Rabbi Landsberg's Blog

Oy Breyder!

After Steve Zeidenberg, our chazan r'vi'i, concluded Shabbat morning services with a song in Yiddish (praised be HaShem for transliteration!), I couldn't help but note this quick piece from The Jewish Chronicle of Great Britain.  So, for all those whose Yinglish is woefully lacking, enjoy:

Don’t hock my chinik
28/12/2007
By Rabbi Julian Sinclair

Don’t hock my chinik is one of my favourite Yinglish expressions. I first encountered it in yeshivah where we had a rabbi who would regularly urge us not to hock his chinik about what Rashi said on the Gemara but instead to look at the text of the Talmud itself.

You could also hock someone’s chinik about buying a new sofa, getting your child into the right school, your opinion of the rabbi’s sermons or anything else about which one may take an obsessive, and potentially annoying, interest.

The origin of the expression is the Yiddish phrase, hock mir nicht kein chinik, (or tscheynik) which literally means “don’t bang my tea kettle”. (Some say that chinik is a teacup and the phrase refers to those who stir their tea in an irritating manner. Figuratively it came to mean “don’t get on my nerves” or “stop giving me a headache”. One can readily understand the connection. One of the invaluable Yiddish websites gave a dozen variants of the phrase, but I won’t hock your chiniks by mentioning them all. Chinik is a tea kettle in Russian. One can see in it the word chai, meaning tea. This is related to the English cha, as in “cup of cha” — itself a borrowing from the Mandarin for tea.

Reform and Tradition, Part One

Is Reform becoming too traditional?  That seems to be the question of the times, yet it is one so emotionally charged, conversation becomes "interesting."   So, to clarify thinking on the matter [especially as Emanu-El is engaging in its siddur decision-making process], a few helpful links:

The Union for Reform Judaism's Eilu v'eilu series presents dialogues addressing issues of the day.  [Eilu v'eilu--literally, "these and these"--is a Talmudic quote identifying the differing halakhic decisions of the school of Hillel and the school of Shammai as the words of the living God...despite their contradictions with one another].  Here are the links to the first dialogue on the subject of traditionalism.  Enjoy!  Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four. 

BTW, one of the interlocutors is the grandson of Dr. Stanley Dreyfus, my most esteemed teacher at HUC-JIR.  I spent most Friday mornings together with two friends studying in Dr. Dreyfus' home (all of us lived in Park Slope); the mornings consisted of text, argument and scotch.  In my tenure at HUC, I saw Dr. Dreyfus shudder with distaste more than a few times: each time a student either mispronounced a word from text or if they, wrapped in tallit and tefillin, shuckled a little too fervently for Dr. Dreyfus' Classical Reform taste.  May he live to 120.

The Rabbinate's Schengen Dis-Agreement

Wherever there are borders, there will be border disputes--and Jews are not exempt from this simple fact. 

For any reader who might dispute the fact that Jews have borders as do other nations (see, for example, this segment of a Jewcy debate in which a claim to Jewish borders is rejected as mere ethnocentrism), let me remind you:  when Rabbi Donniel Hartman spoke several years ago at Beth Tzedec, he asserted several bases for determining inclusion within the Jewish community (such as the Jewish calendar).  He remarked that without common agreed borders, there is no coherent community. 

To make his point fully grasped he said that he could envision a universe in which Jews for Jesus were included within the Jewish people - they observe mitzvot, the Jewish calender is central to their lives, etc.  [For anyone unaware, Jews for Jesus is one of several messianic movements, claiming Jewish identity while accepting Jesus as messiah.]  Given the collective gasp in the audience at Rabbi Hartman's words--even without an articulated policy--many Jews do accept that there are definitive borders: the disagreement is where the borders lay, not their existence.

One of the key areas in dispute is (understandably) conversion.  What is interesting is the fact that the fiercest debate at the moment is occurring within the Orthodox world.  Start with Rabbi Marc Angel's piece last month in The Forward entitled: Slamming the Door on Converts.  He is deeply concerned with the Israeli Chief Rabbinate's new control over conversion in North America.  Note, this does not simply impact converts who wish to make aliyah, but anyone seeking an Orthodox conversion in North America.  Also note: Rabbi Angel is a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America (i.e., no small fish). 

The debate then takes off, especially in the online Orthodox journal Cross-Currents.  The first response is entitled "Halacha is Not a Chinese Menu,"   yet the debate remains civil (you can follow the strand by reading here and here).  Although the interlocutors make reference to halakhic terms and hermeneutics, it is not for the traditionally literate only.  It is fascinating to see the way in which history is either accepted or rejected as relevant in Jewish decision-making, as well as the underlying tensions between Ashkenazi and Sephardi identities. 

The issues around conversion and community borders are also popping up these days in media sources intended for the general Jewish audience.  Read Blu and Yitz Greenberg's contribution in The Forward's Bintel Blog (on a Conservadox Jewish convert's acceptance within Orthodox congregations) and this editorial in Haaretz on the issues of conversion amongst olim from the FSU.

While there have been several attempts by Reform, Conservative and Modern Orthodox colleagues in certain cities to develop communally agreed upon conversion process, I fear that that time has come and gone. In the liberal Jewish world, however, the response to these quandaries must not be Reform triumphalism: that is living on an island of one's faith.  Instead--with much soul searching on the question of who is a Jew--we must enter the debate anew and work ever the harder to develop our shared borders.  Schengen is not a bad idea.

Technological Mitzvot: [Don't] Read This on Shabbat!

With the leader of the Reform movement calling for individuals and congregations alike to reconsider the manner in which they observe Shabbat, this article in Haaretz caught my eye.  The incredible technological inventiveness that allows traditionally observant Jews to keep Shabbat while still engaging in some of the luxuries of modern life [such as a freshly brewed cup of cappuccino] is awesome.

Yet for many liberal Jews, this seems oxymoronic--not the modernity per se, but the focus on strict observance of Shabbat restrictions without apparent restrictions (or perhaps a sense of being restricted).  I have never found it troubling personally:  if HaShem made His will clear, then all that matters is doing what HaShem specified.  All of the rest is--at best--narishkeit or--at worst--a sin akin to that of Nadav and Avihu.  Of course, this is dependent upon belief that HaShem made "His" will clear and that the traditional halakhic interpretative system is the only way to understand what God wants from the Jews.

As Reform Jews collectively engage anew in Shabbat observance, it is thus timely to  focus on one's own theological and halakhic stance.   Only by acknowledging our divergent ideologies/philosophies/theologies can we understand the radical divergence in our practices.  Nonetheless, just as cappuccino-making haredi Jews celebrate Shabbat as best they can, so too should we all:  as best as we can.   A sweet Shabbat to you. 

Shabbat Happens...(but should the bar mitzvah?)

About a decade ago in Atlanta, I saw--on the back of a Honda--a bumper sticker which challenged any tailgater with the simple declaration:  Shabbat Happens.  Not a choice, not negotiated by when the family can gather for candlelighting and dinner or whether one is on vacation, simply:  Shabbat Happens. 

Rabbi Eric Yoffie's sermon at the URJ biennial was (as noted by Robin Leszner in her much appreciated comment) primarily addressed Shabbat observance amongst Reform Jews.  He spoke baldly about two aspects that are deeply troubling:  1. for too many Reform Jews, Shabbat ends at the end of Friday night dinner, and 2. b'nei mitzvah have become private ceremonies occuring in what is supposed to be a public place (the sanctuary) at a time of communal prayer (Shabbat mornings). 

What to say?  1. yes and 2. not as badly here as in many shuls south of the border, I think.  More than just bemoaning an unfortunate reality, however, Rabbi Yoffie presented programs and resources and synagogue processes to assist congregations and families in deepening their Shabbat experience (and reassessing the bar/bat mitzvah service).  We will begin exploring some of these here at Emanu-El, but you can start for yourself:  Shabbat.  It happens.

Like Who?

I read this review of Toronto filmmaker Jamie Kastner's new movie "Kikes like Me" and--though I haven't yet seen the movie--I experienced the same dis-ease I felt when I heard of/saw the HBO movie Elders of Zion.  Though I, of course, reserve judgment until I see the film, it does seem to be another meditation on how the Jew is seen though the eyes of the gentile rather than an engagement with Jews, Jewishness, Jewish history, Jewish culture or (chas v'chalila!) HaShem.

If not to allay my fears, then at least to amuse me, I read this post about the movie, by Phoebe Maltz (on  the fabulously titled blog "What Would Phoebe Do - the best Francophilic Zionism in the Blogosphere").

Fiddler on the Chatr-i-Simin?*

From Queen Esther to my mother-in-law, Persian Jews claim a long, proud history.  Thus it is most interesting to see the changing relationship between a relatively new Persian Jewish community in the U.S. and the mostly Ashkenazi American Jewish community they encountered.  Check out this interesting piece in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles.  Given the size of the Persian Jewish community in the greater L.A. area [estimated at somewhere over 30,000], the JJ includes a weekly section entitled "Tehrangeles".   

*According to Caucaz.com, Chatr-i-simin means "silver roof" in Old Persian.  It is the nickname of the Eastern Pamir mountain range.

And...

Haaretz's Shmuel Rosner agrees. 

[Bi]Annual Review: How're We Doing On the Job?

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, spoke some difficult truths in his Shabbat sermon this morning.  For those of us not present at the biennial, it is decidedly worth reading and reflecting upon. 

He speaks about several key issues that challenge us today and culminates with words about Israel.  He speaks starkly:

But this Shabbat I am concerned with something else: the studies that show North American Jews to be less and less attached to the State of Israel. This increasing alienation is not our problem alone, but it is more prevalent in our ranks than among our more traditional brothers and sisters—and it speaks to our failure to teach some very important lessons to the members of our synagogues...

If we fail to create a significant presence in Israel, this failure casts doubt on our authenticity as a religious movement. In other words, if we do not become a force in Israel in the next generation, we will have consigned ourselves to the margins of Jewish history.

The possibility he raises is not a scare tactic; it is quite real. It is hard sometimes to think beyond the community or locale that we live in, yet we must remember that the very meaning of the word Jew will be decided in Eretz Yisrael, for good or for ill. 

Rabbi Yoffie will deliver his next State of Reform Judaism address two years from now, here in Toronto.  I look forward to Emanu-Elniks having the distinct pleasure of encountering him personally.  Shavua tov.

Ten Most Wanted? 1. Lisa Goldman

Lisa, originally uploaded by LisaG in Tel Aviv.

When I started exploring the world of Jewish blogging, one of the most engaging blogs about daily life in Israel was that of a Canadian-Israeli writer, Lisa Goldman. This past summer, Lisa traveled on her Canadian passport to file a story from Beirut, Lebanon. Watch the story here (English subtitles).  You can read the whole account here. It is mesmerizing.

Though I am catching up on my blog, I am not this late! A couple weeks ago Lisa was interrogated by the International & Serious Crimes Unit of the Israeli police, for allegedly endangering Israeli security through her journalistic endeavors in Beirut. You can read more here (Haaretz article penned by Lisa Goldman) and here (from her blog).

Lisa Goldman was aware of the risks in this undertaking from the outset.  Nonetheless, she has expanded the understanding of Israel and its neighbors, and her work is to be lauded.

BTW, assuming freedom of movement, Lisa is coming to talk here at shul next time she's in Toronto [most likely in February or March].