AARC as Ecosystem in Feb. 2023 WJN
Blog
The Golem
By: Otto Nelson
A hulking humanoid created by mystical Kabbalistic ritual, the Golem is a product of ancient Jewish folklore. It’s a being of the earth, constructed of mud, dirt, or most often clay in the shape of a human, and often made animate by a Hebrew word carved upon its forehead; Emet, meaning Truth. It’s sometimes described as a monster or fantastical creature, but, in fact, it is neither.
The Golem is an automation… not truly alive, and often as mindless and soulless as a machine, bound entirely to the commands of its creator. This mindless, unceasing loyalty is precisely where its danger arises… stories of the Golem tell of how it collected firewood until it chopped down a forest – brought water to a synagogue until it flooded – fried latkes until they filled a house! Moreso, many stories describe an inexplicable growth, of the Golem growing ever larger, ever stronger, and ever more unintentionally dangerous as time passes. But these stories have one end… the Golem’s creator, deciding it must be stopped, swipes a letter from the animating word. Emet, Truth, becomes Met, Death. And many tales end there, the Golem crumbling apart, reduced to earth again.
Regardless of their precise origins and details, the stories of the Golem have inspired important works such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and continue to make a mark in popular culture today, a strange ancient connection to a modern world shaped increasingly by automation. Essentially, they all hold a few important morals… a warning of the risks of hubris in creation, an assertion that power without a heart and mind is dangerous, and a message that strength must be tempered always with wisdom.
Mollie Meadow’s Dvar Torah: Shmot
Shabbat Shalom and thank you for attending my Bat Mitzvah. I have a few special thanks to tender. First of all, I would like to thank Marcy Epstein for her leadership in my early Jewish learning. I would also like to thank Elisabeth and Neil Epstein for helping me learn the torah and haftorah blessings, Rabbi Eliott for welcoming me into the Jewish community with the Brit Shalom and for working with me and my family to craft a wonderful Bat Mitzvah service, and most of all, I want to thank Molly Kraus-Steinmetz – who will always be Big Molly to me – for tutoring me, her first student, in Torah, and for baby-sitting me when I was young.
This weeks’ parsha starts at the very beginning of Exodus. Joseph’s generation of Hebrews in Egypt has died out, and a new Pharaoh has ascended to the throne- a Pharaoh who never knew Joseph and his significance to the past Pharaoh.
Pharaoh says “Let us deal shrewdly with him, so that he may not increase; otherwise in the event of war he may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” That is a translation of one of the lines in my portion. First, notice that Pharaoh uses the term “he” to refer to the Hebrews, rather than the plural; “them.” In a healthy societal culture, humans must be recognized as such, not as being one indiscernible mass. If we recognize people as individuals, only then can we respect them enough to treat them as fellow humans, worthy of respect and love. There might have even been intermarriage and a merging of peoples between the Egyptians and the Hebrews, much as took place between the French and Anishinaabeg in Michigan. You can’t intermarry with “him,” but you can intermarry with “them.”
Earlier, in line seven, it says, “but Israel’s sons bore fruit and swarmed and multiplied and proliferated greatly, greatly so the land was filled with them.” You might notice the choice of the word swarm. Swarm like animals, like mice, like mosquitoes, like- dare I say- frogs, lice, flies, and locusts? This again comes back to what sort of becomes a theme of treating the Hebrews as less than human.
One question I’d like to ask you is, at what point do poor conditions become less than human? At what point does treatment become inhuman? For those of you that attended Brenna’s Bat Mitzvah, she talked about the meaning of enoughness; but when does less than enoughness become less than human?
Isaac Meadow’s Dvar Torah: Shmot
Greetings, friends, family, and congregants. Thank you for coming, and Shabbat Shalom. I wish also to extend my thanks to Deb Kraus, Drake Meadow, Nancy Meadow, Rabbi Elliot and everyone here who supported me.
Today’s parashah, or Torah portion, is Shmot, or “Names;” it consists of the first part of Exodus. Pharaoh was afraid of a Hebrew uprising, so he ordered all of the Hebrew boys dumped in the Nile. A Hebrew woman saved her child Moses, (remember him, he becomes important later); after floating down the Nile in a basket, he is rescued by an Egyptian princess. He grew up an Egyptian, though probably with some sense of Hebrew identity, as well. After killing an Egyptian to defend a Hebrew, he fled to the desert. At a well in the Sinai desert, he defended the daughters of a priest named Jethro from ruffians. Jethro married one of his daughters to Moses, and, as Jethro’s son-in-law, he tended the flocks.
One day, he saw something very strange – a bush that was burning but was not being consumed. God called “Moses, Moses,” from the bush. After explaining to Moses that he will bring the Hebrews out of Egypt, God then orders Moses to go back to Egypt as his messenger. Moses asks what name he should give, if the Hebrews ask for God’s name. Up to this point, God has been speaking rather strangely, repeating words, and speaking about seeing things. But now, He says something even stranger. His name, he says, is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, meaning “I will be who I will be.’ This is often translated as, “I am who I am.” Which is the better translation? In biblical Hebrew, there are only two tenses, perfect tense and imperfect tense. The perfect tense means that the action is complete. The imperfect means that it is not yet complete. This does not mean that god is flawed, it means that he is ever-changing; like fire. Since humans are made in the image of God, we share in this fiery potentiality, and are drawn and fascinated by it.
Why does God name his essence as unfinished, as something still in process? Why does he appear to the eye as something insubstantial, and shapeless, as fire?
When Moses sees the burning bush, he experiences this basic instinctual attraction, but he also now experiences the intellectual attraction of curiosity – how can a human understand a fire that consumes no fuel? I also see this as a small flex, showing Moses that he is powerful by burning something without consuming it. This is him showing supernatural powers.
Humans also literally burn without actually being consumed; in the process of using the sugar, glucose, the mitochondria take in food and burn it very slowly. We use the energy to live.
We have had a sensory experience, an intellectual experience, but there is also a spiritual part of this. Does everyone think that fire is spiritually important? It’s important in other religions; In the New Testament, the holy spirit comes down at Pentecost as tongues of flame.
Zoroastrianism, an Iranian religion that has its most important texts in the “Avesta,” also has fire as an important part of their faith. Ahura Mazda, their god of light and goodness has an altar that eternally burns and is considered to be the visible presence of Ahura Mazda.
What can that mean for the spiritual practitioner now?
1. Savor the moment because life is always changing.
2. Expect the unexpected.
3. Understand that your essence is change, you are unfinished. Don’t get frozen in one place. As Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose last name was given to me as my middle name, said about the readiness to embrace change in yourself: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”
Thank you all for listening.
Reconstructing Judaism Movement Votes to Support Reparations to BIPOC Communities That Suffered Due To American Colonization
Co-Written by Etta Heisler and Gillian Jackson
“Reparations in Pursuit of Repairing the World“
“If a fellow Hebrew, man or woman, is sold to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall set him free. When you set him free, do not let him go empty-handed: Furnish him out of the flock, threshing floor, and vat, with which the Lord your God has blessed you. Bear in mind that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I enjoin this commandment upon you today.” Deuteronomy 15:12-18
Generational trauma and persecution is a theme in Jewish liturgy and culture that runs deep in the roots of our cultural identity. As long as the Jews have been in diaspora, there have been lessons passed down through the generations about preserving our culture and standing up to oppression. There are myriad stories that describe ways various oppressors attempted to marginalize or harm the Jewish people and we survived (i.e. Purim, Hanukkah, Passover to name a few). It stands to reason that Jewish institutions are increasingly sensitive to the generational trauma inflicted on People of Color in the United States. At the same time, generations of white Jews have largely benefitted from the economic, legal, and social systems founded upon both the enslavement of Africans and Black folks, and on the genocide of indigenous people in the United States. Predominantly white Jewish institutions have often perpetuated biases against BIPOC community members – Jewish and non-Jewish alike. Reconciling with this narrative in which we are the oppressors and the oppressed is the work of B’tzelem Elohim, Teshuvah, Tzedek, and Tikkun Olam. All people are created in the image of God and it is our job as Jews to create a world where everyone is treated as such.
In acknowledgement of this shared responsibility for those facing enslavement and disenfranchisement in our country, the Reconstructing Judaism movement has written and passed a Resolution on Reparations. The reparations resolution commits the Reconstructionist movement to a series of advocacy measures that will aid in building momentum for nationwide reparations. The beginning of the resolution acknowledges that people of European ancestry have benefited from black oppression and enslavement. It adds that other BIPOC populations have been affected by white nationalism throughout US history. The resolution then promises to acknowledge and support BIPOC led initiatives that address racism. It lays intentions to educate members or Reconstructionist Congregations on this issue. Finally the resolution commits to supporting House Bill 40, a bill that funds research into how the US can make reparations to the descendants of black slaves.
In further discussion of reparations, Reconstructing Judaism states, “Reparations can mean many things. It is policy, theology, a moral obligation, history, and a demand for truth and reconciliation. The National African-American Commission on Reparations (NAACR) defines reparations as, “a process of repairing, healing and restoring a people injured because of their group identity and in violation of their fundamental human rights.” Ta-Nehisi Coates understands reparations as an ethical orientation — “the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequences.” There is no Hebrew term that fully encompasses the range of meanings that are associated with the English word, reparations. Is it both teshuvah — the Jewish process of public accountability, apology, mending, and returning to right relationship, and tzedek — the ethical demands of material and legal justice.” You can read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ full article on reparations here.
Before this most recent resolution on reparations, Reconstructing Judaism committed to dozens of anti-racist initiatives that include diversifying the Reconstructionist movement and college, developing improved communications around their anti-racist work, supporting liturgy that teaches about racism and is taught in multiple languages, participating in larger movements, and reviewing internal systems that contribute to biased policy. A wise friend of mine once told me that real social change can be defined by this image: unjust systems will continue to move forward like an airport escalator endlessly cycling forward. It’s not enough to turn around and stand against it, we need to walk the opposite direction and walk fast enough to move the other way. The passage from Deuteronomy seems to acknowledge this idea as well – it is not enough simply to free an enslaved person, one must also give them means to live a fulfilled life. Reparations is one way of “walking down the escalator” in acknowledgment of the centuries of discrimination that have continued since slavery was abolished. Participating in this conversation and activism around anti-racist work is essential to the success of the movement. We should be proud of Reconstructing Judaism’s commitment to this work and have the hard conversations necessary to move it forward.
Some members of our congregation have begun a conversation about participating in the educational modules provided by Reconstructing Judaism to educate ourselves about the work of reparations and anti-racism. If you would like to participate in planning these events, please email us!
AARC Reads Dinners with Ruth and Savours Connections
This article on the AARC book group and AARC members with personal connections to Ruth Bader Ginsburg appeared in the January 2023 Washtenaw Jewish News. See page 10 here.
AARC Davening Team: Together in Song
Thanks to Etta Heisler for this article in the January 2023 Washtenaw Jewish News. See page 11 here.
The Nittel Nacht Hannukah Tradition and its Intersection with Antisemitism
The practice of Nittel Nacht has its origins in Eastern Europe in the late Middle Ages, when tensions between Christians and Jews ran high. On Christmas Eve when most Christians were headed to church, the visible reminder of the ‘otherness’ of the Jews who were not participating incited antisemitism. It was feared that Jews would be attacked when headed to study Torah on Christmas; therefore, Rabbis banned Torah study on that day. There are other theories for the prohibition of Torah study on Nittle Nacht, such as the belief that studying Torah on this day would lend merit to Jesus. Whatever the origin of this holiday, for centuries Nittle Nacht observances usually involved Jews hunkering down and playing cards, chess, and dreidel as an alternative to study.
In the days leading up to Christmas this year, the Nittel Nacht tradition has been on my mind. The holiday season exposes the difference in cultural and religious practices in modern times as much as it did in the Middle Ages. We may not be walking though villages to the synagogue, but kids experience this difference in schools and adults in the workplace. Differences that may have been unseen at other times of the year are pushed out into the open and become seen.
Recently, I attended a shabbat service at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills in solidarity after the antisemitic attack they suffered a few weeks ago. During this service Congresswoman Haley Stevens spoke about her work addressing antisemitism in Washington. Stevens asserted that the antidote to antisemitism is to put acts of antisemitism in the spotlight and bring conversations about antisemitism into non-Jewish spaces. Making these events known to the wider community encourages awareness about antisemitism and encourages our allies to stand up against it when they see it.
People fear what they do not understand. The recent antisemitic attack was focused around Israeli politics and old Jewish tropes that do not reflect the richness of modern Jewish culture. It is clear that this misled individual had no experience with the wide diversity of Jewish thought and experience that exists in the world. Jews in the Middle Ages found solace in staying indoors and trying to bring attention away from their ‘otherness’ on Christmas. In our current political climate, we do not have the option to sit outside of the cultural or political discourse. But the degree to which it is our responsibility as Jews to correct misconceptions is up for debate.
On this occasion of Nittel Nacht, I invite you to consider the questions that arise from our current experience of ‘otherness’ on Christmas. To what extent is it our responsibility as Jews to actively correct malevolent Jewish tropes? What characterizes our multicultural American experience of Nittel Nacht in a county where we are not the only non-Jews living in a predominantly Christian nation? What spaces do you feel most comfortable confronting antisemitism with non-Jews? Do conversations around Judaism come up more frequently in school and work during he holidays? And if so, is this an appropriate time to discuss antisemitism? Feel free to comment below!
Home Hosted Hanukkah Schedule 2022!!
Wow what a super fun eight days we have coming! Take a look at the myriad of excellent opportunities for celebration and community and sign up to attend!
| First Night of Home Hosted Hanukkah Potluck at Marcy Epstein’s House! December 18th, 6:00-8:00pm. First night at Marcy’s– bring your Hanukkiah, have a latke, bring a vegetarian dish with serving utensil! Capacity: 20, kid-friendly, white elephant, dreydl– dogs in house, please mask if you can, three steps to front door. SIGN UP TO ATTEND HERE, Address will be sent to registrants (Marcy’s house is in the Burns Park area) Second Night: Stop by the Giant Menorah Gelt Drop in Liberty Plaza! On Monday Dec 19 at 6 PM, Chabad House will be Lighting Up the Night at a grand celebration for the entire community at Liberty Plaza! The Giant Graffiti Menorah will stand tall as a symbol of our Jewish pride and unity, and the exciting Chanukah activities will be fun for the whole family! Enjoy latkes, donuts, hot drinks and live music while dancing with the Dreidel Mascot. Get ready to experience the spectacular Chanukah Gelt Drop, with chocolate coins and other treats raining down from our city’s finest fire truck ladder. Airbrush your very own Chanukah beanie and feel the joy of Chanukah and community spirit! |
| Third Night: Home Hosted Hanukkah Karaoke Night! at Shannon Rappaport’s House, Tuesday December 20th, 5:30-8:30. Donuts, hors d’oeuvres, wine and kid snacks. Dreidel, candle lighting, karaoke! 2 steps to access house, house has cats and a dog. Sign up to attend HERE, address will be sent to registrants. |
| Fourth Night: Candle for Tzedakah, Wednesday December 21st, 5:30pm. For one night of Hanukkah, community members and families come together to give to those in need. One Candle begins at 5:30 PM with a pizza dinner, edible dreidel making (marshmallows, pretzels, frosting, Hershey kisses), gift wrapping, and fun crafts! If a kosher meal is required, please indicate so on your registration form. Register to attend HERE. At 6:15, we’ll welcome magician and comedian Jonathon LaChance as seen on the television show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. This hilarious show will be lots of fun for the whole family! This year, we’re partnering with The Bottomless Toy Chest! The Bottomless Toy Chest is a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing toys, crafts, and interactive activities to children undergoing cancer treatment. Please join us by bringing a new toy in its original packaging to the event! If you are unable to join us, boxes will be in the lobby prior to the program to collect new toys. |
| Fifth Night: Home Hosted Hanukkah Campire Stories and Singing at Etta Heisler’s House. Thursday December 22nd, 7pm-8:30pm. Outdoor party. This party will feature large fires available where you can warm up, as well as warm beverages to enjoy. The Heisler’s will provide mozzarella sticks and jelly donut holes as well as hot coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and cider. This night will feature a dramatic reading of Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins and Hanukkah songs around the fire. Fire pits are handicap accessible, bathrooms require stairs. Bring cash/coins for the tzedakah box, OR use a qr code to make a community donation to Community Action Network’s Bryant Community Center. Masks required inside. SIGN UP TO ATTEND HERE. |
| Sixth Night: Fourth Friday Kabbalat Shabbat and Hanukkah Service, Friday December 23rd, 6:30-8:00 pm. Hybrid Service at the JCC of Ann Arbor. Come connect with community, rest, recharge, rejuvenate. Everyone welcome. We are asking everyone that comes in person to read the Health and Safety Guidelines. Vegetarian, nut free potluck after services. Please bring a dish to pass. **This will be a special Hanukkah Shabbat Service co-led by Margo Schlanger and Rebecca Kanner. |
| Seventh Night: Home Hosted Hanukkah Bonfire at Rena & Jeff Basch’s House. Saturday December 24th, 5:30pm-8:30pm. Gather for candle-lighting, bonfire, and a chili dinner around the fire. Bring a menorah & candles. Bring/wear warm campfire clothes. Capacity 25-30 ish. COVID restrictions – stay home if you’re feeling ill or test positive. Food details: Rena will make a big pot of chili or maybe two, and a toppings bar. Will also have warm and cold beverages for children and adults. If people want to bring something, here are some ideas – salad, corn bread, fruit, dessert, Fireball! Sign up to attend HERE, address will be sent out to registrants. |
| Eighth Night: Home Hosted Hanukkah Potluck at Eileen Dzik’s House. Sunday December 25th, 6pm. Come gather for latkes and singing. Vegetarian potluck – desserts welcome! Sign up to attend HERE, address will be sent out to registrants. |
Brenna Reichman’s Dvar Torah From Her Bat Mitzvah on December 10th, 2022
Hi everyone!
So, picking up where I left off with the introduction to today’s torah portion. Jacob and Esau have come back together twenty years after the “birthright incident”. Jacob arrives with his large family and with his gifts of goats, sheep, camels, and cows.
I’m going to share my version of the exchange that ensues:
Esau: Is all of this yours?
Jacob: Yes! It is to find favor in your eyes. (Or, I don’t want you to kill me!)
Esau: I have enough, brother. Let what is yours be yours. (Or, I don’t need your stuff!)
Jacob: No, please. If I have truly found your favor, accept these gifts. For seeing your face is like seeing the face of G-d. G-d has been gracious to me and I have everything.
(Or, I really really don’t want you to kill me!)
Esau accepts the gifts.
Both of the brothers declare here that they have enough, and my theme today is enoughness. First, I will offer a couple of interpretations from the rabbinic commentary and then I will share some of my own reflections.
First, what does enough mean to Jacob and Esau in this exchange?
Rashi, who was alive about 1000 years ago, differentiated the ways that the two brothers spoke of their enoughness. Jacob said, I have everything, meaning all that I need. While Esau said, I have an abundance, suggesting a greed for more than he needs. But, in the same breath, Esau says, “let what is yours be yours.” Rashi says of this that Esau conceded the blessings to Jacob. To me this suggests the opposite of greed. But Esau can both lean towards greed, and desire reconciliation with his brother. Aren’t we humans all a bit complex.
Another medieval rabbi known as Radak had a slightly different take. When Esau said, “let what is yours be yours”, Esau is trying to convey that he had not suffered as a result of Jacob receiving their father’s blessing.
Another source I used was a gift I got myself during my preparations, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary. Here, one of Jacob’s insistences is translated as, please accept my gift of blessing. This is interpreted as, please take my blessing, by which Jacob may be trying to compensate for having stolen the blessing from Esau twenty years ago. However, to me, this seems very much like a sorry-not-sorry move. Jacob doesn’t regret what happened. He never outright apologizes. But he does seem to want to reconcile, or at least to not be killed.
And the last rabbinic commentary I will share today is from Rabbi David Teutsch, a reconstructionist rabbi who is still alive today. In A Guide to Jewish Practice – Everyday Living, he writes on the topic of consumption, or to me, material enoughness. Here he acknowledges that there is a place for consumption to add pleasure to daily living. As long as we don’t compromise our financial security or the greater public good, nor undermine our ability to give tzedaka, which is defined as charitable giving with an eye towards justice. I found this commentary on the idea of enough, more relevant to our lives today.
Now on to my reflections.
I started out on this intellectual project thinking that I would be able to come up with a definition of what is enough, and how to live my life in that place of enoughness. By which I mean, what size house should I live in, how much of my income or savings should I donate, how should I make decisions about purchases for things I need versus things I want. And what about my carbon footprint. I have so many questions about how to live in a way that doesn’t hurt others. I know in my heart that my too-much, is someone else’s not-enough. But of course there’s no right answer to these questions. This is the stuff of being an adult and striving to be a good planetary citizen.
But still, I can’t get this question out of my head. What does it mean to have enough? For Jacob and Esau it meant many wives, handmaids and children (insert feminist commentary here), as well as livestock, and servants (insert human rights commentary here). Perhaps it also meant reconciliation. But what does it mean for me, or for us, today, in this time and place? Side note and full disclosure, I just bought tickets to Cancun for spring break. But back to my existential musings on enoughness.
For those of you that don’t know, I’m a nurse practitioner, and one of my jobs is at the sole women’s prison in Michigan, which is about a 15 minute drive south of us, in Ypsilanti. I think my work in a prison setting leaves my mind especially unsettled in the enoughness department. I’m going to share a few moments from my day this past Monday.
I was working in one of the clinics that is located within a housing unit. In the background, officers are yelling “one at a time in the bathroom”, and “get out of your doorway”. At that moment I thought enoughness would be unencumbered access to a bathroom for all those people who are incarcerated. I also thought enoughness for me would be working in an environment without yelling and humans being hostile to other humans.
That same day I overheard an officer asking a new arrival if she meant to put herself as her emergency contact. She replied, I don’t have anyone. What would enough look like for her?
Also on Monday, I was performing a routine exam, and the patient said, “that’s really nice that you do these exams in here”. I replied, of course! There’s a lot of care I can’t get for you, but this I can do. She was essentially thanking me for doing my job. In that moment, was I her enough?
This is how most days are at the prison. This level of in-your-face need.
Life in the prison is often about survival. I can’t count the number of times one of the people who are incarcerated has said to me, “I don’t want to die in here”.
All of this leads me to more questions:
Why do I get to thrive when so many that I come into contact with are merely surviving?
For those of us that are comfortable and our survival is taken for granted, how do we define our enough?
What does it mean to have too much and acknowledge that we are not special or deserving but to still have it?
We are prone to comparing ourselves to others, which further muddles the search for answers to these questions. Just as Jacob and Esau were comparing and competing in the exchange about the gifts. There is a sense that each was trying to say, no, I have more than you.
Reflecting on the prison environment lays bare all the different parts of enough: the array of needs we humans have, from the physiologic to the psychologic.
Let us contemplate on this for a moment:
Food, water, warmth, shelter.
Safety, health.
Social needs, friends, family, partners, community.
Financial security.
The need to be respected, valued by others, and feel that we are contributing meaningfully.
The need to learn and expand our knowledge.
Connecting with nature.
Spiritual needs.
Creative expression, music, art.
For the people I come into contact with at the prison, to have a chance to survive and thrive would mean enough access to housing, education, access to child care, addiction treatment, lives free from violence, a society free from racial biases, their freedom, and much more.
Now, as is customary in our congregation, I will pause to hear from some of you. Here is my question, but feel free to comment on anything I’ve said.
In a world where so many people can barely survive, under what conditions is it okay to thrive?
Thank you for your contributions. I would love to continue this conversation with each of you in the months and years ahead of us.
I’m going to end with a quote that resonated with me. I found this from Ellen Dannin in a Reconstructing Judaism blog post. (And side note, it says in her bio that she is a former member of the Ann Arbor Hav!) She writes:
“What we ought to be concerned with is not material possessions – though we should be grateful for them. Rather, our real focus ought to be relieving suffering, being diligent about the obligation to live in a Godly way, being grateful for the good things that come our way while not assuming we deserve them, and instilling these understandings in the next generation.”
In other words, giving thanks and giving back.
And I think for today, this is enough.
