Thursday, December 15, 2005
Issue 11, Parshat VaYishlach 5766
Kummunique - Kumah's Shabbat and Holiday Bulletin
-----------------------------------------------------------
Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!
In this issue you will find:
1. "Yaakov Avinu's Vow" by Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal
2. "Surviving Aliya: Olim and Patisseries Arrive in Ra'anana" By Talya Halkin
3. "God Is Cool Again" by Chaim Levinson
4. "Endangered Baby Elephant Born in Jerusalems Biblical Zoo"
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. "Yaakov Avinu's Vow" by Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal
Eim Habanim Semeicha 28-31
At this time, we definitely need the merit of our Holy Land to guard and protect us, to relieve us from the oppressor and to deliver us from distress. The Holy Torah has already informed us that our patriarch Yaakov made a great vow to God in his hour of distress:
"Yaakov made a vow saying, `If God will be with me, and guard me on this way that I am going, and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and I will return in peace to my father's home and the Lord will be my God.`" [Bereishit 28:20-1.] Our sages comment: ". . . From here we learn that one should make a vow in times of trouble."
[Bereishit Rabba 70:1.]
It seems to me now that our patriarch Yaakov's vow in his time of trouble was just this - that he would return to the Land of Israel, enhance its glory and focus all his attention on improving its settlement. He meant by this to arouse the merit of the Land of Israel for himself in his time of trouble to free him from distress. He thus declared in his vow, "and I will return in peace to my father's home and the Lord will be my God." [Bereishit 28:21] The phrase "I will return in peace to my father's home" itself constitutes the vow.
On this basis, we can answer the question of the commentators as to Yaakov's statement, "and the Lord will be my God." Is it possible that Yaakov imposed a condition as to this [his acceptance of God]? Based on the foregoing, however, there is no difficulty. It is a well known dictum of our sages (end of Ketubot [110b]) that "anyone who resides in the Land of Israel is like one who has a God, and anyone who resides outside the Land is like one who has no God." Yaakov thus said "I will return in peace to my father's home and the Lord will be my God," meaning that he would return to the Land of Israel and, then, Hashem would be his God. This itself was the vow- - that he would return to the Land of Israel.
I subsequently found this interpretation explicitly stated in Midrash Tanchuma (Parshat Re'eh [8]). . . . I also found in the Zohar (Parshat Vayeitzei [150b]) the same explanation that I gave of Yaakov's vow. . . . I was thus privileged to concur with the Godly tana R' Shimon Bar Yochai. Rejoice, my reins, to have merited that.
In any case, we see that our patriarch Yaakov also vowed in time of trouble to return to the Land of Israel, to perfect and establish it, so that its merit would stand firm for him. We should observe and do likewise at this difficult time, vowing to return to our Holy Land and exert ourselves to restore its prestige. Then, the merit of the settlement of the Land of Israel will arise to deliver us from distress, speedily in our days, amen. This is also what the sages intended when they said in the Midrash: "God took the conversation of the Patriarchs and made of it a key for the redemption of their children." [Bereishit Rabba 70:6.]
-----------------------------------------------------------
2. "Surviving Aliya: Olim and Patisseries Arrive in Ra'anana" By Talya Halkin
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1134309567603&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Petanque, an outdoor bowling game, is associated in the minds of those Israelis who know it with groups of men whiling away lazy afternoons in the South of France. These days, however, it's enough to deposit an Israeli identity card at the Ra'anana Municipality to become the temporary owner of a set of metal balls, and retire to a nearby outdoor area designed for throwing them.
To complete the picture, the daily newspaper Le Monde is now available at the city's new French bookstore, while freshly baked croissants can be purchased nearby in one of two recently opened patisseries, or pastry shops, on Rehov Ahuza, Ra'anana's main street.
"In addition to a wave of new immigrants from North America, the most recent wave of olim has come to Ra'anana from France," said Nehama Efrati, director of the municipality's absorption unit and herself once an immigrant from France.
Out of the 625 olim who came to Ra'anana in 2005, 173 are French-speakers, according to data provided by the municipality. Not unlike their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, Efrati said, this new wave of French olim is not immigrating to Israel out of necessity, but out of choice. She believes the main reason for their decision to come to Israel is not the growth of anti-Semitism. Rather, one widespread reason for immigration among many French Jews is a desire to lead an everyday life in harmony with their religious beliefs, which are becoming stronger among many second- and third-generation Jewish immigrants from North Africa.
In addition, these immigrants arrive here with the sense that Israel, in general, and Ra'anana, in particular, will offer them a better quality of life, including good schools, francophone synagogues, a rich cultural life, and a range of leisure and sports activities.
Between 25 percent to 30% of this new group of immigrants, said Efrati, are members of what has come to be known as the "Boeing aliya." This term has come to designate economically comfortable couples with children who, for financial reasons, make partial aliya. Typically, the wife and children move to Israel as olim, while the husband commutes to his job in France.
"Keeping the family income in euros allows people to sustain a high standard of living," Efrati said. "It's hard to generalize, but in a certain way this has even become a catalyst for aliya because it allows for the option of living between two countries."
There is also, however, a price to pay: in such families the burden of dealing with Israeli bureaucracy and raising the children falls upon the mothers. Marital crises brought on by long absences and confusing messages to the children about belonging are other downsides of leading double lives.
A new and noticeable trend among this group of olim is what Efrati calls "pre-aliya." One representative of this trend, a young, married man from Marseille, called Efrati earlier this week after arriving in Israel to determine if and where his family might move to. She often receives e-mails with detailed questions by well-informed potential immigrants.
Moreover, Efrati said, the careful planning typical of most French families arriving in Israel today means that their immigration pattern has become seasonal: the new arrivals all come in the summer, to allow for a period of adjustment before the new school year.
Unlike the "commuter" families described by Efrati, there are also those who have resolutely decided to turn a new page by coming to Israel.
One such couple is Kevin and Cathy Kezurer and their three children, Rubin, eight, Nitsah, seven, and Mathias, three, who arrived this past summer from Marseille.
Kevin, originally from South Africa, arrived in France nine years ago on a Jewish Agency trip and met his wife, Cathy, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Algeria.
Kevin is taking a two-week break from ulpan classes at the Ra'anana absorption center, where his family is living, to look after their children while Cathy is back in France closing up the speech therapy clinic she gave up to move here. Kevin, a businessman, is still unsure about his professional future in Israel.
Although he said his family lacked for nothing in France, Kevin said they did not leave behind an "excessive" life style, adding that their move here was primarily ideological.
While parents and children in the Kezurer family are happy in Israel, Kevin said the children miss his wife's large, tight-knit family and still have difficulties with Hebrew.
Perhaps the most difficult part of moving, Kevin said, was giving up the ideal of Israel for the reality of living here.
"I think the hardest aspect of coming here," he said, "is simply accepting Israel as it is, with all its problems and difficulties."
-----------------------------------------------------------
3. "God Is Cool Again" by Chaim Levinson
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183509,00.html
It's the hottest new trend to strike secular Israel Connecting to Judaism and being inspired. It includes Bar Mitzvah musicals, visits to the Western Wall, Talmud study and driving on Shabbat, all without becoming religious. Thousands of secular Jews crammed into the Western Wall over the holidays, Talmud classes are full, and its in to wear a trendy kippah. A passing phase or a new romance between religious and secular?
Its 7:30 a.m., traffic is jammed at the entrance to Jerusalem. A sleep-deprived family from Tel Aviv groans to itself as it makes its way towards the Great Synagogue. Gs mother, a secular Tel Avivian, is connecting to her roots - she separates milk and meat but would never dream of eliminating her plunging necklines.
She decided her sons Bar Mitzvah would be an event to remember, but in Tel Aviv, she says, there is no synagogue that is big enough, kosher, or fancy enough. Think of it as a family vacation.
The trauma caused by the Jerusalem morning scene isn't easily erased, even when the Klezmer Band at the entrance to the hall does its best to loosen up the Tel Aviv crowd and get them excited. There is an elaborate buffet complete with rugelach, bagels, and dripping with Yiddishkeit. And this is only the quiet before the psalm.
Renewed interest in Western Wall
Great things will come from this little one, but first there are four young Torah scholars who spend two hours performing the Kosher covers of a variety of popular songs, from Somewhere Over the Rainbow ala Judy Garland to the yeshiva-world standard The Whole World is a Very Narrow Bridge by Yehoram Gaon.
For NIS 2,000-3,000 (USD 430-650), you and your guests can be standing before Mount Sinai in person. This is Torah and this is its reward.
The show is put on by Yehuda Bar-Yosef, a secular Israeli who drives on Shabbat but loves the holidays and makes a nice living out of it.
Many secular people are affected by Jewish tradition, he says. It catches on quickly. Few religious people come to me. In my (Bar Mitzvah) show I re-enact Mount Sinai complete with set, smoke and fireworks. There are even those who imitate my shows.
A taste of Judaism
Similar Bar Mitzvah ceremonies, like the drastic increase of children who want to celebrate their Bar Mitzvahs at the Western Wall, are only a small part of the new trend being sold to a non-observant community thirsty for Jewish tradition in a pleasant and non-threatening framework.
This new connection to tradition is different from the 1990s trend of connecting to religion as part of a process of becoming Orthodox. Many people hesitated to define themselves as "religious," but they were being led safely by people who openly declared their intention to transform them into a member of ultra-orthodox society.
Today, in comparison, people are enjoying religion without being overshadowed by a commitment to observe traditional mitzvot (commandments). It's Judaism without pressure, without preachers, without seminars and without an ultra-Orthodox destination. Adherents are usually from bourgeois, middle class, secular homes looking to infuse meaning to their Jewish identity, without being overshadowed by restrictions and without lifestyle changes.
Its like sampling the religious menu without getting fat: Bar Mitzvahs, Sukkot, synagogue and occasional prayers, visits to graves of the righteous, and also yes, here it is...belief in God.
Reconnecting to Judaism
The word religious has become a curse. Becoming religious a fatal illness that everyone is careful to stay away from. But connecting? Becoming inspired? It almost sounds elegant.
Social trend
Connecting to religion is one of the most interesting social trends in the Jewish world today, an unexpected outcome of various factors such as the weakening of the secular framework, cutting off the ultra-Orthodox politics from the udder of the government and the need for the religious and secular to connect strategically.
Dr. Neri Horowitz, an expert in religion and society, explains we are talking about a trend that in the eighties existed amongst the Sephardic middle class. The mechanism is cheap religion- high religious feeling with a low religious price in terms of commitment. It fits in the new age and lifestyle and is reaching new levels of society. It is possible that in a global society, where solitude is shrinking and people create spaces for themselves where they can express their own identities. In a society that is undergoing the process of individualization, people are drawn towards religion.
The newly inspired gather around rabbis that convey happiness, where their appealing rules are more important that their Talmudic brilliance. According to Yossie Elituv, assistant editor for the popular ultra-Orthodox magazine Mishpacha (Family), these rabbis convey their messages without the typical rabbinic pestering.
The longing for spirituality in circles that have not experienced Judaism for three generations has been answered by the new Rabbis. These spiritual personalities have chosen to establish themselves in areas far from the ultra-Orthodox population and dedicated their lives to one sole purpose: Making the name of God loved by his creations and to market Judaism at eye level, in the appropriate language for each Jew.
Power of prayer
"Leaders like Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman from Migdal HaEmek and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau from Tel Aviv have succeeded in projecting the virtues of Torah without creating antagonism like religious politicians do. Looking back the importance of these leaders is no less than the importance of rabbis chosen to lead closed communities. Over many years they have become the diplomats of the Jewish people. Thanks to them the plague of assimilation has not infiltrated Israel and many Israelis have met God for the first time through them.
Observing, not religious
Yael Polak, a 20-year-old psychology-sociology-anthropology student at Tel Aviv's Jaffe College, began to connect to Judaism in the last two months. In that time, she has placed a note in the Western Wall, spent Rosh Hashanah in the Belz Chassidim Synagogue, put on tefillin (with the Reform) and is now looking for a study partner for Talmud studies.
Judaism intrigues me. I have been introduced to things I had never seen before. I dont think that I can connect to the totality and the intensity of the religious world. Even so, I dont think that I have to ignore it completely, she says.
45-year-old Jerusalemite Nili Aharoni, who translates movies from French and English and practices classic homeopathy, was born into a traditional home, rebelled against her parents and lives a completely secular lifestyle.
I prefer to say that I am observing, says Aharoni. In the past few years I have been returning to my roots. It is primarily a spiritual issue, not practical. After learning many subjects such as Buddhism, I see that the source of all things is in Judaism. I find a lot of spirituality in Judaism, a lot of wisdom and a lot of logic.
Is there any chance that you will become religious?
No way. Judaism motivates intellectual things for me. The chance that the practical will spark in me is very weak. I dont keep all the mitzvot, but I eat only Kosher, because it is important to me to eat healthy, clean food. I dont eat pork, because pig has dirty energy. On Shabbat we dont watch TV or use the computer. I prefer to take the car to see the country, so that Shabbat will have a culture of recreation. It is not a secular or religious Shabbat. Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur I went to the Western Wall. I hadnt been there for 20 years. There were many secular people there and the prayers really spoke to me.
I define the new connected as people looking for a new dimension spiritually and searching for the truth, says Zeev Pearl, the former Mayor of Tzfat. They are not finding it from the classic rabbis and spiritual leaders, they are not prepared to be herded like sheep, but the secular social order doesnt provide all the answers."
-----------------------------------------------------------
4. "Endangered Baby Elephant Born in Jerusalems Biblical Zoo"
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=94665
In the first event of its kind in Israel's history, an endangered Asian Elephant in Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo has given birth to a baby elephant, after fertility treatment and an arduous labor.
The mother, named Tamar, was in labor for four hours, at which point a live internet broadcast of the birth was halted and veterinary staff decided to hasten the birth. Two hour later the calf was born healthy and weighing 198 pounds.
The baby elephant, its birth, and a live broadcast of it with its mom during daylight hours can be viewed by clicking here - http://web11.mediazone.co.il/media/zoo/
The baby elephant is the first to be born in Israel, and just the 11th Asian Elephant on earth to be born through the complex fertility method.
Zookeepers were concerned that the fact that Tamar was raised in captivity would preclude the 21-year-old elephant from bonding with her child. The mother and child quickly bonded, however, and they can be seen on the zoo's web site.
An endangered species after being hunted throughout the ages for the ivory in their tusks, less than 50,000 Asian elephants now exist worldwide. The Biblical Zoo currently is home to one male and four female Asian elephants. Their names are Teddy (after former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek), Susan, Avigail, Michaela and Tamar. All of the females of the herd came from Lampang in Thailand, while Teddy hails from the Safari Park in Ramat Gan.
The Biblical Zoo, which displays animals mentioned in the Bible alongside specific passages referring to them, was also recently blessed with the birth of a new giraffe, named Shelly.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!
In this issue you will find:
1. "Yaakov Avinu's Vow" by Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal
2. "Surviving Aliya: Olim and Patisseries Arrive in Ra'anana" By Talya Halkin
3. "God Is Cool Again" by Chaim Levinson
4. "Endangered Baby Elephant Born in Jerusalems Biblical Zoo"
-----------------------------------------------------------
1. "Yaakov Avinu's Vow" by Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal
Eim Habanim Semeicha 28-31
At this time, we definitely need the merit of our Holy Land to guard and protect us, to relieve us from the oppressor and to deliver us from distress. The Holy Torah has already informed us that our patriarch Yaakov made a great vow to God in his hour of distress:
"Yaakov made a vow saying, `If God will be with me, and guard me on this way that I am going, and will give me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and I will return in peace to my father's home and the Lord will be my God.`" [Bereishit 28:20-1.] Our sages comment: ". . . From here we learn that one should make a vow in times of trouble."
[Bereishit Rabba 70:1.]
It seems to me now that our patriarch Yaakov's vow in his time of trouble was just this - that he would return to the Land of Israel, enhance its glory and focus all his attention on improving its settlement. He meant by this to arouse the merit of the Land of Israel for himself in his time of trouble to free him from distress. He thus declared in his vow, "and I will return in peace to my father's home and the Lord will be my God." [Bereishit 28:21] The phrase "I will return in peace to my father's home" itself constitutes the vow.
On this basis, we can answer the question of the commentators as to Yaakov's statement, "and the Lord will be my God." Is it possible that Yaakov imposed a condition as to this [his acceptance of God]? Based on the foregoing, however, there is no difficulty. It is a well known dictum of our sages (end of Ketubot [110b]) that "anyone who resides in the Land of Israel is like one who has a God, and anyone who resides outside the Land is like one who has no God." Yaakov thus said "I will return in peace to my father's home and the Lord will be my God," meaning that he would return to the Land of Israel and, then, Hashem would be his God. This itself was the vow- - that he would return to the Land of Israel.
I subsequently found this interpretation explicitly stated in Midrash Tanchuma (Parshat Re'eh [8]). . . . I also found in the Zohar (Parshat Vayeitzei [150b]) the same explanation that I gave of Yaakov's vow. . . . I was thus privileged to concur with the Godly tana R' Shimon Bar Yochai. Rejoice, my reins, to have merited that.
In any case, we see that our patriarch Yaakov also vowed in time of trouble to return to the Land of Israel, to perfect and establish it, so that its merit would stand firm for him. We should observe and do likewise at this difficult time, vowing to return to our Holy Land and exert ourselves to restore its prestige. Then, the merit of the settlement of the Land of Israel will arise to deliver us from distress, speedily in our days, amen. This is also what the sages intended when they said in the Midrash: "God took the conversation of the Patriarchs and made of it a key for the redemption of their children." [Bereishit Rabba 70:6.]
-----------------------------------------------------------
2. "Surviving Aliya: Olim and Patisseries Arrive in Ra'anana" By Talya Halkin
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1134309567603&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Petanque, an outdoor bowling game, is associated in the minds of those Israelis who know it with groups of men whiling away lazy afternoons in the South of France. These days, however, it's enough to deposit an Israeli identity card at the Ra'anana Municipality to become the temporary owner of a set of metal balls, and retire to a nearby outdoor area designed for throwing them.
To complete the picture, the daily newspaper Le Monde is now available at the city's new French bookstore, while freshly baked croissants can be purchased nearby in one of two recently opened patisseries, or pastry shops, on Rehov Ahuza, Ra'anana's main street.
"In addition to a wave of new immigrants from North America, the most recent wave of olim has come to Ra'anana from France," said Nehama Efrati, director of the municipality's absorption unit and herself once an immigrant from France.
Out of the 625 olim who came to Ra'anana in 2005, 173 are French-speakers, according to data provided by the municipality. Not unlike their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, Efrati said, this new wave of French olim is not immigrating to Israel out of necessity, but out of choice. She believes the main reason for their decision to come to Israel is not the growth of anti-Semitism. Rather, one widespread reason for immigration among many French Jews is a desire to lead an everyday life in harmony with their religious beliefs, which are becoming stronger among many second- and third-generation Jewish immigrants from North Africa.
In addition, these immigrants arrive here with the sense that Israel, in general, and Ra'anana, in particular, will offer them a better quality of life, including good schools, francophone synagogues, a rich cultural life, and a range of leisure and sports activities.
Between 25 percent to 30% of this new group of immigrants, said Efrati, are members of what has come to be known as the "Boeing aliya." This term has come to designate economically comfortable couples with children who, for financial reasons, make partial aliya. Typically, the wife and children move to Israel as olim, while the husband commutes to his job in France.
"Keeping the family income in euros allows people to sustain a high standard of living," Efrati said. "It's hard to generalize, but in a certain way this has even become a catalyst for aliya because it allows for the option of living between two countries."
There is also, however, a price to pay: in such families the burden of dealing with Israeli bureaucracy and raising the children falls upon the mothers. Marital crises brought on by long absences and confusing messages to the children about belonging are other downsides of leading double lives.
A new and noticeable trend among this group of olim is what Efrati calls "pre-aliya." One representative of this trend, a young, married man from Marseille, called Efrati earlier this week after arriving in Israel to determine if and where his family might move to. She often receives e-mails with detailed questions by well-informed potential immigrants.
Moreover, Efrati said, the careful planning typical of most French families arriving in Israel today means that their immigration pattern has become seasonal: the new arrivals all come in the summer, to allow for a period of adjustment before the new school year.
Unlike the "commuter" families described by Efrati, there are also those who have resolutely decided to turn a new page by coming to Israel.
One such couple is Kevin and Cathy Kezurer and their three children, Rubin, eight, Nitsah, seven, and Mathias, three, who arrived this past summer from Marseille.
Kevin, originally from South Africa, arrived in France nine years ago on a Jewish Agency trip and met his wife, Cathy, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Algeria.
Kevin is taking a two-week break from ulpan classes at the Ra'anana absorption center, where his family is living, to look after their children while Cathy is back in France closing up the speech therapy clinic she gave up to move here. Kevin, a businessman, is still unsure about his professional future in Israel.
Although he said his family lacked for nothing in France, Kevin said they did not leave behind an "excessive" life style, adding that their move here was primarily ideological.
While parents and children in the Kezurer family are happy in Israel, Kevin said the children miss his wife's large, tight-knit family and still have difficulties with Hebrew.
Perhaps the most difficult part of moving, Kevin said, was giving up the ideal of Israel for the reality of living here.
"I think the hardest aspect of coming here," he said, "is simply accepting Israel as it is, with all its problems and difficulties."
-----------------------------------------------------------
3. "God Is Cool Again" by Chaim Levinson
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3183509,00.html
It's the hottest new trend to strike secular Israel Connecting to Judaism and being inspired. It includes Bar Mitzvah musicals, visits to the Western Wall, Talmud study and driving on Shabbat, all without becoming religious. Thousands of secular Jews crammed into the Western Wall over the holidays, Talmud classes are full, and its in to wear a trendy kippah. A passing phase or a new romance between religious and secular?
Its 7:30 a.m., traffic is jammed at the entrance to Jerusalem. A sleep-deprived family from Tel Aviv groans to itself as it makes its way towards the Great Synagogue. Gs mother, a secular Tel Avivian, is connecting to her roots - she separates milk and meat but would never dream of eliminating her plunging necklines.
She decided her sons Bar Mitzvah would be an event to remember, but in Tel Aviv, she says, there is no synagogue that is big enough, kosher, or fancy enough. Think of it as a family vacation.
The trauma caused by the Jerusalem morning scene isn't easily erased, even when the Klezmer Band at the entrance to the hall does its best to loosen up the Tel Aviv crowd and get them excited. There is an elaborate buffet complete with rugelach, bagels, and dripping with Yiddishkeit. And this is only the quiet before the psalm.
Renewed interest in Western Wall
Great things will come from this little one, but first there are four young Torah scholars who spend two hours performing the Kosher covers of a variety of popular songs, from Somewhere Over the Rainbow ala Judy Garland to the yeshiva-world standard The Whole World is a Very Narrow Bridge by Yehoram Gaon.
For NIS 2,000-3,000 (USD 430-650), you and your guests can be standing before Mount Sinai in person. This is Torah and this is its reward.
The show is put on by Yehuda Bar-Yosef, a secular Israeli who drives on Shabbat but loves the holidays and makes a nice living out of it.
Many secular people are affected by Jewish tradition, he says. It catches on quickly. Few religious people come to me. In my (Bar Mitzvah) show I re-enact Mount Sinai complete with set, smoke and fireworks. There are even those who imitate my shows.
A taste of Judaism
Similar Bar Mitzvah ceremonies, like the drastic increase of children who want to celebrate their Bar Mitzvahs at the Western Wall, are only a small part of the new trend being sold to a non-observant community thirsty for Jewish tradition in a pleasant and non-threatening framework.
This new connection to tradition is different from the 1990s trend of connecting to religion as part of a process of becoming Orthodox. Many people hesitated to define themselves as "religious," but they were being led safely by people who openly declared their intention to transform them into a member of ultra-orthodox society.
Today, in comparison, people are enjoying religion without being overshadowed by a commitment to observe traditional mitzvot (commandments). It's Judaism without pressure, without preachers, without seminars and without an ultra-Orthodox destination. Adherents are usually from bourgeois, middle class, secular homes looking to infuse meaning to their Jewish identity, without being overshadowed by restrictions and without lifestyle changes.
Its like sampling the religious menu without getting fat: Bar Mitzvahs, Sukkot, synagogue and occasional prayers, visits to graves of the righteous, and also yes, here it is...belief in God.
Reconnecting to Judaism
The word religious has become a curse. Becoming religious a fatal illness that everyone is careful to stay away from. But connecting? Becoming inspired? It almost sounds elegant.
Social trend
Connecting to religion is one of the most interesting social trends in the Jewish world today, an unexpected outcome of various factors such as the weakening of the secular framework, cutting off the ultra-Orthodox politics from the udder of the government and the need for the religious and secular to connect strategically.
Dr. Neri Horowitz, an expert in religion and society, explains we are talking about a trend that in the eighties existed amongst the Sephardic middle class. The mechanism is cheap religion- high religious feeling with a low religious price in terms of commitment. It fits in the new age and lifestyle and is reaching new levels of society. It is possible that in a global society, where solitude is shrinking and people create spaces for themselves where they can express their own identities. In a society that is undergoing the process of individualization, people are drawn towards religion.
The newly inspired gather around rabbis that convey happiness, where their appealing rules are more important that their Talmudic brilliance. According to Yossie Elituv, assistant editor for the popular ultra-Orthodox magazine Mishpacha (Family), these rabbis convey their messages without the typical rabbinic pestering.
The longing for spirituality in circles that have not experienced Judaism for three generations has been answered by the new Rabbis. These spiritual personalities have chosen to establish themselves in areas far from the ultra-Orthodox population and dedicated their lives to one sole purpose: Making the name of God loved by his creations and to market Judaism at eye level, in the appropriate language for each Jew.
Power of prayer
"Leaders like Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman from Migdal HaEmek and Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau from Tel Aviv have succeeded in projecting the virtues of Torah without creating antagonism like religious politicians do. Looking back the importance of these leaders is no less than the importance of rabbis chosen to lead closed communities. Over many years they have become the diplomats of the Jewish people. Thanks to them the plague of assimilation has not infiltrated Israel and many Israelis have met God for the first time through them.
Observing, not religious
Yael Polak, a 20-year-old psychology-sociology-anthropology student at Tel Aviv's Jaffe College, began to connect to Judaism in the last two months. In that time, she has placed a note in the Western Wall, spent Rosh Hashanah in the Belz Chassidim Synagogue, put on tefillin (with the Reform) and is now looking for a study partner for Talmud studies.
Judaism intrigues me. I have been introduced to things I had never seen before. I dont think that I can connect to the totality and the intensity of the religious world. Even so, I dont think that I have to ignore it completely, she says.
45-year-old Jerusalemite Nili Aharoni, who translates movies from French and English and practices classic homeopathy, was born into a traditional home, rebelled against her parents and lives a completely secular lifestyle.
I prefer to say that I am observing, says Aharoni. In the past few years I have been returning to my roots. It is primarily a spiritual issue, not practical. After learning many subjects such as Buddhism, I see that the source of all things is in Judaism. I find a lot of spirituality in Judaism, a lot of wisdom and a lot of logic.
Is there any chance that you will become religious?
No way. Judaism motivates intellectual things for me. The chance that the practical will spark in me is very weak. I dont keep all the mitzvot, but I eat only Kosher, because it is important to me to eat healthy, clean food. I dont eat pork, because pig has dirty energy. On Shabbat we dont watch TV or use the computer. I prefer to take the car to see the country, so that Shabbat will have a culture of recreation. It is not a secular or religious Shabbat. Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur I went to the Western Wall. I hadnt been there for 20 years. There were many secular people there and the prayers really spoke to me.
I define the new connected as people looking for a new dimension spiritually and searching for the truth, says Zeev Pearl, the former Mayor of Tzfat. They are not finding it from the classic rabbis and spiritual leaders, they are not prepared to be herded like sheep, but the secular social order doesnt provide all the answers."
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4. "Endangered Baby Elephant Born in Jerusalems Biblical Zoo"
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=94665
In the first event of its kind in Israel's history, an endangered Asian Elephant in Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo has given birth to a baby elephant, after fertility treatment and an arduous labor.
The mother, named Tamar, was in labor for four hours, at which point a live internet broadcast of the birth was halted and veterinary staff decided to hasten the birth. Two hour later the calf was born healthy and weighing 198 pounds.
The baby elephant, its birth, and a live broadcast of it with its mom during daylight hours can be viewed by clicking here - http://web11.mediazone.co.il/media/zoo/
The baby elephant is the first to be born in Israel, and just the 11th Asian Elephant on earth to be born through the complex fertility method.
Zookeepers were concerned that the fact that Tamar was raised in captivity would preclude the 21-year-old elephant from bonding with her child. The mother and child quickly bonded, however, and they can be seen on the zoo's web site.
An endangered species after being hunted throughout the ages for the ivory in their tusks, less than 50,000 Asian elephants now exist worldwide. The Biblical Zoo currently is home to one male and four female Asian elephants. Their names are Teddy (after former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek), Susan, Avigail, Michaela and Tamar. All of the females of the herd came from Lampang in Thailand, while Teddy hails from the Safari Park in Ramat Gan.
The Biblical Zoo, which displays animals mentioned in the Bible alongside specific passages referring to them, was also recently blessed with the birth of a new giraffe, named Shelly.
// posted by Yishai @ 1:04 PM 
