Coffee Tawk - No Big Woof

 I met with my rabbi yesterday afternoon for coffee. My plan was to discuss some halachic concerns I have encountered since returning to attending shul every week. Like most of our conversations, I distracted myself by going off on tangents and sideways into rabbit holes. This is not bad with my rabbi, as I always learn something new from him; however, I didn't get to cover the questions I had prepared beforehand. 

The solution, at least the one I am trying now, is to type up a letter to the rabbi (using my trusty Royal Custom from 1964) and mail it to him via snail mail. Hopefully, this will allow me to stay on topic and broach some of the questions I might feel are embarrassing or difficult to discuss in person. 

The first letter is written and ready to drop in the post. It was almost atrocious to see how bad my typing skills have become over the years and how dependent upon spell-checking and autocorrecting I have become. 

It's Exhausting

 I am so exhausted. I'm exhausted by the world's response to the October 7th massacre of innocent Jews by Hamas terrorists. I'm exhausted by having to defend Israel's right to exist almost every day online. I'm exhausted from listening to Liberal friends supporting a terror organization while knowing the terrorists would kill them almost immediately. 

After another "Queers for Palestine" protest happened here in the United States, I heard someone say that Queers for Palestine reminded them of Chickens for KFC. It was tiring to see so many intelligent people on the Right fall for Trump's lies in 2016 and again in 2020. Now, it is exhausting to see so many otherwise intelligent people on the Left fall into believing the lies from Hamas and Hezbollah. The same lies that have been told for decades. 

Zionism isn't a bad word. Bad people have corrupted it and tried to change its meaning. Zionism is simply the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.(1) That's it. 

With the end of the ceasefire in November 2023 and the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, Israel believes that over 132 hostages remain, including two children, although the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 18 hostages due to new intelligence and findings from soldiers in Gaza.(2)

Of the remaining hostages, 21 are believed to be dead. Israel counts the dead in its total hostage figures. Most of the remaining hostages are men, but the prime minister's office said 19 women and two children were still believed to be held.

This is what the protestors are supporting. Innocent people whose only crime was being Jewish. 

I'm exhausted, and I don't have anyone to talk to about it. Not intelligently. Not someone who would understand my point of view. 

The rocket alerts go off all through the day and night. "צבע אדום, צבע אדום" "tzeva adom, tzeva adom" code red, code red. I'm exhausted from hearing that alert go off on my phone all day, and I can't imagine living where I would have to seek shelter with every alert. 

I pray for the return of the hostages. I pray for there to be a lasting peace. I pray for Israel to have peace. 

But I am exhausted. 

In Every Generation...

 I was about to make my usual post about Yom Kippur and the High Holy Days. "Wow, it has been so long," or "Here's what has happened since my last update" post. I had a draft post talking about how happy I was that my daughter had started attending weekly services with me on Shabbat mornings and how excited I was because she had signed up for our rabbi's Intro to Judaism class because she wanted to learn more about her Judaism. I wanted to post about how my second-oldest joined us last week and how his sister called from the Uber on the way to Shul asking if I had a spare shirt because he didn't think to have one ready. 

I wanted to make posts about all of those things, but I don't know how to write those posts now. Last Saturday morning, Hamas started a rocket barrage, firing over 3000 rockets into Israel. Simultaneously,  Hamas forces broke across the Gazan border and murdered over 1300 Israelis. Approximately one hundred and twenty have been reported to have been taken hostage. This has been the bloodiest single day in Israel since its creation as a modern state. I read this is the bloodiest day for Jews since the Holocaust. 

During the attack, Hamas terrorists were continually posting to social media and other online outlets. It was almost as if they wanted to livestream their atrocities. I saw the video of them kidnapping a young woman from a musical festival. I saw them taking an 85-year-old woman hostage. Images have been broadcast this week of the bloody homes of Israelis. Babies murdered in their cribs. Entire families murdered together. Bodies charred from being burnt in the streets.

As Saturday came to a close and more and more atrocities came to light, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared a state of war with Hamas and vowed to destroy Hamas' ability to ever do something like this again. 

Governments around the world are showing support for Israel. The US has parked a carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to ensure no one else decides to take advantage of the situation. But already online, I am seeing there are student demonstrations defending the Palestinian cause. Social media is full of "Free Palestine" posts and comments. Almost immediately, there have been those posting denials saying that perhaps the atrocities didn't even happen.

Hamas continues to put its own citizens in harm's way to bump up their casualty numbers. They continue to put rocket installations in homes, schools, and hospitals. 

Defenders say this is just retaliation for Israel's illegal 75-year occupation.  This is utter bullshit. There could have been peace this entire time. Israel simply wants to exist; the Arabs want to exist and eradicate all Jews. There is a significant difference in those two desires. 

This week has been difficult to say the least, and my heart bleeds for those who have lost loved ones in this terror attack. 

וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ שֶׁלֹּא אֶחָד בִּלְבָד עָמַד עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם

And it is this (the Torah) that has stood by our ancestors and for us.

For not only one (enemy) has risen up against us to destroy us,

but in every generation they rise up to destroy us.

But the Holy One, Blessed be He, delivers us from their hands.

Hanukkah 5783

 Wow, has it really been 4 years since I posted here? Four years ago feels like a lifetime. We survived two more years of the Trump administration, but that mess's fallout is still on the news every evening. Not all of us survived the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which I guess is still going on, but they don't post the death count on the evening news anymore. After 6.6 million worldwide and just over a million here in the US, many of us lost someone we knew. At a minimum, you know someone who had it if you didn't have it yourself. 

The Conservative movement of Judaism (we really need a better name) pivoted relatively quickly to allow remote minyanim via Zoom, Skype, or the similar (I haven't seen a Teams minyan yet). My synagogue, as well as many others, started broadcasting Shabbat services each week. I think the shul in Birmingham actually streams every service, including the two weekday minyan services. Now that things are settling down and mask mandates are lifting, I hope things will get back to somewhat normal soon, but it will never be the same. 

I think our daily minyan now has more regular participants than ever. Logging in for 20-30 minutes is more attractive to our older retired minyanaires than driving to shul in all kinds of weather twice a day. So if there needs to be a silver lining, I guess that is one. 

Last night we lit the 8th candle for Hanukkah. The secular year is slowly wrapping up. Things have changed a lot for me professionally, and I can help the synagogue more financially than before. I am about to go drop two years of membership dues on them when the office opens. 

I have a lot more going on that I want to post about but I'm still a little shocked it has been over 4 years since my last post. 

Yom Kippur 5779

We were fortunate in our area that the recent hurricane did not impact us at all. Originally the area was in a panic that a category 4 hurricane was heading straight for us and we were all doomed. The hurricane turned south and bashed the Carolinas with days and days of heavy rains.

For us, there was a light sprinkle after Kol Nidre services and then nothing for the rest of the week. I only attended services for Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur morning. My daughter was visiting and I chose to spend the afternoon and evening with her. We both successfully completed the fast together and then broke the fast together as well. It was lovely catching up with her. I'm still getting used to having three adult children.

Due to issues with my car I ended up taking Lyft to shul. I wasn't too happy about that and will try to get a new car soon to avoid the issue in the future. I don't like driving on Shabbat and yom tov in general and as I discussed last time, I will need to move to remedy this issue.

Once the car issues or living location is straightened out I will start going to Shabbat and as many minyanim as I can maintain. I think I've found where I want to sit each week and feel comfortable. Our shul has a series of beautiful stained glass windows all based on events from the Jewish liturgy and history. I sit next to "Jacobs Dream" and when I glance up I see "Joseph and his Brothers" in my field of view.

The monthly bulletin arrived in my mailbox this weekend. Mine was the most goyishe name in the list of new members, but at least it wasn't the only one. Pretty sure the list was pretty full of this year's conversion class "graduates."

It feels good to be back, but a lot of the same things that annoyed me ten years ago still annoy me. I prefer my cantors to be more "traditional" in the tunes and melodies they use and it looks like I'm not going to get that here for a while.

Another amazing thing is that a lot of the "kids" I remember being here when I first joined almost twenty years ago are now older than I was when I joined twenty years ago. The folks who were in their 40s back then are now the elder leaders in the congregation. That's just wild to me for some reason.