KUMMUNIQUE

Kummunique - Kumah's Shabbat and Holiday Bulletin
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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. "Big Miracle" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Esav's Kiss" by Yishai Fleisher
3. "Staying Focused On The Aliya Dream" by Talya Halkin
4. "7th Flight of US Olim Breaks 21 Year-Record for 2005"

NYC EVENT! A Hanukkah Get-Together!
Wednesday-night the 28th of December, 4th night of Hanukkah
6:30 PM at J2 Pizza in Manhattan
Join Yishai and Malkah Fleisher on their US visit

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1. "Big Miracle" by Malkah Fleisher

Which is the bigger miracle - that the pious Maccabees drove out the Seleucid Greeks and their Hellenist Jewish cohorts, or that a small crucible of oil meant to light the Menorah in the Holy Temple for one day managed to stay lit long enough to allow for the replenishment of pure oil to the Temple?

If you read the news these days, you're inclined to think the victory over the Hellenists was greater. It seems that today's greatest challenge is to free the Jewish land from negative foreign influences. A very small band of Jewish believers and visionaries unified to drive the enormous energies of oppression and false enlightenment out of our Land and out of our people - what a feat.

But then again, one might think that the miracle of the Menorah is the bigger one. I mean, hey - this is a clear and open miracle. This isn't some potentially naturally explainable "phenomenon", but an extraordinary, beyond the bounds of the physical world, supernatural miracle. The Hand of G-d, with no other explanation.

So?

I happen to think that the first is the bigger, because I believe that it caused the second. Without the long, arduous, in-the-trenches labor of the Maccabees and their minyans, without their careful planning, strict unity and gritty battle, the second miracle wouldn't have happened. Not necessarily because the Temple wouldn't have been rededicatable, but because without their effort, we would not have merited divine intervention. The Maccabees did absolutely everything they could. Then G-d did the part that they couldn't do, allowing the pure olive oil to burn beyond its natural limitations.

Unity, Purity, Conviction, Vigor - these are the armaments of every great Jewish activist since the beginning of Jewish activism. Use them in your wars, both great and small, on behalf of the Land of Israel and the Jewish people, and you'll see miracles, too.

This week's recipe is a perfect metaphorical manifestation of the Hanukkah story: Jewish elbow grease meets miraculous oil to slough off undesirable elements.

Malkah's Maccabbean Hand Scrub

1 Tablespoon white sugar
1.5 Tablespoon olive oil (from Israel!)
Your favorite hand lotion

Mix in a cup (you can add a drop or two of any favorite essential oil) and pour into your palms. Massage into your fingers and palms, and onto the backs of your hands until your skin feels sufficiently scrubbed. Wash off with warm water and soap. Finish up with a dollop of your favorite hand lotion and enjoy the radiance for 8 wonderful days.
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2. "Esav's Kiss" by Yishai Fleisher

I am writing to you from the Galut - Wayne NJ USA. It is a beautiful, crisp day here, and I am happy to be at my mother's house and to finally see my sister and brother, and soon my grandparents as well.

In my mind, it is no coincidence that I have arrived here right before Parshat VaYeishev, the Torah portion which tells of the beginings of the Egyptian exile by the Children of Israel. The selling of Joseph by his brothers is considered an awful act - not only was it a betrayel of brothers but it was also the begining of a dark period of Exile - Egypt - Galut.

Joseph, however, was successful wherever he went - he just prospered and prospered. A successful Jew in the Galut. But Joseph never forgot Eretz Yisrael - in fact he states: "Ki Ganov Gunavti Mi'Eretz Ha'Ivrim!" I was stolen from the Land of the Hebrews! (Bereishit 40:15)

No matter how successful Joseph became, he always dressed and identified himself as a Hebrew, from the Land of the Hebrews. NOT JUST A JEW, but rather a Hebrew, the kind of folks who hang out in the Hebrew Land.

Being stuck in Exile is understandable. Thinking that you are home in Exile is not.

Last week I saw a beautiful Torah lesson from the Sefat Emmet. The Torah tells us that when Jacob and Esav reunite they embrace, and Esav kisses Jacob. However, our rabbis tell us that the kiss was actually a bite, and Jacob's neck miraculously turned to marble to protect him. The Sefat Emmet asks: if the Torah tells us that Esav kissed Jacob, why would the rabbis tell us that it was a bite in contradiction to the outright text?? The answer, says the Sefat Emmet, lies in the deep truth that Esav kiss is his most dangerous bite!

-Assimilation is Esav's kiss
-Jews choosing Exile over Israel is Esav's kiss
-The US meddling in Israel's affairs is Esav's kiss
-Western Culture (the bad kind i.e. violence/sex/inane movies, pro-sports obsession etc.) is Esav's kiss.

Esav's kiss - what seems to be his love - can be more dangerous than any outward manifestation of anti-Semetism.

Our rabbis tell us that only Joseph has the true power to fight Esav. What is Joseph's secret? His identity as a Hebrew from the Land of the Hebrews.

Shabbat Shalom,
Yishai from the USA

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3. "Staying Focused On The Aliya Dream" by Talya Halkin
Jerusalem Post

"What is your dream?" asked communication coach Idie Ilan, staring intently at one of the participants in a recent workshop for new immigrants in Ra'anana.

"I'm an opera singer, and I want to be successful at what I do," answered a bearded, middle-aged man from the US. "Israel is the most difficult place in the world."

"You're deviating from your dream," Ilan said.

"The last dream I remember having was that some corrupt guys were spending eight hours looking for drugs in my shipping container - and breaking all my furniture," the man retorted with bitter humor.

A dozen people gathered Sunday night at a Ra'anana community center for "Staying Focused on the Aliya Dream While Getting Through the Day-to-Day Experiences of a New Immigrant," the second in a series of six lectures on acclimating to life here. The series is given free by the community aliya program, which is cosponsored by the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, the Ra'anana Municipality and the Jewish Agency.

"When you make aliya, you have to deal with the concept of dream vs. reality," program coordinator Michelle Kaplan-Green told The Jerusalem Post. "People go through highs and lows, which are also impacted by those of spouses, children or by the process of searching for a job. It's important to learn how to express and cope with these feelings while life begins to take on more normal pattern."

Ilan, whose can-do attitude led her to specialize in coaching immigrants on setting and reaching their short- and long-term goals in a new reality, was intent upon imparting the message that with the help of some basic tools, her audience could learn how to move their lives forward, rather than dwell on their disappointments and difficulties.

"My goal," she said, "is to try and help you find ways to stay centered and continue being you in a new society. I know part of us just wants to gripe, but tonight is about developing skills to move forward."

Driving, she said, was an apt metaphor for how to approach what may initially seem like a chaotic new world.

"Where I come from in Columbus, Ohio," Ilan said, "cars are supposed to park between the lines. It didn't take me long to realize that in Israel the lines are just a suggestion."

Rather than trying to fight the logic of the Israeli system, she said, real and metaphorical drivers should spend their energy figuring out how they could get where they wanted to go within this new logic.

"It's about learning to adapt rather than changing the rules," she said. "The question is: What skills do I need to have a successful life here."

A young man who recently immigrated from Latin America with his wife told Ilan he was desperately looking for a job. When she questioned him about how he went about it, the man said that he had already sent out 300 resumes. As one more established fellow immigrant pointed out to him, however, doing business in Israel is predicated upon networking, not on the kind of anonymous job search that might have worked in his native country.

At the end of a 10-minute mini-coaching session, the young man agreed to set a new goal. He would use networking to find one person a day to whom he could turn to ask about possible jobs.

When one young woman spoke of her difficulty in getting used to what she described as the crude, sometimes aggressive behavior of sabras, Ilan stressed that newcomers can achieve their goals without letting go of the personal and cultural traits that define who they are, including basic courtesies that Israelis often consider superfluous.

"I try to bring the nice things from America, because all the dreck is already here," she said, eliciting a round of laughter.

Last but not least, Ilan emphasized the importance of what she called "championing" oneself.

"Give yourself credit for coming this far already, and doing things others just dream about - you're here, you did it!" she said.

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4. "7th FLIGHT OF U.S. OLIM BREAKS 21 YEAR- RECORD FOR 2005"

(JERUSALEM) - The 7th specially chartered 'Aliyah' (immigration to Israel) flight of 2005 will arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport on Wednesday, December 28th bringing 250 North American Jews to their new homes in Israel. This chartered El-Al flight marks the culmination of a record-setting year in which Israel will see the largest number of newcomers from the US and Canada since 1984.

Since its inception in 2001, Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN), an organization dedicated to the revitalization of North American Aliyah, has brought more than 7,000 new immigrants to Israel. Over 3100 North American Jews will have moved in 2005 through the organization working in close cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Greeting the newcomers at a welcoming ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport will be hundreds of family, friends and supporters, along with Minister Of Immigrant Absorption & Minister Of Justice, TZIPI LIVNI; Deputy Minister Of The Interior, RUHAMA AVRAHAM, Former Chairman of the Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and the Diaspora MK ZVI HENDEL, a senior representative of the Jewish Agency for Israel and Co-Founders of Nefesh B'Nefesh, RABBI YEHOSHUA FASS and TONY GELBART.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 28th, 2005

1:30 PM SHARP

BEN GURION INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, TERMINAL 1

(old arrivals/departures hall)