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Machzor Blog: A Sin By Any Other Name

11505867Folks out there – colleagues and laypeople alike – feel quite strongly about the use of the word “sin” in the new machzor. Or so it seems from the feedback we’ve heard in the piloting process.  But these strong feelings about the word “sin” fall into two opposite camps.  There are those who object to the English word sin because of its Christian overtones, the sense it carries of permanence and of somehow being stained.  Others suspect that our decision to largely use other words (though not exclusively) such as “wrong” reflects a kind of moral relativism where nothing can be catagorically labeled as, well, a sin.

 The three words that are predominately used in the Torah and in our liturgy are cheyt, avon and pesha.  According to a baraita cited in Tractate Yoma 36b, each of these words refers to a distinct kind of sin.    Cheyt refers to inadvertent sins.  Avon references deliberate sins.  Pesha, the most severe, refers to sins committed as a way of rebelling against God.

 In our Kol Nidre service, these terms are translated in one place as “wrongs,” “act of injustice,” and “moral failures.”

The word most often used throughout the liturgy is cheyt, and the translation utilized by the new machzor most often is “wrong.”  This word seems to address both those who are looking to the machzor to provide clear moral standards, as well as those who fear that the word “sin” doesn’t carry with it the possibility for change.

Here is how the Vidui Rabbah is translated in the Kol Nidre pilot draft, page 47a:

 For the wrong we have done in Your presence by the spoken word,

And for the wrong we have done in Your presence through insincere promises….

 In the draft for Yom Kippur Minchah, we introduced a very different translation of the word cheyt.  Drawing upon the oft-cited etymology of the word as derived from “missing the goal” the pilot draft, page 50a and b, offered this translation:

 For missing the mark in Your presence through a selfish or petty spirit,

And for missing the mark in your presence through stubbornness.

 Maybe it was the absence of a commentary or explanation below the line, but this creative way of translation cheyt was viewed as highly objectionable, and laypeople and rabbis alike told us that this translation simply will not work.

Even the best translation and the most insightful commentary below the line cannot fully unpack the notion of sin, or wrong, or failure.  In the same 300px-Kol_Nidrei-2Talmudic sugya referenced above the Rabbis are bothered by the fact that the order of the three primary words for sin in High Priest’s confession doesn’t make sense in light of their own definitions.  For the Rabbis, the order to sin, in increasing severity, should be cheyt, avon, and pesha.  This therefore should be the correct order of the High Priest’s confession.  But Leviticus 16: 21 prescribes that the sins transferred to the scapegoat by the confession are avon, pesha, and cheyt.  Likewise, in Exodus 34:7 (the verse that forms the basis of our selichot prayers), God is described as nosei avon, va’pesha v’chata…

The Talmud solves the problem in an ingenious way. Rabbah bar Shmuel said in the name of Rav: The halakhah follows the view of the Sages. Moses was saying before the Holy One of Blessing, “Master of the Universe, at a time when Israel sins before you and then repents, transform for them their deliberate sins into inadvertent sins.”

In other words, the order of sins in the Torah comes not to teach us the order of the High Priest’s confession, but rather to teach that repentance has the power to change the order of what we’ve done, to transform even deliberate and rebellious sins into less severe inadvertent sins.

With regard to our translations then, might we say that teshuvah can turn “sin” into “wrong,” or even in to “missing the mark.”

Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor.

 

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Ethics General CCAR News Reform Judaism Statements

Arming Rabbis? Not in My Time, I Pray.

Yes, I have fired a gun on more than one occasion; most recently at a training range on a Kibbutz in Israel* in 2009 and early on as a teenager at target practice with a friend and his dad.  The experiences unnerved me; the echoing boom, the kick of the weapon and even more, the thought that the gun I fired, no matter how small, had the potential to take a human life.

Mourning in Newtown, CT
Mourning in Newtown, CT

My limited experience with weapons affirms for me the sentiments I have been hearing these past two weeks from my colleagues, friends and so many grieving families across the nation.  Guns are far too easy to use — and misuse — and we must continue to demand from Congress reasonable regulations for guns and assault weapons.

The “solution” suggested last week by the NRA- placing armed guards in schools- is beyond absurd. Even since Newtown there have been other mass shootings, including in a church, to which Gail Collins of the NY Times said in context of the NRA’s comment, “We will await the next grand plan for arming ministers.”

Not in my time, I pray- may we not see armed ministers, rabbis or school security guards.

For decades the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) has decried “the power of the NRA in controlling the debate on gun control” (2000) and called upon “the U.S. Congress to eschew the support of the NRA and to vote their support of stringent gun-control legislation”(1987).

Our resolution has not changed; we continue to support meaningful gun control legislation that will stem these senseless episodes of mass violence.  In the CCAR’s recent public statement about the Newtown shootings, we expressed our condolences to whose who suffered losses, sympathies for those wounded, and fear that the NRA will continue to thwart not just legislation, but even conversation, about the need to stop the gun violence.

But expressing these feelings is not enough.

Reform Rabbis who are on the front lines of Jewish communal life can join together, and with clergy of other faiths, to advocate in support of meaningful gun control nationwide and in their own communities- (studies indicate that “states with strong gun laws and low rates of gun ownership had far lower rates of firearm-related death”).  At the CCAR we remain committed to providing rabbis with resources on ways that they may advocate and organize, such as in partnership with Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center.

Importantly, the CCAR also provides our rabbis personal support and resources as their communities turn to them for religious and pastoral comfort in time of tragedy.  Our volunteer Rabbis on Call and Rabbinic Hotline, as well as CCAR’s Rabbinic Staff, support rabbis who themselves offer prayer and comfort to their communities.  We also provide resources grounded in Jewish text, theology, and philosophy on subjects ranging from the sanctity of life to the abhorrence of violence.

Our rabbis also benefit from the strength of partnership.  At the end of last week, the CCAR joined forces with the Rabbinical Assembly (the Conservative Rabbis), and the Religious Action Center to provide hundreds of rabbis the opportunity to learn from other leaders in our faith; including one of our rabbis who is serving Newtown as the Director of Spiritual Care at Danbury Hospital; a rabbi and advocate for Faiths United Against Gun Violence; and from the Executive Director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

In the CCAR’s latest statement, we expressed our understanding that comprehensive laws cannot stop all gun violence.  But we must continue to act in the words of our tradition: “one who saves one life saves a whole world.”

*Important footnote:  As to the incorrect statements made last week by the pro-gun lobby, Israel is actually a country with strict control over weapons in the civilian population.

 

 

 

 

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Books General CCAR News Prayer Reform Judaism

Machzor Blog: Piyyutim and the Machzor

There was a time, more than century and a half ago, when piyyutim were seen largely as a kind of cultural burden to be cast aside in order to make the service shorter and more meaningful.  Early liturgical reformers argued that the siddur and machzor had grown too lengthy and no longer inspired modern Jews.  Piyyutim – medieval poetic extensions of the traditional prayers, with allusions incomprehensible to the average congregant – were first on the chopping block. The irony, however, lies in the fact that the piyut was itself a sort of liturgical reform.  While earlier generations of Jews were unable to change the statutory service itself, piyyutim allowed for an imaginative embellishment of that service.  It highlighted and expanded particular parts of the liturgy.  It added additional opportunities for congregational singing.  It was, in short, an early version of the “creative service.”

Over the past decade, there has been a growing phenomenon in Israel centered around the rediscovery and revival of medieval piyutim – not just in the synagogue (in fact, largely not in the synagogue), but rather in the cultural realms largely controlled by self-defined “secular” Jews.  Once seen primarily as an impediment for the modern worshiper, piyyutim are now being studied and sung by local “kehillot sharot” / singing communities that gather weekly in homes and community centers.  These groups combine community building, ethnomusicology, history and text study.  New CDs by popular artists are constantly being released with new musical settings to these piyyutim. Piyyut festivals in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv have drawn hundreds of people of all ages.  The interest in reviving piyut is fueled in part by the small but significant programs and projects that driven by native-born self-described “secular” Israelis rediscovering the Jewish bookshelf, and reclaiming Jewish heritage on their own terms and in their own way.

There is an amazing website that has a staggering collection of recordings of piyyutim from dozens of different communities, explanations of the piyyut’s authorship and history, and the lyrics.  One piyut alone might have a dozen recordings made from paytanim, chazanim and congregations.  The most robust part of the site is in Hebrew only, but a significant selection of materials is available on the English language part of the site.  Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in New York convened a conference a few years back aimed at bringing the piyyut phenomenon to America, and some materials that emerged from that effort are also on the English language part of the site.

Creating a new Reform machzor that will be used for the next 30-40 years requires us to pay attention to this growing piyyut revival. From these creative efforts, our congregations may find new models for re-introducing this classic poetry to the Reform synagogue.

The new openness to expanding the number of piyyutim is found in several places within the machzor, but most especially with the selichot prayers of Yom Kippur, particularly the most fully developed version in Kol Nidre.

So here are two piyyutim that we have included in the draft of the new machzor, and a link to one traditional and one contemporary recording of each.  Enjoy.

Here is Yonatan Razel singing Adon HaSelichot (Chatanu lifanecha.)

Here is the same piyyut sung in the traditional style of Jerusalem Sefardi community.

Here is Meir Banai singing his arrangement of Aneinu.

And the same piyyut sung by the Cochin Jews of India.

Learn more about the new CCAR Machzor.

 

 

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CCAR on the Road General CCAR News Reform Judaism

Chanukah Blessing in the White House: Only in America

Rabbi Steve Fox and President Barack Obama

Many mixed emotions ran through me last night as the harmonious voices of hundreds of Jewish community leaders joined with the President and First Lady of the United States in the singing of the Chanukah blessings.  We then joined in a Shehecheyanu prayer as we celebrated the sixth night of Chanukah and the sixth annual Chanukah White House celebration, led by a military rabbi who just last year helped Jewish soldiers in combat.

Surrounded by rabbinic colleagues, family and friends from the community – new and old ones – and, my excitement and energy was tempered by a twinge of melancholy.  I could not help but think of my immigrant parents who never would have been invited to the seats of power in their countries of origin, Germany and Austria – in fact, just the opposite was true; they fled from the oppressive governments that sought to destroy them and their communities.

I can hear their accented voices saying “only in America”:  for only in America can immigrants from Germany and Austria rebuild lives, raising a son and a daughter who both now serve the Jewish people as rabbis.  Only in America would their son be invited to the White House – the home of the highest leader of the government — representing the Reform Rabbinate.  Only in America can the President, First Lady, Rabbis and community leaders join together singing blessing representing our enduring capacity to overcome oppression, be it 2,000 years ago or a mere 70 years ago or in the world today. As my parents would say, “only in America – Happy Chanukah.”

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Books General CCAR Prayer

Machzor Blog: Faithful Translations

Some Rabbinic texts suggest that the first translation of the Torah into Greek received a kind of divine imprimatur by the Holy One himself (or, herself).  Seventy translators each produced an identical translation, a miraculous feat!  In contrast, other Rabbinic sources explicitly assert that the day the Torah was translated into Greek was as disastrous to the Jewish people as the sin of the golden calf.  So, for the past 2,500 years, translation has been fraught with danger and also with very strong reactions. And so, too for our machzor.

The fresh, poetic translations found within the new Machzor are perhaps the very first thing that pilot congregations have noticed.  The philosophy that our primary translators, Rabbis Shelly and Janet Marder, have embraced is to achieve a faithful translation that is the equivalent to the original Hebrew, but not identical to it.  Shelly writes in the introduction to the pilot for Rosh HaShanah morning: “We want to replicate the beauty, the poetry, and the richness of imagery and metaphor that the Hebrew prayer presents.  That is all but impossible if one translates word for word or phrase for phrase; to replicate beauty, poetry, and richness we must translate ‘idea for idea’ and ‘feeling for feeling.’”

Our own discussions about translation find some surprising parallels within the Catholic Church.  The English-speaking Catholic Church recently introduced a new missal for the Mass.  It chose English words that reflected a more “accurate” translation of the Latin.  But such a philosophy of translation ran counter to the wishes of many laypeople and clergy.  You can read more about this here.

In the pilot machzor, Shelly writes, “We strive here for English renderings that are as pleasing to heart, mind, soul, and ear as the original prayers are in Hebrew.”

Here are 3 renderings of the prayer, Hayom Harat Olam compiled by Shelly.  Though they differ from one another, the translations below are considered by their authors to be faithful renderings of those Hebrew prayers.

Gates of Repentence (1978, Reform)

 This is the day of the world’s birth. This day all creatures stand before You, whether

as children or as slaves. As we are Your children, show us a parent’s compassion; as

we are slaves, we look to You for mercy: shed the light of Your judgment upon us, O

awesome and holy God.

 

Mahzor Lev Shalem (2010, Conservative)

 Today the world stands as at birth. Today all creation is called to judgment, whether

as Your children or as Your servants. If as Your children, be compassionate with

us as a parent is compassionate with children. If as Your servants, we look to You

expectantly, waiting for You to be gracious to us, and as day emerges from night

bring forth a favorable judgment on our behalf, awe-inspiring and Holy One.

 

Our forthcoming Reform machzor (a work in progress)

 This day, the world is born anew, and all creation awaits Your judgment.

We are Your daughters; we are Your sons —

So love and remember us in the way of mothers and fathers.

We are Yours in service —

so let there be light to guide us in the corridors of justice and on the path of holiness.

 And here are 3 different translations of Areshet S’fateinu:

 

Gates of Repentence (1978, Reform)

 O God Supreme, accept the offering of our lips, the sound of the Shofar. In love and

favor hear us, as we invoke your remembrance.

 

Mahzor Lev Shalem (2010, Conservative)

 May the words of our lips be pleasing to You, exalted God, who listens, discerns,

considers, and attends to the sound of our shofar blast. Lovingly accept our offering

of verses proclaiming Your remembrance.

 

Our forthcoming Reform machzor (a work in progress)

 Taste the sweetness our lips sing to You, God Most High. You are knowing and

attentive, watchful and aware when we call out: T’kiah! Lovingly, favorably receive

our Service of Zichronot!

 

What strikes you most as you compare the three translations of each prayer?

What is most important to you about the English translation of a Hebrew prayer?  What are the qualities about a translation that you value most?

 [Find out more about the new CCAR machzor.]

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CCAR on the Road Israel

Challenges and Inspiration: The Final Day of the CCAR Israel Trip

T'filah at Beit Daniel, Tel Aviv, with Rabbi Or Zohar
T’filah at Beit Daniel, Tel Aviv, with Rabbi Or Zohar

We began our final day today with t’filot at Beit Daniel, Tel Aviv’s central Reform congregation, led by the newly ordained and very musical Rabbi Or Zohar.  After services Or shared his moving personal story, his professional journey, and the story of the congregation he founded, K’hilat HaLev.  We also spoke with Rabbi Meir Azari, the founder of Beit Daniel about his important work.

Our next conversation was with Colonel Ben Tzion Gruber, from the IDF, who spoke with us about the ethics of warfare.   He described in great detail the ethical conflicts faced by soldiers, and the way in which soldiers are trained to make ethical choices in situations that call for immediate action.  He used specific examples from the recent conflict with Gaza, with film footage and photographs, speaking about the ways that Israeli tries to avoid collateral damage, including the advance leafleting of targeted areas, the use of phone calls and text messages to civilians to warn of incoming fire, and the last minute diversion of strikes when civilian casualties look likely.  He also discussed some of the facts regarding Gaza that are often not reported or misreported by the media, like fact that over 10,000 Gazans a year are treated at Israeli hospitals, and that 35% of the electricity used in Gaza is supplied by Israel, among many others issues.  It was a lot to take in but provided a fascinating look into Israeli military decision-making and provided the group with a unique perspective.

Colonel Bentzi Gruber

From there we went to Levinsky Square to learn about the situation of African refugees in Tel Aviv.  We spoke to Danny, a volunteer from the Hotline for Migrant Workers, who described the terrible situation in which these refugees are living, without any legal rights, access to medical care, and in serious poverty.  He told us that part of his motivation in doing this volunteer work is that his parents were refugees from Hungary, Holocaust survivors who made their way to Israel and found a new home for themselves.  For him, Israel has a moral obligation to help these new refugees, regardless of the fact that they are not Jews.  These people, mostly from Eritrea and the Sudan, come to Israel via Sinai, escaping persecution and danger in their home countries.  Their presence has transformed South Tel Aviv, and created a major challenge to the residents and to the government.  We visited a young woman from Eritrea now working in a daycare center that the community has established, and she spoke of wanting to go home when things get better there.  She described a bleak existence in which people live hand-to-mouth existences, at the mercy of employees who are paying them “off the books”, and living without any rights or legal status.  She also spoke of the prevalence of domestic abuse within the community, which she felt was due to the breakdown of the traditional extended family structure. The center in which she works is funded by donations, some of which came from the American Embassy.

At Leket

Our last stop was at Leket: Israel’s National Food Bank, an inspiring organization that feeds the hungry throughout Israel.  They collect foods from fields that would otherwise go uncollected, as well as unsellable food nearing expiration dates from manufacturers.  They supply this food to organizations and schools around the country.  At this time they are working to supply food to areas in the south that have suffered a great economic hit from the constant barrage of missiles which have caused businesses to close and many to be unemployed.  They also have other projects like one that makes lunch for school children whose families don’t have the resources to provide nutritional meals for them, including both Jewish and Arab schools.  The rabbis then donned rubber gloves and got to work, helping to sort surplus vegetables, pack crates, and load pallets that will head off to different community organizations tomorrow.

Finally, after packing and checking out, it was time for our final dinner, graciously provided by the beautiful David Intercontinental.  In another one of the only-in-Israel moments, our host at the hotel turned out to be an old friend of Rabbi Alan Katz’s son.  After a discussion reflecting on the experience of this powerful week of learning and experiencing together, and after expressing tremendous thanks to our member guide Rabbi Michael Weinberg, our tour educator Uri Feinberg, and the whole staff of ARZA/Da’at, most of the group set off for the airport, ready to return home with stories to tell and future trips to plan.

 

 

 

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CCAR on the Road Israel

From Kabbalah to Independence: Day 5 of the CCAR Israel Trip

Ari Synagogue in TzfatTuesday started off rainy but still beautiful in the Galil.  After another incredible Israseli breakfast buffet at the Pastoral at Kibbutz Kfar Blum we set off for Tzfat, where we trekked between rain drops to the Karo and Luria synagogues, and had a short visit in an artist’s studio.  Of course Jewish geography played a role as it always does in Israel, and it turned out that the artist is originally from Denver and knew Rabbi Steve Kaye from childhood.

We then headed down to Tel Aviv and grabbed a quick lunch at Aboulafia in Yafo, a nostalgic visit for some members of our group.  From there we had a great tour of the Levinsky Market, where we met with different shopkeepers originally from Salonika, Turkey, and Georgia to name a few.  We heard the stories of their families and their businesses, and happily tasted their wares: pickles, cheeses, burekas, lemonade, a yogurt drink, and spiced couscous.   At one shop we also got to touch and smell ambergris, a form of concentrated whale musk, apparently used as a homeopathic aphrodisiac (who knew?).

From there we went to the newly redone Independence Hall, speaking about the history of Tel Aviv as we walked over there.  Once there we got to sit in the actual At Independence Hall in Tel AvivHall where it all happened, and hear a recording of Ben Gurion reading the Proclamation of Independence in May, 1948, followed by the singing of HaTikvah.  It was a surprisingly moving moment for some of the group.

After we checked into our hotel in Tel Aviv, we met with Gershon Baskin, the co-chair of IPCRI, the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information (an Israeli- Palestinian public policy think-tank) and columnist for the Jerusalem Post.  He provided an interesting, and at times challenging, perspective on the recent situation in Gaza, including his sense that recent events have only empowered extremists on both sides rather than helping foster moderation, bringing about, in his words, “a mutual hurting stalemate.”  He also spoke about the Area E-1 controversy, and on the interdependent relationship between Israel and the West Bank Palestinians, giving examples of economic partnerships happening beyond the headlines.  He also spoke about his role in the securing the release of Gilad Schalit.

We ended the day with a delicious dinner at the Yemenite restaurant Maganda, and little socializing before crawling into bed, exhausted.

 

 

 

Categories
Israel News Reform Judaism Statements

Reform Movement Response to United Nations

Photo By Bill Aron

The Central Conference of American Rabbis has joined with the Union for Reform Judaism, ARZA and ARZA-Canada to issue a Reform Movement statement about the United Nations decision to upgrade the status of the Palestinians as a “non-member observer state.”
http://ccarnet.org/joint-statement-un-palestinian-status/

A CCAR Mission of Reform Rabbis is currently in Israel.  Follow our Rabbis as they show our support for Israel and as the CCAR leads our communities in engagement with Israel by visiting Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Israel News Reform Judaism Statements

Reform Movement Response to
United Nations

Photo By Bill Aron

The Central Conference of American Rabbis has joined with the Union for Reform Judaism, ARZA and ARZA-Canada to issue a Reform Movement statement about the United Nations decision to upgrade the status of the Palestinians as a “non-member observer state.”
http://ccarnet.org/joint-statement-un-palestinian-status/

A CCAR Mission of Reform Rabbis is currently in Israel.  Follow our Rabbis as they show our support for Israel and as the CCAR leads our communities in engagement with Israel by visiting Israel.

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
CCAR on the Road Israel News

From South to North – Days 3 & 4 of CCAR Israel Trip

The last two days have been border-filled, nothing surprising of course when traveling in Israel.  After a short tiyul in Jerusalem yesterday morning, starting at the City of David excavations and ending up at the Robinson’s Arch area and the Southern Wall excavations, we got on the bus and headed south, to the area near the Gaza border.

Rabbi Jonathan Stein, weeding at Moshav Netiv HaAsarah.

Our first stop was at Moshav Netiv HaAsarah, where we met with Raz.  He is a second generation moshavnik who grows tomatoes and works in genetic engineering of vegetables – in his free time he is also a guide with ARZA/Da’at.  We toured the moshav, which is right up against the Gaza border near the Erez Checkpoint.  We stood on a hill overlooking the border and looked into Gaza.  Raz spoke of the hardships the moshav has suffered in the long drawn-out “situation” that so many of the communities in the south have faced, in which they never know when a missile is going to come down from the sky.  He showed us how they have reinforced the roofs and walls of the preschool, and pointed out the many bomb shelters and safe rooms that dot the otherwise pastoral landscape.

He spoke of growing up knowing people in Gaza, and spending time there, explaining that when he was a child, it was the nearest big city, a place that they often went for a meal or to go to the sea.  We ended our visit there by helping him weed in one of his greenhouses – because of the barrage of missiles over the last weeks, he and his workers have not been able to go into the greenhouses and are very behind schedule with their work.  So there we were, a group of CCAR rabbis, on our knees picking weeds among the rows of tomato vines.

From there we traveled to Kibbutz Kfar Aza, also on the border, where we met with  Chen, a second generation kibbutz member who works in the IMPJ in The border with GazaJerusalem.  We toured the kibbutz as Chen spoke about the emotional and psychological toll of living in that area with the constant trauma of missiles, especially on the children.  She described a life for children in which getting to play outside is too often a rare event, because of the fear of missiles.  She spoke too about living a split existence, in which most of the country goes about their normal daily lives while on the kibbutz they live with constant fear, running in and out of the bomb shelters.  Yet she ended the conversation speaking about hope for a better future some day.

After that we went to Shaar HaNegev Regional High School to meet with Shem and Nati, two members of the newly formed Reform congregation that meets in the school there, where Shem is a teacher.  They spoke about their connection to Reform Judaism – Shem encountered it first while living for several years in Sydney, Australia, where his son became bar mitzvah, and Nati encountered it in her native Argentina, from which she made aliyah 14 years ago.  They are working hard to establish a Reform presence in that area and have great enthusiasm if not tremendous resources.  They spoke of their need for a rabbi even as they try to grow their community and do outreach in the area.  They also spoke about living under constant siege, and how the school in which we were sitting was designed to give the students a sense of emotional safety and security, as well as of course building for physical safety and security, including a bus drop off area which is part communal bomb shelter, should missiles come down as children are getting off the bus on their way to school.  It was, as he explained, “the safest school in the world.”

It was a very long day, but for most of the group it was the first time that we’d really engaged with the communities in the south that have been on the front lines of rocketfire from Gaza.  It was profoundly moving and enabled us to put a human face and real-life experiences to the newspaper headlines.

We began today with a meeting with Anat Hoffman of the IRAC, the Israel Religious Action Center.  She described their current court battles and all the ways that they use the legal system in Israel to fight religious and ethnic discrimination for Reform and Conservative Jews, women, converts, and Arabs, to mention only some of their important work.  She also spoke about her work with Women of the Wall.  In Anat’s own words, “Our mandate is to kick ass in our movement.”

Next we joined HUC students for t’filah, which was a special treat as the students from the Israeli program and the American program were praying together.  We saw some old friends and many of our future leaders.

At Rahel's grave, Kinneret Cemetery We took off after that, leaving Jerusalem and driving along the Jordanian border as we made our way toward the Golan.   Along the way we stop to visit the poet Rahel’s grave at the Kinneret cemetery, and discussed the struggles and aspirations of the early Zionist settlers.  As we continued to climb north, we learned more about the history of the wars in 1967 and 1973, stopping at several key lookout points toward Syria and having a bumpy but exhilarating jeep ride through Golan cattle country.  We ended the day at Kibbutz Kfar Blum in the Galilee, where we had a provocative conversation with Dubi, a member of the kibbutz, about the enormous changes that are transforming the kibbutz movement.

Most of the group is exhausted but excited about our learning and experiences, trying to take it all in as we write blogs, tweet, facebook and email to friends, family and congregations back home.  There is something truly unique and powerful about experiencing Israel with colleagues.  Time for sleep, as tomorrow is another day of learning….

For another perspective, see Rabbi Danny Burkeman’s blog post about the trip: http://t.co/XGvar9js