These shoes may not look like much but besides my moccasins, they are the most comfortable shoes I’ve bought in a LONG time.

They’re from a fabulous company called TOMS.  Every time someone buys a pair of TOMS shoes, they donate a pair to a child in need.

The TOMS Story  (from the TOMS website)

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.

As of September 2010, TOMS has given over one million pairs of new shoes to children in need through Giving Partners around the world.

Awesome, right!?

Now I can wear comfy shoes that actually look really cute AND are a mitzvah to buy.  Tikun olam through shoes!!!  Walk on.

So what’s motivating people to be members of congregations??  It seems like we’re all stuck in the same cycle that we came from.  The Reform Jews who are now parents of religious school-aged children were sent to religious school but didn’t have much of a Jewish presence at home.  Unless their parents sent them to camp, and even if they DID go to a Jewish camp, their Jewish knowledge is pretty minimal.  Ultimately, a cycle is just being perpetuated of sending kids off to religious school to try to educate them in everything Jewish when really, that is just a totally unrealistic expectation.

I want to know if parents actually want to know about Judaism.  Do the parents of the Reform movement want their children to REALLY know about what Judaism is and what Reform Judaism stands for?  Or is this some sort of requirement via Jewish guilt or really just a feeling of being innadequate at teaching their children about Judaism themselves?

Either way, a connection is missing.  And I’m making it a priority to find out what it is and how to fix it.

If you’re Jewish, you already know that food is basically an extra guest in every Jewish home.  Every holiday or celebration includes food.  Sometimes, even very specific foods.  Our family’s Passover seder isn’t complete without deviled eggs, my own specialty.

But even most Jewish holiday food can be prepared health-consciously or just eaten in fair portions.  I’m talking more about the fact that every Wednesday, the religious school I work at offers pizza and potato chips for sale.  Two dollars gets you a slice of pizza, one dollar gets you a bag of chips and fifty cents gets you a bag of Cheetos (I’m still not sure why they’re cheaper…maybe they’re not a big seller).  Sometimes I see students eating two slices of pizza and a bag of chips before religious school even starts.  That’s roughly 700-800 calories at 4pm.  I’m wondering, what meal is this for these kids?  I would bet that most of them go home at 6:15 and have some sort of dinner with their families.

*I’d like to say that the same synagogue offered pretty healthy snacks to families before a family Shabbat service two weeks ago, including string cheese, pretzels, carrots and goldfish crackers.  It was nice to see more sensible snacks laid out.

It’s not just the religious school either.  My school graciously offers to feed us, rather frequently, for lunch speakers and special meetings.  About half of the time, the fare includes greasy pizza with a bowl of salad on the side.  At least we’re serving salads but come on!  When there’s a health conscious administrator placing the orders, we get lucky and end up with sandwiches from a local kosher caterer or Subway (although tuna sandwiches don’t really constitute a healthy meal because of all the mayo, it’s at least less greasy than pizza).

It’s easy to imagine why pizza is a big hit though.  It’s cheap, fast, easy to order and generally a crowd pleaser.  We’re sending the message that although we’re helping out by feeding you or having snacks available to purchase, your health isn’t really a concern of ours.  And this is happening here in super health conscious Los Angeles!

Is this the message we want to be sending?  What are Reform Jews saying today about healthy lifestyles and the major issue of obesity in our nation?  How important is it to not only take care of our communities and those in need but our bodies too?  It seems we may be missing the boat to really help some of our congregants and friends.

For me, as a future-parent, lifelong eater of food and someone committed to a healthy lifestyle, the greasy pizza just isn’t cutting it anymore.

This week in my sociology of Jewish education class, we started talking about what the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony and celebration is in American Judaism and I can’t get a few lingering questions out of my head.  As a group of future educators and rabbis, my classmates are pretty much in agreement that the way we celebrate becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah may need to be reexamined.

I’ve never thought about the origins of the modern celebration before, even though I knew that our ancestors haven’t been throwing bashes with dj’s and candle lighting ceremonies for centuries now.  It turns out that it’s only been about 60 years since the modern incarnation of a Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebration has really been around (or began to evolve into what it is today, at least).  Traditionally, becoming a Bar/Bat Mitzvah means turning 12 or 13 years old, depending on your gender.  Halakhically, you’re then considered a Jewish adult and should be upholding all of the commandments of a Jewish adult.

So the lingering questions that I couldn’t get out of my head centered around motives, really.  Why do Reform Jews do everything they can to make sure their child has a…successful Bar/Bat Mitzvah? What does this ceremony and celebration actually mean to these families?  A study done in the last decade by the Reform movements showed that our congregations were only retaining between 15 and 20 percent of post-Bar/Bat Mitzvah families.  Why are families pushing forward, fighting and biting their way into preferred dates for their child’s celebration but then (most are) cutting off all ties after they are through?

Classmates of mine raised the point that we have basically turned our synagogues into “big box stores” of Judaism.  If Congregation Samuel’s Club says that in order to buy the AMAZING deal of one child’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah for the small price of a few years of religious school, affiliation dues and Bar/Bat Mitzvah fees, why should families stick around after they have gotten what they wanted?  We don’t seem to be giving compelling reasons to stay.  Should that be our responsibility?  Or should families WANT to stay as a part of the congregation?

When did our synagogues become places where we demand goods and leave if they are not supplied or if we got what we came for?  When did synagogues stop being a place of community, of kehilah?  High Holidays have become like going to Sam’s Club on a Sunday…it’s packed, there are people everywhere, yet you wonder why none of these people are coming during the week when, HEY, you’ve seen it, it’s EMPTY on a Friday night!

What is it then that people are seeking from this Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience?  Is it an old, Jewish guilt that suddenly surfaces in parents when they realize that their children are almost coming of age?  It is, like a friend of a friend describes Judaism, a virus that you don’t really want to give in to but for SOME reason, you feel the need to do what it demands and make your child have a Bar/Bat Mitzvah!? Are we nervous about the survival of Judaism or nervous about looking like dopes if we don’t prescribe to the Bar/Bat Mitzvah economy that we have created?

Let’s be clear about something here too.  I’m not talking about families who have a thriving Jewish home.  I’m talking about families who are basically foreigners to synagogues and Jewish life but make their debut appearance when a Bar/Bat Mitzvah looms in the near future.  NOT that I disagree with educating young Jews, quite the opposite, but I wholeheartedly disagree with just educating for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah and halting the Jewish education the day after the ceremony takes place.

I have frequently tried to put myself into the shoes of someone NOT attending a Jewish seminary, someone not devoting their life to educating Jews.  This is one thing I just can’t wrap my head around though.  I find it fascinating and sad at the same time that we’re so focused on this ritual which is traditionally really only a coming of age marker.  (Although my professor would possibly scald me and ask who/what is this “traditiona” I keep referring to.  Who or what is authentic?  Is there a Jewish authenticity?  Heck if I know.)

It seems we have created a monster.  Somewhere along the line, a ceremony and possibly small kiddush celebration meant to mark the transition of a Jew from youth to adult has become something Jews worldwide scorn at and pick apart but still take part in.  (I’m not innocent either, I have my “Bat Mitzvah scrubs” sitting in my closet.)

So I say that I want a *mitzvah* revolution.  Let’s take back the tradition…take back the importance of Bar/Bat Mitzvah as just what it was meant to be.  We can tastefully mark the transition to adulthood without going overboard and making a mockery of a Jewish ceremony.  Our clergy and pocketbooks will both thank us.

What about you???

My second year of studies at HUC has begun but because of the Jewish holidays, it’s been a real roller coaster recently.  I’m finally getting into a routine and really getting to know LA.

Follow me as I continue my studies.  My blog posts are going to be a little different this year, more about issues in Jewish education or about certain events that trigger something this year.  Welcome back!!!

Now, being back at school has been great but also difficult falling back into the groove. It’s hard to go from not having to do anything besides eat, play with my dogs and hang out with family and friends to actually doing work and paying attention in class from 4.5-6 hours a day. But, this semester should be fantastic. My semester is mostly unchanged so my schedule still have five periods (all classes are 1.5 hours) of Modern Hebrew, one period of Classical (Biblical) Grammar, one period of Intro to Liturgy, one period of Education Seminar and all of Wednesdays are still taken up by our Israel Seminar class. In addition to my unchanged courses, I also have three periods of Bible (amazing so far!) and one period of a history elective, The Arab-Israel Conflict. It’s going to be a great semester!!!

I also have my d’var Torah to look forward to (in two and a half weeks…so close!), Purim, the Ride4Reform, Passover (ahem, another trip home, thanks mom!), my roommates birthdays, Lane’s 25th birthday (woahhhh that’s weird), Lane’s and my 8 year anniversary, and then visits after school is over. WOO!!! What a semester!!!

It’s hard to believe that I have now lived in Israel for more than six months. I got a few dirty looks when I mentioned something about “Well, when I go back home….”. No worries, Jerusalem may be my home right now, but home is where my dogs are. And family and friends, I guess.

So, if you’re reading this and you’ve gotten this far, you probably know that I am still raising money for the Ride4Reform.  Now, I realize it’s a bad time to be asking for donations since we’re all concerned about Haiti and the financial crisis that’s still affecting everyone…but please consider donating.  It’s such a fantastic cause (donations help fund a more pluralistic Israel) and besides, your favorite HUC student studying in Jerusalem (ahem, ahem) is riding in her first organized ride and needs help meeting her (at least) $1,000 fundraising goal before March 1st.

Here are some pictures from break and right after…expect some crazy cool posts in the next few months!!!  Love to all.

(Although it was November 28th, I’m including it in this post…forgive me!)  I had the opportunity to participate in this protest/march at the end of November.  Although Haaretz said it was all secular Israelis, I beg to differ…I think there were a lot more somewhat observant Jews present than they thought.  Either way, it was very cool to be a part of a group marching for a more pluralistic Jerusalem.

I had my first personal visitors!  Lane’s family was in town and I got to hang out with them in Tel Aviv for a weekend.  We did SO much it was ridiculous.  We saw all the major sites and did a lot of things I haven’t had a chance to do yet like going to Yafo.  It was a really great weekend with them.

I came back to Jerusalem for an extremely busy week full of finishing midterms (for some reason, our midterms were really late) and just packed with classes and school stuff.  The family got here and we played in Jerusalem a bit and I even got to take a day off to romp around with them at Masada, Yam ha’Melach (the Dead Sea) and Qumran!

Women of the Wall – December 18, 2009

Since moving to Israel in July, I have had the distinct pleasure of participating in some of my first bouts of political activism and other protest-like demonstrations.  This past Friday, I stood at the Kotel and wore a tallit and a kippah (and it is strictly forbidden for women to wear tallitot at the wall).

The Kotel, or the Western Wall, is a remarkably intact portion of one of the retaining walls from the Second Temple (which was destroyed in 70 CE).  It was the place where the Arab Revolts of 1928 began and where thousands sit on Tisha B’av to commemorate the destruction of the Second Temple.  The Kotel came under Israeli control following its victory in the Six Day War in 1967.  An Orthodox Rabbi remains in charge of the Wall’s goings-on.

Women of the Wall, a group of women from all movements, gather on Rosh Chodesh to pray together at the Wall.  Besides not being allowed to wear tallitot, women are also not allowed to gather at the wall to pray/sing as a group or read Torah at the actual Kotel.

I arrived at the Kotel at about 7:10 on Friday.  The service had begun at 7:00am.  It was POURING and there was a big group of umbrellas gathered at the back of the women’s section.  Everyone was already drenched but had their tallitot on and their siddurim in hand.  There were photographers everywhere but most people were just concerned about trying to pray and not get soaked.  I joined my classmates who had also come to pray, including a few teachers, and huddled under a few umbrellas.

When I took out my tallit to wear, almost immediately a security guard of the Kotel came over and said, in Hebrew,

“You need to zip your jacket and put your tallit inside of your coat.”

I stared blankly for a moment, asked him why, he said it was forbidden to wear it, and I said, I don’t understand…he repeated his request.  I sort of tucked my jacket around my tallit but did NOT zip it up.

The remainder of the service at the actual Wall was disrupted by the men standing at the mechitza yelling, “Gevalt!” (like oh no!) to us.  They gathered at the mechitza and for most of our time there, there were actually NO men at the Wall praying, they were all just yelling at us!

When we finished the first part of the service and started to walk towards Robinson’s Arch (the area designated for groups like Women of the Wall to do a Torah service, or for girls to become a bat mitzvah), Anat Hoffman and another young member of WOW, both wearing tallitot, carried two Torahs from the plaza to the entrance of the plaza.  This is why the one woman was arrested a few weeks ago (for being a women, wearing a tallit and carrying the Torah).

The men who had been screaming at us emerged from the men’s side and we heard insults such as:

“NAZIS!  YOU’RE WHY THE 6 MILLION JEWS DIED IN THE HOLOCAUST!”

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN JEWISH!!”

And a few of the men even spit at us (and the Torah, I might add) and threw some trash.  The police they had there were incredible and I felt very safe.  We walked and sang…and overall, it was probably the best experience I’ve had at the Wall.  I even wrapped tefillin once we got to Robinson’s Arch.

It was DEFINITELY an experience I’m going to remember.  Check out the New York Times article about it…just so you know, I’m under the umbrella towards the middle of the picture, it has red, white and blue flowers.  Some pictures for your enjoyment.

The last few weeks have been filled with Jewish joy.  Israel has still been incredibly fun and amazing.  I’ve been super busy with a final exam (it was a short class) and preparing for my turn to lead classmates and faculty in tefilot (services).  The final exam went well, I hope, and my service was really fun to lead yesterday.  My friend, Lara, played guitar for it and we had a great time.  The mood was kind of mellow and relaxed and I (gently) focused on thanksgiving, since it landed ON Thanksgiving!  It was my first time wearing my “big girl” tallis as I call it and tefillin for leading services.  It was great except for when my tefillin slid down my arm at the beginning of the Torah service.  Some things take some finesse, I guess!

I attended my first HUC Flag Football game this past week.  I know what you’re thinking, a bunch of rabbinical and Jewish education students playing football?!?!?  WHAT!?!?!  They’re actually not horrible…well, they did lose by 14 but they got two touchdowns this week (both run in by Rachel’s fiancé, by the way).

This week was just craziness.  But, it went by really quickly.  I had a big exam last Sunday and then my service yesterday.  There was lots of studying and running around going on.  After my service, we had a delightful Thanksgiving meal at school with some classmates and four gigantic turkeys.  I do have to say though that it was probably the Thanksgiving that I ate the least at in years!!!  There just wasn’t the “get stuffed ’til you bust” mentality.  Then, a bunch of us went out for a lovely Thanksgiving drink.  It was a great night.

Political news: The group, Women of the Wall had a fiasco this past Rosh Chodesh (about a week ago now) when one of its members was detained and arrested for wearing a tallit too close to the Western Wall.  The group normally meets and davens at the Southern Wall every Rosh Chodesh, but the Israel medical student who was arrested was detained for a few hours at a police station before her release.  She was not allowed to go back to the wall for three weeks as a punishment.

There’s going to be a march tomorrow night from right near my apartment to the Old City that will culminate in some speeches by prominent figures in the Progressive movement (ie Israel’s Reform movement) and the med student will also give a speech.  I’m attending to try to share in increasing pluralism and egalitarian acceptance in Jerusalem.

In solidarity for Women of the Wall, here’s a great picture of the popular “Tefillin Barbie” that a female soferet (someone who writes Torah scrolls) came out with in 2006.  You can read about Tefillin Barbie here.

But wait….THERE’S MORE!!!!  MY OWN VERSION….TEFILLIN ALLIE!!!!

Yeah, that’s right!!! 

There was also a really great day this week where I attended the Conservative minyan, Moreshet Yisrael, that meets in the synagogue next to the Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism.  I went with a few friends and it was nice to be in a more traditional shacharit service where I could wear tefillin and my new big tallis (AND there was at least one other woman doing the same).  But, I still don’t really like the feeling of the rabbi chanting the first and last lines and my saying prayers in the middle that I really don’t know the translations of.  I still prefer Reform services with the overall sense of community and musical pieces.

I had such a great morning before Shabbat today.  I woke up thinking I was going to Tali for my community service but woops, they have a program today.  So, I met up with my friends Brandon and Jon and had a DELICIOUS Indian lunch in the shuk.  I showed Brandon our super secret (well, not really) place to buy produce (I payed 1/2 a shekel for three small avocados) and then bought some Marzipan for my roommates.  It was a zoo, as every Friday is, but it was still really nice to get out of the apartment.

I stopped by a really cute art fair going on and now I am back on Ramban, finishing this delightful blog post.  I think it’s necessary to get at least a LITTLE homework finished before Shabbat begins!!  We’re headed over to our classmates apartment for dinner so I need to be ready in time!!!

Shabbat shalom v’chag hodu sameach!!!!  (Okay, they really call Thanksgiving “Hodiya” but I like Chag Hodu Sameach!)

I’ve been wearing my kippah during services for quite some time so wearing one here isn’t anything new…I am just especially careful to remove it before walking back out onto the street (that could be dangerous in some parts of Jerusalem).

Recently though, I started thinking about how I felt that I was wearing a kippah every time I prayed but not every time I was studying (as in studying Torah or other Jewish texts).  I decided to do some research.

The wearing of kippot is not found in the bible or any biblical passage but rather in the Talmud (which actually says you should wear it all the time, basically).  Where did the idea come from that it’s acceptable to wear kippot when praying, eating, sayig a blessing or studying religious texts?  Evidently, that’s become the minhag in many Conservative synagogues (and for Reform Jews who find wearing kippot meaningful to them).

So, I still haven’t decided what I feel about non-prayer kippah wearage.  For now, I’m going to try out adding the kippah during Liturgy, Rabbinics Text and Parshat HaShavuah (three classes where I’m engaging in study of Torah, Talmud or prayer and blessings).  I have bought some really beautiful ones since arriving in Jerusalem but my new favorite definitely is my awesome Chief kippah (so politically incorrect but I love it).

The only downside is kippah hair…nobody likes flat curls.

Every Wednesday, we have a class called Israel Seminar.  The class’ goal is to allow us to see important sights in Jerusalem and really get a feel for how the history, peoplehood, religion, etc, has affected Israel as a country.  It runs for most of the day on Wednesday and sometimes it includes lectures and sometimes we take field trips (like the one we took to Tel Aviv to see Independence Hall and Rabin Square…).

Last week, we visited Har Herzl and Yad Vashem during Israel Seminar.  We learned about civil religion and how Har Herzl came into being.  We toured some of the memorials and talked about the different kinds of symbols and writings families put on the headstones.  Then, we headed over to Yad Vashem to walk through the museum.

The last time I was in Israel, the museum was being renovated.  It was very different than the DC museum.  The building itself is shaped like a gigantic 3D triangle.  The layout of the museum itself is very different than DC (from what I remember).  The museum is built so that you walk from room to room with small but powerful exhibits or artifacts in between each room (like on the little walkway that connects the two rooms, the museum flows in a zigzag pattern).  It was extremely powerful and emotional for me.

On a lighter note, we also held our first HUC Homecoming Dance at school.  It was a really fun night.  Since break, I also had my first day of my community service project where I go to sing Hebrew songs and/or Shabbat songs with the kids of Tali Bayit Vegan, a Progressive Jewish day school in Jerusalem.  The kids were very well-behaved and I had a great time singing with them!

It’s been a little difficult to get back into cycling since Turkey.  I felt really out of my groove and last week I only did one good ride.  This week, I managed a smaller ride alone on Sunday and then group rides on Monday and Friday.  Friday was a HUGE accomplishment for me because we did 51km (31.5 miles!!!) to and from Nes Harim where they have this great café called Bar BaHar (Bar in the Mountains). It was one of those rides that is uphill both ways with some really great small incline/flatter riding so I had to work but I didn’t have to push the entire time.  It is really challenging though because you go down into this little town called Ein Kerem and you continue going down farther into a valley and then the valley starts going back up again and you climb all the way up to the top of Nes Harim.  It was a really difficult ride but I feel great about it (ask my legs, they may tell you differently).  The Ride4Reform days are 50-60km each (over an entire day) so this is huge that I could do 51km in a few hours!!!  The only bad part was that we were out for so long and I forgot to put on sunscreen so I got a little rosy-faced and an awwwwesome farmer’s tan.

Shabbat has been incredibly relaxing so far and I don’t plan on doing anything else but go to lunch at a friend’s and some homework.  It’s finally cooled down in Jerusalem so it’s extremely beautiful outside now.  I hope everyone has a restful Shabbat and enjoys their fall weekends!!!