Israel at 60

Last year Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day happened to coincide with the annual Bridgeport area Mission to Israel. What an honor and delight it was to be part of the festivities that celebrated, then the 59th anniversary of the establishment of the State. The observance began with an emotional memorial tribute honoring those who fell not only in the War of Independence, but in all the subsequent battles that have taken place to secure the Land. The country stops at 11:00 A.M. for some moments of silence.  Buses stop, motorists pull over and get out of their cars – all Israeli Jews are united in tribute.  By evening memory is transformed into carnival.  A rich cultural display of song, dance and fireworks unfolds throughout the nation. It was truly a memorable and remarkable occasion of which to be part!

While this year on the 60th my body will be in Connecticut, but as the poet Yehudah HaLevi wrote centuries ago, “my heart will be in the East.” Even from afar, however, we can celebrate the accomplishments and once again express solidarity with the people and the Land. 

Many of us – most in fact today (I’m a year younger than Israel) do not remember a time when there was no Jewish State.  As a result some may have come to take it for granted.  The recent bestselling novel, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon dramatizes just that.

So, a 60th Anniversary is a good time to consider not only the current political threats to Israel’s security (both external and internal), but is a chance to zoom back and marvel at all the accomplishments achieved by this tiny nation in six decades.

One of my favorite passages is from the very end of Amos Oz’s wonderful book In the Land of Israel.  A Holocaust survivor and refugee from Rumania says, “My dream is before my time comes, they should give me two minutes on the television.  When everybody is listening I will tell the young people what everybody should be saying, how every morning and every night they should say thank God for everything what we got here in this country: the army, the Ministers of the Knesset, the El Al, the income tax even, the streets, the kibbutzim, the factories!  What is this? They forgot how we had nothing! Sand and enemies! Now, thank God we got the State…”

Join us throughout the month of May for some of the learning and celebration in tribute to the people and land of Israel.

Rabbi James Prosnit

Joseph Skloot, a soon to be fourth year rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College –Jewish Institute of Religion will be joining Rabbis Prosnit and Gurevitz this summer as part of the Tisch Rabbinic Fellows Program.   This will be the seventh time that B’nai Israel has participated and hosted a rabbinic student.  For eight weeks beginning mid-May, Student Rabbi Skloot will be putting into action some of the knowledge and values that he has acquired in the classroom.   The mentoring program matches a student with rabbis already in the field and offers the student an opportunity to observe and participate in the various dynamics of congregational life.

Born and raised in New York City, Joe grew up at Central Synagogue.  A graduate of Princeton University he served as President of Princeton's Center for Jewish Life and was a leader of a campus interfaith dialogue group, the Religious Life Council. He spent summers leading song-sessions and informal Jewish education at URJ Eisner Camp and has studied at the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies and the Shalom Hartman Institute, both in Jerusalem. He has taught students of all ages at a number of New York-area congregations, including Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York and Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, and most recently at Congregation Kol Ami of White Plains, NY, where he will be the rabbinic intern in 2008-2009.

At various points, Joe has worked as a small-time caterer, a recycling advocate, a back-up guitarist/mandolinist, a learning and writing specialist and an unofficial (and unpaid) promoter of the New York Mets.

We are pleased to be able once again to support, encourage and learn from one of the future leaders of Reform Judaism. 

One of Student Rabbi Skloot’s first responsibilities will be to teach in our Friday Noon Life Long Learning Series.  His Course entitled Jewish Attitudes Towards Conversion from Ancient Days to the Present will begin on May 16.

… I'll tell you some of my recent experiences here. Some of my crew has been sick lately so we had to stay grounded for the last several days. It is a very boring thing to be confined to a place that is the size of Cornell's West Campus without being allowed out. Most people here resort to what most people at home resort to, watching TV and playing video games.

For me that fun lasted about two weeks. Now I spend most of my time reading and studying at the library here on base which is about the size of your family room. Nonetheless they have some good books and I have taken it upon myself to educate myself on things I missed out on in college. Right now I am reading a book on world religions.

It is a survey of the major world religions and has definitely filled in some missing pieces like the difference between the major sects of Christianity, what Islam is all about and even Deism. Did you know America's first three presidents where self professed Deist’s? It’s a pretty good book, if not a little too shallow in the depth for what it makes up for in breadth. It has gotten warm here lately going up to the low 90s and soon I can feel it will be much hotter. I try to confine my running to the night time and workout in the gym where it is cool during the day.

I also started to see what else I can do here and found a lay-led Shabbat service on Friday nights. I wasn't flying last Friday and went. It was led by a Army Sergeant Major (enlisted, the equivalent of an Air Force Chief Master Sergeant, or the Navy's Master Chiefs). There were five of us there who broke bread together and we had real Challah (imported of course) and it was nice to be there. I was the only officer but rumor has it the Colonel who runs the entire place is a Jew though he was not in attendance...sweet. We even had wine (even though alcohol is forbidden on base). I still drank grape juice because I had to fly the next day.

We said all the traditional prayers plus some for Armed Service members which is in our prayer book (An armed forces version of Gates of Prayer...cool). The other guys were mostly from the East Coast, NJ and Delaware. I was happy to be there and I plan on going when I can. I also plan to study more about Judaism...now that I have the time to read I might study more, perhaps Talmud, perhaps more accounts on the state of Modern Judaism in the world...we will see. I do know that no matter what form of Judaism you believe in life as a Jew is about living the life of Torah, about living the life of the Torah's teachings and in no small way is your volunteering part of that.

Well now that my Pilot is healthy again its back to the regular grind. Hopefully I will stay the course and keep studying as I am instead of my brain turning slowly to mush. I think I might start an online masters in the next 6 months...after all who can complain about free education even if it is an online masters the Air Force will pay $250 a credit. That deserves some thought. What do you think? Hope the weather is nicer in Naples, take care, drink a beer for me

Josh