Newsletter: edited by Ruth Mushin

design by Lisa Lipshut Designs

MAZAL TOV TO THE FOLLOWING WHO

CELEBRATED A SIMCHAH AT KEHILAT NITZAN DURING THE PAST

SIX MONTHS

B’nei MitzvahCharlotte and Alexandra Cowen

Jamie Grushka Adam PincusAidan Silver

MarriageLana Sciberras and Tony Helman

WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS

WE WELCOME TO OUR COMMUNITY THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS

WHO HAVE JOINED US IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS

Valerie and Brian AbrahamsonJudy Braun

Corinna and George KahanJo and Daniel Lewin and family

Hadas and Michael Schwartzbord and familyLisa White and Brian Sidlo and family

CHANUKAH AT KEHILAT NITZAN

My bat mitzvah was a year and a half ago, but it feels much more recent and I remember it quite clearly. This fact continually surprises me since I consider myself to have a rather quite terrible memory. I think I remember it this well because when I was up there on the bimah, it felt so real. My life as a Jewish person had in a way been leading up to this moment, as there was so much hype about my bat mitzvah from the time I was very young. That is why actually being up there, taking part in a ceremony that I had been told about my whole life, did not feel completely real.

Being a Jewish adult has really changed my life in some ways. Both the lead up and the actual title of being ‘bat mitzvah’ have had their own impact. The year of learning before my bat mitzvah was an amazing experience, not just for what I learnt but also for the dedication and effort required. In a way, it was the biggest project I’d ever done that was just about me, although obviously with some help! Being bat mitzvah gives me supreme bragging rights, of which I take full advantage whenever someone is willing to listen, although honestly that doesn’t happen very often.

It has given more meaning to being a Jew in relation to going to shul – which I had not done that much previously. Now, when I go to High Holiday services I feel more a part of what is going on, instead of being the youngest by many years and just playing games with Kari Boymal in the children’s room.

As for the rest of my life, being bat mitzvah has not made much of a difference. I still can’t choose my own bedtime and I’m still told: ‘Jessica, turn that light out now, you need to sleep as you have a big day tomorrow!’ However, when I’m older and in charge of caring for my dear sweet parents, I’ll be able to choose their bedtimes and remind them to remove their false teeth and sort out whatever strange technological stuff that will have been invented by then because we will be more like equals!

So, if you are about to start on your pre-bar/bat mitzvah learning I wish you good luck, as you will need it! You will have to embark on twelve dangerous and very unnecessary labours, most of which involve slaying some form of mythical

beast. You’ll also have to change your name to Hercules and your parents might not approve. While embarking on these twelve labours, you will need to push yourself and aim to learn more than the bare minimum about what you are doing. It will make it harder and there will be more to do, but in the end you’ll have a much greater sense of achievement and more bragging rights! You will also learn skills that will stay with you for the rest of eternity and beyond (or until you are slayed by one of the Fantastic Beasts that you were tasked with killing). Also, if you are a really sentimental person, don’t be sad when it’s over. Look forward to what is to come and you can always go back and do it again next year – as I did. Face all of the weekly classes with an open mind. For me, they were a wonderful opportunity to learn cool things about Judaism, eat kosher biscuits and make new friends. It was also a great way of learning how to slip Harry Potter references into places where no one actually notices them, like in that cupboard under the stairs.

For me, it is important to be a young woman in a Masorti shul and to have a bar/bat mitzvah just like the boys, because these mystery boys are actually my equals. I’m really glad that our branch of Judaism has evolved to allow girls to have the same opportunities as boys because we have the ability and the drive to do the same – and more!

Thank you, Kehilat Nitzan, for giving me the wonderful opportunity to be part of such an important ceremony. You guys are great!

SURVIVING MY BAT MITZVAHJESSICA CEBON

‘ZEHOO’: HEBREW FOR ‘HERE IT IS!’Zehoo is an informal and fun program held on Sunday mornings for Kehilat Nitzan children aged between 4 and 9 to enable them to develop their Jewish identity based on Masorti principles and practices.

The first session was held last month on Purim and Zehoo will continue to focus on chagim, incorporating crafts, stories and song. Other topics will include the synagogue, Torah, Israel and mitzvot.

Zehoo’s ‘leader’ is Chavera (friend) Marcie, who is a member of Kehilat Nitzan and a dedicated and enthusiastic trained teacher.

For further information, please contact the Kehilat Nitzan office on 9500 0906 or email info@kehilatnitzan.org.au.

NEWSLETTERwww.kehilatnitzan.org.au

No.56 April 2017 Elul 5776

FROM THEPRESIDENTZVI CIVINS

I often think about my parents and others of their generation who never experienced the wonders of modern communication and today’s media. My dad worked in Newark, New Jersey, and every evening he would come in the back door holding our family’s primary source of news, the Newark Evening News.

Then, on Sundays we would buy the The New York Times, which then was a heavy mass of various sections and two magazines. The papers would gradually accumulate in our den until we threw out armfuls in the rubbish. Recycling? Never heard of it back then.

Non-print media was primarily radio station WOR from New York. As Archie Bunker might have sung, ‘Those were the days…’

Imagine if they could see what we have today: the Internet, of course; social media; right-wing and left-wing websites; and, of course, tweets on Twitter. Tweets seem to be a dominant and common mode of expression, and not just for politicians. One hundred and forty characters and you can summarise an entire complex argument, or so it seems!

Condensing complex ideas and content into a short, pithy tweet may be unrecognisable to my parents’ generation, but it really is not all that new. Judaism has relied on its own version of ‘tweets’ for centuries. What did Hillel say to a potential convert who challenged him to summarise all of Judaism while standing on one leg? ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this – go and study it!’

The rabbis, including Hillel, who contributed to Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) took great pleasure in many similar short and sweet expressions. Shammai taught: ‘Say little and do much’ (1:15). Rabbi Chanina taught: ‘Pray for the welfare of the government, for without fear of

governmental authorities people would swallow each other alive’ (3:2). Ben Zoma taught: ‘Who is wise? He who learns from every man.... Who is a hero? He who controls his passions (4:1).

Other more contemporary Jews have expressed valuable insights in few words too, such as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who said: ‘Cyberspace can’t compensate for real space. We benefit from chatting to people face to face.’

A few words can express much. But sometimes, a few words simply are not enough.

Recently I was asked a question which required me to answer briefly. A visitor to Kehilat Nitzan came to services, looked in, and asked me, ‘What is this? Orthodox, Liberal, or what?’ Of course I answered ‘Masorti, Conservative’ and was ready to launch into a long discussion about the different movements and ours, but there was no time. The fellow had already taken his siddur and found a seat.

However, I thought about his words ‘Or what’. It actually sounded like Hebrew to me, as in, ohr (light of) mah (what). Regardless, I thought about his question. What are we?

To simply say we are Conservative raises more questions. What do we conserve? What do we not conserve? Why not conserve everything? Masorti, of course, requires the standard words our presidents say from the bimah: Masorti comes from the Hebrew masoret, masor, to pass on, but what does that mean?

A few years ago we involved the whole community in identifying our ‘tagline’ for our official letterhead. The choice was ‘Contemporary. Traditional. Egalitarian.’ – just three words. I wonder if the rabbis of Pirkei Avot would be impressed?

Trying to summarise a complex idea in a tweet or a three-word tagline such as ours is challenging, especially if it refers to a community such as ours. It is good that people who come to Kehilat Nitzan to experience services and our other activities with us can speak with us about our kehilah. I enjoy the challenge of answering not ‘while standing on one foot’, nor while handing out siddurim on Shabbat, but during kiddush. But it is a hard task.

This is true not only for newcomers and visitors, but it is also true of ourselves. We may not have enough time to fully express what Masorti means to our Shabbat visitors. We may not think it is necessary. We may think it is obvious, or it is just too hard to put into words. It may even feel like work. So remember what Rabbi Tarfon taught in his few valuable words: ‘It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it either’ (2:16).

How would you summarise Kehilat Nitzan? What does Masorti mean to you? Give it a try. It helps refocus our efforts in building our kehilah according to the values we share as Masorti Jews. So give it a go, whether in three words, 140, or as many as you like.

PURIM IN PICTURES

A DIFFERENT SORT OF SEDERSAMMY PINKUSWe have all been to seders, many of them. Attending a seder is considered one of the most common things done by Jews around the world. But the challenge we face every year is how to make the seder interesting and fresh. And to make things even more difficult, we have many different generations attending our seders, ranging from grandparents, people well-versed in Jewish concepts, teenagers, toddlers and non-Jewish guests. How can we engage everyone at the table so that they come away at the end of the night feeling that they too have been liberated from slavery (one of the ideas from the Haggadah)? Let

me share with you some ideas I have heard about over the years.

When we sit around the table, we almost always have a Haggadah on our plate, ready to read and sing. But one of the aims of seder night is to learn and re-live the experiences of slavery and redemption. We cannot do this if we are just mumbling and struggling with the Hebrew. In a talk many years ago at Kehilat Nitzan, Sam Lipski suggested that the seder is first and foremost a story retold and re-enacted, so we should limit the amount of Hebrew. In other words,

MERCAZ, the Zionist arm of the Conservative Movement, represents Conservative/Masorti Judaism in the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the Jewish Agency for Israel ( JAFI). Mercaz also represents us in Keren Kayemet LeYisrael (KKL) (the Jewish National Fund) and Keren HaYesod (United Israel Appeal).

Over 1.8 million self-identified Conservative/Masorti Jews in Israel and around the world benefit directly in numerous ways as a result of our presence within these international Jewish arenas.

The following list shows some of the benefits accrued as a direct result of the size of our world-wide MERCAZ delegation at the Zionist Congress of 2015, and translate into an annual net equivalency of cash and services in excess of $3.25 million, as well as significant influence in decision-making that affects the global Jewish agenda:

• $1,300,000 of allocations to Masorti/Conservative institutions in Israel every year on behalf of the Masorti Movement, Schechter Institute, and Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center;

• An annual allocation of some $100,000 for activities of MAROM Olami, our young adult Zionist movement;

• Hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to Masorti/Conservative educational projects around the world;

• Shlichim and other program financial support for our NOAM/USY youth movements, for our young adult MAROM network and for our emerging kehillot throughout Israel and the Diaspora;

• More than $700,000 annually to meet the spiritual and educational needs of Masorti/Conservative Jews via Masorti Olami in Europe and South America and throughout the rest of the Jewish world;

• Nearly $100,000 per year of support for MERCAZ Olami’s activities to serve the constituency of our 16 Mercaz chapters throughout the world;

• Official representation on the Executive and other major decision-making bodies of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization, allowing for direct influence over policy in matters affecting the entire Jewish world, such as conversion;

• Membership on the Board of Directors and key committees of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael allowing for significant impact on issues relating to the environment and Jewish values, as well as access to KKL’s considerable budget. This influence at KKL has just yielded what is likely to be more than $600,000 annually distributed among Masorti Israel, Masorti Olami, the International Rabbinical Assembly, Marom Olami, Noam/USY Olami, the Conservative Yeshiva, as well as our five rabbinical schools around the world.

• Election of the Deputy Chairman of the WZO with responsibility over the WZO budget; and his recent appointment to be Deputy Chair of the Jewish Agency;

• Support for a variety of activities to promote aliyah from within the Conservative/Masorti movement.

There is more to come within MERCAZ Australia and throughout the globe.

Rabbi Dr Alan Silverstein is President of Mercaz Olami and Rabbi Mauricio Balter is Executive Director.

PIZZA & PARASHA – FOOD FOR THE BODY AND THE MINDEvery Thursday at 7:15 pm, the ‘Pizza & Parasha’ discussion group meets to talk about the Torah reading for the upcoming week. Although it’s often referred to as a ‘class’, in fact the group has no instructor and there is no lecture. Instead, attendees try to do some research before the class to bring interesting titbits or insights.

Prior study background or knowledge of Hebrew is not required, nor is research in advance, although having varied viewpoints is what makes the evening most interesting.

Thanks to the Internet, finding aspects of the week’s reading to share is easier than ever. Discussion topics have ranged from the morality of Pharoah being punished for Hashem’s hardening of his heart, to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, to why Miriam’s death was given short shrift in the Torah.

For many attendees the class is a highpoint of their week, a break from everyday errands and concerns, and a chance to participate in a discussion of ideas and Torah. To quote Stacey Ford, a regular attendee, ‘I always learn something, it’s fun and the pizza is great!’

Rabbi Alan Silverstein

if you want to keep the conversation alive, restrict the Hebrew to the blessings, the songs and some targeted key sections.

Seder is a metaphorical way to re-experience the feelings and emotions of the journey from slavery to freedom. We eat the maror to symbolise the bitterness. We eat the charoset to remind us of the mortar. In a very different approach, I know people who made all their seder guests get up from the table, move to the backyard and then ‘build’ cities. They had to gather pre-prepared blocks and other materials which had been hidden, and then stack them to form a structure. This took place while the head of the family, who was dressed as an Egyptian, shouted at them to ‘work harder’, of course with a smile on his face!

Over the years, our family has conducted quizzes, made up songs, and acted out commercials in an effort to educate our guests while keeping them

engaged. One year, we told all our guests under bat/bar mitzvah age to dress up as detectives. When our guests arrived, everyone’s faces lit up when they saw the children dressed and glowing. We left clues around the house concerning the Pesach story and told the detectives to find them and construct the Pesach story from what they found. It was interesting to see how engaged the adults were as well during this activity.

Planning activities, games, quizzes and plays takes considerable thinking and time. In our home, this preparation starts one year in advance – and we keep coming up with ideas during the whole year. It’s common in our home to hear us say ‘Can this be a Pesach activity?’

With advance planning, imagination and a little bit of courage, your seder can be a more memorable, engaging and educational experience. Chag sameach!

HOW MERCAZ SECURES BENEFITS FOR WORLDWIDE CONSERVATIVE/MASORTI JUDAISMRABBIS ALAN SILVERSTEIN AND MAURICIO BALTER

JOIN US ON MITZVAH DAY OR ANY OTHER TIME OF THE YEARMitzvah Day, which occurs on the third Sunday in November each year, is now well established on the Melbourne Jewish community calendar with participation by a wide cross-section of the Jewish community joining together to do mitzvot or ‘good deeds.’

At the last Mitzvah Day, in November 2016, Kehilat Nitzan was involved in four projects, three of which are regular and ongoing. The Food Van, bringing together those with a need to share wholesome home-cooked food, has been operating weekly now for nearly a decade. Likewise, the Nitzanim Singers have been entertaining residents of aged care facilities in the City of Glen Eira on a monthly basis for a decade. Many shul members are regular blood donors, giving an extra donation on Mitzvah Day. As well as conducting these ongoing projects on Mitzvah Day, Kehilat Nitzan also joined with the non-government organisation KOGO (Knit One Give One) to pack knitted garments and other items which are made or donated for distribution to people in need.

Mitzvah Day is but one day a year and we welcome your involvement both on the day and in our ongoing activities. Please call Rhona Rosenberg, the Kehilat Nitzan Tikun Olam Chairperson, to find out how you can do a mitzvah via the shul every day.

CELEBRATING THE FIRST BRIT MILAH AT KEHILAT NITZANThe first brit milah ever at Kehilat Nitzan took place on Sunday 16 October, 2016 for the son of Rohan and Rebecca Shaw. Luckily, because it was Erev Sukkot, Rabbi Ehud Bandel was still in town for the High Holiday period. He was delighted to help conduct the ceremony, with Dr David Ungar as the mohel.

The baby’s grandfather, Philip Shelton, was the sandek (the person honoured to hold the baby during the ceremony) and the baby’s aunt and uncle, Meaghan and Mark Lust, were given the honour of handing the baby to him. During the ceremony, the baby’s name, Asher Jacob, was announced.

After the ceremony, friends and family, many of whom had traveled from interstate, enjoyed morning tea at the shul. Mazal tov to the proud parents and to grandmother Rhona Rosenberg!