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Email this pageIssue # 286
Issue #286 – 15 November 2007 / 5 Kislev 5768
IN THIS ISSUE:
RABIN MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVED IN ISRAEL
AMSTERDAM CONGREGATION ON ITS WAY TO A LARGER FACILITY
BRITISH REFORM MOVEMENT REACHES OUT TO YOUNG ADULTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
RABIN MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVED IN ISRAEL
Congregations throughout the country affiliated with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism held special services in memory of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, marking 12 years since his assassination. They used a booklet prepared by MARAM, Israel’s Union of Progressive Rabbis, and held lectures, discussions and candlelight vigils.
In Tel Aviv, members of Beit Daniel unrolled and read from a Torah dedicated to Prime Minister Rabin z”l. The late Leah Rabin, and the rest of the Rabin family, participated in the ceremony of dedication when the scroll was brought to Beit Daniel a few years ago.
As in recent years, MARAM called for a day of fasting, prayer and study, and its members refrained from participating in public celebrations of any kind. Instead they led special prayer services and activities to mark what they called a day of “private and public reckoning." A Yizkor prayer, written by Rabbi Yehoram Mazor, Chairman of the MARAM Liturgical Committee, became the official memorial prayer in Israel and is used at all government, IDF and school memorial ceremonies.
“On this day we call on the Israeli public to internalize the cause and effect of this terrible murder and to recognize the dangers inherent in the religious and political extremism that is spreading among us,” a MARAM statement said. “This day should serve as a reminder for us not to remain indifferent to acts of incitement and violence.”
The rabbis of MARAM also made a public call for Israel’s education system to “act decisively to strengthen secular education in all spheres as the basis for a heterogeneous and tolerant society, and to make all government funding conditional upon the integration of democratic standards in all educational programs.”
Some 150,000 people attended a mass memorial rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin
Square to mark 12 years since the assassination. (Ynet - Yaron Brenner).
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AMSTERDAM CONGREGATION ON ITS WAY TO A LARGER FACILITY
The destruction of a synagogue is not something usually embraced in Europe. But for Amsterdam’s liberal congregation, Liberaal Joodse Gemeente Amsterdam, it was just such an event that recently marked the beginning of an 18-month project to build a new synagogue-community center 300 yards away from its current location. A new concert hall complex will be built in its place.
The congregation, which currently serves 800 families, had been using the synagogue for over 41 years. Anne Frank and her family belonged before the war, and her father, Otto Frank, was a post-war member.
Part of the cost of the new facility is being underwritten by a government grant in the framework of a restitution program for Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust. The congregation has embarked on a EU 1 million fundraising campaign to cover the remaining costs and would welcome the support of individuals or organizations.
During a ceremony held October 28, four rabbis and a cantor removed LJG's five Torah scrolls for transfer to their temporary home, a building that most recently served as a Baptist church. Prior to World War II, the facility was used by another Reform congregation. It still has a staircase, says Menno ten Brink, LJG's senior rabbi, under which Jews hid from the Nazis.
The new synagogue-community center will be three times as roomy as the old building and will also serve as the headquarters for Holland’s Liberal movement. There will be a sanctuary with seating for up to 900 people, a chapel for daily services, classrooms for the congregation’s Talmud Torah (which, according to ten Brink, has grown in the past 15 years from 60 to 170 children), a large library, multi-purpose rooms and administrative offices.
For more information, contact Rabbi ten Brink at rebmen@ljg.nl.
The Amsterdam congregation’s Torah scrolls are removed from the ark
for transfer to temporary quarters. Left to right: Cantor Gilad Nezer,
Rabbi Sonny Herman, Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, Rabbi David Lilienthal,
Rabbi Menno ten Brink.
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BRITISH REFORM MOVEMENT REACHES OUT TO YOUNG ADULTS
The Reform Movement in Britain is reaching out to young adults in what is being called “one of its most ambitious … initiatives ever undertaken.” Called “Jeneration,” the initiative aims at “responding directly to the needs of young adults” rather than “laying on programs and expecting people to come.” It grew out of “groundbreaking research” undertaken by the movement.
The heart of Jeneration is “jeneration.org,” described as a “portal to Jewish life and a tool for connecting people.” A vibrant, dynamic and cutting-edge Web site (see the screenshot below), jeneration.org “combines social networking with listings of Jewish events in the U.K. and high quality new Jewish writing, as well as many other features, including streaming Israeli radio broadcasts.”
A “What’s On” section lists all “Reform-friendly” Jewish events in the U.K. and invites users to add events of their own, post comments and upload video clips and so-called “Internet virals” in the ‘We love…You love” section. The Web site also invites members to post programming ideas; recent suggestions include an incubator program for budding entrepreneurs, a poker tournament and a bar/bat mitzvah plan for those who missed out when they were teens.
Jeneration.org went online in September and has already gained over 2,500 members. Its “Facebook” group attracted 140 entries on its first day.
According to the Reform Movement Head, Rabbi Dr. Tony Bayfield, the Jeneration initiative “represents the shape of the future - a community in which institutions are more concerned about the future of the Jewish people than about themselves. We are convinced that empowering young adults to create their own connections to the community, providing them with resources and funding to run their own initiatives, is the only way to ensure a secure Jewish future for the whole community.”
On December 9, the sixth night of Chanukah, the Reform Movement will hold a mega-musical event for young adults aimed at publicizing the initiative. Titled “Light My Fire,” the event will feature well-known young-adult-oriented entertainment figures and take place at The Soho Revue Bar, one of London’s trendiest nightspots.
Home page of jeneration.org, the British Reform movement’s new portal for young adults.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
December 12-16, 2007 – URJ Biennial - Union for Reform Judaism, San Diego, California
January 7-13, 2008 – Annual conference, Netzer Olami, Jerusalem
January 29-February 3, 2008 – Annual conference of the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean (UJCL), Kingston, Jamaica
February 21-27, 2008 – Annual conference, TaMaR Olami, various locations in Israel
February 27-March 20, 2008 – “Shalom India: Seeing India through Jewish Eyes” tour, led by Rabbi Fred Morgan of Melbourne, Australia
March 13-16, 2008 – Biennial conference of the World Union’s European Region, Vienna, Austria
