What is a sukkah?
Today I recieved an email from a friend that has opened my eyes! Can you make it to New Yrok? At least take a look and vote online!
Sukkah vs. Sukkah
Twelve architects compete to redesign the ritual holiday hut—and you get to pick the winner.
http://nymag.com/arts/architecture/features/68057/
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Burning books
Hours before Rosh Hashanah and here are the thoughts burning in my head....
The Bebelplatz in Berlin is known as the site of the infamous Nazi book burning ceremony held in the evening of May 10, 1933 by members of the SA ("brownshirts"), SS, Nazi students and Hitler Youth groups, on the instigation of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The Nazis burned around 20,000 books, including works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other authors. Today a memorial by Micha Ullman consisting of a glass plate set into the cobbles, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates the book burning. It is a powerful reminder of an event that is painful to consider. I stood there as a tourist and creid seeing the empty shelves!
A line of Heinrich Heine is engraved at the sight, stating "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen" (in English: "Where they burn books, they ultimately burn people").
I was very distressed to learn of the planned "Burn a Koran Day" on Sept. 11 at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville.
As Jews, we have a tragic history of watching bigots and fanatics burn our books, and we know that very often book-burning is the beginning, not the end, of provocation and violence against a people. We also know the pain which is added to a terrible situation when others remain silent in the face of such awful intolerance. And so we feel it is our sacred duty to stand with all good people, from all religions, against this shameful act.
It is both factually and morally wrong to blame all Muslims for the 9/11 attacks, and to assault their religion through the desecration of their holiest book. We cannot remain silent as their sacred scriptures are burned, nor can we accept the demonization of an entire religion because of the terrible acts of a minority from that religion.
I pray that the organizers of this travesty will desist from their plans, as I pray that our Muslim friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members know that these fanatics do not speak for the rest of us.
The Bebelplatz in Berlin is known as the site of the infamous Nazi book burning ceremony held in the evening of May 10, 1933 by members of the SA ("brownshirts"), SS, Nazi students and Hitler Youth groups, on the instigation of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The Nazis burned around 20,000 books, including works by Thomas Mann, Erich Maria Remarque, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx and many other authors. Today a memorial by Micha Ullman consisting of a glass plate set into the cobbles, giving a view of empty bookcases, commemorates the book burning. It is a powerful reminder of an event that is painful to consider. I stood there as a tourist and creid seeing the empty shelves!
A line of Heinrich Heine is engraved at the sight, stating "Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen" (in English: "Where they burn books, they ultimately burn people").
I was very distressed to learn of the planned "Burn a Koran Day" on Sept. 11 at the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville.
As Jews, we have a tragic history of watching bigots and fanatics burn our books, and we know that very often book-burning is the beginning, not the end, of provocation and violence against a people. We also know the pain which is added to a terrible situation when others remain silent in the face of such awful intolerance. And so we feel it is our sacred duty to stand with all good people, from all religions, against this shameful act.
It is both factually and morally wrong to blame all Muslims for the 9/11 attacks, and to assault their religion through the desecration of their holiest book. We cannot remain silent as their sacred scriptures are burned, nor can we accept the demonization of an entire religion because of the terrible acts of a minority from that religion.
I pray that the organizers of this travesty will desist from their plans, as I pray that our Muslim friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members know that these fanatics do not speak for the rest of us.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Opening the Gates
The liturgy of the High Holy Days is permeated with the metaphor of “the gates.” The gates of repentance are opened for us as the new year enters. The gates of repentance begin to close at Neilah. So, too, in most modern American synagogues, there is a literal and physical “opening of the gates” in preparation for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
In anticipation of holiday crowds we open up our sanctuaries by retracting the back wall. A vast space is thereby created for our enlarged congregation. Just as in ancient Jerusalem on the festivals, the gates of the Temple are opened and the crowds surge in.
The High Holy Days are powerful. For centuries, the sound of the shofar has summoned Jews to our places of worship. Jews of every stripe are moved by its sounds. Regular worshipers and holiday-only worshipers, believers and non-believers, old and young, men and women, Hebrew readers and non-Hebrew readers, congregational activists and those who struggle defining their place in the congregation – all of us, it seems, are drawn to our sanctuary.
The back wall of the sanctuary in a just a few days will no longer in place. A sea of chairs awaits the congregation. The office is abuzz with preparations. The phone is ringing. E-mails are piling up. The holidays draw near!
But in a deeper sense, the gates of the spirit, the gates of Jewishness, the gates of community are beginning to open. Out there, on our personal radar screens, a bleep approaches. Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner. Schedule adjustments need to be made. Emotional adjustments need to be made. The gates are opening and soon we will be passing from the daily course of our lives to the sacred precincts of our souls.
The gates are opening. The shofar is calling you. May you find spiritual nourishment in our worship on this Rosh Hashanah and may the gates of Torah remain open for you long after the holidays pass. Indeed, they are always open for you in the community and in your hearts.
A healthy and a happy
The liturgy of the High Holy Days is permeated with the metaphor of “the gates.” The gates of repentance are opened for us as the new year enters. The gates of repentance begin to close at Neilah. So, too, in most modern American synagogues, there is a literal and physical “opening of the gates” in preparation for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
In anticipation of holiday crowds we open up our sanctuaries by retracting the back wall. A vast space is thereby created for our enlarged congregation. Just as in ancient Jerusalem on the festivals, the gates of the Temple are opened and the crowds surge in.
The High Holy Days are powerful. For centuries, the sound of the shofar has summoned Jews to our places of worship. Jews of every stripe are moved by its sounds. Regular worshipers and holiday-only worshipers, believers and non-believers, old and young, men and women, Hebrew readers and non-Hebrew readers, congregational activists and those who struggle defining their place in the congregation – all of us, it seems, are drawn to our sanctuary.
The back wall of the sanctuary in a just a few days will no longer in place. A sea of chairs awaits the congregation. The office is abuzz with preparations. The phone is ringing. E-mails are piling up. The holidays draw near!
But in a deeper sense, the gates of the spirit, the gates of Jewishness, the gates of community are beginning to open. Out there, on our personal radar screens, a bleep approaches. Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner. Schedule adjustments need to be made. Emotional adjustments need to be made. The gates are opening and soon we will be passing from the daily course of our lives to the sacred precincts of our souls.
The gates are opening. The shofar is calling you. May you find spiritual nourishment in our worship on this Rosh Hashanah and may the gates of Torah remain open for you long after the holidays pass. Indeed, they are always open for you in the community and in your hearts.
A healthy and a happy
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