The Return of Chesed - Rosh HaShanah Morning 5772

The Return of Chesed

Rosh HaShanah Morning 5772

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Rabbi Andy Koren

Temple Emanuel, Greensboro, NC

Chassidic Jews appear in many stories.  Here’s one that you may not have heard before.  A group of Chassidic Jews go to the circus.  Turns out, the Chassidic circus is in town.  All of the animals are kosher, the trapeze artists (the Flying Feldmans) all wear modest dress, you get the picture.  Even the clowns are Chassidim.

As is the case with all circuses, there is the part where a VW buggy drives into the big tent.  The doors to this amazingly small car open.  And out comes one Chassidic clown.  He looks around.  The Chassidic spectators start clapping and laughing as he walks back to the car and not one, not two, but seventeen other Chassidim come out of the tiny Volkswagen.

After the show, the Chassidic spectators wait near the clown tent.  They just have to meet one the Chassidic clowns from the VW act.  They have to know how they did it.

Sure enough, the main clown steps out and the Chassidim are waiting there for him.

“Brother, that was the greatest show we have ever seen.  And your part was by far the most spectacular.”

“Thank you so much,” said the Chassidic clown.  “What can I do for you?”

“We’ve got to know,” one of the spectators started, “how did you do it?  How did you do that trick where all of other Chassidim come out of that small car?”

“Well, I’ll tell,” you said the clown.  “We researched with other circuses.  They actually have a trap door underneath car and another in the ground.  But we figured that we couldn’t do that.  It just wouldn’t be honest.”

“You mean to tell us that your act wasn’t a trick?”

“Not at all.  There were 18 of us in that car.”

The Chassidim shook their heads in disbelief as the clown continued.  “Just prior to entering the big top, we pack up that car.  I go in first.  Then Shlomo, Sammy, and Dovid.  And so on and so forth.”

“There must be a secret to how you make this work.  You make it sound so easy,” one of the Chassidic spectators said. 

“Well it could be difficult, if we wanted to make it that way.  But, we don’t.  In fact, as each new Chassid comes into the car, we squish together to make more room.  And here’s our secret: For each new person who enters, we have to be a little closer to one another, and much kinder.  Indeed, we have to love each other just a little more.”

Throughout our tradition, this idea of being a little closer, being kinder, and loving each other is highlighted and commanded.

One of the first examples we have is of Abraham.  Sodom and Gomorrah are condemned cities; yet, Abraham appeals to God on their behalf, asking God to spare these mega-cities should there be only 10 righteous people – a simple minyan – living there.

Our tradition connects major characters with their highest attributes.  Judaism connects Abraham with the quality of chesed – loving kindness and compassion.    Abraham exhibits chesed to others.  However, it is Abraham who must rely on God's chesed – God’s kindness and compassion – in this morning’s Torah reading.  God tests Abraham by instructing him to sacrifice his son Isaac.  And Abraham tests God: will I have to go through with this?  Isaac is spared because God shows compassion.

But it is not just Abraham.  We build a Golden Calf and God is ready to wipe us out.  Moses appeals to God for forgiveness.  “God, You are Notzeir Chesed La-Alafim – You, show compassion and mercy to thousands.”  We sing that passage during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as we confess our wrongdoings, hoping that God will forgive us now just as we received forgiveness in the Golden Calf story.

Perhaps you noticed as you walked into Temple this morning that our cornerstone is engraved with the words of the Prophet Micah: do justice, love chesed, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).  Chesed is so central to who we are as a Temple that we carved it in stone and placed it as our foundation.

These are just a few of the 248 times that chesed appears in one form or another in the Torah.  That number may seem random, but it is well-known in Jewish tradition.  Of the 613 commandments, 248 are positive commandments, that is to say, the “Thou-Shalts,” the things we are commanded to do.  The Torah is telling us that behind all of our actions there should be kindness.  Moreover, in pre-modern times Rabbis learned from their doctors that there are 248 organs and other parts of the human body.  Whether this medical tidbit is true or not, chesed is something that we should feel in our guts.  It should come from our kishkes, as well as from our hands and our thoughts.  It should be all encompassing.

But it’s not.  Not these days, at least.  Not in the large measures we would expect.  What we are treated to each and every hour in a non-stop 24/7 cycle is political punditry.  Instead of squeezing a little closer, being a little kinder, loving more, we push others away, sharpen our knives, and go for the jugular.  No one is given the benefit of the doubt.  It’s always election time.  Mean-spiritedness is the order of the day.  We feed on conflict; we thrive on criticism.  What is missing? Chesed.

Take the issue of immigration, for example.  Our country has a rich history of immigration.  Many will claim that the US is a country of immigrants; all of us, except for Native Americans, at some point came from elsewhere.  You would think we, of all nations, would be the most understanding and that Americans would have chesed on this issue.

Jewish tradition has a very strong position on how immigrants should be treated.  More than any other commandment in the Torah, 39 times, we are told to treat the stranger, the outsider, the immigrant well.  God implores us to “love the stranger.” (Deuteronomy 10:19)  Why?  Because left to our own devices, we would exploit outsiders; we would deny them the protections that we take for granted.  We should know better; we were once strangers in the land of Egypt and in many other places since.  Perhaps for this reason, Israel’s immigration laws are among the most liberal and accepting in the world.

The American immigration system has been broken for so long.  Today, there are well over 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country.  Immigration laws are in desperate need of comprehensive reform.  Yet, while this is happening, kids are getting caught in the middle.

This year alone, over 65,000 undocumented students will graduate from American high schools.  They came to the United States as young children with their parents. They want to go on and study for higher degrees.  They want to serve in the military of the only country they have known.  Yet, when they declare that they want to do this, they are asked for their papers.  Without papers, they face deportation.  Why are they being forced to pay the price for a broken system?

Imagine a kid whose parents came here when she was only 4.  She is now 19 and wanting to do what her peers are doing.  She is told that this is impossible.  I met this young woman; I heard the urgency in her voice.  Last week, I was on a call with a young man named Moises.  Here’s how he explained it: "My best friend was going to go off to college to be somebody, and I was going to stay here and be nobody."

These kids go to school with our kids.  They have known no other home but America.  Many now face detention and then deportation. It is a country that lacks chesed which would send kids to a place they didn't grow up, where they have no ties, no family, nothing.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Washington worked on changing this.  They wrote a piece of legislation called the DREAM Act which would offer a path to citizenship for kids in this unjust predicament, provided that they are upstanding individuals of high moral character.  Teens from our Temple have lobbied in DC during the L’Taken Social Justice Seminar for the passage of the DREAM Act.  Frankly, the DREAM Act should already be the law of the US.  It passed the US House and had bi-partisan support in the Senate.  Late last year, though, it met its fate due to a Senate filibuster.

Just two weeks ago, on a Friday night, our Temple was one of the first congregations nationwide of any religion or denomination to host a DREAM Act Sabbath. Two undocumented students spoke from this pulpit, asking for our support, our understanding, our chesed.   For them and so many others, this has to change.  Meanness, conflict, and criticism need to give way to compassion and chesed.

There is another issue, specifically in North Carolina, which will be a test of who we truly are and our measure of chesed.  We all remember gathering here in unity on the tenth anniversary of September 11^th.  Just one day later, on September 12th, the North Carolina House voted to amend our state’s constitution defining marriage as only applying to heterosexuals.  And a day after that, the NC Senate followed suit.  The upcoming ballot will feature what will be termed a Defense of Marriage Amendment.

We need to remember the following: there is already a law in North Carolina passed in the early 90s which defines marriage in the way that this amendment proposes.  Taking this additional step to include language in our state Constitution which is discriminatory in this degree can only be seen as the opposite of chesed.  These days when the world is in such turmoil, is this issue what we want our elected officials working on?

Matters of sexual preference should be between individuals and their religious community's interpretation of Scripture, morals, and ethics.  The same should be said about marriage.  What do politicians really mean when they say that they are defending marriage?  You would think that the best way to do this would be to make sure that there are jobs, good education, and equal protection under the law.  Codifying one religious interpretation over others will not protect my marriage or anyone else's.  What it will do is restrict some loving couples from inheritances, powers of attorney, or visitations at critical moments in their lives.  What is will do is codify discrimination in our state’s constitution.

As Jews we know only all too well the devastating consequences when discriminatory laws are written into the judicial framework of a state or a country.  In Germany in 1935, the Nuremberg laws represented the beginning of the end of European Jewry by codifying anti Semitism and a denial of equal civil rights into government law.  We here in the South also know well the effect of the Jim Crow laws when they did likewise.  As a state, do we really wish to return to these days? I hope not and I hope that when the time comes, you will vote to reject this most heinous piece of legislation.

As 5772 begins, we need to be at the forefront of returning chesed to the world around us.  We need to remember that chesed is not just needed on the airwaves or in the halls of government.  Chesed is also so important for those we spend the most time with.  Kids will tell us that chesed is needed at school and online.  A recent study of teens and young adults in their 20s noted that 56% have been the target of online bullying or harassment, a number which has been on the rise for a while.  We need more chesed in our virtual worlds.  But, we also need it in the workplace.  And, we need more chesed at home.

Last night, Rabbi Guttman spoke about the Mezuzah and how it is set at an angle to demonstrate compromise.  A Mezuzah can also teach us about our relationships and how chesed fits into them.  The scroll that we place into the Mezuzah begins with the words of the Shema and then continues with the V’ahavta prayer.  Shema means “listen.”  V’ahavta means “you shall love.”  If you want to love, you first have to listen.

Listening first is so different than how we might regularly operate.  Often, when someone is talking, we might cut them off or just wait for them to finish and so that we can say what we were planning to say anyway.  Or, how often have we walked in the room, seen or heard something, and then just reacted?  No questions, just a response.  I know I have done this far too often.

Shema – listen, really listen.  Don’t react.  Actively listen.  Listen to what your friends, your co-workers, your staff, your boss has to say.  Listen to what your kids, your spouse, your parents (if they are still with us) have to say.  Listen carefully.  Listen with everything you have.  That is the way to bring more chesed to our relationships.  That is the way to model it for kids or grandkids.  Listen first.  Shema.  Do not assume the worst. Then V’ahavta – love, understanding, kindness – should follow.

The world around us needs more chesed.  So do our closest relationships.  We could stop there.  But we should not.  Because the High Holidays ask that we not forget about ourselves.  This is the time of the year when we need to dig deep inside.  There is that internal voice which is always critiquing everything I do.  I hear it on the golf course. I hear it when I am not in the gym. I hear it in the boardroom, the classroom, the kitchen, and the bedroom.  Enough.  The shofar should be our signal to be closer, kinder, and more loving of ourselves.  This may be our hardest task.  In those quiet moments, when we are alone with our thoughts and prayers, we need to be asking: how is it that I can I have more chesed for myself?  During these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I, like you, review my shortcomings.  Yes, I have messed up royally, missed the mark.  Having done this, is the answer to be racked with guilt?  No.  I turn to God for forgiveness, like we all should, like our ancestors did on so many occasions throughout our history, going all the way back to the Golden Calf.  God, the source of chesed, will forgive me for not being the person I was meant to be.   I have to try my best.  But I also need to let go of my guilt in order to begin to reconstruct my life and repair my soul.

On Rosh Hashanah we bless each other with the words L’Shanah Tovah.  The word Shanah means “year,” but it is also similar to the Hebrew word “shinui” which means change.  For ourselves, our families and friends, and our society as a whole, 5772 should be a year of change.  Let’s do what we can to replace harshness with helpfulness, nay-saying with hand-shaking, and phobias with friendships.  Let this be the year when bullying gives way to brotherhood and when criticism gives way to kindness, to chesed.

Let’s move over a little, let’s get a little closer to one another, be much kinder, and love each other just a little more.  Let’s do our part to return chesed to all of the places it is needed.

L’shanah tovah – may this year be filled with blessing and sweetness for us, our families, and our world.  AMEN

6 Points - A New Year's Post to RJ.org

Just as 5772 was beginning, this posting (see below and http://blogs.rj.org/reform/2011/09/much-more-than-a-jewish-sports.html appeared on a Reform movement blog in praise of Six Points.  Those of us who call Greensboro home know exactly what is being said here.

Outside of our Temple (which is across the street from camp), there is a decorative fountain. The walkway for that fountain makes a Jewish star. When you fly in to Greensboro, you can sometimes see this from above. Google Earth & Google Maps provide a similar perspective. This reminds me of the way that maps when I was growing up would mark a capital city. There would be a big star there indicating that this was a central city. Greensboro has been a Jewish center for many generations.  In 2007, Temple Emanuel celebrated our Centennial; the history of our community, penned by Kurt Lauenstein is a must read (see here for brief tidbits: http://www.tegreensboro.org/our_history/).


Of course, our star has grown somewhat bigger in recent years.  I will not list why (for fear of leaving details out), but the 6 Points Sport Academy and Temple Emanuel have been major factors that Greensboro, NC (Jewish population of approximately 3,000) is on the map of the Reform Movement.

If you do come to Camp, next summer or at any time, be sure to stop in and see our Temple.  Those of us who call Greensboro home year-round would love to show you around.  And, by all means, keep spreading the word about 6 Points, the American Hebrew Academy, and the special nature of what is taking place in Greensboro.

Much More than a Jewish Sports Camp
September 26, 2011

by Rabbi Benjamin David

This summer my family and I spent a week at the Six Points Sports Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina. Like Moses before me, I had heard a great deal about this veritable Promised Land. I had been told it was a place of rolling green hills, campers from far and wide, unparalleled sports facilities, exceedingly qualified coaches, and a Jewish culture that managed to mix the ancient words of our people with the upbeat modern teachings representing the best of Reform Judaism. 

I had seen the website, visited the Facebook page, and spoken with those in the know, but nothing could prepare me for finally seeing it all firsthand and experiencing it for myself. 

As a rabbinic faculty member at Six Points I lived days of Torah. That is, I joined in the melody of Birkat Hamazon with a dining hall that housed myriad ideologies and ages, but found itself unified in song.  I took part in a values-based learning program that awarded campers for their exemplary acts of compassion, diligence, and decision making.  I spoke with campers on the basketball court and soccer field about ways in which they might bring to their sport a greater sense of their Jewish self and maybe vice versa. With Shema in my ears and arms around my shoulders, I welcomed Shabbat with the music of Dan Nichols and a team of ever-talented song leaders and a setting sun before our very eyes.

Six Points is indeed a Jewish sports camp.  It is a place for athletes who are Jews.  But it is much more than that.  It is a place where bullying is replaced by brotherhood and teamwork is more than a term.  I saw once and again that a special community had been created there, a place for kids who might not otherwise have a place to go and feel so very much at home.  Is this not what NFTY and our camps aim to create: places where youth and teens can find themselves and, with that, their Judaism? As a Reform Jew and an athlete, I saw in the campers' eyes what it meant to at last have a place where they could be both challenged, in every way they would want to be challenged, and welcomed, in every way they would want to be welcomed. 
The Talmud notes that every river flows in its own direction. So it is with our children. I believe that Six Points exists so to help make real our movement's mission to truly be there for all. 

Little did I know, though, that the Promised Land for Jewish athletes is in fact located in Greensboro, North Carolina. But sure enough, it is.         

Rabbi Benjamin David is Associate Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Roslyn Heights, New York.  He is a co-founder of Running Rabbis, a non-profit initiative that inspires creative forms of social action. He and his wife Lisa are the proud parents of two children, Noa and Elijah. 

The DREAM Act

Last Friday night at Temple (September 16, 2011), we helped launch a national initiative to draw attention to a piece of legislation known as the DREAM Act.  Over 220 DREAM Act events will be taking place in congregations of all denominations across the country; 10 are planned for NC.

As you will see in my remarks and those by my colleague, Reverend David Fraccaro (of the Faith Action International House), the DREAM Act will help to close a particularly unjust element of US immigration law.  For those of us who are citizens, this might seem like a faraway issue, more theoretical and definitely less urgent than matters of the economy and jobs.  However, for the youth affected by this, for those who face detention or deportation, there is nothing more pressing.

See here: http://rac.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=2314&pge_prg_id=9499&pge_id=2924 for a detailed briefing on immigration, including the DREAM Act, from the Reform movement's Religious Action Center.  See here: http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/ for additional information from the Interfaith Immigration Coalition including ways that you can have your opinion heard on this subject.

Finally, I will be on a press call this coming Friday at 11 AM (eastern time) together with other clergy and supporters of the DREAM Act (including one DREAM student).  If you would like more information on this, please be in touch.  I understand that there will be a way to hear the call after it has taken place.  As soon as I find this out, I will post it to this blog.

DREAM Shabbat

Remarks by Rabbi Andy Koren

Temple Emanuel, Greensboro, NC

Friday, September 16, 2011

Why do matters of immigration concern us as Jews?  Why should we, at this time that we are preparing for the High Holidays, pause to take up this issue?

I have often felt that the Torah is a document dedicated to the experience of the immigrant, the wanderer, the one who is seen as the outsider and the stranger.  39 times the Torah commands us that we must treat strangers well.  This is not just mentioned – but commanded – more than any other provision in all of the Torah.  Commanded because, left to our own, we would not welcome outsiders.  We would scorn them, treat them wrong.  So, time and again, like a skipping record, the Torah says to us – be kind to strangers, to outsiders, to immigrants.  And why?  Because you were once the outsiders, enslaved by Pharaoh in the land of Egypt.  You of all people should know better.

But our attention is drawn on immigration not only because of ancient Egypt or because of the Holocaust and World War II.  Modern Israel exists because for far too long we were displaced from places that we called home.  Spain, England, France, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Iran, Iraq, countries across the globe.  Perhaps for this reason, Israel has been a haven for people from all over the world, Jew and non-Jew.  Israel has one of the most liberal immigration policies of all of the world's democracies.

When it comes to our own country, to the United State of America, the picture is much more confusing.  We know that our country is a land of immigrants.  Yet, listening to some of the political voices in our country, you might be led to believe otherwise.  The negativity, the myths have crowded out support from both sides of the aisle for what is truly necessary: Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  The Reform Movement of Judaism, guided by our social action arm – the Religious Action Center – has been at the forefront of this effort for many years running.  We are not new voices on this and it is important, especially in these days of economic uncertainty, that we do not follow the voices that say that we should shut our doors.  When those voices last sounded, the gates of this country were closed when our people needed them the most, seeking refuge as they were during the Holocaust.

Truly, comprehensive immigration reform is needed now.  But in absence of that, what steps might be taken?

Tonight we are focusing on closing a particularly unjust element of our country's immigration policy.  Most Americans know very little about how immigration works – or doesn't work.  That is why we are highlighting the DREAM Act tonight.  This Sabbath, DREAM Shabbat, is part of a national effort, beginning here and in other congregations across many religious spectrums tonight.  We want the world to know that the religious voice on this issue is firm.

Here are the details:

Each year, approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools.  Many of them were brought to the United States as children.  When they apply for college or to serve in our country's military, they are told “sorry, we're sending you back to where you came from.”  Think of that.  They may have only lived there a few months or a few years.  They have no life there, no ties.  The only place that they know is here.

The bipartisan Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act (H.R.1842/S.952), also known by its acronym the DREAM Act, addresses the lose-lose situation faced by these ambitious young people, who have grown up here, stayed in school, and been law-abiding contributors to our communities. The DREAM Act would allow undocumented youth conditional legal status and eventual citizenship provided that they pass background checks, prove to be of good moral character, graduate from high school, and go on to attend college or join the military.

When I was in Washington with high school students in early 2010, they chose to lobby on this issue.  According to a recent poll, 70% of likely voters are supportive of the DREAM Act, including 60% of Republicans. In fact, this bill should already be law. As Congress was concluding its business this earlier this year, the bill passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support and received a bipartisan majority vote in the Senate, only to fail because of a filibuster.

Tonight, we are honored to have with us Revered David Fraccaro.  David is new to our area, however, he directs an organization which has long been a close ally of our congregation.  David runs the Faith Action International House which is located on

Greene Street

just a few houses up the block from Temple’s Historic Campus.  David’s work is dedicated to two things: providing services for immigrants in our community and advocating for immigrants rights.  He will speak in more detail about this.  Then, he will introduce two people who will tell their personal stories.  As much as we might say or pray tonight, this issue affects them personally and in ways that should open our eyes and hearts and move us to action.

Reverend David Fraccaro (http://faihouse.org/) sent out a note to his email list which includes many of the points that he spoke about on Friday night.  Here is that note:

 

Dear Friends and Supporters of FaithAction International House,

I had the wonderful experience of speaking alongside 3 young members of the North Carolina Dream Team at a Dream Sabbath service at Temple Emanuel this past Friday evening.  I was deeply moved by their personal experiences, especially their resilience and courage to come out of the shadows, "undocumented, unafraid, and unashamed."  Their movement is inspiring undocumented, as well as documented youth from across the country to speak out about needed changes in our immigration law.  

Their stories reminded me of my recent visit to the International Civil Rights Museum, and the four A&T students who courageously began the sit-in movement that spread across the South in the 1960's.  The continued struggles of the civil rights movement and the immigrant rights movement are intimately linked.  As Martin Luther King wrote in a letter to Caesar Chavez, head of the United Immigrant Farm Workers Movement before he was assassinated, Our separate struggles are really one.  A struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity.  

Taking part in the moving service at Temple Emanuel, I was reminded of another young immigrant, who moved from Russia because of religious and political persecution to the Lower East Side Tenements of NYC in 1888.  Despite debilitating poverty and consistent anti-immigrant, anti-Jewish sentiments, he rose to become one of America's most beloved songwriters.  One of his most famous songs, an American anthem post 9/11, came from a hopeful phrase that his resilient mother would frequently say in the midst of struggle - God Bless America.  Imagine if we had made the mistake of detaining and deporting Irving Berlin.  

When we embrace our new diversity, and allow it to flourish we become a better nation.  I have no doubt the spirited and talented young men and women from the NC Dream Team will continue to make tremendous contributions to this country, especially at a time when we need brave new voices and ideas to move us forward.  Passing the DREAM Act is in the best interest of all Americans.  

Please consider learning more , and joining other "Dreamers" in taking the first essential step toward larger immigration reform.  

And please also see below for more opportunities for community building this week from our diverse community partners including: Participating in a justice campaign for members of El Buen Pastor Church, speaking out together in a rally to keep the landfill closed, and joining the Nepalese and Bhutanese communities of the Triad for the United Dashain Festival!

Peace,

Rev. David Fraccaro

FaithAction International House

Some additional thoughts about September 11- 10 Years After

We were living in Gainesville, FL then. I was starting my fourth year as the Rabbi and Director of the Hillel Foundation at the University of Florida (UF Hillel). School was in full swing. High Holidays were right around the corner. We were preparing for a group of students to go to New York to participate in a rally in support of Israel. I had just dropped our 4 and 3 year-old kids off at school. There was news on the radio about a plane having crashed into one of the Twin Towers. Michal called and asked me if I had heard the news. As we were talking, the second plane hit and we knew that something was very wrong. She was going to check on the kids (they were safe and sound, better at school than anywhere else).  I headed to Hillel, calling the campus police as I drove and requesting that they check in on Hillel and also on a few other Jewish places on campus.

This past Sunday marked 10 years since the day of the attacks. At Temple, we had a very moving commemoration. We did not start Sunday School on September 11th since our high-volume, high-energy "pep rally" atmosphere would have been so out-of-line with the mood of the day. Instead, we had a learning session for our Middle School students and an Orientation for our Madrichim. 9-11 took place during their lifetimes and they were present for our community memorial.

Late Sunday evening, I was thinking about 10 years ago and sent an email to Keith Dvorchik, who was UF Hillel's Program Director during the years that I was there. We were close colleagues and partners.  Here's what I wrote to him:

Among all of the memories of that day and that time, I think of the work that we did and the way that we as a Jewish community, as leaders, and as people responded.

I remember how when we heard that students might have family that was affected, we responded by seeking them out.

I remember how we sought security, not just for ourselves but for other Jewish groups at UF (the fraternities and sororities, the Jewish studies dept.).

I remember how when we heard that there might be problems with people turning against the Islamic Center, how we asked that the police help them too.

I remember how we convened the Campus Ministry group at Hillel, opening our doors to our traditional allies (Catholics, liberal Protestants), but how we also welcomed for the first time representatives from the Muslim community.
I remember how we called for a peace march, starting at Hillel and marching along University Avenue to the Islamic Center, growing in size and strength as we passed each house of worship, singing Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu.

I remember the Yom Kippur service that year held at St. Augustine, how that was an expression of religious cooperation.
And I remember the many services and panels and programs that we held to forward the notion that, even at a time of attack, despair, and uncertainty, that it was important that we provided a space and voice for working together and peace.

I remember how the one Sukkah that was built on campus that year was a Sukkah of Peace, with space for students to leave their thoughts, reflections, and prayer

And I remember how we made our sacred pilgrimage to Lower Manhattan to pay our respects at Ground Zero that winter when we were at the Hillel conference.

We were listening ears, hugs, and shoulders to cry on for many. We brought messages of comfort when it was needed. We modeled responses that went beyond the legitimate shock and anger that many were feeling. We reflected hope. And, we upheld the values that we as Americans and Jews hold dear, especially our support for and travels to Israel."


Keith, who now serves as UF Hillel's Executive Director, replied to me adding more details as well as his own assesment of what we did:


"I was thinking about the same things yesterday. How we all sat in the lounge watching on tv as students came in, stunned.


How as we began that walk, it started to rain - almost like G-d crying.


How incredible that Shabbat was - the spirituality that was in the air - everybody's soul asking why.


Finishing that walk at the Islamic Center - standing in their parking lot, proud to be there for them as well as for students and ourselves.


I'll never forget that trip to Ground Zero. It was one of the most impactful moments of my life - still feeling the heat, smelling the smoke - 3 months after the buildings collapsed. I still feel stunned when I think about it."

This past Sunday was a very moving day.  I came home and watched some of the documentaries.  Like so many, I was wrapped in memories, good and bad, from those days and from the years that have passed.  I pray that what we did then, and what we did this past weekend, has provided comfort and peace.  May nation not lift up sword against nation, and may they cease to learn about war.

A Mitzvah Project Worth Noting!

This Shabbat (KitTeitzei, 5771), Corey Lindenberg will be called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah. Like all of our congregants who reach this mileston of Jewish living, Corey has spent years involved in the Jewish community, months mastering sections of Torah, and many Shabbats at Temple with his friends and family.

Our congregation also requires that students do Mitzvah Projects dedicating at least 13 hours to serving others in our community. Monetary donations (an important type of tzedakah) are NOT included in this, neither are "collection boxes." Our youth also know that they must work with people. At least once, they go to one of Greensboro's soup kitchens to serve dinner to those who might otherwise go without. We also require that they visit Greensboro's Jewish elderly by helping our Cantorial soloist, Mitchel Sommers, lead services at the Blumenthal Jewish Home.

I have known Corey for years. He is a dedicated student having called the Bnai Shalom Day School "home" for as long as he can remember. He is also a competitive tennis player. This past summer, he was a camper at the Reform Movement's 6 Points Sports Academy (http://6points.urjcamps.org). Earlier today, Corey's dad sent me a clip from a local news show which highlighted the Mitzvah Project that Corey has been involved with for some time now. I was impressed and am posting this video here for others to see, learn from, and perhaps be involved with themselves.

Larger numbers in our area need food assistance

19% now need food aid in Guilford

News & Record, Sunday, September 4, 2011By Taft Wireback (Staff Writer)

They used to be called food stamps, but nowadays they’re known statewide as Food and Nutritional Services’ benefits — FNS, for short.

Call it what you want, across North Carolina and the Triad growing numbers of financially strapped residents call the program a necessity.

In fact, the state logged one of the nation’s highest growth rates during the last year for residents getting benefits through the program, which maxes out at $200 a month for individuals and $668 for a family of four.

Roughly 90,000 Guilford County residents live in households receiving FNS support, said Steve Hayes, assistant director of the county Department of Social Services.

“That means approximately 19 percent of (Guilford) residents are getting food stamps,” Hayes said. “We have a lot of folks who work. There are a lot of them working really hard and just not making enough to meet the needs of their family.”

Figures released in May by the U.S. Department of Agriculture ranked North Carolina among the top four states, with a growth rate of 20 percent during the preceding year.

Guilford County mirrored the trend as did the other Triad counties, though the growth rate slackened to about 15 percent in July compared with July 2010.

The average monthly assistance in Guilford is $270 a month, $6 above the statewide average. The median for both Guilford and the state is $200, meaning that 50 percent of recipients get less than that.

Hayes and others cited the persistent recession as a driving force behind the increased numbers. One source of new applicants is the expiration of unemployment benefits for people who were laid off many months ago, said Larry Johnson, director of Rockingham County’s DSS.

“A lot of folks were trying to make it on that,” Johnson said of unemployment compensation. “And FNS is often the first benefit people reach out for.”

Rockingham’s FNS levels scaled unprecedented heights in July, said Debbie McGuire, assistant director for economic services in that county’s DSS. The county had about 18,000 people living in 8,265 households that received a total $2.1 million in food assistance.

“A record in all three areas,” McGuire said, referring to July’s totals for FNS households, their residents and total benefits. “We’ve never had numbers that high.”

All of the money distributed in North Carolina comes from federal coffers, said Dean Simpson who leads the state Division of Social Services’ economic services office in Raleigh.

“The only county or state dollars involved are in administering the program,” Simpson said.

The amount of federal FNS money distributed across North Carolina added up to a staggering $2.3 billion during the last 12 months, offering some insight into the challenges the federal government faces in battling the deficit during a prolonged economic downturn.

Part of the so-called “welfare” safety net, food stamps became a lightning rod for criticism in the waning decades of the 20th century until the program was heavily reformed in the mid-1990s. Under program rules, the money must be spent on food. No cigarettes or alcoholic beverages, no toiletries, no paper supplies and no household cleaning products.

Stamps aren’t part of the deal any more. Residents receive an “electronic benefit transfer” card they use at checkout like a debit card. The card is automatically reloaded each month with the specified amount for each household.

County officials encourage recipients to buy such healthful items as dairy goods and fresh fruit or produce, but they also understand that pre-packaged food usually lasts longer and may feed more mouths per dollar, McGuire said.

“They face a dilemma: Do they make a healthy choice for their family or stretch the food dollar as far as possible?” she said.

To apply for FNS benefits, a single person must earn a net income no higher than $10,836 a year for consideration in the most readily approved category. Greater income is allowed, but legitimate monthly expenses must bring reserves down to the point that an applicant can’t afford adequate food.

Social-service screeners make those calculations by deducting reasonable amounts for rent, electricity, other utilities and such additional needs as day care for children of working mothers, Hayes said.

“The vast majority of the households are female-headed, so women do benefit more from these programs,” he said.

Whenever FNS is publicized, Hayes said, critics assert the program is a boondoggle because they know recipients who they believe should not be receiving help. Local officials investigate vigorously, but many times the problem turns out to be a misunderstanding in which the person getting benefits has some legitimate need or special circumstance the critic didn’t know about, Hayes said.

Except for elderly people living on fixed incomes, the agency reconsiders the eligibility of households receiving FNS benefits every six months, Hayes said. Elderly recipients whose income is unlikely to change significantly are re-evaluated less frequently, he said.

Some people apply for the program without sweating it. But many think long and hard before seeking help from FNS because of the perceived stigma, Hayes said.

“I couldn’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard a citizen say, 'I just never thought I would find myself here,’ ” he said. “But that’s what we’re here for.”