Hi everyone,
Though it didnt get all that much play here in the West, the controversy over Ordination of women has been swirling around my mentor and friend Rabbi Weiss for weeks now. With the dust (maybe) settling now, I’ll be devoting my 15 minutes on Shabbat morning to reflecting on the larger issues of community, tradition, and pressing moral imperatives, all of which were in play as this story unfolded.
See you in shul!
Rav Yosef
Hi everyone,
I just returned from the Rabbinic Misison to Israel, organized by Los Angeles’ Israel Consul General, Yakov Dayan. It was, in many ways, a marvelous trip, and I will be sharing some thoughts and perspectives about it on Shabbat morning, God willing. Meanwhile, feel free to check out some coverage in the Jerusalem Post at http://www.israeliconsulatela.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=352%3Amulti-denominational-la-rabbis-find-their-unity-in-israel&catid=1%3Alatest-news&Itemid=158&lang=en
Rav Yosef
Hi friends,
I’m still feeling upset on a daily basis, about the Goldstone Report. I don’t know exactly why, but this one disturbs me even more than the many other UN generated anti-Israel reports and votes that we’ve witnessed over the years. Perhaps its because Israel’s need to militarily re-enter Gaza was ultimately the result of Israel’s having done the correct moral thing (in my opinion) in leaving Gaza to begin with, and the Palestinians having chosen a violent response to that courageous decision. When considering this larger context, it’s hard to escape the impression that the UN is hopelessly a tool of world’ s thugs, not an instrument to promote peace, and that Isaiah, whose words welcome visitors to UN Plaza in New York, is rolling over in his grave.
Which is why my spirits were lifted by this startling and honest related op-ed in today’s New York Times. Please take a look. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/20/opinion/20bernstein.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Rav Yosef
Dear friends,
Thank God, we had a great, inspiring, and poweful Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.
In all honesty, I drew most of my own inspiration from you, the myriad of BDJ volunteers. Every time I picked my head up or walked out into the lobby for a moment, there were different members taking shifts as ushers, or heading up for a Rechov Yeladim slot, or keeping us all on the right page, or pitching in any one of several other ways. One Ba’al Tefilla after another opened his soul for us, our Ba’alai Kria were each magnificent, our team of gaba’im was wonderfu, and Amram outdid himself insuring that all the things we take for granted were done just right. What a community we have! What a team we are. Thank you.
Looking forward to the time of our joyous celebration.
Rav Yosef
Dear friends,
I once heard Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks compare a niggun to a bed on a cold night. “First you warm it up”, Rabbi Sacks observed, “and then it warms you up.”
Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur have so many associations, and mean so many different things. Music has always been chief among them. My grandfather led a choir for High Holiday Day davening, and in my mind’s eye and ear, I can still see and hear tuning fork that he carried with him always. It was always about the music.
Our shul is blessed with a richly diverse population, and many of us come from different traditions of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur music. For the past many years, we have experienced the joy of together creating and establishing the melodies of Bnai David, to which we return year after year, and which we also refresh year after year. As you can undoubtedly recall from Days of Awe past, the sound of our sanctuary filled with melody and harmony is magical. It’s, well, awesome. We do it without a choir, and without a professional cantorial staff. We do it ourselves, with our hearts and our souls and our throats.
We all take these next few days as days of preparation. Let’s each include in our preparation, the preparation to sing -to let go, and to let the song rise out of our deepest place, and meet the song that is emanating form the deepest place within our fellow daveners. The whole is so exponentially greater than the sum of the parts, that to hold back, to hesitate, would cause us all enormous loss.
Sing before God a new song. We will all be singing with you.
Rav Yosef
