Why I am encouraging Harvey Relief donations to be sent to St. Louis Federation and earmarked for Harvey

Today I went to the NOLA Jewish Federation website and NY JFNA website both of which have  dedicated Harvey funds. Frustratingly, the donate sites have weak encryption as is indicated by the alert triangle which comes up on the URL. The Houston Federation website also has the same vulnerability.

Although the https  still reads secure, the alert indicates that due to mixed data being carried over the web, the weakness in the encryption of the images on the site allows for a similar weakness in the transmission of credit card info.

 I spoke  with an accountant in  charge of NY JFNA disbursements on the phone today.   I explained my concerns about  the website for NY JFNA. She was unaware of the vulnerability.

 The St. Louis Federation has a tougher and stronger encryption factor.  St. Louis Federation has a dedicated Harvey relief fund.  Today I spoke with the Campaign manager and he assured me  that 100% of money raised for Harvey would go to Harvey relief. My goal is to send money to Texas.  As a donor, I want my donations to be secure and to make a difference.

The link is https://www.jfedstl.org/how-give/hurricane-harvey-relief-fund/

I am aware that some people would prefer to send money directly to Houston as opposed to other locations. It feels right to send money to the Houston Federation as opposed to some other location. In light of present-day concerns over the hacking of websites I feel it is more important to send money securely to the St. Louis Federation, earmarked for Texas.

I have phone numbers of the St. Louis Federation campaign manager and the accountant at the NY office of JFNA should anyone wish to speak with these people and to ask any additional questions. I would happily discuss the merits of these donations with anyone.

May we all continue to promote Tzedakah and make differences in the lives of people who are suffering.
Shalom.

Shabbat Thoughts -Parshat Shofetim- 5777

        For a brief moment the shouting, the marching and the melees subsided. For a span of a few hours everyone’s eyes turned heavenwards. Adult and child, teacher and student, professional astronomer and stargazer alike; all that mattered was the exceptional show staged in the heavens above. The rare and breathtaking astronomical event drew our attention away from the narrowness of competing perspectives of people who are incapable of sharing space with others.
For two weeks the chaos which erupted throughout and beyond Charlottesville has ignited  a controversy- freedom of expression versus Nazism and removal of Confederate memorials versus the elimination of history.

       We Americans cherish our most fundamental rights; free speech, free press, free assembly, freedom of faith and freedom to vote. While we enumerate these freedoms as Constitutional rights we can consider them all as one basic right - to freely express ourselves. That too many brave, passionate and dear souls gave their lives in wars too many to count to safeguard our freedoms of expression must never be forgotten or ignored. As many lands, tribes and terror groups hurtle their way towards darkness, I realize daily how blessed we are to live in a land wherein we can freely express our beliefs, opinions and ideas.

       Our majestic nation remains the grandest experiment the world has ever known. The test of our republic is the capacity to construct a shared society- in spite of the many vagaries of expressed belief.

       The  greatest question before us is the most complex and challenging of all; how do we foster complete freedom of expression when such expression may contribute to our downfall? Even as fear of immigrants drives some Americans to wall-building, fear of curtailed expression prompts us to ask if our country is open to us ourselves.  We have a long road before us; a road upon which we must walk together.

        Two good friends, whose opinions I value, respectfully disagreed with part of my comment last week.  I decried the march of Neo-Nazis and championed the march by counter-protesters. In my mind’s ear I heard drumbeats of 1938. To witness the hateful expression of obscene racism cloaked in the protections of our flag and Constitution more than deeply offended me. I saw such expressions as threatening the stability of our communal experience. I expressed my opinion that such utter hatred as propounded by Neo-Nazis has no place in America for it would unravel the tapestry of our nation.

          Yet, my friends are very right when they point out the precariousness of curtailing any expression. If Madison, Jefferson and Adams had been constrained in their expression there would be no free nation in which we might dwell.

          On the other hand, to see counter-protesters pull down a Confederate monument is nearly as frightening as seeing American citizens carrying Nazi banners. Our freedom of expression,which protects the tearing down of historic statues and defames that which is sacred to many Americans, is our very core.

          This week, Jews the world over will hear the words of Torah. Parhshat Shofetim calls out to us and proclaims- ‘establish for yourselves judges and officers…justice, justice shall you pursue’. We are instructed to actively pursue justice; bringing it into our world with the inefficient and lofty act of appointing fellow humans to be judges. We must literally run after justice even as we recognize that justice may elude us. Will we be able to walk and run together? Or will we wind up running into each other instead?

           Four days ago our nation stopped short, nearly paralyzed, by an act of cosmic beauty which lasted three hours and had no real impact on anyone. Will we ever be able to see the very real acts of beauty, the people who comprise our neighborhoods and occupy our shared earth, who are real enough to have an actual impact in our lives today?

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

Torah Tidbits and Haftarah Highlights

Torah Tidbits and Haftarah Highlights

By Rabbi Steven Silberman

(All page numbers refer to Etz Hayim)

August 5 - Parshat Va’etchanan –

pp. 1005 - 1021

This parsha contains not only the Ten Great

Words, but also the Shema. Did you know

this reading also contains two other shemas?

Look at page 1006 and 1015. How are these

two shemas different from our regular

shema?

Haftarat Va’etchanan –

pp. 1033 - 1036

This haftarah is speaking directly to each

reader. Responding to the loss of freedom and

safety and the conquest by Babylon, this

speech teaches that someday a voice will ring

out for all to hear. What is the goal of this

voice (p. 1033, v3)?

August 12 – Parshat – Ekev –

pp. 1037 - 1042

Did you know there are seven famous crops

associated with the land of Israel? Could you

name them? Glance at p. 1040, verse 8. Now

you can impress your friends with your

knowledge of Torah trivia.

Haftarat Ekev – pp. 1056 – 1059

Imagine that a king would be your baby

sitter? How would you feel if you had a queen

as a nanny? Isaiah is teaching the people of

Israel that they are so important that royalty

would be eager to serve them. This haftara

comes on the heels of Tisha B’Av.

August 19 - Parshat Re’eh –

pp. 1061 - 1067

Intrinsically Judaism is democratic. People

make choices. What do you notice about the

first sentence of this parsha?

Haftarat Re’eh – pp. 1085 - 1087

This is the third haftara of consolation. On p.

1086, we are taught that we would have

plenty of food and water without any worries.

In a tangible way Israel is being reassured

that life will improve on the heels of the

destruction of its government and its state.

August 26 - Parshat Shoftim -

pp. 1088 - 1094

What is the opening of this week’s parshat?

Moses is still the leader. He has sons and

grandsons. What do you notice about the first

verse? Does this surprise you?

Haftarat Shoftim –

pp. 1108 - 1111

This is the fourth haftara of consolation -

read after Tisha B’Av. Who is the author

compared to the other haftara of consolation?

What do you notice?

A MESSAGE FROM OUR RABBI

Manette and I just returned from a tour

of historic Poland. Throughout Poland,

medieval sites and modern experiences are

interwoven. Walk through a marketplace

first established in Jewish neighborhoods

in the 1400s, and today you can buy goods

from modern merchants in the very same

plazas.

On the day we toured Majdanek

concentration camp we confronted the

greatest examples of cruelty and barbarism

ever known -- nightmarish in scope. With

lumps in our throats, we walked along,

seeing the restored camp and hearing of

unbelievably vicious and sadistic behavior

perpetrated by the Nazis against our own.

The evil was world-ending. Our group

departed. Lost in quiet thought our bus

drove away from Majdanek. An hour later

the right side of the tour bus called out:

“Look, a beautiful rainbow!’

Its colors were bright and vivid and it

was complete. Literally, we saw its

beginning and ending points. We all called

out so enthusiastically ‘pull over’ that our

driver reluctantly obliged although the

narrow road afforded little opportunity for

stopping.

We nearly jumped off the bus – happy

to see something beautiful. On the heels of

Majdanek we experienced the rainbow and

recited the blessing "Blessed are you God,

our God, who remembers the covenant

with the world and keeps His Divine

word.” The words and the promise of life’s

continuation after the flood of Noah

resonated loudly with us after exiting a

concentration camp. We drove away from

that spontaneous roadside stop and the

rainbow accompanied us along our trip,

escorting us to the city of Lublin and

testifying to the potential for beauty to be

present in our world. May we continue to

see rainbows, bless God over them and

share our own energies with others like

us– working to eliminate cruelty from our

beautiful world.

Tisha B' Av

  The term ‘Wandering Jew’ might be a familiar one. To many Jews it may bring up visions of Anatevka and wandering Eastern Europe. But the term far predates Tevya.  For me, it brings to mind centuries of homelessness- being adrift in an uncaring world. Ever since the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., Jews have been guests in the lands of others,  with their lives dependent upon limited hospitality, if not indifference.  As (often undesirable) guests throughout Europe, Jews frequently had fewer rights than majority populations. Had not Rome destroyed the last outcropping of Jewish autonomy, Jews might have remained a political force with which to be reckoned. 

      Monday night, July 31, marks the 9th of Av. Known as Tisha B’Av it is the date upon which both First and Second temples were destroyed. For 20 centuries, we Jews have gathered in study, prayer and reflection on Tisha B’Av in hopes of coming to terms with world-changing destruction and loss of independence. Traditionally, a day of sorrow, I and many Conservative Jews fast. Unlike Yom Kippur whose fast is a cleansing spiritual fast, Tisha B’Av’s fast is an expression of loss and sorrow.