tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88497636062235972082024-03-18T21:47:59.544-07:00Rabbi Debbie Young-SomersDebbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.comBlogger238125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-25079195931444757302022-05-01T02:47:00.002-07:002022-05-01T02:47:22.280-07:00Kedoshim - Holiness and the Holocaust?<p> After about 3 hours sleep caused by being bumped off a flight, I had to write a sermon for a double B'nei Mitzvah... it could only be about the amazing and dark journey of the last week on March of the Living: </p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">At Bo and Herbie’s B’nei
Mitzvah rehearsal, their dad, Jason, shared a remarkable fact with me. His
grandmother grew up opposite a park where each Sunday a man would come and
stand on a soap box to preach his rather mad ideas. His audience was small to
begin with but grew over time. In fact it grew well beyond the park from where
Bo and Herbie’s great grandma could hear him shouting. It grew to encompass the
Third Reich. That man was Adolf Hitler. It wouldn’t normally be my go to topic
for a joyous occasion such as a double B’nei Mitzvah, but connecting to this
part of your family history Bo and Herbie, has taken up my last week.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">I have just returned, as many
in the congregation will know, from a trip to Poland known as the March of the
Living. Much of it had nothing to do with living, as we travelled from the
Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, through the town of Markova where we learnt stories
of righteous gentiles who took risks beyond anything we could imagine, and
sacrificed everything. We went to Lublin and the great yeshiva where the
practice of Daf Yomi – reading a page of Talmud a day - was first invented, and
to the forests where unspeakable acts were committed, against my own family as
well as so many hundreds of thousands of others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The latter part of the trip
took us to Krakow, and from there to what is perhaps the most iconic symbol of
the Shoah, the Holocaust, Auschwitz-Birkenau. On Wednesday we toured the site,
and on Thursday we took part in the March of the Living – beginning at
Auschwitz 1 – a Polish barracks at the start of the war, built of brick rather
than wood. Together with around 2000 people from around the world (pre-Covid
this was closer to 12,000) marched together, sometimes arm in arm, often
singing, through the streets to arrive just over a mile down the road at
Auschwitz 2, or Birkenau. We walked along the train tracks that delivered so
many from all over Europe to this place of darkness, and many of us placed
wooden plaques between the rails – remembering loved ones who survived, or
naming those we never got to meet. Some wrote prayers or quotes. As we walked,
there was a huge shift in mood. From the somber nature of the day before, it
felt like an act of defiance, of resilience, of holiness to be there, alive,
and although we were not all Jewish, largely we were there keeping Judaism and
the Jewish people alive. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Holiness was a word that came
up in our tour bus a lot. And it is a part of the name of our torah portion –
kedoshim. I had the enormous privilege of being invited onto March of the
Living as a part of a bus of interfaith leaders – Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and
Muslims joined with Jews for this special trip. The Sikh participant and I
struggled together over whether the ground we stood on at Treblinka – a site
created only to despatch, not to house prisoners, was holy. She felt the
sanctity of life, so cruelly stolen from so many there, was held in the ground
and perhaps she shouldn’t be standing on such holy ground. I couldn’t associate
anything holy with these places, and yet the language so often used in the
memorials is of korbanot, sacrificial offerings, or Kiddush Hashem – martyrs
whose death sanctifies Gods name. I struggle with terms that sanctify what was
done in any way – of course their lives were sacred, but their deaths were the
most unholy possible. The places feel evil to me. At Treblinka I was asked to
follow a recitation of El Malei Rachamim – the memorial prayer – by reading a
Psalm. I couldn’t get through it without weeping – ‘my cup runs over, surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’… how could I utter such
words when they feel like such a lie in the face of the Shoah.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">From each of our faiths we saw
that which was holy to us, inverted by Nazism. For a Methodist minister it was
the sanctity of each individual death being acknowledged. For our Sikh friend,
the piles of hair – holy to Sikhi’s and never cut, collected together at
Auschwitz. Our Hindu colleagues reflected on the inversion of the holiness of
cremation, and for our Muslim participants – fasting as they travelled with us,
this holy act was turned into neglect and agony. I have often found that I am
affected by the sight of desecrated holy objects – burnt and ripped torah
scrolls, collected prayer shawls and tefillin confiscated from their users.
They somehow embody the absence and holiness of a life cut short. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We witnessed another form of
holiness, one that chimes with the lessons of our Torah portion which asks us
to care for the vulnerable and the poor. This holiness was performed by Polish
citizens of all kind - peasants who themselves had next to nothing, and
businessmen like the well known German – Schindler. In Poland (unlike anywhere
else in the Reich) helping or hiding a Jew was a crime punishable by death. And
yet all over Poland righteous gentiles (as they came to be known) risked
everything, and sometimes sacrificed everything, to help Jews – sometimes their
neighbours, sometimes strangers. My husband Gary and I have often discussed
volunteering with Refugees at Home to offer a room to a refugee, even before
the current Ukrainian crisis (of which there was a lot of evidence in Poland
where the population has increased by 10% this year!) But we worry about only
having one small bathroom, and whether a person damaged by war is safe around
young children, and where we put all the stuff that’s in the spare room…. It
feels pretty pathetic in the face of the holiness of these people who risked
their entire families to save one or two or 10 Jews. When faced with risk to
one’s own loved ones, it takes incredible courage to still do what is right –
such holiness I’m not sure I could ever achieve. Every life saved wasn’t just
that life but the lives of all their descendants. We saw this first hand on our
first night when we attended a ceremony honouring the families of two Polish Righteous
Gentiles who worked together to save the life of Max Ostro. His son, Maurice
Ostro, and grandchildren, gathered together to give thanks for their bravery
and to present them with a certificate from Yad Vashem honouring them as
Righteous among the Nations. Descendants who wouldn’t exist without their
bravery. As both the Talmud and Quran say, ‘Whoever saves one life, it is as if
they saved a whole world’<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2022/kedoshim%20-%20march%20of%20the%20living.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">This morning we heard Bo and
Herbie leyn an instruction manual for what it meant to be Holy as a society
3000 years ago. I’m sure today we might think of a few different things, but
many of them we would still value, from feeding the poor to respecting our
parents, being honest in business, and not going out of our way to trick or
trip someone up, physically or metaphorically. Holiness is something that
carries nuance, and means different things in different contexts – but
universally understood and appreciated for thousands of years are some of the
basics of living together well – acts that make us holy as much as religious
worship might, perhaps more. When that is turned on its head for the benefit of
one group over and above all others, holiness is turned on its head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Bo and Herbie are here, as am
I and many of you, in defiance of a madman whose philosophies, shouted at first
to just a few, were able to build on centuries of anti-Semitism to create a
movement of a hatred that became an obsession. Marching through the most
notorious of the Nazi death camps this week alongside survivors was a powerful
way of answering his hatred. More harm was done than can ever be measured, and
it must never be forgotten. But we must also remember in order to challenge
hatred and the particulars of antisemitism. We remember so that we might add to
our understanding of what it means to be holy the importance of being an
upstander and not a bystander. We were not defeated, but there is still much to
do. Bo and Herbie, I am so comforted to know you are on this journey of living
as adult Jews alongside us, bringing your compassion, empathy and incredible
minds to the ever evolving beauty that is being a Jew, and being fully human. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Shabbat Shalom <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2022/kedoshim%20-%20march%20of%20the%20living.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Sanhedrin 37a and Surah 5:32<o:p></o:p></p>
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</div>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-29559139642538537172022-04-25T14:40:00.005-07:002022-04-25T14:40:52.762-07:00Warsaw and Treblinka<p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></blockquote></blockquote><br />I was hoping to upload some little videos here that I’m making for social media but don’t seem to be able to, so if you’d like to see me talking about my days each night seek out the <a href="https://fb.watch/cCrLx5CQlN/">Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue Facebook page! </a><p></p><p>Yesterday was a very long day beginning at 4am at the airport and ending at 9.30pm with a ceremony and testimony recognising 2 families that are righteous among the Nations (rescued a Jew during the Shoah). In between we visited the Jewish cemetery of Warsaw where pre-War some 150,000 Polish Jews were laid to rest. The graves were incredibly diverse and beautiful and packed in between gently swaying trees. It was a fantastic snapshot of Polish life in the 150 ish years before the war. These are just a few snap shots: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtskYORqN_5z9UKGTxGgQfj6JovUCa6k0XuH7MSdb6MuDOg16u_zi-obO3hk3g3nY6xgqViqpv-Q6Gj8UeGJr31vE2v_9dxvBRNfwHyaqB2-HD36Ie-64cb_Ru7J7ctKcvCzLyD8Msgj9KOzDTolYNOpGaCkjKCXInB0hqA_ogVcHhom1xSNHvFrRN/s4032/EA554C9A-9074-4FC4-A4EE-FDF421087BAB.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtskYORqN_5z9UKGTxGgQfj6JovUCa6k0XuH7MSdb6MuDOg16u_zi-obO3hk3g3nY6xgqViqpv-Q6Gj8UeGJr31vE2v_9dxvBRNfwHyaqB2-HD36Ie-64cb_Ru7J7ctKcvCzLyD8Msgj9KOzDTolYNOpGaCkjKCXInB0hqA_ogVcHhom1xSNHvFrRN/s320/EA554C9A-9074-4FC4-A4EE-FDF421087BAB.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Two famous Rabbis, buried together, lived their lives in argument! And one being Soloveitchik was the grandfather of the rabbi who ordained the rabbi who ordained my Gary. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmF6eHqvf9GBgHhD69il4CWgjNpPDtn6-2e6kr1T31vRkuYytKVsQLhXvTK4_FjgL7Klwm5dSFXQT2bKXsxkgCxm7d6IX2OJA8Btcv4I1R5GjyPbCIx5kdwZvxqvGOVJko0HX-b9ICc1558S02TvmXVoLqTtCvw7CVL548GMTmmgrlCtGgKltVGMIn/s4032/D85923BF-4D81-45B4-BEF9-80C5F35D7741.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmF6eHqvf9GBgHhD69il4CWgjNpPDtn6-2e6kr1T31vRkuYytKVsQLhXvTK4_FjgL7Klwm5dSFXQT2bKXsxkgCxm7d6IX2OJA8Btcv4I1R5GjyPbCIx5kdwZvxqvGOVJko0HX-b9ICc1558S02TvmXVoLqTtCvw7CVL548GMTmmgrlCtGgKltVGMIn/s320/D85923BF-4D81-45B4-BEF9-80C5F35D7741.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFC4ZE1jOMEw1khbFzyoKDrJS_qFKJP0AICEEeJku97i3m1b8o_7N8-yCyS425gYOg_7JMR9Vj-7rwQcW-so-kNAsJKfBKv1d9lQAZk9nObiDZCih2_w2epebQXxZT2L1Hq3iNY1uwMFVG1FAx8054y3MS0VBDDI-ey2z-DY15B0QRe9mglhNaQCI/s4032/D826A39B-DE41-4B6A-B588-4D9F5A1122CF.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFC4ZE1jOMEw1khbFzyoKDrJS_qFKJP0AICEEeJku97i3m1b8o_7N8-yCyS425gYOg_7JMR9Vj-7rwQcW-so-kNAsJKfBKv1d9lQAZk9nObiDZCih2_w2epebQXxZT2L1Hq3iNY1uwMFVG1FAx8054y3MS0VBDDI-ey2z-DY15B0QRe9mglhNaQCI/s320/D826A39B-DE41-4B6A-B588-4D9F5A1122CF.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDpIACnXXm6V_4_18DQyomaPdeScxqJLGMO8iTP6nsu6eyzBLdXxSLhpnPOiD6xZ22tahW5Ae0Z0cadrfbqhci8JnANvz1C7SYZ0E16AzLnlUXxWw5kTzh27RQ9_sQEbVg8mZs0_qEpP1293RVOZaqkZkc3oI8hInrTtDrVmqCsBqDVHAWL8nROo22/s4032/65160485-5FB7-4118-9B43-C277C0D5EDEA.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDpIACnXXm6V_4_18DQyomaPdeScxqJLGMO8iTP6nsu6eyzBLdXxSLhpnPOiD6xZ22tahW5Ae0Z0cadrfbqhci8JnANvz1C7SYZ0E16AzLnlUXxWw5kTzh27RQ9_sQEbVg8mZs0_qEpP1293RVOZaqkZkc3oI8hInrTtDrVmqCsBqDVHAWL8nROo22/s320/65160485-5FB7-4118-9B43-C277C0D5EDEA.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Three famous Yiddish authors buried together, one of whom wrote the Dybbuk</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5pEXWZTo4LwB3Qkf51CbH0at75lluw8grFpDqWzEOLZgoY2jkXMF77dc_MguwmeZpQNTG1v0WIAdC6xBS0u2jg_-C7W5n11vvbCHtDXWkIizQNikowB1q3PboPro1Ba0MtlCZLj_v0zHpD7HcVt2w5drORztXfYQVzEzQKGNc6QSswb-zoJUhASj/s4032/33253F6A-DF5D-4EF9-ADBD-914E666D38B3.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO5pEXWZTo4LwB3Qkf51CbH0at75lluw8grFpDqWzEOLZgoY2jkXMF77dc_MguwmeZpQNTG1v0WIAdC6xBS0u2jg_-C7W5n11vvbCHtDXWkIizQNikowB1q3PboPro1Ba0MtlCZLj_v0zHpD7HcVt2w5drORztXfYQVzEzQKGNc6QSswb-zoJUhASj/s320/33253F6A-DF5D-4EF9-ADBD-914E666D38B3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Koppel the Mohel (circumciser)- great illustration!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX4V5NWXy9E8QO5ecPuGd-fjqfzaX6EsmFdvwLj95Wsssw_dJ0GiqAbMTqQhy6UC4dAMW1xcWgMMOfhoaeBbCKDOgHYOGNLu7mtO5MPQ-K_IaAznAeqB42mJQTfBYFOS9rbXtQEF--8XsoygoLaIlUHz4eY7y_15yRc-sxeb8KCSUdLbj2D1jA1NqB/s4032/33DCD80E-0746-4C95-8D5B-2B26DF53E769.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX4V5NWXy9E8QO5ecPuGd-fjqfzaX6EsmFdvwLj95Wsssw_dJ0GiqAbMTqQhy6UC4dAMW1xcWgMMOfhoaeBbCKDOgHYOGNLu7mtO5MPQ-K_IaAznAeqB42mJQTfBYFOS9rbXtQEF--8XsoygoLaIlUHz4eY7y_15yRc-sxeb8KCSUdLbj2D1jA1NqB/s320/33DCD80E-0746-4C95-8D5B-2B26DF53E769.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The founder of Esperanto</div>From the grave of Zamenhof, the founder of Esperanto, we headed to a mass grave within the cemetery- where the bodies of those who died in the Warsaw Ghetto were buried without dignity or stones to remember their names- their relatives most likely dead before a stone would have been even if it could have been. This is the new memorial that has been placed there:<p></p><p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzswTMzP_q7R0r5dTtGi93KXSv6dn7AHyXuGq_GQQhQ0xrJZKkarR1qydLL6GTExtDUc1s0oMEbyZ5pygG6ah2IsOhNsR0rW3nHpAxexyFn83_H9NesGEhgxzP69j_VPBkrVb43LzyCOhN39ke_zLOL3zGmWQHzTte-5Y2MSKsGeNuBQ7fhum8PhWy/s4032/0C38EE07-DC6C-4F0C-BCC2-D80B745C4D4B.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzswTMzP_q7R0r5dTtGi93KXSv6dn7AHyXuGq_GQQhQ0xrJZKkarR1qydLL6GTExtDUc1s0oMEbyZ5pygG6ah2IsOhNsR0rW3nHpAxexyFn83_H9NesGEhgxzP69j_VPBkrVb43LzyCOhN39ke_zLOL3zGmWQHzTte-5Y2MSKsGeNuBQ7fhum8PhWy/s320/0C38EE07-DC6C-4F0C-BCC2-D80B745C4D4B.jpeg" width="240" /></a></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoxGzHaN2DcZF8DOEbVGqdl6ho3y7V76uVXew06IY2MAqSyGzkF5HspZc41civY6NvGJnfXBKqwam8ST2nesQWijbOeQtptksn3V5n41c3s4Kw9CVSh4fyHvWkQlqPtLlrNYCB2ZftLF4LRZVB2ZdUPAb1pePKfwHUV49FmI0_arCdAo6NDH0IwFQ/s4032/5CC119D5-CB22-42FC-AEC0-A0553B57A725.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFoxGzHaN2DcZF8DOEbVGqdl6ho3y7V76uVXew06IY2MAqSyGzkF5HspZc41civY6NvGJnfXBKqwam8ST2nesQWijbOeQtptksn3V5n41c3s4Kw9CVSh4fyHvWkQlqPtLlrNYCB2ZftLF4LRZVB2ZdUPAb1pePKfwHUV49FmI0_arCdAo6NDH0IwFQ/s320/5CC119D5-CB22-42FC-AEC0-A0553B57A725.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEI_2gyqrBkI1O_fM5VfZ_XJUeRueyf8PyrT7DVAuX3PqSi4ASoBaCcdLzth1TYHVVomz51D9cyNS5AuVjPnXAkBRPsvVbI6shRbB1dj4BwVOUqS9iyHqoP1so3mwe2Zk6NHeKQ0Tq35blOHEK6cwglWa9mXKTshOJ4-DGfrRaw4HktVIPrT8C9G6j/s4032/CB76EFE8-2D97-43F1-B3E7-FF8C7744A8F5.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEI_2gyqrBkI1O_fM5VfZ_XJUeRueyf8PyrT7DVAuX3PqSi4ASoBaCcdLzth1TYHVVomz51D9cyNS5AuVjPnXAkBRPsvVbI6shRbB1dj4BwVOUqS9iyHqoP1so3mwe2Zk6NHeKQ0Tq35blOHEK6cwglWa9mXKTshOJ4-DGfrRaw4HktVIPrT8C9G6j/s320/CB76EFE8-2D97-43F1-B3E7-FF8C7744A8F5.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My grandmother, born in Łódź didn’t know if her parents died in the Łódź ghetto or the Warsaw ghetto. I realised yesterday it might also have been Treblinka. Like so many others no one will ever know. </div></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>From there we stopped briefly at a remnant of the ghetto wall, and then went on to the Jewish Historical Institute to learn about the incredible <a href="https://www.jhi.pl/en/research/the-ringelblum-archive-and-the-oneg-shabbat-group/about-the-ringelblum-archive" target="_blank">Ringelblum Archive</a> which was a record of life in the Warsaw Ghetto, and testimonies of the few who had seen what was happening at Treblinka and returned to warn people. These precious documents were stashed in 3 milk churns and buried in hope that their stories would be uncovered and known. So far two churns have been recovered and their contents is harrowing. The institute is a beautiful honouring of these eye witness accounts, preserved at huge risk. Opposite the institute stood the largest synagogue in Warsaw (a Reform Temple) until it was blown up in 1943 to celebrate that Warsaw was ‘Judenfrei’. Free of Jews. </p><p>From there we went to meet the Chief Rabbi of Poland in his beautiful synagogue and heard about Jewish life in Poland today. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh05Gj9M-F7Lw8NjmkJx8wLsp4gA035LyUu0g1fMslrutkEtUBbxGdSvAiWOprArvm9qQNvxXcmmA3IkJE_6d2BOX8JwNX-oMRKRYQZ6QvoT5cu-6mOroGZ5EwEL_fKJfpKsJ4wPEiH2i2E2dsTh_iYy4GoLrtlpf1euEBeCiDEdOGMGV3w4lK15533/s4032/184CAEF4-65D8-4F59-8044-CEDCC364B741.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh05Gj9M-F7Lw8NjmkJx8wLsp4gA035LyUu0g1fMslrutkEtUBbxGdSvAiWOprArvm9qQNvxXcmmA3IkJE_6d2BOX8JwNX-oMRKRYQZ6QvoT5cu-6mOroGZ5EwEL_fKJfpKsJ4wPEiH2i2E2dsTh_iYy4GoLrtlpf1euEBeCiDEdOGMGV3w4lK15533/s320/184CAEF4-65D8-4F59-8044-CEDCC364B741.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>After dinner we were privileged to witness an evening celebrating the acceptance of a new Righteous among the Nations who hid and helped rescue Max Ostro whose family and rescuers descendents presented their story - a reminder that for every life lost a world was destroyed, and for every life saved, they saved generations of people who would come after them. They closed by singing L’dor V’dor- from generation to generation- the name of our congregation. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6opfZiLnG-RQuwrr34KIEBkjDW5dh1dtKgf89xz1UoAJ4kupuSv5HBhZpWolinD6ZO-1I34klGmqcQzIa8vjKQGxdS53yTaR12IiRmNopP-OZoYtWeCK0VPXCOjiU4ov6Yw7UjC9b-mzKLc_Rc66iVQ5YVaoTS3LjoqGn5LPGptj6IVf12s_nKvS/s4032/FA723315-7F9B-4E65-BF4C-75999C3B5D4D.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH6opfZiLnG-RQuwrr34KIEBkjDW5dh1dtKgf89xz1UoAJ4kupuSv5HBhZpWolinD6ZO-1I34klGmqcQzIa8vjKQGxdS53yTaR12IiRmNopP-OZoYtWeCK0VPXCOjiU4ov6Yw7UjC9b-mzKLc_Rc66iVQ5YVaoTS3LjoqGn5LPGptj6IVf12s_nKvS/s320/FA723315-7F9B-4E65-BF4C-75999C3B5D4D.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Today began with stories preserved in the Warsaw ghetto memorial, including the remarkable Janusz Korchak. Only one woman’s story is preserved in those told. This finished at Polin, an amazing museum telling the history of Jewish life in Poland. A life that can only be described as peaks and troughs really! I learnt a huge amount and it’s a beautiful museum. </p><p>From there we drove to Treblinka- an extermination camp built purely to kill, and largely this was Jews in this instance- Auschwitz was not only an extermination camp and held a more diverse collection of prisoners. It is a site of pure evil, where memorials exist and prayers are (and we’re) said, both of which are needed, but there is also something deeply unholy there. I was asked to read psalm 23 and I didn’t make it through the words. I choked on </p><p><span class="text Ps-23-5" id="en-NIV-14241" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: block; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;"><br /></span><span class="versenum" style="display: block; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">5 </span>You prepare a table before me</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-23-5" style="position: relative;">in the presence of my enemies.</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Ps-23-5" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; position: relative;">You anoint my head with oil;</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-23-5" style="position: relative;">my cup overflows.</span></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="text Ps-23-6" id="en-NIV-14242" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px; position: relative;"><span class="versenum" style="display: block; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; left: -4.4em; line-height: normal; position: absolute; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">6 </span>Surely your goodness and love</span><span class="text Ps-23-6" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; position: relative;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>will follow me</span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-23-6" style="position: relative;">all the days of my life,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">The prayers that would have felt unheard in this place were too much to hold. I don’t believe that’s how prayer works, or how I think of God, but the words choked me, and I felt my teenage anger at a God who would allow this. Being there with two wonderful women of faith, Christian and Sikh, to pour over the emotions and the theology with was so moving and helpful. We also discussed the different sense of what cremation means and what holiness means in a place like that and in our traditions.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgAT1jrsX8N0A0zWWJFrshVWjSu6MSGYkWHZ9yBBcpSwRpvjRs4-3makXGsvBfcmaGYZApbf_nYuXJEa3tuj4aHHkyz81DrcFddPGXeRrrw4OycEe04vaNDl_j_H_yOnO6S_rVwN7eOHxFR0Nh0S6oTlqzkv2T0uMDKU5kyFeIYtmDcN8c7Yt6xoN/s4032/3C120253-4AAA-48B5-A642-905C799B3A67.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgAT1jrsX8N0A0zWWJFrshVWjSu6MSGYkWHZ9yBBcpSwRpvjRs4-3makXGsvBfcmaGYZApbf_nYuXJEa3tuj4aHHkyz81DrcFddPGXeRrrw4OycEe04vaNDl_j_H_yOnO6S_rVwN7eOHxFR0Nh0S6oTlqzkv2T0uMDKU5kyFeIYtmDcN8c7Yt6xoN/s320/3C120253-4AAA-48B5-A642-905C799B3A67.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwKnoj2VugdcLfDadua9pSPqMCpBcRYQMbq95GKs7vzMijEwQfyXLJ2V8Khl940F1f6nnZf9h0F-XBj697n1Y4M4Mo7A3rOSdQ-abvtAvuauUqJjHw1I_86qKjxHGo4BmKTk-9KTtvebfKyLSwgvfbKLk3dnLXnhZ6R_QJTcE41iVmc5BX3OMaGQS/s4032/9C91CDD4-4370-412B-8A19-F4B5B5AC8D1C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiwKnoj2VugdcLfDadua9pSPqMCpBcRYQMbq95GKs7vzMijEwQfyXLJ2V8Khl940F1f6nnZf9h0F-XBj697n1Y4M4Mo7A3rOSdQ-abvtAvuauUqJjHw1I_86qKjxHGo4BmKTk-9KTtvebfKyLSwgvfbKLk3dnLXnhZ6R_QJTcE41iVmc5BX3OMaGQS/s320/9C91CDD4-4370-412B-8A19-F4B5B5AC8D1C.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSyiNOtwTp0s5oCta1W2iVSB3nDjWsKEGXkrMH0EywNVRr4bimL4W5McLio4eRvmj0Y5SCGEgg1KC2mOYoJWNuZfrqt8wtPbBtHvfp5cK9VC7F2QHlxTTlo_kz8RvXFvUJNHu3is8V1qyxzfaO5RiwayJ6uBYXl58FZuSSw5hrI2_aQvRsFHj2yPzK/s4032/37F66DFB-0BD8-4394-AA28-F76E809D3FF8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSyiNOtwTp0s5oCta1W2iVSB3nDjWsKEGXkrMH0EywNVRr4bimL4W5McLio4eRvmj0Y5SCGEgg1KC2mOYoJWNuZfrqt8wtPbBtHvfp5cK9VC7F2QHlxTTlo_kz8RvXFvUJNHu3is8V1qyxzfaO5RiwayJ6uBYXl58FZuSSw5hrI2_aQvRsFHj2yPzK/s320/37F66DFB-0BD8-4394-AA28-F76E809D3FF8.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnLAR5u0zS9bMrumrNgM5Bl2wPCacCY9stfECpJWCpDs5ZlKBfxAAvS1ic1wSjuhf4xebg3bcAxr2EMp3-aHvmohYurOb6ltwg8WlaGG1M3rYvNbFCmM3NwUiCRLxgDoraYhddhn1SikbI2oFvch6W7bEUFlSHfScO8nzo6TErda0co0SkgLI9u3AX/s4032/92E3BAD5-766C-42FF-B8C5-E503AC1F0771.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnLAR5u0zS9bMrumrNgM5Bl2wPCacCY9stfECpJWCpDs5ZlKBfxAAvS1ic1wSjuhf4xebg3bcAxr2EMp3-aHvmohYurOb6ltwg8WlaGG1M3rYvNbFCmM3NwUiCRLxgDoraYhddhn1SikbI2oFvch6W7bEUFlSHfScO8nzo6TErda0co0SkgLI9u3AX/s320/92E3BAD5-766C-42FF-B8C5-E503AC1F0771.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">That conversation carried on after dinner when our group took on some Scriptural reasoning, but before then we rode back listening to survivor, Eve Kugler, sharing her story. You can read it for free <a href="http://www.shatteredcrystals.net/" target="_blank">here</a>. The privilege of hearing the words from Eve rather than a recording was immense and I’m conscious our children won’t be able to unless they do it soon… and I’m not sure they can hear it yet…</span></span></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-BSAjEXgJK2uZ9gK5pkJjBRVKAdHwVsIcaZw7NgR0Yi_3b6e34RMpanCDRS763K6P7GsMl9R_Byp-EJN47BHTsnfxyirEmhCehGcFt4Ia99RbXObZEc0gcO5q0HhjNAP3F05ZXJYKoIhV07t8XWkCmjU4qUabhqBDhfBJXlImF8MZ-tnC_jcw0Vo/s4032/041528E3-5E4D-485A-8C88-858A3F7F7A83.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, Arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD-BSAjEXgJK2uZ9gK5pkJjBRVKAdHwVsIcaZw7NgR0Yi_3b6e34RMpanCDRS763K6P7GsMl9R_Byp-EJN47BHTsnfxyirEmhCehGcFt4Ia99RbXObZEc0gcO5q0HhjNAP3F05ZXJYKoIhV07t8XWkCmjU4qUabhqBDhfBJXlImF8MZ-tnC_jcw0Vo/s320/041528E3-5E4D-485A-8C88-858A3F7F7A83.jpeg" width="240" /> </a>This is Eve standing at the approach to the main Treblinka memorial.</p><p><span style="font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Ubuntu, Cantarell, Noto Sans, sans-serif, Arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">It has been an exhausting couple of days, and I’ve recorded more of my thoughts in vlogs you can watch on the Edgware and Hendon Reform Synagogue FB pages <a href="https://fb.watch/cCPxe4TlhM/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://fb.watch/cCPzm654Sr/" target="_blank">here </a>… I’m not sure I’m making much sense but want to make sure I’m getting things down! </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-3551932416591785722022-04-23T20:16:00.004-07:002022-04-23T20:16:54.989-07:00On the way<p> Last night there was a lot to do- the Pesach boxes had to be packed away, I needed to finish packing my luggage, get cash for a taxi, and shower knowing I wouldn’t want to at 3am! </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipRWqkNJt8qPsteBvsKvuvVQ1kHsR5l50UnRoLiH8SUXNC-CWFbI0hhNTC3QXOcEqo3X8YpzjGD0y8X5rcTKN7C_aHmok5VVNrRbeQNk2OABqN6SwBwf5ubV9-knq-nYxUjBzs5om1BRwZ7_JNBoBqoKS1u2ucCPHr5znyY4258Y1Vr8YZA0IM1uqN/s4032/43B1DD72-B4EC-48C0-A152-08F1E110276C.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipRWqkNJt8qPsteBvsKvuvVQ1kHsR5l50UnRoLiH8SUXNC-CWFbI0hhNTC3QXOcEqo3X8YpzjGD0y8X5rcTKN7C_aHmok5VVNrRbeQNk2OABqN6SwBwf5ubV9-knq-nYxUjBzs5om1BRwZ7_JNBoBqoKS1u2ucCPHr5znyY4258Y1Vr8YZA0IM1uqN/s320/43B1DD72-B4EC-48C0-A152-08F1E110276C.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRhjRftspk4NKMh_U6CemNtCm_Ep6cN2ggkzq5foqQ8RGUTeD0WKbdb072lmUr5h3vhrA64TzQKoVjD3ziO4WEYraXh-CqWyaFK_NjteYOD3QwNNsP7ZcEOfxqRQnvDG160Xi3hKIgIBQ-ZC23-ELLuNnRzjAn-6u8XyhKrekrunudu2OU7qVV1ix/s4032/3495CC6D-D094-4E20-819D-7E8F0FC1A333.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLRhjRftspk4NKMh_U6CemNtCm_Ep6cN2ggkzq5foqQ8RGUTeD0WKbdb072lmUr5h3vhrA64TzQKoVjD3ziO4WEYraXh-CqWyaFK_NjteYOD3QwNNsP7ZcEOfxqRQnvDG160Xi3hKIgIBQ-ZC23-ELLuNnRzjAn-6u8XyhKrekrunudu2OU7qVV1ix/s320/3495CC6D-D094-4E20-819D-7E8F0FC1A333.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br />My 9 year old insisted she wanted to stay up and play jenga with the Pesach packing (we did an excellent job I reckon!) and we all took a moment out of the chaos to make havdallah- the ceremony that closes Shabbat. <p></p><p>As we looked at the flickering havdallah candle, I was surprised to find myself feeling quite moved by the simple fact that we were free to mark this beautiful moment in the week, to honour Jewish time, and to celebrate our Jewish rituals as we choose. I have always taught our Judaism has nothing to do with the Shoah (Holocaust). It happened to us not because of us, and we observe because our Judaism has intrinsic value not because our families died for it. But as we leave the festival of freedom, there was a sudden feeling of surprise to realise there is something in me right now that does want to remember how lucky we are to be able to practice our Judaism freely, and that doing so is in some way a victory over history. As all this was welling up in me I discovered E was welling up too- suddenly aware I wouldn’t be there in the morning when she woke up. </p><p>I am not sure how much she and her brother understand - though I know they both have a sense of the war and that there was a persecution of Jews and others. I want them to appreciate why this trip is so important, and I also want to protect them a little longer from knowing how awful this world can be- though the news has probably told them as much recently. </p><p>It is 4am and I am waiting for our group to gather at the airport… </p>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-46913175376771431442022-04-05T04:24:00.000-07:002022-04-05T04:24:13.715-07:00Travel Anxiety<p>I feel very humbled and privileged that at the end of the month I am joining an interfaith bus on the March of the Living- something I’ve never done before. I went to a number of the German concentration camps in my early 20’s, and I’ve been to Poland, but I haven’t been to any of the extermination camps and, if I’m honest, pretty anxious. I have never really wanted to visit Auschwitz, feeling this is a history non-Jews need to learn about far more than Jews. But the unique nature of being part of an interfaith bus, and the fact that soon there will be no survivors to directly tell their stories, meant this felt like an important trip to say yes to.</p><p>On Sunday night we had our first meeting and we are clearly in excellent hands. We were shown a map of our journey and it was chilling to hear of a visit to a site where Jews were shot into the graves they had dug- the fate of my maternal grandma’s cousins. We saw Łódź on the map, the birthplace of my paternal grandfathers wife, who I only ever knew as grandma. We don’t know if her parents died there or in the Warsaw ghetto. She would hate that I am travelling to Poland. </p><p>We also discussed the refugee crisis Poland is facing. And then on Monday… war crimes that have such strong echoes of the brutal acts European communities and soldiers were capable of within living memory, just over the border in Ukraine. I don’t think I have anything profound to say, but on Sunday I was worried about my emotional resilience to make this journey. Today I am just horrified at humanity. May our learning of the past change our collective future, and help create more upstanders.</p><p>Having not used my blog for some time, this felt like a good place to track this journey a little for myself, to stash my reflections and learning, and to share with anyone interested what we see and experience. But first, there is Pesach to get through! A time when we reflect on freedom, and each year I also try to bring to our table those who do not have their own freedom. Each year I create an alternative seder plate with extra symbols that acknowledge LGBT, Uighur, and climate campaigns, prayers for peace in Israel and Palestine, and this year, a sunflower or sunflower seeds will be added.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesxCK8E8mmh5GenZh2W3Ij3Wq0Nh_wKIk0IV5zzRJEsh2sxc1QBKrFAQ1X5ADCzyPfSZWCk7QgkHQHs_RyC7Gypa0iFPLlyzEEd2os-0GeR9V5ZXS19ZnCpnrngBIFqF5EbBkfIdsTmdAxUrqgvKNg18EmLtx6nqdeVwnUSYB8jGYUf5alurC7ohY/s275/sunflowers.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesxCK8E8mmh5GenZh2W3Ij3Wq0Nh_wKIk0IV5zzRJEsh2sxc1QBKrFAQ1X5ADCzyPfSZWCk7QgkHQHs_RyC7Gypa0iFPLlyzEEd2os-0GeR9V5ZXS19ZnCpnrngBIFqF5EbBkfIdsTmdAxUrqgvKNg18EmLtx6nqdeVwnUSYB8jGYUf5alurC7ohY/s1600/sunflowers.webp" width="275" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-18293191783385573342020-06-07T03:56:00.002-07:002022-04-05T06:19:15.123-07:00Parashat Beha'alotechah and George Floyd murder<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Yesterday, on the Shabbat when Progressive Jewish communities read parashat Beha'alotechah, I was giving the sermon. There was really only one thing I could have spoken about this week. Several congregants have asked me to share what I said for them to reread, so here it is, flawed, no doubt, and in need of more, as so much is at the moment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Until last November, if you had asked me what the most
powerful museum I have visited was I would have unfalteringly replied Yad
Vashem, the National Holocaust Museum in Israel. A place I have wept, learnt,
and memorialised. But last year, I was attending a conference in Atlanta, the
home town of Martin Luther King Junior, and visited The Centre for Civil and
Human Rights. It didn’t tell a story I have been directly impacted by, as Yad
Vashem does, yet it had a similar impact. Growing up in the UK I was of course
aware of some of the history of slavery and civil rights in the US, but the
Centre in Atlanta was so beautifully curated that not only did I learn some of
the horrifying depths and lengths of this awful, oppressive history, I was able
to feel it, and to weep. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One of the most powerful installations invites you to pull up
to the Lunch Counter. It came after a piece about the lynching of a 14 year old
boy, Emet Till, in Mississipi in 1955. He smiled at the wrong white woman and
was killed for it. This was just an illustration of a frequent way mobs carried
out what they saw as justice, and met none themselves. So I sat down at a diner
counter, on a bar stool, and was invited to put headphones on. I placed my
hands on the counter and closed my eyes, in order to be transported to the
1960’s, when such lunch counters were segregated, and black men, women and
teens took their lives in their hands to peacefully protest by sitting down and
ordering. What I heard through the headphones was a simulation of what a black
teen might have heard. The idea was to see how long you could manage to sit
there. I was told to go. I was called disgusting names. I could hear the
violence in the voice of the speaker. I was told that a fork would be plunged
into my neck if I didn’t get out. I began to hear the sound of boots connecting
with “my” body. I lasted precisely 73 seconds. When I took the headphones off I
couldn’t hold back the tears. Tissues were readily available as this is
obviously a frequent response to the immersive piece.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I think what I left the museum with more than anything else
was a new understanding of just how deep the roots of racism run. How it will
take generations to recover from not only slavery and the violence and murder
that went along with it, but generations of laws and systems that continued to
oppress vast swathes of American society.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">That Shabbat, at a reception before services, a Rabbi
introduced me to a delightful family who had recently joined the congregation
after the wife had completed her conversion. She was an African American but
was fascinated to hear from me about the rise in Antisemitism in the UK. I
mentioned my visit to the Centre for Civil and Human rights, and asked if she
continued to experience overt Racism herself. Her answer was fascinating. She
said that day to day, people are nice as pie – she rarely hears racist
comments. Because, she explained, on a day to day basis people don’t need to be
overtly racist to her, they know the system is already working against her. A
Rabbi I met a few days later pointed out to me that as a banker and a member of
the most expensive synagogue in town, her experience would be specific to
having made it to a certain level of socio-economic success, an opportunity the
majority of African Americans today don’t benefit from. Their experiences, as
we’ve heard this week, too often continue to be bleak. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Many of my white friends this week have been reflecting on
how to discuss these issues with our children. Black mothers and fathers in
America tell me they don’t reflect on such issues, because by the age of 5
their children have to know how to keep safe, how to respond in a way that
won’t escalate the situation. They don’t need to be taught about the reality of
racism and violence against the innocent, it is their story. In 2001, when the
USA suddenly found itself living in a state of terror, the black poet Maya
Angelou pointed out ‘but black people have been living in a state of terror in
this country for more than 400 years’. Or as Kareem Abdul-Jabar wrote in the LA
Sunday times, ‘I don’t want to see stores looted or even buildings burn. But
African Americans have been living in a burning building for many years,
choking on the smoke as the flames burn closer and closer…’<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2020/Behalotecha%20-%20Black%20lives%20matter.doc#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And this is not just an American story. As Afua Hirsch,
British author, broadcaster, journalist and barrister writes: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We want protest, we want change, and
we know it is something for which we must fight. Because many of us have been
fighting for this all our lives<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2020/Behalotecha%20-%20Black%20lives%20matter.doc#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[2]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We must also not pretend this is not also a Jewish story. In
this week’s portion, Beha’alotechah, Miriam and Aaron are found exhibiting what
is often identified as an early streak of Jewish racism:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: right;">
<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: HE;">א<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>וַתְּדַבֵּר מִרְיָם וְאַהֲרֹן
בְּמֹשֶׁה, עַל-אֹדוֹת הָאִשָּׁה הַכֻּשִׁית אֲשֶׁר לָקָח:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>כִּי-אִשָּׁה כֻשִׁית, לָקָח</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">1 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the
Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">What is wrong with Moses’ wife? Is she a lay about? Has she
corrupted Moses? What is her flaw? Their only complaint about her seems to be
that she is a Cushite- generally identified as being African. In other words,
she was black. She was other, despite also being part of the family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Black Jewish voices have also spoken up this week, about what
it is to walk in the world as a black person, but also about the racism they
experience within our Jewish communities. I asked a friend, a Jew born in
Rwanda, journalist Yoletta Nyange, if she would add her voice today, and she
spoke to me about how this week she has felt liberated to finally name what she
experiences so often as Racism, and that whenever she speaks to people she has
to navigate and calculate their identity and measure her engagement against
that. She wrote: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">If anything, Covid19 has once and for
all proven that it is impossible to fight Nature. […] if White people were not
consulted during their creation by Nature, what makes White people think that
they have a say in the lives of Black people at all? They don't. They can't.
They have to accept Black and Brown people and live together. But this can only
happen if White people remember they too are humans, only then will it be
reflected onto others.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">We have to acknowledge that within Jewish communities today
Racism exists. But Beha’alotecha doesn’t leave us with just the report of
Racism. God summons Moses, Miriam and Aaron to the tent of meeting and
chastises Moses’ brother and sister. In doing so he not only made their
whisperings known to Moses, but showed his disapproval by afflicting Miriam
with tzara’at – a flaky white skin condition. What’s key about this particular
affliction, was that sufferers were isolated from the rest of the community for
seven days. It’s a quarantine designed to protect a closely packed encampment,
but afflicting Miriam with it at this point perhaps also tells us something
about the nature of gossip, racism, and ‘evil speech’ or Lashon HaRa as it is
known in Judaism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In separating Miriam out, we are being told that there is a
risk to the community’s health if she is allowed to stay and continue her bad
mouthing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">But today, I want to ask us to think about not quarantining
the voices of racism. We need to hear them, to know they are real. I also want
to ask us to hear the voices of those who have been the victims not only of
Racist words, but of racist actions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Uju Asika, who writes a blog about children and parenting,
turned this week to the topic of George Floyd’s murder and what to tell our
children. She writes:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I support any movement against a
virus that is far older, much more deadly, than coronavirus. America is its
epicentre. But make no mistake, racism is a global pandemic.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For what feels like forever, Black
and Brown people have tried to sanitise ourselves so we can move safely through
this world. We have hidden the depth of our anger and pain behind a mask of
strength and smiles. It’s time for the masks to come off, because they won’t
save us. They won’t save any of us. Whether you are a silent carrier or a super
spreader, everybody on this earth is infected. And we can’t fight this virus
alone. We need a common cure<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2020/Behalotecha%20-%20Black%20lives%20matter.doc#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[3]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A common cure. We need to cure ourselves, and be part of the
world wide cure. Rashi asks why does the torah not begin with Leviticus, with
the laws and statutes that guide our lives as Jews. His answer is that we read
first about the creation of all humanity, as all are equal. We are all b’nei
Adam v’Chava, children of Adam and Eve. We are all Betzelem Elohim, made in the
image of God. Strife begins early in the Torah, when Cain kills his brother
Abel. The Torah writes of this incident that God tells Cain ‘your brothers
blood cried out to me from the earth’. Our brothers and sisters blood is crying
out to us from the earth. We must listen. We must be a part of the solution. We
must own our own missteps, our own blind eyes turned, and as Rabbi Abraham
Joshua Heschel did, we may need to pray with our feet, take action, and stand
up to Racism when we see it and when we hear it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 339.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 339.75pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the words of Eli Wiesel, “Neutrality
helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never
the tormented.”</span> <span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%;">My
sermons, on average, are about 8 minutes long. Last week George Floyd had Derek
Chauvin kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. I thought about
leaving this slot silent for that length of time, but there have been so many
words to process, and I wanted to reflect a little with all of you on these
events that it has been impossible to ignore, and ensure we are living by
Wiesel’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope we will have the
opportunity to make a difference together, to be upstanders together, and to
play our part in building the world as we wish to see it, which is what we will
now pray for in the words of the Aleynu. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2020/Behalotecha%20-%20Black%20lives%20matter.doc#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-30/dont-understand-the-protests-what-youre-seeing-is-people-pushed-to-the-edge">https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-30/dont-understand-the-protests-what-youre-seeing-is-people-pushed-to-the-edge</a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2020/Behalotecha%20-%20Black%20lives%20matter.doc#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/03/racism-george-floyd-britain-america-uk-black-people">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/03/racism-george-floyd-britain-america-uk-black-people</a><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/debbie.young-somers/Documents/Sermons/2020/Behalotecha%20-%20Black%20lives%20matter.doc#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="http://babesabouttown.com/2020/06/george-floyd/">http://babesabouttown.com/2020/06/george-floyd/</a>
<span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-13838331265108826042020-04-06T12:52:00.001-07:002020-04-06T12:52:57.223-07:00DayenuDayenu- the most well known song of the Seder. It means ‘it would have been enough for us’. This year we will all have to find our sense of enoughness. With fewer people around, with less food around, with more grief and fear and stress around, we can understand that enough is perhaps less than we usually think. Maybe we have had enough, but we must find the strength for more, more ways to help each other, more ways to relieve loneliness, more patience to tolerate those we are at home with, more ways to make do with what we have. Dayenu. It will be enough.<br />
We have to go easy on ourselves and on our expectations. We may not be able to recreate grandmas macaroons, or sing the songs our great aunts destroyed with tuneless abandon. We may be marking our first ever Seder away from our community and the friends who would have helped us. But whatever we do manage, Dayenu, it will be enough. Perhaps over zoom we will find companionship, or perhaps in the unusual quietness we will create space for the ‘still small voice’. It will be a Passover like no other, but this too shall Pass, and we will have done enough.Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-10669461150708913852018-07-19T07:22:00.001-07:002018-07-19T07:22:23.288-07:00Plastic free partying... and some sadness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the last 6 weeks we have celebrated two birthdays. We used washable cups when at home, compostable plates when out, and were lucky enough to have a friend wanting to get rid of a couple hundred sports bottles so we could provide kids with reusable (if plastic) drinking bottles in the heat. Going home pressies were seed bombs and plant pots in paper bags, and no one felt (I hope!) like they missed out!<br />
The issue of disposable table wear in particular is a huge one in the Jewish community (<a href="https://www.thejc.com/judaism/features/environmental-responsbility-why-plastic-cups-should-not-be-kosher-for-kiddush-1.467181">in fact there was an article about this in the Jewish Chronicle this week</a>) and it's encouraging to see people beginning to take note; in fact at the Reform Movement conference last month we passed a motion that synagogues all undertake a review of their use of single use plastics and all work towards their removal. So lots of things to celebrate as we all continue to struggle against the habits we have allowed ourselves to fall into.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIb1yFD-cRW9JibmilSsN0S9cgnGIurPMeKuvTuydK9ZZ-JfJ17RZedmaAcbgTaMMDeX1CFddWPtDREHeE0zN8MwgCuOHRMhGbKzHE2op7xPHybycDx0JbzH3wl9AdVSk_iFG_FXpxwBM/s1600/kippah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIb1yFD-cRW9JibmilSsN0S9cgnGIurPMeKuvTuydK9ZZ-JfJ17RZedmaAcbgTaMMDeX1CFddWPtDREHeE0zN8MwgCuOHRMhGbKzHE2op7xPHybycDx0JbzH3wl9AdVSk_iFG_FXpxwBM/s320/kippah.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
When we celebrated my sons 3rd birthday, as with his sister, he had his first hair cut. There is a Jewish tradition that we don't prune trees for their first 3 years so that their roots should grow strong, and this became a custom around children's hair cuts too. It is a ritual that allows us to acknowledge a shift in a child's development, and with increasing independence we as parents are forced to begin to let go of our baby, and acknowledge he/she is becoming a child with opinions (and oppositions!) As you can see we didn't do what many do and go for the full chop, but we tidied up the triangle shape at the bottom.<br />
But this also marked a shift in my sons life in another way. He is now encouraged to wear his kippah - skull cap, and this has been a much bigger change than I expected. The weekend after his birthday we traveled up the M1 to a conference in the Midlands. At a service station well outside NW London, I was suddenly aware of my excited toddler running towards the Peppa Pig ride on toys, and the sideways looks his head was receiving. Am I putting my son in danger by encouraging a positive association with religious expression? Should he instead learn to hide his identity?<br />
My husband has had similar experiences of quiet (and less quiet) judgments from others directed at him as a man wearing his Judaism publicly, but he is 6'2 and not someone most would choose to mess with. Am I putting my little blonde curly boy in danger? I am not sure I have an answer at this point, but I know I wish the world were not like this.Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-79553462062076899422018-05-22T09:16:00.002-07:002018-05-22T09:16:56.140-07:00Good News DayToday was a good day. We have a small cafe at work that serves the various organisations on site and our many visitors. Whenever I buy lunch but want to eat it at my desk, I have been getting it on a plate, taking it up 3 flights of stairs, and returning the plates later on. This is largely because the take away boxes are polystyrene-style, and while they may be made of recycled plastics, they will be around longer than I am, for the sake of a 20 minute lunch. It carries a Masorti and a Reform hechsher (Kosher certification) and recently a colleague and I had been discussing whether to ask to remove the Reform hechsher if use of the polysterene tubs continued (my lovely colleagues have also started using reusable mugs and glasses for meetings instead of disposables - role modelling can work!).<br />
<br />
Today as I was returning my plates to the cafe, without any prompting or know our recent conversations, the cafe owner showed me their newest arrival - vegware! They will now have takeaway vegware boxes and cups that will biodegrade even if in landfill. He cited The Blue Planet as a motivator - unsurprisingly this is the most common element of conversations that I have around plastics.<br />
<br />
The part of this that is most important though, is that it isn't one or two people making a change, it is an institution (and service provider) making a change. Whether they are motivated by values they want to emulate, or by commercial interest in retaining customers, it is ultimately only when our retailers start to make changes that we see the real impact.<br />
<br />
There have in fact been lots of good news stories lately, from <a href="https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/home/topics/environment/iceland-to-use-new-plastic-free-mark-on-own-brand-packs/567074.article">plastic free packaging kite marks </a>on Iceland own brand products to all shopping bags being bags for life in <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/asda-scraps-5p-plastic-bags-11972524">Asda</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/07/tesco-to-end-sales-of-5p-carrier-bags">Tesco </a>and <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/morrisons-pledges-to-scrap-5p-carrier-bags-from-march-a3761816.html">Morrissons,</a> and <a href="https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/top-story/waitrose-remove-disposable-coffee-cups-autumn-2018-10-04-2018">Waitrose removing disposable coffee cups</a> from it's free cuppa scheme - you can still get a free drink, but will need to bring your own cup.<br />
This is my bag of Tesco plastics I have saved up since January (not quite plastic free, but not tooo bad either!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-Q2EeYII82g6xr0zX95UwClf0UpNvxPmktmD6Tiu0kqgVsXEGv9MCVPzV2BjM3kL4AJncErXocCdmXPBy8gszGPutu-QYt5D73imOesanMf8mEobpOQbC5nCeYM6ktBbmE5oa17xiak/s1600/plastics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj-Q2EeYII82g6xr0zX95UwClf0UpNvxPmktmD6Tiu0kqgVsXEGv9MCVPzV2BjM3kL4AJncErXocCdmXPBy8gszGPutu-QYt5D73imOesanMf8mEobpOQbC5nCeYM6ktBbmE5oa17xiak/s320/plastics.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Plastic free aisles have also begun to make the news, and when I ask stores about these on twitter, they do all seem to have folk thinking about packaging. The reality is though these alternative packagings will cost them more, so they will only undertake them if the pressure is on from you and me - as consumers we have power! We can choose to make things different. You could try <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/nov/15/greenpolitics.ethicalliving">unpacking all your goods at the till</a>, posting your plastic back to their freepost customer services address, as well as making sure you make the most of every piece of plastic you can.<br />
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One area we could collectively have a huge impact, is on single use disposable food ware. Our little cafe is doing it's bit, but over shabbat and Shavuot, how many disposable cups did your community go through? at Kiddush how many plastic plates and shot glasses get chucked each week? At birthday parties are you using something that will outlive your child to serve a few snacks on? If every single Jewish community stopped using disposables (and had 2 volunteers each week to work together on washing and drying) the collective impact would be astonishing!<br />
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Not all plastic is necessarily worse for the environment than other substances, but it very much depends on its purpose and use. Hard wearing plastic shot glasses that can be used 500 times without breaking are going to save money as well as the environment, and won't break in the way glasses can. I chose these which last apx 500 washes for the services I host at home - and once they aren't drinkable anymore, I wonder if I will be able to find another way to upcycle them! Paint pots, seed storers, scarecrows... we shall see!!<br />
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Change is coming much quicker than I or my co-conspirator perhaps predicted, because thanks to Blue Planet this is now what everyone is talking about. Next we need to get to a point where individuals choose inconvenience in favour of the earth surviving longer, and retailers choose (or are forced into) offering plastic-free packaging as the norm.<br />
<br />Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-41012997215023544982018-02-05T09:05:00.001-08:002018-02-05T09:07:05.747-08:00Upcycling and choosing wellSo we are a month into 2018, and a month into trying for a plastic free 2018. Rev. Anna Alls and I began planning this madness about 6 months ago, and could never have predicted how much of a hot issue it would be - every few days a major newspaper seems to be carrying another article about the dangers of disposable plastic of some kind, or tips on how to reduce your plastic use, or news of another major outlet making fantastic commitments to eradicate straws or plastic Packaging asap, and a London announcement about the installation of water fountains to refill bottles from. Just today Asda and Tesco have announced they are scrapping single use bags, after the government has already announced this month that small outlets that had been exempt will now have to charge for each bag. And I can’t tell you how many petitions I have seen (and signed!) since Jan 1st. I think Blue Earth 2 has had a huge impact, and after years of awareness raising from many small charities and interest groups, David Attenborough and the BBC have massively turned the tide.<br />
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Starting out I knew we would have to begin with phasing things out, using things up, and making changes as things ran out.<br />
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The first changes have certainly been the easiest; finding a milk man with lovely glass bottles of milk and juice that are reused week after week, investing in a soda stream to replace our fizzy drink fix, and getting better at remembering my reusable bottles and coffee cups for when I am on the move. I did forget my handbag in the boot of the car yesterday which meant my reusable cup was there while I was watching my daughter and her friend at a party. I did cave in and take a disposable cup, but got me thinking about the best way to reuse it - seed planting, paint brush washing, and that's before I have even looked at Pinterest! Working out how we get the most life out of those plastic items we do end up using has been a lot of fun - one member of our face book group asked about reusing straws, and it turns out there are millions of ways to make sure they have a second life if you really have to use one that is disposable plastic. </div>
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I'm looking forward to having to figure out home made toothpaste, but at the moment I am noticing simpler challenges in my weekly shop. I have invested in reusable produce bags, (paper bags are sometimes available, but there are important and humbling arguments to be made for <a href="https://thezerowaster.com/2018/01/20/zero-waste-myths-should-we-really-be-using-anything-but-plastic/">generally avoiding the disposable, or at least making as many uses as possible of everything</a>) but in my usual supermarket I was faced with a choice of fair trade bananas in plastic or rainforest alliance bananas not in plastic. I've since learned that other supermarkets will allow me to be both fair trade and plastic free on my banana choices, but how many shops I go to a week is a challenge! The reality is that for a major impact to occur, we are going to have to get our retailers to make some serious changes. And to do this they need us to ask for it. Someone I've never met on Facebook (called Tom Walker - his photo is below) made a fantastic proposal - that we save up all the plastic packaging we are lumbered with in a month, wrap it up, and post it to our supermarket at their freepost customer services - if enough of us sent packages it would get pretty annoying!<br />
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So if reducing your plastic use is too much for you, you can still make a contribution by sending your waste back! There are so many instances where the packaging could be biodegradable, or entirely absent! I'd love my supermarket to sell loose pasta, barley, etc as some health food stores are now doing - if we want to make change, we need to make it as easy as possible for people! The mood is definitely right and stores and cafes are making important changes - let's help them make some more! And in the meantime, make sure you get as much use out of everything that comes into your hands as possible - there are finite resources, and the disposable cup from each party will outlive the child whose birthday we are celebrating!</div>
Oh, and if you are looking for disposables that don't cost the earth, try <a href="https://www.vegware.com/">Vegware</a></div>
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Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-42011376731788763922018-01-09T08:02:00.001-08:002018-01-09T08:02:50.553-08:00New Year, New ChallengeI hope 2018 had begun for all of you with health and happiness, and not much need for new years resolutions!<br />
As long time readers will know I am a little worried (obsessed) with how our human habits are having major impacts on the world around us, and though I know it will take effort from us all to make long term changes, I want to be a part of making those changes for myself.<br />
So this year, Rev. Anna Alls and I decided we would try to ditch plastic... we have been joined by a rapidly growing cohort of others (who can be found on Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/170503670173429/">here</a> if you would like to join us) and we are currently finding our feet and all the challenges we will need to figure out!<br />
Most of us have already made some changes; remembering our reusable shopping bags, carrying refillable coffee cups etc. But we've already discovered how small changes we hadn't yet made can make a big impact. Several of us have started sending unused straws back, and while a few straws won't make an impact, messaging to retailers that we don't want them might. In some local communities groups of restaurants are collectively <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/some-halifax-restaurants-giving-up-plastic-straws-stir-sticks-1.4203045">rejecting straws and stir sticks</a>, and Whetherspoon pubs have <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4919604/Wetherspoon-ban-single-use-plastic-straws.html">banned straws in their 900 pubs</a>. In the USA alone an estimated 500 million plastic straws are discarded EVERY DAY. They may be single use, but they don't biodegrade, and as they break down, tiny particles of plastic end up washing into our water systems. We are ultimately poisoning the seas, and ourselves as a result.<br />
Many of us have already struggled to do our weekly shop as so many of the foods we rely on come wrapped in plastic. We will need to plan, cook more at home, but ultimately, we need to be <a href="https://www.change.org/p/the-rt-hon-michael-gove-top-10-uk-retailers-to-switch-to-biodegradable-packaging-materials-now/nftexp/ex43/control/46317925?recruiter=46317925&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_term=autopublish&utm_content=ex43%3Acontrol">pressurising our shops and retailers to do better on packaging</a>. Biodegradable plastic bags cost 1p more per bag to produce. Of course this adds up, but if retailers accept slightly less profit, and consumers accept a tiny hike in prices, the cost to the earth and our future will be saving so much more than money.<br />
So I will be reflecting here this year about what my challenges are, what is keeping me inspired, and I'd love to hear about the small changes you are able to make too!<br />
One member of the Facebook group has calculated that by swapping from shower gel and shampoo to soap bars (they exist for body and for hair) and swapping from plastic to glass for her milk bottles, her family will be saving around 300 plastic bottles this year. So my task this week was to tackle milk and plastic wrapped veg.<br />
The milk man is a thing of our childhood; slow electric milk floats, washable, returnable glass bottles, and all delivered to your door... but they are still around! I had been struggling to get a response from the firms I had contacted, so I asked in a local residents group and got lots of recommendations for the same company. The conversation that was started made me realise a number of other people were also looking, and allowed me to acknowledge that yes, this is going to cost me more than buying my milk in the supermarket, but that I am lucky enough to be in a position to prioritise packaging in this instance and make the right choice for the long term, not just for my purse. Not everyone has this privilege, but for me buying less stuff but better stuff is going to be important in this challenge, and it's a change in attitude that I still need to make in lots of areas, despite working on my consuming for years.<br />
I also went looking for veg boxes today, as supermarket veggies are invariably wrapped in celophane and plastic boxes. I have reusable produce bags that I will take to the supermarket and greengrocers, but was also delighted to discover <a href="https://www.oddbox.co.uk/">oddbox</a> - a startup based in London that delivers wonky veg that wouldn't otherwise make it to market. I'm excited to see what it's produce is like, but I love the idea of not only reducing plastic waste but food waste.<br />
Where I can't avoid packaging, I am tempted to try and keep it all in a bag for a month or a year and then start taking it back to the supermarkets to ask why it can't be in biodegradable packaging.<br />
All these small actions take a little effort, but with the potential of what each household produces, could be a real reduction. Pirkei Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers reminds us "It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it" (2:21) - I can't change everything, and I may only be able to do a little, but it's not my job to complete everything alone, I just have to do my bit!<br />
<br />Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-80910752920874590972017-11-20T15:23:00.000-08:002017-11-20T15:28:04.519-08:00Tis the season...Worrying about Chanukah giving is not a new theme here: I've worried about <a href="http://rabbidebbie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/sustainable-gifting.html">sustainable gift giving,</a> on how we <a href="http://rabbidebbie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/sustainable-energy-at-chanukah.html">make our oil last longer</a> (can you live on one days energy for 8 days?) and on <a href="http://rabbidebbie.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/chanukahchristmas-shopping-right-way.html">ethical gifting.</a><br />
After several conversations this week, it seems friends are increasingly wondering how to allow their kids some of the joy and excitement of Chanukah gifts, without drowning in stuff that is quickly forgotten and losing the meaning of the festival in a pile of plastic and batteries.<br />
There are options out there for add ons; readings and themes that can add learning and deepen our spiritual encounter with the festival, walk us through the 8 nights, and make the ancient meanings of the festival newly relevant for us. But the real challenge for many of us with kids is finding ways to get around the modern minhag of showering each other in 8 nights of gifts.<br />
Gifts and giving are wonderful, but it's so easy for children to miss the part about giving, and become crazy with the receiving. Not meeting the expectations of a small child can be challenging, but I have also found when the plans are clear, they can become just as excited about experiences as about stuff. SO last year we began a new Chanukah minhag. We took the 8 nights and planned what gifting or activity would happen - this is in no sense exhaustive but perhaps some of these would work for others:<br />
1. Grandparents night (instead of 8 little things, one present from grandparents, and the opportunity to give their grandparents a hand made/decorated gift)<br />
2. Parents night (one present. Not 8).<br />
3. Book night - everyone gets a book<br />
4. Party night - together we bake and make a party for friends<br />
5. Shopping - but not as you know it! When there is a public Chanukiah lighting, we end the evening with a visit to a supermarket to do a shop for the food bank - I was amazed by how thoughtful my daughter became exploring what people might want and what might be a special thing to buy for a stranger.<br />
6. Make a gift night - make something for everyone else - even if it's a scrawl on a page, but it might also be a simple craft kit that can be decorated that evening and gifted away<br />
7. Special food night - make something with oil we haven't tried before (olive oil cake, tempura, onion bhaji's, churros) and involve everyone! Also a good chance to discuss why oil is so important... or maybe to learn about how late it entered the Chanukah story and why!<br />
8. Lots of charities offer you the chance to buy a gift for someone you will most likely never meet - leaving you a gift card to present to the recipient on this end.<br />
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Other possibilities? Have an experience... What about a night out at the theatre or a concert? A day trip somewhere special? A visit to see a light show or exciting lights and window displays such as on Oxford Street...<br />
I am sure you will have lots of other ways to tackle Chanukah, make it more meaningful and not break the bank on gifts! Do share!<br />
<br />Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-25705925879323742132017-10-16T15:22:00.001-07:002017-10-16T15:22:19.858-07:00#metooI don't usually pass on prayers, copy and paste, or post random combos of things to raise awareness. I think I can do more to help the world than forward and repeat statements on social media. But when I saw the Me Too or #metoo posts emerging late last night, I barely hesitated to share. I experience the usual awkward public transport harassment, inappropriate wandering hands (yes, even to the Rabbi), body shaming, etc... but I didn't think of any of those when I posted. Many can't speak up, and it didn't feel difficult for me to do so, so I wanted to add my voice, my truth, my support. There are reasons to do it and reasons not to, but late last night I posted and went to bed.<br />
I didn't feel the need to be explicit about what I was thinking of, but I felt a sense of a rising tide of voices that wanted people to see this is not just about Hollywood and beautiful actresses and powerful men, but about everyones sister, wife, mother, friend, daughter, and yes, Rabbi.<br />
This morning, however, I didn't really hesitate to go into more details, and to explain that this was, for me, about rape, when a silly joke was cracked on the thread. The joke wasn't said in malice, but these are not joking matters. They are hidden and dismissed and accepted day after day. Today was not going to be that day. These things are made light of a lot. Today enough was enough. I suddenly, and almost without thinking, went public with something that happened some 17 years ago, at university, in a house filled with strapping young men who had no idea what was occurring and would have been horrified to know (and despite being absolute gentlemen probably would have resorted to defensive violence to look after their sole female housemate). I didn't tell them at the time, because what was the point? It wouldn't change what had happened, and maybe it was my fault?<br />
But I have never kept it a secret, it's just not one of those things that forms a part of most dinner conversations. I no longer even vaguely blame myself, I was clear in my 'no', spoken three times. The questions I initially submitted myself to can be decisively answered - I am not responsible for his behaviour, and the shame is entirely his. Too many women are left blaming themselves, explaining away their attackers behaviour. Our raised voices are an eye opening out pouring, but so much needs to change, and is deeply embedded. Women are still blamed for their treatment, as the Biblical Dina was by the Rabbis <i>(</i><i>Genesis Rabbah 8:12 and 18:2; </i><i>Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, version B, chap. 3; Tanhuma, Vayishlah 19)</i>.<br />
Behind every 'MeToo' is a man. A brother, a father, a son, a friend. An attacker. So normalised is this type of thing he may not even realise what he has done. I had the opportunity to tell the perpetrator what he had done. He needed telling. He didn't realise that forcing yourself into a woman who has said no three times is rape. He couldn't really understand why I didn't want to go on another date.<br />
My friends today have been shocked, saddened, have reached out to me. I am so touched. They have called me brave - I don't feel brave - I have tried to appropriately speak my truth in a moment when it feels that doing so might have an impact beyond sympathy. We can't change the cacophony of MeToo's, but the idea was to harness them for change. Change will mean men and women speaking up, challenging the small harassments, and not belittling, ignoring or victim blaming in cases of more serious attacks.<br />
In synagogues around the world this last shabbat we read at the very start of our cycle of Torah readings that God created humans male and female, and that they were made <i>Betzelem Elohim - </i>in the image of God. We are all equally human, and equally in the Divine image. What has happened to us makes us no less human, but how we behave towards one another can take us further and further from understanding the beauty of the humanity in each and every one of us.Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-31757182156048137732017-06-07T07:45:00.003-07:002017-06-07T07:45:56.857-07:00A Quality of Disagreement<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This latest election season has left me rather depressed. Where I live is an incredibly safe seat so who I vote for seems farcically irrelevant, though of course I will vote and have been trying to research and think through who it is sensible to vote for. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The really depressing part of the process, however, has been observing the way we now seem to conduct political debate, disagreement and campaigning, especially on social media. Perfectly lovely friends from across the political divide frequently seem unable to even tolerate a supporter of the other. I have seen wonderful human beings describe others as 'Lizards' for voicing a different political approach. Friends have cleared their entire 'friends' list of those who support a party they feel is destroying the Britain they care about. Emotions run high, and most act out of a desire to change the world for good. Yet we seem incapable of disagreeing with any respect for the other. And that's not even straying into the dark world of trolling and online abuse, such as a tweet directed at my boss recently which hoped she would burn to death with the Muslims she was visiting in a mosque. Never read the comments, but sometimes it's hard not to! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Social media allows us to, if we choose, only hear from voices that agree with our own. Indeed <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/22/health/facebook-study-narrow-minded-trnd/index.html">CNN reported</a> earlier this year that the algorithms that feed us selected content: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"actually isolates us, creating and facilitating confirmation biases and echo chambers where old -- and sometimes erroneous -- information is just regurgitated over and over again." </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This happens all the time, not only during election season: the places to go where one can really appreciate a good discussion, (and that doesn't have to include agreement or reconciling of views), are fewer and fewer; even university campuses seem to be closing themselves off to multi-vocality, shutting down views they don't like rather than demonstrating their weakness or problems through conversation and thought through argument. Some ideas are abhorrent, but they can be demonstrated as such.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I am beginning to feel like we have ceased to see each other's humanity, and are more comfortable that way because it allows us to dismiss huge swathes of the population, thus saving us from having to listen to their thought processes, or make the effort (and I'm not saying it is always easy) to explain our own. We so often become defensive in the face of what feels like criticism, rather than discussing our differences and trying to understand where they are rooted. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Over the years I have spent plodding away in the interfaith world, there have been uncomfortable moments when I have heard homophobia, Anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia, and just plain bigotry. But walking away doesn't change either one of us. Dialogue is not the same as one-upmanship, but understanding those who are different can lead to change.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #262626;">A simple example of meeting in common humanity when it could have been very different. In 2003, when I was chair of the International Council of Christians and Jews Youth Council, we organised a conference in Amsterdam, and I arrived early to help set up. 3 of our Egyptian participants were also arriving early, and we agreed to meet up and go somewhere for dinner. One young man was a new participant, recommended by one of our veteran Egyptian Muslim teachers and participants. We went out, we ate, we had a nice evening discussing the world. A few days later I received a new piece of information; that this young man was in fact a member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. And that he had never met a Jew before, and hadn't been aware when we went to eat that I was one. The fact that we were both missing crucial pieces of each other's biographies meant we were able to have an unfettered meeting, to see each other's humanity, and indeed to learn about one another. In fact, as the recommender of this participant had hoped, he left the Muslim Brotherhood shortly after his experiences with out conference. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #262626;">The goal of dialogue isn't necessarily to change the other, but to understand one another's humanity. We don't have to agree, but as a dear Priest friend of mine says, we need to develop a good quality of disagreement. If we can disagree better, it removes the need to prove our rightness through extremist ideologies, and allows people to feel heard and valued, even if their view isn't the one that comes out on top in an election, for example.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefe;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #262626;">Big things are at stake, and people are making choices based on their own self interest as well as the National. I won't offer advice politically, but I do think we need to move forward by working on the ways in which we conduct our disagreements, and work at training ourselves and our society to demonstrate a better quality of disagreement. </span></span></span>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-26512716344448532992017-04-06T04:54:00.002-07:002017-04-06T04:54:28.092-07:00Pesach for adults<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have had 3 or 4 conversations over the last few weeks that have inspired this post. The essence of each of them was essentially: how do I access learning and spirituality to make my Pesach more meaningful for me and not just my kids?</div>
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So in lieu of running an adult ed course, which busy parents find it hard to find the time for, I thought I would put down some of the ways that Pesach is made meaningful for me as an adult; beyond creating the crossing of the Reed Sea on our table with the kids (which E loved so much she insisted on doing it in January for her junk model at school!) or throwing toy frogs and bugs at one another during the seder meal?</div>
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For me it all begins with the kitchen swap over, but the cleaning is not just hard work, it is also cathartic, and, even, a spiritual process. Unpacking family heirlooms, rediscovering wedding and engagement presents that might become our children's heirlooms, and cleaning the fridge out in a way that just doesn't happen the rest of the year, it doesn't sound like a fun Sunday, but it is a wonderful way to refresh and clear. We are also committed to making sure there is as little waste as possible; for example out of date nuts and seeds are mixed with marge and squished into pine cones with the kids to make bird feeders, and friends join us for the weekend to eat as much as possible! Donations are made to the food bank and food is stored for after Pesach. We talk to our children about the value of Bal Tashchit - not wasting, and with a mini dust pan and brush, a water spray and a sponge, they enjoy joining in. But this is an important effort beyond teaching them, it is also about living a values driven Judaism rather than a convenience driven one.</div>
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The first year that we hid chametz (the food forbidden at Pesach) around our now spotless home in order to hunt and find it I was pretty bemused. Why on earth were we wandering about with a candle, in a semi lit home, trying to locate something we just 'hid' anyway! But actually cleaning these chunks of chametz (usually pitta bread as not too crumby!) has become one of my favourite parts of Pesach preparation. There are dark parts of me, not just of my home, that need illuminating, and this quiet hunt is also a chance to reflect. When our chametz is gathered up, the next morning we hold a barbeque. Having thrown bread in the water for <a href="http://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/festivals/high-holy-days/a-tashlich-service/">Tashlich</a> at Rosh Hashanah, the bread of our chametz hunt becomes a chance for a spiritual and emotional check in. What were the things I wanted to throw away at Rosh Hashanah, but still need to be dealt with? What other things do I now realise need burning out of my life? At Tashlich we generally discard our sins in silence. At Pesach our family tend to name out-loud that which we are metaphorically setting on fire. In some cases this has been a very moving opportunity for us to admit to ourselves and to one another our failings, and the things we want to change. We rarely take this time to check in, and giving ourselves a mid-point between Rosh Hashanah and Rosh Hashanah is a helpful reminder of the ongoing nature of working on oneself. So the cleaning and searching for left behind crumbs isn't (just) spring cleaning gone mad, but a spiritual process of renewal and personal change.</div>
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On Seder night itself many of us are pulled in multiple directions, whether it is parents who want to include every last word, or friends who need to get the last train, a brother who wants to skip all of maggid and get on with dinner (we almost all want to skip at least some of maggid!) and children desperate to stay up, but exhausted beyond tears. There are things we can do to engage everyone that require a lot of leg work, like <a href="https://www.haggadot.com/">designing your own Haggad</a>ah - something I have always wanted to do, and never quite managed!</div>
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The go to fun seems to always be had around the Plagues, something I am personally struggling with at the moment. Our kids are offered Plague bags full of toy plagues, they joyously sing songs about the horrors of the plagues. They enjoy imitating 'frogs here frogs there' when torah tells us not only did they afflict Egypt, they were then piled up, rotting, stinking out the land (Exodus 8:10). I have myself bought toy frogs and toy bugs, and thrown them at people during the seder, but I also think we have to remind ourselves that the Plagues in Jewish tradition are not something that is celebrated and made fun; Proverbs 24:17 reminds us that we do not rejoice in our enemies downfall, and midrash (Talmud Megilla 10b and Sanhedrin 39b) tells us that God chastised the Angels who sang in praise and celebration as the Egyptians drowned in the Reed Sea - the Rabbis wanted us to know that while this might be necessary in the narrative, it doesn't mean celebration is appropriate. We could argue 'but our ancestors celebrated, singing the Song of the Sea' - yes, they were permitted to celebrate their exodus, their saving, but that doesn't mean we should see another's downfall as a reason for celebration. We have long ritualised the need to acknowledge the Egyptians suffering: This is the reason we take wine out of our cups at the seder meal when we recite the plagues - wine is a symbol of joy in Judaism, and our joy should literally be diminished when others suffer.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So how can we have fun at our seder as adults? Many people now invite their guests to bring an object, or a story, something that tells a tale about their own personal freedom, or their slavery. I now regularly create an alternative seder plate, filled with symbols that remind people about modern day slavery and oppression. This is a great way to involve people and to introduce guests to one another, but it does take a bit of time! I have taken to setting up an alternative seder plate on our table. The symbols on the plate might be about fairtrade and issues of slavery today, or LGBTQ rights, and areas the Jewish community could do better. There is a huge range of new seder symbols that is growing all the time, but the fun comes in asking guests to guess what the meaning of each symbol is on our alternative seder plate. They often come up with ideas and creativity that then become a part of the symbol next year, and it always serves as a conversation piece, making the seder more real to today's issues of slavery and struggles. <a href="http://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/festivals/pesach/alternatives-and-additions-for-your-seder/">This is a summary of the options,</a> but it is growing and changing all the time, so let me know what we should be adding this year!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Maybe next year we will finally get around to creating the perfect haggadah for our family, but this year we will still be enjoying the chaos of everyone holding a different edition, perhaps symbolic of our different Judaisms, exploring the same festival and the same themes in unique and personal ways for each of us. There is a lot still to do in these last few days, but I can't wait to begin enjoying this walk of freedom, remembering that it is a walk that leads us straight to Shavuot 7 weeks later. A walk from freedom to responsibility. How will we honour that responsibility to our own Judaism, not just our children's, in the year to come?</div>
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Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-41394983288521109742017-02-08T01:54:00.000-08:002017-02-08T01:54:09.595-08:00RememberingLast night I was honoured to be invited back to St Marylebone Parish Church for their annual Remembrance service for those who have died under the care of the Leaders in Oncology Care hospitals. It was not my first time addressing this congregation, and once again the service was incredibly moving and appropriate. The Revd Canon Stephen Evans has repeatedly managed to weave together a service appropriate for people of a huge variety of faiths, and there was barely a prayer or piece of music I didn't feel able to join in with.<br />
On January 1st it was the tenth secular anniversary since a brain tumor defeated my dad, and took him at the age of 61. Last night I didn't speak about him, but felt so grateful to have the service space to once again remember and process. Healing and carrying on are not tasks that are completed and put on a shelf. They are continual and different and need returning to from time to time, and I feel so lucky to have been given a little space to do so once again.<br />
This was what I said:<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">2016
felt like the year of celebrity deaths. We became so aware of it that the year
itself became somehow personified as a cruel, living being. It was even
suggested that the 82 stars who died last year knew something we didn’t and
were getting out first! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">It
is a time consuming exercise to attempt to discern how many of those 82 were
killed by cancers. In January alone, of a total 6 celebrity deaths, David
Bowie, Alan Rickman, Rocker Jimmy Bain and Terry Wogan, 4 in all, were taken by
a variety of cancers. Celebrities often personalise larger issues for us, but
for each of us here tonight, we don’t need to have the loss and pain of
suffering Cancer made any more real for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">When
things seemingly happen more often than they used to, it can begin to feel normal.
Yet no matter how many celebrities met a timely or untimely end in 2016, the
deaths of those close to our hearts is something that continues to seem
abnormal, the memory of it continues to shock and upset, yet we all do carry
on. We try to carry on with love in our hearts, and a desire to make that loss
more meaningful through living our lives better, or by embodying the values of
those who left us more fully day to day. They stay with us because we keep them
with us, and honour them in all the good we do in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">The
loss we share together tonight brings us closer to one another, but it also
remains very personal, held close to our aching hearts. Each person lost was an
entire world, with whom our own hopes and dreams were tied up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">We
come together this evening remembering many different deaths. But we also come
bringing memories of lives lived, and names used that were special and unique
to our relationships. I want to share a poem by an Israeli poetess – Zelda,
that Reform Jews now have in their prayer book for the High Holidays. It is
called EACH OF US HAS A NAME:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by God<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our parents<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by our stature and our smile<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by what we wear<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by the mountains<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our walls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by the stars<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our neighbors<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by our sins<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our longing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by our enemies<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our love<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by our celebrations<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our work<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by the seasons<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by our blindness<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">Each of us has a name<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">given by the sea<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">and given by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 115%;">our death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">Each
of us remembers, and each of us will be remembered. The many different names we
carry through our lives are the imprints we leave on others, and in coming
together we honour the memories of those who we have loved, cared for,
supported and named out loud. They may not be remembered by clamouring fans as
the famous deaths of 2016 were. But they are remembered with deep rivers of
love, and with names that were special between you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">The
various names we will each leave behind will be said differently by different
mouths. But I hope and pray we might all be blessed to have names that inspire
as much gratitude and warmth as those of the hospital staff present with us
here tonight. The unfailing care and dedication you offer is an inspiration to
us all. Please keep helping your patients to fight their fight, while we as a
society must keep fighting using science, strength and courage to find new ways
to battle this killer. Many days it will be hard to do what you do, but the
name you will leave in this world as a result, whether spoken by 5 people or 5
million people, will be one spoken with respect, love, and gratitude. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">May
we all be blessed to be named by those who hold us close to their hearts.</span></div>
Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-67359727175370810962017-01-23T06:58:00.002-08:002017-01-23T06:58:31.531-08:00How can life go on? HMD Address to the GLA, 23/1/17<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">I was privileged to be invited to give an address at the Greater London Assembly Holocaust Memorial Day service with the Mayor of London today. This year's theme is How can life go on? This was what I said:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">I
can’t remember the first time I was told about the Shoah, or the Holocaust. It
feels like somehow I always knew. Stories of my grandmothers cousins, shot into
the graves they had dug for themselves in a forest weren’t exactly the stuff of
bedtime stories, but they were a part of the collective family history that I
just somehow knew, and that made the horrors of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century
both more personal, and less shocking, because it was just there. I do remember
the first time my grandmother spoke to me directly about her experiences, and
it so important that testimonies such as we have heard today are preserved. Life
carried on because there was life to be lived, the world needed improving, and
while it was irreparably changed, life is not something we are good at giving
up on collectively. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">My
children haven’t heard my grandparent’s stories yet. They are still young, but
so far they aren’t aware that less than 80 years ago the face and future of
Judaism was changed forever. They also aren’t aware that the world said never
again, and has broken that promise not once, not twice, but over and over, in
Srebrenica, Rwanda, Cambodia and more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For
many of my parents’ generation, being Jewish was hard to separate from the
stories of the Shoah. The memory of the 6 million lost, who could have done
such good in the world had they lived, had to be honoured. For my children,
while the Shoah remains an incredibly painful and personal piece of history, I
hope it does not define their Judaism. Their Judaism should be a beautiful way
of bringing meaning and community into their lives, not fear. But I hope it
does define their understanding of what it means to be Europeans, or citizens
of the world. The Shoah has nothing to do with Judaism or being Jewish. It
happened to us. Not because of us. The Shoah has a lot to do with being a part
of the Western world, and is something we as a society must continue to learn
from.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For
citizens in Nazi Germany, there were many, small incremental steps that allowed
the Holocaust to unfold. A German Professor interviewed after the War said: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">“One
doesn’t see exactly where or how to move.[…] Each act, each occasion, is worse
than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You
wait for one great shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock
comes, will join with you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even
talk alone; you don’t want to “go out of your way to make trouble.” Why not? –
Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of
standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">For
me, learning these lessons from everyday citizens in Nazi Germany is essential.
If we know that allowing things to get slowly worse, and waiting for the
collective to rise up, can ultimately lead to genocide, we must take personal
responsibility. We are all uncertain too, all fearful. And of course in this
country we hate to meddle or get involved with another person’s business. But
carrying on regardless despite knowing what it means to be a bystander, cannot
be an option if we are to go on with life after the many genocides of the last
century. The result of not standing up and calling out hatred, xenophobia, homophobia,
attacks on the disabled, racism, Anti-Semitism is an emboldening of those who
hate to act without impunity. It feels like there has not been a more important
time to learn this lesson in the UK, at least not in my lifetime.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">We
live in a world where 24 hour news and social media makes it difficult for us
to claim we don’t know what is going on around us. Yet it easily becomes
overwhelming, hard to tell what really happened from the cacophony of voices,
and far too regularly it becomes a mouthpiece of hatred. I often have to remind
myself not to read the comments!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"> We want to protest, we want things to be
different, but it isn’t always clear how to. The Shoah teaches me that I cannot
hide behind my own uncertainty and fear. I must be an Upstander in my own
community when I see hatred of difference and otherness. But perhaps being an
Upstander isn’t only about challenging the negative where we find it, but about
finding ways each and every day to reach out to others with love and
compassion. The diversity that makes London great, also makes each of us as
individuals stronger in our sense of self, and more comfortable with neighbours
who are from all over the world. Yet in Germany and Bosnia we saw that it
doesn’t take much for neighbours to turn a blind eye to one another, or even to
become complicit in dehumanising the other. Life goes on, but we must live it
differently, and take inspiration from those brave upstanders before us who
rejected hatred, and refused to accept that others might be less than them just
because they are different to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">We
cannot forget, but we can choose to live a life that works to ensure it is
never possible again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-1649351375774019722016-06-22T07:31:00.001-07:002016-06-22T07:31:45.187-07:00In, Out, Shake it all about...<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
I am not normally one to get terribly political on social media. I want people to use their democratic rights, but other than rejecting outright racist parties, I wouldn't dream of suggesting the best way to vote. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
I was at a meeting this morning where several Rabbis and Educators come together a few times a year to explore the Jewish values and ethics that underpin the work of a particular charity. It is an incredible space to learn in. Our theme today was the Refugee crisis, and of course the impending Brexit/Bremain vote became a part of our conversations. One of my respected colleagues made the point that the human impact of this decision is so huge, he doesn't feel able to remain silent and just quietly vote 'remain' himself - he needs to explain why this is so important.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
To be honest, I understand arguments on both sides of the debate. Our public services are under pressure, and immigration impacts that. But voting out will not solve the issues of immigration, and will in fact create more as my friends German wife and my colleagues Polish nanny who have been here say 15 or more years, wait to find out what processes they will have to undergo to remain with their families and friends and in their homes if we vote to leave. UKIP have used images of fleeing refugees to stir up the immigration debate, despite the fact that while 1 in every 131 people in the world is now a refugee, Britain has taken in a tiny number, and has pledged to welcome 20,000 from Syria before 2020 - 5,000 a year, and 3,000 refugee children (10,000 were rescued in the Kindertransport that many used to argue for this welcome). On the other hand we have around 70,000 children in care waiting to find homes and stability (coramBAAF). How do we make sure we look after one another, as well as making space in our small home for more? </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
The economic arguments have been made both ways, and both sides seem to be offering lies and fear. It does seem certain that leaving would create huge instability in the first instance. Who knows what the long term effects will be. I am not an economist and should probably have written less than I have on the matter! I tend to think that being interconnected and working together is a good thing. Economically this can lead to problems, but it also leads to opportunity and mutuality.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
The piece that has felt most helpful in making a choice tomorrow was a simple meme I saw in the barrage of videos and posters on Facebook:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG1dPcxhPnJIIVm64sh9QEYW7Qt4jqfmgk0sF131CMI6BN8lwk8If1wcJkEBiA2wkEEGL_nGLGolILx-DLg2lijtLwc5yFqS-AwcfwtGvgf_0HHNSsL3WDjSFFf_1SKfcPzkdWUTDLPLk/s640/blogger-image-1110072627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG1dPcxhPnJIIVm64sh9QEYW7Qt4jqfmgk0sF131CMI6BN8lwk8If1wcJkEBiA2wkEEGL_nGLGolILx-DLg2lijtLwc5yFqS-AwcfwtGvgf_0HHNSsL3WDjSFFf_1SKfcPzkdWUTDLPLk/s640/blogger-image-1110072627.jpg" /></a></div>
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I think this is a fabulous summary of how we should think about decision making in general. Is it about what I can gain, or about what I can give? Is it about what we will benefit from, or about what we want to do to ensure a better future for all? There are enough resources in the world, if we just thought about how we use them differently (<a href="http://metro.co.uk/2016/06/22/who-is-laurence-taylor-guy-with-eu-referendum-ad-in-metro-explains-why-he-did-it-5959925/">and I love the metro ad that made that point today</a>). There is enough hope and love, if we were just allowed to give and receive it. We often feel impotent and unable to do anything about the huge humanitarian crises around the world and closer to home. Yet it seems that remain will fight best for human relationships, human rights, protection of one another, and a sense that we are not willing to turn our backs on EU members living with us here, British citizens living around the EU, and impoverished refugees who UKIP have heartlessly used to suggest we are being flooded by immigrants. If we want to help with this huge crisis, and be part of the solution and not another closed door (as for example Switzerland and Sweden were to Jews during World War Two) we need to work in partnership with those really bearing the brunt of refugee and economic migration. Of course we also need to look after our own, and if we did this better we would have less fear and stress about the same immigrants and refugees, and about where money goes or is received from. We need to look after one another at home and abroad. Closing doors doesn't seem like a good way to do that.</div>
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I suspect most people reading this will have already made their minds up about their vote tomorrow. They will either be throwing rebuttals at my writing or nodding vociferously, and for the record, I won't be engaging in an online debate so ultimately I probably shouldn't have bothered shaking the political stick. But when it is a stick bound up with human rights and mutuality, it is hard to stay quiet. I will be voting remain. </div>
Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-5229636905263693022016-05-31T13:31:00.000-07:002016-05-31T13:31:13.476-07:00Fighting the Good Fight<div dir="ltr">
Over the last few weeks I have repeatedly been asked to write and speak about Anti-Semitism. This is rather unusual for me; as a Jewish Educator I want to encourage members of the community to identify with that which is positive, empowering, joyful in their Judaism. I don't want a community drawn together by fear; this strikes me as a cheap and short term way to build a sense of togetherness and mutual support. </div>
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I've always resisted, where possible, teaching about the Holocaust, or about Anti-Semitism - these are things our non-Jewish friends need to know about, we need to know about Shabbat, and what it can contribute to our lives, or to the world. We need to teach about our responsibilities to stand up for those on the outside of society. We need to feel confident in our Judaism, not worried about misconceptions of it. Yes we remember our history, and it has moulded us, but it is not who we are.</div>
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Earlier this year I attended a conference in Italy looking at the future of European Jewish life, and I was struck there by how powerfully other Rabbis and educators are doing the same thing - in arguably much more difficult circumstances. The rise of the far right in Hungary, for example, is not something to be easily dismissed, and while we met groups trying to tackle media messages of Anti-Semitism, we also met people committed to ensuring Jews have plenty of reasons to celebrate their Judaism, not be fearful because of it. They are on the front line of serious halakhic issues around status and the future of Jewish life in their towns and cities. And in response they offered some of the most creative, loving and human halakhah I have encountered in a long time. Alongside these Rabbis Europe is filling up with graduates of a school I spent a year in nearly 14 years ago - Paideia - the European Centre for Jewish Studies in Stockholm. Communities are being blessed with empowered academics, artists, teachers who have been given the tools of Jewish literacy, and a love of Jewish culture and wisdom.</div>
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So while lots of people have been asking me what I think about Anti-Semitism, and it would be glib to pretend we can ignore it totally at the moment, as a Jewish educator I don't want us to be thinking about it. I want us to pour our energies into creating a community who love what Judaism has to contribute to their lives, their societies and to the world. Perhaps this is the best answer I have to Anti-Semitism. I wish I controlled the media, I wish I ran a bank. But more than anything I wish to see a Judaism that lives and breathes joy and learning and life. </div>
Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-47662925776614802492016-04-06T11:36:00.001-07:002016-04-06T14:51:05.275-07:00Permission to complainFor those of you who have read this blog over the last few years, you may recall having children was not an easy journey for my husband and I. We have now been blessed twice (with serious help from amazing medical staff), having been told we didn't even qualify for ivf our case was so hopeless. <div>But getting pregnant is of course only a tiny step on a now lifelong journey of commitment. It is a blessing that we never take for granted. But that doesn't mean it isn't sometimes a strain to remember it's a blessing: maybe when I am up for the third time in 6 hours, or have wet themselves on a play date, again<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">. Perhaps when I haven't showered for 5 days, or I get home to discover my already fairly useless feeding bra has been unhooked all afternoon. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Complaining about parent hood is an easy thing to do. Or at least we might think it is. Having been on a long ivf journey however, it can feel like we aren't allowed to really feel the desperation and depression that these incredible, funny, sunshine bundles of blessings bring with them. While many parents laugh about the stresses and strains, for others (both those who have been through ivf and those who haven't) complaining can feel like a betrayal, or ingratitude... How can we moan about blessings? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Parenthood is hard. But maybe blessings aren't meant to be easy. Struggle can mean growth, for us and for them, we can be learning from each other, even when we think we are getting it all wrong, and just because things are hard now, doesn't mean they always will be (everything is a phase!) I was reminded recently by a wise Anglican Priest that just because we had to fight to have babies, doesn't mean we shouldn't be allowed to feel desperate when sleep deprived, or complain at how tough it can be. Remembering we are blessed, in whatever part of our life it is, doesn't mean we can't also acknowledge the struggle and negative aspects blessings can bring- perhaps we need both- perhaps we just need permission to feel both from time to time. So to the many of you who have put up with me feeling the desperation of late, and given me permission to be there, and offered your own support and acknowledgement - thank you! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwOT21Y_54p4mT3hWQD1Gt7E3T7Bk_XzFyY2VxyyKSNoHm7rX9m_yP0qQx9ZfdZyvO2K92TaCssCcts84dEMYMIYvoPEZHFcd0lz_GkxVJTYLQcO8lDIF3JHDWP-Rt-yCC67gCQyqzuk/s640/blogger-image--498531523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvwOT21Y_54p4mT3hWQD1Gt7E3T7Bk_XzFyY2VxyyKSNoHm7rX9m_yP0qQx9ZfdZyvO2K92TaCssCcts84dEMYMIYvoPEZHFcd0lz_GkxVJTYLQcO8lDIF3JHDWP-Rt-yCC67gCQyqzuk/s640/blogger-image--498531523.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Oldest child is obsessed with packing bags... Doesn't really matter what with (in this case musical instruments to go on holiday). Drives me absolutely nuts!</div><br></span></div>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-2479478431426482022016-02-04T15:35:00.001-08:002016-02-23T15:04:41.373-08:00The motherhood challengeI'm not a person that shies away from posting pics on social media, though I understand why some do. But when I was 'nominated' this week in Facebooks motherhood challenge (post 4 photos that show how happy you are to be a mother) I had a range of responses. I've enjoyed seeing friends post their pictures, as I generally enjoy their pictures the rest of the time too. Yet my first instinct was to post something rather passive aggressive; photos of our kids, and of those that didn't become our kids, as 100 cell blastocysts sitting in Petri dishes before they were implanted (yes the clinic gives you those pics!) I resisted, but the voice of my teacher, colleague and friend Rabbi Laura Janner Klausner rang in my head from a 2006 class on baby blessings: 'every time you celebrate anything in synagogue it hurts someone else'. And so I haven't posted my 4 pictures.<br />
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There's another reason too, and perhaps this is why many of us need to post the happy pictures: being a mother is a challenge! It is a great blessing and joy, but it is also a challenge, and there aren't many places we are allowed to admit that. I could have posted a photo of the potty I emptied this morning, containing the largest poop I think any 3 year old is capable of. Or a photo of me at 11pm, 3am, 5am (on an ok-ish night). There are no pictures for the anxiety about returning to work and the changes that you will have to figure out. I could have posted a picture of my 3 year old brother who became no older. I cannot conceive of how a mother (or father) functions again, other than knowing she must. </div>
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Pictures are very subjective and the whole picture is rarely what they offer. <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue light" , , "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Social media is an amazingly wonderful place to share, to celebrate, to keep in touch. But like any community one persons joy is another's pain, and this particular challenge made me too aware of that pain, and I know it is a pain many of you lovely blog readers know personally too. So I celebrate all of you amazing mothers, who put up and bring up and get up, along with your partners when you have them. But I also want to hold those of you who feel the pain of these beautiful pictures, and tell you that you too are wonderful, whole, brilliant people, and your community is holding you even when you don't feel it. </span></div>
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Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-49420750678342609852015-12-07T03:03:00.001-08:002015-12-09T01:52:42.313-08:00Wisdom and Truth- an idea still in progress!<div><br></div>I recently attended an absolutely fascinating session learning about the scents of the Tanakh from an expert perfumier (organized by Rabbi Jeff Berger). We were given the opportunity to smell the essence of the Temple incense offerings and biblical plants, and to explore some of their deeper meanings. <div>Smelling essence of olives and olive oil we were met by what was a surprisingly mellow and sweet scent, nothing like I would have expected. </div><div>As we celebrate the Festival of Lights and the miracle of the olive oil of the Temple Menorah (among other things!) the olive tree itself traditionally has been a symbol of light - as its silver leaves shimmer and almost glow. Light is furthermore a symbol of wisdom, (enlightenment), which suddenly struck me as fascinating when we started smelling and discussing Almonds... </div><div>The almond is a symbol of truth enclosed in innocence, truth which we have to work in order to see more clearly. This reminded me of the Almond blossom, the shape that forms part of the structure of the menorah, the lamp that needed to be relit when the Temple was rededicated.</div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">At Chanukah we put our chanukiyot into the window to publicly declare the miracle, to increase light in the world, to witness our faith. But </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">with these gentle scents it occurred to me that one of the many Chanukah messages might be much more subtle. Truth is something that can be hard to get to the core of -</span></div><div>It can be entrapped in hard casings, but not entirely impermeable ones. The truth of the almond is the structure that supports the glowing light of wisdom, which can grow, but can also be diminished, which may burn bright for short periods, but doesn't last (except with some serious miraculous/spiritual intervention). Perhaps it also suggests that Truth is the foundational support of wisdom, but they are not the same thing. Yet our human endeavor asks us to repeatedly return to try to break through the hard shell, and bring out wisdom once again. The truth may be elusive, and wisdom may take many different forms, but we should keep coming back to it, and joining with others to share its warmth and light. </div><div>Chanukah Sameach! </div><div><br></div>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-85603553650378959712015-09-12T14:12:00.001-07:002015-09-12T14:12:17.416-07:00Be fruitful and multiply... The Shmita cycleA friend and former congregant recently wrote to jokingly challenge me on how I could justify writing so much about Shmita and not discuss the fact that I had the chutzpah to create a whole new life in the fallow year! <div>It reminded me that in some senses my body is much more familiar with the fallow than with the fertile, and rather than constantly fighting the fertility with attempts to avoid pregnancy we have had to fight to produce. So it's ironic for sure, but also sweet to invert the power of Shmita in my life.</div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> But it also reminded me that this period of Shmita, of lying fallow, is there in order to allow greater fertility in the larger part of the cycle (which will restart this Sunday evening with the Jewish New Year). </span></div><div>For me the power of Jewish time is in a clever design which manages to take us through cycles to help us live better. We have time set aside to mourn, so that we might learn to live again, time set aside to repent, so that we might do better and get on with living right, time set aside to go on all sorts of journeys, and time to rest so that we might engage and work better for the rest of the week. Likewise this year long Shmita isn't really about the year we live it, but about living better in the other 6 years. I have come to think of it as a sort of refresh button (as Shabbat is) which is just as much about the productivity and positive living it engenders after it's observance as much as the year itself.</div><div>So this Rosh Hashanah is as special if not more special than last year when we began our special Shmita year... This year is the start of the fertile period, when we engage, when we produce, when we think about how the Shmita year has changed us and what that will mean in how we live. It is a time to start making plans; where do we want to be in 6 years time? What do we want to have changed when the next fallow year rolls around? The time is now- let's go get fruitful!</div><div>Shanah tovah (happy new year!) </div><div><br></div><div>PS The first thing I'm buying after my 'fast' is underwear :) </div>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-70056605406545712382015-08-16T11:27:00.001-07:002015-08-16T14:21:56.752-07:00Back to basicsThis weekend it was the beginning of the month of Elul, the last month of this special Shmita year before the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashannah, heralds the start of our next 7 year cycle (it's not all about this final year!)<div>So to celebrate we urbanites treated our family to a visit to a pick-your-own farm, returning with an excited and grubby toddler, not to mention a glut of strawberries, Swiss chard, sweet corn, blackberries, courgettes and onions. We would never have purchased as many strawberries as we picked and then bought, so I will be cooking a lot this week, but then coping with local seasonal gluts feels like good Shmita practice.</div><div>The part that shouldn't have surprised me but did was just how tasty the produce was. We often feel like we suffer in the UK with inferior fresh goods, but the strawberries were better than any imported from Morocco, and I have never eaten corn so sweet. When I blessed God for the produce of the earth before biting into it, I had no idea of how conscious of that goodness it would make me through taste alone. A timely reminder, really, that Shmita would have been a powerful way to connect with what the land did and didn't produce. And to appreciate bounty when you did have it (presumably in the years after Shmita). As we agricultural tourists skipped through the fields today, it was really the exception that proves the rule of our increasing distance from our food sources. Whether it is the careful ignorance we allow ourselves about meat production, or the thousands of miles we will ship food so that we can eat strawberries in December. We may grow a few tomatoes or courgettes but very few of us have the time or ability to fully live from our own produce or the patience to only eat local. Shmita for me has in many ways been a reminder of much of this, and a motivator to do a little better myself in how I consume, and as this weekend demonstrated, it may mean limiting ones ingredients (or not!), yet for those things you can source closer to home, and eat within hours of picking, your taste buds will be rewarded! Sometimes the simpler, local life brings fun, time together, and even an appreciation of what your community can produce. And in a Shmita year, that community would have been truly essential. <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjABqIBRVoK9zZzWvPrjoOhZMZH4vrF0T2ei3vc3rhzNXg80XpTNJ2nnmSK-99TlPwgmOfipYcxWadhYrQRzJ3T1lEum4wH4vDPO-xB96GERtlLzm1arC1Gbao9JEKLpZ9nJ6s3tDy7P4s/s640/blogger-image--1415914940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjABqIBRVoK9zZzWvPrjoOhZMZH4vrF0T2ei3vc3rhzNXg80XpTNJ2nnmSK-99TlPwgmOfipYcxWadhYrQRzJ3T1lEum4wH4vDPO-xB96GERtlLzm1arC1Gbao9JEKLpZ9nJ6s3tDy7P4s/s640/blogger-image--1415914940.jpg"></a></div></div>Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-59471770504847925332015-05-19T07:38:00.000-07:002015-05-19T07:38:37.099-07:00Behar-bechukkotai check inThe last shabbat or two shabbatot in Reform and Israeli communities we have been reading the portions of Behar and Bechukkotai, two of the Torah portions that teach us some of the rules about Shmita (sabbatical) and Yovel (jubilee).<br />
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So it seems like a good time to have a Shmita manifesto check in. </div>
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Last week I received this email; </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgFUOW6W0IzDPdaD0uhwoSn3llwR4nK-66I2oIIOd9d3DnfTcBN5QpYDlD6_yd2tTgIgD2kuR0XKKUivjNk5tkL-gQs49UToa90JE4WXt0DY805lpMqA4LicdQYv-R2O2K9hGwyaKmJ0/s640/blogger-image-162267090.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxgFUOW6W0IzDPdaD0uhwoSn3llwR4nK-66I2oIIOd9d3DnfTcBN5QpYDlD6_yd2tTgIgD2kuR0XKKUivjNk5tkL-gQs49UToa90JE4WXt0DY805lpMqA4LicdQYv-R2O2K9hGwyaKmJ0/s640/blogger-image-162267090.jpg" /></a></div>
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It feels like this must be a good sign for the first of my Shmita commitments... If online traders are noticing my Shmita fast, and deciding to change their approach to my inbox, perhaps it will help begin next year with the refresh button functioning as I would hope it would- just as shabbat helps me reset for the week ahead, Shmita should help me begin the next cycle differently, refreshed. </div>
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I won't pretend there have not been lapses in the fast- but it has been fairly solid, and most compromises have been second hand purchases, or items that I hadn't dared hope I might need having successfully planted the one kind of (human) seed Shmita allows and become pregnant (not that it was a total surprise, as regular readers will know, but with IVF I have always tried to keep my hope in check where possible). </div>
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I have been particularly touched by what a change in attitude to what is worth clinging on to in my own closets has allowed others to let go of. A friend in need of a particular item that I had and hadn't really used (despite loving it) received said item- why should it sit in my cupboard while she spent scarce money that she really couldn't spare on a new one. In return, unexpectedly, I received 3 boxes of her daughters clothes, which have proved invaluable as the little one is continually outstripping the size labels in her clothes! Others have opened their lofts and cupboards to provide me with items they no longer needed, because I was humble enough to ask for if, rather than press order on a phone app that allows me to purchase in under a minute.</div>
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The second of my commitments was about pressing the reset button on my online usage. I originally thought I should cut my use of email and social media out before 7am and after 7pm. This was the hardest thing to do and the first thing I realised I would fail at. 7am isn't a difficult ask. 7pm just as the toddler goes to bed and the working day is officially over is the only real time for such things as social media! Email could still use some reigning in, but I have used time this year to reset out of control unread mails, and to shift how I use social media. Yes I've been on it post 7pm, but I have changed how I use it, particularly in relationship to its social nature. If there is a birthday and I feel the urge to reach out, I have made the conscious decision to personally reach out by phone or messenger, rather than a post to the wall (for example) and this in turn has led to re-connections and real human connections, as I sense Shmita did for communities, transformed from relationships of commerce to those of mutual survival and support.</div>
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The other parts of the manifesto have somehow come more easily- skill sharing, cooking more from scratch, liturgy, reading appropriately, giving to food banks... And perhaps parts of the real Shmita also came more easily. </div>
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The pieces that truly stand out for me the more I walk through Shmita and the more I teach about Shmita, the more it seems to me this whole exercise is about relationships; that between individuals and other parts of their communities, that between us and the land/environment, that between each of us and the anonymous makers of that which we consume, that between each of us and God. </div>
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As we pass the half way point of the Shmita year, we also acknowledge the coming start of the next cycle. It is for me a realisaton that Shmita is not about 1 year. It is a cycle of 7 years, and now is the time to begin planning and thinking about the next 6. Where do I want to be when the next sabbatical begins? What do we want of our organizations? Our communities? Our relationships? Jewish time offers us opportunity of growth, journeying, improvement, togetherness. </div>
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Is it ever too early to plan for the next Shmita? </div>
Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8849763606223597208.post-17186037815817400082015-03-25T09:20:00.002-07:002015-03-25T09:20:49.401-07:00Pesach Granola and Shmita<div class="MsoNormal">
I wrote the following last week for submission to a comment piece in a Jewish Newspaper, but then the Israeli elections happened and other things needed commenting on (will be published this Friday, although of course has been said many times over now). </div>
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I was just reading an online article about Passover cereal,
and how to make your own, by simply buying matzah farfel (apparently the
author’s home town of Dallas always has a run on said farfel), and some other
wholesome ingredients like almonds, and honey, to make a Pesadich granola. I
have to confess I had to look up what matzah farfel is. In case you are as
ignorant as I, it turns out it’s broken up pieces of matzah.</div>
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I am now trying to
figure out why on earth a town would have a run on purchasing broken pieces of
matzah. If you don’t find enough in your boxes of matzah, surely someone
capable of making Pesach Granola could break up some matzah? </div>
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So begins our annual Pesach madness. With jars of salt water
for sale, not to mention the various attempts to imitate our year round
pleasures such as pasta, and the sugar coated imitation cereal which always
looks promising…</div>
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This Pesach falls in a Shmita year – a Sabbatical for the
Land of Israel, intended to balance the 6 previous years of free market consumption
and growth. Perhaps this should be seen as an opportunity for the modern world
too. For one week of this year, we could embrace the simple lifestyle at the
heart of Shmita, by trying to enjoy a
simple, healthy diet; vegetables, fish, meat, potatoes, soup, home broken
matzah!</div>
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In the time of the
Biblical Shmita, I imagine that communities would have had to have worked
closely together to survive the restrictions of a year with no harvest and no
planting, and that which was produced was not owned by anyone in particular.
I’m not suggesting we all assume anything on the shelves of a kosher store is
ours, every-ones, and no-ones, but that perhaps our lives, and our experience
of Pesach, might be a little easier, healthier, and meaningful, if we allowed the
balancing nature of Shmita to guide our Pesach diets, rather than a panic about
all that is suddenly unavailable, and a reliance on over processed, over
shipped pre-made goods. And if we can share these simple meals with our
neighbours and community, so much the better. </div>
Debbie Young-Somershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11181262373970594509noreply@blogger.com1