Read this Essay if...

...you're a liberal Jew, care about the future, and are a little nerdy.
... you have insomnia
... if you are interested in hearing what was bothering me all summer.


“A Lost Connection”

A Reflection on the State of Reform Jewish Identity in North America as Seen through the Tfilah Experience of NFTY’s Summer in Israel

For Love of Israel, Jews, and Jesus

One should always be wary of a blocked number calling, and 9 times out of 10 it's not good. this time it was the army calling to ask me to go for a day of miluim - tomorrow! My assignment was to take a group of Evangelical Christians for a "militiary/hasbara" tour of Sderot and the surrounding area.
I met the group at their Jerusalem hotel and was greeted with a standing ovation. They laughed at my corny jokes, and assured me that God himself had sent me from Chicago to protect the State of Israel.
Doing my best to stay politically silent and bereft of all personal opinions, I can't say that I remotely identified with their politics or theology. After an emotional testimonial by a Gush Katif "survivor of expulsion" (her words) we drove to Sderot and saw the usual Qassam rocket exhibit behind the police station and overlook into Gaza. I think they loved it.
We prayed. Them for me (including touching and all - I felt a little like camp challah during motzi), and them for the State the government, and for Bibi to have the God-given intellect and courage to not give one inch of land in the upcoming direct talks.
Then, as timing would have it, I came across this article today: Onward, Christian Zionist. James Carroll, of the Boston Globe and author of the excellent book Constantine's Sword, does not mince words. He comes right out and says how big of a threat this demographic is. While there is something to what he says, after spending a day with them, I think that if it's the Evangels vs. Hamas, I'll take the Evangels any day.

Finally Some Common Sense

In an Ha'aretz report, IDF soldiers are now learning polite Arabic exchanges with which to communicate with Palestinians crossing through their checkpoints. "Please," "Thank you" and "Good Morning" should have been phrases introduced eons ago, but thankfully are now entering the soldiers' day-to-day lexicon as they encounter the hopefully harmless masses of workers going through the daily perceived hassles of checkpoints and soldiers. Let's all keep in mind that real peace isn't made between leaders and treaties. It has to happen on the ground when people see each other as real people. Kol HaKavod.

Hodesh ELUL Tov - and a new look...

As Elul has begun, I thought i would return to the blogosphere and while I was at it, give a new fresh look for the upcoming 5771.

Mara (+) and I are currently in Chicago visiting family and friends which is always a good time to take a break eat tons of my former favorites, get in touch with our inner-consumer and do some reflecting.

1. Despite missing family and friends, I'm glad I live in Israel. This week most of our conversations surrounded pregnancy and everything that has to do with that. Few conversations were about anything having to do with the situation of world Jewry or Israel. What can ya do? Most people were interested in our own lives, basically the big three: Baby, renovation, job. That's life.
It is hard being away and trying to keep up on the news. It's like this distant hobby that one has. An obsessive interest in something that has no affect on our direct lives, but for some reason some of us care about it nonetheless.

2. It's sometimes hard to be an optimist when I read headlines such as this: Hamas, 10 other groups reject all forms of compromise with Israel.
Well, I guess we'll have to wait it out.

3. Look out for an upcoming missive on the state of tfilah in the North American Reform Youth movements.

Is Co-existence Possible?

You Know You're in the Middle East When...

Mara and I are house/babysitting for friends, and when the Arab electrician came to repair the boiler (hot water heater) I was privy to a unique phenomenon. Ziyad went back out to the car to fetch a part, and his trusty sidekick in broken Hebrew asked if by chance we had a spare prayer-rug as now was tfilah time. "Sure," I offered throwing together a door mat and some newspaper which seemed to make the grade. He then proceed to kneel down and prostrate on the living room floor - despite all the raucous of homework, YouTube, telephones, and of course electric work on the boiler.
This of course has been going on for close to 1400 years, but the question that proceeded to intrigue me is in regard to a hypothetical reciprocal occurrence. Would a religious Jew be able to go in to an Arab/Muslims home [in Jerusalem] and explain that he needed to daven minha? And they would be ok with it? Of course religious Jews have a stigma among Jerusalem Arabs - especially in light of the on going debacle in Sheikh Jarrah, but religious Muslims have no less of a stigma among Western Jerusalem's Jews? What about fear of terrorism? Of course not all Muslims or Arabs are terrorists - not even close. But have all terrorists been Muslim or Arab. Basically, yes. Have there been incidents when service providers, who even maintain a long standing relationship with their clients, turned and committed acts of violence? Unfortunately, there have.
The moral of the story is that maybe, just maybe, last Thursday afternoon we caught a glimpse of co-existence. He finished his prayer, sat entranced momentarily, ate a few cookies that we offered him and packed up. The boiler switch was fixed and the kids who bore witness to the whole thing acquiesced, muttering a "yeah, ok, that was kind of weird, but also kind of cool," and went back to the computer.

PURIM 5770 - Reclaiming Public Spaces

Purim in a Pub was a pretty big success..

So, Gila (a fellow Israeli HUC student) and I decided that it would be cool to organize a Megilah Reading in a pub instead of a local synagogue. Some liked it, some were against, but we are all about trying to bring the Torah to the people. And, strangely enough, the people are not necessarily in synagogue.
Yankee's bar in downtown Jerusalem was packed and the everyone was there from Ahmedinajad to "Heather from Birthright Bus 7."

We read the megillah from Perek Aleph through Yud, played some music and drank a lot.

Everyone left (hopefully) wanting more.

So, the next step will be to set up a monthyl Beit Midrash. Maybe the same pub, maybe not, we'll see. Be on the lookout for "שיעור ושתיה" (A lesson and a drink) coming soon - Rosh Hodesh Iyar to a pub near you!

When it Rains it Pours...
Last weekend I, along with my classmates spent the weekend at Kibbutz Yahel and Lotan in the Arava. As hail and storms flooded the country north of Beer Sheva, we made our way down to clear skies and lucid air.
As we made our way out into the pomello fields all of a sudden a few drops, and then more, and we headed for the van to get out of the pouring rain.
The Arava gets only about 2-3 days of rain a year, and I was lucky enough to be there for it!
As it turns out though, the kibbutz members weren't as thrilled as we were. "It's actually kind of annoying," one said. "The rain is not letting us harvest the fruit, and tourists came hear to have an outdoor picnic." Boohoo.

In all of our discussions with Kibbutz members - from Yahel and Lotan - the most interesting pearl of wisdom that I heard came from Yair, a 23 year old student (who was an EIE student in Chicago). While there is a known phenomenon of formerly religious Jews calling themselves "Datlash" (דתל"ש) or "Dati L'She'avar (or formerly religious); we were now informed of the latest trendy epithet: "Raflash - רפל"ש " for Reformi L'she'avar - formerly Reform. Wow. It has always been a big question as to how the second generation of liberal Jewish olim would turn out - now we have concrete testimony.
I'm not sure whether this actually leaves a hopeful or pessimistic impression of the Israeli Reform movement. On the one hand it might be a good sign to say that something is established enough for people to begin leaving it. On the other we know that it's not, and that the next generation of secular Israelis will likely not affiliate with the movement.
I hate to end on a pessimistic note, but the next entry will be more uplifting.
Here's a cool picture of the date palms of Kibbutz Yahel. (courtesy of Tamir Nir)

More on Avi...

While family and friends had assembled in Los Angeles to eulogize and bid farewell to Avi Schaefer over 150 of us gathered in Jerusalem's center to speak, remember and watch the online-streamed funeral. Most important was for those who knew and loved him just to come together. As I stood and watched young and old friends, family members, former hanichim, madrichim, Tzevet members and just general people who felt connected to Avi, I began to realize the impact of Avi's life and the reeling affect his loss will have.
I thought about the pivotal period of life that I met and got to know the Schaefer twins. It was the Spring of 2004 as two identical wiry boys with braces on their teeth and a quiet disposition graced us with their presence. "We're not really interested in the ancient history," Yoav explained to me in one of our earlier meetings. "More the modern stuff, y'know, history of the wars from '48 on..."
"Ok," I replied, "we'll see," I thought.
A year later we sat around bowls of houmous, and discussed why the Rabbis of the Talmud were less inclined to mention the travails of Bar Kochva's failed attempt at redeeming the Jewish people from Roman rule.
I loved hearing about Avi and Yoav's adventures and explorations throughout Europe and Morocco, watching them appear on Yair Lapid, and getting them to do numerous speaking gigs for the army when I was in Dover Tzahal. I always felt comfortable and proud sending a group to hear Avi's story and his perspective, and knew that he would always be able to articulate his feelings in a way that people would respond to positively.
On Monday night we stood and listened, and cried and hugged each other.
Avi was the 'New Jew' - an image out of an Alterman poem - the two heros returning home to the kibbutz after closing 21 or 28 days. I remember seeing them at synagogue during a visit with their father. Anxious to show me their scrapes and scars from crawling drills during tironut, they reluctantly admitted to me that, "hey y'know, we're a little bit older so we just try to help the kids out..." (being of course 19 amidst a conglomeration of 18-year-olds)
Watching Avi grow from a timid teenager to a strong confident 21 year old I realized that he was living the dream.
It is true that "Everyone dies, but not everyone truly lives."
Avi truly lived.

Mourning the Loss of Avi Schaefer

Early Friday morning on a street in Providence, Rhode Island, the world lost Avi Schaefer. Hit and killed by a drunk driver Avi remains a treasured student, friend, brother, soldier and hero. A student at Brown University, Avi had just completed 3 voluntary years of army service in the IDF.

I first met Avi when he was a young 15 year-old student at the NFTY-EIE High School in Israel program during my first semester as a teacher. While his twin Yoav was in my class, Avi was a known presence, and often struck up conversations over lunch and on tiyulim. As he and Yoav made their way back to Israel after high school, whether for just a visit and finally as olim, I always enjoyed hearing them tell their tales of adventure and travel and struggles with the challenge of being Zionists and strong Jewish advocates amidst an adversarial Californian environment.

Upon induction to the IDF (a month after my own), Avi and Yoav took to combat units feeling a strong sense of national responsibility and שליחות. Whether it was appearances on Yair Lapid's show or Nefesh B'Nefesh, Avi (and Yoav) never shied away from the opportunity to share their beliefs and to explain why they believed what they were doing was right.

Every time I called their mobile phone, not knowing who would answer, Avi without fail, always first inquired about me and my well being. "How's your service going?" he would ask with genuine curiosity as to my well being. "It must be tough to be so much older than everyone else," he once inquired. When I told him that my cushy army desk job pailed in comparison to he and Yoav's months of guard duty in Hevron and the Lebanese border, he would reply with a smile and say "hey, everyone's got to do what they're good at," and remind me that I had inspired them to be where they are now.

While not all of his army service was easy the decision to leave Israel and study at Brown University was also quite difficult. It is clear to me that in his first semester at Brown, Avi felt a strong sense of shlichut and was determined to be an Israel advocate, and to show the world through his campus that Israeli soldiers are not monsters and can even be peace-loving, calm and articulate people.

I recomend reading Avi's opinion piece "To those interested in creating peace in the Middle East" published in the Brown Daily Herald to begin to get a sense of who Avi was.

In a split second a selfish and despicable human being made a decision and took the life of our student, friend, brother, soldier, hero and role model. In Avi's short life, he was able to impact so many. Our thoughts are with his parents and brothers.

יהי זכרו ברוך