-americans-surprisingly-flexible-faith-religion/story?id=9306080"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Americans and Faith</span></a>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-59254335896288026312009-12-11T12:43:00.000-08:002009-12-11T12:49:42.727-08:00Elie Wiesel Continues to Inspire<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-pfz_n4cz1gGKstR8tvuWFFETGZqKKjanvsF-9RIkQzj7IOKH9I-Y5KjuomV6anrBgpE74nAa31Gw_x5U0woGTtacX7FgUWOM4ipQVOyIdz_F552dujfyFWr8dE_LBBuP6F3hMaXPwmmD/s1600-h/150ElieWiesel_AP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-pfz_n4cz1gGKstR8tvuWFFETGZqKKjanvsF-9RIkQzj7IOKH9I-Y5KjuomV6anrBgpE74nAa31Gw_x5U0woGTtacX7FgUWOM4ipQVOyIdz_F552dujfyFWr8dE_LBBuP6F3hMaXPwmmD/s200/150ElieWiesel_AP.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Elie Wiesel, noted author, human-rights advocate, and Holocaust Survivor, isn't "bitter" about loosing millions (of his charitable foundation's money, as well as his own) to Bernard Madoff's far-reaching and devastating Ponzi scheme. He says:<br />
<blockquote><blockquote>"I decided I will not to let anyone destroy what I have done with my life ... I am not bitter."<br />
</blockquote></blockquote>Incredible. The man has faced - and faces - loss of all types and magnitudes with humility, determination, and courage. He continues to inspire.<br />
<br />
Read the article below:<br />
</div><div><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1134234.html">Elie Wiesel 'not bitter' about losing millions to Madoff - Haaretz - Israel News</a><br />
</div>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-82301611586799179102009-11-22T22:24:00.000-08:002009-11-23T09:36:05.133-08:00How to Pray, an Introduction<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Welcome to our first installment in the series, "How to Pray."</span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
Our first lesson comes from Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Poland, who was a great-grandson of The Baal Shem Tov, (the illustrious founder of vibrant, spiritual, and mystic Chasidic Judaism). He pioneered the practice of </span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">hitbodedut </span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">(secluding oneself in meditation and prayer, preferably surrounded by nature's beauty).<br />
<br />
Rebbe Nachman once directed his pupils:</span> <span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><br />
<blockquote><b><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Talk to God as if you would talk to your very best friend. Tell The Holy One Everything."</span></b><br />
</blockquote><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this way, our relationship with God is one of friendship, with whom we can share anything, at anytime, in anyplace. "How to pray?" Start by being honest. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span> </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; line-height: normal;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lesson One, concluded.</span></span></span></span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 21px;"> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Mykoff, Moshe, Naḥman, and Breslov Research Institute. </span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Empty Chair: Finding Hope and Joy: Timeless Wisdom from a Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">. Woodstock, Vt.: Jewish Lights Pub., 1994.]</span></span></span>Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8877499958285605423.post-77162115979250360952009-11-22T22:20:00.000-08:002009-11-22T22:20:50.349-08:00Israeli Rock Stars... on iTunes?!Yes, it's true - there's plenty of Israeli musicians on iTunes. Here's just a sampling, available by clicking below:<br />
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<a href="http://files.me.com/ericberk/wa7lzs">Israeli Rock on iTunes</a><br />
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Another tremendous source for Israeli music of all kinds (and movies) is:<br />
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<a href="http://www.israel-music.com/">http://www.israel-music.com/</a><br />
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In my opinion, the rock band, <i>Synergia [Synergy] </i>puts out some of the finest, loudest, most intelligent ROCK, from Israel, or elsewhere for that matter.Rabbi Eric M. Berk: Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06203785612169216383noreply@blogger.com0