Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life
Celebrating Jewish Life in Connecticut
Want to stay updates on the latest news and events from the GWCJL? Click here to join our email list.
Dear Coalition Community,
A couple of months ago, I was having lunch with a colleague who had recently been to
Israel. During our visit, she shared some of the highlights of her journey, which included
some volunteering in the Northern Kibbutzim, visits to local museums, and a Shabbat
spent with some of our Israeli colleagues attending the Reform synagogue community
there. When I asked her what stood out, she reflected that a recent change in the liturgy
was most striking and beautiful – a rewording of Oseh Shalom, the Hebrew prayer for
peace that ends the Amidah.
The liturgy as we know it was not originally fixed. The Talmud shared some of the core
blessings that we now use, but much of the wording appears only in the early medieval
period as the Siddur comes into final formation. Even so, the prayerbook remained
largely unchanged until the contemporary era, when social norms and religious
expression allowed for more customization of the liturgy as Jewish life adapted to the
modern world.
The prayer as we know it says: Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya’aseh shalom aleynu, v’al
kol Yisrael – may the One who makes peace above, make peace for us and for all of
Israel. However, in the Israeli Reform movement a small but meaningful change to the
liturgy now reads: Oseh shalom bimromav hu na’aseh shalom aleynu v’al kol Yisrael –
may the One who makes peace above, allow for us to make peace for us and for all of
Israel.
That small change from ya’aseh to na’aseh changes the actor from God to us, the one
reciting the blessing. Rather than asking for God to make peace miraculously in a way
that does not reflect our contemporary understanding of the Divine’s role in the world,
this new formation of the prayer serves as a reminder that the onus of peace is upon us.
It is not a miracle, but rather something to be worked toward. We have the capacity to
make peace in the realm that we are lucky enough to inhabit.
We sing this prayer each time we gather at the Coalition, I think of it as a call to action.
It is not about wishing for God to make the world more peaceful, but a call for us to work
toward the peaceful world we wish for ourselves and for our loved ones. It challenges us
to be uncomfortable with our current reality and realize that change is our only pathway
forward. And more importantly, she reflected that if the Jewish community in Israel can
recite these words calling them to personal action amid all the challenges they face as a
nation to find peace and security, how much more so should we feel our own sense of
obligation to seek peace even in the most difficult circumstances.
I hope that you have a peaceful week, and I look forward to seeing you in the month
ahead as we work together to build a more peaceful world.
Kol Tuv,
Rabbi James
AJC AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE – PODCAST
AJC produces award-winning, chart-topping Jewish podcast. Their vivid, powerful stories bridge past and present, sadly underscoring the antisemitism still in today’s world.
“The Forgotten Exodus,” featuring Manya Trachear Pashman, Podcast Host
These vivid, powerful stories bridge past and present, underscoring their urgent relevance as Jewish
communities worldwide confront violent antisemitism and anti-Zionism. The November podcast featured the
800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes, in the Middle East and North Africa in the mid-20th
century due to rising antisemitism, to forge new lives for themselves and future generations.
The podcast host, Manya, is a writing coach and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism. She has had the privilege of interviewing many families who have shared their stories of new
beginnings after leaving the lands they called home for centuries.
To hear her podcasts, go to: https://www.ajc.org/forgotten-exodus
TZEDAKAH APPEAL:
During this desperate time for many, we think of and reach out to the many who are struggling.
HIAS : “Welcome the Stranger. Protect the Refugee” The oldest refugee agency in the world, established in 1902 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. http://hias.org
JDC: JDC uses impact measurement to reflects the diversity and scope of their diverse, long-standing global work, applies a unified philosophy to decentralized and program-driven systems that are customized to each area of their work. https://www.jdc.org/our-impact/
American Jewish Committee: addressing challenges Jews are facing worldwide, defending Democratic values for all. ajc.org
JEWISH News and Culture:
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/the-shmooze
ENLIGHTENMENT and ENTERTAINMENT FROM YOUR SITE LIBRARY…
Go to“Learn” tab, scroll down to “Jewish Resources” and click “MY JEWISH LEARNING” (or go directly to MyJewishLearning.com).
Here you’ll find an aggregator that is regularly updated with a huge breadth of content and all sorts of goodies and surprises!
For example, the“Daily Guide to Zoom Events, Livestream and Other Online Resources.” Among the wide range of subjects, programs and activities you’ll see here are: “The Only Jewish Miss America” (Museum of Jewish Heritage), “Mindfulness Melodies” (Jewish Life in Maine), “Art as a Spiritual Practice,” A Midwives, Musicians, Soldiers and Rabbis: Whose Stories will Become History?,” “Bioethics During a Pandemic,” etc., etc.
And other treats too! Recipes for the holidays and everyday: “Potato Chip Schnitzel, Shwarma Chicken Kabobs, Roasted Butternut Squash with Orange Tahini, Briskett Tacos, Ethiopian Red Lentil Soup,” etc., etc…
Come visit and linger, you’ll be glad you did!
https://marketplace.jewishtogether.org
OTHER RECOMMENDED MEDIA
“The Swimmers,” on NETFLIX.
MEMBER PICKS…
FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
“A Pigeon and a Boy,” by Meir Shalev
Review: “A powerful novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion — of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it…”
“My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner,” also by Meir Shalev
Review: “A charming tale of family ties, over-the-top housekeeping, and the sport of storytelling in the small village of Nahalal…”
“The Baron,“ TYCOON Baron Maurice de Hirsch (1831-1896) by Matthias b. Lehmann
Review: “Philanthropy combines genuine compassion with the display of power”
In his lifetime, Hirsch was a giant of the “gilded age of Jewish philanthropy.” He was a German-born Jew who lived in a palace in Paris and kept his office in Vienna. He cut his biggest deal, a railway, with the Ottoman sultan. (When Hercule Poirot took the Orient Express, his train ran on Hirsch’s tracks!)
Hirsch funded schools and vocational training for Jewish communities not only in the Ottoman cities, but the Russian Pale, the French colonies of North Africa and in large areas of Argentina. The Jewish Colonization Association, the vehicle for his Argentine settlements, was the largest charitable organization in the world at a time when philanthropy was the principal form of Jewish political action…”
Visit LINKS OF INTEREST (on this site under “For Members” tab) to read an excerpt of an essay on Baron de Hirsch, his vision and involvement with Jewish farming in Connecticut.
ACTIVITIES TO CONSIDER
The Great Courses, learn a language, instrument or subject; create something new or master a skill… and more. www.TheGreatCourses.com
jigsawplanet.com — Jigsaw puzzles. Be forewarned, (mildly) addictive!