• From the Editor's Table
• Spring is Here: A Dvar Torah
• From Generation to Generation in Ashkelon
• NOAM National Shabbaton
• US Student finds a Home in Marom
• Brenda Fund Recipients
• Enhancing Activisim in Masorti Kehillot
• Contact information
• Subscriptions and distribution

From the Editor's Table

Israeli chatter these days is about the elections at the end of March. The airwaves are beginning to buzz with commercial jingles and parties are rolling out the new slogans. At times like these, I am reminded that the Masorti Movement has, in a sense, been running an election to win the hearts and minds of Israelis. And we have our victories; for example, Marom, the students and young adults organization, is growing both in terms of branches across the country and in frequency of programs. The NOAM youth movement just held its largest ever Shabbaton weekend.

David Ben-Gurion once said: "I don't always know what the nation wants, but I know what the nation needs." I feel the same way about Masorti Judaism. Israelis don't always think to express what type of society they want - but I know that Israel will only thrive when it recognizes its traditional Jewish heritage along with the critical values of tolerance, pluralism and democracy. In other words, Israel needs Masorti Judaism more than ever.

Rabbi Paul Arberman
Editor, e-masorti

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Spring is Here: A Dvar Torah

In Shmot 13:4 it says: "You go free on this day, in the month of Aviv." Rashi, on this verse, poses the following question: Why do we need to know that it is Spring? In other words, what does it add to the story? Wouldn't we know anyway, just by reading in which month they went out? The answer, he explains, is: It shows how God cares for us. God took us out of Egypt not in the heat of the summer, and not in cold of winter or in the rainy season; rather, God took us out in perfect weather.

I would add that God planned the exodus in good weather so that we couldn't use it as an excuse to hit the "restart" button and not leave Egypt. God had seen all the "bugs" and viruses that had taken hold of the Israelites over the centuries and didn't want to give them any excuse for not leaving.

And there is a lesson in that for us as well. In the very statement, "You go free on this day, in the month of Aviv," there is a command to look at life with a sense of renewed wonderment; as they say in Latin, "Primavera," a new beginning. There are no excuses to tie us down to the mistakes of the past year. It is our chance to hit restart and be rid of all the "bugs" and viruses we have collected over the year. In the Spring we cannot use the excuse of the season being too hot or too cold as we head down a new path in life.

Rabbi Ari Burzstein
Kehillat Moriah, Haifa & Chairperson, Masorti Movement Education Committee

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From Generation to Generation in Ashkelon

Kehillat Netzach Israel in Ashkelon recently held its third session of the Joint Project of Baltimore Family Learning Experience. Run by Smadar ben Avraham, herself a member of the kehillah and their Tali kindergarten teacher, the program is designed to help people get to know their family histories and traditions better, while exposing them to the wider Jewish community of which they are a part. Rabbi Gustavo Surazski was in attendance to provide the midrashim and spiritual background.

In this third session, participants were encouraged to bring objects that belonged to family histories: one woman brought the wedding ring that belonged to her grandmother whom she had never met -- her grandfather had passed it on shortly before he died; another family brought the siddur that was given by a father to his newly married son who had no siddur from which to recite kiddush on a Friday night.

A grandson in attendance explained his hopes to inherit the siddur one day. The project leaders hope that these stories will reveal to people their family's connection to Judaism and that the meetings will encourage them to play an active part in Jewish life, both at home and in the kehillah.

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NOAM National Shabbaton

For two years, Aviv, a fourth grader from Jerusalem, was left behind as his older sister and her friends hopped on the bus each winter to participate in NOAM 's National Shabbaton. However, this year, for the first time there was one Shabbaton for all NOAM's age groups -- from fourth through eighth grade -- together. Junior staff (10th through 12th graders) who had participated in a Leadership Weekend two weeks ago, were also in attendance.

This great "coming together" enhanced the great spirit and the bonding experience of NOAM members. Needless to say, Aviv was happy to join them, and bought a new Star Wars kippah in honor of the event. When asked what he likes best about NOAM, he replied "the Madrichim (counselors) make tfillah fun."

More than 350 participants from all over the country came to the Givat Haviva Educational Center in the North of Israel for the Shabbaton -- the climax of all the national winter programs of NOAM. Programming for the Shabbaton included social events, educational sessions and discussions, games & fun time, as well as Tfillot (services) filled with enthusiasm, singing and Ru'ach.

Ze'ev Kainan
Director, NOAM

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US Student finds a Home in Marom

Aaron Weininger, a Scarsdale, NY native and a student at Washington University in St. Louis, is here on the One-Year-Program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Aaron has an extensive Conservative Jewish background from the States; he attended a Solomon Schechter school through 12th grade, and was a USY chapter president. He staffed USY On Wheels for the past two summers and came on a USY pilgrimage. But at first he was not sure if, or how, he would continue to be active in Masorti Judaism while in Israel.

Aaron heard of Marom through his ulpan class. Marom Director Olya Weinstein frequently visits the ulpan to help new olim first time visitors - and he decided to attend a joint event of Marom and the Open House in Jerusalem. "I was very happy to see that Marom provides a great community in Israel for young people who are looking to celebrate their Judaism in a progressive community rooted in tradition.

Aaron has since attended the Tu Bishvat Seder and will attend the Purim reading at the Conservative Yeshiva. He recently volunteered to work in the Marom office so that others can find a community and a place to call home in Israel.

Marom helps students like Aaron make a better transition and integrate into Israeli society. As Aaron says: "It's nice to come from the States and to connect with Israeli Jews with similar interests -- there is a growing Marom presence in Israel for students and young professionals and more people should hear about it."

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Brenda Fund Recipients

In a ceremony held on January 29, 2006 at the Schechter Institute, it was announced that six Masorti programs were among this years' recipients of Brenda Kaufman-Berman Memorial Fund Grants. This year's winners include:

1) NOAM , for helping a Gaza strip evacuee family reestablish and maintain their plant nursery. The youth trained in preparing and repairing irrigation systems, fulfilling their principles of Tikun Olam, i.e., Zionism, Working the Land, and Settlement;

2) Kehillat Yaar Ramot, for their Lone Soldiers: Tiyulim and Hosting project. This kehillah works with the Jerusalem Center for New Olim of the Department of Immigration and Absorption of the Jewish Agency for Israel to bring lone immigrant soldiers - primarily from the former Soviet Union - into Masorti Jewish communities. The soldiers are hosted for weekends and participate in synagogue trips, helping them enhance their knowledge of Judaism and Zionism;

3) Haminyan Hamishpachti Hamasorti of Kfar Vradim, led by Rabbi Zvi Berger, for their year long project, "Druze and Jewish Women in Dialogue - Learning from one Another;"

4) Kehillat Hakerem of Karmiel, led by Rabbi Tsvi Landau, for a joint program with AKIM , the National Organization for Developmentally Disabled and the staff and students of the local Kalanit School. This program is designed to give children and adults the opportunity to learn how to meaningfully interact with the developmentally disabled;

5) Kehillat Yotzer Or in Jerusalem, led by Rabbi Uri Ayalon, for their programs to empower socio-economically challenged families. The program has after-school activities and family programming with positive, creative Jewish content;

6) Kehillat Moreshet Avraham of Talpiyot, Jerusalem, led by Rabbi Barry Schlesinger, for their "Warm Home Program" which currently helps 28 children from disadvantaged homes and new immigrant families, both religious and secular. Children in grades two to six are provided with tutoring, lunch, and transportation from school to the synagogue and home again.

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Enhancing Activisim in Masorti Kehillot

Thirty-three activists from twenty-three kehillot in the Masorti Movement from all over Israel joined with activists of the Reform Movement, to complete a course entitled "Kehillat Zedek", an inter-movement initiative to give congregants the tools to build activist projects and to organize networking between congregations.

Yossi Unterman, a lecturer on community work at Hebrew University and also a member of Kehillat Ramot Zion in Jerusalem, taught participants about choosing projects wisely; mapping the needs of local communities; examining work models, partnering with the local community and building and finding a volunteer base.

Aviva Groen of the Israel Religious Action Center and coordinator of Kehillat Zedek for the two movements, commented: "We are trying to teach the communities to take into consideration what the target group needs and the resources of the group (interests, time, money). We want to inspire congregants to not just become volunteers but also to become activists who initiate projects." Aviva is now in the process of visiting communities as they begin building their projects. A follow-up meeting in May will focus on fundraising opportunities and the possibility of a nationwide project.

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Contact Information

e-masorti is produced by the Development Department of the Masorti Movement in Israel.
13 Ben Yehuda Street, PO Box 7559, Jerusalem 91074 ISRAEL Web: www.masorti.org
Telephone: +972 (2) 624 6510 ext. 24  Fax: +972 (2) 624 6869  E-mail: development@masorti.org

Donations

Israel and all other countries: to the offices in Jerusalem (above).

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