Dear Ma Nishma Subscriber,

I'm happy to deliver to your e-mail doorstep the latest issue of Ma Nishma ("What's Happening?"), featuring news and events from JRF.

Now everyone can subscribe to Ma Nishma. Register at the JRF website at http://jrf.org/user/register then click "Manage your JRF e-newsletter subscriptions" at the top left of the home page to subscribe.

Newsletter editors and webmasters: Please reprint stories and announcements from this issue for a JRF News page in your congregational newsletter and on your website.

Those who send Weekly Update e-mails: Please disseminate Ma Nishma along with your regular posting.

Please forward this to anyone you think would enjoy reading Ma Nishma.

Download this issue of Ma Nishma as an MS Word document, for easier cut/paste into

synagogue newsletters.

L'shalom,

Lisa Kelvin Tuttle
JRF Communications Director

October 2008 / Tishri - Heshvan 5769

Ma Nishma
News from the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

In This Issue

• Registration Now Open for the 42nd JRF Convention - Boston, Nov. 13-16
• Place a Greeting or Ad in the Convention Program Guide
• Shabbat and Havdallah Portions of Shabbat Prayerbook Now in Braille
• Save the Date: JRF Gala Honoring Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat, May 31, 2009
• Special Offers from JRF’s Reconstructionist Press
• Calling all Reconstructionist Teens: No’ar Hadash Events
• Camp JRF is Available for Your Special Events
• JRF’s Sustainable Synagogue Initiative
• Get Out the Vote: Why American Jews Must Vote
• Tents of Hope for Darfur Event, November 7-9
• Birkat HaHammah - The Blessing of the Sun, April 8, 2009
• NY/NJ Region High Holiday “Open Seats” Campaign
• Join JRF in Brooklyn for Havdalah and Slichot
• Effective Leadership: Essential Practices for Board Members, A Leadership Orientation
• Marketing Your Congregational Message
• Southern California Congregational School Retreats
• Save the Date: RRC 40th Anniversary Celebration – December 7
• Congregational news / Kol HaKavod!

NATIONAL and REGIONAL JRF NEWS

Register for the 42nd JRF Convention
Nov. 13-16, 2008 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel

“Transformative Judaism for the 21st Century”

Join the largest gathering of Reconstructionists in North America for four enriching days of learning, building connections, and sharing best practices to strengthen and grow our Reconstructionist communities and ourselves.

CONVENTION HIGHLIGHTS

A Plenary Session on Identity, Community and Leadership is a dialogue between the generations — those involved today in creating "emerging communities" and those who were shapers of the Havurah movement in the '60s and '70s, now serving as leaders of the Reconstructionist Movement. [If you're reading this electronically, click on presenters' names throughout to read their bios.] Participants will include Rabbi David Teutsch, Zachary Teutsch, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld and Sarah Liebman.

Four special Forums will immediately follow the opening plenary, giving us an opportunity to explore the themes raised as we engage in conversations with leaders in their fields:

• Building the Jewish Identity of the Next Generation with Cindy Shulak-Rome, Jerry Silverman, and Jonathan Woocher
• Strengthening and Transforming Congregational Life with Rabbi Hayim Herring, Amy L. Sales, and Rabbi Elliott Tepperman
• Rethinking the Role of Movements in the 21st Century with Rabbi Joy Levitt, Rabbi Sid Schwarz, and Dr. Carl Sheingold
• What is the Forefront of Tikkun Olam? with Rabbi Brant Rosen, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, and Rabbi Toba Spitzer

Jonathan Sarna, the foremost expert on American Jewish history, will join us on Thursday evening with a talk entitled American Judaism at a Crossroads: A Perspective on Reconstructionism from a Jewish Historian. Read the September 5 interview with Dr. Sarna in the Forward.

Noah Feldman, recently named by New York Magazine as one of "the influentials" in ideas, will be our special guest speaker during Shabbat lunch. Feldman's expertise is on the relationship between law and religion in the West and Middle East.

Shabbat services as you've never experienced them before, filled with ruach (spirit) and kavannah (intention), will bring us together as an extended Reconstructionist family.

Beit Midrash sessions on Shabbat afternoon include informal text study, creative exploration of Reconstructionist liturgy, and a celebration of the arts.

A special screening of Praying with Lior, an award-winning film by Ilana Trachtman. The film celebrates the Reconstructionist Bar Mitzvah of Lior Liebling, who has Down Syndrome, and explores themes of disability and spirituality.

Networking opportunities throughout Convention will facilitate connections between our communities, such as break-out sessions, affinity group meetings, and receptions. Come and contribute your questions and your congregation’s best practices to the conversations!

Harmoniyah--the Reconstructionist Music Network and RENA (Reconstructionist Educators of North America) will be participating in our Convention again this year.

Visit sights of Jewish interest in Boston or participate in a tikkun olam service opportunity on Sunday.

And much more!

Get all the details and register now at www.jrf.org/convention.

Place a Greeting or Ad in the Convention Program Guide

Honor your rabbi, fellow congregant, or loved one or promote your business by placing a personal greeting or professional/business advertisement in the Program Guide for the upcoming 42nd JRF Convention. Options include:

• Business card (allowable text space 3.5” w x 2” h): $180
• Quarter page (allowable text space 3.25” w x 4.5” h): $250
• Half page (allowable text space 7.5” w x 4.5” h): $500
• Full-page (allowable text space 7.5” w x 10” h): $1,000

To place your greeting or ad or for more information please contact Marla Friedenberg at 215-885-5601, ext 28 or mfriedenberg@jrf.org.

Shabbat and Havdallah Portions of Kol Haneshamah Shabbat Vehagim Prayerbook Now Available in Braille

Since its publication in 1994, Kol Haneshamah Shabbat Vehagim, the Reconstructionist Shabbat and Festival Prayerbook, has been used by thousands and thousands of Reconstructionist and non-Reconstructionist Jews for worship, prayer, and study in the synagogue and at home.

Shortly after the publication of the prayerbook, Braille Hebrew translator Caryn Navy and John Riehl, president of JRF's Chesapeake Region, began the arduous, complex, and ultimately rewarding task of taking an electronic version of the prayerbook and creating a Braille version which would be fully usable and accessible to visually-impaired Jews. The Reconstructionist movement fully supported this work, as did the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI International), which enthusiastically agreed to make copies of the prayerbook available to anyone requesting a copy, at no charge, once a "blind-user-friendly" version of the prayerbook had been produced.

In December, 2006, we announced that the Erev Shabbat portion of Shabbat Vehagim was available in Braille from the Jewish Braille Institute. Since that time, Caryn and John have continued their work on producing a fully accessible Braille prayerbook. Now, at last, the complete English and Hebrew text of all of the Shabbat and Havdallah Services (pages 1-527) are available in Braille at no charge from JBI International. The Erev Shabbat service is in Volumes 1 and 2; Shabbat Morning, Afternoon and Havdallah services are in Volumes 3 through 6.

To obtain all or a portion of the six volumes, at no charge, please call Pearl Lam at JBI at 800-433-1531 or e-mail Pearl at plibrary@jbilibrary.org.

Save the Date for a JRF Gala Honoring Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat

Join us on Sunday May 31st, 2009 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan as we gather to celebrate Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstat, innovative congregational rabbi and Founding Director of Camp JRF and No'ar Hadash, for his unique contributions to the Reconstructionist movement and learn of his exciting present and future work building the next generation of Reconstructionist youth. This will be an all-out gala event you will not want to miss.

Everyone will be offered the opportunity to place a personal greeting in honor of Jeff in the tribute journal for this occasion. More details will be available soon.

Special Offers from JRF’s Reconstructionist Press

MAHZOR LEYAMIM NORA’IM
1250 pages, hardcover $42.00 ($33.60)

The Reconstructionist Kol Haneshamah Mahzor Leyamim Nora’im (prayer book for the Days of Awe) is an inclusive, comprehensive volume for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services; one that is rooted in the traditional Hebrew liturgy, yet fully contemporary. Some of the most prominent features of this volume are:

• All readings appear within the text, simplifying the selection of material for services.
• Constructed with a special strong, reinforced library quality binding.
• Printed on very thin, lightweight opaque paper.
• A new section, Kabbalat Hashanah, has been created to begin the erev Rosh Hashanah service.
• For Rosh Hashanah, the Mahzor can be used for a traditional shofar service and full Musaf, or combining the two in several different ways.
• On Yom Kippur, the Musaf service and Martyrology are integrated with the Avodah service creating a powerful, seamless whole.

SIDDUR KOL HANO’AR: THE VOICE OF CHILDREN
Transliterated edition available now!
Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and Rabbi Jeffrey Schein
Illustrated in full color by Joani Rothenberg

This beautiful hardcover Shabbat prayer book for children ages 5-9 makes a wonderful gift for the whole family to share at home. $28/$23.80 for JRF members. Consider adding a set of matching note cards for a lovely gift set for just $5 more!

MOADIM LE’LIMUD – SEASONS FOR LEARNING:
MISHNAH ON THE HOLIDAYS OF THE YEAR
Rabbi Gail Diamond
Participants’ Text (Parts I & II) - 33 pages, softcover $12.50
Facilitator’s Guide – 62 pages, softcover $12.50

The Reconstructionist Press is proud to introduce Moadim Le’Limud – Seasons for Learning: Mishnah on the Holidays of the Year. This exciting new course, written by Rabbi Gail Diamond, gives students an introduction to the Mishnah while expanding their knowledge of the laws and customs of various holidays of the Jewish year. The lessons are designed to be suitable for students of all backgrounds. Some of the most prominent features of this volume are:

• Two ways for facilitators to use the curriculum: Over several sessions taught over a period of two to three months, concentrating on learning Mishnah on the holidays of the year; or presented seasonally over the course of a whole year, ideally beginning in Elul, timing each lesson for two to four weeks before the holiday discussed.
• Participants’ Text contains texts to be studied at each lesson along with some of the questions for discussion.
• Facilitators’ Guide has goals for each section and an expanded selection of discussion questions for each section.
• Part I, comprising the first half of these wonderful lessons, will be ready in time for Rosh Hashanah for communities that would like to present the course
  alongside the High Holy Days. Part II will be ready in late fall – in plenty of time for the spring holidays, and will automatically be sent upon publication.

JRF DIARY FOR 5769 / 2008-2009
Available now! $8.25 (U.S.)

• Comprehensive calendar for the Jewish and secular year, including explanations of all Jewish holidays and important shabbatot
• Ample space to jot down appointments, with blank pages for notes and addresses
• Current listing of all JRF synagogues and havurot
• The platform and program of the Reconstructionist movement

Order by mail with a check payable to JRF and send to JRF, Beit Devora, 101 Greenwood Avenue, Suite 430, Jenkintown, PA 19046, or order by credit card by calling 877-JRF-PUBS. This unique, pocket-size Jewish calendar makes a great gift so order while supplies last!

The Reconstructionist Press is looking forward to seeing you at the 42nd JRF Convention in Boston this November—come to our table and see the new commemorative 10th Anniversary edition of A Night of Questions Reconstructionist Haggadah available for the first time there!

Camp JRF is Available for Your Special Events

Planning an annual Shabbaton or retreat? Consider holding it at Camp JRF on the Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman Campus. This beautiful facility in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains is now available for rental for our JRF congregations, boards, religious schools, JRF regional programs, teens, and the like.

For more information, please contact the Camp JRF office at 877-CAMP JRF (877-226-7573).

Calling all Reconstructionist Teens: No’ar Hadash Events for 8th-12th Graders

Get excited for fun, friends, singing, hanging out, and so much more at the No’ar Hadash Eastern Teen Kallah, October 24-26 at Camp JRF in South Sterling, PA.

This event is open to 8th-12th graders from Florida all the way up to Montreal, so if you’re on the East coast, this is the Kallah for you! To register for the Eastern Teen Kallah or to check out pictures from past kallot log on to www.noarhadash.org. If you have any questions please contact No’ar Hadash Program Coordinator Alanna Sklover at ASklover@jrf.org or 215-885-5601, ext. 26. We can’t wait to see you there!

SAVE THE DATES:

• Eastern Teen Kallah - October 24-26 at Camp JRF, South Sterling, PA
• Western Teen Kallah - January 9-11 at BB Camp, Portland, OR
• Midwest Youth Kallah - February 13-15 at Camp Henry Horner, Ingleside, IL
• North American Teen Kallah - April 17-19, Location TBD

and also . . .

• No'ar Hadash Goes to Panim el Panim - March 15-18 in Washington, DC.

The Panim el Panim seminar brings together diverse groups of 10th-12th grade students from around the country to explore public policy and social activism through a Jewish lens. Details to follow!

Applications and information are coming soon at www.noarhadash.org.

JRF Southern California Congregational School Retreats

At Camp JCA Shalom in Malibu, CA, October 24-26

A special retreat facilitated by Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat, JRF’s Founding Director of Camp JRF and No’ar Hadash, will take place the weekend of October 24-26 for all 7th graders from the five Reconstructionist congregations in Southern California: Kehillat Israel of Pacific Palisades, Malibu Jewish Center, Temple Shalom of the South Bay, University Synagogue in Irvine, and Dor Hadash of San Diego. Retreats for students in grades 3 through 6 will follow in the spring, and a Tikkun Olam project for 8th through 12th graders is scheduled for May, 2009.

For more information contact Rabbi Eisenstat at 215-885-5601, ext 22 or jeisenstat@jrf.org.

JRF’s Sustainable Synagogue Initiative

With the enthusiasm around JRF’s Omer Learning Initiative, as well as the solid response of JRF congregations in the Climate Change Initiative, JRF is continues to deepen its greening work with member communities next year. Our hope is to motivate and educate our congregations in sustainable practices, with the goal of reaching 100 percent participation in the years ahead, recognizing those JRF communities who excel at sustainable practices at the JRF Convention in Boston, 2008.

A full listing of the 7 weeks of teaching packets is available at www.jrf.org/omer and the three related Tikkun Olam conference calls held as part of this year's
PEARL initiative, available at www.jrf.org/PEARL-resources.

Please refer to the following additional links to find specific resources for tikkun olam:

• Tikkun Olam Resources Library: http://jrf.org/resources-library
• Tikkun resources outside JRF: http://jrf.org/tikkun-olam-issues
• Anti-hunger and poverty: http://jrf.org/hunger
• Sustainability and Environment: http://jrf.org/climate
• Service Learning: http://jrf.org/service-learning
• Ending Genocide in Darfur: http://jrf.org/darfur

Information on JRF’s Sustainable Synagogue Initiative can be found on the JRF website’s environment pages at www4.jrf.org/green-call and www4.jrf.org/climate.

For more information contact Rabbi Shawn Zevit, director of outreach and tikkun olam, SZevit@jrf.org.

Get Out the Vote: Why American Jews Must Vote

Rabbi Yitzhak taught, "A ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted.” —Talmud, B’rachot 55a

A crucial election day is only months away. At stake are vital political, economic and moral issues of concern to all Americans, in addition to issues of special concern to American Jews.

During the next four years, there will be important debates about the way our government does business. Legislation on significant issues such as health care, foreign aid, civil rights and support for Israel is likely to be considered by the next Congress and Administration. In addition, over the next four years, the President and Senate will confirm judges who will make crucial decisions affecting our lives. With the stakes so high, we must work to reverse the trend toward declining percentages of voters.

As Jews and American citizens we have an obligation to participate in the elections to ensure that our country's policies at the local, state and national levels reflect our commitment to social justice. Every vote counts and plays a defining role in setting policy agendas. It is our civic duty to register promptly, educate ourselves about the critical issues and VOTE!

The Get Out the Vote 2008 Guide provides you with tools, resources and information to help your congregation or community plan a successful voter enngagement effort in advance of Election Day. This guide was designed for use by Jewish congregations and communal organizations wishing to conduct their own voter registration drives. We also encourage participation in voter registration drives in the general community. The same procedures and materials that are suggested here for use in the Jewish community can be adapted for voter registration use in the broader community.

The Guide was prepared by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and the larger Jewish community.

Download the Get Out The Vote Guide free of charge at www.jrf.org/get-out-the-vote-2008.

Tents of Hope for Darfur Event – November 7-9

The mission of the Tents of Hope project is to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan.

The tents are not answers in themselves. Rather, they are points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy. Since the launch of Tents of hope in 2004, the American Jewish World Service, the Save Darfur Coalition (of which JRF and the RRA are members) and other faith and non-profit groups have joined as participating organizations.

The structure of the Tents of Hope project is decentralized and temporary. It is a one-year project in which local communities are responsible for taking the initiative to shape the project both through the creation of the tents as works of art and the use of the tents as focal points for education, advocacy and fundraising for humanitarian assistance. National coordination is focused on giving support to these local efforts in such areas as the project website and the national event in Washington, DC, November 7-9, 2008.

For more information and to register for the Tents of hope event in Washington go to www.tentsofhope.org/index.html
Also see http://www.jrf.org/darfur

Birkat HaHammah - The Blessing of the Sun, April 8, 2009

North American Solar and Renewable Energy Campaign in the Jewish Community

The year 5769 (2008-2009) will be the little known Jewish year of “Birkat HaHammah” the “blessing of the sun.” Every 28 years, the ancient rabbis demarked a time in the Jewish calendar that celebrates the ceremonial return of the sun to its original place in the cosmos during creation.

JRF is part of a national coalition that will use this rare event to focus on solar power and energy stewardship.

See www.blessthesun.org as it goes live!

NY/NJ Region Unites in an Effort to Reach Out to Unaffiliated Over the High Holidays with the "Open Seats" Campaign

As part of the Kehillah Kedoshah Synagogue Outreach and Growth initiative, the synagogues of JRF's NY/NJ region have launched the "High Holiday Open Seats Campaign" to let the unaffiliated know they are welcome at our synagogues. Through "Open Seats" each synagogue in the region has set aside a designated number of seats for non-members and posted information about their High Holiday services on the website www.highholidayopenseats.com.

The website is being advertised by a regional press-release blitz and through the purchase of domain names and key words on all major search engines. We are excited about our new and unprecedented initiative and will report back about the results.

For more information about Open Seats, please contact Hannah Greenstein, Outreach Coordinator for JRF Metropolitan NY/NJ Region at hgreenstein@jrf.org or at 212-870-2484.

Join JRF in Brooklyn for Havdalah and Selichot

At the Hannah Senesh Community Day School, 342 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231. Saturday evening, September 20, 2008, 7 pm

We bid farewell to Shabbat and welcome the High Holiday season with a family-oriented Havdalah ceremony and Selichot (forgiveness) service, both filled with soulful music. The evening, facilitated by Reconstructionist Rabbi Rachel Gartner, cantor and local Jewish music sensation Galeet Dardashti, and Reconstructionist student rabbi Ezra Weinberg. The Selichot service will begin at 9 pm, preceded by refreshments.

You can get a taste of Galeet Dardashti’s music at http://divahn.com. For directions to the school, go to www.hannahsenesh.org/templates/page_2.asp?docid=566.

For more information contact Dan Cedarbaum at dcedarbaum@jrf.org or 847-492-5200. If you cannot come to this event but would like to be on our e-mail list for future events in Brooklyn, please let Dan know. Share the news with your friends and family in Brooklyn!

Active Leadership: Essential Practices for Board Members, A Leadership Orientation

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008, 5:30 - 8:45 pm - Plan to come as a board group!

At the start of the program year, this program will provide a rich leadership exchange with material for new and returning synagogue board members. Models for decision making, effective meetings, leadership development, program evaluation and assessment, volunteer engagement, financial fitness, staff and clergy professional relationships, will all be on the agenda. Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Senior Congregational Consultant and Director of Tikkun Olam and Outreach, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, will lead the session.

The program will be held on Thursday, October 23rd, 5:30pm - 8:45pm at the JRF NY/NJ offices, 475 Riverside Drive, NYC. Complimentary parking is provided.

Board members are encouraged to come as teams from their congregations. Registration is required. Please contact mschneider@jrf.org.

Marketing Your Congregational Message

Thursday, November 6th, 2008, 6:00 - 8:45 pm.

Congregations in the New York-New Jersey region will meet to consider what makes them unique, and will learn how to communicate this message to the greater community. Participants will discuss marketing strategies tailored to different audiences.

For more information contact hgreenstein@jrf.org

Save the Date for RRC’s 40th Anniversary Celebration

RRC at 40 – Building the Future - Sunday, December 7, 2008 at 12 pm

2008 Annual Event honoring Howard and Maureen Blitman
Event Chairs: Harry and Karen Waizer, Jesse and Maris Krasnow
Honorary Chairs: Aaron and Marjorie Ziegelman, Rabbi Lester Bronstein and Cantor Benjie Schiller
Bet Am Shalom Synagogue, 295 Soundview Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606

For more information contact Nancy Bernstein at 215-576-0800, ext 143 or at nbernstein@rrc.edu.

Congregational News / Kol HaKavod!

In preparation for the High Holy Days, Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia invites members of Reconstructionist congregations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and their friends to attend a special adult education course "Fasting and Cleansing Your Diet" facilitated by Nancy Post, Ph.D., M.Ac. Fasting is an essential part of spiritual development, intended to purify the body, allowing non-material concerns to emerge. In the best sense, “we rise from the earth to meet the consciousness of the heavens,” yet many people who fast are plagued with headaches, nausea and dizziness, rather than enjoying an ascendant moment. This two-part class will cover how to prepare for and break fasts, and how to let fasting springboard into healthier eating. Part 1, Sunday September 28 from 10 am to noon; Part 2, November 16 from 10 am to noon; at Mishkan Shalom, 4101 Freeland Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19141. Get all the details at www.jrf.org/mishkan-fasting-course. To register call the Mishkan Shalom office at 215-508-0226, ext. "0".

Vicki Wilson of Kehillath Shalom in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, is one of this year’s recipients of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. Vicki has been teaching at Kehillath Shalom for over 10 years. She is the head teacher, and family educator. Vicki teaches from pre K–seventh grade. According to Dahlia Rosenthal, Education Director, Vicki is a kind and nurturing teacher whose dedication to the children and their families is embodied in her teaching. Vicki also teaches English in middle school in the Huntington school district. We wish her much success. Ye’asher koach and mazal tov!

On Sunday, September 21, from 9am to 12:15 pm, Bet Am Shalom Synagogue is holding its first ever "Torah Fest", an intergenerational learning experience. Two special guests are coming: Torah scribe, Rabbi Gedalia Druin, who will repair the BAS Torahs and teach congregants the process so they can help with the repairs; and Professor Michael Fishbane, Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Chicago, who will speak about "The Canonization of the Tanakh-- What Got In, What Didn't Make the Cut and Why?" There will be learning for all ages including a class on Torah music taught by Cantor Benjie Schiller, a Torah text study class by Roz Schulman and a lesson on Aliyah etiquette. And there will be fun activities for children such as Torah personalities to meet, a quiz show and a trip to Mount Sinai. All will enjoy some foods of the Torah. The program was conceived and organized by the BAS Ritual Committee, Visioning Committee and Hebrew School Board.

On Saturday November 8, Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia will celebrate the one-year anniversary of senior Rabbi Linda Holtzman with a community installation ceremony and a festive evening of cabaret. Merriment and surprises are in store! For more details, contact the synagogue office at 215-508-0226.

Tell us about it!

JRF wants to hear about news and upcoming events at your congregation!

Contact Communications Director Lisa Tuttle at ltuttle@jrf.org today.

Visit the Tents of Hope Project: www.tentsofhope.org
The mission of the Tents of Hope project is to support a one-year process in which people respond as communities to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan by creating tents that are both unique works of art and ongoing focal points within communities for learning about, assisting and establishing relationships with the people of Sudan.
The tents are not answers in themselves. Rather, they are points of entry for more concrete forms of Darfur advocacy.

Since the launch of Tents of hope in 2004, the American Jewish World Service, the Save Darfur Coalition (of which JRF and the RRA are members) and other faith and non-profit groups have joined as participating organizations.

The structure of the Tents of Hope project is decentralized and temporary. It is a one-year project in which local communities are responsible for taking the initiative to shape the project both through the creation of the tents as works of art and the use of the tents as focal points for education, advocacy and fundraising for humanitarian assistance. National coordination is focused on giving support to these local efforts in such areas as the project website and the national event in Washington, DC November 7-9, 2008.

For more information and to register for the Tents of hope event in washington go to http://www.tentsofhope.org/index.html

For outline of the weekend and national activities see
http://www.tentsofhope.org/DC%20plan.html

Also see http://www.jrf.org/darfur

One.org web site.

About ONE

ONE is Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life - united as ONE - to help make poverty history. We are a campaign of over 2.4 million people and growing from all 50 states and over 100 of America's most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. As ONE, we are raising public awareness about the issues of global poverty, hunger, disease and efforts to fight such problems in the world's poorest countries. As ONE, we are asking our leaders to do more to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries.

JRF’s resources are now part of the toolkit available through ONE to organize a ONE Sabbath event at your house of worship.

http://www.one.org/faith/jewishgroups.html

Also watch the new international multi-faith video ONE has produced with religious leaders speaking on this issue, including the Reconstructionist movement:
http://www.one.org/joinonesabbath/ and
http://www.one.org/documents/faith/multifaith/index.html

ONE is nonpartisan; there's only one side in the fight against global AIDS and extreme poverty. Working on the ground in communities, colleges and churches across the United States, ONE members both educate and ask America's leaders to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, from the U.S. budget and presidential elections to specific legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.

• Eradicating malaria;
• Improving child and maternal health;
• Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis;
• Achieving universal primary education; and
• Providing access to food and clean water for all.

If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
-- Isaiah 58:10

Together, as people of faith, we can bring light where there is darkness and answer the call to bring hope and justice to the world's poorest people.
L'Shalom,
Rabbi Shawn Zevit,
ONE Member

For additional resources on ending hunger and poverty see: http://www.jrf.org/hunger

This article is reprinted with permission from the New Jersey Jewish News.

Donna Kirshbaum led several lives before becoming a rabbi. (Photo by Marilyn Silverstein)
by Marilyn Silverstein
NJJN Bureau Chief/PMB

September 9, 2008

The scene is crystal clear in Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum’s memory. She was eight years old and had just finished reading a child’s biography of George Fox, founder of the society of Quakers.

“I remember leaning against the fridge and telling my mother, ‘I’m going to lead my people the way George Fox led his people,’” she recalled.

This summer, close to half a century later, that childhood dream became a reality as Kirshbaum took her place as religious leader and educational director of Princeton’s only Reconstructionist congregation, String of Pearls.

The product of what she calls “a devoutly nonreligious upbringing,” the 57-year-old Kirshbaum journeyed toward her first pulpit the long way around. A native of Philadelphia, where she was raised in the secular Jewish tradition of the folkshul, she has led lives as a teacher of classic Greek and Latin, a mother, a cellist, a dairy farmer in the Missouri Ozarks, and a religious-school principal.

Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pa., this past June, Kirshbaum holds a bachelor’s degree in ancient Greek from Swarthmore College and a master’s degree in Latin literature from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland in Baltimore.

She taught classics off and on for 22 years at the Kimberton Waldorf School in Pennsylvania, studied cello for two years with a member of the Amadeus Quartet near London, co-owned a Missouri dairy farm for six years, and lived in Baltimore for 21 years, teaching the classics at her alma mater and helping to found the Bolton Street Synagogue there.

Along the way, Kirshbaum had three sons — Ben, now a physician at New York University; Matt, a graduate student in architecture at Yale University; and David, a senior forestry major at the University of Vermont. The night before her ordination, she married Louis Friedler, a professor of mathematics at Arcadia University in Glenside, Pa. The couple resides in Swarthmore.

Throughout her life, the thread that has woven everything together has been her love of the religious life, according to Kirshbaum.

“To put it simplistically, I must have the religious gene in my family,” she said as she sat in her Princeton Township office. “I could never get enough contact with people who had religiously informed lives. I think this is just part of who I was from birth and before.

“But I put it off and put it off, and it became the classic dream that festered but wouldn’t go away,” she said. “Then, when my middle son left for college, I got the beginning of a taste of the empty nest and I thought: Now or never.”

At the age of 51, Kirshbaum applied to RRC and began a six-year journey toward becoming a rabbi.

“For the first time, I really felt shot out of a cannon,” she said. “I was on a very, very clear trajectory. A certain diffuseness that had characterized my life was gone.

“Those six years — it was like a continual Shabbat,” she said. “To be in my 50s and just stop everything — it was so sweet.”

To the sweetness of those years, Kirshbaum added the spice of a diverse work experience. While at RRC, she served as an assistant at the college’s Academic Coalition for Jewish Ethics; held student pulpits in Baltimore and Detroit; studied chaplaincy at Johns Hopkins Hospital; worked with Jewish students at Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, and Haverford colleges; traveled to Ghana with the American Jewish World Service; and served as a rabbinic intern with CLAL-the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York, and with Greenfaith, a New Brunswick-based interfaith environmental advocacy and educational group.

While at the seminary, Kirshbaum won a number of awards, including the international Whizin Prize of RRC’s Center for Jewish Ethics, the Driesen Prize in Science and Judaism, and the Bartnoff Prize for Spiritually Motivated Social Action.

Challenges of diversity
When she arrived at the moment of ordination, Kirshbaum said, “it was a dream come true. It was also really bittersweet — leaving the nest and having to do the hard and important work of taking the access points to Jewish wisdom and making them truly accessible to other Jews.”

That is the work Kirshbaum has taken up at String of Pearls, a 52-family congregation that describes itself on its website, www.stringofpearlsweb.org, as “a proudly diverse and inclusive Jewish congregation welcoming young and old, singles and families, Jews by birth and by choice, non-Jewish partners in interfaith couples, gay and straight, the spiritually settled and the spiritually restless, in short, all who are willing to commit to the integration of community, worship, study, and acts of loving-kindness (gemilut hasadim) and repair of the world (tikun olam).”

The congregation meets for Shabbat, holiday, and family services at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton and runs a cooperative religious school on Monday afternoons at the Princeton Day School.

“I fell in love with these people,” Kirshbaum said. They are “very committed to community-based Judaism. I really see a nice, equal weighting of the three traditional pillars of Torah, avoda (worship) and gemilut hasadim here.”

As she meets with each congregational family, she is finding the classic case of “two Jews and three opinions,” the rabbi said.

“I find that just delicious and very, very healthy — that kind of diversity,” she said. “I think people appreciate the informality and the fact that we don’t have a building and we have to draw our identity from other places. I think that is all to the good.”

But the diversity of String of Pearls also poses a challenge. “We have to find a way to integrate not just non-Jewish partners, but the children, who will tell you with absolute seriousness that they are ‘half and half,’” she said. “We have to really make those children feel not just welcome, but valuable members of the Jewish people without Judaism dissolving into a kind of wisdom tradition only.”

Kirshbaum brings to such challenges “the excitement, optimism, and energy of being fresh out of school,” she said. “I think of the congregants as my study partners, my spiritual partners, my partners in trying to create more justice in the world.”

As she begins her journey at String of Pearls, Kirshbaum said she thinks every day about how rare it is to get to live out a lifelong dream.

“I’m aware of what a privilege it is to start all over again,” she said. “As my oldest son said to me at my wedding on the night before my ordination, ‘So, Mom, now you have a marriage. Tomorrow you’ll have a career. What’s next?’

The Jewish Reconstructionist Federation is once again enthusiastically joining Jewish communities, organizations and individuals from around the world in celebrating a month of social action and Jewish unity. The Hebrew month of Heshvan – which in 2008/5769 will be from October 30-November 27, 2008 – has been declared Jewish Social Action Month (JSAM).

In the words of JSAM in Israel: "The huge amount of social action work the JRF is involved in, at a global, national and local level makes your involvement and support of great import to this initiative."

Whether you call it Tikkun Olam, social action, chesed - Join thousands of Jewish organizations and individuals around the world of all backgrounds and affiliations for a month of unity through social action. Volunteer with children, rally for Darfur, clean up a river, feed the homeless, raise money for Sderot, paint a mural – or do whatever you are passionate about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFsWZgGmo4E

This year’s Jewish Social Action Month promises to be once again an amazing time of increased unity and positive action involving Jews from many countries and perspectives. Every group or individual is welcome to mark Jewish Social Action Month in the way that is most meaningful to them and their community. Heshvan can be a month to launch new social action projects or increase your existing efforts. The actions can be large scale projects or simple acts of individual kindness. They can be focused on the Jewish community, on tikkun olam, on the environment. Jewish Social Action Month presents endless possibilities for each individual, community and organization to make a difference. Each act is important in itself and helps strengthen this global Jewish effort to make the world a better place.

Jewish Social Action Month is an initiative of KolDor, a global network of young Jewish leaders and socialaction.com. Its launch two years ago saw a remarkable response. Political support came from the Presidents of both Israel and the United States of America, British parliamentarians, US senators and congressmen, Israeli Knesset members and others. A wide spectrum of Jewish religious groups (including the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association), major institutions, youth groups, communal organizations and many others from around the world endorsed the initiative and created exciting and widespread programs. Jewish Social Action Month was introduced into the Jewish calendar and into the lives of many. A few examples, such as the efforts to help the homeless of Britain and Brazil, environmental projects in Israel, seminars on social action in Mexico, assisting the victims of hurricanes in America and earthquakes in Pakistan, give some sense of the range of activities inspired by Jewish Social Action Month. See www.cheshvan.org and www.socialaction.com for a fuller indication of partners and projects.

JRF is particualrly excited about our renewed partnership given our Sustainable Synagogue and Birkhat HaChamah Initiatives, Darfur advocacy, Congregational Based Community Organizing, Anti-Poverty and Hunger coalition participation and many more resources that can be found at jrf.org/to.

For more information visit www.Cheshvan.org.

JRF RELATED ACTIVITIES

• Action to address the Darfur, Sudan crisis
• Omer Tikkun Olam Project
• Climate Change Campaign
• Anti-Poverty and Hunger resources

More Jews attend services during the High Holiday season than any other time during the year, but in many instances, only synagogue members can purchase High Holiday tickets. In response to this perceived need, 13 congregations in the New York/New Jersey region are setting aside seats for non-members who wish to attend High Holiday services at those synagogues.

Called Open Seats, the campaign is aimed at opening doors to Jewish participation and inclusion, a strong theme in Reconstructionist synagogues. “The Reconstructionist movement, which strives to make Jewish tradition, theology, and spirituality relevant in modern times, has been on the forefront of Jewish outreach since its inception,” said Hannah Greenstein, outreach coordinator for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation of Metropolitan NY/NJ. “Its spirit and longtime practice of inclusion has made Reconstructionist Judaism an appealing home for interfaith and multiracial families and gay and lesbian Jews,” she added.

Get all the details at www.highholidayopenseats.com.

JRF endorses and joins national interfaith coalition "Fighting Poverty With Faith: A Week of Action", September 9-16, 2008

WHAT WILL THE CANDIDATES DO IN THEIR FIRST 100 DAYS
TO ADDRESS POVERTY AND OPPORTUNITY IN AMERICA?

From September 9-16, 2008 people of faith across the country will be mobilizing their communities to ask their local, state and national candidates what they will do to address the pressing issues of poverty and opportunity in America in their first 100 days in office.

In communities across the country, people of faith will be calling and writing the candidates, holding forums to discuss these issues with civic and political leadership, engaging in interfaith community service to aid those in need in their communities, and otherwise highlighting the need for increased leadership on these issues.

Poverty in America is a moral and urgent problem. As we look across our country today, we see a nation where millions of people lack the basic necessities of life and where the futures of far too many young people are clouded by economic and social policies that have failed to promote a shared prosperity.

Our common scriptures present a vision of shared responsibility that commands that we leave the corners of our field for the poor and the stranger and mandates, “There Shall Be No Needy Among You” (Deuteronomy 15:4). Our common faith values call on us to respond.

Everyday faith organizations serve individuals in need within our communities. But our efforts to sustain our brothers and sisters living in poverty must be complemented with a serious plan from our political leaders to reduce the number of needy. By speaking out collectively during this week, we can spark a national conversation, and create a mandate for the officials elected this year to aggressively pursue a poverty-reduction agenda.

By acting during this time, you can be a part of a national interfaith movement to build the political and public will to address poverty in America.

Join Us!

For more information visit www.fightingpovertywithfaith.com, www.spotlightonpoverty.org and www.jrf.org/hunger, where you can find resources on how to participate and find events near you!

SAVE THE DATE: Special conference call with national leaders, Tuesday, September 9th at 1pm. See http://jrf.org/hunger-week-call for details.

Other important dates to know:

• Final national event to tie everything together, press conference/prayer vigil is September 16th at 10 AM.
• On Sunday, September 14th at 4 PM Eastern Time, we are urging interested communities to hold an event and to open it with a Shofar-blowing to “shatter our complacency” as the Mahzor (Jewish High Holiday prayer book) indicates.

Let Melissa know if you are interested in participating with us:

Melissa Boteach, MBoteach@thejcpa.org
Policy Associate, Poverty Campaign Coordinator
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
1775 K Street NW, Suite 320
Washington, DC 20006
Office: 202-212-6039
Fax: 202-212-6002
www.jewishpublicaffairs.org

Sponsoring Organizations include:
Alliance to End Hunger, Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies, Bread for the World, Catholic Charities USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Interfaith Youth Core, Islamic Relief, Islamic Society of North America, The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, The National Council of Jewish Women, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, National Council of Churches, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, Presbyterian Church (USA) Washington Office, The Righteous Indignation Project, Sojourners, Union for Reform Judaism, United Jewish Communities

A crucial election day is only months away. At stake are vital political, economic and moral issues of concern to all Americans, in addition to issues of special concern to American Jews.

During the next four years, there will be important debates about the way our government does business. Legislation on significant issues such as health care, foreign aid, civil rights and support for Israel is likely to be considered by the next Congress and Administration. In addition, over the next four years, the President and Senate will confirm judges who will make crucial decisions affecting our lives. With the stakes so high, we must work to reverse the trend toward declining percentages of voters.

As Jews and American citizens we have an obligation to participate in the elections to ensure that our country's policies at the local, state and national levels reflect our commitment to social justice. Every vote counts and plays a defining role in setting policy agendas. It is our civic duty to register promptly, educate ourselves about the critical issues and VOTE!

The Get Out the Vote 2008 Guide attached to this article, provides you with tools, resources and information to help your congregation or community plan a successful voter engagement effort in advance of Election Day.

This guide was designed for use by Jewish congregations and communal organizations wishing to conduct their own voter registration drives. We also encourage participation in voter registration drives in the general community. The same procedures and materials that are suggested here for use in the Jewish community can be adapted for voter registration use in the broader community.

Rabbi Yitzhak taught, "A ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted" – Talmud, B’rachot 55a

The Guide was prepared by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and the larger Jewish community.

For additional resources see: http://rac.org/pubs/guidemanuals/vote08/

Since its publication in 1994, Kol Haneshamah: Shabbat Vehagim, the Reconstructionist Shabbat and Festival Prayerbook, has been used by thousands and thousands of Reconstructionist and non-Reconstructionist Jews for worship, prayer, and study in the synagogue and at home.

Shortly after the publication of the prayerbook, Braille Hebrew translator Caryn Navy and John Riehl, president of JRF's Chesapeake Region, began the arduous, complex, and ultimately rewarding task of taking an electronic version of the prayerbook and creating a Braille version which would be fully usable and accessible to visually-impaired Jews. The Reconstructionist movement fully supported this work, as did the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI International), which enthusiastically agreed to make copies of the prayerbook available to anyone requesting a copy, at no charge, once a "blind-user-friendly" version of the prayerbook had been produced.

In December, 2006, we announced that the Erev Shabbat portion of Shabbat Vehagim was available in Braille from the Jewish Braille Institute. Since that time, Caryn and John have continued their work on producing a fully accessible Braille prayerbook. Now, at last, the complete English and Hebrew text of all of the Shabbat and Havdallah Services (pages 1-527) are available in Braille at no charge from JBI International. The Erev Shabbat service is in Volumes 1 and 2; Shabbat Morning, Afternoon and Havdallah services are in Volumes 3 through 6.

To obtain all or a portion of the six volumes, at no charge, please call Pearl Lam at JBI at: (800-433-1531) or e-mail Pearl at plibrary@jbilibrary.org.

Where: Mishkan Shalom, 4101 Freeland Ave., Philadelphia, PA
When: Part 1 - Sunday September 28, 10 am to 12 noon; Part 2 - Date to be determined
Cost: $36 for Mishkan members, $54 non-members.

Fasting is an essential part of spiritual development, intended to purify the body, allowing non-material concerns to emerge. In the best sense, “we rise from the earth to meet the consciousness of the heavens,” yet many people who fast are plagued with headaches, nausea and dizziness, rather than enjoying an ascendant moment. This class, facilitated by Nancy Post, Ph.D., M.Ac., will cover how to prepare for and break fasts, and how to let fasting springboard into healthier eating.

Participants will learn how to avoid caffeine withdrawal headaches, how to handle medicines and supplements, when it's OK to drink water, and accommodations for those with a medical condition. Part 1, on Sunday september 28 from 10 am to 12 noon, will address fasting in preparation for Yom Kippur. Part 2 will describe and help participants learn how to migrate their diets to allow for cleansing on a regular basis.

This class will not be appropriate for pregnant or nursing women, diabetics, nor people with untreated psychiatric conditions.

About the presenter: Nancy Post promotes health in individuals and organizations. For 26 years, she has helped people and systems move toward healthy practices. Her Ph.D. is in Organizational Behavior and she is nationally certified in Chinese Medicine and Chinese Pharmacology as well as state certified as an Acupuncturist.

For more information or to register call the Mishkan Shalom office at 215-508-0226, ext. "0".

People of diverse faiths in almost 100 communities in 36 states are challenging candidates and elected officials to address the issue of poverty in America during "Week of Action” September 9 – 16, 2008. This call to action is to bring attention to the needs of the nation’s poor and urge candidates for elected office to outline what they would do in their first 100 days in office to develop comprehensive plans for reducing poverty and creating economic opportunity in the United States.

Visit www.jrf.org/fight-poverty-with-faith for full details of this initiative.

By speaking with one voice, participants seek to spark a national conversation, and create a mandate for the officials elected this year to aggressively pursue a poverty-reduction agenda. A coalition of 21 national faith groups is sponsoring the interfaith week of action.

A national kickoff conference call (call-in information below) and a closing prayer vigil on the steps of the United States Capitol bookend the week. Other activities include: grassroots writing and calling campaigns, forums to discuss these issues with local and national civic and political leadership. Groups will also engage in interfaith community service to aid those in need in their communities, and highlight the need for increased leadership from elected officials on these issues.

KEY NATIONAL EVENTS

National Conference Call
Sept. 9, 1:00 pm EDT

Speakers:

• Congressman John Lewis of Georgia
• Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director, The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• Rev. Clarence Williams, C.P.P.S., Senior Director for Racial Equality and Diversity, Catholic Charities USA
• Dr. Jared Bernstein, Director of the Living Standards Program, Economic Policy Institute

Toll-free dial-in number from within the US and Canada: 888-668-8585 (The toll number for international callers: (201-604-0409). Participant Access Code: 7905123#

Prayer Vigil on Capitol Hill
Sept. 16, 10:00 am EDT
Steps of U.S. Capitol

Speakers here:

• Rev. Larry Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
• Rabbi Steve Gutow, Executive Director, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• Rev. Jim Wallis, Chief Executive Officer, Sojourners
• Bishop James Mauney, Bishop for the Virginia Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• William Daroff, Vice President for Public Policy and Director the Washington Office, United Jewish Communities
• Jim McDonald, Vice President for Policy and Programs, Bread for the World
• Simone Campbell, Executive Director, NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

For more information, including details on local events, visit fight
Groups Participating in Fighting Poverty with Faith: A Week of Action:

Alliance to End Hunger
Association of Jewish Family and Children’s Agencies
Bread for the World
Catholic Charities USA
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Interfaith Youth Core
Islamic Relief
Islamic Society of North America
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
The National Council of Jewish Women
MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger
National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd
National Council of Churches
NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Presbyterian Church (USA) Washington Office
The Righteous Indignation Project
Sojourners
Union for Reform Judaism
United Jewish Communities
Women of Reform Judaism

Protesters at the July 27 rally at Agriprocessors' Postville, IA plant (photo from Shalom Rav, the blog of Rabbi Brant Rosen)JRF calls on the members of its affiliated communities to join together in dialogue and action in response to human rights and social justice infringements at Agriprocessors, Inc, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse.

To these ends, the JRF Update on Agriprocessors: Background and Action Steps, attached to this story, was compiled to assist you in your local communal and personal decision making.

For more information on JRF tikkun olam initiatives visit www.jrf.org/to or contact Rabbi Shawn Zevit at szevit@jrf.org.