Tag: Holy Days

13 Ways to Commemorate 9/11 (It is Still Not Too Late)

A favorite blog, Ima on (and off) the Bima, offered these 13 ideas of how to commemorate 9/11.

  1. Attend a ceremony. We will be at the flagpole at Am Shalom, 840 Vernon Avenue, in Glencoe, at 7:45am.
  2. Give blood.
  3. Donate money to a political campaign. Any campaign. Being able to participate freely in the democratic process is a victory!
  4. Call or connect with an old friend.
  5. Tell your children where you were when it happened.
  6. Send a card or care package to soldiers overseas
  7. Visit a veterans’ home or hospital.
  8. Bring flowers, cookies, or just a note to your local police or fire department.
  9. Read the biographies of some of the victims of the attacks. Share them with your family or friends.
  10. Fly a flag.
  11. Read the Bill of Rights. Remember how important it is to us.
  12. Wear red, white and blue.
  13. Smile at a stranger. Try to remember what it felt like on September 12th and 13th…we all felt connected, bonded. Everyone was a little kinder, a little gentler.

How did you commemorate this holy day?

Got Any Great Passover Seder Ideas?

We had two great seder experiences this year. One with the whole Kipnes East Coast family; one with just my folks, my sister and her family, my wife, kids and family.

One highlight was the use of Youtube videos for educational and sometimes just entertainment value purposes. One video kept everyone quiet and paying attention during Rachatza (washing).

Here are the videos and links:

Get Down Moses – early
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hH3crBQyyhY&feature=user are you smarter than a 7 year old?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJrKPb95YzU&eurl=http://www.crownheights.info/ Matzah man video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=naP1uOCiEfI&feature=related

Problems in Darfur
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qQwCCm-H-sU
The youngest two kids also regaled us, between parts of the seder, with Passover-themed magic tricks.

I’m collecting new suggestions for next year’s pre-Passover Seder Ideas article. Got any good ideas? Click on the comments button below and please share them.

Shake Up Your Seder: New and Collected Ideas 2008


Tired of the boring seder experience. Here are my new and collected Seder ideas for 2008/5768.

Check out the Seder Ideas!

By the way, the picture is from Or Ami’s annual Seder in the Wilderness Congregation Retreat. 400 people turn out for various Passover experiences. I was Pharaoh in 2007. View the pictures here. Join us at the retreat by clicking here.

Let me know if you used any.

The Shabbat the Rabbi Made House Calls

Shabbat this past Friday was celebrated in six different homes in six different neighborhoods around the San Fernando and Conejo Valleys. Prayer services were led by regular Jews. Oneg Shabbat, sweet desserts, baked or bought, was enjoyed “pot luck” style. No need for the rabbi to lead services at Temple. So what’s a rabbi to do on such a Shabbat?

My wife Michelle and I love Congregation Or Ami’s annual Neighborhood Shabbat as it gives us the opportunity to celebrate Shabbat with a diverse group of Jewish individuals and families spread out from Tarzana through Agoura. (A few years ago, our North American Reform Jewish Movement won a creative programming award for this project.) Thanks to the organizational acumen of Calabasas resident (and Bay Laurel Elementary School teacher) Kathleen Sternbach, we joined over 100 Or Ami families who attend one of the Shabbat experiences in their own neighborhood. So, plugging six addresses into our GPS, we boarded our Shabbat-mobile (Honda Odyssey minivan) to experience Shabbat on the road. Thus the Rabbi began his house calls.
In living rooms across the Conejo and West San Fernando Valleys, with warmth and informality, we experienced a haimische (warm family friendly) Sabbath. We lit candles and blessed the wine and challah (bread) at the Spears/Ginsburg family’s Woodland Hills home, and then chanted Shabbat service prayers at the Barnes family’s Tarzana home and at the Sternbach’s Calabasas Park home. We ate a delicious dinner at the Melnick’s Calabasas Park home, followed by desserts at the Pattiz family’s Agoura home and at the Evans family’s Park Granada home.
What did this rabbi learn while making Shabbat house calls? Though we spent only a few minutes in each location, Michelle and I were moved by the pervading sense of warmth and community. Neighbors were getting to know each other by means of our age-old Jewish tradition. Relationships were being built upon shared experiences created in our own homes. Holiness discovered in the living room and around the dining room table.
We are told that our Biblical ancestor Jacob, wandering in the wilderness, dreamt of a ladder ascending to heaven, with angels climbing up and down. God stood beside the ladder and assured Jacob that God would be with him throughout his life. Jacob awoke soon after and called out, “Wow, God was in this place and I did not know it!”
One participant commented similarly that he never imagined that he could have such a spiritual, community experience in his own home. That’s why Or Ami dedicates one Shabbat a year as Neighborhood Shabbat. To remind people, or to teach them anew, that holiness can be found everywhere. I slept soundly that Shabbat, refreshed from an evening of spiritual house calls, renewed in my own commitment to the holiness of Shabbat in community.

Jews, Chinese Food, Movies and Christmas

Catch this video which says it all. I found it on another blog, I am a Liberal Jew and I am Pissed.

I love it when Chanukah comes early. We get our holiday with less of the craziness and commercialization than if it arrived around the same time as that “other holiday.”

Why do Jews go to movies on Christmas and eat Chinese food? Since the Chinese in general did not celebrate Christmas back in the day, their restaurants were open. Thus our non-holiday meal. Why movies? What else is there to do?

What will I be doing this Christmas? Movies definitely. We might substitute Thai food however for the Chinese food…

Treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder Takes a Page from Chanukah

I recently learned that a relative has Seasonal Affective Disorder, SAD for short. Like others effected by SAD, this relative is profoundly changed as the seasons change. Her moods, her energy, and her concentration are dampened as the weather darkens. I laughed as I heard this, sharing that I prefer it out here in California because the the days of overcast skies are fewer and farther between.

Here comes the New York Times (12/18/07) article, Brought on by Darkness, Disorder Needs Light (By RICHARD A. FRIEDMAN, M.D.), which argues that More than winter blahs, seasonal depression is recognized and treatable.
The article notes that: Researchers have noted a similarity between SAD symptoms and seasonal changes in other mammals, particularly those that sensibly pass the dark winter hibernating in a warm hole. Animals have brain circuits that sense day length and control the timing of seasonal behavior. Do humans do the same? In 2001, Dr. Thomas A. Wehr and Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, psychiatrists at the National Institute of Mental Health, ran an intriguing experiment. They studied two patient groups for 24 hours in winter and summer, one group with seasonal depression and one without. A major biological signal tracking seasonal sunlight changes is melatonin, a brain chemical turned on by darkness and off by light. Dr. Wehr and Dr. Rosenthal found that the patients with seasonal depression had a longer duration of nocturnal melatonin secretion in the winter than in the summer, just as with other mammals with seasonal behavior.

So what do they suggest? Bright lights. Here’s what’s fascinating to me: We Jews figured that out a long time ago. At the darkest times of the year, the winter solistice, Jews celebrate Chanukah. Our rabbis, in their brilliance, told us that in the dark darkness, we Jews should light lights, increasing the lights evening by evening. Where darkness and overcast skies bring depression, Chanukah brings hope. Score one for the rabbis!

No Limit Texas Hold’em DRIEDEL

Just when you thought Chanukah couldn’t get any more interesting! As the Jewish Forward explains it:

There is a new game called No Limit Texas Dreidel (www.moderntribe.com, 877-324-1818; $18). This is not a bad concept. Poker has traditionally held more fascination for kids than a game of dreidel. Poker has all the money that goes on the table, all the exhilarating risk and the maddening mathematical calculations. It is — to put it mildly — a lot of fun. Dreidel, well… it’s just spinning a dreidel, isn’t it? Even though there’s often chocolate involved, it can’t really compete. And even though when you hear the words “No Limit Texas Dreidel,” you immediately think that this is a shameless attempt to capitalize on the ESPN generation, No Limit Texas Dreidel creates a reasonable facsimile of poker — but without the insane $1,000 bets and the cigar smoke at the table. The stakes are small (chocolate gelt), and figuring out the odds of your hand are much, much easier.

Questions? Check out their FAQ page.
Each player spins his or her own personal dreidel — what the game calls the “hole” dreidel. (Like your hole cards in poker. Get it?) You cover it in a little plastic shaker, and then the table has a round of betting. Chocolate gelt goes into a pot in the middle of the table. Then there are two community spins of the dreidel, followed by another two rounds of betting. “Gimel” is the highest-ranked letter you can get. “Hey” the second highest. “Nun” the third. “Shin” the worst. You have to match up the three highest dreidels — as you would in poker — to create three-of-a-kind hands or pairs. “Remember,” the rules of the game advise, “this game is ‘No Limit,’ so PLAYERS can go all in at any time, betting their entire stash of gelt and forcing players to match their bet or fold. Bluffing is allowed and encouraged. Practice your DREIDEL FACE!”

Mervyn’s Child Spree: Spreading the Light to Foster Kids

It is wonderful to feel so proud of our Congregation Or Ami!

Deborah Echt-Moxness, Social Action Co-chair, explains:

When Or Ami’s President Sue Gould found out there was not going to be Mervyn’s-sponsored Holiday Shopping Child Spree this year, she immediately went to our generous and compassionate Rabbi Paul Kipnes, who instantly fronted tzedakah from his Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund for 23 foster children from the Department of Child and Family Services in Chatworth to go shopping at Mervyn’s in Canoga Park. When the foster children arrived at the store, they were greeted by 23 Temple congregants who escorted them individually and helped the children shop for things they needed and wanted. The smiles on everyone’s face speaks louder than words and attests to the fact that when you give, you get much more back in return: the warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing you helped someone and made them feel special! Each foster child had $122.00 to shop for essentials and Christmas gifts.

For all the Temple members, this was a meaningful way to begin the week of Chanukah by spreading the Light into the hearts of foster kids! This event would never have taken place without the devotion and help of Lovette Panthier, who runs the Adopt a Child Abuse Case-worker Program.

View the Child Spree pictures.

Or Ami in the News: Rededication at Chanukah Time


Los Angeles Daily News (12/4/07) focuses on Or Ami’s Chanukah celebrations. Quoting Rabbi Paul Kipnes and congregant Judy Soffer, we read:

“I think most families don’t re-tell the story,” said Rabbi Paul Kipnes from Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas. “They jump quickly to the presents when they could be discussing religious freedom. “If a holiday is all about giving gifts, that’s nice, but it’s not meaningful because it becomes only about you and me. Judaism is about more. It’s raising up everybody – lighting up the world to be a brighter and better place.” Members of Congregation Or Ami – Hebrew for “Light of My People” – will receive a Hanukkah package with a sufganiyot, a traditional Israeli doughnut, along with a booklet that emphasizes telling the story and suggestions for other Hanukkah activities. Re-dedication to family, community and healing the earth is what Kipnes hopes his congregation will accept. “Reclaim the holiness of Hanukkah,” Kipnes said. “What did you do last year? Did you tell the story? Sing Hanukkah songs? Did you think about the freedom we have here? Did you think about getting rid of the darkness in your part of the world?” Judy Soffer, a member of Congregation Or Ami, planned her family’s Hanukkah observance so that next year she can say “yes” to all of the above. “When I was growing up, I think that Hanukkah was always a holiday to light candles and get presents. I didn’t really understand the why behind it,” she said. “This year my family will make each night special. One day we will go over the story. Another night we will talk about what charity we will give to,” Soffer said. “Hanukkah is a time that I feel grateful that I live in this country where I can practice my Judaism while being an American.” With the family’s electric menorah proclaiming their celebration of Hanukkah, Soffer will make potato latkes with extended family members one night and have a party with dreidel games. She also plans to buy a CD of Hanukkah songs.

10 Ideas for a Spiritual Thanksgiving

Collected by Rabbi Paul J. Kipnes, Congregation Or Ami, Calabasas, CA
(Adapted and expanded from work by Rabbi H. Rafael Goldstein) Rabbi H. Rafael Goldstein writes: “We do not often think of Thanksgiving as a Jewish holiday – it is an American holiday which we, as Americans observe. Thanksgiving in America was started by Christian pilgrims, and infused by many Christian values. In the media, we are surrounded by images of people sitting down to their Thanksgiving dinner and “saying grace,” celebrating the Christianity of Thanksgiving. There are always special program episodes on TV of all of our favorite shows, in which, for one episode a year, the people in the show actually express some human kindness. Homeless people are visited and fed, others in need are helped, and the heroes of our shows demonstrate that they can be “good people.” It seems that we have not developed our own specifically Jewish traditions for Thanksgiving. Yet, Thanksgiving is an interpretation of our holiday, Sukkot, the fall festival designated to thank God for the bountiful harvest. As American Jews, we should revel in celebration of an American holiday, and not have any feelings of discomfort about it. Thanking God, after all, is a value we all share.”

  1. Begin with a blessing. A collection of Blessings for Your Thanksgiving Table are found at www.orami.org on the Holidays page.
  1. Light Candles: Light candles at your table. There is no blessing for Thanksgiving candles, which means you get to make your own!!! Start out with the way we start all our blessings, Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech Ha’olam… (Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Guide of the Universe, who we thank for …) Then finish the sentence as you see fit. As you light your candles, invite others at your table to make their own blessings, using the same formula.
  1. Challah and Wine: Have challah (or delicious bread) and wine at your table, and say the blessings for them. Wine: Use the blessing formula above plus: Boray p’ri hagafen (who brings forth fruit of the vine). Challah: Use the blessing formula above plus: Hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz (who brings forth bread from the earth).

  1. Shehecheyanu: Thanksgiving is a great time to say shehechayanu (the blessing for thanking God for keeping us alive to enjoy this moment). Use the formula plus: shehechayanu, v’kiyimanu, v’higianu lazman hazeh (who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment).
  1. Share Symbols of Thankfulness: Ask everyone invited to your dinner to bring something which symbolizes what they are thankful for. After the blessings, before dinner, have everyone talk about what they brought and its significance. Be sure everyone knows to bring something, and has a chance to talk, including children.
  1. Light a Yahrzeit Candle to Remember Deceased Relatives: Make some time for remembering the people who are not with you, either because of distance, family obligations (or preferences) or death. Families change. The people sitting at your table all have other family members with whom they are not sitting (in-laws, cousins, parents and grandparents, children who are with former spouses, etc.) Talk about who else is not physically there. A moment of silence for people who have died, and are missed can be a great way of allowing people to remember. Have people talk about who they miss and special things about them from previous Thanksgivings. You can also light Yahrzeit candles for people who have died as a part of remembering.
  1. Do some random mitzvot (acts of lovingkindness): Collect and deliver food, household and personal supplies to people who need them. There are plenty of food drives at this time of year. Contribute food. Make a donation in honor of the people coming to your dinner (or alternatively, in honor of your hosts) to your congregation, the Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Service, Mazon (Jewish hunger organization) or a local shelter. Invite a single person, or people whose families are distant, to be your special guests. If you are a guest this year for the first time, donate what you would have spent hosting a dinner for others in honor of those you would have invited, or in honor of your hosts.
  1. Teach children about the connections between Thanksgiving and the Bible. Remember, for the Jewish community, Thanksgiving offers a special opportunity to be grateful not only for the bounties and comforts of our lives but especially for the religious freedom we have found in the United States of America. The Bible was very important in the Pilgrims’ lives. When they wanted to give thanks to God for helping them survive, they recalled the harvest festival (Sukkot) they had read about in the Bible (Deuteronomy 16:13-17). They used the Sukkot celebration as their model. In 1702, author Cotton Mather referred to the Plymouth colony as “this little Israel.” He compared William Bradford, Plymouth’s second governor, to “Moses, who led his people out of the wilderness.” Look up the URJ’s Thanksgiving page at: http://urj.org/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=1704&destination=ShowItem
  1. Review Jewish Values about Hunger and Poverty. As we sit down with our family and friends at the Thanksgiving table and offer thanks for the bounty that is ours, we often forget about the thousands of people in America, Canada and around the world who do not share our prosperity. While we gorge ourselves on turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, others do not even have the bare necessities to sustain themselves and their families. Jewish tradition teaches us that we are required to feed the hungry. Instead of celebrating this holiday in our own insular family units, Thanksgiving is a perfect time to reach out to the community and serve those who are most in need. Print out these Jewish texts, read them at your table, and then discuss how you can make a difference in the world. Find more ideas at www.rac.org.

· If there is among you a poor person, one of your kin, in any of your towns within your land which God gives you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against them, but you shall open your hand to them, and lend them sufficient for their needs, whatever they may be. –Deuteronomy 15:7-8 · This is the fast I desire: to unlock fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free; to break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh. (Isaiah 58:7-8) · When you are asked in the world to come, “What was your work?” and you answer: “I fed the hungry,” you will be told: “This is the gate of the Eternal, enter into it, you who have fed the hungry. (Midrash Psalms 118:17) · When you give food to a hungry person, give your best and sweetest food. (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Issurei Mizbayach 7:11) · Hunger is isolating; it may not and cannot be experienced vicariously. He who never felt hunger can never know its real effects, both tangible and intangible. Hunger defies imagination; it even defies memory. Hunger is felt only in the present. (Elie Wiesel)

  1. Read Jewish Perspectives on Thanksgiving Day. Kevin Proffitt writes: “The Pilgrims of Plymouth observed the first American Thanksgiving in 1621, when Governor William Bradford proclaimed a special day of thanks for the colony’s first harvest. To celebrate, the Pilgrims prepared a feast that they shared with their Native American neighbors. Some time later, in the eighteenth century, many of the thirteen colonies observed days of prayer and gratitude during the harvest season. But it was not until 1777 that they agreed to observe a common day of thanksgiving.” Read more at http://tmt.urj.net/archives/2socialaction/112205.htm

Burning Man: Nevada Desert Festival Sheds Light on Sukkot


Jewish Journal’s Rob Eshman captures the excitement of Sukkot as he reflects on Burning Man:

I have perfectly normal, respectable friends — doctors, producers, financiers — who every year slip into something more comfortable and head down to Burning Man. About 25,000 gather for one week each year in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to create “an experimental community.” “You have to come,” they say each year, and each year I look at their photos from a week spent in the Nevada desert in the baking sun with thousands of strangers into everything from Druid solstice worship to group hug camps and tell them, “Um, no thanks.” Part of me can think of nothing I’d rather do than take a break from my professional and familial duties and watch aging and wannabe hippies do naked yoga in the Nevada sun — one must always expand one’s horizons. Read on…