It is hard to believe we are getting ready for our second Shabbat – but so it is!
It has been a wonderful, exciting, stimulating, and exhausting week. So much to do, so much to study, so many people to speak to – and so little time in a day. And even with that we find that we have waking up early and going to sleep very late. We are looking forward to some welcome Shabbat rest!
While the essence of the Hartman program is learning at the highest levels with some of the finest contemporary Jewish scholars – the subject matter is not incidental. This year the theme is Foundations for a Thoughtful Judaism - Tikun Olam : Judaism and the Global Reality.
Much is now being made of the focus on environmental themes like Global warming and conservation. The question we are confronting in our studies here, is, how do we as Jews speak about this subject? As rabbis do we merely parrot what we read in the pages of the New York Times? Or is there an authentic Jewish vocabulary for discussing environmental concerns and are there historical Jewish sources that give us a unique perspective and a Jewish way to frame this discussion?
A normal day of study begins with a shiur – a study session where we are all gathered around tables in the beautiful and majestic Beit Hamidrash. The lecturer for that day outlines his or her goals and points us to the materials that he or she has prepared for us. For the next several hours we study in hevruta – in twos and threes in the traditional style of Jewish textual learning – we study the traditional sources that have been selected – translating them and arguing over their possible meanings and implications. At around 11:00 AM the professor comes back and gives an almost two hour presentation on the subject using his or her sources to build his or her case.
For example on the very first day we studied with Dr. Moshe Halbertal, the Hartman Institute’s most senior fellow, who has a PhD in Jewish thought from the Hebrew University where he is currently teaching. (photo at left) He also serves as the Gruss Professor at NYU Law School having previously served as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Moshe explored with us some very fundamental questions of what does Tikun Olam mean. We studied the sources from its very earliest appearance in the mishna and Talmud through the Middle Ages and how it was used by Maimonides and other early rabbinic sources. The next day the lecturer was Menachem Lorberbaum who has a PhD in philosophy from the Hebrew University and chairs Tel Aviv University’s Department of Hebrew Culture Studies. He is author of many significant works on the subject of Jewish Political Thought. With him we explored the meaning of universalism and particularism in Judaism.
On Wednesday, the Shiur was conducted by David Hartman himself. (photo at right) David is a leading contemporary Jewish philosopher and he explored the problematic history of some difficult Jewish texts that run counter to a concern for the world. There were many periods when Jews where literally more concerned about their own survival than any more ambitious broad worldly concerns. These texts present us with unique challenges because there are Jewish communities today (mostly in the ultra-Orthodox world) that prefer to quote these sources rather than embracing a more open and outward expression of their Judaism. Knowing these sources and wrestling with them is an important aspect for those of us who wish to orient Judaism in a more open and outward posture.
On Thursday we studied with Melila Hellner-Eshed who has a PhD in Jewish mysticism from the Hebrew University. Melila teaches Jewish mysticism at the Hebrew University and she is a central figure in the Israeli renaissance of Jewish textual study. She presented us with some wonderful medieval mystical texts from the Zohar and elsewhere that are a delightful way that Jews looked at their world as being a place that needs to contstantly be in balance and that contstantlu needs human correction becasue it is forever being placed in vrious forms of imbalance due to human neglect or worse.
The challenge in each generation is to restore the balance. It is a wonderful and exciting Jewish vocabulary that enables us to embrace contemporary discussions of environmentalism in uniquely Jewish ways.
These brief capsules of what I have been doing do not do justice to the richness of the studies, the joy of the companionship formed in study with colleagues and the level of genius and insight offered by this collection of scholars.
Each day we think it cannot get better or more inspiring – and somehow it does. Interspersed are other lectures by the likes of Steve Cohen -- one of the leading sociologists of American Jewry – whom we hosted at TBS last year and David Hartman and Donniel Hartman (photo at right) and roundtable sessions where this wonderful collection of rabbis from around the world get a chance to share and learn from each other.Edy and I still found time last night to go to the opening of the Jerusalem Film Festival which was held outdoors at Sultan’s Pool and topped off with fire works!
Opening night at the Jerusalem Film Festival
Tonight our group of 27 Hartman Fellows and their spouses are invited for Shabbat dinner at Donniel and Adina Hartman’s home.
It has been a most wonderful week – filled with sweet Jerusalem air, the wonderful joy of study with friends and colleagues and the inspiration of some of contemporary Judaism’s finest minds.
Did I hear some of you say that this is not your idea of fun?
Reminds me of the story the Moshe Halbertal shared with us – which he said that his grandfather once told him. His grandfather – a very pious Jew – once remarked that the idea that when you die people go to different places depending on whether they were righteous or wicked is nonsense!
Little Moshele was surprised – because this was indeed what he had been taught in heder !
“No!” said his zayde, “everyone goes to the same place – it is a large Beit Midrash (Study Hall) filled with every kind of Jew – and they hand out Talmuds to everyone – and they all study from morning to night.
For the righteous it is heaven and for the wicked it is hell!
While clearly laying no claims to righteousness – I will say that this is a little piece of heaven right here on earth!
To each and every one of you – Shabbat Shalom and I look forward to sharing our continuing experiences in Jerusalem after Shabbat.
With warmest regards
Alan
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Wednesday July 4, 2007
Well, happy July 4 everyone! It is always strange being in Israel for an American holiday. To be in Israel is to share a rhythm of Jewish life and Israeli life that you miss by living in the States – but, it also means missing the rhythm of life we have come to be framiliar with – and that is certainly the case on days like July 4!
My program has begun in earnest and the challenge now is to find the time to update this blog. The first couple of days have begun at 8:30 AM and continued till late at night. We are bombarded with great thinkers, fascinating topics and challenging issues. Here is the schedule for the first couple of weeks:
Rabbinic Leadership Initiative – RLI III
July 2 – 12, 2007
Theme:
Tikkun Olam – Judaism and the Global Reality
Monday, July 2
11:00 - 12:00 Registration
12:00 - 12:20 Welcome Bill Berk, Sharon Laufer
12:20 - 13:00 Introduction Donniel Hartman
13:00 - 14:00 Opening Lunch
14:00 - 16:00 Opening Lecture: What Does Tikkun Olam Mean? Moshe Halbertal
14:00 – 15:00 Welcome for spouses Sharon Laufer
Please choose one elective for the entire week
16:00 – 17:30 Shlomo Naeh
16:00 – 17:30 'Black sun:' Moshe and Iyyov - Avivah Zornberg
16:00 – 17:30 1943: From the Jew-Zone to the New Zone - David Roskies
16:00 – 17:30 - Ariel Picard
16:00 – 17:30 - Melila Hellner
17:30 – 19:00 A New Tikkun for Israeli Policy - Gidi Grinstein
19:00 - 20:00 Dinner
20:00 An Evening with David Hartman David Hartman
21:00 Dessert Reception – Meet your colleagues
Tuesday, July 3 (17th of Tammuz)
08:30 - 10:15 Hevruta Introduction Menachem Lorberbaum
10:30 - 11:15 Havurot
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur: The Problematics of Tikkun Olam - Election -Menachem Lorberbaum
13:00 - 14:00 Break, Mincha & optional Lunch
14:00 - 15:45 Electives
18:30 – 20:00 Lecture & Response: The Realities of North American Jewry: The “Inconvenient Truth” - Steven M. Cohen - Respondent: Donniel Hartman
20:15 – 20:45 Dinner (fast ends at 8:15 pm)
20:45 Evening Lecture: The Tribes of Israel Society - Donniel Hartman
Wednesday, July 4
08:30 - 10:30 Hevruta: Introduction - David Hartman
11:00 - 13:00 Shiur: The Problematics of Tikkun Olam: Jews and Non-Jews - David Hartman
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 15:30 Electives
16:00 – 18:00 CENTER FOR RABBINIC ENRICHMENT - GRADUATION CEREMONY FOR RLI II
Free evening
Thursday, July 5
08:30 - 10:15 Hevruta: Introduction - Melila Hellner
10:30 - 11:15 Havurot
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur: Tikkun Olam in Kabbalah Melila Hellner
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 15:30 Electives
16:00 Round Table I: “Getting to know you”
Opening event of the Jerusalem Film Festival
Friday, July 6
Free Day
20:30 Shabbat dinner at the home of Donniel & Adina Hartman, Shimshon Street
Saturday, July 7
Free Day
Sunday, July 8
08:30 - 10:30 Hevruta: Introduction - Noam Zion
10:30 - 11:15 Havurot
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur: Tzedek vs. Tzedakah: Economic Justice and Social Honor - Noam Zion
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
Please choose one elective for the entire week
14:00 - 15:45 Nehama Verbin
14:00 - 15:45 Tending the World – The environment in Mussar Yoni Garb
14:00 - 15:45 Transformations in Liberal Jewish thought - Rachel Shabbat
14:00 - 15:45 - Moshe Halbertal
14:00 - 15:45 Economic Justice in the context of Isaiah's thought - Ben Sommer
Monday, July 9
08:30 - 10:30 Hevruta Introduction - David Ellenson
11:00 - 13:00 Shiur: Tikkun Olam in Modern Jewish Thought - David Ellenson
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 15:30 Electives
16:00 Wine and Cheese followed by Author’s Tisch: 5 authors from the Machon talk about their books in small groups - Avi Sagi, Ariel Picard, Zvi Mark, Adiel Schremer, Yair Lorberbaum
Tuesday, July 10
Differing times depending on tiyul chosen return to Jerusalem no later than 17:00
Four tiyulim – choose one
1) Social justice in Tel Aviv
2) Hike – Har Gilboa with biblical commentary
3) Israel’s minorities
4) Are We in the Bible? Contemporary Archeological Debates: Tour of the brand new excavation at Safrit (Goliath’s home town) with archeologist, Aharon Meir
20:00 – 21:30 "Sacred Envy & North American Jewry:
What Tikkunim Still Need to be Made?” - David Ellenson, Arnie Eisen
Wednesday, July 11
08:30 - 10:15 Hevruta: Introduction - Israel Knohl
10:30 - 11:15 Havurot
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur: Jewish Obligations to the Physical World —exploring the Tanach and Talmud - Israel Knohl
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 15:30 Electives - Nehama Verbin
16:00 Round Table: Three Years at Machon Hartman
19:00 – 20:00 Dinner and Presentation of SHI North American Initiatives
20:00 Evening with Yossi Klein Halevi, author of At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land and Father Emil Shoufani, Archimandrite Arab-born Catholic priest from Nazareth. Followed by dessert reception
Thursday, July 12
08:30 - 10:30 Hevruta and Evaluations: Introduction -Donniel Hartman
11:15 - 13:00 Shiur - “Not in My Backyard?”—Reflections on the Image of Moshe, Eliyahu, Moredechai, Esther, and Shimon bar Yochai (Closing session for RTS & RLI II) - Donniel Hartman
13:00 - 14:00 Closing Lunch
Closing remarks by David Hartman and Donniel Hartman
As you can see it is quite ambitious. I will try and share my first impressions as soon as I get a second – but for now things are more than wonderful and I have to get going so I am not late for classes. I hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing 4th.
With love,
Alan
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As I mentioned, one of my intentions this summer is to seek out “mitzvah opportunities” and be your shaliach – your agent to support worthwhile but unsung mitzvah heroes here in Israel. We all support the major causes like UJA, JTS, Israel bonds, JNF, JDC etc etc – as well we should. These are the organized face of Jewish life and these critical organizations meet the ever growing needs of a diverse Jewish community. But, here and there are good people doing important things where a little financial support goes a long way to healing a broken world. One such example is Yitz Feigenbaum whom I had the pleasure to meet yesterday. Mitzvah Man Danny Siegel called me and said, “Can you be at my apartment at 3PM – there is someone you have to meet!”
Yitz Feigenbaum is next to me, and Danny Siegel is on the left.
When Danny calls I can never say no. Yitz is a cheerful easy going 40 something who in was from his home up at Kibbut Merav in the Galil. A native of Cleveland, Ohio he and his wife made aliya a while ago. The Kibbutz was looking for ways to expand its reach and impact when they came up with the idea of opening Beit Hayeled, a home for troubled children who have been removed from their families by the court system due to neglect or abuse. Yitz together with Irit, the kibbutz rabbi’s wife, serve as the “house parents” for Beit Hayeled and for the past 13 years or so, have taken in some 18 of Israel’s toughest children (no more than 10 at any given time) in an attempt to give then a new life and a second chance. You can read more about Yitz and Beit Hayeled in Danny’s Ziv Tzedakkah Fund 2007 annual report on page 6, but this is an incredible man, who gives these kids everything a parent should give their own children: love, discipline, a good education, professional psychological counseling when needed and on and on. If the kids need bikes – Yitz finds the money to buy them bikes. If they need orthodontia he figures a way to finagle them orthodontia. The government gives them stipends for their basic needs but as all of us who are parents know – the basics do not cover what kids really need. Yitz promised these kids what every parent would promise their own kids – we will give you whatever you need to succeed. If you do well in school, we will even send you to college! Of course once he made these promises he had to figure out how he was going to make good on them. His promises came from his heart, but their fulfillment will come from our pocket books! We are the ones who can help their dreams become reality by providing the funds for art lessons, summer camp, college, in short “all the things kids need to grow up feeling loved and accepted...”
Yitz and Irit are literally redeeming lives and through our support of Ziv Tzedakkah Fund which gave them almost $40,000 last year and the additional $500 check I gave Yitz yesterday from our TBS rabbis fund which you so generously support during the year—we are able to play a small support role in Yitz and Irit’s life saving work. Sisterhood -- part of this was from the money you gave me to disperse in Israel -- I hope you will agree it was well spent! Stay tuned for more "mitzvah opportunities"!
B'yedidut
Alan
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July 1, 2007, Jerusalem, Israel
Well, we have arrived and it is wonderful to be back in Israel. Our trip was uneventful and our transfer to Jerusalem was very easy. Felicia Kalb likes to say that whenever she bumps into me in Jerusalem I have a big smile on my face the likes of which she never sees in Roslyn. Mostly that tends to make me feel guilty that I don't smile enough back home -- but to the extent it is true, I imagine that big smile has returned as I am thrilled to be back walking the streets of Jerusalem.
It is amazing how the simple challenges of every day life back home are considered drudgery -- while somehow they are transformed here to delightful adventures. Setting up our apartment (we are renting a lovely place in the German Colony just a few minutes walk from all the wonderful shops and restaurants on Emek Refaim St.) involves trips to the local Makolet (the Israeli version of a bodega), a bigger outing to the Supermarket (something one should try and avoid in the future of Erev Shabbat) and assorted stops along the way for wine, a coffee maker (we brought the Starbucks with us) and our discovery of the greatest bakery in Jerusalem – Pe-er . The whole shopping experience on Friday is geared to Shabbat – the take out place on the corner of Emek Refaim and Rachel Imeinu wouldn’t even sell us anything on Thursday evening when we stopped in his shop. After we introduced ourselves as “new to the area” – he offered us kuba and other assorted treats to taste and when we tried to purchase things for Shabbat – he insisted we come back on Friday when he would have a much larger selection (very hard to believe) and much fresher choices. There are so many times when we bump into the reality that Israel operates like a large family rather than a small country. Edy estimates that we have already walked some 18 miles in our early excursions setting up our apartment and we have come to believe that this will be the only hope we have to counteract all the food intake that is involved in living here.
Our first Shabbat was delightful – we invited ourselves over to some old friends I haven’t seen for 20+ years for dinner (sometimes it seems that Jerusalem is one big open meal invitation) and we davened at one of our favorite minyanim: Shira Hadasha where the singing is spirited and the community is warm and welcoming. We didn’t get home till after midnight with all the schmoozing at the Shabbat table with our friends. On Shabbat morning we davened at an egalitarian minyan called Kedem that is run by the daughter of a close friend of ours and we had invited her to lunch so we decided to daven there. What a joy to be able to have guests to our own Shabbat table in Jerusalem – we had picked up some former students we met at Shira Hadasha the night before and spent a leisurely afternoon catching up with everyone’s lives. The most wonderful aspect of these trips is the appreciation of time – there is time for talking and time for listening, time for laughing and sharing and living. At home we never seem to have enough time – work demands, social demands, volunteer obligations – everthing seems to conspire against us, making life a constant race against time. Back home there is always too much to do and too little time to do it! Here the opposite is the case – we seem to have all the time in the world – time here seems to be much more of a friend than a competitor. Maybe that explains the smile, Felicia!
After Shabbat we took a walk into town – I wanted to take a cab but Edy said that was silly it was only a short walk to town. I disagreed and we continued to debate the issue for the 40 minutes it took us to walk into the center of town! The city is packed with tourists and it is wonderful to see Jerusalem alive and thriving after the challenges of the war last summer. After a stop at one of or favorite restaurants – T’mol Shilshom we made it back to our apartment by 1:00 AM – just in time for me to catch the end of the Met’s taking their third game from the Phillies on MLB.com – ah, the wonders of the Internet age!
I was up early this morning as it is my father’s Yhartzeit and I had to find a minyan – not a terribly difficult challenge here in Jerusalem.
We are amazed at the cost of living here and have developed sympathy for our Israeli friends. Food is amazingly delicious and fresh but you do pay a premium – we heard that things are much cheaper in the shuk – (the open air market of Mahane Yehudah ) and many people make a weekly trip to shop there. Shopping in the shuk is always an adventure and we look forward to adding that to our list of things to do.
This afternoon I plan on connecting with Danny Siegel – the Mitzvah man who has made his life’s work seeking out mitzvah opportunities mostly here in Israel but also in the States. He has someone “I have to meet..” – he tells me that he is an oleh from Cleveland who lives on a moshav in the north and takes in some of Israel’s toughest kids and tries to give them a stable home and a new start. I am sure I will tell you about it in a future entry.
Tonight there is a wine and cheese reception at the Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism and we look forward to connecting with the countless other rabbis and lay leaders of our Movement we have bumped into walking the streets and sitting in the coffee houses of Jerusalem.Well enough for now – lots to do and an exquisite Jerusalem day in which to do it. Tomorrow my program at the Hartman Institute begins – so one more day to wander around Jerusalem. I hope you are all well!
B’yedidut
Alan
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Hello and welcome to my Sabbatical blog! The purpose of this blog is to introduce you to the wonderful program at the Hartman Institute: The Rabbinic Leadership Initiative where I will be spending most of the month of July. I also plan to update this blog frequently during the course of my studies and I hope it will serve as a good way to keep you posted on my experiences so we can share this exciting adventure together. So, feel free to check back often and I look forward to giving you a taste of what I will be experiencing!
The Shalom Hartman Institute, where I will be studying, is a research and leadership training institute located in Jerusalem. Their mission is to revitalize Judaism, strengthen Jewish identity and foster religious pluralism by providing scholars, rabbis, educators, and lay leaders of all denominations with tools to address the central challenges facing Judaism today. Serving Israeli and world Jewry, SHI’s faculty and graduates are forces of change creating a new dialogue between Jews of diverse backgrounds, between classic Judaic sources and modernity, and between Judaism and other faiths. To read more about the Hartman Institute and see some pictures of where I will be spending my time – check their web site at: http://www.hartmaninstitute.com
The particular program I am involved with is called the Rabbinic Leadership Initiative or RLI. Some 25 rabbis from around the world – Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist and Reform - are selected to participate in this very special program and I am proud to be one of them. To read more about this program go to:
http://www.hartmaninstitute.com/ShowCon ... mp;isSub=1
I will be leaving New York on Wednesday June 27 and returning on Thursday July 26.
I also hope to use my time in Israel to search out some mitzvah opportunities where I can serve as your shaliach – your agent, to bring tzedakah to various causes in Israel. Many of you have already generously contributed to the Rabbi’s Fund at TBS through the annual Passover Appeal or your contributions in appreciation for my participation at a Wedding or Unveiling or the like – I will be using some of those funds and seeking ways to put them to good use during my stay in Israel. I will report on my experiences seeking out these mitzvah opportunities in this blog.
The main thing is that I hope that by means of this blog you will feel that you are part of my experience. As I mentioned on the bema on Shabbat – A Sabbatical is an investment on both of our parts in keeping my rabbinate fresh and dynamic. It is not unusual in the course of a normal week for me to address more than a thousand people! From Shabbat sermons to Machon Beth Sholom High School classes; from Sisterhood classes to the Herbert Tarr Adult Education Institute; from sitting on the floor with our tots in our Early Childhood Center preparing for Shabbat, to the hospital visits where I sit with our most elderly members; from Divrei Torah at Board Meetings to counseling sessions in my office; from meeting to meeting to meeting – week after week, year after year - I am called upon to teach and share my insights applying the teachings of our sacred tradition to modern day situations. The challenge is to constantly renew myself and to keep fresh the wells of Torah that nourish me and therefore nourish you my community.
I believe that this opportunity that you have wisely afforded me, to study at the Hartman Institute will be an investment that will pay dividends beyond measure in the months and years to come.
In the meantime, I leave you in the capable hands of Rabbi Jeni Friedman and while I will be checking my email ( alucas@tbsroslyn.org) it won’t be all that often – so feel free to check in with Rabbi Friedman or the office. God willing my next entry will be from Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh – from the Holy Land!! L’hitraot!!
Rabbi Alan Lucas
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