Masorti Olami

April 2008 – Nisan 5768
By Judy Dvorak Gray
We wish you all a Pesach Sameach v’kasher!
 
 
 
Visit to Marseille, France by Rabbi Tzvi Graetz, Executive Director, Masorti Olami and MERCAZ Olami
 
Can the Baba Sali and Wisenchaft be combined together? I’m not sure that Zechariya Frankel and his followers would answer positively to that question, but after returning from my visit to the new North African Masorti kehillah in Marseille, I want to tell you that my answer is yes. Actually on the same wall next to the Holy Baba Sali picture is the Masorti flag and newsletter board.
A year ago, members of Kehillat “Judaica” in Marseille surfed the internet and found the outstanding website of the Massorti France --www.massorti.com (Massorti in French is written with two s’s). (See more detailed explanation about the website at end of article.) The members read the articles and texts explaining the ideology of the Masorti movement and decided that it was compatible with the ideology of their kehillah. Kehillah “Judaica” is composed of 150 families from North Africa (Algiers, Tunis and Morocco). In the past, they were a Liberal congregation, not Reform, but rather a unique European stream. They didn’t feel comfortable with the Sephardic Orthodox movement which is getting more “haredi” or with the Reform Movement and felt that the Masorti Movement was the most compatible with their beliefs. Although they are more “conservative” in their practices--women don’t serve as shlichei tsibur or wear tallitot--I was surprised by a few things like the mixed seating of men and women. They use the Sephardic siddur “Petach Eliyahu” in a French nusach, Tefillot were in the Sephardic style including Shir Hashirim, special kabbalat shabbat, the Sephardic version of kaddish, a lot of “chazak u’baruch” instead of “Yashar Koach”, and an emphasis on saying all the sacrifices in the birkot hashahar. It was pointed out to me that Bat Mitzvah girls learn tefillot, are taught to be shlichot tsibur on the day of their ceremony leading part of the tefillot (including the Ten Commandments, Shema, and more) and read the Haftorah.
A very special moment during the service was when the Priestly Blessing was recited. All the women, men and children were wrapped under talilitot, family by family, during the benediction, and afterwards everyone got kisses and hugs from their parents.
Before my arrival in Marseilles, I traveled to Nice, a beautiful vacation place, where Rabbi Yeshaya Dalsace has served for the past seven years as rabbi of Maayane Or, our Masorti kehillah there. Yeshaya, along with his colleague Rabbi Rivon Krygier in Adath Shalom Paris, is doing extraordinary avodat kodesh. He began with eight families interested in starting a Masorti kehillah. Today there are more than 100 families who are members, and an additional 200 families in the area of Nice who participate in kehillah activities. Yeshaya has also begun serving the new congregation in Aix En Provence where there are 40 families.
The kehillah in Aix established a connection with Yeshaya and slowly he drew them into the movement. From Nice we drove for 2 ½ hours to Marseille, passing through the beautiful wine country of Provence and southern France. On Shabbat, Parshat Shemini and Shabbat Parah, there was a gathering in Marseille of the Board of Massorti France. The movement in France is formally only a few months old, but it already has a constitution and bylaws. It incorporates five congregations (two in Paris, three in southern France). There was a lot of excitement when members of the Marseille kehillah decided to formally join. As an observer, watching the encounter between the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim in the Diaspora, between the people from Paris and those of Marseille, and between the “immigrants” and the “locals” was truly fascinating. The boundaries of pluralism in our movement are being challenged today from all sides, also from the more conservative side.
On Sunday, after morning tefillah, we held marathon sessions of Massorti France. The formal atmosphere of Erev Shabbat that changed during the course of Shabbat to friendly interactions, changed quickly to true French equanimity and to a strong desire to both advance the common interests of the individual kehillot and to meld into one thriving movement. There’s no doubt that being together in an elegant kosher restaurant on Saturday night accelerated the socialization process!
A few words about www.massorti.com With more than 100,000 entries the internet site of Massorti France is an outstanding example for how to use a website as a marketing tool. It explains in more than “a thousand words” (in fact, there are millions of words!) about why Massorti France is attracting new members and becoming more influential in France. It is going to change in the coming weeks with a new site that is more updated graphically, but it’s still very worthwhile to visit the present site. On the site are more than 700 quality articles, texts from French sources, thousands of Jewish photos, Israeli film critiques, a section about the Massorti Movement and its ideology, recorded shiurim of various movement rabbis, and more. Yeshaya told me that there is a great need for articles and shiruim of Masorti rabbis and scholars (preferably in French but possible to send in other languages). The website, which was started two years ago, had only a few hundred “hits”. Today there have been more than 100,000 entries to the site. Articles are being read by thousands of people. Yeshaya says our French rabbis receive tens of comments a week on the articles that appear on the site and many Jews, as well as non-Jews, contact them and ask questions. As stated above, an entire community of 150 northern African families from Marseille has joined Massorti France due to the interest and in-depth look at the site alone.
 
Marom Budapest representative visits Chicago and New York Report by Eszter Susan
Marom Budapest and Dor Chadash It’s my pleasure to report to you about my very intense and successful visit to the USA where I was invited by Masorti and Marom Olami to represent the new Conservative Egalitarian minyan of Marom Budapest, Dor Chadash and Marom Budapest. (You can read more about Dor Chadash in English at: http://maszorti.hu/?page_id=20 ) I participated on a wonderful weekend at the Koach Kallah at Northwestern University near Chicago where I met many young American Conservative Jews and some of the leadership of the Conservative Movement in the US. It was wonderful to meet so many young people engaged in the Conservative movement and have the opportunity to exchange information and ideas with them. Having discussions and workshops with the participants allowed us to find the similarities and differences of our challenges and enabled a mutual understanding and exchange of ideas.
Just to mention a few highlights from the great program: I listened to fiery lectures by Simcha Leibovich, participated in visiting the Robineau Senior Residence as a community service act, and joined many interesting and informative lectures by excellent scholars invited to the Kallah. I would like to thank Richard Moline, Koach Director, for the welcoming reception. It was great to meet all members of the Koach staff who were extremely helpful during my stay and facilitated my exchange with the American participants of the Kallah. During the Kallah, my greatest experience was seeing the Koach participants praying and giving several Dvarei Torah with so much passion and joy! Yashar Koach!
At the conclusion of the seminar I met Mr. Alan Silberman, President of the World Council of Conservative / Masorti Synagogues, who was so kind to host me at his home, and brought me to a parlour meeting at the home of a local Jewish family. Here I met, among others, Rabbi Vernon Kurtz, President of MERCAZ Olami, and Rabbi Debrah Newman Kamin, both of whom visited our venue in Budapest in the fall and support our work in Marom. I updated the participants about the newest developments in Hungary and listened to their comments and advice.
In New York, Mrs. Janet Tobin, Past International President of the Women League for Conservative Judaism and a vice-president for World Council of Conservative Synagogues, made an amazing effort to introduce me to everyone possibly interested in Dor Chadash. I would like to thank Mrs. Tobin for the wonderful job she did bringing me together with Rabbi Joel H. Meyers, Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Assembly, Rabbi Daniel S. Nevins, the Dean of the Rabbinical School of JTS, Ms. Joanne Palmer, editor of the Conservative Magazine of the USCJ, Rabbi Chuck Simon, Director of the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, Professor Ismar Schorsch, former Chancellor of JTS and professor of history, Mrs. Diane Wohl, member of the Governing Board of Hillel, Rabbi Bob Golub, Executive Director of MERCAZ Olami, Rabbi Benjamin Kreitman, former director of World Council of Conservative Synagogues, and the Women´s League Executive Committee.
In between meetings I also had a chance to talk to Corey Helfand, the student representative at JTS who is working closely with Masorti Olami. I would like to thank each one of the aforementioned leadership who took time out of their busy schedules and exchanged ideas about the state and future of Conservative Judaism in Hungary. I would like to express my special thanks in the name of Dor Chadash to Rabbi Steve Aronowitz, whose synagogue donated twelve talitot and five chumashim to us, and to Mrs. Janet Tobin who arranged this donation. We are also very grateful for the study material, books and prayer books that were donated by the Women´s League, the Men´s Club and MERCAZ Olami. This means a lot to us, and we are going to use all these materials with lots of joy!
I had interesting, inspiring and informative discussions during my visit and distributed material about the newest developments in Dor Chadash / Marom Budapest, establishing personal contact for further cooperation. Ms. Joanne Palmer, editor of the Conservative Magazine of the USCJ interviewed me and will write an article about Dor Chadash in an upcoming issue of the magazine. As a closure to my US visit, I met Doron Rubin, Chairman of Marom Olami and shaliach to Hillel, and Aaron Goldberg, Associate Vice President, International Division of Hillel. The purpose of the meeting was to involve Marom Budapest in bringing Hillel to Budapest. I spent Shabbes with Doron Rubin and his wife, Judit Rubin, a Conservative woman rabbi recently ordained at the Schechter Institute who is originally from Hungary, and we discussed the developments in Dor Chadash and Marom Budapest. Finally, I would like to thank to all of you once more, in helping the future of a Masorti Community in Hungary with all your comments, donations and attention! Dor Chadash is looking forward to a fruitful and long lasting cooperation in the future with all of you!
 
 
Pre-Purim Visit to Kehilat Beit Yisrael, Lisbon By Rabbi Jules and Navah Harlow
We planned this visit to Lisbon specifically to prepare our kehillah for Purim. We stayed at our usual hotel where we are greeted as honored dignitaries. Who else comes to Lisbon so frequently to stay for more than a few days? We are immediately upgraded to a small suite, thus enabling us to hold classes at the hotel during the week. We arrived on a Thursday, equipped with a cell phone that works in Portugal. Calls and text messages started coming in almost immediately from our chaverim. Some of them came by for a brief reunion Thursday night.
Our first “official” meeting would be at Kabbalat Shabbat the next evening. When we arrived at the synagogue on Friday, Jose Costa was already there, putting the last minute touches on his famous Russian salad. As each of our chaverim came in, one could feel a sense of excitement growing. Jose Abolnik led the service in a blend of Sephardic and Ashkenazi nusach. The small synagogue soon filled up, and voices were lifted in joyful prayer. We laughed when Navah had to bring us all back to singing in the same key several times. David Cabral presented a brief dvar Torah, continuing a practice that we have encouraged whenever they meet for Shabbat services. At the conclusion of the service, we stand to clasp hands in a circle around the table, dancing and singing Shabbat shalom u-mevorach. They asked Rabbi Jules to make Kiddush, and he did so, though normally he does not, as he wants to have the nachat of hearing one of the chaverim make Kiddush. We cannot cease to marvel at what they now take for granted. Two members of the kehillah can lead services, chant Kiddush, make Havdalah, and lead in bentching; and the other members can join in.
We remember the first Shabbat we spent with them, a little over two and one half years ago. At that time, no one could lead anything, and they were not familiar with the rituals surrounding the Shabbat meal. Now, without a second thought, they line up for netilat yadayim, come back to the table for Kiddush and to say hamotzee together with one designated leader, and then sit down to eat, sing, and talk. We brought challah from New York, among other goodies. The members demonstrate a great level of comfort with the davening and the Shabbat table rituals; it is natural and effortless for them. What a long journey we have traveled together in these 2 1/2 years. Rabbi Jules gave a d’var torah at the table, focusing on the parashah, teaching about the contribution of a half-shekel by every Israelite, as a way of emphasizing the importance of every individual to the entire community, that there was no distinction between rich or poor. All contributions were equal.
The discussion that ensued, facilitated by Navah, was very moving. This teaching resonated with our small kehillah. It affirms the importance of their contribution to Klal Yisrael. By the time we bentched and cleaned up, it was after midnight… Shabbat afternoon we met for Minchah, Maariv and Havdalah.
Our afternoon class was devoted to preparation for Purim. Rabbi Jules had requested by e-mail that they all read Megillat Esther in Portuguese. An interesting discussion of the story and how we continue to remember it ensued… We set a schedule for the coming week, which included private lessons for some of the chaverim as well as a group class at the hotel on Wednesday night. On Wednesday, Rabbi Jules reviewed the mitzvot associated with Purim and explained how they could observe Purim as a kehillah in Lisbon. He suggested that they read the Megillah aloud in Portuguese, assigning roles, reading with comic drama when appropriate, wearing costumes, and having fun. He told them about the custom of drinking till you cannot tell the difference between, arur Haman and barukh Mordechai. That really tickled them! Navah suggested they go on-line to get an easy recipe for baking hamantaschen. She also led a discussion about the mitzvot of mishloach manot and matanot la-evyonim, which had been introduced by Rabbi Jules while teaching the Megillah.
Each member brought a Siddur to the class in order to continue with our study and discussion of Pirkei Avot, a text that has helped open them up to a great appreciation of the values of our tradition. This evening he taught the first Mishnah of chapter four, discussing the definitions presented of wisdom, wealth, strength, and honor. ..They argue among themselves, offer creative insights, and experience a great sense of achievement at the summation of the discussion, facilitated by Navah. We have heard from several of them about “the great class we had on Wednesday.” Many have told us that “these classes are what define us as a kehillah.” You can imagine the deep sense of sippuk nefesh that their teachers feel.
The following Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat, a communal meal, D’var Torah, all flow as if they have been doing this forever. The sense of a family pervades the evening. On Shabbat, after Havdalah, we stayed quite late, deep in conversation about their future. They realize now that the hordes of b’nei anusim waiting to become halakhic Jews whom they had expected to see are just not there.
It is difficult to do outreach in Portugal. Religion is a very private matter. Most people are secularists. We continued our efforts to publicize the Masorti community…During the week we had three important meetings including meeting a Catholic professor who teaches the history of the Jews in Portugal, the director of cultural programming for the City of Lisbon, and author Richard Zimler, an American who has been living for many years in Porto, where he teaches journalism at the University and has written several best-selling historical novels, including The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon. In our conversation with Mr. Zimler we proposed organizing a public program on the topic of altruism. What motivates an individual to put his or her own life at risk for the sake of someone else? Examples of that certainly are available from the Shoah---tzadikei umot ha-olam, Righteous Gentiles, including Aristides, the Portuguese Ambassador who issued thousand of visas to endangered Jews, enabling them to reach Portugal safely. There are also examples of documented altruistic behavior during the time of the Inquisition...
We would also invite a psychiatrist or psychologist, a historian, and members of the clergy, including a rabbi, priest and an Imam who would discuss the religious values that underlie such behavior. Rabbi Jules, for example, could speak on Jewish values that dictate such behavior. The purpose of this program would be two-fold. In addition to having an important discussion, it would be an opportunity to highlight the Masorti presence in Portugal since we would be a co-sponsor. The challenge now is to find a partner to co-sponsor with us. The people with whom we have met thus far shy away from giving a religious stamp to any of their programs. We are exploring another venue, and we will keep you posted. As always, when it came time for our leave-taking, the question always is, “When will you come back?”
 
 
A Responsum regarding Erev Pesach which falls on Shabbat This year Erev Pesach falls on Shabbat.
What does one do when one may not eat regular matzah and it is difficult to eat hametz?
Rabbi David Golinkin, President of the Schechter Institute, explains how to prepare for the festival and for Shabbat meals in his responsum which can be found at: http://www.schechter.edu/responsa/0804.htm
 
 
New Masorti Olami – MERCAZ Olami – Marom Olami website in progress
We are happy to announce that we are currently working on a new, improved website which we hope will be in operation in the next few months. We apologize sincerely that our current site has been “frozen” and we have not been able to make changes or update the site. We will be in touch with all of our kehillot, MERCAZ chapters and Marom centers to make sure that the most up to date information is included in the new site. With newer technology, we will be able to make changes/additions from our office enabling us to make changes quickly. We thank you for your patience and look forward to servicing the needs of our movement more effectively.
 
MERCAZ Olami Publication Celebrates 60 years of the State of Israel
MERCAZ Olami has created a special newsletter in honor of Israel’s 60th available in English/ Hebrew and Spanish/ Hebrew. The publication contains Masorti resources, texts, a special prayer of thanksgiving, songs, reflections and a suggested proposed ceremony. We will be mailing copies to kehillot and to Conservative institutions and organizations in the next week. The newsletter will also be available by the beginning of next week on the internet site: www.israelanniversary.org You will be able to download a copy that can be photocopied and also view the color newsletter. For further information or questions, please contact: mercaz@masortiolami.org Masorti AMLAT (Latin America) Prepares for Exciting Conference in Argentina Save the dates!
 
 
Masorti AMLAT Prepares for Exciting Conference in Argentina Visit to Marseille, France – March 27-31, 2008
FIRST LATIN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF MASORTI JUDAISM “ BEING A MASORTI JEW IN LATIN-AMERICA AT 60 YEARS FROM THE CREATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL” May 29th, 30th, 31st, June 1st Pilar, Buenos Aires, Argentina For more information, contact Mr. Mario Grunebaum, President of Masorti AMLAT: mario@tekla.com.br