Kudos to Rosie (at least this time) for being able to articulately call things as she sees them. I think she managed to get her point across extremely well without resulting to name calling, instead drawing on the fact as she understands them.

Like it or not she does make some great points.

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Actually it looks more like a college classroom than a bar and this isn’t really even a joke but that’s ok.

I stumbled across this two-part video series of a recent interfaith discussion between a priest, an imam and a rabbi and felt they were worth sharing with others.

To be honest this discussion is at times a little slow and boring but the videos are certainly worth skimming because there’s some interesting stuff covered. For example some of the things which caught my attention included a discussion of creation stories, the nature of G-D and a discussion of free will, evil and original sin.

Watching the video I just assumed that the rabbi was Reconstructionist simply because of some of the views he presented in that funky Sephardic style Kippah he was wearing. However it turns out he’s a conservative rabbi which was pleasantly surprising but I don’t have much contact with conservative rabbis so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at all, who knows.

Anyhow the videos run over two hours in total but I just skipped around, watching both of them in 45 minutes or so and still managed to get a lot out of them.

Enjoy and as always feel free to share your thoughts if you do in fact watch the videos.

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It’s up!

I’m in it!

It’s over here, so go check it out!

Hat tip to Jack for another job well done!

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The Hamilton Spectator recently ran an interesting piece about this guy Ted Brellisford who at the age of 53 became a Jew by Choice.

As a JBC myself I am always touched by these kinds of stories.

Anyhow its interesting, short and worth checking out so just click here to read it.

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Why don’t you take a break from your own “problems” this afternoon and think about doing DO SOMETHING a little different with your time. 

Need I say more?

Big fat kisses and hugs to both Treppenwitz and Jack for getting my attention.

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Up until last week I didn’t know much about Whole Foods or its president John Mackey but with what little information I did know about the company and based on what I saw when I was in Los Angeles last fall, I was more than a little skeptical. However last week I came across an interesting video up on Google featuring none other than John Mackey himself. I watched it on the weekend and liked it so much that I watched it again this morning with breakfast.

The first hour was basically a presentation where Mackey provided a detailed overview of the company’s approach to food production, including various projects and plans for future innovations. Watching him I quickly moved from a place of skepticism into one of complete awe. I couldn’t help but think to myself that this guy whether he knows it or not, is actually working towards establishing what may well be the first comprehensive expression of Eco-Kashrut. He’s certainly way beyond anything crunchy granola Jews are trying to do. Come to think of it he’s pretty much any serious Eco-Kashrutist’s wet dream come true. Okay maybe he’s just my wet dream come true but I’m hoping I’m not alone on this one.

I’m impressed with him and his approach to business and thought he was extremely honest. He’s actually putting together a plan for implementing a new type of organic certification which I believe is a perfect example of what an eco-kosher certification process might look like.

I’m working from memory so I might get things wrong but here is the basic breakdown of this process as I remember it.

He called it something like a star system with one star for meeting the basic organic food production criteria. You know stuff like no GMO’s, no pesticides or chemical fertilizers etc. But this is the bare minimum and only gets a company one star on the certification process.

The other proposed considerations include (again that’s if my memory serves me right)

• Healthfulness of the food - as in is it healthy with vitamins, low fat etc.
• Animal welfare considerations - Are the animals being raised in a humane fashion
• Environmental considerations - what impact is food production having on the environment.
• Economics/social justice considerations - is the food being fairly traded and what our worker conditions and wages like.

Anyhow as far as I’m concerned what he’s outlining here is a near-perfect example of what Eco-Kashrut might look like in practice.

The entire video is worth watching but if you don’t want to commit an hour you can jump to about 40 minutes in because that’s where he starts laying out his plan. At bare minimum I recommend watching the last 10 minutes because he makes some excellent summarizing points.

Anyhow here it is for your viewing pleasure.

Oh also there is a part two which features a Discussion between Mackey and Michael Pollen. It is also worth checking out if you have time.

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I’ve been wanting to write on the notion of Informed Choice and what that means personally to me as a Jew for over a year now, but I just never seem to get around to it for one reason or another. Anyhow as someone who came to Judaism as an adult I can admit that at times it’s difficult to maintain a healthy sense of Jewish identity. Sometimes I believe this is because of the prejudices and attitudes of others and certainly at least in my case often it’s the result of self-inflicted wounds resulting from my own muddled thinking. However the more I read and learn, the more I meet people, the more I realize that I’m not alone because a lot of people struggle with their sense of Jewish identity.

As Reform Jews we are afforded a phenomenal amount of wiggle room when it comes to defining our sense of Jewishness. We are not halachickly bound by anything and were certainly not discouraged from embracing modernity. These are things I wouldn’t give up for the world but I also realize that while they may be among my greatest assets as a Jew, this looseness and acceptance also creates all sorts of obstacles. I can recall that as I went through the conversion process there was much discussion around the issue of Informed Choice but post conversion I often wonder if I’m actually taking this notion seriously.

To be honest in many ways I find denominationalism a huge hindrance to the overall health of the Jewish community. However when it comes to my own sense of Jewish identity no matter how far I stray in any direction there’s always this voice inside of me quietly saying “You are a Reform Jew”. I don’t believe that my feelings are rooted so much in a sense of institutional affiliation or commitment. Rather my sense of identification seems to be connected in more of a spiritual and intellectual way. It’s basically just this pervasive sense that I am a Reform Jew because I see my Jewishness as part of an ongoing process. It’s a process of ever deepening interconnections, evolution and mutual exchange between myself, G-D, Torah and the rest of the Tribe. I experience this relationship as something which is continually changing and adjusting not only everyday but with each thought and every breath. I’m increasingly coming to realize that for this type of dialogue to work I must engage the process from a place of Informed Choice. It’s not about making claims, it’s about committing to the process with a real sense of honesty, reflection and accountability. Because without these things I just don’t believe its Informed Choice and least not as it was intended to be applied.

I suppose that in some ways this post (and those to follow) is an attempt on my part to begin re-engaging with this concept of Informed Choice in a more conscious and systematic fashion. Basically what I’m planning to do with this series of posts is to go over point by point the CCAR’s 1999 Statement of Principles. I’m already very familiar with them but I think it would be valuable to go through them one at a time in order to see how they fit into and inform my ever-evolving sense of Jewishness.

I feel there’s a lot of material to cover and I want to do it as honestly as possible, so I’m probably going to limit things to one point per post. Also I am hoping to post at least once a week on the subject until I make it through the list. However knowing me I have no doubt that some weeks I will cover more than one and other weeks I may not even get to any at all. But I’m committed to working my way through the entire list. 

Lastly I thought I would provide the points made in this 1999 Statement of Principles for those of you who are unfamiliar but interested.

If you would like to see the entire document you can click here and if you’re interested in the official commentary just click here. 

Throughout our history, we Jews have remained firmly rooted in Jewish tradition, even as we have learned much from our encounters with other cultures. The great contribution of Reform Judaism is that it has enabled the Jewish people to introduce innovation while preserving tradition, to embrace diversity while asserting commonality, to affirm beliefs without rejecting those who doubt, and to bring faith to sacred texts without sacrificing critical scholarship.

This “Statement of Principles” affirms the central tenets of Judaism - God, Torah and Israel - even as it acknowledges the diversity of Reform Jewish beliefs and practices. It also invites all Reform Jews to engage in a dialogue with the sources of our tradition, responding out of our knowledge, our experience and our faith. Thus we hope to transform our lives through (kedushah), holiness.

God

We affirm the reality and oneness of God, even as we may differ in our understanding of the Divine presence.

We affirm that the Jewish people is bound to God by an eternal (b’rit), covenant, as reflected in our varied understandings of Creation, Revelation and Redemption.

We affirm that every human being is created (b’tzelem Elohim), in the image of God, and that therefore every human life is sacred.

We regard with reverence all of God’s creation and recognize our human responsibility for its preservation and protection.

We encounter God’s presence in moments of awe and wonder, in acts of justice and compassion, in loving relationships and in the experiences of everyday life.

We respond to God daily: through public and private prayer, through study and through the performance of other (mitzvot), sacred obligations — (bein adam la Makom), to God, and (bein adam la-chaveiro), to other human beings.

We strive for a faith that fortifies us through the vicissitudes of our lives — illness and healing, transgression and repentance, bereavement and consolation, despair and hope.

We continue to have faith that, in spite of the unspeakable evils committed against our people and the sufferings endured by others, the partnership of God and humanity will ultimately prevail.

We trust in our tradition’s promise that, although God created us as finite beings, the spirit within us is eternal.

In all these ways and more, God gives meaning and purpose to our lives.

Torah

We affirm that Torah is the foundation of Jewish life.

We cherish the truths revealed in Torah, God’s ongoing revelation to our people and the record of our people’s ongoing relationship with God.

We affirm that Torah is a manifestation of (ahavat olam), God’s eternal love for the Jewish people and for all humanity.

We affirm the importance of studying Hebrew, the language of Torah and Jewish liturgy, that we may draw closer to our people’s sacred texts.

We are called by Torah to lifelong study in the home, in the synagogue and in every place where Jews gather to learn and teach. Through Torah study we are called to (mitzvot), the means by which we make our lives holy.

We are committed to the ongoing study of the whole array of (mitzvot) and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as a community. Some of these (mitzvot), sacred obligations, have long been observed by Reform Jews; others, both ancient and modern, demand renewed attention as the result of the unique context of our own times.

We bring Torah into the world when we seek to sanctify the times and places of our lives through regular home and congregational observance. Shabbat calls us to bring the highest moral values to our daily labor and to culminate the workweek with (kedushah), holiness, (menuchah), rest and (oneg), joy. The High Holy Days call us to account for our deeds. The Festivals enable us to celebrate with joy our people’s religious journey in the context of the changing seasons. The days of remembrance remind us of the tragedies and the triumphs that have shaped our people’s historical experience both in ancient and modern times. And we mark the milestones of our personal journeys with traditional and creative rites that reveal the holiness in each stage of life.

We bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God’s creation. Partners with God in ( tikkun olam), repairing the world, we are called to help bring nearer the messianic age. We seek dialogue and joint action with people of other faiths in the hope that together we can bring peace, freedom and justice to our world. We are obligated to pursue (tzedek), justice and righteousness, and to narrow the gap between the affluent and the poor, to act against discrimination and oppression, to pursue peace, to welcome the stranger, to protect the earth’s biodiversity and natural resources, and to redeem those in physical, economic and spiritual bondage. In so doing, we reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus of traditional Reform Jewish belief and practice. We affirm the (mitzvah) of (tzedakah), setting aside portions of our earnings and our time to provide for those in need. These acts bring us closer to fulfilling the prophetic call to translate the words of Torah into the works of our hands.

In all these ways and more, Torah gives meaning and purpose to our lives.

Israel

We are Israel, a people aspiring to holiness, singled out through our ancient covenant and our unique history among the nations to be witnesses to God’s presence. We are linked by that covenant and that history to all Jews in every age and place.

We are committed to the (mitzvah) of (ahavat Yisrael), love for the Jewish people, and to (k’lal Yisrael), the entirety of the community of Israel. Recognizing that (kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh), all Jews are responsible for one another, we reach out to all Jews across ideological and geographical boundaries.

We embrace religious and cultural pluralism as an expression of the vitality of Jewish communal life in Israel and the Diaspora.

We pledge to fulfill Reform Judaism’s historic commitment to the complete equality of women and men in Jewish life.

We are an inclusive community, opening doors to Jewish life to people of all ages, to varied kinds of families, to all regardless of their sexual orientation, to (gerim), those who have converted to Judaism, and to all individuals and families, including the intermarried, who strive to create a Jewish home.

We believe that we must not only open doors for those ready to enter our faith, but also to actively encourage those who are seeking a spiritual home to find it in Judaism.

We are committed to strengthening the people Israel by supporting individuals and families in the creation of homes rich in Jewish learning and observance.

We are committed to strengthening the people Israel by making the synagogue central to Jewish communal life, so that it may elevate the spiritual, intellectual and cultural quality of our lives.

We are committed to (Medinat Yisrael), the State of Israel, and rejoice in its accomplishments. We affirm the unique qualities of living in (Eretz Yisrael), the land of Israel, and encourage (aliyah), immigration to Israel.

We are committed to a vision of the State of Israel that promotes full civil, human and religious rights for all its inhabitants and that strives for a lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors.

We are committed to promoting and strengthening Progressive Judaism in Israel, which will enrich the spiritual life of the Jewish state and its people.

We affirm that both Israeli and Diaspora Jewry should remain vibrant and interdependent communities. As we urge Jews who reside outside Israel to learn Hebrew as a living language and to make periodic visits to Israel in order to study and to deepen their relationship to the Land and its people, so do we affirm that Israeli Jews have much to learn from the religious life of Diaspora Jewish communities.

We are committed to furthering Progressive Judaism throughout the world as a meaningful religious way of life for the Jewish people.

In all these ways and more, Israel gives meaning and purpose to our lives.

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Zed a regular to TikkunGer.com recently pointed out my blogs lack of a comment preview feature. Well that got me motivated enough to look in to possible solutions and with a little research I have found one.

I have installed an new to plug-in to let people preview their comments before they post them. It’s kind of ugly but it does seem to work.

Anyhow try it out and let me know if you run into any snags.

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I stumbled on to this article Saturday night and thought to myself “wow this sounds like something I just wrote“.

It’s nice to see that I am not just making this stuff up in my deluded mind. Yes indeed it seems that others are just as delude as I am and I just love synchronistic craziness.

Here is a snippet from the article for those of you who are interested in the topic!

Kashrut - rooted in the Bible, and developed by the Rabbis - is the Jewish tradition’s clearly delineated response to this challenge. Kashrut sets limits on what foods we can eat: for example, we can only eat certain (primarily domesticated) animals, and we must slaughter them in the least painful, most respectful way. The blood must be drained and buried, because the life is in the blood and must be returned to the earth. There are also prohibitions against eating shellfish, and the mixing of meat and milk products.

We felt a need to expand this traditional understanding of Kashrut to include global environmental and social issues which the Rabbis of two thousand years ago did not face. In conversation with Jewish people in many communities, we have developed the following tentative guidelines for a Kashrut which speaks to our planetary concerns.

1. We are concerned about the earth as a living being, including the soil, water, air and all the planet’s living systems. It is important to choose foods which are produced, transported and packaged in a way that is sustainable and not harmful to the earth. For us this means buying organic foods even when they cost more, and we also try to choose foods grown locally - or grow our own! This minimizes transportation and connects us to the earth’s natural cycles.

2. We are concerned not only with how animals are slaughtered, but also how they are raised. Animals are often treated as commodities, to be “manufactured” as efficiently as possible for maximum profit. The resulting “factory farms” are appalling places, filled with unspeakable suffering. Upon reading John Robbins’ description of them in Diet for A New America, we decided to avoid all animal products that have not been raised humanely and respectfully.

3. We are concerned about the health of our bodies. We are responsible for taking good care of the bodies that God has given to us. Too much food can be destructive to our systems - especially if it is full of fat and sugar. Tobacco, alcohol, caffeine and other drugs can also be harmful. We eat mostly whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes and nuts. We try to pay attention to how our bodies feel about the food we are eating and to make our meals as nourishing and pleasing as possible.

4. We are concerned about the people who produce and prepare our food. We have extended Kashrut to include concern for how the people who grow and harvest it are treated. We use our food dollars to support growers and producers who demonstrate concern for their workers (and we avoid, for example, commercially produced grapes in response to the United Farm Workers’ boycott). We also use the Council for Economic Priority’s guide Shopping For A Better World to identify and support socially responsible producers.

You can read the entire thing over here if you like.

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On Friday Anxiety Maven posted a comment in my Foo Fighters post regarding another post with which she took issue. I responded but then decided to take down both my response and her original comment for several reasons which I’m not going to get into here. However after sitting with her comments this weekend I’ve decided to address them in this post.

I’m not looking to start a debate just address what I consider to be her legitimate points as well as those I feel are inaccurate and then move on to more interesting subjects. I don’t really want to debate this issue any further.

So here we go.

firstly, the idea that the rebbe is moshiach is halachically valid (please consider the wording carefully). the idea that jesus is moshiach is not. if you don’t agree with the rebbe being the messiah, that’s ok, but it’s still a halachically valid opinion.

I personally don’t buy any of the above but I’m certainly not qualified to disprove it. Having said that I believe that the Rebbe is dead and therefore is out of the running for moshiach status but what do I know. Secondly because I don’t view halachick law as binding, it just seems irrelevant to me to try and distinguish between the Rebbe and Jesus in the way that you have.

Incidentally I’m not alone in my halachick thinking because the Reform movement also does not except halachick law as binding. Feel free to disagree but just don’t say that it’s, just me and Jesus who feel this way because that isn’t the case.

secondly; regarding the author of the article: i don’t agree with any jew hurting another jew for differences of opinion like that. that is wrong.

I’m glad that you feel this way.

thirdly, i take great umbrage in your comments about chabad. i disagree with your terms that “chabad undermines interdenominational community building.” the rebbe himself once crossed out wording on a shliach’s flyer, a flyer that read “chabad is open to orthodox, conservative, and reform jews.” the rebbe said this is already creating divisions between yidden. that said, chabad desires to create jewish community/continuity in the deepest, truest of ways.

Oh where do I start because the above is just wrong in so many ways.

First let’s look at your comment regarding crossing out wording on fliers. It’s nice on the surface but it doesn’t take a lot thinking to figure out that it doesn’t mean much. I agree with you that Chabad is open to everyone no matter what denomination they are from. But it’s disingenuous to suggest this means that they equally accept everyone from those denominations as being Jewish. I’m a Reform Jew by choice so would I be counted as a Jew within a Chabad community? I’m quite confident that the answer to that question is no. How about somebody who is patrilineally Jewish, would they count as Jewish? Again I really don’t think so. And I am just scratching the surface regarding the subtle forms of discrimination that are contained within Chabad. Don’t get me wrong Chabad is entitled to feel the way they feel and from their perspective I and many others probably are NOT Jewish. However it is still discrimination nonetheless even if it’s justified from your point of view.

Oh yes in the deepest and truest (would that be like authentic?) ways.

Next lets look at attempts to interfere with the larger Jewish community.

Example 1 Montréal Mikva

Example 2 Chabad at Princeton

Maybe these claims are false (not that I believe they are) but they aren’t my claims and they certainly are enough in my opinion to warrant both concern and comment.

Last but not least and actually the most personally relevant one to this discussion. If I remember correctly you actually e-mailed my fiancé during the early stages of our relationship questioning her choices about me and I call that interference. I can only conclude that it was rooted in a bias against Reform Judaism and its converts.

This is a clear example of how people who believe in an authentic Judaism can and do engage in interference even if they don’t realize it. She’s not your sister, she’s not your friend and she’s not a member of your community. Yet you still felt it was appropriate to stick your nose in other people’s business and it certainly makes your opinion less relevant to anything I say, believe or do.

I found your behavior despicable (and even antagonizing) yet I chose not to call you on it because I understood where you are coming from. But if you’re going to come onto my blog and begin criticizing me for offending your sensibilities, I’m certainly going to bring it up.

your statement that chabad “claims” to be “true and authentic” judiasm, including “their messianic beliefs” is antagonizing, whether purposely or not.

Although from my perspective it is an accurate statement you’re right it’s antagonizing and therefore I removed some of it from the post.

chabad is authentic, and jews believing that their rebbe is moshiach is written about in the gemora.why don’t other chassidim hold that their rebbe is moshiach…? it’s certainly valid and it’s certainly authentic (check out the rambam for more on this topic).

Here in lies the problem at least from my point of view. You see I believe that academic scholarship both biblical and historical disproves any notion of a singular authentic form of Judaism. I and many others just don’t believe in it. I therefore believe that authenticity claims such as the ones made by Chabad are false becuse theres is no one authentic Judaism. Again you are free to believe what you like on the subject and my worldview is big enough to allow room for both of us but it doesn’t mean I’m going to allow myself to be bound by your views of what is authentic and what is not. Please remember this is not just me who feels this way but also The Reform, Reconstructionist and to a lesser degree Conservative movements do as well.

i think you’ve got some deep-seated stuff about the “box thinking it’s car” business. maybe you think if you can knock down chabad, that validates your own judaism? i’m just putting it out there.

Ouch, that was a rather rough poke. There was a time when you may have been right but not anymore. Chabad has painted itself into irrelevance at least to me that is. Don’t get me wrong there are things I like about Chabad and I don’t even mind participating in the Chabad community in Los Angeles. They just don’t have a monopoly on the truth and so I am way beyond defining myself by their opinions.

Having said that as a progressive and educated human being who believes in social justice and equality. Of course I’m going to poke at Chabad when I see them as being dishonest or homophobic, sexist or ehtnocentrically bigoted. Like it or not I’m allowed to be that way and if you don’t like it you are certainly free to avoid the topic with me. That should be pretty easy to do because I don’t believe I’ve ever gone on your blog and badmouthed Chabad, you or your views. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever badmouthed Chabad on anyone else’s blog at all. Come to think of it the few times I have discussed Chabad on other blogs I’ve actually been sticking up for them. But this is my blog and if I want to say something on it I’m certainly going to.

i’m not saying chabad is perfect, we’ve got issues (including dissonance amongst ourselves). that’s not news. nonetheless, i think your approach is vitriolic, though you claim to be respectful.

I’m sorry to read that things aren’t perfect but I’m glad that you can acknowledge it. As for my being vitriolic I believe I’ve already addressed that issue.

regarding considering yourself a post-halachic jew, well, i know somebody who considered himself the same: jesus..

Well speaking of vitriolic this doesn’t read as very kind to me.

Either your ignorant or just being dismissive to make your point and either way it doesn’t really matter because it’s easy enough to set the record straight.

Although the term post-halachick maybe my term and it may even not be a very accurate term the sentiment behind it is certainly not mine alone. Reform, Reconstructionist and again depending who you ask the conservative movement are all in different ways part of the same club.

p.s. my anti-spam word is “santa.” oy, the irony.

Ha ha!

You are welcome to continue reading and commenting on posts but you need to understand I’m a Reform Jew who believes in Reform values. I am sure that this will upon occasion rub you the wrong way but it’s to be expected.  

Also your points have been taken regarding the harshness of some of my criticisms and I will do my best in the future not to be unnecessarily inflammatory. I should be able to express my concerns in a fashion that is respectful and I will continue to build up my abilities in this department.

Be Well.

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