Capetown, South Africa

In this day between Shavuot and Shabbat, I wanted to share with you three anecdotes from a trip I took right before Shavuot. I spent nine days in South Africa visiting my son who is studying at the University of Capetown this semester. Three Jewish experiences stand out for me from this trip.
1. We planned the trip using the internet and were able to rent a car, find places to stay and arrange for kosher food via the internet. The kosher caterer/restaurateur who provided for us deserves mention here because he was so helpful in our planning. I was able to order food in advance from his menu and he delivered it to our hotel so that it was waiting in our room upon arrival. Avron of Avron’s Place made us feel welcomed and cared for as we planned to spend Shabbat in Capetown. He did not ask for any money in advance and this feeling of trust was very heartwarming.
2. We went to shul at the Marais Road Shul (known as the Marera shul) on Shabbat morning and were welcomed by the guard who knew my son from his past visits there. We entered a shul more than 7500 miles from our home and, in addition, to feeling at home in the company of the community and inspired by the beautiful choir- we ran into a friend of ours who lives in Englewood, New Jersey. That familiar face in a place which was so familiar yet so far from our home made us all smile and added a special feeling to that Shabbat for us.
3. Before leaving Capetown we visited the Herzliya School of Capetown. Our son had done some volunteer work there and wanted us to see this amazing school. We walked into the school office and David introduced himself and spoke of his last visit there and an administrator got up from her desk and spent the next hour showing us around the school. The school is a magnificent example of a Jewish day school which serves almost the entire Jewish community of Capetown. 80% of the Jewish children of Capetown attend this beautiful school. My son said it best in his blog so I’ll quote him:
The school had a great vibe to it, as kids were busy engaging in afterschool activities, including everything from basketball to water-polo. Wandering around the school, I saw signs of everything you would expect from a good Jewish day school: science contraptions, art projects in memory of the holocaust, and posters discussing Jewish values. It’s nice to travel half way around the world and up a mountain, and see that Jews everywhere are pretty much doing the same thing: using Jewish education to pass on to their children a lifestyle and tradition of community, knowledge, values, and of course, fun.
I, too, felt the power and strength of Jewish education as I walked through the halls and grounds of this school.

All three of these anecdotes reminded me of the closeness and uniqueness of the Jewish community and greatly enhanced our trip.
Shabbat Shalom!!

JEWISH TIME

One of my personal Jewish outlets is participating in Limmud Southeast+Atlanta. As you may know Limmud is an international organization that represents a cross-communal approach to Jewish learning. It began in 1980 in the UK and now has about 35 all over the world.

Limmud Southeast+Atlanta has several events through the year; the highlights are a day-long Limmud in March, a full weekend over Labor Day called LimmudFest, and piloting a Jewish music festival this June. I am an active VOLUNTICIPANT (a cool Limmud concept for a participant who is also a volunteer!). For LimmudFest 2010, I am the co-chair of a committee called Participant Care (i.e. hospitality, special needs requests, transportation, housing, etc). It is such a rewarding experience to be involved in Jewish community for personal reasons and not just professional ones.

Limmud gives me a phenomenal multi-generational community amid which I have made some of my closest friends in Atlanta. They are all people who are committed to Jewish life - however they personally define it. They are engaged, intelligent, and loving (not to mention a ton of fun!). Limmud gives me an outlet for my post-denomination Judaism. Limmud gives me on-going adult Jewish learning for learning's sake. Limmud has given me front-line access to some of the world's best Jewish educators. But now, Limmud has given me something else.

I was recently asked to represent Limmud Southeast+Atlanta to be a part of an international Limmud project called the Chevruta Project. It is a book, published once a year, in which texts are examined around one theme, through many lenses, and by-way of both traditional and modern texts. The Chevruta book is divided into four sections and each section is developed by a geographic team. This year's theme is TIME and my team is North America. The North America team has representatives from Toronto, New Orleans, Chicago, NY, Boston, LA, Philly and Colorado. The section of the book we were assigned is around Communal Time.

In thinking about on-line learning communities, one of the greatest strengths is what has become known as "crowd-sourcing." The Jim Joseph Fellowship has reinforced the useful nature of tapping into the collective wisdom of a community. So combining my participation in the Fellowship with my participation in the Limmud Chevruta Project, I wanted to take this opportunity to ask all of the Davar Acher readers to participate in crowd-sourcing around the topic of Jewish Time. I invite you to answer any one, a few, or all of the questions below.

• What does Jewish Time mean to you?
• What traditional texts best frame or guide your view of Jewish time?
• What modern texts do this?
• How does Personal Jewish Time play out in your life?
• How does Communal Jewish Time play out in your life?
• What comes to mind when the concept of G-d's Time is introduced?
• Do you have thoughts about Eternal Time?

I look forward to the amazing discussion I think we can have in asynchronous TIME about this topic.

NOTE: Picture to left is Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Time"

Two Types of Freedom

Imagine sleeping late for the most important appointment of your life! According to Jewish tradition, that is exactly what the Jewish people did the morning they were to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai. To make certain that this doesn’t happen again, many Jewish communities stay up for an all-night study session the first evening of Shavuot (Erev Shavuot). This special tradition, called a Tikkun Leil Shavuot, hopes to ensure that the Jewish people make it to their Mount Sinai meeting on time.

Shavuot, also called the Festival of Weeks, is the second of the three Festivals of the Jewish year. Like many Jewish holidays, Shavuot has both agricultural and religious significance. Shavuot celebrates the harvest and dedication of the first fruits of the agricultural year and the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. For this reason, Shavuot is also often called both Hag HaBikkurim (Holiday of the First Fruits) and Hag Matan Torah (Holiday of the Giving of the Torah).

However, the connection between Passover and Shavuot is perhaps the most important aspect of this holiday’s celebration. Passover celebrates the escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But what happened after that miraculous escape at the Sea of Reeds? Seven weeks later, the Israelites stood at Mount Sinai and were given the Torah. As Passover celebrates physical freedom, Shavuot celebrates spiritual freedom through the covenant made between G-d and the Jewish people millennia ago.

Unfortunately, Shavuot often falls during the summer and many people forget about this celebration altogether (There is no excuse this year, as Shavuot is at the end of May). Additionally, Shavuot may be less “memorable” because it doesn’t have a unique experience as part of its celebration. Sukkot has the sukkah, Passover has the Seder, Purim has the costumes, and Shavuot is primarily a synagogue based holiday exactly at the time when synagogue attendance starts to wane in the summer season.

Nevertheless, participating in a Tikkun Leil Shavuot is a great way to throw you into Jewish learning and provides a great opportunity to become re-inspired to explore Judaism anew. I have participated in all-night study programs that explore everything from classical biblical texts to the growth of the Israeli wine industry. With a diversity of learning experiences, everyone has the opportunity to stay engaged and awake. Plus, all-night learners really feel a sense of accomplishment if they make it to dawn on Shavuot morning.

Study is central to the Jewish people. Jewish study is not about mastering knowledge; rather it is about using what is learned to affect how we live. We study the Torah all year, every year because the work that we put into study has the potential to transform our lives. This is why Ethics of the Fathers reminds us that the process of Torah study is to “turn to it, and turn to it again, for everything is in it. Pore over it, grow old and gray over it. Do not budge from it. You can have no better guide for living than it” (Avot 5:25). Take some time this year to study our tradition.

Shavuot begins the evening of Tuesday, May 18, 2010, the 6 Sivan 5770. For more information about Shavuot, check out www.myjewishlearning.com.