FIFTY SEVEN SIXTY TWO

FIFTY SEVEN SIXTY TWO FOOD Falafel Goes Gourmet Nothing says Israel quite like falafel. Those crispy balls of fried chickpeas are Israel's unofficial national dish— authentic, no-nonsense, and...

...And now Humanistic Judaism has reached another plateau: the ordination of three more rabbis, who join the first rabbi ordained by the movement in 1999...
...P O P U L A T I O N Numbers Game In August, MOMENT reported that the number of Muslims in America had increased to between 6 and 7 million—surpassing the number of Jews (5761, "Catching Up...
...www.the jewishmuseum.org...
...One of the Tel Aviv stands is tinkering with the very essence of the dish: Sweet potato falafel, anyone...
...Beyond this, there is a message that resonates eerily in today's frightened world...
...Noam Zion and David Dishon, in their Family Participation Haggadah, A Different Night, offer ways to weave our personal stories of deliverance into the ancient national saga and to engage children of all ages...
...drowning out evil Haman's name more than 50 times during the reading of the scroll of Esther...
...I'm in the business of collecting statistics," he says, "and I don't like bad numbers...
...212) 423-3200...
...But now I'm here all the time—it's just delicious...
...In one recent session, a rabbi with the user name Boruch was besieged by questions on what it meant for the Jews to be the "chosen nation"—a particularly sticky issue in a country where Jews have mostly been chosen for discrimination...
...11, Smith received a call from the American Jewish Committee (AJC...
...Of course they know Hebrew...
...And that launched another round of postulation...
...already there are two stands in Tel Aviv...
...The CAIR report, coordinated by the Hartford institute for Religious Research, estimated population figures by calling mosques throughout the country and asking them how many people worship there...
...We had some leftover pesto from a pasta dish," says Arama, "and decided to try it on a falafel...
...503) 226-3600...
...Census...
...These Internet hacks are observant Jews...
...How else can they be rabbis...
...There are about 6 million Jews in America: "It's is a common phenomenon for religions to overestimate," said Smith, director of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, "often because they don't have any good numbers or because they're consciously inflating their numbers to appear bigger and more important...
...Through February Jewish Artists on the Edge...
...In the wake of the Sept...
...Ask a young Jew about former Russian refusenik Natan Sharansky, for example, and you'll get a blank stare, he said...
...Greensboro History Museum, Chapel Hill, N.C...
...And they tend to come out at night—but not Friday night...
...During ceremonies and services, Humanistic Jews take traditional liturgy, omit references to God, and create new prayers that stay true to the original themes, Wine says...
...Her intervention saved the Jews in Persia from Ahasuerus' edict of death...
...and "Goat Cheese," which pairs the crispy balls with sun-dried tomato paste, fresh tomato salad, and goat cheese...
...And while the folks behind the Falafel Shop are purists 1^^^^ with the actual balls, 1 others are I beginning to experiment...
...And their shop is generating buzz...
...Since it's Humanistic Judaism, however, the presumption is not that God created the heavens (or the Bible) but that everything has a natural—not a supernatural—cause...
...www.yu.edu/museum...
...Pesto on falafel...
...and the boisterous outcome of following the commandment to drink until drunk...
...The human-centered Judaism was established by Rabbi Sherwin Wine in 1963...
...There is no methodology behind those figures," Smith said...
...The other site, www.sem40.ru, offers Israeli political commentary and a "kosher" dating service...
...Through March 3 A Call to Serve—Oregon Jews in the Armed Services...
...The Chabad-run site uses a slick interface to offer Jewish news analysis ("Arafat's days are numbered"), opinion ("Life in Israel is no scarier than in America"), and spirituality ("How to pass life's final exam...
...With six more students enrolled in the rabbinical school, Humanistic Judaism is fast establishing a base of its own...
...I feel a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment that what I have committed my life to will bear fruit," said Wine, from his headquarters at the Birmingham Temple in Farmington Hills, Mich., where he is the spiritual leader and also the dean of the Institute for Secular Judaism—the training ground for Humanistic rabbis, cantors, and educators...
...And while Wine told MOMENT publisher Hershel Shanks in an interview (February 1999) that he's "never going to retire," he has clarified that At 73, he's decided his two associates at the temple, Tamara Kolton and Adam Chalom, will succeed him in 2003—so he can visit other communities and write...
...Consider their three original recipes: "Pesto Falafel," with pesto, arugula, and marinated red peppers...
...Now, however, a small falafel stand in a Tel Aviv suburb is putting the Israeli culinary world on notice: Falafel is going gourmet...
...Chabad's Web site is one aspect of its increased presence in Russia (mcluding a new $7 million Jewish community center in Moscow...
...Chef Dan Arama was working in an elegant Tel Aviv restaurant when the idea came to him...
...And there's only one way to eat them: stuffed in a pita, crammed with hummus, chopped vegetable salad, pickles, and cabbage...
...But Foxman said the Times blew the story out of proportion by suggesting that American Jews face a question of divided loyalty...
...Today, there are more than 150 fulltime Chabad rabbis and more than 270 congregations in the former Soviet Union...
...AJC published Smith's report in October...
...Try to remember each day to say the simple counting formula and blessing (you can buy Omer counters or make one yourself), which remind you how many more days to Shavuot...
...Esther fasted for three days, praying to God all the while, before agreeing to speak to her husband, King Ahasuerus...
...www.ncjewishmuseum.org...
...delivering mishloah manot (gifts of cookies and other treats) to Jewish friends...
...Purim February 26 (Adar 14) It was only after the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E...
...One of the newest crazes in Russia's corner of cyberspace is Yiddishkheit...
...another will lead Machar, the Humanistic congregation in Washington, D.C...
...Since then, it has grown to more than 30,000 members worldwide with 55 congregations in North America...
...With these numbers being used mindlessly in the media, we thought it was important to clarify their accuracy," said Kenneth Bandier, AJC spokesman...
...The curriculum for the five-year rabbinical school, taught by Wine and visiting scholars, includes what Wine calls the "literature of modern times" (Jewish literature and Jewish history, including the Zionist and Yiddishist movements), as well as traditional texts and Hebrew...
...919) 932-1844...
...Why must we choose...
...www.spertus.edu...
...Smith began his research on the Muslim American population in 1995...
...AP Calendar • Through February 10 Ben Katchor: Picture- Stories...
...Wine said of the three new rabbis: One will assist him at the Institute and join him at the Birmingham Temple...
...At the forefront are two popular sites...
...Foxman spoke at the second annual MOMENT Forum on the Future of the Jewish People on Oct...
...Maybe a french fry or two...
...I was skeptical...
...From the beginning we knew this would be a winning formula," says Arama, as he scooped falafel and dropped it into the hot oil...
...5 article, Jews were divided over the Bush administration's support for a Palestinian state...
...Today, what Purim brings to mind is over-the-top costumes...
...Even the cynics can't seem to get enough...
...The challenge is not to be caught in a Haggadah straitjacket...
...Allison Kaplan Sommer B E R S P A C E Better Than Sputnik They are Russia's newest breed of Internet animal: young, opinionated, and fleetfingered...
...Through February 24 Migrations: Jewish Settlers of North Carolina...
...Our article was based on a report published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a nonprofit advocacy organization...
...For Smith, it's not that he's on a mission...
...says Ogen Shapira, a 40-something mother of two, who dropped by to pick up her family's lunch...
...The first, www.jewish.ru, gets more than 2,500 visitors a day...
...Following Foxman, Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, founder and president of the Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, gave a bleak assessment on the status of today's young Jews...
...Some say that the Jews themselves are to blame for [anti-Semitism] because of their chosenness," wrote one Jewish user, starting off the debate...
...Oregon Jewish Museum, Portland, Ore...
...Don't just applaud after a welkehearsed child proudly finishes asking the Four Questions...
...During his talk, Foxman cited a polarizing New York Times report, "U.S...
...Actually give him or her some short understandable answers before launching into the retelling of the Jewish people's redemption from slavery in Egypt...
...Yeshiva University Museum at the Center for Jewish History, New York City...
...Nearly all of the current Humanistic congregations are headed by rabbis ordained in either the Reform or Conservative movements (Wine's ordination is Reform...
...To cope with life in a country with persistent anti- Semitism (a recent Anti- Defamation League survey found that 44 percent of respondents held anti-Semitic views), and a continued Jewish emigration drain (more than 72,000 Jews left the former Soviet Union in 1999, according to the American Jewish Yearbook), Russian Jews are visiting sites like jewish.ru to "chat"—and to form online communities...
...it is made of Moments," Abraham H. Foxman, director of the Anti- Defamation League, addressed the same forum at a critical moment for Jewish Americans...
...Early indications are that the gourmet falafel trend seems to be spreading...
...Who says we have to choose...
...And increasingly, one place where the community comes together is on the Web...
...and the Jews were dispersed that newborn Jewish children came in "constant and personal contact with other possible identities," according to Yoram Hazony, author of Dawn—Po/rfca/ Teachings of the Book of Esther...
...Sam Greene R E L I G I O N Judaism's Other Branch Humanistic Judaism—the belief that Judaism can exist without God—is celebrating another milestone...
...Passover March 27-April 4 (Nissan 15-22) Seders can be guided by countless versions of the Haggadah...
...The stand is packed from noon until well into the evening...
...11 assault on America...
...Fast of Esther February 25 (Adar 13) Moments of peril in Jewish history are marked by several "minor" fasts...
...The Fast of Esther, like the others, is minor only because its a short fast, from sunrise to sunset—less strenuous than the sunset-tosunset fast of Yom Kippur...
...That's when he first noted that press reports did not mesh with surveys he had directed...
...It now seems those estimates may be greatly inflated...
...says Wine...
...11 terrorist attacks, it was widely reported that there are some 6.7 million American Muslims...
...God steps off the stage, leaving it to human responsibility and initiative to bring God's justice and peace into being...
...Soon after Sept...
...8 in New York City, nearly one month after the Sept...
...It's a simple question of accuracy...
...Hazony observes that one of Purim's messages to Jews is that even in the diaspora, "the most fearsome evils may yet be challenged and beaten...
...It will be the 40th anniversary of the founding of Humanistic Judaism," says Wine, "and my 75th birthday...
...FIFTY SEVEN SIXTY TWO FOOD Falafel Goes Gourmet Nothing says Israel quite like falafel...
...But according to Tom W Smith, author of the newly released report, Estimating the Muslim Population in the United States, studies showing 6 million American Muslims rely mostly'on guesswork...
...The forum, cochaired by Eugene Grant and Rita Kaplan, highlighted MOMENT'S role in the crucible of American Jewish life...
...The result, Arama says, was too good to ignore...
...He said that in general, they are woefully under-educated Jewishly...
...At last year's forum, Wiesel, who cofounded the magazine in 1975 with Leonard Fein, said MOMENT is "a unique magazine because it deals with Jewish issues in a universal context that others don't...
...212) 294-8330...
...But time was short—the sun was going down—and messages from the rabbi started popping up on users' screens: "Shabbat has begun, a time when Jews are forbidden to do certain types of work, including using computers...
...And if the crowd is any indication, he's right...
...Based on the New York Times article, you would think that American Jews must [now] choose between Israel and the United States," Foxman told nearly 30 people gathered at the Times Square law offices of Proskauer Rose...
...According to the Oct...
...creating elaborate shp/e/s (spoofs and roasts targeting teachers, rabbis, community leaders, and others...
...Those crispy balls of fried chickpeas are Israel's unofficial national dish— authentic, no-nonsense, and available on every corner...
...and the last will be director of developing communities for the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the national umbrella group for existing and emerging congregations...
...According to Smith's best estimate, there are probably about 1.9 million Muslims in America—and 2.8 million at most...
...So last summer he and his partner Alon Kruvi left their multi-star restaurants and opened the Falafel Shop in the Tel Aviv sub- ^ ^ ^^ urb of Ra'anana...
...In Persia," writes Hazony, "being a Jew became—for the first time in history—a matter of choice...
...AP LO Y A L T Y A Critical MOMENT One year after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel stood before a gathering of MOMENT magazine supporters and declared, "Life is not made of years...
...Smith reached his conclusions, he said, by "exhaustively" analyzing all available demographic survey data— including the U.S...
...Through March 19 Rebirth after the Holocaust: The Bergen- Belsen Displaced Persons Camp, 1945-1950...
...And I was never a huge falafel fan to begin with...
...The Greek," with olive paste, fresh oregano, Greek salad, and feta cheese...
...The day after AJC published its report, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York released a survey on religious identification in America, concluding that there are 1.1 million Muslims in the United States...
...Doing the count becomes a powerful linkage between Pesach's celebration of Jewish freedom and Shavuof s focus on Jewish purpose...
...Spertus Institute, Chicago...
...Jews Split on Washington's Shift on Palestinian State...
...The Fast of Esther might have been three days long, but the rabbis decided not to literally follow Esther's example...
...The Jewish Museum, New York City...
...And don't forget: At the second seder, start counting the Omer, the 49-day countdown to Shavuot when Jews received the Torah...
...God is nowhere present in the story of Esther, as God had been in the entire Bible...
...312) 322-1747...
...We have great answers to questions nobody asks anymore," Schwarz said...
...The rabbi responded: "The problem is that regardless of whether we think of ourselves as chosen, we always get the lumps...

Vol. 27 • February 2002 • No. 1


 
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