Editorial

Tu B’Shevat: Harbinger of Spring and More

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Tu B’Shevat (the 15th day of the Hebrew month Shevat) is not well-known or widely celebrated. That is a shame, since the holiday has a festive tone and imparts important contemporary lessons. It helps us mark time, it honors our earth and our partnership with its Creator, and it connects us to our biblical Israeli roots.


This Jewish holiday is not one that is mentioned in the Torah. Work is not prohibited and there are no special Tu B’Shevat prayers (in fact, some regular prayers are specifically omitted). The Rabbis, in the Mishnah (oral law), teach that Tu B’Shevat is the Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year, for trees. As environmentally sensitive as celebrating trees’ birthdays may sound today, the historical and practical reason was to know when to begin the harvest and when to tithe the fruits for the Temple.

The Jewish people have a long tradition of appreciating trees. There are laws about when to eat fruit and when to let trees rest. There are laws prohibiting the cutting down of fruit trees when a city is besieged. There is a tradition to plant a cedar tree for a baby boy and a cypress tree for a baby girl, the idea being that the children would care for the trees and use them as poles for their chuppahs on their wedding days.

Today, with our changing environment, Tu B’Shevat offers the chance to perform the mitzvah of tikkun olam (repair the world). When we plant trees in Israel (a long-standing holiday tradition), we literally and physically recognize our responsibility to repair the damage we have inflicted on the earth. We also repair the spiritual damage we have done to ourselves and to our environment by taking both for granted. The day encourages us to appreciate the beauty and mystery of the natural world.

Tu B’Shevat also connects Diaspora Jews to the land of Israel. It is a holiday deeply rooted in Israeli soil. While our trees are bare-branched and our soil is frozen at this time of year, in Israel the appearance of the first buds signal the beginning of spring. It is customary to eat fruits and grains identified in the Torah. These seven foods or “seven species” (wheat, barley, figs, pomegranates, olives, dates and grapes) are indigenous to Israel (See recipes, page 21).

Finally, Tu B’Shevat is an opportunity to come together as a Jewish community. Thanks to the 16th century Kabbalists, who developed a Tu B’Shevat seder loosely modeled after the Passover seder, we have a ritual that imbues eating the seven species with spirituality and reverence. We gather in celebration, to praise God as we honor the fruit of Eretz Yisrael.

Tu B’Shevat is a day to praise and connect to Israel and the strength and holiness of its soil. It is a day to come together as a community and celebrate and revere the gift of our physical and spiritual environments. It is a day when being called a “tree-hugger” takes on religious meaning.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on January 29, 2015.

The World Needs Another Dreamer

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“ I have a dream,” Martin Luther King, Jr. famously declared in a speech on August 28, 1963, in which he called for an end to racism in the United States. That dreamer, who spoke of freedom, equality, dignity and respect for all Americans, united more than 250,000 people of all colors and national origins that day.

Last Sunday, on the streets of Paris, 1.5 million Christians, atheists, Jews, Muslims and people of many other fauths stood side by side and marched in a show of global solidarity for freedom, equality, dignity and respect, in response to terrorist strikes that killed 17 people.

Leading the march was French President Franois Hollande, arm in arm with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and a host of European and African leaders.

Although the march did not have any speakers, these leaders spoke volumes by their presence.

Nonetheless, the time is ripe for another dreamer like Dr. King; this time it needs to be a global dreamer with the ability to capitalize on this rare moment when the world is united in its outrage against the recent assault on the very fabric of all that Western civilization represents.

The Charlie Hebdo attack raised awareness that Islamist extremism does not target only Jews or Muslim infidels, but that it aims to destroy everyone and everything that is not in its image. World leaders need to show that they will stand together; communication, cooperation and collaboration are key.

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago. Let’s hope someone, somewhere is ready to continue his legacy. The world as we know it may depend on it.

This appeared in the Jewish Journal on January 15, 2015.

A “Second” New Year

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The start of a new year is a time to review, assess and plan. We review resolutions we made a year ago, reflect on how well we accomplished our goals and then wipe the slate clean, planning our list for the year to come. For Jews, the secular New Year is the perfect opportunity to do a first-quarter checkup on how well we are doing with the promises we made to ourselves on Yom Kippur.


Like financial plans, intentions to better ourselves are not meant to be static documents; rather, we should periodically assess, question and revise them. Were the goals we set for ourselves three months ago realistic? Have we or loved ones experienced unforeseen life events that need to be taken into account? Have we somehow gotten off track?

Maybe our goals and priorities have shifted. Maybe a relationship has taken on more meaning or a task more importance. Maybe our physical or mental health demands we change our habits. Maybe a new job requires us to adapt and retool.

Maybe the war in Israel and the rise of global anti-Semitism in 2014 have awakened in us a need to incorporate more Judaism and spirituality into our lives by studying Torah more often, committing to Shabbat observance or experimenting with Jewish cooking. Perhaps we are newly motivated to take steps to strengthen Israel by taking part in pro-Israel activities. Maybe we resolve to take an active role in tikkun olam by making a commitment to social justice.

Or maybe we conclude that we are on the right track and that our progress is on course.

Whichever conclusion we draw or steps we take, we are indeed lucky to have this “second” New Year, this three-month checkup.

This appeared in the Jewish Journal on January 1, 2015.

Let Us Be a Light Unto Our Children This Hanukkah

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Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication, is a happy holiday, one that commemorates a Jewish military victory and a miracle reflecting God’s intervention on our behalf. It is rich with symbolism and ritual. It is also rich with spirituality, and presents a golden opportunity to teach and show our children what it means to be Jewish.

Like Passover and Sukkot, the majority of Hanukkah rituals take place in the home. We create meaning and memories with our families, taking turns lighting the menorah candles, eating traditional foods and playing dreidel. These activities remind us who we are and where we come from; they link us to each other and anchor us in our Judaism.

These days, it is a challenge to avoid letting Hanukkah become trivialized as a retaildriven, superficial Christmas analog. Our children in particular are under pressure from their peers and the media. It is our job to help them find comfort and significance in the simple act of lighting a candle.

Each flickering flame has the power to connect us to light, the conqueror of darkness and the original source of nourishment. During these dark winter solstice nights, when we place the Hanukkah menorah in a window visible to the public, as is customary in many communities, we go one step further.

Our menorah in the window shows the world that we Jews bring light into the world, that we take seriously and literally our charge of “tikkun olam” (repairing the world). Our menorah in the window shows the world that despite the recent rash of anti-Semitism, we will not be intimidated; we will continue to display our Judaism proudly and publicly.

For Jews, the meaning of light is inspiration, courage, warmth, strength and belief in oneself. This is the lesson of Hanukkah 2014 that we can pass on to our children.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on December 18, 2014.

Passing on Our Spark of Light To the Next Generation

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Our Jewish heritage values community, education and tradition. Yet how often, outside of the High Holidays, do we gather as a community of over 700 Jews with the sole agenda of connecting with each other, and our faith, to share, study and celebrate?


LimmudBoston’s fifth annual day-long celebration of lifelong learning on December 7 was just such an occasion, and it was thrilling for the Journal to be there.

The menu of 85 classes clearly proclaimed that we were part of something bigger than ourselves, and that “something” could only be described as being in love with being Jewish.

Rabbis and scholars explored Biblical, Talmudic and contemporary sources. “What’s So Jewish About the News” looked at the top stories in 2014. Classes in spirituality, prayer, parenting, Jewish identity and modern and historic Israel sparked lively debates.

Throughout the day, common themes surfaced: Jews are inclusive; Jews value diversity; vigorous debate is encouraged, but conflict is not; Jews seek a life of meaning; and Jews look to make a difference.

Common questions surfaced, too. The two most often repeated included, “How do we light the spark of a love of Judaism in the next generation? How do we attract the unaffiliated?”

One way might be to make sure everyone has the opportunity to experience an event like LimmudBoston. It is impossible not to come away feeling energized and hopeful. A smaller version of the event could travel to other communities. Campus Hillels could organize transportation so their students could attend. Synagogues could organize field trips for their members and offer free tuition.

One thing is certain: during these tough times of anti-Semitism and attacks against Jews, it is a challenge to remain optimistic about our future. The task of everyone who attended LimmudBoston 2014 is to keep the spark going by spreading their enthusiasm to their communities, friends and families. Like the Hanukkah candles we will soon be lighting, LimmudBoston is a light in the winter darkness.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on December 11, 2014.

Pro-Israel Campus Groups Need To Become A Real Movement

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Once again, articles about anti-Israel groups on U.S. campuses peppered the Jewish and secular press this week, leaving the impression that Jewish and pro-Israel students are being harassed, intimidated and compromised.


The ADL, in a November 20 blog titled, “Anti-Israel Activity Prevalent on Massachusetts Campuses This Year,” listed nine events that have occurred since September, including a “Festival of Resistance” at Smith College that culminated in an anti-Israel rally outside Northampton City Hall.

Haaretz reported that Wellesley College’s Hillel director and Jewish chaplain were fired after they asked for a meeting with Wellesley’s Students for Justice in Palestine leaders. The Times of Israel reported about SJP’s planned illegal activities against Jewish students and Israel.

Divestment organizers at UCLA, representing a wide coalition of students from all backgrounds and sectors of campus, celebrated a milestone victory for social justice with the passage of “A Resolution to Divest from Companies Engaged in Violence against Palestinians” that singled out Israel.

Once again, pro-Israel groups reacted independently and inconsistently. Some worried that generating outside attention might inflame the situation, making campuses even more vulnerable. Some planned Israel advocacy trainings and sponsored thoughtful opportunities for dialogue. Others rose in defiance, loudly defending Israel against unfair resolutions.

One challenge they all faced was how to address these injustices without legitimizing them. David Suissa, in his opinion piece on the facing page, proposes a solution that is both proactive and constructive.

He suggests that all pro-Israel groups unite behind a single slogan so potent that it will reframe the debate over Palestine in a way that can empower all students, Jewish and non-Jewish, to support Israel.

His idea? “Israel can save the Middle East.”

Think about what might happen if the various pro-Israel groups banded together as a true movement that spoke with one voice and one goal: to draw attention away from Israel’s flaws and towards Israel’s position as the only positive and democratic influence in the Middle East and the only hope for transforming the chaotic region.

Who knows what could happen? Maybe someday the articles about pro-Israel activity on U.S. campuses might just outnumber their counterpart’s.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on December 4, 2014.

Giving Thanks for Shmita

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As we gather around our Thanksgiving tables with loved ones and favorite dishes, our thoughts turn to many things for which we are grateful. Despite recent outbursts of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiments, we are thankful that America remains a safe haven for Jews. Despite an unsteady economy and a widening of the gap between the haves and have-nots, we acknowledge that we have a roof over our heads and enough to eat. Although friends and family may be scattered all over the globe, we appreciate that we have the means and desire to come together as a community.


Thanksgiving 5775 is a “Shmita” year, the sabbatical year of a seven-year cycle mandated by the Torah, and we should also take a moment to be thankful for it.

Shmita (literally “release”) is the mitzvah that commands us to let the land rest and to forgive all debts to fellow Jews every seven years. Any fruit which grows of its own accord is deemed ownerless and may be picked by anyone. After six years of farming, our ancestors were called upon to release control over all they owned and owed.

In essence, Shmita teaches us about social justice and sustainability, about how we can help maintain economic, environmental and social balance in the world. It is a commandment of action and commitment. Our gratitude to God expresses itself in deeds. We feed others, whether they are family members or strangers. We revere the land, granting it a year of rest and replenishment. We acknowledge that God sustains living creatures with lovingkindness by extending the same to the earth that sustains us.

Shmita is also a commandment that we slow down, that we stop and rest and examine our own behaviors and beliefs to see what we want to change. Shmita implies that our thankfulness to God should not remain in the realm of emotions, thoughts or even speech, but should also move us to action. It reminds us of our connectedness to God, to each other and to the land.

And so, this year when we say our brachot giving thanks to God before enjoying our holiday meal, let us recognize that Thanksgiving 5775 is special by including an additional prayer for the gift of Shmita.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on November 20, 2014.

Lest We Forget: Remembering Kristallnacht

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November 9, 1938, started as just another day for Jews in Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. After breakfast, fathers went to work, children went to school and mothers kissed their loved ones goodbye. They returned home for a family dinner, went to bed and expected the next day to be identical.


That night, Nazi storm troopers, aided by citizen rioters, burned 267 synagogues, vandalized 7,500 Jewish businesses, murdered 91 Jews and incarcerated 30,000 Jewish men, transferring them to newly built concentrations camps. Overnight, the Holocaust had officially begun.

Kristallnacht — the night of broken glass — marked an important turning point in Hitler’s anti-Semitic policy. Historians uniformly point out that the passivity with which German citizens accepted this violence signaled to the Nazi regime that the public was prepared for their more radical measures aimed at removing Jews entirely from German economic and social life. The Nazis were organized, they were well funded and they were united behind a single mission.

After this summer’s Operation Protective Edge, the trend of declining global anti-Semitism sharply reversed. Daily reports of vandalism, violence and intimidation of Jews all over the world has become the new normal. Classicanti-Jewish tropes have resurfaced, masquerading as critiques of Israel’s political policies and support for Palestinian human rights.

Closer to home, Students for Justice in Palestine, a well-organized group that advocates aggressive and intimidating anti-Israel tactics, is spreading its presence on college campuses throughout the U.S. at an alarming rate. Since June 2014, SJP has formed 28 new chapters, according to the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), bringing the nationwide total to 157.

SJP is sponsored by American Muslims for Palestine, a group that promotes and defends posting mock eviction notices on Jewish students’ dorm rooms as “constitutionally guaranteed political speech.”

Kristallnacht was a unique and extreme event that caught its victims completely off guard. Despite mounting evidence, we must remain calm and optimistic, but we must also be alert and vigilant. We must challenge those who claim their blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions are simply robust exchanges of ideas. Most importantly, we must not be afraid to act. For, in the words of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.” It is also dangerous.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on November 6, 2014.

Supporting Our Children

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Our college students are under pressures most of us did not encounter when we were their age. In addition to the expected stresses of academic and social adjustments, they are part of a generation that must struggle with financial anxieties over how they will bear their share of the exorbitant cost of their education and whether they will find a job in this very competitive market when they graduate. This fall, they must also contend with the burden of what it means to be a Jewish student on an American campus. The summer’s war in Gaza has led to an increase in global anti-Semitism, including pro-Palestinian protests and activism on campuses throughout the country. Some of the rallies, meetings and letter-writing campaigns have been organized by groups expressing reasoned criticism of Israel in respectful ways. Some of the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist demonstrations, however, are hateful attacks against Jews and the Jewish State that embrace Nazi imagery and anti-Semitic slogans. Most of our children have never encountered such openly hostile and aggressive targeting during their lives.


Many campus Hillel organizations have recognized the problem and are offering additional support and resources. For example, at Tufts University, where the Tufts chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) will hold its national conference October 24-26, Israel educational programming and advocacy training are available for all interested students. Nonetheless, the presence of so many students, academics and activists who sponsor “Israel Apartheid Week” and promote the movement that advocates boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel will be unnerving.

And what about our students who do support a two state peaceful and just resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict? Where can they find a safe place for thoughtful, nuanced civil dialogue in the current polarized environment where even some of their parents have drawn bright lines between what it means to be pro-Israel and what it means to be anti-Israel?

We need to make the time to talk to our young adult children and support them as thinkers in their own right.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on October 23, 2014.

The Sacredness of Sukkot

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After the ten-day period of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a literal breath of fresh air. Our focus turns from the internal world of selfassessment, forgiveness and atonement to the external gift of the earth in its autumnal glory.


Sukkot’s historical significance commemorates the forty-year period when the children of Israel wandered in the desert, living in fragile, temporary huts. Its agricultural significance celebrates the fall harvest, honoring the relationship between human and earth. We are commanded to build a small, simple shelter (sukkah) with a roof of vegetation through which we can see the stars, and to live in it for seven days. It is an opportunity to leave our partisan, self-centered, materialistic lives and reconnect with the sacredness of family and land.

Although Sukkot is a festive and joyous holiday, it imparts many serious lessons. Unlike the High Holidays, the bulk of its rituals and celebrations occur in the home. This time we spend in a basic, small space with family and friends reminds us how important and valuable communication, community and sharing are. The temporary nature of the sukkah reminds us that, outside Israel, we remain wanderers and that our existence on earth is transitory. The fragility of the structure reminds us that we are fortunate to have a roof over our heads and food on our tables when so many have neither. We learn to appreciate more and take less for granted.

Most critically, however, Sukkot reminds us that our Torah commands us to recognize the holiness of the earth and the role we must play to nurture and protect it. All the holiday’s rituals reinforce our slowing down, simplifying and returning to the basics.

During the High Holidays, we are mindful of perfecting ourselves so we can repair and perfect the world through compassion, justice and peace. During Sukkot, we remember we must appreciate that world for what it is: God’s gift to us. It is our responsibility and within our ability to remain worthy of that trust.

This originally appeared in the Jewish Journal on October 9, 2014.