Parshat Vayakhel
G-d Commands us to Show “Audacious Hospitality” to our Fellow Jew
(Exodus 35:1-38:20)
Doug Gallant
“Va’yakhel Moshe Et Kol Adat B’nei Yisrael”, And Moshe gathered together the entire congregation of Israel”. The message of this gathering was that we needed to re-discover the true meaning of Jewish unity. Kehillah is more than just being gathered together. It represents the idea that we are a community, with, ultimately, the same purpose, and the same goals.
Hey, Zhonkoye (Thoughts about Crimea)
Peter Eisenstadt
What is my favorite Jewish Crimean song? What is the only Jewish Crimean song I know? Its “Zhonkoye,” a little Soviet agit-prop ditty my ex-Communist parents used to sing when they wanted make fun of their former beliefs. Written sometime in the 1930s, in Yiddish, about a Jewish collective farm in the Crimea, it was Englished and recorded by Pete Seeger in the late 1940s, and it is his version that became well-known Here are the lyrics:
Zhonkoye
Putin Overshadows Netanyahu’s Meeting with Obama
Ayala Emmett
For those who would like to see a peace and two-states solution and for those who would like to see it derailed, the meeting between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama got lost in Putin’s military move into Crimea and the crisis in Ukraine. The media was busy figuring out Putin’s
military moves, and Obama’s and European leaders’ responses; here at home criticism by Republicans of the president’s leadership drew much more attention than yesterday’s meeting at the
Tracing the Roots of our Ethiopian Family
Submitted by Sharona and David Langerman
We took this trip to Ethiopia to trace the roots of our Ethiopian family in Israel so that we can see with our own eyes the country from which they came.
If you click on
any of the pictures, you can view our beautiful gallery of photographs taken in Ethiopia.
Beliefs and Disagreements
Matia Kam
David Ben-Gurion: on diverse views and beliefs in the state of Israel and on the Haredim, the Ultra-Orthodox and N’turei Karta who separate themselves from the state of Israel, a distancing that at times takes a hostile, anti-Israel turn. 1
“One can regret that such disagreements exist, but they need to be acknowledged, and those who […] genuinely believe in human freedom and the freedom of consciousness must treat with respect even beliefs that they regard as wrong or tasteless or false; no one has the right to suppress them, not to use the power of the government, including power that is based on a majority, to oppress heart-felt beliefs […] . We must give full range freedom to all views and beliefs […]