Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Gillian Jackson

Graduate Spotlight: Congratulations AARC Graduates and Families!!

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Eli Shoup

In June, Eli Shoup graduated cum laude from the Driehaus School of Business at DePaul University with a focus on Music Management. As of July 19, he is an A&R [Artists and Repertoire] Research Assistant at SCP Operations which is located near Chicago.  

Jasmine Lowenstein

Jasmine Lowenstein graduated from Community High School and is heading off to Vassar in the fall!

Harry Bagenstos

Harry graduated from Wesleyan with a B.A. with High Honors in History and the College of Social Studies and with a Certificate in Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory. He won the Meyer Prize for best honors thesis in American history and the Joan W. Miller Prize for outstanding honors thesis in the College of Social Studies. He worked during college as a History Preceptor at the College of Social Studies, as a TA in Data Analysis, as an assistant at the Middlesex County Historical Society, and as a high school debate coach. And he taught incarcerated people working toward their degrees through Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education. We love all the good trouble he caused working on labor organizing and other political struggles on and off campus. Now he’s headed to law school at Stanford, with a view to becoming a lawyer for the labor movement. We admire and love his values, work ethic, and brains, and, even more, his sense of humor, broad interests. It’s so much fun it is to spend time with him; we’re thrilled he’s living with us for the summer.

Leila Bagenstos

Leila graduated magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr with a B.A. in the Growth and Structure of Cities; she was also named to the Community Building Honor Roll.  From the beginning of college, Leila worked hard at work as well as school — making her way up from the cafeteria her first year to a supervisory position at the school’s career center her senior year.  All along the way, she was engaged in local community development and environmental justice activism.  After a break of just two weeks, she started a full-time job helping to administer the Tangled Title Fund, which assists low-income Philadelphia homeowners to fix title issues with their property, so they can have access to government maintenance assistance and to private credit — and so their families can build generational wealth.  She’s smart and hard-working and has terrific values.  And she’s also an absolutely lovely person, who’s empathetic, competent, and fun.  We couldn’t be more proud of the woman she’s become. A bonus of our couple of years in DC is that we can visit with her more easily in Philly.  

Lior Cooper

Lior graduated from Community High School, having made use of Community’s flexibility and taken courses online, at UM, at Washtenaw, and community resource. Lior rowed for 4 years with Skyline Crew. She was accepted at a few universities across the country and chose to stay local for undergrad, she will be in LSA at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Miriam Chava Berman Stidd

Miriam Chava Berman Stidd graduated Summa Cum Laude from Washtenaw International High School, and completed the requirements for an International Baccalaureate degree. She is a member of the National Honor Society and has played second chair in the violin section of the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra. She played the lead (the villain Creon) in her school production of Antigone, has published several poems through 826 Michigan, and is interested in art, architecture, and environmental science and sustainability. She plans to take a gap year full of adventure, travel, and independence, after which she will attend Brandeis University.

Deron Lessure

Deron Lessure, son of Carol Lessure and Jon Engelbert, is a graduate of Skyline High School. He plans to be at Oberlin College in the fall to nurture his interests in math, physics and computer science. He is spending a good part of the summer at the Ross Mathematics program. 

Deron Lessure, Skyline High School class of 2022.

Joey Ball’s Dvar Torah

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Welcome everyone. I have put this speech together in order to teach you about my
Torah portion and to help you learn something new. My Torah portion is called Naso. It
is in the Book of Numbers, and my haftorah is from the Book of Judges.

The Torah portion of Naso has several topics that don’t seem to fit together. It talks
about how the Levites were special, and their job was to set up the mishkan every night
when the Israelites found a camp. The mishkan was the tabernacle, the sanctuary for
God, like a portable synagogue. Naso also talks about how wives who have cheated on
their significant others have to be forced to drink water that has a scroll of this law
dissolved into it, and if the woman is innocent she will be ok, but if she is guilty, she will
die a painful and slow death. Another thing this parsha talks about is the Nazirites, who
take oaths to never cut their hair, never touch anything that comes from a grapevine or
drink wine, and never touch a human corpse. Finally, this parsha gives the priestly
blessings, which are still said today by parents over their children at Shabbat.

I’m actually not going to be talking about any of these topics today, though. I’m going to
be talking about Samson and Nachshon, who are both biblical heroes that are briefly
mentioned in my Torah and Haftorah portions. Samson appears at the end of my
haftorah, and Nachshon appears towards the end of my Torah portion.

Samson was born in ancient Israel in the tribe of Dan to Manoah and Zealophonis. An
angel predicted that Samson would be born and would be a savior of the Jews against
their enemies, the Philistines. Samson’s parents raised him with the blessing of the

Eternal, and a razorblade was to never touch his head. Samson was extremely strong.
When he was young, he was attacked by a lion and killed it with his bare hands. There
are many stories about him killing Philistines in different ways. But his downfall was that
even though he hated Philistine soldiers, he had a thing for Philistine women. He met
Delilah and married her, and she kept asking for the way to take away his strength.
When she finally wore him down, he told her that cutting his hair would make him weak.
She cut off his hair in the middle of the night while he was sleeping, and then Philistine
soldiers captured him, gouged his eyes out and tied him to a pillar. He asked God to
give him one last burst of strength, and then he tore down the pillars, killing thousands
of Philistines along with himself. Samson stood up for the Jewish people against the
Philistines, which was heroic, but he was obsessed with Philistine women and killed
thousands of Philistines, which in modern times would be horrible, but back then it was
considered heroic.
Nachshon ben Aminadav was the brother of Aaron’s wife in ancient Egypt. He was a
descendent of Judah. When Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt, they came to
the sea, and God told Moses to raise his staff. But nothing happened. The people were
terrified, because Egyptian soldiers were coming for them, and they would be enslaved
again. So Nachshon came out of the crowd. His family and friends said, “What are you
doing?” but he started walking into the sea. First his knees, then chest, then nostrils,
and the second the water was above his head, the sea parted. The Israelites were able
to cross because the sea was now a pathway. Of course, now they had to wander the
desert for forty years. But Nachshon was a hero who saved the Israelites from getting

enslaved again. Nachshon showed the courage of his faith. He fully trusted God to
save the Israelites. He was a type of hero that not many people know about.

What makes someone a hero? A hero is sometimes a real person, but more often
they’re a character in a movie or a book who people look up to for their actions.
Sometimes a hero can be motivated by personal reasons, like wanting to save a family
member or friend from danger. Sometimes a hero can be motivated by a desire for
fame. A hero often performs a heroic action because there’s no one else to do it.
Sometimes, when a hero steps up, people look up to the hero and want to make the
hero their leader, but the hero doesn’t necessarily want the responsibility of being a
leader, and can run away from that responsibility.

What makes a leader different from a hero? A leader always has the people’s interests
at heart. A leader might give their people what they need to survive, like food or shelter,
or might protect people from a threat. A leader might not put themselves in harm’s way
in the same way that a hero does, because the leader is thinking about the needs of the
people, and the people might be stuck if they end up without a leader. Sometimes
leaders are hard to find, because leading takes a lot of work, and can be stressful. A
leader might sometimes do heroic acts, but it’s the people and their needs that are most
motivating to a leader.

So if I was going to apply these ideas to the heroic characters in my Torah and Haftarah
portions, we could say that Samson was both a hero and a leader. He was a leader in

the sense that when the Israelites needed someone to defend them, Samson stepped
up to fight for them. Although Samson was very strong, magically strong, he was also
vulnerable when he wasn’t being helped by God. Ultimately, his actions were probably
more heroic than leadership-focused, because he killed himself in order to get revenge,
which meant he wasn’t thinking about the Israelites’ long-term needs.

Samson spent his life doing heroic deeds, but Nachshon was a hero for one moment.
Nachson was a hero because he jumped into the ocean without thinking. He didn’t
really think about himself, he thought about the needs of his people. Because of his
actions, the Israelites were able to escape from slavery. Like Samson, Nachshon was
willing to sacrifice himself for his people, but he did it out of faith and trust in God and
because he saw that someone needed to step up and act.

Nachshon and Samson are both examples of long-ago heroes. Their stories are
interesting and even exciting, but in today’s world, I think we need more leaders than
heroes. Heroes do helpful things in the moment, but leaders are thinking more long-
term about the needs of the people. Some of the issues that our world needs more
leadership around is conflict, like Russia’s war on Ukraine. If Putin was a better leader,
and was actually thinking about the needs of his people, he wouldn’t have invaded
Ukraine. Another issue that it would be helpful to have better leadership around is
COVID. And not just one leader to keep us as healthy as possible – we probably need
multiple leaders working together, both within the United States and across the world.

In general, we need leaders who are able to work well with groups and listen to the
needs of the people. They need to be flexible, and not assume that they have the right
answers themselves. They need to be able to collaborate. They need to be able to
come together to see people’s shared needs, and come up with plans to meet those
needs.

Rabbi Natan Margalit at AARC July 9th Saturday

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UPDATE July 6, 2022: CANCELLED! Unfortunately Rabbi Natan has tested positive for COVID and cannot conduct services or do his book talk on July 9, 2022. Stay tuned for a rescheduled future program. Second Saturday Kabbalat Shabbat, July 9th, – Services cancelled.

By Quinn Diacon-Furtado as a Special for the Washtenaw Jewish News

Rabbi Natan Margalit will be the guest service leader at the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation’s Second Saturday Shabbat service at the Jewish Community Center, 2935 Birch Hollow on July 9, 10 am to Noon. Following the service, Margalit will lead a book talk on his new book, The Pearl and the Flame.

The Pearl and the Flame from Albion-Andalus Books examines how Judaism, along with other indigenous and traditional cultures, has preserved the understanding of the world through patterns and relationships. Margalit grounds key systems sciences concepts, such as emergence, embeddedness and tipping points, in Jewish language and spiritual tradition. This blend of spirituality and systems sciences offers a timely integration of old and new, suggesting approaches that stand to move humanity away from cultures of control and towards cultures of relationship.

The Pearl and the Flame also chronicles Margalit’s secular upbringing in Honolulu, his exploration of Orthodox Judaism in Jerusalem, and his own spiritual path rooted in ecological interconnectedness. A theological and ecological thinker and teacher, Margalit’s stories and experiences highlight the integration of ecological thinking and core Jewish concepts, positioning Judaism at the forefront of our struggles against our current social crises.

“There aren’t too many rabbis who can weave together pieces of wisdom from Wendell Berry, Mary Douglas, and Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, the rebbe of the Warsaw Ghetto,” comments Rabbi Sid Schwarz, author of Judaism and Justice: The Jewish Passion to Repair the World. “It reflects the genius of a book that is an antidote to an ever more fragmented world.”

Rabbi Jill Hammer, author of The Jewish Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons, comments on Margalit’s suggestion that the Jewish tradition of sacred communal storytelling can shift the paradigm and encourage ecological revolution: “Margalit’s book, full of down-to-earth personal stories as well as astute cultural observations, beautifully strings the pearls of Judaism and ecological thinking together to create a relevant and nourishing whole.”

Margalit, a rabbi and scholar with 30 years of experience in teaching, writing, organizing and congregational leadership, earned his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies at U.C. Berkeley. He has taught at Bard College, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Hebrew College Rabbinical School, and now is chair of the Rabbinic Texts Department at the ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP). He is also Director of the Earth-Based Judaism track of the AOP, and is founder of the non-profit Organic Torah, now a project of ALEPH. For more information on Organic Torah and Earth Based Judaism, visit aleph.org.

The Jewish Community Celebrates Pride Month!

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AARC Favorite, Dori Midnight’s Queer Morning Blessings

As Keshet’s opening Pride Month page says, ‘Welcome, You Are a Blessing!’ Happy Pride to the AARC LGBTQ community and its allies! Pride Month reminds us of the importance of welcoming everyone to the table and celebrating all that they are. This month also gives us the opportunity to shine a light on the LGBTQ community, advocate for them, and honor them. Jewish tradition specifically teaches that the infinite variety and diversity of humanity is a mark of Divine artistry and creativity (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5). So we honor you, our LGBTQ community and celebrate you during this very special month!

If you would like to get out and celebrate Pride Month, check out the following events in SE Michigan and Online!

NextGen Detroit Pride Shabbat, June 1oth: https://jewishdetroitcalendar.org/event/pride-shabbat/

Pride shabbat at Temple Beth Emeth, June 10th: https://www.jewishannarbor.org/event/tbe-pride-shabbat/

Jewish Democratic Women for Action invites you to “Celebrating PRIDE with Purpose and Activism” with three notable LGBTQ+ leaders: June Gutterman, recently retired CEO of Jewish Family Services of Ohio; Laurie Osher, a state representative from Maine; and Jon Cohen, director of community mobilization for Keshet. June 16th, 4pm- https://www.keshetonline.org/event/celebrating-pride-with-purpose-and-activism/

Join Joy Ladin and Keshet CEO Idit Klein for Pride & Joy, an online gathering in honor of Pride month and to celebrate Keshet’s successful Dare to Dream campaign, June 23rd, 7pm- https://www.keshetonline.org/event/pride-joy/

Beit Sefer Celebrates a Year of Resilient Nature Based Jewish Learning

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Beit Sefer wrapped up its 2021/2022 school year last weekend with a year end celebration and art show at the Farm on Jennings. The Beit Sefer program spent much of the 2021/2022 year outdoors, exploring Judaism’s relationship to nature. In addition to our traditional curriculum, the year focused on the changing of the seasons and what lessons the students can learn from nature. Some examples of this year’s lessons include blessings for harvest, Tikkun Olam and environmental stewardship, and the Jewish calendar’s relationship with agriculture. The impetus for the nature based curriculum was born out of COVID safety precautions, but served as a profound opportunity for families to explore Jewish learning in a new way.

It was a bittersweet celebration last weekend as our Beit Sefer director, Clare Kinberg, announced her retirement. Clare has brought so much to the Beit Sefer program, and she will be dearly missed. Thankfully, she remains a member of our congregation and community- so she will still be a presence in families’ lives in the future.

Please enjoy the photo collage below with some fun snapshots from the year. As you can see, it was a joyous year spent in community! If you would like to share any thoughts, memories, or gratitude for Clare, we will keep the comments open on this blog or you can email us at aarcgillian@gmail.com.

How Do YOU Do Jewish? Teach Us on Shavuot!

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By Rabbi Ora Nitkin Kaner

You’ve probably heard the saying ‘two Jews, three opinions.’ It contains a kernel of truth: the idea that Jews thrive on arguing and sharing our opinions and beliefs with one another! But the phrase also reflects the diversity of perspectives, histories, cultures, and experiences present in Jewish communities; for as much as we might have in common (attending High Holiday services, or observing Shabbat in some fashion), we also have a lot of differences (what kashrut means to us, or what kind of God we believe in, or what our favorite Jewish food is).

This Shavuot, we have the opportunity to learn about and from our differences! The theme of this year’s Tikkun Leil Shavuot is ‘How Do YOU Do Jewish’? The evening’s learning will focus on the practical side of doing and being Jewish, and offer a window into how different community members express themselves Jewishly. 

Members have the opportunity to teach (for 5, 10, or 15 minute time slots) on “How I Do Jewish.” This can be interpreted very broadly, and could range from “How I Bake My Favorite Cheesecake” to “My Most Meaningful Prayer Experience” and anywhere in between. Rabbi Ora will offer an hour-long class focused on the ‘doing’ aspect of ‘Doing Jewish’: “How To Create and Lead a Meaningful Shabbat Service.”

Do you, does your family, or did your ancestors ‘Do Jewish’ in a particular way? We want to learn about it! If you’re willing to present, please email Rabbi Ora with your topic and how long you’d like to teach for. We look forward to learning from you!

Shavuot will be held at the JCC of Ann Arbor on June 4th, 7pm-10pm. We will participate in an evening of learning and then go outside for an al fresco dairy desert potluck. Please RSVP here.

Schedule of Events:

Shavuot 2022: How Do You Do Jewish?

7:00-8:15 pm: How To Create and Lead a Meaningful Shabbat Service with Rabbi Ora

Have you ever wanted to lead a Shabbat service for AARC but haven’t known where to start? Or are you looking to level up your skills? In this interactive, creative, and practical session, you’ll think about how to choose a theme, create flow, craft a dvar Torah, and make the most of your creative and musical skills!

8:20-8:35 pm: Seeing, Finding, Showing My Jewish Self in Games with Hannah Davis

It’s natural to want to see ourselves in the stories we consume. I play video and tabletop games a lot, and I look for Jewish content and themes in them. And if there isn’t much to find, I start making my own! Here are some Jewish stories I’ve found – or made – in games.

8:40-8:55 pm: Teaching Religion Responsibly with Lauren Zinn

9:00-9:25 pm: Edot of Ruth: On ‘Doing Jewish’ and Doing the Heavy Work of the Divine with Marcy Epstein

After a brief drash about mitzvot (Jewish doing; מִצְוֹתַי) in the Book of Ruth, we shall study a connection to edot (testament) to the chukim (divine decrees) at Sinai. We’ll then discuss the reconstruction of edot as “difficult witnessing” in the here and now. There’s a hands-on challenge to this session: while we talk, participants may explore sketching a small edot (by way of emblem or picturing the witness/witnessing) in charcoal on paper, something to bring home as a minhag mitzvah of decorating our Jewish homes for this holy day. Supplies provided!

9:30-10:00 pm: Outdoor Shmoozing, Cheesecake, and Havdallah!

Jewish Perspectives on Abortion

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A quick primer in light of recent news regarding Roe v. Wade

Abortion Rights Rally in Minnesota

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) and Reconstructing Judaism (RJ) put out a statement on May 3rd condemning the leaked documents indicating that the Supreme Court may overturn Roe v. Wade. Reconstructing Judaism strongly conveyed the movement’s belief that access to reproductive choice is a human right and must be protected at both the state and federal level. The RRA and RJ will be participating in a Jewish Rally for Abortion Rights on May 17th at Capitol Hill. Read the full statement and get details on the rally here.

Amongst the current political turmoil surrounding the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it might hearten you to know that Jewish thinkers have been pondering the morality of abortion for millennia. According to Tomas J. Silber, a Jewish physician and medical researcher, Jewish law puts fetuses and embryos in a different category than infants. This is exemplified by the fact that Jews do not say Kaddish for a fetus, but do perform the ritual for an infant. Additionally, if a mother converts to Judaism while pregnant, the baby is considered Jewish, and therefore the baby does not need to immerse in a mikvah (Talmud Bavli Yevamot 78a).

Some of you may remember Rabbi Ora’s Shavuot teaching in 2019 on Jewish perspectives on abortion. Our congregation looked at multiple historical Jewish texts that discuss abortion, including:

Talmud Bavli Yevamot 69b:

Rav Chisda says: And if she is pregnant, until 40 days from conception the fetus is merely water. 

Mishna Oholot 7:8:

If a woman is having difficulty in giving birth [and her life is in danger], one cuts up the fetus within her womb and extracts it limb by limb, because her life takes precedence over that of the fetus. But if the greater part was already born, one may not touch it, for one may not set aside one person’s life for that of another.

The National Council for Jewish Women (NCJW) has stated that “Jewish sources explicitly state that abortion is not only permitted but is required should the pregnancy endanger the life or health of the pregnant individual. Furthermore, ‘health’ is commonly interpreted to encompass psychological health as well as physical health. NCJW advocates for abortion access as an essential component of comprehensive, affordable, confidential, and equitable family planning, reproductive, sexual health, and maternal health services.”

There is strong support for abortion rights in Reconstructionist and Reform Judaism, as well as historical precedent that supports women’s access to abortion. The Conservative movement has condoned abortion “if a continuation of pregnancy might cause the mother severe physical or psychological harm, or when the fetus is judged by competent medical opinion as severely defective.” The Orthodox movement supports abortion when a mother’s life is at risk, but leaves further discretion on a case-by-case basis. Outside the Jewish world, the PEW research center has found that 60% of American support access to reproductive choice.

If you feel inspired to take action regarding access to reproductive choice, consider donating to Planned Parenthood or sign the petition circulating locally to amend the Michigan constitution to establish reproductive choice and codify Roe v. Wade in Michigan.

Planning for Shavuot

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Learn about Shavuot AND Help Us Plan This Years Observation!

SURVEY LINK HERE!

History of Shavuot

Shavuot, or the ‘Feast of Weeks,’ is celebrated 50 days after Passover. The holiday coincides with both the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai and an ancient Jewish grain festival. In ancient Israel, Jews participated in three agricultural festivals per year where they would bring the fruits of their labor to the temple as offerings. The three holidays are Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. These agricultural based holidays allowed Ancient Jews the opportunity to gather in community to engage in ritual and celebration together. There is archeological evidence that Jews came from as far as the Mediterranean during the Greek era to reaffirm their faith and practice. When the Temple was destroyed in the first century CE, the harvest festivals transitioned from a central festival of offerings to a synagogue based practice. In diaspora, we have come to reconstruct and make relevant these holidays to provide meaning and connection in modern times. As an observance of the giving of the Torah, many Jews spend Shavuot engaged in the practice of learning.

Past AARC Observances of Shavuot

Shavuot 2021 we celebrated the end of Beit Sefer and Shavuot together by having blintzes at Aaron Jackson’s house! The congregation also attended a community wide lecture about Jewish approaches to Justice.

In 2020, we attended a nationwide (covid shutdown) Shavuot with Reconstructing Judaism.

2019 was our last in person Shavuot. We celebrated the holiday with Kehillat Israel and hosted lectures by scholars from both of our congregations. And of course ate cheesecake!

Shavuot This Year

Rabbi Ora has invited the congregation to submit their interest in a slate of potential programming choices. Please make sure that you take a few minutes to complete this survey! As always, let us know if you have any input, questions, or concerns!

FILL OUT THE SURVEY HERE!!!

A Joyous Mimouna!

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The conclusion of Passover this year was marked with a joyous Mimouna celebration at the house of Jeff and Rena Basch. The Mimouna bonfire echoed a tradition that originates in Morocco as a cultural holiday and is celebrated in Israel with picnics and barbecues in the park. The weather was warm and everyone was so glad to be spending time together, releasing the constriction of the passover holiday by eating carbs and sweets! (pictures below!) The event was such a success we are hard at work planning more outdoor social gatherings for the summer, if you are interested in hosting something- let Gillian know!

The origins of the holiday vary depending on who you’re talking to. For some, Mimouna celebrates the yarzheit of Maimonides. For others, it began as an interfaith celebration of community and liberation in Morocco. The nation of Morocco is home to many Sephardic jews and Muslims; on the final night of Passover, these two communities would come together and share a meal filled with sweets and carbs. It was a time that Muslim neighbors could expect to be invited into the homes of their Jewish friends to celebrate the conclusion of the holiday. Many communities around the world have used this tradition to reconstruct opportunities to celebrate community and interfaith friendships.

At our Mimouna bonfire, Clare Kinberg shared a beautiful Mimouna family tradition. Clare blessed people with mint leaves dipped in buttermilk and dates and shared a blessing of fertility. This blessing was shared from her Moroccan relatives. The fertility blessing was not limited to childbirth, Clare encouraged everyone to think about what aspects of their life they would like to ‘fertilize’ or nourish. This could be something like a garden, a career, a relationship etc. It is a beautiful tradition that we were lucky to share on this beautiful evening. To learn more about the tradition, check out this article written by her niece, Rabbi Yohanna Kinberg.

photo credit: Emily Eisbruch

Serenity Shabbat!

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THIS SERVICE HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED TO APRIL 29TH AT 6:30

Many of us have been touched by addiction, either as a personal struggle or as a loved one of someone who lives with addiction. This special Shabbat service will focus on addiction awareness and the wisdom of Jewish tradition as it relates to the spiritual practice of recovery. Everyone is welcome, including members of the recovery community, friends and family who have been affected by a loved one’s addiction, and anyone interested in this unique spiritual experience. Hosted by the Lior Project, this service will be one of a series of addiction and recovery-focused events hosted by congregations throughout the Ann Arbor area.

Following the service, we will come together to enjoy a kosher for Passover vegetarian potluck! The service will be hybrid; to participate please sign up here.

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