My ordination

Thank you to everyone who has sent me mazel tovs and well wishes on my ordination as a Rabbi from the Jewish Theological Seminary last week. I wanted to use this post to share a little bit about the ordination, as well as some pictures, with all of you who have been so warm and welcoming to me and Alana during the final year of my studies. It is an undeniable thrill to be able to serve this community, along with Niles, as a Rabbi.

The ordination was a very moving and powerful event and concluded with overwhelming recognition from our friends, family and teachers. Indeed, the ceremony concluded with the reading of each of our names in Hebrew with the addition of the word "HaRav" (the Rabbi) at the beginning of it.

So, whereas my name was:

Hillel (my Hebrew name) ben (son of) Shmuel Leib (my dad) u'Menucha (and, my mom)

It is now -

HaRav Hillel ben Shmuel Leib u'Menucha - and this will be my name the next time I'm called up to the Torah. (Hint Hint for our Shavuot Event)

Here are a couple of pictures of me and Rabbi Neil Gillman during the Tallit ceremony in which each student had a special prayer given to them by their spiritual mentor.



Here are some other pics:

Me, and several of my classmates, with Dr. Ruth (who taught one of our classes)

Alana, Rabbi Gillman, me and my mom (after the ceremony)

Thank you again to the New Shul community for all of your support and encouragement.

- Rabbi Dan

Miracle Corners

The New Shul invites you to a remarkable garden party to benefit Miracle Corners at the home of Trond Myhr and Mimi Saltzman (78 Perry Street) on Sunday, June 1st from 6-8pm.


Join us for music, food, and a special speaker to benefit Miracle Corners, a worldwide organization promoting genocide prevention, empowering survivors one community at a time.

Rabbi Niles Goldstein will introduce guest speaker Jaqueline Murekatete, program director of MCW.

Donations of any amount for MCW are welcome. RSVP to info@newshul.org.

Learn more about how to help in Africa.

Rabbi's Corner

A CALL FOR MORAL COURAGE
By Rabbi Niles E. Goldstein

Courage can take many different forms. Aristotle, for instance, makes it clear that by "courage" he means physical courage. His classic example is a soldier facing death in war. But acting bravely in battle is not sufficient—just look at examples of rash people who act out of impulsivity or inappropriate motives. They can act in the same way. What differentiates courage from rashness is the use of reason combined with a noble goal. The genuinely courageous person recognizes a cause as worthwhile and faces danger while knowing what they are doing. This separates the soldier who understands both the goal and the situation he is in from someone who acts from a desire to show off, or who fails to truly understand the danger he confronts.

Since Aristotle’s time, we have come to accept another type of courage, often called moral courage. Some modern thinkers have pointed out that in moral courage the danger is not to a person's physical well-being (though that is possible) but to his or her social standing, acceptance by peers and colleagues, or financial situation. Issues of moral courage arise frequently in our daily lives. A person confronting his or her peer group over a racist joke displays moral courage just as does a whistle blower facing ostracism from colleagues or the employee confronting sexual harassment with the likelihood of being dismissed. The fear to be overcome in these sorts of cases is not physical but social annihilation—a reputation destroyed, or a life of marginal existence in one’s community. What motivates such individuals is still the nobility of the goal, but in this case the goal is justice or respect for human dignity.

As we now consider who our next president ought to be, let us move beyond discussions of age, race, gender, experience, judgment, and other qualities. Let us also add moral courage to the mix. I haven't heard that subject brought up yet. It's been a long time since we have had a political leader who brings that essential quality to the table--and to our nation.

Trailers from the Holocaust Social Action Project

The New Shul Holocaust Social Action Project

Seeking to transform education around the Holocaust as a way to actively engage our children on a personal level, The New Shul Holocaust Social Action Project strives towards three major goals: to facilitate bonds between Jewish adolescents and Holocaust Survivors, to document the stories of the Survivors of the Holocaust, and to pass on real, meaningful lessons, both Jewish and universal, for our youth to take with them for the rest of their lives.

With guidance from Filmmaker Adam Zucker, the students have not only been learning the basics of creating, filming, editing and interacting with the subject of their own documentary film, but they are also having meaningful one on one discussions with Survivors, exchanging stories and ideas about their lives, the Holocaust, Judaism, and the world today.

On Friday, May 2nd, The New Shul held a Shabbat Service, focused on Holocaust Memorial Day, at which a trailer of our documentary, edited by Adam Zucker, was shown to The New Shul community.

And, it is with the additional assistance of Adam Zucker, that we are able to post that trailer here on our blog.

Part I



Part II

Bang on a Can Marathon!

Bang on a Can NYC Marathon

May 31 - June 1, 2008 6:00pm
World Financial Center Winter Garden, New York, NY

New Shul Member David Lang

This year's Marathon will take place at the World Financial Center Winter Garden from 6pm on Saturday May 31st through 6am on Sunday June 1st.

Click here for David's Bang on a Can website.

Here is a schedule of composers and performers:

6:00pm

Alarm Will Sound performing Son of Chamber Symphony (3rd Movement) by John Adams

Pamela Z performing Chalky Crystal Liquid Cave by Pamela Z

Alarm Will Sound performing Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Petpetuum by Harrison Birtwistle

Lisa Moore performing Lightning Slingers and Dead Ringers^^ by Annie Gosfield

Crash Ensemble performing Gra agus Bas by Donnacha Dennehy

8:00pm

Crash Ensemble performing Loops for Ancient Giant Nude Hairy Warriors Racing Down the Slopes of Battle (3rd Movement)^^ by Terry Riley

Karsh Kale and Raj Maddela performing Timeline by Karsh Kale

Ensemble Nikel peforming Sahaf^^ by Chaya Czernowin

Caleb Burhans performing _no_ by Caleb Burhans

Hartt Bass Band performing Strong Hold^ by Julia Wolfe

Young People's Chorus of New York performing Every Stop on the F Train by Michael Gordon (with film by Bill Morrison)

10:00pm

Bang on a Can All-Stars performing music from Shadowbang by Evan Ziporyn

Bang on a Can All-Stars performing Convex-Concave-Concord^ by Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen

Owen Pallett performing works by Owen Pallett

Bang on a Can All-Stars and Owen Pallett performing Twelve Polearms^ by Owen Pallett

Bang on a Can All Stars performing Glamour Girl by Lukas Ligeti

Bora Yoon performing ( ((PHONATION)) ) by Bora Yoon (with live visuals by R. Luke DuBois)

MIDNIGHT

SIGNAL performing Daniel Variations by Steve Reich

So Percussion performing the so called laws of nature by David Lang

Alarm Will Sound performing Revolution #9 (arr. Matt Marks) by The Beatles

2:00am

Crash Ensemble performing Resonant Relations by Arnold Dreyblatt

Marnie Stern performing works by Marnie Stern

Ensemble Nikel performing Riba^^ by Sivan Cohen Elias

Ensemble Nikel performing Nikel^^ by Ruben Seroussi

4:00am

Dan Deacon, Kevin Omeara and Jeremy Hyman performing Ultimate Reality Part 3 by Dan Deacon (with visuals by Jimmy Joe Roche)

Contact performing Discreet Music (arr. Jenny Pergolesi) by Brian Eno (with film by Suzanne Bocanegra)

Toby Twining Music performing Stimmung by Karlheinz Stockhausen

^ = World Premieres ^^ = US Premieres

The Lower East Side Games - Winners!

WINNERS!!!

Thank you to everyone who came and participated in our two part Lower East Side Games on Sunday. The first part - The Jews Clues Scavenger Hunt - had teams exploring the Lower East Side trying to decipher clues about one of New York's most fascinating Neighborhoods - from the pickle man, to the candy store, to Matzah factory.

Next up was our 2nd annual Golden Schmaltz Awards at Kush Lounge. The Golden Schmaltz Awards are given out for twisted takes on Jewish classics. Here are the winners for the best creations:

Best Tasting/Best In Show - Chef Jeanette Eichenwald (Green Eggs and No Ham)

People's Choice - Chef Sylvia Stein (Ma'tzamales)

Most Original Twist - Chefs Susan Berger and Talia Feldberg (Jewshi)

Best Presentation - Chef Holly Gewandter (Jewsion Borscht with Wasabi Ginger Cream)

Best Name - Chefs Laurie Wessely and Alex Wagner (Amuse Bouche Unchopped Liver)

Most Fattening - Chef Shonna Valeska (Nonny's Schnecken)

Healthiest - Chef Eduardo Eichenwald (Sopa Judia)

In addition, thank you to all of our chefs who participated in the big day:

Chef Joanne Wilson - Kugel Mini-Muffins and Brisket Buns

Chef Natalie Judelson - Two Mocked Chopped Livers Walk into a Bar

Chef Joanne Wilson - Guacamatzo Soup

Chefs Michele and Janice Moses - Schmaltzie Risotto

Chef Martha "Stewart" Spector - Not Lox

Chef Meryl Ain - Easy Unstuffed Cabbage

Chef David Goodman - Flankenstein!!!

Again, thank you to everyone who helped out, cooked, and particpated. This was truly a unique experience that left everyone informed, excited and, of course, stuffed!

Einstein and God

In case you missed it, Einstein's belief in God is coming under some scrutiny.

Those Einstein quotes that we all know - like, "God doesn't play dice with the universe" - which are used to express a theological undercurrent in his thinking, are now being seriously called into question with the sale of a 1954 letter that he wrote to the philosopher Eric Gutkind.


According to UK's The Guardian:

A letter in which Albert Einstein branded religious beliefs as "childish superstitions" and the "product of human weaknesses" has been sold at auction in London for £170,000 to a private collector, smashing the world record for a letter by the great scientist.

In the letter, Einstein is frank about his views on the supernatural. "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."

The letter also deals with the chosenness of the Jewish people:

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Rabbi Marc Gellman, of The God Squad fame, has a reply in Newsweek in which he talks about the use of Einstein quotes in religious and non-religious circles. He writes:

The implicit assumption animating the Einstein debate is that if the smartest person of the last hundred years believed in God, who are we to doubt God. I think this assumption is profoundly misguided.

What Einstein believed is that laws, not caprice, govern the universe. This is the fundamental and scientifically shared belief of all religions. This is as far as science can confirm God. There are, however, other ways to get from the God confirmed by both science and faith to the God of love, compassion, justice and hope.

I don't know how I feel about all of this. Next Thursday, I am becoming ordained as a Rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary and my belief in God comes not only from my religious studies but also, as you've probably noticed on this blog, out of my understanding of science, technology and the whole of the world around us.

I am inclined to agree with Rabbi Gellman that there are many different avenues to God. However, in all deference to Einstein, I'm not willing to give up on the redemptive aspect of our human intellect just yet.

- Dan

Rabbi's Corner

COMMEMORATION, OR MANIPULATION?

By Rabbi Niles E. Goldstein

On Sunday morning, during one of our wonderful and engaging "Taste of Judaism" discussions, one of our participants brought up the fact that Yom ha-Shoah (Holocaust Memorial Day), Yom ha-Zikaron (Israel's Memorial Day) and Yom ha-Atzma'ut (Israel's Independence Day) all seemed very close together, and it troubled her. She felt that this sequence of commemorations linked, in what seemed like a somewhat manipulative way, the horrors of the Holocaust directly with the birth of Israel as well as with Israel's military might. I have to say, in many ways, I couldn't really disagree with her. There are problems below the surface.

None of these commemorative days have a basis in Judaism itself, and all of them were created to mark both the tragedies and the great triumph of the Jewish experience over the last 60 years. Yet this Holocaust-Israel dialectic, which for the last two generations has served in such a widespread fashion as the anchor of Jewish identity both inside and outside the Jewish state, IS manipulative. The Jewish people yearned and prayed for a nation of their own ever since the loss of Jewish sovereignty to the Romans in the year 70 C.E., long before the Holocaust. And the reasons for, and history of, Israel's birth and independence are complicated--viewing Israel merely as the "positive consequence" of the Holocaust is inaccurate from a factual standpoint and offensive from a theological one.

Everybody has their own propaganda. But let's be smart enough, particularly as we enter Israel's 60th year as a modern nation-state, to separate fact from myth and reality from manipulation. Only then will our understanding of the complexities of the Middle East conflict be more clear, our sensitivity more pronounced, and our sentimentality, I hope, finally be washed away.

Lower East Side Games in the NY Times!

From the NY Times:

Jewish Food, Tweaked

The New Shul, a nontraditional congregation on the Lower East Side, will hold a benefit tasting of reinvented classic Jewish food on May 18 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Kush Lounge, 191 Chrystie Street (Rivington Street). Tickets are $85 for adults, $20 for children 12 and younger, may be secured by check payable to New Shul, 111 Eighth Avenue, 11th floor, New York, N.Y. 10011. Reservations should be made by May 14: (212) 284-6773.

Click here for the NY Times link.

For more information - look to the right of this post!

Flashback: Israel at 10

With Israel at 60 celebrations coming up, The Jewish Week ran a piece last week about a Mike Wallace interview with Abba Eban from 50 years ago:

Fifty years ago, April 12, 1958, on the cusp of Israel’s 10th birthday, not its 60th, Abba Eban, then Israel’s ambassador to the United States, sat down for an interview with CBS.

“I’m Mike Wallace,” says the newsman. “The cigarette is Parliament.”

It was a time when journalists almost had to smoke, a haze drifted between the talking heads on an unadorned stage, draped in black.

The primitive black and white kinescopes of Wallace interviews from the late 1950s were recently made available by the University of Texas at Austin, where they’ve been archived.

The interview on that April night takes us back to a simpler time, before settlers, before Israel’s control of Jerusalem or the West Bank, a time when “little Israel” was David, not Goliath. It was the year “Exodus” was published. Israel was a teen idol, or so we remember. But the young Wallace (40 years old) was tough and Eban was, well, Eban.

Associate Editor Jonathan Mark lists a few of the interesting exchanges:

WALLACE: “Mr. Ambassador, in its ... 10 years as a nation, Israel has been involved in repeated violence... ”

EBAN: “Well, Mr. Wallace, the last 10 years have not only been years of violence. They have been incomparable years of joyous creation, of sovereignty restored, of the people gathered in, of a land revived, of democracy established, but there has also been violence imposed by the hostility of our neighbors.”

And:

WALLACE: “Now then, Mr. Eban, regarding the American Jew and the State of Israel, the anti-Zionist rabbi, Dr. Elmer Berger [a Reform rabbi, not Satmar or Neturei Karta] has written, ‘the Zionist-Israeli axis imposes upon Jews outside of Israel, Americans of Jewish faith included, a status of double-nationality,’ a status which he deplores. What’s your answer?”

EBAN: “Well, Mr. Wallace, I have so many pressing duties that I don’t follow the wisdom of this gentleman perhaps as closely as I should. I will only say this, that we ask no allegiance, we seek no loyalty from anyone who is not a citizen of Israel. There is a kinship of spirit, of emotion, of historic memory between us and those who share our faith throughout the world ... We believe that Israel’s emergence is the greatest collective event in the history of the Jewish people, and that there is no pride and no dignity for a Jew such as those to be found in giving aid and sustenance to Israel in the great hour of her resurgence.”

You can read the full article here, or you can watch the entire interview here:

Mike Wallach - Abba Eban Interview

It's about a half-hour long and completely mesmerizing. And, if you've never seen Abba Eban in this sort of setting, it is a must see.

Feel free to post your thoughts on Abba Eban and Israel at 60 in our comments section.

- Dan