In Three Years by Ayala Emmett
Our Justice of Supreme Valor
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
We the people
Are planning your 90th birthday.
In three years on March 15
This nation will gather
In a festival of gratitude,
Balloons of your wisdom will float
Colorful, soaring, joyous
A special Opera will sing your courage
And she, the American Vice-President
Will offer the first toast.
In our terrifying days of wobbling justice
You are America’s beacon of hope
And we watch you move between home and hospital
Making brilliant legal arguments.
And between now and your 90th birthday
What We Can Do To Stop Annexation by Partners For Progressive Israel
Dear Friends
Many of us are hoping that by July 1 – in about two months – some of the restrictions we are living under because of the coronavirus may be eased. Of course, there is no way of knowing now when that threat will be eased.
But there is one thing that we do know about that date. On July 1, Israel’s new government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu with his former bitter rival, Benny Gantz, as his deputy, could begin to annex parts of the West Bank, something no Israeli government has ever tried to do. We Americans who care deeply about Israel’s future must work together with the many like-minded Israelis to stop this threat to Israel’s integrity, which would create a major obstacle to a future two-state solution.
TO ALL WHO CELEBRATE EASTER
Religious Celebrations in the Time of Covid19 by Ayala Emmett
In the midst of this painful coronavirus we are about to celebrate Passover. As we prepare for the Seder, we, as do other religious communities, experience two different emotions: anxiety and sadness at the devastation of the pandemic as well as anticipation of celebration. Should we stay with our sadness? Would it be right to rejoice? Rather then make a choice we can honor these conflicting emotions and thus follow a Jewish tradition of the two eternal pockets that are sewn into the fabric of life. What are these two pockets about? The Hassidic Rabbi Simcha Bunam tells us that the two pockets are there so that each one of us can reach into them and retrieve in one pocket, “For my sake was the world was created,” and in the other, “I am but dust and ashes.” While firmly stitched in Jewish tradition, the pockets are a universal human experience like this virus moment in our life. Right now I have in one pocket a note with the fragrance of rich spices saying, “Celebrate this Seder with joy,” and in the other, smudged with tears the note says, “We remember those touched by the coronavirus, those who are ill, and those who lost loved ones.” The coronavirus has forced spatial separation in places of worship and in families that cannot be together at the Seder table. Yet Zoom has opened up a getting together in celebration, to bless and be blessed, giving us a communal opportunity to tell and retell the meaning of freedom then, and now in our days.
Priests and Professionals by Peter Eisenstadt
Let me add a few thoughts on Ayala’s wonderful d’var Torah on parshat Tzav. The priests were the first Jewish professionals; the first responders to the sinfulness of the Israelites. Their position was hereditary, but they needed to be trained in their specific tasks; they needed to don specific garments to be used only while performing their assigned roles.
What is a professional? Persons who have special education for a specific role they perform for the rest of society. They need to be licensed in some fashion, and they are generally respected for their abilities. Many professionals have dangerous jobs. That was certainly true for Israelite priests. They were the intermediaries between humanity and God. In this week’s parsha, in Sh’mini we have the story of Nadab and Abihu—the priests who offered God “strange fire” and were in turn incinerated by God. The interpretations of the sad fate of Nadab and Abihu are many. But perhaps what is most important is that the priests who wrote Leviticus thought this story was so important that they interrupted their recitation of laws to highlight the lesson that professionals always need, whatever the situation, whatever their crisis, to remember both their strengths and limitations.
Rituals of Protection: From Leviticus to Coronavirus by Ayala Emmett
A physician recently described the new ritual of protection that health professionals have been taking on in this pandemic crisis. He told us how he is doing his best to protect his family when he returns home. He takes off his clothes he showers at the entrance then puts on clean clothes. We are used to physicians wearing special outfits that distinguish them as a profession as well as protecting them and their patients; we are familiar with unmistakable surgeons’ complete attire. The coronavirus has turned out to be more formidable than surgical protective garments. We are shocked by the new needs of protection of our health workers when they come home and their unmet needs at work.
A Vote for HATIKVAH is a Vote for Liberty, Justice and Peace by Ayala Emmett
Dear Friends,
I’m proud to be on the HATIKVAH: Progressive Israel Slate running for election in the World Zionist Congress. These elections take place once every five years, and the current one ends in four days. I am asking you to support me, to support the HATIKVAH slate, and to support an Israel that lives up to our progressive values.
We on the HATIKVAH slate are no longer willing to cede it to those whose narrow right-wing views have not brought Israel safety and security, nor do they represent our Jewish values.
The Deal of the Century or a Shotgun Wedding? by Ayala Emmett
It was a jubilant occasion in the White House. A celebration of a three-year plan hatched by a glib novice whose rise to power came through brazen nepotism. The guests in the room included administration heavyweights like the Secretary of State and an assortment of donors from the mogul of gambling to cheering supporters of Trump and Netanyahu.
The ceremony was cannily similar to a shotgun wedding designed to force a marriage agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. The illogical/logic of this strange moment was that the two peoples were already in cohabitation and it was time to make it legal. Shotgun marriages, as we know are oblivious to the suffering they inflict. Similarly in most discussions of political conflicts, suffering has mostly been ignored. Not surprisingly, on that fateful day in the White House political power was in full force since those holding the shotgun were no other than the president of the United States and his son-in-law who claimed to have written the marriage agreement of the century.
Shhh- The Burning Bush is Talking By Deborah Kornfeld
In every generation Jewish scholars study our holy texts and mine them for additional meaning and understanding. And as far as texts go you can’t beat the Book of Exodus. It has a gripping narrative with its story of redemption and revelation.
The story of Moses and the burning bush just leaped out of the pages for me this year as a metaphor and as a lesson for today. Our own trees are burning, burning in the Amazon, burning in California and burning in Australia. Millions and millions of trees have been destroyed.