Mark your calendars for January 31st at 7PM (Corns Hall Room 312)

Past Hillel Vice President Sally Elkind-Goldstein brought this film to our attention upon returning from a college leadership convention.  It “chronicles the spectacular journey of 9 ‘peace climbers’ from different faiths and cultures as they climb to the summit of the tallest mountain in the world.”  Since the focus of the film is on a pair of climbers one of whom is Israeli the other Palestinian, we thought it would be an excellent piece to bring to campus.  Sometimes we struggle to talk about the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians.  This film will give us a glimpse of what is possible when people from these groups work together for a common goal.

A discussion of the film will follow.  And, filmmaker Lance Trumbull might even join us via Skype!

The good news: The team is advancing to the final round of competition in the Division Three National Finals.

The other good news: Those of us who were in attendance had a great time catching up in the kitchen, making and eating some damn good latkes, and listening to some rocking tunes on Pandora’s Klezmer Conservatory Band’s holiday channel (Dr. Elias’s brother-in-law is a founding member of the KCB).

In the tradition of OWU Hillel, we read a story to mark the holiday and get us thinking about what it’s all about.  The Dog Tag Dilemma is a perfect story for Chanukah, a story about embracing one’s Jewish identity when circumstances suggest it would be easier to blend in with the crowd.  If you’re looking for a way to reconnect with the spirit of the holiday, check it out.

As we move through Chanukah, from 2011 to 2012, consider how you will rededicate yourself to Judaism, and OWUHillel.  We’ll be selecting new board members in January and we could use a few good folks to lead us.

Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, marks the beginning of the Nazi Holocaust against the European Jews. For two days and nights, Nov. 9 and 10, the Nazis carried out pogroms, or riots, against the Jews.

This year, the Columbus Jewish Federation, the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and Ohio Wesleyan University will commemorate Kristallnacht by welcoming a scholar-in-residence from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Victoria Barnett, staff director of the national museum’s Committee on Church Relations and the Holocaust, will discuss “How the Holocaust Changed Interfaith History” at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 in Room 312 of the R.W. Corns Building.

Barnett, a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, is a scholar of the Holocaust and of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian known for his resistance to the Nazis.

Dedicated in 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum seeks to inspire citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. Since the museum opened, it has welcomed more than 30 million visitors and 91 heads of state. Learn more at www.ushmm.org.

]]> http://owujew.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/how-the-holocaust-changed-interfaith-history/feed/ 0 owujew http://owujew.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/occupy-judaism/ http://owujew.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/occupy-judaism/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:21:00 +0000 owujew http://owujew.wordpress.com/?p=496 ]]> Wow.

More at http://occupyjudaism.org/

This blog hit a record number of hits in a single day today with 82 views.  I was trained as a qualitative researcher so numbers are not usually a driving factor in the work I do.  However, I’ll take this as hard evidence that I did the right thing blogging last night and emailing OWUJews today.

I’m not supposed to be using the computer/working on Yom Kippur, but somehow this seems like the most fitting way to mark the holiday at the moment.  My husband worked late tonight.  The baby didn’t nap.  Lots of excuses, but the bottom line is simply, I’m not at Kol Nidre services (where I should be) right now.

It seems like so many of my sins come down to time.

For the sin which we have committed by not walking our dogs regularly.

And for the sin which we have committed by not listening to our children’s stream of consciousness commentary on the world as they see it because we are multitasking making dinner/checking email for work/planning for a night out.

This year, it seemed lots of students were also finding it hard to make time for Yom Kippur.

“Yom Kippur is not exactly at the best time right now.  I have a lot to do this weekend.”

“I have a game on Saturday.  Do you think it would be okay if I fasted on Sunday instead?”

What are we missing by not making the time, for not taking the time?

I am already feeling sorry that I didn’t plan ahead, that I didn’t make the time, take the time, to stop, rest, and reflect.  We are so fortunate to have this day when we are invited, like Shabbat, to pause and consider the year gone by and the year to come.  We all know High Holiday Jews who come out of the woodwork only on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur and then return to hiding the rest of the year.  What draws them out of their routines?

Perhaps it’s because being with other Jews for the holiday provides us with a sense of communion and belonging.  Personally I feel like this is much more important in the Midwest than it was for me in the Northeast, where there were so many Jews around all the time.  And still, here I am at home with my family and Bob Dylan (who was Jewish, afterall, so that counts for something, right?).

For the sin we have committed by not feeling moved when we go to temple;

And the sin we have committed by not being moved to go.  

It always feels too late – too late to send New Year’s cards, too late to meaningfully explain the holidays to my step-children, too late to reflect as completely as I would like.  So this Yom Kippur, I am going to spend some time contemplating how to prepare for next Yom Kippur.

For all these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

My daughter, Cora Lena (Chai Sarah), was born on September 23rd, 2010.  Fortunately, the holidays are late this year.  Her first birthday is the week before Rosh HaShanah.  In 2015, her fifth birthday will fall on Yom Kippur.  I’m not exactly sure what that will mean yet, but I know we won’t be entirely focused on cake and presents.

Rosh HaShanah is the time when we look back on the year that has passed and look forward to the year ahead.  The first year of a baby’s life is truly remarkable.  Every few weeks there is a new milestone to mark – the first time she smiled intentionally, the first time she grabbed a hold of something on purpose, the first time she sat up, the first time she giggled, the first time she sat up on her own, the first time she flipped through the pages of a book by herself, the first time she ate a Cherrio, the first time she went on the swing at the playground, the first time she crawled, walked, and on and and on…  I had no idea how much pleasure I would get from watching my child explore the world around her and make connections between things.  5771 has been a truly blessed year for me.

5772 next year is sure to be filled with more amazing discoveries, as well as moments that test the limits of  my strength and patience.  As much as I have experienced profound joy this year, I have also felt pain, exhaustion, and frustration.  I have tried not to take it out on Cora, her siblings, father, or others around us, but I know that I have missed the mark on occasion.  I have cried out , in the words of Adam Mansbach, after a day of no napping ”Please go the f* to sleep!”   I have been distracted from helping my step-children with their homework and hobbies.  I have been selfish at times; thinking that my own situation was so trying while a friend’s brother-in-law was, literally, dying.

From now on, Rosh HaShanah will always be a time to mark Cora’s growth, as well as my own.

“Hello.  I am an Alumni of OWU, I graduated this past May. I received your email from my friend… Over the years I have been studying and researching Judaism and I truly feel in my heart that I am ready to convert to Judaism. I am not entirely sure where to start or what steps to take. I was hoping you could give me some advice and point me in the right direction. Thank You.”

Reading this, I was struck with a feeling I’ve had on other occasions since I took this job nearly three years ago; a feeling I wrote about in an article for Harlot for the Arts (2010).  I thought, “Who am I to give anyone advice on becoming Jewish?  I’m still trying to figure out what it means to me to be Jewish.” Of course, I don’t expect my own quest to end anytime soon.  So, while I may not be a Rabbi or qualified to supervise anyone’s conversion process, I realized I could speak about my own understandings of and relationship and commitments to Judaism.  Most importantly, I knew that I could listen to this young woman tell me why she wanted to become a Jew.

I suggested we meet for coffee and that in the meantime, she ought to do some reflecting and writing on what being Jewish means to her and what questions she has about it.  This morning, she came to my house and we spent an hour getting to know one another.  She shared somethings about her background – she was raised by her mother, whom she described as “obviously Christian but not very religious”, until she was thirteen when her mother passed away and she move in with her sister, a devout Christian who attends church at least three times a week.  She first learned about Judaism from a high school teacher and then attended a Messianic Temple on and off through college.  She came to realize that this was not a sufficient enough shift for her as she no longer thought of Jesus as a messiah.  She had been drifting for awhile, but expressed a longing for a spiritual home and a new community with which to worship.  The laws of kashrut and Shabbat appealed to her but she still had a lot to learn.  Speaking with her informally about what that learning might entail – exploring different denominations and congregations, experiencing the Jewish calendar, becoming mindful of the laws of kashrut, etc. – helped me realize how much I know and take for granted.

It makes me wonder what I take for granted when I talked to non-Jews about Judaism.  It makes me wonder what I take for granted when I speak with students about their relationships to Judaism.  It made me wonder what I will take for granted in raising my daughter as a Jew in the midwest.  Clearly I have me own work to do.