The town of Scenic, South Dakota is for sale. A tiny, sleepy cowboy town of one hundred and thirty four square miles and only nine residents, Scenic isn’t exactly Midtown Manhattan. But it could be pretty cool…especially if PunkTorah + fans took it over.

The town saloon would make a perfect synagogue, and the town’s two jails would be great part time bet midrashim. And if you get tired of our local shul, you can drive about forty miles to Rapid City and visit Synagogue of the Hills. Chabad doesn’t have a house in South Dakota, which means we’d be the frummiest option in the entire state.

South Dakota has a lot of advantages as the next Jewish homeland. Assuming we divided the town into small lots and got a discount on the property (because Jewish folks never pay full price for anything) we could subdivide the land and sell it for $2,500.00 per half-acre. Not bad! With immediate access to amazing free range cattle farms, kosher meat would be dirt cheap. The lower cost of living means that NextGen, unaffiliated, New Jew web start-ups could operate a lot cheaper than they do in LA, NYC and Atlanta. And hey, all you unemployed yeshiva kids and rabbinical students: if you want a pulpit and to feel like a cowboy, this is your chance. Scenic is also in the heart of Badlands National Park, meaning all the eco-Jews would have a place for their camp Shabbatons. Would you miss your big city relatives? Heck no! Rapid City regional airport is only a forty minute drive!

So who’s up for it?

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The classes are divided into the three key components of Judaism: God, Torah and Israel.

In God, we will discuss what God is all about. What is the nature of the Higher Power? What about Jewish atheism, deism and all the other -isms?

In Torah, we will discuss what the Bible means today, what the Law is intended to be used for, and how Judaism has survived thanks to the mitzvot, or commandments.

In Israel, we will discuss what it means to be a Jewish community today. Does the Judaism of the past help us to work, live, play and love each other?

Classes are every Tuesday at 7PM Eastern Standard Time starting July 12th. You can RSVP on Facebook or simply join the class at 7PM.

These classes are free and no one will be denied access to the class; however, we appreciate a donation of $18 for all three classes.

For more information, questions, comments or concerns, email patrick@punktorah.org

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The siddur is gender inclusive, LGBT friendly and showcases the many, varied ways that Jews can connect to prayer, both traditional and contemporary. The siddur includes the three daily prayers, prayers for Shabbat and Havdalah, holidays, meditations, poems and more! As a bonus, the prayer book includes a full Haggadah and Birkat Hamazon (blessing after meals). A great beginner siddur for someone interested in Jewish prayer who needs a place to start.

The book was written by the volunteers at OneShul.

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Promotion will include the following types of assignments:

-Developing a marketing plan for The G-d Project that gives the maximum effective exposure of the project, increases donations to the project, increases user involvement in the site (including video submissions and video feedback) and ultimately drives true traffic to the site while maintaining our brand and image
-Improving SEO on The G-d Project website
-Creating web based marketing campaigns (from concept to completion and follow up) for social media websites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Formspring
-Developing PPC-style Google Ads and/or other search engine based promotions
-Developing and managing a press list to ensure editorial in print and online
-Promoting our project to popular Jewish blogs
-Creating and placing print and web-based ads (when appropriate and budget allowing)
-Communicating with PunkTorah Executive Director about the progress of all projects

The vendor must be self-directed. We are your clients, not your bosses.

When bidding for this project, please submit the following:

-A one page marketing plan for The G-d Project with a general timeline
-A CV or other relevant document about yourself and/or your company, past projects and their outcomes
-A budget including your labor and any expenses that may be incurred in promoting this website. Our total budget is around $3,000. Competitive budgeting with expected milestones is very important, as we are a small non-profit and will use a “competitive bid” process when considering who to award this to.

The bidding process for The G-d Project will end July 14th at 5PM EST with a decision made by July 15th and announcement the following week. This project will last from August – October, with The G-d Project’s launch date of Sept 12.

Please submit your bid to patrick@punktorah.org

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Sexism plays a role, but not the generic No-Girls-Allowed kind of sexism. This sexism is rooted more in a institutional bias about what it takes to promote a synagogue.

As Rabbi Judith Hauptman, a JTS professor says,  “they prefer a man — a married man with a baby — so their congregants can relate to him.”

I have a sense that what this is really about is attracting young families. After all, a fifty year old man who has never been married and has no children (and never will) could care less about a young married man with an adorable Jewish wife and rugrat. Shuls want a rabbi that looks like the kind of people they want in the synagogue or the person who symbolizes what a rabbi should look like, think like, talk like and act like. This is why I blog instead of pounding my first on the bimah. No one wants to see a tattooed little man yelling about midrashim — unless it’s on YouTube.

Someone recently told me that like a good politician, a rabbi for today is “someone you can go have a beer with.” That may be true. However, how about rabbis you can do yoga with? Be pregnant with? Or even better…go through menopause and the loss of a parent with?

I also point the finger at the rabbinical schools, giving false hope of a job to rabbinical students to begin with. There is no profession in the world where getting a part time job after six years of education and over one hundred thousand dollars in tuition costs is considered successful. So why do we count that as a gainfully employed rabbi?

The female rabbinical students at JTS are clearly suffering from institutionalized sexism. But I ask you, should we really be angry at institutions because of their sexism…or for being so…institutional??

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Just as there are a lot of different attitudes about the controversial subject of medicide, or doctor assisted suicide in the secular world, the Jewish world has its on mixed views.

I would like to know yours…

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Tosefta, Bava Kamma 10:14 states, “It is worse to steal from the many than to steal from an individual; for one who steals from an individual can appease him by returning the theft: one who steals from the many, however, cannot (since he does not know all the people from whom he stole.”

Today, I am ashamed to be Jewish.

.           For those of you unfamiliar with Chase Community Giving, the program is designed to help small (and sometimes struggling) charities garner much needed grants and funding in a difficult and turbulent economy.

It is a fantastic program with a simple concept. Utilizing Facebook, the charity with the most single-use votes can win prizes ranging from twenty-five thousand to one million dollars.  Charities are responsible for using their online communities, as well as enlisting the help of their friends and families, to garner these votes. At the end of the voting round, the money goes to the charity, who may use the grant as they see fit.

That being said, if you think Chase Community Giving is merely online pocket change, the program doles out close to five-million dollars a year – making it a formidable player both in the online (and offline) world of giving.

So, what went wrong?

I won’t attempt to re-hash all the gory details of the discovery here, but I invite you to discover for yourself where the story began here.  And, where the story ultimately ended here.

In summary, members of the Jewish community decided that the easiest way to guarantee their votes and a successful win was to pay people to vote.  For 14-28 credits a piece at EasyCash! on Facebook – five Jewish schools received nearly a million dollars in tax-free grants.

What is the point of teaching Torah if we do not practice it and model it ourselves? To be clear, there are so many Jewish laws on business ethics and fair dealings with ourselves and our neighbors. There is the concept of geneyvat da’at – or “stealing a persons mind” and relates to false packaging and false labeling. There is the commandment regarding accurate weights and measures, in Leviticus 19:35-36. And, there is the commandment not to deceive your neighbor in Leviticus 25:14 which states, “When you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy anything from your neighbor, you shall not deceive one another.”

Whatever Chase Community Giving will ultimately decide regarding VoteFive.Com is irrelevant, because what really counts to me in this situation, is that a fellow Jew has left an indelible and ugly mark on my Jewish experience.  A fellow Jew has stained my relationship with my community and my non-Jewish neighbor.  A fellow Jew has hurt me… and countless others… for a gym.

“The Rabbis taught:  A person should not remove stones from his domain into the public domain.  It once happened that a man was removing his stones from his domain into the public domain, and a hasid found him.  The hasid said to him, “Empty-headed!  Why do you remove stones from a domain that is not yours into a domain that is yours?  The man laughed at him.  A few days later, the man needed to sell his field, and he was walking in that same part of the public domain, and he tripped over those same stones.  He said, “That the hasid said rightly to me:  why do you remove stones from a domain that is not yours to a domain that is yours.”  (TbBQ50b)

All private domain is public.  Our actions always count.  And, when we remove the stones from our fields, and place them in the pathways of others, we build the stumbling blocks that we will trip over.

The actions of those who sold votes will change how non-profits function online in the future.  It will change how non-profits seek to utilize social media to garner support for and fund project. And, it has begun a nasty and problematic precedent for manipulating social media towards victory – which will affect every single non-profit (Jewish and otherwise)  in the future.

Unfortunately, Jewish law does not allow me to apologize for the actions of others. But to all those who worked tirelessly to support their given charities on Chase Community Giving, I hope this post relates my deep embarrassment, shame and appreciation for your honesty and hard work.

And, I hope those who engaged in buying votes under deceptive practices will reflect on how their behavior has hurt everyone, both in the Jewish community and beyond. And, I hope they will take the appropriate steps to make Teshuvah, between man and man… remembering that the gate of tears (to Heaven) is still open.

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As we know from the lesson in the month of Iyyar, Zevulon is cosmically intertwined with his brother-tribe of Issachar. Zevulon is the merchant that supports the scholarship of Issachar. Zevulon is a tribe of movement and travel, which explains the “sense” of the month being, “walking.”  According to Inner.org, this refers “not only to physical walking but to the spiritual sense of progress or development.”  It’s also clear how both the mazal, or astrological sign, and tarot card relate to Zevulon.  The mazal is Gemini, also known as the twins, and the tarot card is   “The Lovers.”  Both of these relay the idea of partnership, interdependence, and important relationships.

Humans are not, generally, solitary creatures — and Judaism is not a solitary spiritual path.  It’s a tribal religion.  We rely on each other, we pray together,  we rejoice together,  and we care for each other’s dead.  Zevulon is the merchant who sails the world and brings back experiences to share with Issachar and the rest of the tribe.  But, while Zevulon’s core role is a merchant — it doesn’t release him (or us) from the responsibility of learning Torah engaging with Judaism.

The lessons I find in Zevulon are that no matter where you go, or what you do in life, Judaism and Jewish spiritual practice should be at your center.  We all engage with this in different ways.  We all find different aspects that move our souls.  At Sinai, at Shavuot, the Torah tells us that G!d(dess) spoke to each of us separately and we all heard different words — but together. The job for us all is to find those things that do connect us to the tribe, and remember that there are others to whom we can turn to help us find our way.

Originally posted on PeelaPom by Ketzirah.

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Our current calendar…

June 19 – June 21st
Denver/Boulder including a visit with Rabbi Zalman Shachter Shalomi

June 26 – 30th
Fredricksburg/Richmond, Virginia

July 29th
Minneapolis, MN with Congregation Shir Tikvah

August 7 – 11th
Los Angeles, Long Beach, Tustin and more of California with YentaPunker

For more information and to set up your own taping, email patrick@punktorah.org

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“We’re extremely excited to have three amazing nights of incredible music with a diverse group of artists,” said AJMF’s director Russell Gottschalk. “When we launched the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival last year we felt that something was missing from the Jewish and cultural fabric of Atlanta, and I think this year we’ve filled it in a big way.”

This year’s festival features a night for local artists at Eddie’s Attic on May 19, a night of sacred music in a special Shabbat Service at Congregation Bet Haverim, and a huge closing night party featuring the headlining acts at Center Stage.

Purchase tickets online at www.atlantajmf.org.

The full schedule and pricing are as follows:

Thursday, May 19 – Local Artist Stage featuring Sunmoon Pie, Lily of the Suburbs and Ariel Root Wolpe at Eddie’s Attic, 515 N. McDonough St #B, Decatur Price: $10

Friday, May 20 – Shabbat Service featuring musicians from Congregation Bet Haverim and Special Guests at Congregation Bet Haverim, 2676 Clairmont Rd, Atlanta Price: FREE

Saturday, May 21 – Closing Night Party featuring The Sway Machinery, Jaffa Road, Nick Edelstein and the Grooves and Diwon (DJ) at Center Stage, 1374 West Peachtree St., Atlanta Price: $20

PunkTorah is a promotional sponsor of AJMF.

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This siddur contains new versions of the Shacharit, Mincha and Maariv service for personal and communal use. Kabbalat Shabbat has several sections, including a synagogue and home service for your friends and family, as well as Shabbat morning and Havdalah. Egalitarian, LGBTQ friendly and 100% independent, this siddur is both in English and Hebrew transliteration for people who seek tradition in an open way. As a bonus, the book also contains our Community Birkat Hamazon, Kabbalistic meditations as well as an expanded holiday section!

Pre-orders for the siddur are available until May 20th at 5PM EST.

$5.00 – Advance pdf version (emailed to you)

$18.00 – Advance printed version and .pdf version

+ Add $18.00 per additional copy. All advance orders include free shipping!

Donate via Paypal to receive your copy.

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And we need you to write them!

So if you’d like PunkTorah to publish your book in one of our digital or print outlets, please send it to us.

Our submission guidelines are pretty simple:

• Non-fiction submissions must be related to independent Jewish spirituality, culture or learning.
• Fiction submissions must have Jewish characters or in some way speak to the Jewish experience. Please note that fiction is not one of our top areas of interest, but we are still open minded.
• We are currently not interested in children’s “picture books” or works which require a lot of illustration (such as art books, zines, etc.)
• Submissions must be original and not have been published before or released anywhere including online or as a blog series
• Please, no literary agents. This is DIY, kids.

Before submitting your manuscript, please do the following:

• Familiarize yourself with PunkTorah, the projects we do and the types of books we have published. When proposing a book, please consider whether it is a good fit for us. I’m sure your book on the history of cheese problems is great, but we’re not the right people for it.
• Send an email to Ashton@PunkTorah.org with a short “cover letter” describing the work, an outline of the book and some info about who you are and why you think we’re the right people to put out this book

After we read your email, we will decide if we think the book is right for us and ask you to send us the manuscript. If you have any questions, please email us at Ashton@PunkTorah.org

In receiving a submission, we do not assume any duty not to publish a book based on a similar idea, concept or story. We will not consider manuscripts that are currently on submission to another publisher.

We receive a ton of emails every day. If we don’t respond immediately, please don’t email us over and over again. We promise we have it and we are reading it. We’ll get back to you in no more than three to four weeks.

Looking forward to reading your stuff!

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What does the name Issachar (יִשָּׂשׁכָר) bring to mind?  Anything?

Do any famous stories from the Torah come to mind?  Probably not.

Yet Issachar holds a special place in Jewish tradition.

Issachar was the 5th son of Jacob and Leah, born some time after her other children — so long after that she had already arranged for Jacob to continue bearing children in her line through her handmaiden Zilpah.  Like all of the names of the twelve tribes there are many interpretations of what Issachar means, but the one that resonates most for me is “there is a reward.”  Leah’s hard work and patience has earned  her yet another child. It’s also worth noting the the root שׁכר is associated with earned wages, not just “rewards.”

Issachar is considered to be the tribe of scholars and noted as astronomers and mathematicians.  The month of Iyyar is a month to study, and the month we count the Omer.  RitualWell.org tells us, “In Iyar the ox ploughs the earth, nurturing the new seeds, helping them grow into the harvest of the coming month of Sivan.”  The Ox (שׁוֹר) or Taurus is the astrological sign of the month. Here we see the work of the scholars of Israel in a new way.  The scholars, turn the earth of our rich tradition ensuring that news growth returns year after year.  They are, like the “large-boned ass” Issachar is called (Gen 49:14), in many ways the beasts of burden of Judaism.  It is they who do the heavy lifting in many generations, ensuring that we all learn the words, ways, and whys.

But, respecting our scholars and taking on the mantle of scholarship is only one lesson.  We must look at the eternal partnership between Issachar and Zebulon.  In Moses’ blessing to the tribes, Deuteronomy 33, he binds these two tribes together.

And of Zebulon he said: Rejoice, Zebulon, in thy going out, and, Issachar, in thy tents.

They shall call peoples unto the mountain; there shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand.

We cannot have scholars without commerce, and our commerce needs to be informed by the work of the scholars.  Scholarship and teaching are noble callings, but so is doing the work of shipping, fishing, and trading.  I think the lesson of Issachar for Iyyar, is that scholarship is not an end in itself.  It exists to be brought to the outside world and shared.  The letter of the month, Vav (ו), is a conjunction.  It’s grammatical use is equal to the word “and” in English.  It is also the pen and the staff of priests, and can easily also be seen as the oar of the tribe of Zebulon. Iyyar is a conjunction, a connector; it is the “and.”  We have escaped from Egypt — and…..

Take this month to explore your own “and.”  We do not better ourselves just to better ourselves.  We do this to bring our best selves out and create a better world for all.

Want more insights into Iyyar?

• Iyyar: Grounded in Divine Light
• Healing Herbs in Judaism
• Iyyar: Healing and Growth

Originally posted on PeelAPom.

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We’re looking for informal opportunities to meet different types of Jewish people to interview. Ideas include a morning minyan, lunch break, coffee, a Torah study group, basketball at the JCC…whatever! We’re coming to you!

Here’s our current schedule (always being updated):

Tuesday May 10th

7PM with GAN Project

Wedmesday May 11th

7PM with TBD Minyan & Leah Jones

Check out our Facebook event for more information. Make sure to email patrick@punktorah.org if you have any Chicago event ideas!

Originally posted on TheG-dProject.org

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We’re thrilled to announce the release of our first album Etz Chaim: Kabbalistic Meditation featuring…

• Ten world music inspired tracks with guided meditations by Michael Sabani
• Ten music-only tracks
• Two bonus tracks … your free gift from PunkTorah

That’s 22 songs for only $9.99. You can download directly here using Paypal. Once you submit payment, we will email you a download link in twelve hours or less.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=029__uuKYBI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMM9iiskhw4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7t0qV1hxbk

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Below are just a few ideas to get you started. You can submit the original Orthodox Hebrew prayer (transliterated), your own prayer in any language, a poem, a meditation…whatever your heart moves you to. Don’t be afraid to be original (blessing of the pets? blessing for checking your email?) and feel free to submit as many pieces as you would like. Just email patrick@punktorah.org to sign up. Hurry! People have already started signing up.

Morning Brachot – Gabe M.

Morning Service

• Meditations Before Prayer
• Morning Blessings
• P’sukei d’Zimra (with Psalms)
• Shema and it’s blessings and related passages
• Shemoneh Esrei
• Hallel
• Torah reading (Mondays, Thursdays, Shabbat and holidays)
• Aleinu, Ashrei (Psalm 145), and other closing prayers, Psalms and hymns

Additional Service (Musaf)

• Shemoneh Esrei
• Aleinu and other closing prayers, Psalms and hymns

Afternoon Mincha Service

• Ashrei (Psalm 145)
• Shemoneh Esrei
• Aleinu

Evening Service (Ma’ariv)

• Shema and it’s blessings and related passages
• Shemoneh Esrei
• Aleinu
• Bedtime Shema

Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv Evening Service

• Shabbat Candle Lighting
• Psalm 95, 86, 97, 98, 99
• Lecha Dodi
• Greeting Mourners
• Psalm 92
• Psalm 93
• Mourners Kaddish
• Rabbis Kaddish
• Barchu
• Maariv Aravim
• Mi Shebeirach
• Ahavat Olam
• Shema
• Hashkiveinu
• V’shamru
• Amidah
• Yidal
• Adon Olam

Shabbat Home

• Shalom Aleichem
• Kiddush – Patrick Aleph
• Woman of valor/Man of valor/Person of valor
• Blessing of children – Shaun Sarvis
• Mnucha v’simcha
• Birkat Hamazon – NewKosher.org

Shabbat Morning Service

• Morning Meditations
• Psalm 30
• 1 Chronicles 16:8-38
• Psalm 19
• Psalm 33
• Psalm 34
• Psalm 91
• Psalm 98, 121, 122, 123, 124
• Psalm 135, 136
• Psalm 92
• Psalm 93
• Ashrei and Psalm 145
• Psalm 146, 147, 148, 149, 150,
• 1 Chronices 29:10-13
• Nehemiah  9:6-11
• Exodus 14:30-1
• The Song at the Sea (Exodus 15:1-18)
• Nishmat
• Sho-chein Ad
• Yish Tabach
• Shacharit Shema
• Shacharit Amida
• Shacharit Closing
• Shabbat Musaf
• Havdalah

Holidays and Simcha

• Rosh HaShanah
• Yom Kippur
• Simchat Torah
• Hanukkah
• Tu B’Shevat
• Purim
• Passover
• Counting The Omer
• Lag B’Omer
• Shavuot
• Sukkot
• Tish B’Av
• Tu B’Av
• Kapparot

Additional Brachot

• Ritual Hand Washing
• Mikvah
• Mezuzah
• Shehecheyanu – Patrick Aleph
• On hearing good news
• On hearing bad news
• For witnessing phenomena
• Separating challah
• Immersing utensils in mikvah
• Travelers prayer -Shaun Sarvis
• Prayer for rain/nature
• Consecration of a house

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfCGb77_sNg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NSgs7jVJI8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqg7XrXMOyY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qQkbxHWMVQ

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PunkTorah Radio: The G-D Project!

And for those of you listening, here’s Giorgio Moroder!

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PunkTorah Radio: Michael’s Music!

Track List:

1. Sh’ma Yisrael – Abayudaya Jews of Uganda- Shalom Everybody, Everywhere

2. Modern Day Moses (Elerctro Morocco Remix) – DeScribe-Harmony

3. Am Yisrael Chai - Justin Jude and The Schneiderman Sisters-We Sang That At Camp: Songs Remembered From Jewish Summer Camp

4. Medley 3: Salaam (Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu) – Kirtan Rabbi-Live!

5. Blackberry Manischevitz - Shalom Feivel & Rocky Mountain Jewgrass-Live At Swallow Hill

6. My Mouth Is a House of Prayer - Eprhyme-WAYWORDWONDERWILL

7. Heaven and Earth - Neshama Carlebach and The Green Pastures Baptist Church Choir-Higher and Higher

8. Shalom Aleichem – Melita Doostan & Octopretzel-Shirei Gan Shalom

9. Hava Nagila – The Barry Sisters-To Life! Chanukah And Other Jewish Celebrations

Find us on iTunes

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Photo by Anne Marie Angelo, used by Creative Commons Permission.

~Excerpt from Nisan Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month
(Cross Posted from  PeelAPom.com) ~

Nisan – נִיסָן – begins at sundown on April 4th, 2011 and ends at sundown on May 4th, 2011.

Judah (יְהוּדָה), associated with the month of Nisan (נִיסָן), is the fourth son of Leah and Jacob.  In Judaism the number four, the letter Dalet (ד), represents doorways. There are also four new years in Judaism, and the Nisan is the first — the doorway (הדלת) to the year.  Considering the number of fours found in the Passover Seder, is it any wonder that Judah is the fourth son?

Judah takes a very human journey of learning what it means to be a decent man, in the Torah.  He starts out as a very unlikeable character, as he is the one who suggests selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites (Gen 37:26).  As others were calling for Joseph’s death, I suppose this could be seen as a moderate position — if you really wanted to try. Just after this, there is an odd interlude in the story of Joseph that focuses on Judah (Gen 38). In this story we still see him acting less than an honorable man, until his daughter-in-law, Tamar, teaches him a valuable lesson. It’s probably not just coincidence that Tamar means “date palm” and dates are considered to be psychically cleansing.  The next time we see Judah, he promises his life for Benjamin and then gives a moving speech (Gen 44:18-34) to save Benjamin that show us, and Joseph, that Judah is truly a changed man.  It is this change that seems to merit his incredible blessing from Jacob in Genesis 49:8-12, and his preeminence among the tribes.

Nisan is also the new year of kings, which is appropriate with Judah because it is the tribe of Kings. Judah is the forebear of David, the first king of Israel.  It’s important to note, though, that David is descended from Judah and Tamar, whose story we read in Genesis 38.  The children born of this union do not seem to have an auspicious start, but this may be a clue to the lesson of Judah.

Judah’s name, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, is interpreted as YHVH with a dalet in the middle.  I think here may be another clue to the lesson of Judah.  If the letter dalet is a doorway, then does Judah become our doorway to G!d(dess)?  Does his journey of growth and change show us what we must do?  I think it does.  Judah is not born a perfect human, as few of us are.  We make mistakes and we have to learn.  All through the Torah we see the struggle that is being human.  It’s not about starting perfect, but rather perfecting yourself throughout your life.

In this month of beginnings, let us follow the example of Judah and learn from our past mistakes and grow into the best examples of humanity we can be.

Want more insights into Nisan?

• The Ram’s Head of Nisan
• Emperors and Maidens Make Miracles
• Counting of the Omer: Week 1

~Excerpt from Nisan Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month
(Cross Posted from PeelAPom.com) ~

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PunkTorah is working on an awesome project called Etz Chaim: Jewish Guided Meditations. This calming yet powerful world music album will feature ten tracks of guided meditations based on the sephirot of Kabbalah.

In order to make this happen, we need to spend $150.00* on new audio software for Garageband as well as the fees to put the audio tracks up on iTunes.

If you’re interested in getting a copy of the album, please pre-purchase for $11.99 on Paypal. You’ll receive the tracks along with having your name in the liner notes and a thank you video on YouTube courtesy of PunkTorah TV.

Not a fan of Paypal? Send a check to:

PunkTorah
Attn: Jewish Meditation
872 Baltimore PL SW
Marietta, GA 30064

*If we receive over $150, the additional funds raised will go into the PunkTorah General Fund. To request that your donation be used solely for the above project, please specify so with your donation.

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PunkTorah Radio: White Stripes and Martian Bread

Subscribe on iTunes here! And if you love us, please write a review!

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PunkTorah Receives $50,000 For Digital Media Platform, The G-d Project

Atlanta, GA — March 14, 2011 – PunkTorah, the 501(c)(3) Jewish non-profit dedicated to independent Jewish spirituality, culture, learning and debate has received $50,000 from the Jewish New Media Fund for its ground breaking campaign The G-d Project.

The G-d Project is a social network dedicated to G-d and Judaism inspired by Ted Talks and This American Life. The G-d Project puts G-d back into the Jewish conversation by utilizing three key tools:

Microdocumentaries – Short films showcasing unique Jewish personalities around the USA including the infamous and unknown, rabbis and lay people, scholars and those without formal Jewish education, children and adults, LGBT and straights, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, secular and everyone in between. These interviews are filmed across America in diverse Jewish communities with the assistance of the local Jewish communal infrastructure. The G-d Project has already begun filming in Atlanta and Chicago.

Social Media Platform – Films are linked together through a Kabbalah-inspired social network tagging system that reveals the common spiritual and social values amongst the participants in The G-d Project. Each video will have a dedicated discussion board generating online chavrutah as well as connection to larger social media streams such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, making G-d go viral.

Video Upload Feature - The G-d Project will additionally feature a video upload portal where the greater online Jewish community will be invited to submit their own G-d Project videos, further expanding the interactivity of the dialogue and incorporating the entire Jewish community worldwide.

The G-d Project was inspired by the work that PunkTorah has done with OneShul.org, the world’s only online, independent minyan with interactive, lay led prayer and holiday services. PunkTorah saw the need to create more avenues for diverse, faith based expressions online as well as increasing connectivity for Jews around the world who want to talk about spirituality outside of the synagogue context. The goal is to raise intergenerational spiritual literacy as well as remove the taboo that many Jews feel about discussing issues of faith.

To bring The G-d Project to your city, click here! Or click here to find out how to submit your own video!

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PunkTorah Radio: Jewish Meditation, A Cookbook, And Kurt Cobain

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PunkTorah Radio: Torah Together, Atheist Judaism, and PunkTorah the Movie!

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This week we try something a little different…again.

Patrick takes over the podcast with his favorite Jewish hip hop, Euro pop and of course, a healthy dose of punk rock. Happy Valentine’s Day!

PunkTorah Radio: Why Did We Let Patrick Aleph Do This?

Playlist:

1. Baruch HaShem (Moshiach Oi)

2. Secrets/You’re Always Watching (Girls In Trouble)

3. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (The Ramones)

4. Be My Maccabee (The Bachelorettes)

5. Change (Y-Love feat. DeScribe)

6. Us (Regina Spektor)

7. Radiant Faces (Stereo Sinai)

8. Black Rainbow (Can!!Can)

9. Dodi Li (Congregation Bet Haverim)

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The Jews of Uganda (Abayudaya) are an authentic Jewish community. The community was formed by the founder of modern Uganda, Semei Kakungulu (1869-1928). Kakungulu considered many religious communities, before deciding from his own research, to embrace Judaism and the mitzvot of the Torah. He was circumcised, as were his children and those who followed him; a fact which caused them to be greatly harassed by some of their neighbors.

Kakungulu did not have the option of going to his local shul and taking a course to make gerut, nor to petition an Orthodox rabbi three times to prove his sincerity. He found Judaism in the Torah itself, and he followed the Torah to walk the path of Judaism immediately, once convinced of its truth. While this is not the normal route into Yahadut, this is a Talmudically recognized method, which was well-known and accepted by both the Rambam and Rabbi Yosef Karo.

The Talmud refers to gerim g’rurim (גרים גרורים) as effectively “self-made proselytes.” (`Avodah Zarah 23a-24b). One type of gerut is undertaken before a Beyt Din, composed of three Dayanim of any Jews knowledgeable in matters of gerut. According to the Talmud, the onlytime that gerim g’rurim will not be accepted is when Mashiach comes and the battles against Gog and Magog are underway. In that future scenario, Ha’Shem will “have the last laugh” as those who seek to self-convert then will walk away from Judaism on their own, once faced with persecution.

The Abayudaya, however, have been subjected to some of the most horrendous persecutions for their Jewishness; attempts at forced conversion and extermination by Idi Amin. There is no question as to this community’s sincerity. According to the Rambam, the Jewishness ofgerim g’rurim, and those who had no option but to convert themselves, cannot be denied once their qabalat ha’mitzvot has been established, as is the case with the Jewish community of Uganda.

[The following laws apply with regard to] a female convert who we see conduct herself according to the ways of Israel at all times, for example, she immerses herself after niddah, she separatesterūmah from dough, or the like, and to a male ger who follows the paths of Israel, for example, he immerses himself after seminal emission, and performs all the mitzvōt: These are considered as righteous converts (gereī tzadīq/gerīm tzaddīqīm), even though there are no witnesses to testify before whom they converted. Nevertheless, if they come to marry among the Jewish people, we do not allow them unless they bring witnesses or they immerse themselves in our presence [so that we can make sure they are circumcised]. The rationale is that their identity was originally established as gentiles [so there is reason to suspect they might not have taken the step of mīlah]. (Rambam Hilchōt Issurei Bīah Chapter 13.9)

Beyond this, the Abayudaya have taken the additional step of educating themselves at every opportunity in all aspects of normative Judaism. Their adherence to the mitzvot, to the best of their regional ability, is not in question by anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of their community. To remove any doubts regarding their status as Jews, they underwent mass-giyurim early in the 21st century under Masorti rites.

While the Abayudaya Jewish Community is committed to the mitzvot, the do not have many sets of Tefillin, nor many Tallitot for prayer. In light of this community’s dedication to the Torah and Rabbinic Judaism,we have created “Tefillin for Ugandan Jews”; a sponsorship program which purchases and refurbishes tefillin for the Abuyudaya Jewish community of Uganda.

Currently, we can get the cost of each set of tefillin down to as low as $108 per set for a sponsored Ugandan Jew. We hope to get each set even lower, and we are trying to make arrangements right now to purchase a lot of them at a bulk rate. Additionally, we are working with a Jewish artist trained in applying the newer matte and gloss finishes to older tefillin.

If you are interested in sponsoring a set of tefillin for a Ugandan Jew:

Send $20 to Mikhah@gmail.com to donate a Tallit Gadol to the Jews of Uganda!

Send $96 + $15 shipping to Mikhah@gmail.com to donate a restored set of TEFILLIN for this CHEAP price to the same Jews of Uganda!

For those interested in donating used tefillin to be refurbished for the Ugandan Jewish community, send to the following address:

The Hashlamah Project

3195 Dayton-Xenia Rd. Ste 900 #228

Dayton, OH 45434

USA

You can also send a money order payable to “Hashlamah” to the same address to send the next set of tefillin to Uganda! Many thanks and blessings to all who help. Our Jewish brothers and sisters in Uganda need all the help we can give them!

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PunkTorah Radio: Outsiders

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For days and days of work of the last two weeks I have be compelled to listen to a music project called Pomplamoose. Nataly Dawn is the singer, and I decided to go to her YouTube page. There I think the song Dying to Live found me. It is simple and clear questioning. This song is brilliant in that it is a social commentary and a quiet call to arms. The poetry of it resonates with me just as a psalm would. It starts:

We don’t always see eye to eye
But we see how the time’s flying by
And we live with a daunting suspicion
That it might not go into remission

This stanza points out so many frames of mind that the world is in. In becoming a more tolerant society we must agree that we don’t always agree, and that is ok. This is the human condition and we must work to create peace with in its turmoil. She most defiantly queries the great struggle of life. She sings, “We’re dying to live/Cause there’s so much to live for”, I feel that speaks to the lethargy this generation has for change compared to many of our ancestors. We see the rewards of life but are stuck in the struggle of an individual in society.

Miracles don’t seem all that fair
If I were G-d I would know who to scare

I think this is a state many of us are stuck in. We are dealing with everyday struggles and can only do so from a human perspective. She posits a great idea in looking to the reaction a deity would have. If you were an all powerful, all knowing being, would you know who to scare? Would your message be heard? Would you have Joan of Arc cry your name in battle or would you seek a passive way to get your message across? Maybe a prophet?

Angels always get the best lines
Fear not must have worked back in biblical times

The Angels do get the best lines. There is one in particular that had a most important line. He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, because you have commanding power with [an angel of] God and with men, and you have prevailed.” (Gen 32:29) This is the conclusion of one of the most important events in the bible. The moment that affirms ones right to wrestle with Hashem. Though the words of texts may be out of date, if we looked closer we might find many unimagined things. Looking back may help us find our “fear not”.

But we’re full of the facts it’s the cross on our backs
When we pray are we just closing our eyes

Knowing all the facts we do, knowing that if we do not change our ways the earth cannot continue. We must look to acting ethically, practicing eco-kashrut, or whatever act we can do to slow this train before we jump the track. Are we praying with intent? Even if we are does it help the world? Have we closed our eyes in frustration? It all comes down to the repeating call:

We’re dying to live
Cause there’s so much to live for

What are you living for?

Rivka

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Doubly Fruitful Shabbat - Photo and Artwork by Ketzirah

I’m very excited to announce that beginning this month, I’ll be leading Rosh Chodesh services at OneShul.org.  OneShul is a cyber-shul, and if that sounds nuts — trust me it works!  The services are streamed live, and you participate via a chat feature.  I attended their first ever  Kabbalat Shabbat this past friday and was pleasantly surprised by what a lovely, real experience it was.

Even if you doubt the cyber-shul experience — give it a try!

WHERE & WHEN:

Date: 2/4/2011
Time: 7:30 pm (EST)
Location: http://oneshul.org/online-services-classes/online-prayer-service/
Everyone welcome

Because Rosh Chodesh falls on Shabbat this month, it will be a combined Kabbalat Shabbat and Rosh  Chodesh service.  We’ll be using the OneShul Siddur this month for Kabbalat Shabbat — if you don’t have one you can easily purchase one, or they have a great feature where the siddur just appears on the page for you, which means you don’t have to buy one.  But of course, I’ll be weaving in some fabulous Kohenet versions of the chants and songs.

The Rosh Chodesh portion will be based on the ritual I used with the group I hosted at my home for about a year, modified for this environment.  Here’s the  insert if you want to download it now (pdf).  This insert is an outline, but I expect, depending on time and interest that we’ll also talk about the month ahead (Adar I).

Learn about the month of Adar:

• Elements of a Sustainable Spiritual Practice: Part IV – Adar I
• Adar I: The Lesson of Dinah

Be sure to bring your own challah and wine!  It’s hard to share that over the Internet!

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This week we talk about mainstream movements vs. alternative Judaism (do we really wanna go to their party?), and Michael has the first (of many) conversations with our good friend Ketzirah from Peeling A Pomegranate. Check it out!

PunkTorah Radio: Alternative Judaism

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PunkTorah Radio: Living A Jewish Life Online

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But in reading the comments on the Jewish Daily Forward Sisterhood blog, I can’t help but change my mind. I don’t want to write a letter to Rabbi Stanton. She has (hopefully) gotten plenty of positive feedback and well wishes from the Jewish community in the past few days. No, I want to instead repost the nasty comments that were made about Rabbi Stanton for the world to see:

First the reform movement allows non-Jewish board members, usually non-Jewish spouses. Then they recognize gentiles as Jews (children of “patrilineal” descent). Now their “Rabbis” aren’t even Jewish. (Reform Conversion). When will the Jewish world understand that anything invented by man (Reform and Conservative Judaim) just does not work. Obviously this position in Greenville did not work. Maybe it’s message from above?

She’s not even Jewish! If you’re a Jew, even a reformed Jew, you don’t want a goy pretending to be a rabbi

Back in the early 70′s, when the Conservative movement was discussing the ordination of women as rabbis, a very prominent Conservative rabbi (large ‘c’ and small ‘c’) made the prediction that “conservative seminaries will ordain women when the reform seminaries ordain gentiles.” Both predictions have come to pass in our lifetime. Ain’t life wonderful, or what?

Really? It’s 2011, people. I know the internet gives you guts of steel, but get a life.

One of the great joys about being Jewish is that we do not know who moshiach (the messiah) will be. And as our history has taught us, those who start off with the least impressive backgrounds (Moses the stuttering shepherd, Esther the crypto-Jew, Ruth the convert) often end up becoming the most powerful figures of our tradition. We have to treat everyone with the upmost respect, because at the very least, you could end up committing lashon hara against the future leader of the Jewish People.

So Rabbi Stanton, I hope all’s well that ends well and that if you ever want to lead a prayer service or class at OneShul, we’d love to have you as a community member.

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This week is all about Kosher Vegans, Tu B’Shvat and a big OneShul announcement!

PunkTorah Radio: Kosher Vegan Cookbooks and Birthday Trees

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It’s here! It’s here!

This week we try something a little different! The podcast is a half-hour glimpse into the musical habits of the PunkTorah World Headquarters. A solid thirty, uh, something, minutes of cool Jewish music that we listen to, some you’ve probably never heard before! So get ready to take a musical journey!

PunkTorah Radio: RADIO!

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Play List:

1. Rav Avraham Kook (by White Shabbos- Shabbos Holy Shabbos)

2. Mezuzah (by The Macaroons- Let’s Go Coconuts!)

3. Shalom Aleichem (by Tzipia- Tzipia)

4. I Love Torah (by Moshiach Oi!- Better Get Ready)

5. The Binding of Isaac (The Silence) (by Matt Bar- Bible Raps)

6. Ballad of the Exiled Prince (by The Mongrel Jews- Songs For A Minor)

7. Kahn (by CAN!!CAN- Monster and Healers)

8. Big Water (by  Shalom Feivel & Rocky Mountain Jewgrass- Live At Swallow Hill)

9. It’s All G!D (by Eprhyme- WAYWORDWONDERWILL)

10. The World Turns ON A Dime (by Clare Burson- Silver and Ash)

11. Let There Be Peace (by Trudy Kisser, Bobby Wolf, Herbert Novacek & Shlomo Carlebach- Shlomo Carlebach Live)

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Check out the video for their single, Got Nothing On Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVlCahhogv8

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This week is part one of a talk with a good friend of ours, Rabbi Menachem Cohen of Mitztiut and The Night Ministry. Check it out! And take a look at his community if you are in the Chicago area!

PunkTorah Radio: The Times, They Are A-Changing…

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With his bald plate, ominous double labret vertical chin piercings and chic, black, embroidered T-shirt and pants, David Draiman doesn’t look like anyone else in the David Citadel Hotel business lounge. Not that the 37- year-old native of Chicago looks much like anyone you might see anywhere else in Jerusalem either. Let’s just say, he’s got a style all his own that sets him apart from the normal street scenery of the Holy City.

But one of the many ironies surrounding Draiman is that he can move around Israel in relative anonymity.

People look at him and can’t help but immediately comprehend that he must be someone famous. But unless they’re under 25 or a fan of American hard rock bands, they won’t pick up on the fact that the muscular, confident tourist is the vocalist for Disturbed, a heavy metal band that has sold over 11 million albums world-wide since its 2000 debut. Each of their subsequent four albums has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 list, a testament to the rabidity of Disturbed’s fans and the apparent chemistry its explosive music creates.

Another irony surrounding Draiman is that when he wants to jump off the album/rehearsal/tour merry-go-round – or recuperate from the rigors of rock & roll life which include a throat infection which caused part of a tour to be canceled – he doesn’t opt for a secluded Caribbean beach or a French Riviera resort. He returns to Israel.

“I love it here! I come every year or two,” said Draiman last week. He claims to have close to 200 relatives in the country, including his brother Ben, also a musician, and his grandmother. However, that isn’t what keeps him coming back repeatedly since he made his first trip with his parents when he was six years old. It’s because Israel and Judaism are part of his being, and though they aren’t as dominant in his life as they were, Draiman remains one of the few high-profile hard rock singers who are defiantly Jewish – imagine a young Ozzy Osbourne as the spokesman for the Jewish Defense League.

And in what is perhaps the greatest irony in the Draiman saga, the same voice heard belting out the angst-ridden, menacing vocals that characterize Disturbed’s music used to regularly inspire teenage yeshiva students as the shaliach tzibur for Shaharit, Maariv and High Holy Day services. In fact, the young Draiman was well on his way to achieving smicha (ordination as a rabbi) when secular music changed his destiny.

Hours before taking off to Eilat for a New Year’s weekend of scuba diving with his stunning girlfriend – model and former pro wrestler Lena Yada – Draiman loquaciously discussed his transformation from brilliant but rebellious Jewish day school student to heavy metal hero.

When did your relationship with Israel start?

I came here many times as a kid with my family. I think the first time I was six. I used to come here for summer camp a couple times in my childhood, and I spent the year after high school here studying at Neve Zion yeshiva [in Telz Stone]. I was one of those guys you used to see getting into trouble or hanging out on Kikar Zion in Jerusalem.

You attended your brother’s show last night in Jerusalem (at the Off the Wall Comedy Club). Did you get up and perform with him?

No, no, no! I didn’t get up and perform. You know, the last time I went to see him, he called me up and I told him then to never do that to me again. I don’t mind being put on the spot, but I’m coming there for my brother and it shouldn’t be about me. I didn’t wear these [pointing to his oversized chin piercings], I went to watch his show, I’m off the clock.

It also makes me feel uncomfortable if I think that he feels any residual feelings over attention being given to me – I want it to be all about him and to honor him.

When did you first become enamored with music?

With me it was ever since I was a little boy. The first record I ever bought was Kiss’s Destroyer. And those classic bands like Black Sabbath were my first loves. When I was a teenager in the 1980s, I was split in two directions.

On the one hand, I focused on the seminal metal bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera and Queensryche.

There were two different cliques in my school – those that liked glam rock, the teased hair, the Cinderella bands and all that, and the others that liked what we called “real rock.”

But I could also appreciate the hair metal bands – When you hear Whitesnake, you can’t deny their greatness. Then I went in the direction of punk and new wave, groups like the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Misfits and later The Smiths and The Cure – that’s was my ’80s.

And then when the grunge revolution happened, it was like a wakeup call. I’ll never forget getting my first Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chain records, and hearing that wonderful, beautiful darkness. And the rhythmic intensity, that’s what attracted me more than anything else.

I formed my first band when I was going to Valley Torah High School in Los Angeles.

What was your Jewish upbringing like?

I attended five different Jewish day schools as a teenager. I mean, I was trained as a hazan! I led High Holy Day services a number of years in Chicago. If I did a little refresher I could still do it, but I don’t think I’d be a really good representative before God for anybody these days.

My freshman year of high school was at WITS, the Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study in Milwaukee. And I got asked to leave after my first year there. It wasn’t because of my studies – they were always way past the norm, I graduated with a 3.75 GPA and scored just under 1400 on my SATS. Academics were never the issue. The issue was suppression of normalcy. I couldn’t really stomach the rigorous religious requirements of the life, I just wanted to be a normal teenage kid, and here I was being shipped of to a yeshiva.

In an environment where you’re not allowed to watch television, you can’t read magazines or go to the movies, you can’t fraternize with the opposite sex whatsoever, you have to wear the uniform every day of tzitzit, the button- down the shirts, the dress slacks, the shoes, you have to make sure you’re not even wearing a kippa sruga, it was just stifling. So what did that end up turning into? I’d set my friends up on dates with girls that I knew, in defiance of the school. So I became the “pimp” of the school even though no such thing was happening Or I’d smoke a little bit of weed here and there, I‘d get my buddies high, so I was the drug dealer on campus even though that’s not what I was doing. I just rebelled against the conformity – the gag reflex worked.

When I got sent to Los Angeles, it wasn’t any better – it was easier to get away with it because I wasn’t in a dorm and living at the rabbi’s house. Unfortunately, during Pessah cleaning, the rabbi was searching for hametz in the drawers and he found a half empty box of condoms and a half empty bag of weed, and that was the end of my living in the rabbi’s house. I actually ended up graduating high school from the Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago, which was the school I wanted to go to in the beginning.

Were you resentful of your parents for shipping you off to these schools?

Yes, I was a bit resentful, because like I said, I just wanted to be a normal kid. But I was the one who introduced religious observance to my family. They weren’t dati to begin with, and I’d go to spend Shabbat with school friends and I fell in love with the whole experience and the warm feeling of family and togetherness.

And my father would go to work every Saturday. I said to my parents, “Why aren’t we keeping Shabbat?” So my father said, “If you won’t watch TV and play video games I won’t go to work.”

So we started down the path, only my father went further than I did. And today they’re still modern Orthodox.

Did you go on to college?

I attended Loyola and worked at many jobs – as a bank teller and in phone sales for Granger Parts Supply. I got a degree in pre-law but once I took my LSATS and I had been accepted to good law schools, I didn’t have the heart to pursue it. The only law that interested me was criminal defense law and I couldn’t really look at myself in the mirror and say I’m going to lie for a living and protect criminals. A colleague of mine told me about an administrative assistant position available at a health care facility, and since one of my degrees was in business I applied and beat out 30 other applicants.

I learned the business and within a year’s time I had my own administrators license and a year after that I was running my own facility. I was health care administrator for five years prior to leaving my job for Disturbed once we got signed.

How did you end up in Disturbed?

I was in seven bands through high school and college before joining Disturbed. But it was first hard rock/ heavy metal band I was ever associated with. The first band were more punk rock and the couple after that were more in the vein of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More with a rock funk vibe. That’s where I started forming a lot of my rhythmic sensibilities.

I was managing the health care facility and saw an ad for a singer in a local Chicago music publication. It was a band called Brawl and the singer they had was much more abrasive than me. The ad had these exaggerations like “on the cusp of being signed” but what piqued my interest was their list of influences.

My roommate at the time was a friend named Jordan, and he was a big fan of the new wave of metal – Korn, Tool, The Deftone – and he turned me onto them. And the ad listed similar influences and that’s what made me respond. I had been to about 30 auditions in the last couple months since I decided to find a band to sing with.

I had a good conversation with Dan [Donegan, the band’s guitarist] and when I went in to audition, they said, “Ok, do you know any covers?” I said that I knew lots of covers but to be honest, I didn’t come to sing covers, let’s do some of your originals. That surprised them since I had never heard their music and it didn’t have words, but I just said, “Give me the mike and let’s see what I can do. I should be able to come up with something.”

So they started playing this riff, and I listened for a couple minutes and starting singing this melody over it with lyrics I had written for another song. That song became “Want” from our debut album Sickness, so right away, there was energy and vibe and magic between us.

I was still very intimidated – I had never sung to anything that aggressive before and I wasn’t confident that my vocals would be able to accentuate the ferocity of their sound. But Jordan, my roommate, who had heard the audition, convinced me to call them back and pursue it. They were being evasive, although they couldn’t hide the sh**-eating grins on their faces, and it took a week or so for them to say, “Ok, you’re the guy.”

Were your parents supportive of your decision to join Disturbed?

Initially, no, they were not at all. I was leaving a career as a successful health care administrator making over six figures and with a chance to own a piece of the business in order to try and be a rock star.

It’s amazing how success seems to justify things over the course of time – they ended up becoming very supportive of my decision. It took them two record cycles to come to a show, and my mother said after seeing us for the first time, “Even though I may not agree with your decision to do what you’re doing, after seeing you I cannot deny that you were born to do this.”

Playing heavy metal, you must run into fans occasionally who espouse anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi sentiments.

How do you deal with it?

I’m incredibly defiant against neo-Nazis and skinheads.

In fact, here’s a true story that occurred in the band’s infancy when we were playing Southside Chicago clubs.

One of the guys who would come to see us was a skinhead, he had a swastika tattoo, the whole nine yards.

After he became a die-hard fan, the band was sitting down having drinks after a show and he comes in and starts going on about [African Americans] and Jews, and I interrupted him and said, “Dude, I don’t know if you realize this but I’m Jewish.”

He responded, “You’re Jewish! This completely changes my whole idea of what a Jew is supposed to be.” And soon after that, he had his swastika removed, and denounced the skinhead culture.

I’ve always been very proud of my heritage and where I come from, and I’ve defended it to the extent of being bloodied on many occasions. In fact, most of the fights I’ve been in my life – and there have been many – have been because I was defending my family or my faith. And I don’t apologize for it.

There’s still anti-Semitism everywhere, and unfortunately, what has happened with our people no longer being the underdogs in this region, peoples’ perception of Israel has changed dramatically. I find myself more and more having to defend us, and I will continue to do so.

I wrote a song on our latest album Asylum called “Never Again” about the Holocaust and the people who deny it, like Ahmadinejad, that piece of sh**. And part of our live show includes a video presentation depicting him as the new Hitler. Believe you me, I’ve always been direct about hits, I never pull any punches and I will never apologize for who I am or where I come from.

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Shalom yall! This week we’ve got a special conversation with Kelly Wentworth of the American Islamic Fellowship, some music by Eprhyme, and Patrick’s secret photos in the Shemspeed vault. Check it out!

PunkTorah Radio: AIF Interview!

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By Gefiltepunker Emily Saex

Drop that Starbucks like its hot! And pick this up instead! ‘Livin’ on the Grind’, the new single by Describe comes out today. The Shemspeed reggae hip hop musical juggernaut has in a multi-faceted collaboration w/Rohan Marley (yes, son of Bob) brought us a song that is more than just a punny play on words. Brewed from a chance meeting on the street, there was an instant connection between Rohan and Describe. Before you could say orange-mocha-frappuccino, ‘Livin on the Grind’ was in the works. Inspiration from the legendary Bob (note the lyrical influence of Bob’s ‘One Cup of Coffee’), the eco and social justice missions (ie stopping use of harmful pesticides and promoting responsible farming practices) of Marley Coffee and da riddims of Describe all came together to make this jam. Get your click on!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t4BGAmK__Y

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Check it out!

PunkTorah Radio: Reb Shlomo, Disney World, And Rabbinical School

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(Cross Posted From PeelAPom.com)

Original design I created for my nephew Asher's bris kippah. My nephew Asher was supposed to be born in Shevat, but came a few days early last year!

“And Leah said: ‘Happy am I! for the daughters will call me happy.’ And she called his name Asher.”  (Gen 30:13)

Asher was the eighth son of Jacob through Leah’s handmaid, Zilpah.  According to the Torah, midrash and rabbinical tradition Asher is a symbol of happiness.  There seems to be fairly strong consensus on this.   From his naming (Gen 30:13) to his final blessing from Yisrael (Gen 49:20) – Asher was blessed with happiness.

Asher’s emblem is the olive tree, which makes sense since the tribe of Asher was situated in an area that had them responsible for the production of olives and olive oil in ancient Israel.  The tribe of Asher was known for having an abundance of male children and daughters so beautiful they were sought out by “princes and priests.” (Jewish Encyclopedia)   Asher is also known for his daughter,  Serach whose goodness was rewarded with eternal life and is said to walk among us this day like Elijah.

Shevat is a month where, in a non-leap year, we should begin to see the signs of spring emerging by the end of it – or at least know it is coming so very soon – and this makes most people very happy.   We celebrate the return of spring through the holiday of Tu B’Shevat, which is one of the four traditional Jewish new years. Asher seems to be associated with delicious food, too, “As for Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.”(Gen 49:20)  What a perfect correspondence to the sense of the month, Taste, and the Kabbalistic tradition of a Tu B’Shevat seder that has become so popular in recent years.  Food is one of our simplest pleasures in life!

A month of simple happiness – is that possible?  So many months of the year offer us challenges that seem insurmountable.  What kind of a challenge is happiness?

The mazal, the astrological sign of the month, gives us some clues to the challenge of happiness.  The sign of the month is the D’li (דְלִי) – the Bucket (Aquarius). How do you contain happiness?  How do you give fluid emotions like joy a shape?  You need a container – not to close it in, but allow you to carry it forward and share it.

Another lesson of Asher is the line between right and wrong.  Can something be wrong if it makes us happy?  There is the question between a moment of happiness and true life-long happiness.  The name Asher is clearly related to the word Ashera.  Wait…how can a beloved son of Jacob have anything to do with a forbidden ancient goddess that the Torah repeatedly warns us of?!?  Maybe the issue here is the vessel of choice – not what was contained in it.  She is a tree of life (עץ חיים הי), but we do not need the image of tree to worship.

I can think of a lot of things that make me happy for a moment, but do not sustain ongoing happiness for myself or anyone else.  Asher is also seems like it must related to the word “asher” – meaning “that” or “which.”  Could it be that something which enables something else is the key to true happiness?  Does sustainable happiness need to be able to connect two things together?

Happiness is simple and it is complex – just like Jewish life.  The lesson of Asher for Shevat is to explore true happiness.  What form does it need and what forms will it take on?  What is the difference between a moment of happiness and a life of true joy?

The lesson of Asher is to find happiness olive tree that can sustain generations, not just the olive that feeds you alone for a moment.

That’s what I find.  What about you?

Want more Insights into Shevat?

• Shevat: Buckets of Possibilities.
• Shevat: There’s a Light
• PeelaPom Tu B’Shevat Seder
• Tu B’Shevat Resources

~Excerpt from Shevat Guide – Subscribe for Free and Receive the Complete Guide Each Month ~

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So here is our roundup of Jewish themed Christmas articles, each asking a different question related to Jewish identity, spirituality, and the White Bearded Man in the Big Red Suit (and I’m not talking about your sleezy uncle Morty).

In Defense of the Hanukkah Bush By Chava Barner

A D’var Torah For Christmas (originally posted on Jewcy.com) By Patrick Aleph

A Rabbinical Student’s Christmas Story By Jean Meltzer-Maskuli

PunkTorah Radio: XMas Jews (Featuring Michael Sabani and Patrick Aleph)

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Today on PunkTorah Radio we talk about Jewish Bluegrass, NewKosher.org, and the Xmas Situation!

Listen up!

XMas_Jews!

Or subscribe on iTunes here!

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This week we talk about conversion, Michael Jackson, and orthodoxy.

Check it out!

Ortho_what?!

Or subscribe on iTunes here!

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Show Review: Hank and Cupcakes @ Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta (Nov. 19, 2010)

There’s something special about a deep bond between a man and a woman.* Whether it is through marriage (congrats to Patrick A. of Punk Torah and his new wife Anna!!) communal kinship or shared musical expression, two becoming one is a sacred experience. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of witnessing such a strong connection when Hank and Cupcakes took the stage at the Drunken Unicorn.

At first glance, Hank and Cupcakes resemble the White Stripes. They’re a minimalist, high energy pop duo. She’s behind the drum kit, he’s slapping strings… their relationship is not directly addressed. But that’s where the comparisons end.

When the set begins, you realize Cupcakes (AKA Sagit Shir) is leading this party. She’s the group’s vocalist while controlling the tempo with a strong bass drum foot and a steady snare. It’s odd to see someone play a drum kit while standing (she loses speed and precision) but I can’t envision any stool containing Cupcakes’ energy.

Hank (AKA Ariel Scherbacovsky) matches her vigorous performance in an almost hypnotic trance. He rarely talks (only to Cupcakes) and spends a large part of the set looking down and stomping on a wide array of peddles, switches and other bass effects. Their connection is tight if not visible.

Hank and Cupcakes were about halfway through their East Coast tour when they stopped through Atlanta and already have plans to repeat some stops on this tour next February. They have passion and are unique. They have played larger venues in other cities and should return to a bigger space next year.

I missed out on a chance to interview Hank and Cupcakes as they were stuck in Atlanta traffic. If you want to know more about Ariel and Sagit and their influences, check out Star Child’s interview from earlier this year.

* I’m not implicitly commenting about the specialness (or perceived lack thereof) for a same sex couple. Myself and AJMF are open minded and tolerant.

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Our Hanukkah gift to you!

Patrick and Michael return for the brand new PunkTorah Podcast: PunkTorah Radio!

Check it out!

“Channnnnnnuuuuukkkkkkkah Podcast!”

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Tevet 5771 begins at sundown on December 7th, 2010 and ends at sundown on January 5th, 2011

(cross-posted on PeelAPom)

~This is an excerpt from the Tevet Wheel of the Year Guide for Rosh Chodesh.  
Subscribe for free to receive the entire guide~

How do we know the difference between good and bad judgment?  How do we know the choices we make are the right ones?  What do we allow to influence us?  What we do allow to blur our vision?  What do we use to clear our eyes, our hearts, and our minds to turn back to the right path? Where do we cross the line between right and wrong, and do the ends justify the means?  These are the questions that the Tribe of Dan, the tribe associated with the month of Tevet (טֵבֵת), asks us.

Dan (דָּן) is the son of Jacob and Rachel, through her handmaiden Bilhah.  He is the full brother of Naphtali.  Some midrash say that Dan is the one who suggested dipping Joseph’s coat in the blood of a goat (the astrological symbol of Tevet – גדי) because he hated him for giving “evil” reports to Jacob about the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. (Jewish Encyclopedia) Dan is represented, historically, by  two different emblems.  He, and the tribe, are represented by scales because the name “dan” means judgement.  He, and the tribe, are also represented by a snake or serpent because of the blessing from Jacob in Genesis 49:17, which actually contains both the snake (49:17) and judgment (49:16) themes.

Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider falleth backward.

דָּן, יָדִין עַמּוֹ–כְּאַחַד, שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.יְהִי-דָן נָחָשׁ עֲלֵי-דֶרֶךְ, שְׁפִיפֹן עֲלֵי-אֹרַח–הַנֹּשֵׁךְ, עִקְּבֵי-סוּס, וַיִּפֹּל רֹכְבוֹ, אָחוֹר

When we explore the Tribe of Dan through history and legend we see a mixed story. We see Dan associated with the serpent. We see Oholiab, one of the two master craftsman of the wilderness tabernacle (Ex 31:6-11).  We see Huram-Abi, the master craftsman of Solomon’s Temple (2 Chron 2:12-13 & 4:11-22).  We see Sampson, who is a hugely flawed hero. We see the Northern Tribes that innovated, but then according to the prophets lapsed into idolatry.

But our challenge is to see with clear eyes (עֵינַיִם), not to be turned by the evil eye (עַיִן רָעָה) towards anger (זַעַף).  Is the snake (נָחָשׁ) evil and inherently bad?  Or is the snake set in our path to offer us information and see what choices we make with it?  Is the snake’s role to see what kind of judgement we exercise?  Yes, there was a snake in Eden, but Moses is also instructed by G!d(dess) to create a brass/bronze snake (נְחַשׁ נְחֹשֶׁת) to heal the people in the wilderness from the fiery serpent angels (הַנְּחָשִׁים הַשְּׂרָפִים) set upon them by G!d(dess). (Numbers 21:6-9) Any Israelite who looked upon the brass serpent Moses created were healed.

“The month of Tevet, the month of the tribe of Dan, relates to the growing-up process, from a state of immaturity to a state of maturity. Immaturity is characterized by the “evil eye,” while maturity is characterized by the “good eye.” The tribe of Dan represents the initial state of immaturity in the soul that “grows-up” during the month of Tevet. Dan means “to judge.” Initially, he judges reality and others critically, with severe judgment (the “evil eye”). This is the nature of one who is spiritually immature. Dan is likened to a snake, who bites with the venom of anger. The “evil eye” is the eye of the snake. The rectification of Dan is his engaging in the battle of holy anger against evil anger. Our sages teach us that only one from the soul-root of Dan can spontaneously jump up and kill the evil snake–”one like him, killed him.” Nachash (“snake”) = 358 = Mashiach. The holy power of Dan reflects a spark of Mashiach. In the Zohar we are taught that the commander-in-chief of the army of Mashiach will come from the tribe of Dan. …  Positive anger expresses the deepest care and concern of the soul that reality become good.” (Inner.org)

Now the lesson of Dan begins to become clear.  Moses is instructed by G!d(dess) to create an idol, to make a graven image (פֶסֶל) that represents something of heaven or earth. He does it and is not punished.   On the other hand, King Jeroboam ignores the council of his people and of his own volition decides to create two golden calves for the people to worship, invents new holidays, and installs his own priests — and he is punished (1 Kings 12:1-33).

Oholiab and Huram-abi create ritual objects for religious service, some that seem to cross over into representations of things from heaven or earth – but they are given not just knowledge – but Binah – understanding.  They are blessed.

Understanding comes with maturity. Good judgment comes with maturity. The snake is not evil; its temptation. As children, like Adam and Chava were in Eden, it is easy to be tempted.  But consider this too.  Maybe Chava grew up. Maybe she made a considered decision that it was time to grow up.  Maybe Adam didn’t, “she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Gen 3:12) It is often said that girls mature more rapidly than boys, but even then they may be lacking the understanding (בִּינָה) of experience.  Maybe Chava was mature enough to make a decision for herself, but not mature enough to know that Adam would just eat or understand the implications her decision might have beyond herself.

In Tevet, Dan challenges us to look at the decisions we make for ourselves that impact only us and then the decisions we make that impact others.  Are we mature enough to know the difference?  Do we have just knowledge or do we have understanding?  Are our actions good ones?  If we are angry is it because we are immature and don’t really understand, or is it because we see clearly an injustice in the world that needs to be rectified? Use this month to explore the choices you make in your life.  Tevet and the tribe of Dan take us into the Winter Solstice ( Tefukat Tevet), the darkest of days — which this year will be darker than most because there is also a  total lunar eclipse.

Light born from darkness,
dawn born from night,
hope born from quiet
waiting for the light.

Spring born from winter,
spark struck from sun,
strength born from calling
for the spring to come.

Tonight the dark is waiting,
longing to be gone.
Tonight the earth is turning,
facing toward the dawn. (RK’Jill Hammer)

( Listen to a melody created for this chant by Ketizrah)

Will you find understanding in the darkness or will you find fear and anger?  May you find blessing, strength, wisdom and understanding in the darkening of the days and the knowledge that the light will return.

Want more insights into Tevet?

• Tevet: Who Frees the Bound
• Tevet: Seeking and Seeing
• Hanukkah Seder: A Seder for the 8th Night or Winter Solstice

~This is an excerpt from the Tevet Wheel of the Year Guide for Rosh Chodesh.  
Subscribe for free to receive the entire guide~

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdfO8uRR5gs

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Zionism, what once for me was a clear cut discussion, becomes a prevailing debacle and inner dialogue. Concluding an important research report about the assimilation of American Jews and paradigm shifts, that affect the decline of the Jewish population, it is apparent that the state of Israel is providing a scapegoat for assimilation. American Jews see this new group of Bal Tuva Jews moving to Israel. This allows the American psyche to assimilate into modern pop-culture and evade the discussion of Jewish assimilation within the Diaspora altogether.

Pre-Holocaust, Jews separated themselves and seemed to maintain numbers in population. It is within the 1930’s-1970’s where Jews found assimilation to be the response to persecution. A decade later [1980s], Hitler’s “solution to the Jewish problem” still impacted population numbers. In the 21^st century numbers are still on the decline and at an ever rapid pace.

The major concern is if Jews in the Diaspora rely only on Jews within the country of Israel, the near future of the Jewish faith will become a closing chapter. Yes, intermarriage and the Holocaust have a large part in this ideological decline, but I urge the public to open their eyes as to what the idea of Zionism does psychologically for the Jewish community. We cannot focus solely on “the right of return”. We as a community must discuss how we cannot depend on Jews overseas to create the identity of the Jew within the Diaspora nor can we use this “right” as a crutch for not being active in Jewish communities.

Likewise, the average Israeli feels less of a need to do “Jewish” because going to the market is a Jewish event in it of itself. The confusion between faith and nationalism does not stem from Zionism, but does allow itself to blur the lines all that much more. Nationalism is important on many levels, the Torah even mentions that, but it also is important to practice and value traditions and rituals as our ancestors have done for centuries.

It is imperative that the public understand that Zionism is not potent, but potentially dangerous. The paradigm needs to shift. No longer can we depend on another Jew to be Jewish. The numbers in the population are too small. It is absolutely fine to subscribe to Zionism, but when educating people or when in a discussion about the topic, it is important to address that as Jews of the Diaspora, we play an integral role in the success of our future. Without buy-in for this paradigm shift, cultural and religious traditions of the Jewish faith will be masked in Israeli nationalism, risking a much larger decline in Jewish population.

Be true to the streets-

Yentapunker

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(By Michael Sabani)
michael@punktorah.org

So.

We’ve gotten some flack from those who call themselves “more observant” wanting to know, quite frankly, “what the heck is an online minyan?” and “how can you justify it?” On the other hand, we’ve gotten messages from people who are scared. They need there to be barriers and some sort of mystical, pseudo-Talmudic, Torah based objection so they won’t be challenged!

Well, if you want to know how we can “defend” getting a bunch of people to pray together online, this is how:

We can see the advancements of the internet and the ability to stream a service live as a benefit of these modern times. This use of technology isn’t really as big an innovation as you’d think. In fact, “the gemara in Sukkah 51b relates that the synagogue of Alexandria, Egypt was so large that they had to wave flags so that the people in the back knew when to answer ‘amen’” (Friedman). How about that! The online service is essentially the same thing; we are sending out “electronic flags” to all those participating.

According to Rav Soloveitchik, “even if one is in another room, he may still have the advantage of tefillah betzibbur, just as he may respond to devarim shebekedushah” (Mipninei HaRav [2001], p.41). So we are told that even those in another room may participate in a service and be included, while being in a different room from the leader of the service.

The Rambam tells us, in the Mishneh Torah (Tefillah viii) that if a minyan is distributed between 2 adjoining rooms and the shaliach tzibbur is standing in a doorway between the two, or even within earshot of both rooms, all involved can be counted for the minyan. So, in the 21st century, the live, streaming video really is the doorway into the rooms of the participants. As long as everyone can hear the leader and participate, there really is no reason why all who are watching and participating can’t be counted.

In summary, Rav Friedman says that “all stimuli that are not from a natural origin, are not in their natural form, or do not originate from a natural process are invalid for the fulfillment of almost any halakhic obligation.” So it seems that if the prayer leaders are actively, naturally speaking and leading, the service would be valid.

But more importantly, Friedman says that essentially each mitzvah needs to be examined on it’s own merit.

Right on.

So guess what? You can support the conception and implementation of an online minyan utilizing traditional Talmudic sources.

And to that we say: Big deal.

Look, it’s great that we can come up with Talmudic sources to support he fact that we are trying to get more people to pray and connect with G-d. That is an important part of the tradition, being able to say “This is what we’re doing and this is why we believe we are in the right.” But the fact of the matter is, we live in a world where live, streaming services, Skype, and IMing are a reality. We live in the 21st century, and pretending it’s the 3rd, 10th, or 17th isn’t helping anybody. Getting people to come together and pray is.

If you think what we’re doing is wrong, or not halachically acceptable, fine! That’s your right! The Talmud is basically a bunch of rabbis arguing with each other, and in most cases there is no clear “Rabbi A is right, Rabbi B is wrong”.

So when I have to stand in front of my Creator (which I believe I will) and say that I encouraged people to pray together, to get to know one another, and to encourage each other in performing mitzvot, but it was wrong to do it online (!?) I will gladly accept my punishment. Better one person does a mitzvah out of my mistake than if none do, even though I live a righteous life.

Works Cited

Friedman, Mordechai. “HALAKHIC CHALLENGES OF ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTIONS.” Torah on the Web – Virtual Beit Midrash. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. <http://vbm-torah.org/archive/halak61/12virtual.htm>.

(Many thanks to my friend Alan Sufrin of Stereo Sinai for the excellent help and research!)

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NEXT DOR STL SEEKS YOUNG JEWISH LEADERS FOR YEAR-LONG  COMMUNITY BUILDING RESIDENCY

In order to continue bringing new ideas and energy to Next Dor, we are looking to find talented and passionate young adults.Opportunities include one paid staff position and up to two unpaid residencies. All positions receive free living and work space in the Next Dor house.  In addition to specific tasks, all are required to be a welcoming presence in the house for set weekly hours.  To view and download full job descriptions, click the links below.

• Program Director – facilitates programming at the house, provides strategic outreach into the community, builds relationships, and is responsible for day-to-day house operations. Position is paid by a stipend.
• Creative Connections Resident – executes a creative endeavor based on his or her area of expertise.  The project will support Next Dor’s mission.  Project examples include: media, entrepreneurial, culinary, Jewish study, etc.
• Artist in Residence – an emerging young Jewish artist will create a body of work and actively connect the St. Louis arts community with Jewish young adults.

Applicants for the resident positions must provide: resume, cover letter, three work samples (digital format only) if applicable, and a personal statement to Next Dor (apply [at] nextdorstl.org) by November 1, 2010. Selected applicants will be asked to provide a full project proposal to be completed during the year-long residency.

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Be a part of the future of Judaism, have fun, learn great career skills

and put something cool on your resume.

PunkTorah, a non-profit organization dedicated to independent Jewish spirituality, learning and debate, is looking for an intern for our Atlanta, GA based office. Position starts November 1st.

Our organization operates Jewish websites including PunkTorah (independent Jewish spirituality lifestyle blog), 3xDaily (educational prayer resource), OneShul (the world’s only community-ran, online synagogue) as well as a web/design studio and a lecture/education service. Sound interesting? Keep reading…

Our ideal candidate would:

-Live in the Metro-Atlanta area (or be relocating before Hanukkah) and have reliable transportation. If you do not live in Atlanta, other opportunities are available. Please let us know.

-Engaged in Jewish life with an interest in Jewish spirituality and religion, art, culture, music, news, etc.

-Some level of experience with social media (Facebook, Twitter, WordPress). Bonus points if you know the Mac suite (iMovie, Garageband, etc.) Photoshop, have some photography or video skills,  and any other hidden talents you want to utilize in a work environment

-Forward thinking, problem-solving attitude and team spirit

-A passion for pop culture beyond the Jewish world (movies, video games, music, technology, the web, comic books, etc)

-Ability to handle multiple tasks at once with little supervision

-A desire to learn something new, every single day

This position is two days a week, four hours a day, and we observe all Jewish and national holidays. This position is unpaid; however, you will never have any expenses working for PunkTorah (no dress code you have to live up to or gas money you have to spend to run errands). You will also get some awesome perks along the way including PunkTorah merch.

If you are interested in the position, please email patrick@punktorah.org with the subject line “Internship”

Thank you,

Patrick Aleph (Executive Director), Michael Sabani (Chief Creative Officer)

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Contribute a d’var Torah for 5771 at PunkTorah.org! A d’var doesn’t have to be something scholarly. It can be a poem, a photograph, a piece of music…anything that expresses your view of a portion of the Torah.

Below is a list of the weekly Torah portions that are coming up. We would need your portion the week before it “drops”. We’ve already filled up the spots for the first book of the Torah (Bereshit), so if you’re interested in being a part of this community-wide, Jewish social-spiritual experiment, act now!

Leviticus

Parashat Vayikra – 12 March 2011

Parashat Tzav – 19 March 2011 Shaun Sarvis

Parashat Shmini – 26 March 2011

Parashat Tazria – 02 April 2011

Parashat Metzora – 09 April 2011 Shaun Sarvis

Parashat Achrei Mot – 16 April 2011

Parashat Kedoshim – 30 April 2011

Parashat Emor – 07 May 2011

Parashat Behar – 14 May 2011

Parashat Bechukotai – 21 May 2011

Exodus

Parashat Shemot – 25 December 2010 Patrick Aleph/Michael Sabani

Parshat Vaera – 01 January 2011 Elchanan Ben Avraham

Parashat Bo – 08 January 2011 Michele Paiva

Parashat Beshalach – 15 January 2011 Michael Croland

Parashat Yitro – 22 January 2011 Michele Paiva

Parashat Mishpatim – 29 January 2011 Michael Sabani

Parashat Terumah – 05 February 2011 Michael Sabani

Parashat Tetzaveh – 12 February 2011 Patrick Aleph

Parashat Ki Tisa – 19 February 2011 Michele Paiva

Parashat Vayakhel – 26 February 2011 Ketzirah

Parashat Pekudei – 05 March 2011 Ketzirah

Genesis (Full)

Parashat Bereshit - 02 October 2010 Michael Sabani

Parashat Noach - 09 October 2010 Patrick Aleph

Parashat Lech-Lecha - 16 October 2010 Reina Kutner

Parashat Vayera - 23 October 2010 Patrick Aleph/Michael Sabani

Parashat Chayei Sara - 30 October 2010 Kristin the Jewbie

Parashat Toldot - 06 November 2010 Alison Laichter

Parashat Vayetzei - 13 November 2010 Joshua Kuritzky

Parashat Vayishlach - 20 November 2010 Matthew Gindin

Parashat Vayeshev - 27 November 2010 Jessica Moore

Parashat Miketz - 04 December 2010 Patrick Aleph/Michael Sabani

Parashat Vayigash - 11 December 2010 Gordon Haber

Parashat Vayechi - 18 December 2010 Nitzchiya

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What’s a “community” siddur?

I am so glad you asked!

The community siddur is a prayerbook for our community, by our community. We asked for and received submissions from a large variety of people involved in OneShul and PunkTorah, and we have created the next level in OpenSource Davenning!

Here is a preview of the front and back cover:

The OneShul Community Siddur can be considered the IndieYeshiva Pocket Siddur v 2.0. It includes much that was in the IY Pocket Siddur, plus expanded Assorted Prayers and Blessings, meditations, a new introduction, a complete Holiday Blessings section, and more!

Plus, this version will be published in a 4×6 paperback format, which is much sturdier than the IY Pocket Siddur.

The siddur will be available by October 1, 2010 at ModernTribe.com.

Keep swayin’ and prayin’!

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After the film, we invite you to post your thoughts about circumcision below. Also, we will be having live discussions in our OneShul prayer services and a Q & A with the filmmaker after High Holidays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx89xECfHG4

Please give the movie a few minutes to buffer (load up) if you are on a slow internet connection.

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PunkTorah is proud to announce the fund-raising launch for OneShul.org, the world’s first web-based, community run synagogue.

OneShul was inspired by group of PunkTorah volunteers who began meeting online to daven with one another, using PunkTorah’s recently released Indie Yeshiva Pocket Siddur (available online and through ModernTribe.com). With the popularity of this “DIY Prayer Service” came the idea for a virtual synagogue without borders, based on collective Jewish values and spiritual independence.

“Synagogues are shutting down for the same reason that brick-and-mortar business are closing,” says Executive Director Patrick Aleph. “People live online and if you believe in being where people are, then you need to be there, too.”

Says PunkTorah Creative Director and “Alterna-Rebbe” Michael Sabani, “OneShul is an open synagogue for all of us to congregate, learn, lead, and empower each other. Traditional Jewish organizations and leaders have said that real community can’t be achieved online, or as they see it, synthetically. We challenge that notion. We say that yes, real community means communicating with each other in a meaningful way and that can be done online. We are proving it right now.”

OneShul is “independent” meaning that it does not tow a party line to any of the established Jewish movements. Instead, by being community ran, participants get to decide what kind of minyanim to make, the style of worship, etc. PunkTorah hopes that OneShul will be a diverse place, where all Jewish opinions are appreciated.

OneShul has already seen major success with its live, interactive Afternoon Prayer Services and Jewish classes, led by different members of the PunkTorah community via UStream. PunkTorah hopes to expand OneShul into something much larger, providing Kabbalat Shabbat, more holiday services, an “indie yeshiva” of Jewish books and blogs that are written collaboratively by volunteers, spiritual counseling via skype, a mobile davening app for the iPhone/iPad, tzedakah and tikkun olam programs, OneShul outreach houses across the country, volunteering and internship opportunities for students interested in Jewish communal service, and a launching pad for the spiritual future of the New Jew community. “Everything that a physical synagogue has, but better,” says Aleph.

To make this happen, PunkTorah has launched a fundraising drive through IndieGoGo.com and plans to raise $5,000 to create the “synagogue of the future”.

With OneShul, PunkTorah is challenging the notion that community only exists in neighborhoods. Says Michael Sabani, “Which community is more real? The one where I show up once a week and sit next to what is essentially a stranger, say ‘Shabbat shalom’ and then leave? Or the one I am in constant contact with through Facebook and Skype, who I know I can turn to in a time of need?”

To learn more about PunkTorah’s OneShul project, visit www.indiegogo.com/oneshul

PunkTorah is a non-profit (501c3-pending) organization dedicated to independent Jewish spirituality, culture, learning and debate.

Press Contact: Patrick Aleph

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Hey y’all! Have you seen our new Online Event Calendar? It has all of the dates and times for upcoming services and classes. We have a lot of great things planned for the near future, like interactive classes, groundbreaking online services, and some live streaming surprises, so check it out regularly! You can also subscribe to it by clicking here!

We would also love for anyone who wants to volunteer to lead a service to let us know. You don’t have to be a rabbi to pray with others. Read a story, tell a joke (preferably a clean one ’cause this is a friendly site, but whatever) or even just say the prayers and that’s it! We usually use the IndieYeshiva version of Mincha which can be found here, or you can purchase a download copy from us by donating and clicking here. That’s it! You don’t have to stand around and chat with everyone if you don’t want to (though feel free to!). The important thing is that you are helping to build the future of Judaism, a community not bound by geography, a Jewish community of the world, and that you are taking responsibility.

Only together can we change the world.

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The who, what, why, how, and when of tzitzit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGwkKri0N2A

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Stand up! Let your voice be heard! Ani veAtah Neshane et HaOlam! You and I will change the world!

-Michael and Patrick

(From the Jewish Federation of North America Website)

Issue Background:

As you know, The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) has articulated concern about a proposed bill in Israel’s Knesset amending Israel’s Law of Return. One proposed change could affect those who convert to Judaism after spending time in Israel, and potentially prevent them from immigrating under the Law of Return and gaining automatic Israeli citizenship. The bill also, for the very first time, gives the Orthodox Chief Rabbinate authority over conversions in Israel, something that could well alienate the 85% of North American Jews who are not Orthodox.

Representatives from JFNA and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) met this winter in the Knesset with the bill’s sponsor, MK David Rotem of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, and delivered a concerted and forceful message that, as Diaspora Jewry’s representatives, we wish to engage in discussions on any such initiatives before the law is changed.

MK Rotem pledged no changes would occur without our consultation. Rotem and former Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon later met with Diaspora Jewish groups in the U.S., including Ayalon with JFNA, to reiterate these promises.

This past week Rotem suddenly advanced a new, even more troubling amendment, without consulting with JFNA or JAFI. The new changes would give “authority” to the Orthodox-run Chief Rabbinate in Israel to carry out all conversions and says a convert can only be recognized if one “accepts the yoke of mitzvot according to halacha” (as defined by the Chief Rabbinate).

Since these developments occurred, our leadership told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Knesset leaders, and Rotem that these latest proposed changes would “drive a wedge” between Israel and the Diaspora and cause “significant damage” to the Diaspora-Israel relationship. JFNA and JAFI have delivered a strongly worded letter to this effect to the prime minister and have met with Knesset members this week to underscore that message.

These changes would potentially affect a broad swath of Diaspora Jewry, and also make a theological and ideological statement about the more liberal Jewish movements to which most Diaspora Jews belong. JFNA and JAFI have issued public statements to this effect and spoken out to the Israeli press.

While our leadership has been advocating in the halls of the Knesset, we need your help to send an even louder message to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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“A lot can get done with a dance party. If you watch movies from the 80s, how did everyone save the community center? With a dance party!”

DJ Lil Ray is the bat mitzvah DJ you wish you’d had. She’s cool, young, and she knows what you want to hear…and plays it. Top 40 and obscure stuff that NME doesn’t even know about “weaving in and out”, according to Lil Ray, in ways that keep the party moving. “I like electro and hip hop and those things have been intertwined,” says Lil Ray, citing that “there’s no hip hop without Kraftwerk.” I highly doubt that there are serious bat mitzvah DJs that would throw down about German experimental music, and for that, DJ Lil Ray wins the award for coolest DJ ever.

Lil Ray had previously been in Atlanta, where she cut her teeth as a DJ with the Astoria group and a regular Saturday night spot at The Highland Inn Ballroom. But the move from Atlanta’s small party scene to the hub of culture had more to do with career than with art. With a masters degree in Social Work from Georgia State, Lil Ray planned on moving to New York to work in the non-profit sector. Turns out, no one needed her, even “for the lowest entry level job.”

So Lil Ray broke the mold and did something few creative people ever do: she “fell back” on her artistic ambitions. And now, after just a few months of living in NY, Lil Ray has positioned herself as an up-and-coming player in the local dance party scene.

This includes her incredible niche market: DJing bat mitzvahs. It doesn’t seem like a trendy DJ like Lil Ray would want to even go there, but for Lil Ray, DJing to twelve and thirteen year old girls is…well…a mitzvah in and of itself.

“It was a dream come true. I played Top 40 female vocal hits and they were screaming. They were the roudiest crowd I have DJ’d in a long time.”

DJ Lil Ray is proud of her bat mitzvah work. On her website, Lil Ray talks about growing up in “Ft. Lauderdale bat mitzvah scene” and told me that, through her DJing, she hopes that she has a “meaningful impact” or her teen audience, that they, too “can be a DJ or anything that they want to be.”

I asked Lil Ray what, if any, role being Jewish has in her work. Normally Jewish musicians have nothing to say about this, citing that music is universal and that tribalism is meaningless. Lil Ray shocked me with this answer:

“Growing up in an enclave, the value of joy…is always there and important to celebrate. So after all of these years of being an activist, landing on: being a good person…really goes a long away. Religion and culture can give a framework for being a good person.”

In a way, DJ Lil Ray fulfills two amazing spiritual values in Judaism. Through her work as an activist, she has shown an incredible commitment to tikkun olam (repairing the world). And through her hip shaking record spinning, Lil Ray is shaking the branches on the Tree of Life with the mitzvah of simcha, of bringing joy to others through her music.”

You can catch Lil Ray in action at Enid’s in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on Saturday, July 24 for Hot & Sticky, a totally free Hip Hop dance party.

What’s Lil’ Ray listening to? Check out her hot picks…

Aloe Blacc – I Need a Dollar (Pristine Blusters and DJ Mulher ‘Millionaire’ Remix)

Brazillian DJs get all Baltimore on an instant neo-soul classic.

Round Table Knights – Calypso

This song is magic because most people don’t know it but it gets them going anyway.

Get Em Mamis – Shake It All Night

I love sassy lady MCs spitting on throwback club tracks.  I not so secretly dream about doing a show with them.  If Kid Sister was there, I would probably plotz.

Sensato Ft. Black Point – Watagataputisberry

If you like jumping up and down and shouting and having fun, you like this song.

A-Trak – Trizzy Turnt Up

A-Trak, a fellow Jew, is a big inspiration.  His free Dirty South Dance mixtapes are genius.

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They will be held Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at around 2PM Eastern time. To watch, go here or here! We look forward to seeing you all there!

-Michael and Patrick

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(This is a post by Rebecca Froman, Elissa’s sister. We met them at the Greater Chicago Jewish Festival a few weeks ago. Helping out is so simple there really is no reason not to. Medical advances mean having an easier time donating if you are a match, and seriously, if you could save someone’s life, why wouldn’t you?

Please help, in any way you can.

-Michael and Patrick)

Elissa, age 26, grew up in suburban Chicago and lives in Washington, DC.  Soon after graduating from college about 3½ years ago, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma.  Her battle with cancer has been a roller coaster of highs and lows, marked by frustratingly short periods of remission.
Recently, Elissa fulfilled a life-long dream when she learned of her acceptance to graduate school to further her Judaic studies.  Just two days later, her dreams were shattered by the news that her cancer had returned yet again.
Elissa works as an advocate for the human and civil rights of others.  She is now faced with a challenge of a lifetime and is in need of help from another—as a stem cell transplant is her only hope for a cure.
As the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors, Elissa has little family to test for a match and needs a genetically-matched donor to receive her life-saving transplant.  Elissa and her family are asking you to join the National Bone Marrow/Blood Stem Cell Registry through organizations such as Be The Match, Gift of Life, or Ezer Mitizion.  By joining, you fulfill tikkun olam by being a  potential donor standing ready to give patients like Elissa a second chance at life.  And her hope is that even if you can’t help her, you may be able to help another patient and their family.
Registration is easy!  A consent form is filled out and a swab of the cheeks is taken.  Your tissue type is added to the Registry until your 61st birthday.  You must be between the ages of 18-60 and in good health to join.  If you are interested in either joining or helping to organize a registration drive, please contact Elissa’s sister Becky at rebeccafroman@comcast.net or at 847-924-9185.
“If you save one life, it is as if you have saved the entire world.”

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Mike Knight, the father of Punk Islam said that since you can’t hold an ideology, a worldview in the palm of your hand how can you even start to say what it is? Islam. Punk. Judaism. Zionism. When no person can hold it, how can one person own it?

It’s the things that can’t be held that are usually the most fervently grasped after and back in Vancouver, in the diaspora, Zionism is viewed less as any broad intellectual tradition than an arena of violent polemics. It’s hard to be a Zionist on the Left there. I don’t know how I feel about Jewish statehood in the abstract but I strongly support the existence of this Jewish state. I’d fight and die for this place in a just cause. I want to move here in a few months. At the same time, I wholeheartedly believe Israel is the primary, though not sole, cause and sustainer of a people’s suffering and exile. Most folks back home who agree with me, that Palestinians are entitled to sustenance, rights and sovereignty, see Zionism as a racist colonial monolith. Those who disagree with me say I cant be a Zionist because I don’t practice Zionism like a racist colonial monolith. As a Zionist who feels support for Palestinian rights is integral to my belief in a just Jewish State, I am forced to choose between the label and the content.

The other night we attended a Gala of the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem.

On the bus ride to Jerusalem I listened to Matisyahu with my friend Sam and felt the same chill entering the city that I had felt when I was here for the first time two years ago. That’s my Zionism. No one can take that feeling from me. But it is a connection, not a claim. It gets murkier when you try to translate feelings into exclusionary politics.

When we got to the Congress I wandered around the photo displays of Halutzim draining swamps, of bright eyed, bronzy soldiers. The standard images of a pinup Zionism. I collected all the brochures and pamphlets I could find. I found a big coffee table magazine Haaretz did on Herzl that I look forward to reading. I met briefly with the head of the MERCAZ delegation, representing Conservative and Masorti Judaism. My Persian friend there got a dirty look from some Haredim. He thinks it was racism. I wouldn’t be surprising given that 100,000 Haredim just rallied for school segregation.

Eventually we picked up translating headsets, filed into the auditorium, filed back out when the headsets wouldn’t function and finally filed back in, took our seats.

Israeli President, Shimon Peres, keynote of the evening missed his first curtain call but eventually showed.

Early in his speech Peres referred to the establishment of Israel as Jewry’s “step back into history”. Such an understanding at once attempts to erase the exilic experience and makes pointed ideological use of it. Thus Peres can, as he did, speak of an unceasing Antisemitism in history, prevalent enough to define 2000 years of Jewish history while at the same time saying “we never listened to” the gentiles, we remained unchanged, pure from antiquity. Zionism commands us to both blot out the exile and remember it constantly, just as Torah asks us to treat the memory of Amalek. By erasing Exile from history, we dehistoricize its tropes, we make them a constant reality. Torquemada or Hitler, like Amalek cease to be historically grounded personalities and become constant shades, lurking around every corner, in the words of all who oppose us. This is not to suggest that Israel does not have enemies and that antisemitism does not play a role sometimes in those animosities. Helen Thomas’ comments a couple weeks ago demanding that Israeli Jews return to the graveyards of Poland and Germany were antisemitic, not to mention ignorant of Israeli demographics where the majority of Jews are Mizrachi. When the IHH tells Israelis to go back to Auschwitz or when the Left focuses disproportionately on Israel’s crimes while ignoring those of other states; there is antisemitism here. But awareness of hatred, vigilance against it’s manifestation is the opposite of paranoia. One calls us to live and guard ourselves in the muck of reality, the other exalts ourselves as the world’s blameless victim and divides the world into uncritical friends, of which ultimately there are none, and enemies, of which there are many. Peres can therefore say that “if you delegitamize Israel, you legitimize terrorism” because such fine distinctions disappear when we mentally depart from reality and enter the discourse of eternal truth. Then we begin to make statements like “the war never ends here”. We begin to believe them. We begin to resign ourselves and to excuse ourselves from moral commitment. We unchoose ourselves as Jews. This realm of ideas is what Peres called “the order of existence” which Zionism claims to understand. What we don’t understand, according to the President is “who is a human being”, that is, who is a real person in history and who is a shade, a face of the eternal anti-Semite. These are the “warmongers”, the “fanatics who threaten us”. We have to “get rid of them”. But we can’t. Because they’re not real.

By erasing exile, Zionism is able to present itself as the manifestation of a pure mytho-antiquity that is simultaneously on the cutting edge of hypermodernity. This antiquity extends into time immemorial and is a statement of political confrontation; Peres can make statements like: “we were here before anyone else” and “ours is the oldest legitimacy in the region”; neither of which are, technically speaking, true. The erasure of exile is confirmed by the delusion that the “we” and the “ours” have not changed in 2000 years of exile. “The language of the prophets” remains the “language of our children”. Zionism has a special place in this sacred recast of history. It is the step “from exile to redemption”.

Redemption is characterized in deeply Modernist language, in talk of “construction and democracy” as if human rights were synonymous with factories. Zionism’s Israel has to strive after both the “ten commandments” and the cutting edge expansion of scientific research. Zionism may have begun as a “horizontal expansion” across Palestine, Peres recounted; now its goals were vertical, building upwards into skyscrapers and forward unto the restless horizon. I’m reminded of the words of Levi Eshkol: “When can we finish building the state and go home to rest?” Phrases like “value of modernity”, “awareness of modernity” and “orientation to the future” were interspersed with vague and unelaborated references to the example of the Prophets. The only figures mentioned explicitly as prophets however were Marx and Herzl.

We all rose to attention as he walked off stage and was replaced by Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem. As critical as I am of Peres’ speech, I liked it. I might problematize the narrative he presents but it is a story of idealism, of a people who spoke for justice in suffering and must still strive for justice in power. He called on Israel to become more than a refuge of a fearful Jewry but a beacon, a Light unto the Nations. We are not there yet. But we can be. Statehood is not the ends but the means.

I did not like Barkat’s speech. Here was the other conclusion of the Zionist narrative, not the open ended idealism that Peres and I each in our own way held to but the terrifying triumphalism of an ideology that is too busy marching forward to see who it’s marching over. Statehood as an end. It’s not that I wouldn’t like to share this triumphalism. For once in 2000 years, we’re the ones with the guns and the tanks and the borders. But when we allow the arrogance of power and the desperation of an imagined imperilment to cause us to forget the humanity of the other, we embark upon the road to Fascism.

Barkat is a main force behind the expansion of Jewish building in East Jerusalem. He began by quoting Herzl, declaring that “with Jerusalem, you can make a diamond”, rather than the traditional belief that Jerusalem is a diamond regardless. There’s not much I have to say about Barkat’s tirade for development. Jerusalem has to “become a more attractive city for tourists and investors”, he said since such parties have “shares in the city, no less than its residents”.

Investment, development, resources.

He called for “Jerusalem to be taken out of poverty” and said nothing about taking poverty out of Jerusalem. Barkat’s image of Jerusalem is a rosy and attractive one. But it is not a real one. Jerusalem is not the “strong and united city” he claimed it to be. It is a deeply divided place where identities build over, dig under and war after each other. Freedom of religion is not a Zionist innovation in this place. It existed for most of the history of Muslim Jerusalem, if not its final decades. Jerusalem is not perfect now, it was not so terrible before.

That doesn’t mean Jerusalem is not a diamond. But it has been tainted by suffering and hatred, by true believers as much as by greedy hypocrites; it has been crusted over by tears and blood. But the only way we’re ever going to see that diamond is by working to uncover each of its infinite faces, not by building skyscrapers on top of it.

So that’s it. In other news, we went to the Tel Aviv Pride Parade last week where I got pamphlet-ed by Messianic Jews.

Crazy Place.

Shalom, Salaam, Peace

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di5coZUGg0Y

Kirtan is a part of bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion. It is done in call-and-response format, and is used to bring the chanter into and altered state of consciousness, “at once ecstatic, contemplative and — most of all — playfully improvised”. In kirtan, the goal is to chant to G-d and to develop an ecstatic state of awareness that brings insight and peace, so that we merge with the Beloved through devotion, hence the moniker “the yoga of devotion”. Borrowing certain ideas and instruments from Hindu tradition and basing them solidly in a Jewish framework, the Kirtan Rabbi, Rabbi Andrew Hahn, Ph.D. uses Hebrew texts as a basis with the lyrics “drawn from the Hebrew Bible and the siddur (the traditional Jewish prayerbook), as well as from the language of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism)”. At first I was skeptical, but it works, and it works very well.

On the newest album, Achat Sha’alti (One Thing I Seek), Rabbi Hahn has delivered a very well produced album full of affecting chants. The call and response format works very well and allows the listener to connect with the rhythm of the music and the patterns of the chanting. I found myself chanting along in the car and while working, giving me a nice respite in the middle of the day. Using the chants drawn from the bible and the siddur brought a unique insight to them, and in some cases it was as if I had heard them for the first time. On the previous Kirtan Rabbi album, Live! the music and chanting was just as engaging, though not as fresh. The production values on Achat Sha’alti are a refreshing step forward. The lush instrumentals add to the atmospheric chanting from the melodious opening Kaddish to a trance Lecha Dodi medley. The droning harmonium makes an incredible background to the traditional niggunim used as melodies and inspiration for the different tracks. As a tool for personal worship or meditation, I can highly recommend this album, especially to those familiar with other kirtan artists like Krishna Das or Jai Uttal and who want to be able to use kirtan and the bhakti yoga system as a devotional tool in service to Hashem. Or if you just like cool music!

Achat Sha’alti (One Thing I Seek) and Kirtan Rabbi Live! are available at iTunes and on the Kirtan Rabbi website.

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By Jeremy Wood

Al-Ramla was built in the beginning of the 8th century on dunes and sometimes I like to think you can feel that here, that there is nothing under this place but sand, that there are no hungry zombie hands of history. Yehuda Amichai said that the air above Jerusalem is thick with prayers like the smog over a factory town. I don’t feel that here. There is a lightness. Al-Ramla translates, loosely as “Queen of the Desert”.

This is not a place without history. In ’48, 10s of thousands of its inhabitants were exiled, by Israeli intimidation, by the hope of refuge and revenge in the Jordanian camp. Leaflets were dropped, promising death if they did not leave. There is a deadness in the south of the city. In a couple weeks will be the anniversary of that exodus. I hope to sit in the Muslim cemetery that sits under the old Mamluk minaret in the centre of town and say Kaddish or Fatiha or something to commemorate. They say there are sahabas buried in that cemetery. They call the Minaret, the Tower of the 40 Martyrs. 40 is lowballing it.

Many stayed though. I saw a woman in Niqqab today. I don’t know if she gets hassled or not. I assume it’s not easy and I respect her. This is not an easy country to live in for everyone but it feels often like a harder country to leave.

This is a country where past and present are, like Jews, always screaming over eachother. Right now the tension is fresh. Soon, maybe in a week, maybe less, Iran intends to send two aid ships past the Gaza blockade with partial military escort. It seems nothing but a ploy for primacy in the region that, once again, uses the people of Palestine as an empty reference like others in the neighborhood use “history” or “G-d”. Politics mask Religion mask history mask everything and I am reminded of what Declan de Barra, an Irish rebel singer once told me that sometimes the only way to sing about any of those is by singing about love. Irish poets saw their country as a beautiful and tormented woman. So did the Prophets. There are some things that can only be spoken of, as they are, to a point. Sometimes we are not prepared to see things as darkly as they can be. There is poetry after Auschwitz because there has to be.

I hope Ahmadinejad reconsiders. I am hopeful. Egypt has opened Rafah indefinitely, even though a year ago Al-Azhar declared any suggestion at doing so “unIslamic”. There is talk in the government here of lightening the Israeli blockade. It feels like the Rachel Corrie finally called Bibi’s bluff. Barukh Hashem.

All that heavy end of the world stuff aside, we’ve been planning ways out of this town. In the next few months are Jazz Festivals in Eilat, Klezmer Hasidic Acid Rock in Tzfat and Theatre in Akko. Next week is the World Zionist Congress and I’m excited. We’re invited to some sort of Gala. I hope Mimi will get me an invite from Meimad to sit in on some of the real stuff. Being in this place, reading Haaretz every day again, makes me more comfortable in calling myself a Zionist, knowing more precisely what I mean by it and not having to listen to people tell me I’m wrong.

I still haven’t been to Shul here. I bought an Artscroll in Mea Sharim and I’ve davvened Shabes Maariv with Lindsay and a few Shacharits on my own. I’m nervous. Some of the shuls here don’t even have Mechitza. They simply don’t allow women. I am worried I’ll feel nothing in a place my sisters are kept out of. But do I respond by excluding my less feminist brothers? I don’t know. Is inclusivity anything more than neutrality here? I didn’t feel much at the kotel this time around. I just pictured women being handcuffed in Tallis. My religion is not an old boy’s club. Apparently the hookah bar here is. What does that say?

Our coordinator in this place is Nir. I like him alot. His grandfather was Etzel so I’ve steered clear of politics. I do respect Etzel’s willingness to take action against the British. I like to think I would have picked up a gun for that. I can’t forgive the rest. But past is past and Jews are Jews and sometimes that’s enough for me.

Nir set me making Shnitzel tonight and I fell into the kitchen dance though I did spill oil all over my foot.

And with that,

Shalom, salaam, peace

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I would like to introduce you to a new project by PunkTorah: 3xDaily.org

3xDaily is a resource for Jews who want to begin building a practice that includes daily prayers. It there to show those who may be curious one version of how things can work, to ask questions, and to figure out if and how this could fit into theirs lives. The goal is to get people involved in their own spiritual lives, to take them back from those to whom they’ve handed them over, to wrestle with the big questions, to keep asking those questions, and to stand on their own feet.

Why? Because three daily prayers are something that I think the non Orthodox world are missing out on. When I first began reconnecting to my Jewish-ness, first with a number of Reform/Conservative/”Progressive” (and I use the term as loosely as possible), praying three times a day was almost never brought up. It was like “Oh, yeah, Jews used to pray three times a day and some still do…next question.” I look at Islam, where they also pray a number of times a day. If you ask people how may know a little about Islam, they immediately mention that they prayer five times a day. It is an important part of the religion that every Muslim, practicing or not, knows about. Praying three times a day is just as important to Judaism, it is something that we are supposed to do that has been neglected. What this can accomplish is to provide what Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi called a “Shabbat In Time”, a moment to stop, connect with the Creator, and refresh. To pause during the day and give thanks for what we have and to be inspired to work on our shortcomings.
Two of the things that I see holding back non-Orthodox Jews from praying three times a day are time and learning. A regular Shacharis  (morning) service can take an hour or two. We can take this idea of a morning service and bring it to where we are now. What are the necessities? What is it that we really should say? How long could that take? One version that we created takes about fifteen minutes in the morning. Great! If you have two hours to daven through the morning service, also great! Don’t like the version we created? Create your own! Make it meaningful. Otherwise you won’t do it. As for learning, the best way to learn is to do!

Prayer is important because it gives us an opportunity to connect with something bigger than us, and this thing that is bigger than us can mean many things. A Jew who believes in G-d can use the prayers to connect to the Creator. A Jew who may not believe in a literal “god-type” G-d can connect with something larger than themselves in connecting with Jews around the world, participating in tradition, in something that goes back to the time of the temple. Even connecting with those immediately around you in a group or minyan can be important, to form community. Prayer is also important because Jews are not “weekend religious” people. We are Jews all the time. The daily prayers exist to express this at all times. Secluding our “Jewish-ness” to Friday nights or Saturday mornings can limit our identity, or at least for me, not necessarily for everyone.
I think that “taking back” some of these things that are considered “orthodox” are important. These are things that are open to all Jews, and they should be able to participate in something important to our tradition. I would also argue that any Jew who considers themselves Jewish is observant, at least enough so to “observe” that they are Jewish. So in this way we can all participate. And the benefits are described above, we connect with something larger than us, the Creator, nature, community, tradition, and rest for a short period of time, a refuge form the world, if only for a few minutes.

Head over to 3xdaily.org! Take a look around! Try some things out! And let us know what you think!

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Less talk, more rock. Watch this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYUkJ8CqSfU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1RcaOqcjwc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu-WR03hHJ0

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Today I address a question we get all the time: Why the “Punk” in PunkTorah?

There is a very good reason!

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My name is Roger Tann but have been known as Viking for the last 17 years of my life. I am a 33 year old Jewish Rocker who has been working the freakshow and magic circuit under the name Dr Gore doing horror magic and freakshow acts that have been so gruesome that they were banned by British TV. So the 2 questions I’m always asked are:-
Where did such a nice Jewish boy go wrong?
Why did you rebel against your faith?
I always answer them with the same answer, I didn’t really, I just saw faith and personality as 2 different things. Just because I happen to be a punk rocker doesn’t mean i don’t have faith.
My father was an Orthodox Rabbi, I grew up with learning and Shabbat and Yommim Tovim like all good Orthodox boys. From the moment i could hear i grew up on bible stories instead of fairy stories. My favourites were always the ones full of blood and gore, the fighting for one believes in. My father brought those stories to life for me and I suppose my love of the macabre came from there.
We moved around a lot and i spent my teenage years in Birmingham. There weren’t many people my age or a Jewish school over the age of 10 so I went to a non Jewish school where I first discovered anti-Semitism and lived it for the next 8 years. During this time I started hanging out with punks and rockers who didn’t care if I was Jewish, pink or green with spots, I was a decent person.
So after leaving there and having a run off bad luck at uni I decided to go to Israel. Spent time there at yeshiva, worked as a youth worker on the Lebanese border, spent time working doors at clubs even lived on the streets for a time, but I found my home. I spent half my time in the old city and the other half in Tel Aviv. This to me just screamed to me the 2 halves of me that make me as a person, spirituality and night clubs. I never found them to be exclusive of each other and to this day I never will.
I moved to London in 2000 and worked as a doorman and bodyguard for a further 4 years before disaster struck, I was hit by a car and was unable to continue my career. I thought long and hard about what I knew and the only thing I had left to use was my magic. A hobby of 14 years by that point became my passion and my new career. By this time my love of gore had taken new meaning and created something new, horror magic. After reaching the semi finals of Britain’s Got Talent (and having my semifinal act banned for doing a live human autopsy on national TV) worked around the world ripping peoples organs out and cutting people up with power tools (really satisfying if the get the chance to try it, just don’t hurt your friend trying, he will never forgive you).
A year ago bad health struck again and I’m now ill with a neurological disorder and live using a wheelchair. I pray that its only temporary.
During my 10 years in London I discovered something new, a serious divide in the community that made in most part appearance more important than anything else. I found myself pushed out and shunned, hell I even had people crossing the road to not be seen anywhere near me. Recently I have been going to Chasidic areas and apart from a few gasps of amazement at the fact I put on tefillin I am accepted for just being an Orthodox Jew.
In short I can sum up in 1 statement that was said to me many times by my father Ha Rav Aryeh lev Tann, The Torah and Judaism are so big that the can encompass almost all walks of life.

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I met Russell Gottschalk at the Limmud Southeast Festival last year. One of the few indie dudes at the family fun fest, I was instantly impressed by his love of the Jewish people, his taste in music, and the fact that I had a wing-man to help me with the ladies that weekend.

Russell told me he wanted to start an Atlanta Jewish Music Festival and I was totally into it. I have been watching the progress of the festival (of which I have not been nearly involved as I wish I would have been) and was really excited that Russell wanted to talk with me about the festival. What I learned is that the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival is not just a music festival, it’s a mission.

“I think it’s important to celebrate Judaism culturally. I’ve worked for the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival for the past four years [and] unfortunately it hasn’t done the best job of engaging the younger demographic.”

It made me wonder: why hasn’t Atlanta had a Jewish music festival, when cities like Houston, which aren’t exactly Jewish hot spots, are having them? The answer to Russell is not about Jews, but about Southern history:

“The South has a history of delayed social change…it takes chutzpah (courage) to get something started. It’s difficult to start something new, particularly in the South [and] people are going to wonder what this is about.”

This education of the masses is something Russell is engaged in all the time, not just about the festival itself, but the idea of Jewish music all together.

“The biggest issue we’ve had is ‘what does a contemporary Jewish music festival look like’? It’s not what your accustomed to hearing. There are Jewish musicians who are creating music….. that people should know about.”

Russell and the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival have approached this question of “what is Jewish music” by taking a very open policy. “We define Jewish music as artistic expressions that come out of someone’s Jewish identity. [Your music is Jewish] if you’re artistic expression is an extension of your Jewish identity.”

Russell represents the cultural Jew…the Jew-ish person. And in that way, he also represents an entire generation of Jewish youth. “Our identities are very complex…other generations didn’t have that option. That Jewish piece of the pie has gotten a lot smaller. Our peers don’t need to promote [their jewishness].”

This makes the need for things like the Jewish music festival so important. “This is going to be a cool Jewish event and we don’t have enough cool Jewish events in our community. Our demographic … wants to have cool Jewish programming”.

The music festival is going to highlight some awesome artists including Moshav, Deleon, Girls In Trouble and Atlanta’s own Atlanta Afro Klezmer Orchestra. The Jewish south shall rise again, June 5th at the Apache Cafe.

www.atlantajewishmusicfestival.org

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDscMtHPSR4

By Michael Sabani

In May of 2010, the known hate group Westboro Baptist Church came to Atlanta to spread their hate-filled rhetoric. We followed them. Everywhere they went, we were there. For every sign they held up saying “G-d hates you”, there were two saying “G-d loves you”.
We were able to stand up and let them know that we aren’t afraid of them. They held signs saying “Jews Are Evil”, “G-d Hates Jews”, and even had one of their seven year old children holding a large sign proclaiming “Rabbis Rape Kids”.

We are called in the Torah to fight evil, not to ignore it. We have a responsibility as Jews to repair the world. Sometimes that means coming out of our comfort zone, standing in front of the world, and proclaming that yes, I am proud to be a Jew, and there is nothing wrong with that. Yes, G-d does love us all. Yes, peace is stronger than hate.

And I say:

Shalom

Salaam

Peace

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“You should post this.”

A single line email with a YouTube link from our friend and PunkTorah contributor Heshy Friend (of the infamous FrumSatire.net) is not something you want to pass up.

The video is called “Get” and the band is The Groggers. A post-emo, indie-punk song about the orthodox community and divorce fills my screen and I’m experiencing a feeling that is part shock and hysterical laughter.

Doug Steiman, the front-man for The Groggers, granted me an interview where we talked about Green Day, frum politics, and one of my favorite subjects, women.

The Groggers was just an idea when Doug started writing. “I got into this mood where I was writing these funny Jewish punk songs…[and] the first song I recorded was Mitzvah Night.” The song about having sex on Shabbat became an “underground hit” which led to another song called “Get”, which became the video that has made a splash on the Jew-Tube, and put Doug in the position of needing to put together a real version of The Groggers.

Songs about sex and dating might seem like controversial topics for a self-proclaimed “orthodox band”, but Doug seems to like that. “We’re pushing the envelope with some of our songs…we stand behind what we say. We’re poking fun at our religion and our own vices [and] I hope that there’s something that people appreciate about our honesty.”

Doug is not a one-act-wonder. Although The Groggers is inspired by Doug’s early love of Green Day, Nirvana and Motion City Soundtrack, Doug has been in numerous bands, including a band he put together just to play a Battle of the Bands, which they ended up winning after only one practice.

Like Jewish pop-punk predecessors Yidcore, The Groggers use humor to convey their musical message. But unlike most gimmick acts, The Groggers are surprisingly “real”. “We’re getting slightly more political because we have opinions on Jewish happenings. It could be looked at as a gimmick, but that’s not our intention.” Doug went on to tell me that they aren’t wearing yarmulkes and tzitzit to “look” Jewish, but instead that “this is how we dress”.

In the non-Orthodox world, it would sound insane that a song about dating whoever you want would be in any way “political”. But for The Groggers, it is the reality of their life. Says Doug, “in many circles it’s not OK to meet someone on your own. I know people that are finding it really difficult to meet someone in that [shidduch] system, but won’t look in another direction.”

The Groggers are looking forward to producing their first album (set for release this August), dates on the Shemspeed Music Festival and G-d willing, booking a college tour. Check out The Groggers on Myspace: www.myspace.com/thegroggersband

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Really. I mean it.

“People feel alienated and lonely. Orthodoxy has created a framework for overcoming [that, but] in the non-Orthodox world, we haven’t figured out how to crack that nut yet,” says Nussbaum.

With The Kavana Cooperative, the volunteers (lead by Nussbaum) have drop-kicked the synagogue system and developed an alternative Jewish family in Seattle, Washington.

According to Rabbi Nussbaum, the reason the synagogue model doesn’t work has to deal with demographics. “Most synagogues are based in a post-World War Two audience.” The new generation is not stepping into the synagogue, so new communities, “alternative families” as Nussbaum calls them, have to be created.

The former rabbi of a suburban congregation, Nussbaum says that her “peer group wouldn’t walk in” to the synagogue because “demographically it was a different area.” This set Nussbaum to create something that would appeal to her and her friends.

Four years into “this glorious experiment”, Kavana is a co-op of a few hundred people with a “high level of commitment” to each other. Called a “Hillel for adults and families”, the Kavana Cooperative provides everything for a Jewish community including educational and social programs, life cycle events, Shabbat and holiday experiences.

Part of the problem with creating new models for doing anything is that there is no way to explain it. Nussbaum calls this “creating a new vocabulary”, and a constant process of defining “ourselves in contrast or comparison” to other organizations.

Is Kavana a synagogue? A havura? A school? A social club? Yes, yes, yes, yes and then some.

A week in the life of a Kavana Cooperative member can include Hebrew immersion for kids, “living room learning” in someone’s home, Kabbalat Shabbat in a coffee shop, Saturday morning traditional Shabbat minyan, or alternative holiday programming such as their upcoming trip to a local dairy farm for Shavuot.

Diversity is a key element to the Kavana experience. Unlike synagogues, which Nussbaum says are more like churches, Kavana understands that “prayer is one access point” to the Jewish experience, but that “community is the central thing.”

Mostly, it’s about “allowing people to figure out where they fit”, say Nussbaum.

Kavana Cooperative is working. Enough that the Joshua Venture has awarded the organization funds to further their goal, including setting up a leadership training program so this co-op model can be recreated everywhere.

Visit www.kavana.org for more info.

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OK fine, I broke Shabbat to go see robots sing cover songs by Journey and Rick James. Got a problem with that?

For what it’s worth, I also davened (prayed) with the Atlanta Chevre Minyan, a pretty cool group of independent people doing a mixed Orthodox/Progressive service and one of the best oneg pot lucks I have ever seen.

At the Earl, I met up with my friend The Other Jeff Clark (also known as Jeff from Channel Zero, an Atlanta music scene icon). As I got out of my car, I remembered that I was still wearing my egalitarian kippah from the PunkTorah shop and thought, “mmmm, gee, better put on a hat instead.” So I threw on a hat over my yarmulke and ran in, just in time to catch the last few songs by The Falcon Lords, a band best described as superhero minimalist dance rock. Think Batman Forever chase scene music with the bravado of The Tick and a drum machine.

OK, on to Captured By Robots.

All I can say: coolest. thing. ever. And it helps that the singer Jay Vance (JBOT) is Jewish, and probably a genius.

The “group”, for lack of a better word, features one human (Jay), and a series of robots including DRMBOT 0110 (the drummer), GTRBOT666 (the guitar/bass player) and some stuffed apes that look like the demented cousins of the characters from Chuck-E-Cheese. Each robot actually plays an instrument, with Jay providing vocals and additional guitar.

What makes the show amazing is how Jay interacts with the robots, mostly DRMBOT and GTRBOT insulting him, the audience, and making sick, lewd jokes. I loved it. The on-stage conversations were seamless, and actually made you feel like these robots were alive (or maybe they were?)

Jay started off the set by asking if there were any Jews in the audience. Immediately my friend Jeff pulled my hat off, exposing my yarmulke. Jay got a kick out of it, and this “outing” gave me a chance, after the show, to talk to him.

I asked Jay about why, after thirteen years of Captured By Robots, he still does his act. “Because I believe in it,” he said, citing his work on a TV show featuring the band and the fact that he no longer needs a day job (Jay tours once a year with the group).

In 2005, Captured By Robots put out a CD based on the 1950′s film, “The Ten Commandments”. I asked Jay about it, and he said that the Exodus is the “greatest story ever told” (pun intended). He has been “watching the movie since [he] was a kid” and for him, “Heston is Moses.”

I asked Jay about his Jewish background and he replied, “I don’t go to seders or temple. When they [the Jews in my family] died, [my Judaism] was buried with them.” But for Jay, connecting his on-stage act with the Jewish people is about “heritage” and belonging to the culture. This included songs about the last plague of Egypt and a sex-romp about Nefretiri. I would make the argument that JBOT was a rabbi that night, not only connecting me with my Jewishness, but also creating an interfaith dialogue through metal-goes-dance-pop-rock. For a moment, we were a two person havurah (community).

Less talk, more rock. Check out Captured By Robots!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSZV1BAGUbQ

(image courtesy of Captured By Robots)

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On August 1 2009, a gunman entered the “Aguda” building in Tel Aviv where an Israeli Gay Youth event was being held and opened fire on the crowd, killing two LGBT activists, one of them just 17 years old. The gunman has been suspected to be ultra orthodox; regardless the ultra orthodox press in Israel was quick to blame the victim, calling them depraved and stating that any blame for the murders lay solely with the owners of the club who put minors in danger of incurring the wrath of G-d.

And yet half the time we give these guys our Torah. We assume they’re right about the Pasuks they use to hate. We assume that to reject the interpretation requires that we reject the text.

However, my tradition teaches that every word of the Tanakh, has value and I believe this—so if you’ll allow me I’d rather deconstruct than reject. I don’t have the Christian privilege to simply say “and then Jesus came and it was all better.” Judaism teaches that we need to weed through the garbage, including homophobic manipulations of scripture and pull out the light for there is light in everything. Here’s an example: Vayikra 18:22 reads “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” Many of us have let ourselves be convinced by bigots that this simply refers to sex between men (the Bible never references sex between women, silencing female sexuality but not forbidding its queer expression) whether in a pagan temple or anywhere else as a crime. But if we read it carefully, there is more going on here. What does “as one lies with a woman” mean? In a heteronormative society that placed a high priority on fertility the central act of heterosexual sex, the way in which one “lay with a woman” was vaginal penetration, taken here to extend to anal penetration. To the biblical writer penetration was a show of dominance. In the patriarchal context of the bible, vaginal penetration is a show of men’s dominance over women. To penetrate a man is to dominate him, just as the people of Sodom threatened to penetrate the guests of Lot.

Penetration only becomes domination in a context that conceives of sex as a field of power relations. If we recognize that no sex act is inherently dominant or submissive then we are forced to read the line from Leviticus as referring not to the sexual act so much as to a context of domination. The official position of my own denomination, Conservative Judaism, does not make this inference. It supports marriage equality elsewhere, gay ordination elsewhere but insists that this verse must be taken to forbid one act, that of anal penetration between men. Yet the Bible states that “a man shall cleave unto his wife and become one flesh [through penetrative contact].” My tradition recognizes that penetration is not simply an act of pleasure and is not an act inherently of dominance but rather one that strives to unite two bodies into one. I refuse to deny such union to same sex couples.

To forbid a man to dominate a man as they would a woman still relies of course on a deeply misogynist assumption that women are to be sexually subservient, below men. If we come to the verse rather with an understanding that women and men are entitled to the same sexual respect, we can understand it to command that you shall not have sex with anyone (men, women or intersex persons) with an intent to dominate.

There are real scraps of queer love that made it into the texts and these texts are of course empowering but as long as we let the homophobes monopolize other passages like the line in Vayikra we will be saying to queer Jews that they cannot have this line. They will have to bite their tongue and leave it alone. We will be inferring that in their community they will have to stay in the closet or leave the community.

A Judaism that intends to remain meaningful to all Jews requires that Jewish communities, queer, ally and otherwise reform the way they treat sexual and gender diversity. It is incumbent upon all Jews that we make new space for queer people, their partners and the families they form rather than compelling them to inhabit tired closets. At its truest heart Judaism teaches that humanity is made to love, including in bed, in whatever way G-d has led them to see fit and that such love, straight or queer and the families that such love creates are the most important foundation of Jewish peoplehood.

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It’s not often that I get to interview anyone from mainstream media, let alone the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing officer of CNN Worldwide.

I lucked out: I was asked to moderate a panel on Jews and pop-culture for Limmud Southeast, a one-day conference of the finest Jewish minds that the Atlanta Jews could find. I found myself sitting next to Scot, asking questions about the media, the “cool Jew” phenomenon, Jewish super heroes and the merits of Sarah Silverman. The guy didn’t flinch: he has a kind, chill hippie vibe that blends with his “People of the Book” scholarly persona.

So I yanked a business card and emailed Scot for an interview. Expecting, “nice try kid, go play Guitar Hero with your friends,” Scot set up a time for us to talk. Finally, a chance for me to learn all about the inner working of the Jewish media mafia!

Scot’s the first Jew I’ve ever met who didn’t complain about his childhood. “If…you were lucky to grow up culturally Jewish, you are already somebody who is curious and focused on what is going on in the world. That’s a huge advantage for success.” It’s that cultural “predisposition” toward “the sense of curiosity, love of reading and writing, art and media” that lead Scot to a career working with journalists. Scot recalled being a kid in an environment that pushed him to be very aware of the world around him, to have an “appreciation for media and all forms of art.” It’s all about family, because “Jews enjoy and get a kick out of their families and community…its just how lively the conversation is and the thinking is.”

Safon joined CNN in 2002. His marketing and promotions teams launched successful campaigns for The Situation Room, Anderson Cooper 360°, the re-launch of CNN.com and CNN’s continuing election coverage. Before that, Safon was in charge of marketing for TNT, where he developed and ran campaigns supporting the network’s signature original films and miniseries including George Wallace, Door to Door, James Dean, Pirates of Silicon Valley and Gettysburg.

Scot Safon appears zen-like, in person and on the phone. But this masks a Jewish sense of anxiety that fuels his passion. In the Jewish community, “an artfully formed question can get you praise. I’m surrounded by that every day…journalists are like that. It’s not the kind of field that draws people who want [to be] quiet, peaceful, contemplative.”

For Scot, it’s all about being, “very in touch with the things that you enjoy. Don’t feel that you have to follow a specific path.” I like it when successful people say things like that, because in a bad economy and with college students committing suicide over their loan payments, it’s nice to know that all it takes to be successful is passion and endurance.

I asked Scot for his thoughts on the young Jewish media a la Heeb, Jewcy and…ahem…PunkTorah. Scot is, “thrilled with some of the audacity. If my parents had seen such a thing they wouldn’t know what to make of it.” Scot commented that he happens to love “all media that is geared toward passionate people…seeing that highly targeted, insider voice.” I got a kick out of Scott saying, “if I was a kid in high school, I would be curious about PunkTorah.”

Success! And as an epilogue to this interview, the Facebook reluctant Scot friended me yesterday.
Interested in what CNN has to say about PunkTorah? Click here.

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By Patrick Aleph

I was thrilled when my friend Russell from the Atlanta Jewish Music Festival told me about an Israeli hip hop/reggae group he was helping called Axum (named after the Ethiopian city which folklore says holds the Ark of the Covenant).

The duo features two MCs, Tedros (of Ethiopian descent) and Judah, whose family is from Yemen. And their music is just as diverse. The dancehall goes techno filtered through a hip hop pop aesthetic is electric.

America has been good to Axum. A tour with Soulico (JDub Records), and a residency in Georgia sponsored by Emory University’s Hillel. Atlanta has given them the opportunity to collaborate with Slade da Monsta and Mr. Fish, hip hop artists Jarrod and Rusky, reggae/dub artists Dubconscious, and rockers Nick Edelstein and Darin Seldes. They’ve also spent several nights at the Apache Cafe, performing with Dubconscious and their local band, attending open mic nights and hanging out.

When I asked the group about their connection to Judaism and Israel, their reply was, “[We] live an Israeli experience, not a Jewish one in particular.  Like many Israeli’s…religion is not a point of emphasis. [The] main tie to Judaism is the language, not the content.”

What you will hear is the bigger message of Axum: a peaceful, “One World” view through the eyes of the global hip hop community. The power of music to unite people, all people, under one banner.

Axum did have an opportunity to jump into America’s Jewish space. Emory Hillel hosted the band at their Passover seder. Congregation Bet Haverim, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Decatur, Georgia, asked the duo to perform at a Shabbat service. The guys were uncomfortable as they approached the stage to perform a few sacred songs with CBH’s lay cantor and choir, but enjoyed seeing the “new forms of worship” that congregations like this have.

There’s no rest for Axum. The group performs the evening they land and have shows in the following weeks in Tel Aviv.  They are currently working on new material for their second album produced by the Soulico family.

Check out Axum at www.myspace.com/axumisrael

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by Matthew Gindin

(This is an edited version. The full piece can be found here.)
Vayikra 20:13: “And a man who will lie with with a male like laying with a woman: the two of them have done an offensive thing. They shall be put to death.”

What made “laying with a man like laying with a woman” fatally unholy?

One possibility presents itself: laws like these were intended to differentiate the Israelites from their neighbors. Ancient Egyptians had a custom of sibling marriage and anthropologists claim that some tribes in Canaan practiced ritual homosexual rape. Rabbi Gershon Winkler has argued that these laws were intended to outlaw homosexual rape specifically because it was widely practiced in Canaanite temples.

This is possible, but doesn’t seem that strong an explanation. It does seem reasonable that the phrase “laying with a man like a woman” does refer to anal sex. This is the interpretation that Conservative Jews have adopted and they have ruled that homosexual romance and marriage are permissible but not anal sex between men.

Rabbi Steven Greenberg (an openly gay Orthodox rabbi) has suggested that the problem is not anal sex but the use of other men not for their own sake but as a mere replacement for a woman. In his reading one should lay with a man like one is laying with a man, not like one is laying with a woman.

Richard Elliott Friedman has suggested that homosexual anal sex is outlawed here not because it is offensive to God but because it is offensive to Israelites. The verse says, “Do not do X. It is an offensive thing.” Friedman suggests that the Torah is in effect saying “Do not have homosexual intercourse. It is something people generally find offensive and you are trying to be a refined, disciplined, holy people. Therefore abandon it.”

One other possibility is that homosexual intercourse was outlawed because it was perceived as against the way of nature. The Tanakh is filled with praise for the divine wisdom inherent in nature. Some of the laws, like those limiting breeding hybrid crops or mixing certain types of fabric, seem to reflect this.

This presents two problems for us today. The first problem is that we now know that homosexual desires are not a perverse inclination of the human heart but a natural inclination grounded in genetic predisposition. We also know that it is impossible for homosexual men to be “cured” of their desires. The evidence suggest that homosexual desire is in fact natural. This seems to conflict with the rationale we perceived above.

I am reminded of the words of orthodox Rabbi Simon Rappaport. He pointed out that to fail to observe this mitzvah is no worse than failing to observe any other. To judge those born with desire for other men, or to (has v’shalom) publicly condemn or persecute them, is as unacceptable as publicly shaming and assaulting those who talk during prayer or smoke on shabbat. Sadly some fundamentalist thugs might advocate doing that these days, but it is clearly against traditional Jewish law.

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“I am curious about how Judaism feels about piercings. Like nose, belly, eye brow, and so on. What do you think/know?”
-Chelsea

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A while back, sick of having Bibles shaken in my face and being turned down for dates because of something about an ox and a yoke, I sought refuge in a tiny Reform synagogue here in Florence. About ten regular members make up the congregation (though during the High Holidays, attendance swelled to a whopping 50-ish!), and we have a lovely cantoress that comes in from Nashville every other Friday. I really love my synagogue; it’s one of the few things I’ll miss about Alabama when I move…

… to New York City. Next month. I recently took a trip there for the first time (feel free to laugh).
I had heard about how different Jewish culture is there compared to here, and, of course, all the “Jew York City” jokes. They were right – I was on cloud nine as I drove through Crown Heights and saw my people. The only other time I ever felt that sense of ‘I’m not alone’ was when I drove past a huge synagogue in downtown Nashville. My mother, feeling renewed by her divorce from my father, has begun to rediscover her heritage for herself, a thought that fills me with joy. But I’m also nervous. I worry I won’t be religious or knowledgeable enough to keep up with the Jewish culture in NYC. But I remember that though it’s tempting, I don’t have to “fit in” to Jewish culture in NYC. I’ve kind of got a knack for standing out.

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Alterna-Rebbe Michael and Patrick A. tackle a question about having a tattoo and working in the field of Jewish education.

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Kabbalah appears in the public eye more now than perhaps ever. The Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles, and world wide, made it popular, and now people from Madonna, to Demi Moore claim to follow the way of Kabbalah.
So, given all this attention, I figured a little discussion about Kabbalah would be appropriate.
Kabbalah is Jewish Mysticism – the word Kabbalah means, roughly, “that which has been received,” and it refers to a tradition of seeking the divine in the most profound ways in Judaism. Like other types of mysticism, the goal of Kabbalah is to get in touch with the infinite, with the divine. For those who are regular practitioners of other mystically influenced traditions – meditation, yoga, Sufi mysticism – Kabbalah offers many of the same tools, only, of course, coming from a Jewish perspective.
So what makes Jewish Mysticism different? Jewish mystics, or Kabbalists, use the Hebrew language and the stories of the Hebrew Bible as jumping off points to find symbolic messages to improve their lives. Many devotees of Kabbalah will meditate using Hebrew letters as foci for their meditation. The manipulation of the letters, either by writing them, or by thinking about their permutations, and how they relate to the names of the divine as written in the Hebrew Bible, provide people meditation keys for their own inner beings.
Kabbalah encompasses more than just meditation practices, it also contains stories and teachings about how to make one’s life better by cooperating better with the divine in our world. An important teaching about this comes in an interpretative story about creation.
If we understand the divine to be infinite, which is one of the names for the divine in Kabbalah, then how can there be any finite creation? The Kabbalastic teaching on this is that in order to create, the divine had to withdraw, to make limited space in the infinity of the divine. So that now, as people in a limited creation, we have to work to access the infinite. Kabbalah also teaches that we have a responsibility to work with the divine to make creation better – that as humans we are capable of co-creation, both within ourselves and in the world. Thus we can be divine partners in the completion of a better world.
Other Kabbalistic teachings help us focus on building balance in our lives between our priorities. Recognition of all the things that pull at us, reflecting on them, and how helpful them may or may not be, also helps us to work to better balance them, and better accomplish our partnership for improvement of the world.
These brief teachings show a mere glimpse into the literature and practices that have been developed over the past two thousand years, that we now call Kabbalah. If this interests you, feel free to contact me, as Temple Bat Yam has a regular Kabbalah discussion group, no experience necessary!
May all of us continue to work to help everyone be a better partner in creating a better world.

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Hello, my name is Lucas, and I’m a queer Jew.

I spent a ton of time struggling with my spiritual identity because I was struggling with my personal identity, growing up in the punk scene was awesome, but there was an overabundance of machismo and a severe lack of respect for anyone who was a pussy, or believed in G-d, or worse… both. The thing is, I didn’t give a shit about religion during my teen years. I called myself “spiritual”, but that’s as far as it went. Sure, I’d blown shofar, braided challah and lived through a ton of hippy Passover meals involving sage smudging (long story), but I didn’t feel as if I had a specific spiritual or religious identity. I didn’t feel Jewish, and that’s about all I knew.

I mean I knew I liked plenty of stuff. I knew I liked cheap beer, hanging out with my friends, going to see bands play, zines, and sleeping past noon. And as much as I fit in with my friends, I was always the odd man out. I was the only gay person I knew, and I didn’t fit the stereotype of a “gay man”, so it was hard to accept myself as such. Punk was the only personal identifier I had in my arsenal and it fit well enough for a while. The word felt safe and all encompassing to me, I clung to it and used it to distract everyone away from the fact that I liked dudes.

I wouldn’t talk about it with most of my friends. A few select people knew, but I was very secretive about it. My punk identity was raucous and aggressive, with an attitude as bad as my teen acne. It was easy for me to hide and even easier to tell myself that who I dated wasn’t anyone’s business, but really that was just an easy way for me to say, “I’m scared that if you knew, you’d treat me differently.” I didn’t want people to make snap judgments on who I was or what my personality characteristics were based on my sexual identity.

I seem to lack all of the positive traits from the gay stereotype, I’m unkempt and can’t dress myself, and that only helps me fly under the radar, like the gayest stealth jet ever. To this day, when a Rabbi asks me if I have a girlfriend I freeze in terror, merely mouthing the words “Nope, no… girlfriend”. In my head reciting my mantra, “No no, I lay with men in a totally different way then I’d lay with women, I swear”. (Trust me on that one)

It wasn’t until I was about 22 that I started talking to my friends about it, and then it wasn’t until I was 25 years old that I finally admitted to my family that I was “gay”. They took it as well as anyone would who had just been ambushed, and somehow I had ambushed myself as well. I felt raw and powerless. So I did what any good punk does, I packed my backpack, and got on the next plane to Europe.

While in Amsterdam I found myself at a “Queer Punk” music fest. I looked around and saw all these people with tattoos, fucked up haircuts, and the same poor hygiene I recalled from my teen punk days. I saw people wearing band t-shirts I recognized, an overwhelming sea of crusty black clothing, and instantly I felt at home. This was who I was, and they had experienced what I had experienced. They were punks too, punks who also didn’t fit the category of “gay”. In protest they called themselves “queer”, and really, what’s more punk than a protest? Seriously.

By the time I had come home I felt like I had allowed myself to really start learning who I was but the more I learned about myself, the more I noticed this emptiness. Gradually as I got more comfortable within my own skin, I was getting pretty good at translating what my body/brain was trying to tell me. And all I was hearing was “dude, go to synagogue”, and who am I to question a handsome young gentleman. So I went. And suddenly there it was, a connection overwhelmingly and completely undeniable. My Jewish identity had somehow remained frozen, in stasis, but every Shabbat the defrost button was pressed and I quickly fell back into studying and reading and strengthening my connection. Weekly minyan, Shabbatlucks, young Jew groups… it all started to come together for me.

Jews I’ve met, queer or otherwise, wonder how I can go to Shul, pray, wear kippah and identify as a queer person and a Jew at the same time. They ask how I can have an honest connection to Hashem, or just how I can be religious at all. I don’t flinch; I never had that knee-jerk agnostic reaction that a lot of people in my generation seem to harbor towards faith or religion. And I had never felt something so strong, or so real as I did with my connection to Hashem and to Judaism. This connection I have, it tells me that Hashem is cool with me. He’s on my side and has got my back. That’s not the kind of shit you ignore, so I don’t, and I won’t. This is how I live and who I am, it’s not wool and linen, it’s queer and Jew.

I don’t care about the other shit anymore, I try my hardest not to care what other peoples opinions of me are, I don’t care that I am this crazy tattooed, homo in a yarmulke sitting by himself at Shul with a bunch of older people and families as my only Jewish community, because even if I am there by myself, I feel so tuned in. I have found myself, and although it might not have been a smooth journey, at least it was an honest one, with only nominal amounts of self-deprecation.

When I finally admitted to myself that I was queer it opened up a lot of doors for me. Being honest with myself and about myself was really fucking scary because I wasn’t used to feeling so exposed. I strongly believe that my faith and connection to Judaism really grounded me. And now I’m totally comfortable in the fact that I’m what your mother would call “a nice Jewish boy”, even if I listen to my records too loud, have too many tattoos, cuss like it’s going out of style, and well… date dudes. It’s the struggle G-d wants, not perfection.

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This got me thinking about the story. How good of a story is it?

This question resonated in my mind more because of some reading I was doing lately, in a book called Ancient Near Eastern Thought and The Old Testament by John Walton. This book, which I recommend, strives to let people know what more than a century of intense archaeological investigation has uncovered about the cultures surrounding ancient Israel. It puts the Torah into context. Walton says, as many have before him, that the story of the tower of Bavel takes its central image from the Babylonian ziggurat.

In Genesis 11:1-9 a group of early humans settles in Shinar, probably Sumer, an area in southern Mesapotamia associated in the Torah with Babylon. The Mesapotamian building materials are foreign to Israelites, so the Torah describes them for us. The “city and tower” being built (see below), if true to history, would have been an urban area housing public buildings. In this case it was in effect a temple complex. These structures, which began being built at the end of the 4th milennium BCE, were still visible in Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. The tower in the story is almost certainly based on the ziggurat temple complexes of Sumer, which are frequently described in Mesapotamian literature as”with head touching heaven”, as in the Torah as quoted below.

The story in the Torah is as follows:

1 And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another: ‘Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 And they said: ‘Come, let us build us a city and a tower with its top in heaven and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ 5 And YHWH came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built. 6 And YHWH said: ‘Behold they are one people and they have one language and this is what they begin to do.  Now nothing will be withheld from them which they aim to do. 7 Come, let us go down and confound their language that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ 8 So YHWH scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off  building the city. 9 Therefore was the name of it called Bavel; because YHWH did there confound the language of all the earth; and from there did YHWH scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

This enigmatic story seems to warn human beings about the hubris of using technology to storm the heights of heaven and make themselves secure from any danger. Sound familiar? Far from being a story that should irk Bad Religion, a band which continuously snarls warnings about human arrogance and self-deception, I would think this story might make it on to their “acceptable biblical stories list”. I suspect that such a list does not exist. In any case I didn’t write this to explain Bad Religions drash on the story but to look at the story itself and its ancient context.

In the story YHWH confounds people’s languages and spreads them out over the world. The story then explains the existence of multiple languages: they are there to prevent the creation of a mega-mono-culture and the attendant human hubris and blindness. Uh-oh: God does not approve of globalisation.

The fact that the story appears based on ancient Israelite perceptions of Babylon is also interesting. Babylon was a sophisticated, expanding empire with technology beyond Israel’s. Israel, a society of farmers and shepherds, looked up at the urban megalopolis of Bavel and its temple-towers and saw nothing but a symbol of human arrogance and, it seems, a force that threatened to destroy smaller cultures and impose it’s own hegemony on everyone.

One interesting thing about this story, though, is that the Israelite perception of the nature of ziggurats- temples reaching upwards to heaven- is wrong. As Walton points out, ziggurats had a different nature and purpose. Humans did not use them, did not live in them or climb up them. Ziggurats existed as stairways upon which the gods descended to bring blessing to the earth, and to receive offerings. The ziggurats were not for the use of human beings, but for the use of gods!

We can thus see that the Israelite story is not an accurate depiction of Sumerian or Babylonian religion but rather takes up an image from the civilization of their neighbours and riffs on it to make a point- a point that is both a shot at perceived Babylonian arrogance and a broader theological and ethical statement. Anyone familiar with the sourcing of the story of Noah and the flood in older Akkadian and Mesapotamian stories knows that this is not a singular occurence in Israelite literature. It appears that the crafters of Israelite literature took up motifs from the literatures and civilisations of their neighbours and ran with them in a completely different direction. Completely different because the religious sensibilities of Israel were truly an anomaly in the ancient near east, as archaeology only proves more and more.

But wait- did I write “crafters” in the plural? Didn’t the Creator of the Universe write the Hebrew Bible? Well, let’s assume for a moment that She did. In that case we would have the interesting fact that God wrote a story about Bavel that was, in effect, a factually inaccurate satire of Sumerian civilisation which made compelling points about human culture and God’s vision of it.

Whether Moshe wrote that story down at Sinai or it was redacted centuries later from oral traditions and old scrolls, it is still possible to accept the Jewish claim of divine inspiration for the story of Bavel and the Torah as a whole. As the Christian theologian CS Lewis wrote in Reflections on The Psalms, just as God can take up humanity and make it serve divine ends, so can God gather up a literature (in this case the literature of Israel and the surrounding cultures upon which it was partially based) and make it serve divine ends. The Torah never once describes God working independent of nature: when the red sea is split God doesn’t simply push the waters back. Rather a wind separates the waters, and likewise blows them back. Perhaps we can understand God’s authorship of the Torah in a similar way. Nothing is here created ex nihilo.

To answer my own question: is the the tower of Bavel a good story? Yes, I think it’s a very good story. The technological explosion, and its accompanying arrogance, have not only allowed us to touch the heavens. We have also exterminated more than 50% of the cultures and languages of the world, an untold number of its animal species. We have pierced the atom and cell and are quick approaching the doleful day when “there is nothing they cannot do”.

I am reminded of a verse from the Daodejing, the ancient classic of Daoism by the Old Master, which describes the ideal civilisation (translation by Red Pine):

Imagine a small state with a small population

let there be labor-saving tools

that aren’t used

let people consider death

and not move far

let there be boats and carts

but no reason to ride them

let there be armor and weapons

but no reason to employ them

let people return to the use of knots

and be satisfied with their food

and please with their clothing

and content with their homes

and happy with their customs

let there be another state so near

people hear its dogs and chickens

and live out their lives

without making a visit.

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A “shul in a box”, the Indie Minyan Kit contains everything needed for a person to create a havurah (community), host daily group or private prayers, or a Shabbat service. The kit includes:

• One Indie Yeshiva Pocket Siddur: a siddur that is gender inclusive, LGBT friendly, written in English and Hebrew transliteration, fits in your pocket, and to be honest, has a cover that will blow your mind
• Duality glass Shabbat candle sticks, which hold tea lights or holy land candles
• Two sets of Shabbat candles
• Rustic challah cover with blue stripes
• Egalitarian kippah with “super secret” message printed inside
• PunkTorah buttons and stickers
• PunkTorah “Propaganda” CD featuring a printable copy of the siddur to give away, as well as graphics and templates for making posters and handouts for promoting your “indie” minyan
• Shabbat matches courtesy of ModernTribe
• Music compilation CD featuring DeLeon, SoCalled, Balkan Beat Box and Golem, courtesy of JDub Records
• Gifts from G-dcast, a partner with PunkTorah

The kit will retail for $33.99 and is available through the PunkTorah Shop at ModernTribe.

Buy it and we’ll come to your house/dorm/apartment/office and daven with you! Just send us an email and we’ll see you there: minyankit@punktorah.org

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Ask the Alterna-Rebbe: What’s Up With Messianic Judaism?

A question from a reader:

May I ask you something? I know I could find the answer through all Judaism website I know, such as Chabad, Aish, Jewfaq, etc. But I want to know in your opinion, how you view Messianic Judaism? Are they part of Judaism or new form of Judaism instead the traditional ones?
Shavua Tov

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If you are here, that means that you have made it to our NEW site, at punktorah.org. The change in the site and it’s layout has allowed us to more completely fulfill our mission as an organization that presents Judaism to all people, without any biases. The new site is not only a place to find our D’var Torah videos and parshah commentaries, religious rants and cultural observances, it is also a resource for learning and education. Have a question about something? Look it up at punktorah.org! Send a question to the resident “Alterna-Rebbe”!

So come on over to punktorah.org and help us build the future of Judaism.

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“Now every gimmick hungry yob digging gold from rock-n-roll
grabs the mike to tell us, he’ll die before he’s sold…”
- Death or Glory, The Clash

By Eric Odier-Fink
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. We’re taught that each of us should feel as if we were personally taken out of Egypt, and that we should each examine our own lives to find and be freed of our own, current pharaohs. Our own personal liberation from Mitzrayim, the ‘narrow places’. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 70′s and 80′s, most places felt narrow. This was not a unique experience, not for the time nor the place. Without the suffering confines of youth, little progress would be made. Dissatisfaction is what breeds innovation. But I happened to have my childhood and adolescence run side by side (forgive the reference) with that of punk rock.

The promise of the new era of the 60′s was already waning by its end- the promised land of Cana’an had run dry. The hippies were already giving up and/or giving in (this is over simplification, but stands for a short piece), and true redemption was being forfeited for either the decadence of the disco, the surrender of the mediocrity of soft rock, or conservatism of Southern rock. Some got lost in fantasy, others in despair. Some just got drunk and screwed anything they could. I don’t blame them. Entirely. They had been presented with the hope of the social movements, only to find that sustaining those movements against overwhelming odds and Pyhrric victories was simply too hard for most.

We, the true believers in something better- and better for *all*- were a bit lost. Iggy, the first of our brothers to have visions of what could be was cast out. Just too radical a message, him, the Stooges, and the MC5. Maybe, had they been heeded, the famine might have ended. But down to Egypt we went.

Even as a young boy, living in NY in the 70′s made me believe the world was falling apart. And while I wax nostalgic for it now, at the time things really were bleak. And then the bush caught fire: a couple of Jews from Queens and a couple of their friends, calling themselves the Ramones, started screaming. They were as eloquent as a their mentally handicapped mascot, but they transmitted one important message: this way out. And to complete the narrative, someone or something had to play Moses: a wanderer, educated yet adrift, named John Mellor, heard this message and answered the call.

Joe Strummer put the rage of post-60′s frustration to use. He saw what that fire could mean. Papa Joe, throughout his career, actually imagined a better world. And while he toyed with fashion and cool, it was part of a package- the trappings are the medium to get people to the message. Towards the end of his life, middle age, hopefully, for the rest of us, Joe had a bonfire fetish. Just sit around the fire and talk and sing. Spread the message around the flames: The world can be better.

So this may push the Exodus metaphor a bit far, but the point is made: the world can be better, and it is what Torah teaches us.

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By Patrick Aleph

Viking has tattoos and plans on getting more, including the Ten Commandments ripping from his flesh on his back. A former carnival side show performer, he has plenty of piercings, wears a studded leather jacket and a Dead Kennedys tee shirt reading, “Nazi Punks F*** Off”.

And in every way possible, he is a good Orthodox Jew.

His father was a rabbi: the chief rabbi of Birmingham, England. Every Friday, Viking has an open door Shabbat dinner in his home. His family is Orthodox, and Viking would like to stay that way.

But not if his local Chabad house has anything to do with it.

Last Purim, Viking tried to attend a Megillah reading at Chabad. He was denied entry, as he uses a wheelchair and there was no ramp. In reality, a guest of the house was bothered by Viking’s outward appearance, and he was not allowed in for someone else’s prejudice. He could have gone in and prayed, but his manner of dress disturbed someone. At that moment, Viking was denied his Judaism.

After this was reported, an uproar swarmed the internet, but ultimately it did not do any good. According to Viking, the Chabad representatives came to his home to apologize, but did not invite him to come back. This was damage control and nothing more.

Viking is used to controversy. He lives in an Orthodox community, and has had people “not [cross] the road to be away from [him]“. Ultimately, Viking says, this is related to the “physical trappings of Judaism”. He asked rhetorically, why its OK for someone in his Orthodox community to be addicted to porn, but not have tattoos and piercings? “It’s a sin against G-d, not against man”, Viking replies about his tattoos, “so why should I have to pay for that on Earth?”

Viking related his desire to pray in community with the Hanukkah celebration. “We light the menorah. Each candle is individual, but it brings one light together. So it’s like the individual people in the Jewish nation. We are all supposed to glow together. G-d gave each of us the commandment we are supposed to pray; who gave someone the permission to choose who can pray? The orthodox are trying to keep people from their own shuls [and] for every one that comes back, ten go away. That [makes the] light dim.”

According to Viking, there is a problem with the “superficial” aspects of Judaism: “who can look more religious than whom.”

But there is a time and a place for everyone in the Jewish world, including people like Viking. About the Holocaust, Viking states it’s the “wild boys” like those in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising who keep the Jewish people alive. Viking speculated dreamily about how someone in Warsaw proclaimed, on “get a bunch of the wildest boys you can and let them take care of it.” He snapped to reality and said, “we [the wild Jews] are the people who save the Jewish people when the trouble comes.”

But then he gave me a sort of Talmudic Koan: “When push comes to shove, if you push us too far, will we come back?”

I hope so. But according to Viking, it will take nothing less than “a miracle”.

To join Viking in his struggle to open Orthodoxy in England, friend him on Facebook.

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“HARMONY” Music Video
Pick up HARMONY (CD/iTunes)
Check out The CHANGE EP (CD/iTunes)

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What, no Jewish punk? No Heebie hip hop? Patrick, shul is the “establishment”!

Before you get your undies in a twist, let me tell you a little something about Congregation Bet Haverim: their rabbi is a gay body builder, and the lay cantor screams Earth Goddess when she wails on hand drums. At Friday night services, you’ll find yourself wedged between a black, lesbian college student and a retired hippie couple, craving the organic, locally sourced vegetarian oneg prepared by a Sephardic family while adopted Asian children run around at your feet dropping crumbs of challah on the floor.

Am I still a sell out? Didn’t think so.

Less talk, more rock. And the Threshing Floor rocks!

The album kicks off with “Dodi Li”. Lay cantor Gayanne Weiss has this kind, maternal voice that later booms to life as hand percussion and choral background dance together in harmony with melodic guitar and make your spirit shoot out of your chest. Moving on to ballads by Will Robertson (who also produced the album), world musical influences with Iraqi, Ugandan and Indian flair, Sephardic and Hasidic incantations and African American call-and-response, this album breathes new life into congregational music.

It doesn’t surprise me at all. Bet Haverim is Atlanta’s “misfit” Jewish community, a rag tag group of people united under the banner of diversity. It’s no wonder that “The Threshing Floor” is equal parts Civil Rights spiritual and Shabbat liturgy, features covers of Michael Stipe (REM) songs and folk music inspired midrashic interpretations of Lamentations. “Solu, Solu” could easily be an homage to the Benedictine monks, while “Ken Es Akeyo De La Meniana/Wayfaring Stranger” could be the missing next single by DeLeon. In the back of my mind I heard the voices of my friends say, “if I could hear this kind of music, I would come to services.”

The kicker for me is track five, a cover of Mosh Ben Ari’s “Od Yavo Shalom Aleinu”. The warm strings are like a parent soothing you to sleep while guitar picks up the tempo. Suddenly you’re hypnotized by the percussion creeping beneath the choir’s mantra and without warning, you’re a True Believer.

The Threshing Floor shows me our greatest strength as a people: our collaborative nature. Across genres, languages, cultures and styles, this album is a love poem, a psalm, to our higher power. I love it, and I think you’ll love it, too.
Visit www.congregationbethaverim.org to order the album. Available on iTunes soon.

*Since the Feds are cracking down on bloggers accepting gifts and the whole “ethics” thing, I should in full disclosure admit to being a member of this synagogue. But even if I weren’t, I’d still review this record because I love it.

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-Patrick and Michael

Dear Friends of IRAC,

We write to you today because of a very serious situation that developed here in Israel last night.

We have learned that the Knesset may vote during the coming week on legislation that would make important changes to conversion authorities in Israel and to the Law of Return.

This new law would roll back the clock on all the achievements we have made for Reform and Conservative conversion rights in Israel: not only losing recognition for Reform and Conservative conversions in Israel, but even completely redefining who is a Jew. From now on the power to perform conversions would rest solely with the Chief Rabbinate – which only recognizes Orthodox conversions.

At your next Jewish gathering, take a look at the people around you: chances are good that you are sitting next to someone who would no longer be considered a Jew in Israel.

This decision, which impacts the very definition of who is a Jew for all of Klal Yisrael, is being made by a few politicians who happen to be in power during the 18th Knesset. They are not at all in conversation with world Jewry, on whom this decision will have a major impact.

There are millions of Jews in the Diaspora, and the current Israeli leadership needs to hear from all of you – and right away – if we are going to stop this.

The various arms of our Movement are asking you to send urgent messages of protest to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and your local ambassador.

IRAC is working intensively on lobbying efforts with Members of Knesset, but we need the strength of your numbers to remind those who promote this bill that Israel and Judaism is not theirs alone.

Please send the attached letter right now to the Prime Minister and your ambassador, and forward this urgent call to your friends and family.

For more information on the conversion bill, click here
Please click here for the Union of Reform Judaism’s press release.

Prime Minister Netanyahu: Prime.Minister’sOffice@it.

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