Putting Technology to Good Use

I think this is great. Using technology as a tool to make our lives better is certainly what it should be used for.

Rabbi Using Google Glass To Bring Jews Closer to Religious Roots

The Cairo Geniza Jigsaw Puzzle

I came across this article in The New York Times about putting computers to work assembling the scraps that have come out of the Cairo geniza.

The idea is to harness technology to help reassemble more than 100,000 document fragments collected across 1,000 years that reveal details of Jewish life along the Mediterranean, including marriage, medicine and mysticism. For decades, scholars relied mainly on memory to match up pieces of the Cairo genizah, a treasure trove of papers that include works by the rabbinical scholar Maimonides, parts of Torah scrolls and prayer books, reams of poetry and personal letters, contracts, and court documents, even recipes (there is a particularly vile one for honey-wine).

Fascinating read.

Good News to Share

It's really nice to see different organizations work together.

The Chabad Community Center of Southern Oklahoma, which is on the ground organizing relief efforts for the communities hit hard by last week’s devastating tornado, has received $15,000 in disaster-relief funds from the Orthodox Union. The funds were received just before the Jewish Sabbath, and are being distributed over the Memorial Day weekend and throughout the week. 

“On behalf of those here in Oklahoma who will receive this help, my thanks go to all of the OU members and friends who were so generous in a time of real need,” said Rabbi Ovadia Goldman, director of the Chabad center, who said the money will be used for store gift cards and cash relief to area residents whose homes were destroyed.

It's so easy to see what makes us different from each other... but we must take the time to find what we have in common. This is easy to do when there's a crisis, but we have to do this on an everyday basis.

Parshas Beha'aloscha

Reading through the chapter it seems that there are many different topics covered starting with the lighting of the Tabernacle (the traveling Temple in the desert) menorah. Then...

* the consecration of the Levites to their work in the Tabernacle,
* pesach sheini, a second passover offering for those who were unable to offer the first,
* in daytime the Tabernacle would be covered by a cloud and at night the appearance of fire,
* when the cloud was lifted, the Israelites would travel - otherwise, they would stay camped,
* the making and use of two silver trumpets,
* the order of the 12 Tribes when traveling,
* Moshe (Moses) offers his father-in-law, Yitro (Jethro), the opportunity to travel with them to the Land of Israel -- Yitro declines,
* The famous statement that we say/sing when the Torah is taken out of the ark to be read - Vayehi Beensoa Ha'aron Vayomer Moshe... "When the Ark would journey, Moses said, "Arise, G-d, and let Your foes be scattered, let those who hate You flee from before You."
* complaints from the people for meat,
* creation of the first Sanhedrin, 70 men taken from the elders of Israel, they will help Moshe in leading the Jewish People,
* G-d gives the people more meat than they know what to do with,
* Aaron and Miriam (brother and sister of Moses) speak against Moshe not living with his wife - instigated by Miriam... she gets leprosy even though she was speaking privately with Aaron - it's a serious reminder not to speak ill of others.

What a busy chapter. What strikes me here is how careful we must be with our words. Even when we think we know all the circumstances of a situation - we really truly don't, especially when it doesn't involve us.  It is impossible for us to make a true judgement when we don't have all the facts at hand. We assume that public figures are an open target for criticism - the Torah teaches us that it isn't true. Everyone from the greatest figures to the seemingly 'smallest' among us should be given the benefit of the doubt.

I'm including here Chief Rabbi Sacks from the UK. I always enjoy what he has to say. Print it off and read it over Shabbos. Definitely worth reading.

Good Shabbos! Shabbat Shalom!

Jumpstarting My Jewish Life

It's very easy to be comfortable in our lives, which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing - but it certainly makes us complacent. Why struggle, why grow if you don't feel you need to?

The quote I keep at the top of the page, that I've taken from the prayer book, is one that I feel speaks to me.

"Open my heart to your Torah, and let my soul eagerly pursue Your commandments."

Essentially we are asking for G-d's Help in being Jewish. Sometimes we need a helping hand, inspiration, something to give us the push to do more... or even think about starting... or re-starting our Jewish lives.

We just celebrated the holiday of Shavuot, I think the most important holiday of the Jewish year, where we commemorate the receiving of the Torah. The only time in history where an entire nation can claim that they heard the Word of G-d themselves. Every other religion finds its beginnings in one man claiming that he heard the word and is sharing it with others who didn't. Truly amazing.

I am going to try to use this special holiday to jumpstart my own Jewish life. I have a goal this year (I'm not promising, but I'm going to try) to read the entire Torah (one chapter each week) and write a short dvar Torah about something in each chapter that I find interesting. Truthfully, I've never read the entire 5 Books, although many times I've started and stopped. With G-d's Help I hope to accomplish my goal.

I'm doing this in the name of all the people out there who need Help from Above - whether it be health, a job or something else - we should see all our prayers be answered quickly with revealed Good.

If for some reason I am not able to write something, I will try to post a dvar Torah written by another person that I enjoyed.

A note to all: I am not a rabbi. I am not a rebbitzen. I am doing this as a way to focus, to push myself forward, to learn more, to do more. Please feel free to contribute. If you find a dvar Torah you found interesting -- or have a comment, please go ahead and share with us.

I hope that with G-d's Help we can complete this project. Thank you for all your help!

Shira

Worldwide Shabbat Observance for protection of Israeli military and civilians

As we anxiously watch the news, worrying about our friends, family and everyone else we don't directly know - we must remember that there is a greater power watching out for every one of us. Sometimes it's hard to remember G-d, since we are used to believing that we hold our fate in our own hands - but we must.

There is a push on Facebook to make this Shabbat, Friday, November 23, 2012, a "Worldwide Shabbat Observance for protection of Israeli military and civilians" - and I think it's a great idea. As the FB page mentions - Shabbat is a source of blessing. We certainly need G-d's blessing now.

Learn about Shabbat at Aish.com and at Chabad.org.

Here's one thing to make sure your thoughts are focused. 
It's the Official PRAYER FOR THE SOLDIERS OF THE IDF

תפילה לשלום חיילי צה"ל 

"מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבותֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקב ואמותינו שרה רבקה רחל ולאה, הוּא יְבָרֵךְ אֶת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, הָעומְדִים עַל מִשְׁמַר אַרְצֵנוּ וְעָרֵי אֱלהֵינוּ מִגְּבוּל הַלְּבָנון וְעַד מִדְבַּר מִצְרַיִם וּמִן הַיָּם הַגָּדול עַד לְבוא הָעֲרָבָה בַּיַּבָּשָׁה בָּאֲוִיר וּבַיָּם. יִתֵּן ה` אֶת אויְבֵינוּ הַקָּמִים עָלֵינוּ נִגָּפִים לִפְנֵיהֶם. הַקָּדושׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יִשְׁמר וְיַצִּיל אֶת חַיָלֵינוּ מִכָּל צָרָה וְצוּקָה וּמִכָּל נֶגַע וּמַחְלָה וְיִשְׁלַח בְּרָכָה וְהַצְלָחָה בְּכָל מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵיהֶם. יַדְבֵּר שׂונְאֵינוּ תַּחְתֵּיהֶם וִיעַטְרֵם בְּכֶתֶר יְשׁוּעָה וּבְעֲטֶרֶת נִצָּחון. וִיקֻיַּם בָּהֶם הַכָּתוּב: כִּי ה` אֱלהֵיכֶם הַהלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם איבֵיכֶם לְהושִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם: וְנאמַר אָמֵן" 

May the One who blessed our ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, bless the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who stand watch over our land and the cities of our God, from the Lebanese border to the desert of Egypt and from the great sea to the verge of the wilderness, on land, in the air, and at sea. May Adonai cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them. May the Holy One save and spare our soldiers from all forms of woe and distress, of affliction and illness, and invest their every action with blessing and success. May the Holy One lead our enemies under our soldiers' sway and may He grant them salvation and crown them with victory. And may there be fulfilled for them the verse: “For it is the Lord your God, Who goes with you to battle your enemies for you to save you.” 
And together we say: Amen.

If you are unable to keep the whole of Shabbat yet, I have a few suggestions:
* Give tzedakah (charity) before Shabbat begins on Friday evening.
* Light Shabbat candles.
* Turn off your electronics for a period of time on Shabbat - five minutes or five hours - your cellphone is included :)
* Say the prayer for the IDF and think about the unity of the Jewish People.

May we see real peace in the Land of Israel soon.

Building Jewish Unity Throughout the Year

We're counting the Omer - counting the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot (the 50th day), the day we celebrate the receiving of the Torah, the guidebook to our lives.

People often wonder about this counting - shouldn't we be counting down the days rather than counting day 1... day 2... day 3? If you're looking forward to something you generally find yourself doing just that - counting down, versus counting up.

But I think that this counting is part of something larger - something we started earlier in the year at the holiday of Purim. The holiday of Purim has four big commandments associated with it - the giving of charity to the poor, giving gifts of food to our friends, reading the megillah (generally done in a group setting), and a festive feast to celebrate the holiday. All these mitzvot create the underlying theme of building community unity.

The next holiday we celebrate is Pesach/Passover. Part of the Pesach experience is the seder - the gathering where we get together to discuss the exodus from Egypt - and to celebrate our transition from slavery to freedom. Toward the beginning of the seder we declare - "All who are hungry come and eat! All who are needy come and conduct the Pesach seder." We want every Jew to be a participant in the seder - no matter our societal position nowadays, we were all slaves to the Pharoah in Egypt - we all were poor and hungry. We can see that Pesach is also another brick in building Jewish unity.

We begin counting toward Shavuot (Pentacost), when we received the Torah, on the 2nd night of Pesach.  While on Pesach we celebrate our freedom - we also keep in mind that pure freedom without rules leads only to anarchy and destruction. Shavuot and the receiving of the Torah - those life rules - really bind us as a Nation. While previously we were the family of Jacob - with the Torah, we became the Nation of Israel, with an unbreakable covenant with G-d.

Rashi, a well-known commentator on the Torah, makes an observation on the verse describing the time before the Children of Israel were about the receive the Torah - "Israel camped there, opposite the mountain" (Exodus 19:2). Rashi says, "like one man with one heart". Certainly a moment in history that has not been easy to duplicate.

But it is that moment - when the Jewish People were truly united - that we work toward during this time. All the mitzvot that we find from Purim through Shavuot are meant to help us toward that goal of Jewish unity. The counting toward the receiving of the Torah should be an indicator of going from 'strength to strength', rather than counting down a finite number of days, we are hopefully becoming stronger in our connection to one another - something that certainly shouldn't be finite.

The Torah was given to us as a People, a Nation, not to a bunch of individuals. And as a Nation, we must see every Jew as part of ourselves. As we approach this special spiritual moment in history - Shavuot - we should take the time to recommit ourselves to our Torah and to building our connection with each other. It's time to receive the Torah "like one man with one heart" once again.