Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Clare Kinberg

Vote Now for Food, Land and Justice!

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images (3)AARC members Idelle Hammond-Sass, Rena Basch and Carole Caplan are leading lights of our community’s Jewish Alliance for Food, Land and Justice. The Alliance’s program for 2015, Preserving Shmita, is in competition for support in the Ann Arbor Federation’s Jewish Community Impact Fund vote. The proposal is a request for $8,000 to continue programming for the entire community on sustainable, healthy, fair food and food systems and earth stewardship. You can read about last year’s Shmita programming here and here.

This year’s proposal includes many creative ideas for deepening existing connections to Jewish ethics and values such as a Farm-to-Shabbat Table initiative, envisioned as a community-wide event occurring every season with Shabbat dinners sourced from locally sustainably grown food with farmers present; training and networking for Jewish event planners in support of sustainable food initiatives between farms and food service providers; and creation and dissemination of farm-based Jewish curriculum for religious school within each congregation, supported by a Food Festival day of education/experiences at a local farm.

Voting on the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor’s Impact Fund proposals is open until February 27th. You are welcome to vote if you have donated a minimum of $18 to the Federation in 2014 or 2015. As part of AARC’s efforts at Tikkun Olan, we offer our members a Flexible Giving Option, in which you can make choices about how your donation to the Federation will be used. You can read more about Flexible Giving and find a donation form on our website’s Tikkun Olam page.

Our local involvement with Food, Land and Justice connects us to a dynamic worldwide movement of Jews. Soul Fire Farm, a CSA family farm in New York, is honoring Shmita– giving the land a Sabbath–and also publicizing their restorative justice program. Another good connection to Shmita and sustainability is the Hazon Shmita Project.

Don’t forget to vote!

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Hand in Hand Jewish-Arab Education in Israel

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AARC is a co-sponsor of the visit to Ann Arbor of Lee Gordon, co-founder of Hand In Hand, Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel. He will be here March 20-22 for a series of open community events highlighting the work of these bilingual and multicultural Jewish-Arab schools. The weekend’s events will give you the opportunity to be a part of this diverse intercultural Ann Arbor gathering in support of a shared society in Israel.

Community members are invited to all events:

Friday, March 20, 7:30 PM: “Continuing Together, without Hate and without Fear” Guest sermon, Social Action Shabbat service. Temple Beth Emeth, 2309 Packard Street

Saturday, March 21, 8:00 PM: “Building a Shared Society Together: Multicultural Education and Peacemaking in Israel,” an interfaith, multicultural gathering. St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church/Temple Beth Emeth, 2309 Packard Street

Sunday, March 22, 4:00 PM: “Overcoming the Jewish-Arab Divide in Israel: Building a Model of Integrated Schools and Leadership,” hosted by Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor. Jewish Community Center, 2939 Birch Hollow Drive

Please RSVP to handinhanda2@gmail.com indicating which event(s) you plan to attend.

Co-sponsors: Temple Beth Emeth, St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church, Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, Jewish Cultural Society, Beth Israel Congregation, Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation, Chelsea First United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, First Unitarian Universalist Association of Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Hillel.

 

Our Tu B’Shevat Seder

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by Rachel Baron Singer

Thoughts of trees, fruit, and burgeoning greenery are generally sparse during Midwestern winters, but on the evening of February 3rd (the 15th of Shevat), I was fortunate to attend an event where all three were front and center. To celebrate the New Year of the Trees, members of AARC gathered at the beautiful home of Carole Caplan for a potluck dinner and Tu B’Shevat seder. Growing up, I’d always loved this little holiday where machberot [notebooks] were pushed aside for a day of planting seeds and eating dates at Hebrew school. So I was beyond thrilled to recapture a little bit of that magic as an adult.

Written and led by Ellen Dannin, the seder kicked off with an explanation of the four different types of trees found in the Torah, including the Torah itself—a tree of life! We then shared poems and passages about trees and nature, all of which were personally selected by the attendees. This gave the seder a lovely personal touch, and gave us all a chance to share how we each interpret nature.

10968400_1020311124649870_5364300205119966905_n (2)Finally, we all had the opportunity to sample the various fruits the Kabbalists of 16th century Safed believed mirrored the order of the universe. These were broken into three groups: Fruits that need protection (nuts, pomegranates, coconuts), fruits with an inedible pit to protect their hearts (peaches, dates), and fruits that can be eaten whole (grapes, figs, blueberries). It was a wonderful way to pay homage to nature from a Jewish perspective, and to escape the ice and snow for an evening!

Reconstructionist “Virtual Bet Midrash”

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jewish_recon_logo_0Jewish Reconstructionist Communities (JRC), the Reconstructionist movement’s umbrella organization, is offering a new distance learning opportunity that individuals all over the country can participate in. The “Virtual Bet Midrash” (Virtual House of Study) is a series of learning sessions taught by leaders in the Reconstructionist movement. Each session is presented using a conference call format, and subsequently made available as a recording. The series runs from February through April 2015. The next teaching will be February 19, “Jewish Prayer in a Time of Eco-Crisis,” taught by Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde. Rabbi Jacobs-Velde is the co-founder of ZMANIM (www.zmanim-seasons.org), an organization that explores and celebrates connections between Judaism and the natural world. For a full listing of the sessions and to register, go to Virtual Bet Midrash.

Getting together with a friend may be a fun way to study. If you do decide to take part, let me (Clare) know; we’d love to have you write a blog post about the session or the series!