WHAT IS A VACATION TO YOU?

By Rabbi Niles Goldstein

What does the word "vacation" mean to you? Is it a vehicle for escape, a fixed, formal period during which we strive for all manner of entertainments and indulgences to make up for our commitments and responsibilities of the rest of the year? Or is a vacation a time for relaxation, renewal, and the reinvigoration of our bodies and spirits? Or, as yet another option, is a
vacation a time to take stock, a time to break from our daily routines in order to examine where we are, and who we are?

In my personal view, it can--and should--be all of these things. We ALL need periods of escape. We ALL need to infuse ourselves with moments that restrengthen us. And we ALL need those all-too-rare times that give us an opportunity to gain a better perspective on our lives.

During this summer, may each of your vacations give you the gifts that you want, and that you need.

Summer Film Series: A Mighty Heart

The New Shul's summer film series continues this Thursday night at 7:30pm with a screening of "A Mighty Heart" at the Quad Cinema at 32 West 13th.

This movie chronicles the story of the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Before being killed by terrorists in Karachi, Pearl's final words were: "My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish."

According to the New York Times, "A Mighty Heart" is wrenching, but it's the buzzing undercurrent of anger that makes it most true to its source. Time and again, Mr. Winterbottom plunges his jittery camera into the chaos of Karachi, into the noisy streets crowded with men and notably absent many women. This was the disorienting, alien and often frightening world into which Mariane and Daniel Pearl, a French Buddhist and an American Jew, willingly and bravely jumped. Although Ms. Pearl insists that her husband was also a cautious man up until the day he was kidnapped, maybe they were a little reckless. But they were fired up by a shared belief that journalism could help make the world better, a chokingly poignant idea in these shockingly cynical times."

Click on the youtube image below to see the film's trailer:



The film will be followed by discussion and dessert at Cafe Loup (105 W. 13th Street near 6h Avenue).

RSVP to info@newshul.org or 212-284-6773 by the end of the day, Wednesday, July 25th. We will pre-order your tickets for the movie.

[Please note: The film previously advertised for this week, "Rashevski's Tango," was canceled by the theater.]

Also, don't forget to save Tuesday, August 7th, for our final film - "The Fountainhead" which will be showing at sundown at 55 Water Street in Battery Park as part of their "Movie Nights at the Elevated Acre."

The New Shul Summer Film Series: Sicko

Last night was our first film in the summer film series and it was Michael Moore’s “Sicko.” It was quite a powerful movie about the terrible state of health care in this country and the alternative national health programs used by Canada, England, France, and even Cuba.

Moore, who is always good at drumming up attention and controversy, helped spark a lively post-film dinner discussion about his filmmaking techniques and the responsibility that we feel, as Jews and as citizens, to do something to repair a system that is – by almost all accounts – a disaster.

During the course of the conversation, we also talked about a recent appearance of Michael Moore on Wolf Blitzer’s CNN show where Moore challenged to Blitzer to apologize for his failures in the run up to the Iraq war and in his coverage of Moore's previous movie Fahrenheit 9/11.

Thanks to youtube, I was able to go home and watch the interaction in its entirety. I have included it below, just click it and it’ll play. It’s about 15 mins long (including an introduction to Sicko by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, which Moore derides) and is quite a bit confrontational.



Also, here is a link to Michael Moore's own Sicko Blog with information about the movie and the response to it, as well as a section on how to get involved.

Finally, this is my first blog post and I just wanted to introduce myself to the community and to those that I haven’t had the chance to meet yet. It is a real privilege to be a Rabbinic Intern with the New Shul and – as evidenced last night – this is a community that is interested in ideas, so please let me know if there is anything that you would like me to include on this blog for future discussions.

- Dan

SUMMER RUMINATIONS

By Rabbi Niles Goldstein

Summer is finally here, and for many of us it couldn't have come soon enough. Kids are off at camp, parents are off playing on vacations or in their second homes, and for those of us remaining here in New York, a wonderful and serene (and relative) quiet means that movie theatres and playhouses are less crowded, great restaurants won't always require us to
make reservations, and streets are suddenly and amazingly easier to navigate--even on foot.

In the main, New Yorkers--and our own community members--are quite a privileged bunch. And yet, we don't always appreciate that fact. Not everybody in this country, let alone this world, has the money or the time to do what so many of us have the opportunity to do each and every year at this time. Some face monsoons, some face warfare, some face grinding poverty. I don't want to bring anybody down, but this summer, try to give a little thought to how lucky you are--and then think of some creative ways of expressing that gratitude by helping out those who aren't.

To do less is to BE less. Try to use this summer not just to escape, but to assess.

REACTION & OVERREACTION

By Rabbi Niles Goldstein

In light of the attempted terror attacks in the UK in recent days, how we react and respond to today's frightening global situation is probably on a lot of people's minds, both there and here, which is nothing new. But these triggers keep reminding us that we are in for what may turn out to be a "generational war," a war against a many-tentacled, elusive, and savage foe that could very well be with us for another 30, 40, or perhaps even 50 years (in the opinion of some political and military historians).

Exactly a hundred years ago, in 1907, Joseph Conrad wrote (in one of his nonfiction works) that the goal of terrorists is to make governments and people OVER-react, unleashing brutal foreign policies, oppressive domestic measures, and the perpetuation of a culture of fear. When that occurs, we, like the terrorists themselves, can become our own worst enemies. We've come close to that line. Some think we have already crossed it. Regardless, we must be as vigilant today about our own reaction to terrorism as we are about the terrorists themselves. We don't want to open up a second front within ourselves.