Celebrity sighting – “Who was that?”

07 Monday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Stories

Wherever I travel (as I did last week to Israel) and people learn that I serve at Temple Israel of Hollywood, they ask excitedly – ‘and do you have celebrities in your synagogue?’

“Yes” I say. This is, after all LA, and LA’s big business is TV, film, music, and media. Movie and television stars are everywhere, as are writers, directors, producers, agents, publicists, and behind-the-camera professionals and technicians.

Though it seems childish to fawn over big stars, I confess that I can become star struck at times, depending on the celebrity.

Over many years, I’ve sighted celebrities everywhere, big names and people whose faces I recognize but can’t recall their names. I’ve met many and seen more on the street, in the market and in my synagogue.

I thought to write this blog after reading a wonderful piece in Roger Angell’s new book, “This Old Man – All in Pieces.” Angell is now in his mid-90s, and he compiled a group of his essays, fiction, humor, film and book reviews that he wrote over the decades mostly for “The New Yorker.” I loved his piece called “Who was that?” on celebrity sighting on the streets of New York.

He wrote the following after seeing Paul Newman one day outside his local Korean fruit store: “…the man just coming out – gray, trim, shockingly handsome – was Paul Newman.” When he got home his wife asked: “How’d he look?”

“Great!” Angell had told her. Then he reflected:

“…my mind, repeatedly and oddly returning to this non-event, has been telling me that celebrity-spotting, like other New York amenities, has actually been in a long decline…the old New York street-meet always had its own protocol of strict privacy; one looked and then looked again at the passing diva or statesman but did not speak. One smiled in recognition, and sometimes got back a tiny gleam or nod of acknowledgment. It was enough. We told our friends about the moment, and they said “No!” or “Wow! In the manner of an exchange between dedicated bird-watchers, and then we tucked the specimen and the circumstances away in some mental life list.”

I’ve lived most of my life in LA, except for 12 years in the SF Bay area, 2 years in NY, 2 years in Washington, D.C., and 1 year in Jerusalem.

On the plane home from Israel last week while reading Angell’s book, I made my own list of sightings that have provoked in me the “Wow!” factor. Here are the most notables:

Charlton Heston (spoke at a funeral I conducted – he was like God talking);

Frank Sinatra (yelled at my kids at his beach home after they woke him up one morning – great singer – nasty that morning!);

Lauren Bacall (at a funeral I conducted – she had disarmingly beautiful and piercing eyes, and as we passed each other it was as if she looked deeply into my soul – I was flattered);

Jimmy Stuart (he was very old and still very tall);

George Burns (old – at Hillcrest playing cards with a cigar in his mouth);

Nancy and Ronald Reagan (a year after leaving office I stood next to them as I delivered an invocation at a Hebrew University Scopus Awards dinner honoring Merv Griffin – Trump was there too, and I felt no awe for him then or now!);

Lucille Ball (as a kid with my Little League baseball team we were at a rodeo at the LA Coliseum. I was packed into a hollowed out VW bug with 20 other kids, a goat, a clown, and Lucy. We came out one at a time and extended half way around the track);

Gregory Peck (I introduced my wife to him at that same Scopus Award night – he is her dream man! No – I didn’t know him – but he was gracious and a gentleman);

Mel Wasserman (at a funeral – I overheard him telling Charleton Heston that life was short – they are both gone now);

Chick Hearn (sat next to us in a restaurant – thrilling! We told him how much we loved him – he was a mensch);

Vin Scully (he attended a funeral of a mutual friend – beyond thrilling! We exchanged letters. I framed his to me!);

Joe DiMaggio (saw him driving in SF – I was floored);

Sidney Poitier (I had a one-on-one lunch with him at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel – I’m still pinching myself – he’s a great story teller about his own life, and still handsome!!!!);

John Lennon and Yoko Ono (they came into a restaurant on the upper west side of NY – I was speechless);

Leonard Cohen (he came to Shabbat services with his grandson who is in our Day School – I was reduced to mush);

Buddy Hacket (he told me a dirty joke at a 90th birthday party – he was my father’s favorite comedian 60 years ago);

Don Rickles (he insulted the 90 year-old birthday boy at that same party – I always loved him for his heart and for calling out Frank Sinatra for his mob connections on Johnny Carson);

Angie Dickinson (at the market – an aging beauty);

Allison Janney (at the same market – different day – she is really tall);

Jay Leno (in that market’s parking lot – wearing cowboy boots – he smiled at me);

Dustin Hoffman (he told me a joke about a rabbi and a cantor – I don’t remember the joke, but his timing was perfect);

Jack Nicholson (at a funeral and at Laker games, of course! At the funeral, he wore sunglasses, as if no one could recognize him!);

Robert Di Niro (at a bat mitzvah – he scared the s_ _t out of me! But I know he is a kindhearted and good man);

Robert Wagner (at a bris – still handsome after all these years);

Hillary Clinton (my wife and I had a 10-minute conversation with her about forgiveness – She said she knew something about this theme – I said, “I bet you do!” I loved her then. Still do!);

Bill Clinton (we commiserated over the divorce of mutual friends – he is the most charismatic human I’ve ever seen or met);

Joe Biden (my son Daniel’s political idol – I love him too);

Denzel Washington (at the premiere of “He Got Game” – he apologized to me for all the cursing in the film – he seemed sincerely embarrassed);

Billy Crystal (at his grandchild’s TOT Shabbat at our synagogue – he didn’t want to converse – I left him alone);

Sarah Silverman (at our Temple fundraiser – she wanted me to come up so she could make fun of me – I refused – in hindsight, I should have done it!);

Mandy Potemkin (came to Rosh Hashanah services – his agent is a good friend – Mandy loved my sermon – I am flattered);

Natalie Portman (I was in her home for a J Street event before she moved to Paris – my heart throbbed!);

The cast of Madmen (at two Temple b’nai mitzvah – Elizabeth Moss charmed me completely – January Jones is gorgeous – so is Jon Hamm);

The cast of Friends (at a Starbucks in my neighborhood – they were then on the top of the world – still are);

and many more.

In Israel too, I’ve sighted among our people’s historic leaders. Every sighting between 1973 and the present makes me feel proud to be a Jew and Zionist: Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin (met him twice), Yitzhak Shamir, Ehud Barak, Arielle Sharon, Shimon Peres, Bibi Netanyahu (met him twice), Benny Begin (a dear friend’s cousin – I was thrilled to meet him), and Natan Sharansky (met him twice).

In Washington – politicians are everywhere.

What is it about celebrity sighting that so thrills us? I don’t know. I leave the answer to psychiatrists. All you therapists out there – please feel free to share!

In spite of the thrill, I’m reminded of the story of the Hassidic Rabbi Zusya of Hanipol who was seen crying one day by his Hassidim. They asked him what was wrong.

He said: “I learned the question that the angels will one day ask me about my life. They will not ask me, ‘Why weren’t you a Moses, leading your people out of slavery, nor a Joshua, leading your people into the promised land? They will say to me, ‘Zusya, why weren’t you Zusya?'” (Martin Buber, “Tales of the Hasidim”)

Make your own list – but remember Zusya.

Israel Has Failed the Jewish People Over Its Inaction at the Western Wall – Haaretz – My op-ed today

03 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Ethics, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 6 Comments

Friends – I was invited to write an op-ed for Haaretz on the demonstration yesterday by dozens of leading rabbis of Reform and Conservative Streams, Women of the Wall, and every element of the international Reform movement. The article appeared today – the link is below, but I have pasted the entire piece here.

Opinion – Israel Has Failed the Jewish People Over Its Inaction at the Western Wall – Enough is enough. The Kotel should not be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue. It is the most sacred site in all of Judaism and belongs to the entire Jewish people.

Rabbi John Rosove Nov 03, 2016 12:00 PM – read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.750797

On Wednesday morning, Rosh Hodesh Heshvan, hundreds of liberal Jews marched into the Western Wall plaza with Torah scrolls, song and hope. I was one of many surrounding those carrying Torah scrolls and protecting them from the aggression of the ultra-Orthodox to tear the scrolls from our rabbis’ arms. One young Haredi Jew, so filled with rage, lunged at Women of the Wall’s Anat Hoffman. I jumped in front of him, blocked his advance and he fell back onto the stones. I felt a mix of defiance and grief. His behavior and that of others represent the opposite of what Judaism teaches, that we are here to love God and our fellows, to draw all to Torah and the pursuit of justice, mercy and peace.

A deal is a deal. An agreement is an agreement. Good faith is good faith. Enough is enough!

The Reform and Conservative movements and the Jewish Federations of North America have been engaged for more than three-and-a-half years in negotiations with the Israeli government to find common ground on an issue of utmost importance to world Jewry.

In January of this year, those negotiations succeeded. We Reform and Conservative leaders were proud of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chair of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Natan Sharansky, who concluded the painstaking, complicated and very long negotiations to create a new egalitarian prayer space overseen by the liberal movements and Women of the Wall in the southern Kotel Plaza. The greater values of Klal Yisrael and shalom bayit were confirmed. Religious pluralism in Israel attained as a value at this holiest site in Judaism and we had hopes that future efforts to grant rights to the non-Orthodox in the Jewish state. We imagined a day when Reform and Conservative rabbis could legally convert people to Judaism, officiate at marriage ceremonies, oversee divorce proceedings and could in the mitzvah of burial of our beloved in the land of Israel.

The agreement was clear. All would remain the same in the traditional prayer plaza and would continue to be overseen by the Chief Rabbinate of the Wall. A new prayer space would be created in the southern Kotel Plaza beneath Robinson’s arch. The agreement was the result of compromise by all parties. The Kotel as a whole would symbolize the historic diversity and unity of the Jewish people.

The ultra-Orthodox community, despite its own participation in this long and arduous negotiation represented by the Head Administrator of the Wall, decided it could not abide the deal. It has now been 10 months of prevarication, delay and retreat by the government and prime minister.

We waited and waited and waited. Our leadership was patient and in the end, it became clear to us that Netanyahu would not honor his commitment. Natan Sharansky told those of us on the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency that Netanyahu said he would do everything possible to fulfill the agreement except that which would bring down the government.

Some matters, however, are greater than any particular government. The vast majority of Israelis, let alone world Jewry, supports religious freedom and diversity in Israel. In a democracy, the majority must rule with respect for the minority. The agreement accomplished both.

The arbitrary rules of the Kotel plaza disallowing the use of any Torah other than those approved by the Ultra-Orthodox Head Administrator of the Wall and the denial of the rights for women to pray using tallitot, tefilin and to read Torah are unreasonable, unfair, unjust and discriminatory.

Enough is enough. The Kotel should not be an ultra-Orthodox synagogue. It is the most sacred site in all of Judaism and belongs to the entire Jewish people.

The Talmud teaches that sinat chinam, baseless hatred between Jews, caused the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple two thousand years ago. I sadly see that same hatred in the eyes of those who attacked us yesterday.

The Israeli government has failed the Jewish people, but it is not too late to do what it should have done ten months ago – go forward and implement this historic, fair and visionary agreement. If not now, when!?

Rabbi John Rosove is National Chair, Association of Reform Zionists of America.

Is there really nothing new under the sun?

21 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Divrei Torah, Holidays, Jewish Identity, Poetry

≈ 4 Comments

“Havel havalim amar Kohelet; havel havalim hakol havel – Utter futility! Said Kohelet – Utter futility! All is futile! What real value is there in all the gains a person makes beneath the sun? One generation goes, another comes, but the earth remains the same forever…only that shall happen which has happened, only that occur which has occurred; Ein chadash tachat hashamesh – there is nothing new beneath the sun!”
Ecclesiastes 1:2-9

Depressing, realistic, cynical – or all three?

In the mid-1990s, I taught a year-long weekly seminar at my synagogue on the book of Ecclesiastes and its rabbinic commentary in Kohelet Rabbah. I began with thirty-five students. After a year, five remained.

I was assured by a number of the students that the drop in enrollment wasn’t because I was a bad teacher, though I wondered.

The following year, I taught another year-long seminar on the thought and writings of Rabbi Abraham Heschel. We began with about fifty students and retained most everyone.

I confess that I was relieved and thank Heschel for saving me!

What was the difference between the two classes? Those who delved into the thought of Ecclesiastes wanted to kill themselves whereas Heschel inspired them! Ecclesiastes depressed the “Kohelet drop-outs” because they didn’t want to spend their Sundays engaged with cynicism/realism (depending how you read the book). They voted down Ecclesiastes with their feet. I have always, by the way, found the book fascinating – but that’s me!

The scroll of Ecclesiastes is the text, nevertheless, from the collection of Writings that we read every year during the festival of Sukkot. Given it’s depressing themes, why would we do that? Sukkot, after all, is called “Z’man sim’cha-tei-nu – a time of our joy.” We greet one another with these words during the holiday: “Moadim l’simchah – May you be joyful during this time.”

Some scholars suggest that Ecclesiastes was an argument against the ancient Greek pagan world when bacchanalian orgies and wild celebrations were taking place. The rabbis thought that reading Ecclesiastes would kick the Jew in the gut and slap his face, recalling Cher slapping the love-sick John Cusack in “Moonstruck” and shouting – “Snap out of it!”

The theme of the changing seasons, as described in the first chapter of the scroll, may be the real reason this text was matched with Sukkot, though Ecclesiastes is a philosophical oddity and counter to the rabbinic worldview. Its philosophy is Greek, not Jewish – though the Rabbinic Midrash attempts valiantly to spin the book as a reflection of rabbinic theology. One can imagine Kohelet taking the Aristotelian and modern scientific view that nothing has ever been created or destroyed, that God as Creator is a necessary truth for the masses of Jews who need not only to believe in a commanding God but also recognize that there must be a higher moral authority when ordering Jewish society, thus giving ultimate meaning to our lives.

The question is – was Ecclesiastes right when he proclaimed – “There is nothing new under the sun!” Did he mean to say that this is the world as it’s always been and ever will be and that nothing we think, feel and create as human beings is ever new?

The 1996 Nobel Prize acceptance speech for literature by the Polish writer Wislawa Szymborska is eloquent. She insisted that, yes, there is something new under the sun – each and every day. She addressed Kohelet directly in these words:

“I sometimes dream of situations that can’t possibly come true. I audaciously imagine, for example, that I get a chance to chat with Ecclesiastes, the author of that moving lament on the vanity of all human endeavors. I bow very deeply before him, because he is one of the greatest poets, for me at least. Then I grab his hand. ‘There’s nothing new under the sun’ That’s what you wrote, Ecclesiastes. But you yourself were born new under the sun. And the poem you created is also new under the sun, since no one wrote it down before you. And all your readers are also new under the sun, since those who lived before you couldn’t read your poem. And that cypress under which you’re sitting hasn’t been growing since the dawn of time. It came into being by the way of another cypress similar to yours, but not exactly the same. And Ecclesiastes, I’d also like to ask you what new thing under the sun you’re planning to work on now? A further supplement to thoughts you’ve already expressed? Or maybe you’re tempted to contradict some of them now? In your earlier work you mentioned joy – so what if it’s fleeting? So maybe your new-under-the-sun poem will be about joy? Have you taken notes yet, do you have drafts? I doubt that you’ll say, ‘I’ve written everything down, I’ve got nothing left to add.’ There’s no poet in the world who can say this, least of all a great poet like yourself.”

The Kotzker Rebbe was once asked if he had the power to revive the dead. He answered: “Reviving the dead isn’t the problem; reviving the living is far more difficult!”

Certainly, nature has set its course; but the human being is a thinking, creating and transcendent being, and we do indeed, I believe, have the capacity to create ourselves anew in every moment and thus improve ourselves (tikkun hanefesh) and the world (tikkun olam).

This series of Holidays from the beginning of Elul through the High Holidays, Sukkot and Simchat Torah is our season for the Jewish people to celebrate spiritual rebirth and renewal. Our world view is a challenge to Kohelet. Yes, there is something new under the sun! Everything!

Moadim l’simchah and Shabbat Shalom.

High Holiday Sermons 2016-5777 – Read and/or Watch

14 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, American Politics and Life, Ethics, Holidays, Israel and Palestine, Israel/Zionism, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Women's Rights

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For those interested, Temple Israel has posted my sermons (below) on our Temple website (written texts and UTube) as well as those of my colleagues, Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh and Rabbi Jocee Hudson.

Hag Sukkot Sameach!

see http://www.tioh.org/worship/rabbis/clergystudy

Rabbi John Rosove’s High Holyday Sermons:

Sign Petition to Israeli Government to Build Egalitarian Prayer Space at Kotel in Jerusalem

07 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Jewish Identity, Social Justice, Women's Rights

≈ 5 Comments

Shalom,

Allow us at the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA) to wish you a Shanah Tovah and a Chatima Tovah.

As many of you may be aware yesterday, Thursday, October 6, 2016, the Israel Movement for Progressive Reform Judaism, the Conservative Movement, Women of the Wall and other organizations filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court, following orders by Supreme Court justices from September 2016, as part of the petition against the Kotel Heritage Foundation. This petition was an amended version of the original petition appealing to the court to enforce the decision that already passed the Government to create an egalitarian prayer space in the South Kotel Plaza in Jerusalem this past January. Keep in mind, this agreement already passed and we’re just insisting that it be implemented.

“This petition is the most painful note we have had to place between the ancient stones of the Kotel until now,” explained Anat Hoffman, Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center and the Chair of Women of the Wall.

While the petition is making its impact in the courts, we want the powers that be in the Israeli government to hear from as many members of the Diaspora Jewish community as possible. That is why we are asking everyone for a simple and low-effort action: to send an email through this site: http://www.urj.org/join-campaign.

We have reason to believe that the more voices are heard, the greater the impact it will make upon the Prime Minister to fulfill the agreement that has already been made.

We appreciate your help and effort in doing all that we can to bring about progressive democratic and pluralist change to the State of Israel on a matter that affects all of world Jewry.

גמר חתימה טובה ושבת שלום,

Rabbi Joshua Weinberg – President of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)

Rabbi John Rosove – National Chair of of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)

10 Days-10 of Life’s Biggest Questions Answered by You

29 Thursday Sep 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Jewish Identity, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Uncategorized

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For the past several years I have participated in a project of “Reboot” in which on each of the days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur I received a question in my email. I answered the questions each day, and the following year was sent my answers. I could see where I was, where I wished to go, and where I am now as the New Year begins.

I recommend this to everyone who wants to utilize the High Holidays for introspection and reflection.

Here is Reboot’s description of 10Q:

Answer one question per day in your own secret online 10Q space. Make your answers serious. Silly. Salacious. However you like. It’s your 10Q. When you’re finished, hit the magic button and your answers get sent to the secure online 10Q vault for safekeeping. One year later, the vault will open and your answers will land back in your email inbox for private reflection. Want to keep them secret? Perfect. Want to share them, either anonymously or with attribution, with the wider 10Q community? You can do that too.

Next year the whole process begins again. And the year after that, and the year after that. Do you 10Q? You should.

10Q begins October 2nd, 2016

10Q: Reflect. React. Renew.
Life’s Biggest Questions. Answered By You.

Get started by clicking onto this site – http://www.doyou10q.com/

ARZA mourns the loss of Shimon Peres

28 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Israel/Zionism, Jewish History, Tributes

≈ 1 Comment

The following press release appeared this morning from the Association of Reform Zionists of America, the Zionist arm of the Reform movement comprising 1.5 million Jews. As the national chair of the ARZA Board, I share this with sadness over the passing of Shimon Peres, but also with the hope that his vision of a two states for two peoples peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will come about soon.

The Association of Reform Zionists of America joins the people of Israel and people of good faith around the world in mourning Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister and President of the State of Israel. President Peres suffered a debilitating stroke on September 13, the 23rd anniversary of the day when he signed the Oslo Peace Accords on the White House lawn alongside Yitzhak Rabin z”l and Yasser Arafat.

Shimon Peres was one of the last remaining leaders of the founding generation of the State of Israel. First elected in 1959, he served as a Member of Knesset for a nearly unbroken streak of 48 years before being elected President in June 2007.

As a political leader, he placed the good-being of Israel, the unity of the Jewish people, and hopeful prospects for future peace as his guiding lights. He was a committed disciple of David Ben-Gurion, of whom Peres said, “I knew him well, and I am bound to say that not only did I see him as the greatest Jew of our generation, but my admiration for him continued to grow throughout the years of our acquaintance.” Under Ben Gurion’s tutelage, Peres ascended the ranks of Mapai, a precursor to today’s Labor Party.

His political views evolved over the years. Early in his career, Peres was perceived as a military hawk. A protégée of Ben-Gurion and Moshe Dayan, and an alumnus of the Haganah, he developed crucial strategic alliances for Israel throughout the 1950s and 1960s. He served as the Deputy Defense Minister in 1965 and held various other ministerial posts throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1974 he became the Minister of Defense in Prime Minister Rabin’s government.

Peres’s and Rabin’s destinies were often linked together, and each was often perceived as the other’s nemesis. He succeeded Rabin as party leader in 1977, and when Likud won the subsequent election, Peres became the opposition leader.

Eventually, he developed into a political dove and one of the most eloquent proponents of peace with the Palestinians and the Arab world. In the 1980s, he served a rotating shift as Prime Minister with Yitzhak Shamir in the Labor-Likud unity government. By the 1990s, he was forcefully articulating his vision of peace in what he called “The New Middle East.”

In President Peres’s vision, economic development and partnerships were the keys to transcending longstanding territorial grievances between Jews and Arabs. With his disciple Yossi Beilin, he was one of the key architects of secret peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which culminated with the Oslo Accords in 1993. As Rabin’s Foreign Minister, he often urged the ambivalent Prime Minister to take risks for peace. On September 13, 1993, Rabin, Peres, and Arafat signed the accords at a White House ceremony with President Clinton. The three of them received the Nobel Prize for Peace for their willingness to embrace Peres’s vision of a New Middle East.

On that historic day, Shimon Peres said:

We live in an ancient land, and as our land is small, so must our reconciliation be great. As our wars have been long, so must our healing be swift… I want to tell the Palestinian delegation that we are sincere, that we mean business. We do not seek to shape your lives or determine your destiny. Let all of us turn from bullets to ballots, from guns to shovels… We shall offer you our help in making Gaza prosper and Jericho blossom again.

Tragically, we know that peace did not blossom in the 1990s. Violence and terrorism erupted as the peace process staggered. In November 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a Jewish assassin at a Tel Aviv peace rally, and Peres once more stepped in as Israel’s Prime Minister.

In subsequent years, he vigorously led those who would continue to envision peace, even during brutal days of terror. He founded and led the Peres Center for Peace, which works to build the infrastructures of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs. When he retired from the presidency of Israel in 2014, he was the world’s oldest head of state.

Shimon Peres was an intimate and committed friend of the Reform Jewish movement. Throughout his life, he was an outspoken advocate for Klal Yisrael, the unity of the Jewish people. He was an ally who supported of the Israel Movement for Progressive and Reform Judaism, the Union for Reform Judaism here in North America, and Reform Jews around the globe.

In 2007, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion awarded him the Dr. Bernard Heller Prize for his lifelong leadership and pursuit of a peaceful future for the Middle East. At that time he said, “What I appreciate in Reform Judaism is its accommodation of the best of higher Jewish values with the modern world.”

That description could apply to Shimon Peres himself. Jewish history and destiny were in his DNA. Born into a secular family in Wisniew, Poland in 1923, he was tutored in Talmud by his grandfather, a scion of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin. He developed a passionate love of Israel and Yiddishkeit. His family made aliyah in 1934 when Shimon was 11 years old; all his family members who did not leave Poland for Palestine were murdered in the Shoah. Once, when President Clinton asked him how Jews were able to survive over 2,000 years of exile and oppression, he replied, “Our Sabbath saved us.”

With the loss of Shimon Peres, the extraordinary generation of Israel’s founding leaders leaves the world stage. We join with our people and people of good faith around the world in sharing our condolences to his family and all of Israel.

And in our grieving, we pray for leaders everywhere who will inherit his mantle and have the courage to envision a new “New Middle East” for us all.

Zichrono Livracha – May his memory be a blessing.

10 Suggestions of things to do before Rosh Hashanah

18 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Health and Well-Being, Holidays

≈ 3 Comments

Tonight is the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Elul, and that means not only that there is a full moon that will pass across tonight’s sky, but that in two weeks Rosh Hashanah will arrive.

Tradition teaches that Elul is the “get ready” month before the commencement of the Days of Awe.

In the spirit of David Letterman, I offer here my list of top ten suggestions of things to do to get ready for the High Holidays in descending order of importance:

#10 – Relax: Take your shoes off. A USA Today study reported years ago that those who habitually kick off their shoes tend to live three years longer than the average American. Your feet are like the soul. Feet bound for too long stink and cloistered souls block the light. Slow down. Think about where you are in your life, what you want and need, whether you are happy or sad, fulfilled or frustrated.

#9 – T’shuvah: Be self-critical. Identify those things that keep you from being your better self. Commit to breaking at least one bad habit in the New Year. For example, let go of the anger, resentment, and hurt that you’ve allowed to build up over time. Stop writing everything that comes to mind on social media if what you say is hurtful to others. Assess whether you’ve been honest in your business affairs and taken advantage of others even if what you did wasn’t against the letter of the law. Commit to not doing those things in the New Year. Focus on the good qualities of others and not their bad qualities. Stop complaining about other people. Assume responsibility for what you yourself have done wrong. Clean up your language. If you wouldn’t say something in front of a child or your mother, don’t say it in front of anyone.

#8 – Meditate: The American Institute on Stress reports that 75-90% of all visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related complaints. Meditation is one means to become more self-conscious, self-aware and calmer. Meditating can be done anywhere and at any time, when listening to music, looking at fine art, reading wonderful literature, exercising, walking in nature, and sitting still. Meditation trains us to listen mindfully and to be present fully with our loved ones, friends and even strangers. Become at-one with your environment.

#7 – Exercise: Walk, swim, ride a bike, go to the gym, keep your body toned. Whenever possible, walk stairs and park at the far end of a parking lot. The calories burned this way will shed pounds of fat over time, lower your heart rate and blood pressure, and afford you a greater sense of well-being. Eliminate sugar and salt, soft drinks, packaged food, and fast food from your diet. Reduce the size of your portions. Don’t eat late at night.

#6 – Do at least one of the following each day:
• Have an ice cream
• Eat a piece of dark chocolate
• Buy a loved one a gift for no reason
• Stretch whenever you feel like it
• Sing in the shower
• Say hello to and smile at a perfect stranger
• Let that guy cut in front of you in traffic
• Pet a dog

#5 – Say “No” to requests if you feel already overtaxed and exhausted. Say “Yes” whenever you know doing so will feed your soul and open your heart. Read great literature. Learn from great teachers. Do random acts of kindness. Give tzedakah whenever asked by someone on the street, and don’t question his/her motives. Visit the sick. Call the lonely. Touch, hug and kiss an elderly person who may not have been touched in a long while.

#4 – Friendships: Apologize to the people that you’ve wronged and do so without condition. Don’t blame anyone for your own mistakes. Express gratitude freely. Compliment people when they have done something that inspired your gratitude and praise.

#3 – Worship: Studies indicate that those who worship regularly in community are less lonely, are healthier and live longer than those who never come to religious services.

#2 – Shabbat: Light candles every Friday evening, even when you’re alone. Buy or bake challah for ha-motzi. Drink quality wine for kiddush. Acknowledge God’s presence. Remember before Whom you stand. Sense being at one with everyone and everything around you (i.e. at-one-ment).

#1 – Torah: Learn Torah and find special verses that reflect your faith and values. Make them your own (e.g. “Vay’hi or – Let there be light!” “V’ahavta l’reiacha kamocha – Love your fellow as yourself,” “V’ahavta et Adonai Eloheicha – Love Adonai your God,” “Tzedek tzedek tirdof – Justice, justice shall you pursue,” “Shiviti Adonai l’negdi – I have set God opposite me,” “Sh’ma Yisrael – Listen O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai alone!”) Commit your favorite verses to memory. Repeat them to yourself as if they are your mantras.

These are my 10 suggestions for the days remaining in the month of Elul – and beyond.

May the New Year return each of us to lives of kindness, wonder, sweetness, goodness, family, friends, community, the Jewish people, Torah, and God.

L’shanah tovah u-m’tukah (For a good sweet New Year)

“All you need is love!”

04 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by rabbijohnrosove in American Jewish Life, Divrei Torah, Health and Well-Being, Holidays, Inuyim - Prayer reflections and ruminations, Musings about God/Faith/Religious life, Poetry, Quote of the Day

≈ 3 Comments

“All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need…” (John Lennon – 1967)

Surveys indicate that we gravitate throughout our lives to the music and musical groups we loved when we were teens. For me, it’s the Beatles, Dylan and much of the classic folk music of the 60s, as well as Israeli music of the classic pioneer era. The Song of Songs was a popular source for much of that music, and perhaps, this is why my wife and I engraved on the inside of our wedding rings “Ani l’dodi v’dodi li – I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” (Song of Songs 6:3)

Attributed to King Solomon as a young man, the eight-chapter poem expresses the passionate romantic yearning and love between two lovers. Tradition recognizes, however, that the Song is far more than a secular love poem. It is understood as an allegory of the eternal love between the people of Israel and God. Rabbi Akiva said of the Song when debating whether the poem would be included in the Biblical canon at the end of the first century CE: “For all the ages are not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the Writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies.”

I recall the Song and particularly this verse because today is the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul in which the Jewish people begins a 30-day period of introspection and self-criticism leading to Rosh Hashanah. Today also commences a 40-day period that crescendos on Yom Kippur, the same period of time that Moses communed with God and received Torah (Exodus 34:28).

The verse – Ani l’dodi v’dodi li – evokes both this Hebrew month and the goal of our 30- and 40-day periods. The verse is an acrostic – the first letter of each word – Aleph – lamed – vav – lamed – spells Elul, suggesting that it is love that can lead us back to ourselves, to everything we cherish, to our families, friends, community, people, Torah, and God – “All you need is love!”

May this season be a time of turning, renewal and love for you, the people of Israel, and all children of the earth.

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