We are just on the verge of beginning a new year of Makor, and–already!–we are preparing to take our first break. Makor begins on September 10th and we will begin our high holiday recess after Makor on September 17th.

There are many schools in the United States that don’t have a fall break from school during the first half of the school year. This makes sense, of course: Because of Thanksgiving, we automatically have a break from things at the end of November. Nevertheless, even those schools which do take a fall break usually at least wait more than a month before giving students time off.

But things are not so in the Jewish world. The timing of the high holidays varies from year to year, but–if my math doesn’t fail me–this year we only have seven days before taking our break! And, more than that, this is not a break for some minor holiday or unimportant occasion. Instead, this is a break for two of our core religious occasions, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

To say the least, the situation created by the collision of these two unrelated calendars–one contemporary, Western, and academic and the other ancient and Jewish–has strange consequences. Rabbis more experienced and wise than myself have likened this calendrical intersection to beginning the football season with the Superbowl. I can’t say I disagree with that assessment!

However coincidental the creation of our modern scenario may be, we can still find meaning in it. In fact, I would suggest that there are few things more traditional in Judaism than striving to discover deep meaning in the seemingly mundane. And, in fact, even our ancient biblical calendar betrays the reality that the individuals–multitudinous, geographically far-flung, and chronologically diverse as they were–were forced to harmonize multiple calendars in their own lives.

Tishrei, the Jewish month during which the high holidays fall, holds at least two (depending on how you count) entirely different types of calendrical celebrations, agricultural (Sukkot) and religious (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Simchat Torah). In fact, even the name for this month hints at the multi-calendared reality Jews have lived for millennia: Tishrei, along with all the other so-called Jewish months, was actually a month from the Babylonian calendar which the Jews long ago adopted.

And so, reflecting on the oddity of our Jewish calendar, I encourage everyone to feel empowered and comforted knowing that we actually are experiencing something as traditional as the Torah itself. Like our ancestors, we too will find–sometimes of necessity, sometimes for inspiration–new ways to navigate the many cultural circles that we as Jews living among other peoples must necessarily traverse. I wish you all a shanah tovah u’metukah, a good and sweet new year!

Rabbi Ari Ballaban

In the Babylonian Talmud, we read about a social phenomenon from the first centuries of the Common Era called the “kallah.” Kallot (the plural of this Hebrew term) were events where rabbis from different academies all over the Jewish diaspora would gather together — usually hosted at the estate of a wealthy Jewish patron — to collectively learn, discuss, and debate all aspects of Jewish law and life.

Studies on the topic now suggest that these ancient gatherings may have included more than 100 rabbis. They were veritable professional conferences, a chance for rabbis in far-flung, minority-Jewish locales to experience life and discourse as part of a larger Jewish community.

As I’m writing this column, I am currently working as part of GUCI’s rabbinical faculty to help ensure that our children — our Jewish future — have a chance to experience their own variety of kallah. As with the ancient rabbis, GUCI creates a temporary, mini, Jewish-majority community. Additionally, like those kallot, it gives our children a chance to energize their Jewish identities.

I am with the kids now as they are in the midst of a three-day wilderness trip (in the middle-of-nowhere, Indiana) for which they have prepared the last couple of weeks. In the last 24 hours, I have been able to observe our Jewish youth engage in two significant programs that are worth recognizing.

First, the children with whom I am working (14 to 16 year olds) learned about the Jewish concept of leadership (manhigut) and how they can serve better as leaders in their Jewish and secular communities. Second, we joined together in a beautiful lakeside service led by our own Grant Halasz. His model of Jewish leadership serves as an excellent example for many of our children. I only wish we could have t’filah as picturesque and inspired as this all the time!

If you have a child who is at an age that makes Jewish camping possible, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you provide them with the chance to experience Jewish identity in this way, at a Jewish summer camp. To borrow language used in Genesis, it will give them a chance to “yi-nafash,” to let their Jewish souls be filled with energy.

I imagine that for many of the rabbis 2,000 years ago, a kallah would have provided the inspiration to remain steadfast in one’s faith and to remember why all this Judaism “stuff” is worth it. From almost 20 years of experience in the Jewish camping world, I know this to be true with our modern-day parallel camping “youth kallot“: They make Judaism feel more real and more pervasive than anywhere else in the world.

The camping experiences such as what I’m currently sharing with our students are remarkable chances for our kids to live out Jewish values, in Jewish communities, 24/7. From the ancient rabbinic kallah, to the modern Jewish summer camp in the middle of Indiana, these experiences have helped individuals to forge stronger Jewish identities; they made and make a great difference in how we can build Jewish life and community.

From the midst of this campsite, I wish you all a good summer!

Rabbi Ari Ballaban

To me, it feels much too soon to say this; however, here it is—Our Makor school year is over! It is already June, and we have finished our first year of our new Makor program. I am very proud of the deep Jewish teaching and learning all of our teachers and campOrs did between last September and now. At this time, as we are preparing for our 2017-2018 year, I would like to inform you all of some changes we will be making to our program to make it more effective and exciting for our kids.

One of the most important changes will be that, as of the beginning of next year, we will no longer have Hebrew School on Wednesday afternoons. Our Hebrew program will now take place on Sundays, immediately after Makor. It will include a pizza lunch (provided by Temple Beth Or) and will run from 12:30 to 2:00. Students in the year before bar or bat mitzvah (the b’nai mitzvah camp) will schedule a weekly 1-on-1 time to work with Rabbi Chessin or myself on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

The reason we opted to make this change is that we found—as have a large number other congregations around the country—that Wednesday afternoons are too busy and challenging a time for many families to bring students in for Hebrew study. Additionally, and equally important, we are mindful of the fact our students come to us on Wednesday afternoons after having attended a full day of secular school programs. Often, as a result of this, their energy and attention is diminished, and learning Hebrew becomes much more of a challenge than it might otherwise be.

As we make this change, I want to remind everyone that attendance of Hebrew School is an expectation of all children who anticipate having a bar or bat mitzvah at Temple Beth Or. The instruction that takes place during Hebrew School is indispensible to both our children’s ability to successfully navigate leading a Saturday morning service as b’nai mitzvah and to their burgeoning competency as members of our adult Jewish community. Regular attendance in our Hebrew School program—in addition to participation in our “b’nai mitzvah camp” during the year preceding bar or bat mitzvah—is essential in making this process function. I am very hopeful that this change to our Hebrew program will make attendance possible for every one of our children in grades 3-6.

I do also want to make you aware of some other changes that we will be making to Makor, ones that I consider very fun and exciting. After having wrapped up our first year of Makor with dedicated “specials” for our campOrs, we are now expanding the program to include fully-fledged electives from which they will be able to choose. Our year will be divided into three trimesters, and during each trimester kids will be able to pick one or two electives (this depending on a few variables) they want to participate in during that time. The list we currently have includes programs which teach the following topics with a Jewish spin: Art, cooking, yoga, digital media, song-leading and guitar playing, and (continued from last year) Mizmor Or. We are hopeful that giving our kids greater choice in their electives will help them to take ownership of their Jewish learning.

All in all, I think that we have a great year coming up in the fall. I am very much looking forward to it, and I hope you are too. If you have any questions, as always, please feel free to give me a call or set up a time for us to meet!

With Shavuot rapidly approaching, Passover and its seders may already feel rather distant. Nevertheless—as May is Makor’s teacher appreciation month—I can’t help but consider one of the latter holiday’s most intriguing educational insights.

During our seders, we discuss the infamous “four sons.” These sons are well-established archetypes in Jewish lore; and yet, the Haggadah does not merely mean to tell us about four particular varieties of children. Instead, the Haggadah—and the Jewish tradition that created and preserved this narrative—wish to emphasize the reality that a parent or instructor must tailor a child’s educational program to his or her specific needs, no matter what they may be.

From the “four sons” paradigm, we are meant to discover that whether we are faced with a pupil who is 1) young and simple, 2) mature and smart, 3) too young even to know what is going on, or even 4) downright wicked, we can find ways to succeed as teachers. The idea that neither age nor intellectual aptitude, in either great excess or deficit, is an excuse for a teacher to fail a student ought to be empowering to educators.

The “four sons” model makes us think about how each student has a special ability to learn and grow in his or her own individual ways. Importantly, it helps to prevent us from becoming overly reliant on what any educator, student, or parent knows to be a dangerous crutch in education: The assumption that all students must be forced to conform their learning experience to some arbitrary, one-size-fits-all, common denominator.

With those thoughts prominently on my mind, I would like to CALL OUT to everyone, to announce that on Friday, May 12^th, we will hold our Teacher Recognition Service. This is a Shabbat service specifically meant to praise the hard work of roughly two-dozen members of Temple Beth Or, those who have served as the backbone of our school, over the past year. It is an evening when I hope members of our synagogue—whether they have children in Makor or not—can come together to thank those who made the past year of education possible.

I believe (and I hope you agree!) that—while Makor may seem “invisible” if you have no school-aged kids—the synagogue would be incomplete without its programs for youth education. As such, it certainly is worthwhile for us to take at least an evening in the year to thank such individuals in our community for their contribution to Temple Beth Or. Additionally, all the more so this year as our teachers worked extra hard to adjust from our old Sunday school model to Makor, I think it important to deliberately take the time to thank them for everything that they do.

If you see any of the following people around in the next month, please join me in giving them a pat on the back for their hard work in making Makor possible. And, please, join us at the Teacher Recognition Service on the 12^th!

Preschool/Kindergarten:          H.R. Downey and Sarah Wolf-Knight

First thru Third Grades:           Lisa Marie Ewing, Renee Peery, and Sarah White

Fourth thru Sixth Grades:        Jay Weiss

High School:                          Deb Char, Rabbi Judy Chessin, and Barb Mendoza

Seventh and Eighth Grades:   Scott Beckerman and Annette Nathan

Art:                                       Jessica Simpson

Cooking:                                Rachel Dillon and Esther Weiss

Hebrew:                                 Ehud Borovoy, Teri Halasz, and Renee Peery

Mizmor Or:                            Mary Wyke

Music:                                   Grant Halasz and Jonah Simpson

Sports:                                   Scott Hochstein and Heath Gilbert

On the evening of April 10, Jews worldwide will mark the beginning of pesach. This holiday commemorates the biblical tale of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, and it is central to the Jewish imperative to be mindful of and grateful for freedom. When we hold a seder, we mark the transitional moment when our ancestors—the forebears of the Jewish people—are said to have passed from bondage to liberty.

The triumph that we celebrate on Passover, so focal to our Jewish identity, was obviously short-lived:  As we know when we look back at the persistently challenging nature of Jewish history, this time of joy was quickly followed by a long series of struggles for ideals as important as national independence, religious integrity, and cultural survival. Nevertheless, here we are (still!) in 2017 as a Jewish people. We are differently shaped for our past tribulations, but we are still here and are still strong as a religious and ethnic group.

In many ways, it very specifically was our historical struggles that led Judaism to look as it now does. As Reform Jews, that should be crystal clear to us. Reform Judaism is shaped by a constant (and sometimes strained) balancing act. On one hand we have the weight of our traditions and, on the other, of the desire to live within the realities of Western modernity. The sort of Judaism that many in our synagogue espouse is one which American Jewry adopted largely because 1) 19^th century American Jews wanted to be both fully Jewish and fully American, and 2) Americans were, in many cases, not ready to accept into the fabric of American society someone who appeared “too Jewish.”

In 2017, it still seems that many Americans  resist welcoming those who do not “look sufficiently American.” The recent spate of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim attacks that have taken place in the country are a loud reminder of this; and, lest we think that looks aren’t often what matter in such cases, we can consider the attacks on Indians in America (that is, American citizens who emigrated from India) of the last months that have been motivated by the fact that, to some, such individuals apparently look like “the enemy.”

Of course, we as Jews do not face challenges identical to those of visible minorities: We can opt not to look Jewish by choosing not to wear Jewish garb. However, such an option is not available to other minority groups. Additionally, there are many individuals who resist the notion that they should need to eschew traditional religious symbols—whether a kippah or a head-scarf—in order to avoid persecution.

The right to live freely and safely as a member of a religion, race, ethnicity, or any other particular group is one that should resonate strongly at this time of year. We call the pesach season “זְמַן חֵרוּתֵינוּ,” (z’man cheiruteinu) “the time of our freedom.” It is my most sincere wish that during this z’man cheiruteinu, this year, we can work to protect not just our own freedom, but the freedom of all minorities with whom we share and collaboratively create society.

Doing something as challenging as this certainly will be work; however, it is absolutely necessary. As Jews, we greatly require such freedom; as one American minority group amongst many others facing similar pressures, we have an imperative to help foster a more just and tolerant society.

This pesach, let us all come together as partners in making our country a more welcoming and safe place for all people and peoples. In so doing, let us make a point as Jews to fight for the ideals that are essential for the health of our nation and our society. Most importantly, let us ensure that we do more than merely recite the words of the Passover haggadah, but instead bring them to life to fulfill the vision of our Jewish tradition.

Wishing everyone a joyous, meaningful, and efficacious pesach,

Rabbi Ari Ballaban

Purim is coming! This joyous holiday—which we will celebrate at Temple Beth Or on Sunday the 12^th—commemorates how the Jews of ancient Persia narrowly escaped Haman and his wicked plan to kill them. An entire tractate of the Talmud (aptly named ‘Tractate Megilah’) focuses on the specifics of how, when, and why one should read the Megilah and celebrate Purim. It also provides a wide range of interpretations (midrashim) of biblical verses which can help us gain a deeper appreciation of the holiday. Two famous talmudic rabbis, Reish Lakish and Rabbi Joseph, have a discussion of such midrashim while trying to find the “real” meaning of Proverbs 28:15:

אֲרִי-נֹהֵם וְדֹב שׁוֹקֵק, מוֹשֵׁל רָשָׁע עַל עַם-דָּל.

As a roaring lion and a ravenous bear, so is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

Rabbi Joseph believed the “ravenous bear” referred to the ancient Persians because he thought they ate and drank like bears, wore furs to look bear-like, were hairy, and were restless. The wicked ruler, then, he interpreted as Haman. Who, then, did that make the “poor people” over whom this Haman ruled? Of course, the answer was the Jews. However, Rabbi Joseph did not suggest that the “poorness” was their plight itself (as in, “those poor Jews!”); instead, he stated that it referred to how they were poor in the keeping of commandments.

The implication of this midrash is rather striking. It would appear that Rabbi Joseph’s meaning is that it was a result of our incomplete commitment to the mitzvoth that we were subjected to the wicked rule of Haman. On the one hand, I cannot help but wince as I think of this as an egregious example of victim-blaming. Are we really to fault the irreligiosity of the Jews of Persia for Haman’s evil ways? Nevertheless, if we can suspend such objections (at least for a moment), I think that there is an important lesson to be learned from Rabbi Joseph and his midrash.

As Jews, we are members of a nation that often strives to merit the title “or l’goyim,” a “light unto the nations.” However, it is fallacious to think that we are not also a nation that is tied up in the world that we help to create. Even as we may strive to make the world a better place for others, we are also subject to the results of the world take part in forming. To use the “light unto the nations” metaphor: Even if our primary ambition is to provide light for others, we need it too!

As Jews of the 21^st century, “poverty in keeping the commandments” may look rather different to us than it did to Rabbi Joseph nearly 2,000 years ago. However, the ability of the Jewish people to flourish—and its ability to effectively be an or l’goyim—is prefigured by the way in which we make a sincere effort to bring the wisdom and ethical value of our tradition to bear in our modern world. If we do not make a point of following the ethical teachings of our tradition, we are raising the likelihood that we too will inhabit a less just world.

As we head into Purim, I would like to exhort each of us to be proactive in the fashion by which we consider the way our behavior may or may not be rooted in Judaism. Are we living a life which only is nominally Jewish, one to which we retroject and append Jewish ideas? Or, instead, are we—as Rabbi Joseph would encourage—ensuring that our behavior is fully guided by the mitzvoth? I am hopeful that we can gravitate more toward the latter of these possibilities. I think that it is a way by which we can more fully be a light in the world- both for the nations and for ourselves.

Rabbi Ari Ballaban

There is little doubt that, as members of the national, American community, we are living through a period of great strife. Without even straying into the enormous social, economic, or security-based issues with which we now struggle, I feel it is safe to note that we must confront a challenging reality: Many in our society are too ready to assume the worst of those with whom they disagree politically.

In the wake of the November election and the recent inauguration, members of our community from all sides have been left facing a variety of seemingly (and, in some cases, genuinely) existential crises. A casualty in this rancor has been our ability—specifically, as Jews—to focus on something that is one of our core values. Namely, many Jews have become distant from the Jewish obligation to empathize with the “other” and to worry not just about oneself, but about his or her neighbors and fellows.

A place in the Bible from which I think we can take much helpful instruction in confronting this challenge comes from an unlikely place. Deuteronomy 22:1-4, which talks about our obligation to return lost livestock or property to our brethren, is rather striking in its biblical formulation:

These verses are neither meant to be understood literally nor in a narrow, restrictive fashion. Instead, they constitute a strong metaphor for how one ought to interact with his or her fellow person. (And, interestingly enough, these verses are used for other humanitarian reasons: They are the locus classicus for the Jewish commandment to practice medicine.) It is worth drawing our attention to a significant detail in verse two from above: If one is not near his brother and/or does not know him, he still is obligated to help his brother.

This addresses what has become a more and more problematic (and more and more undeniable) aspect of the way many in our communities handle political and ideological differences: They isolate themselves from those with whom they disagree. However, the biblical notion that we find here is rather unambiguous. Whether or not we personally know those who are our “brothers,” we have an obligation to work with them and to help them. The logical necessity, of course, is that we must meet those with whom we disagree and get to know them.

As we move forward in this challenging climate, I hope we—certainly at least as a Temple community, if not as members of a larger Dayton and American mishpachah—can resist the urge to become distant from our fellows. Instead, let’s strive to get to know one another in the pursuit of knowledge of our common humanity; doing so will make us better people and better Jews. Likewise, doing so will set an example for our children of how to create a more ideal world.

Over the last year, a major focus of our education and youth engagement efforts has been to keep more young members of our Temple Beth Or community actively engaged. In particular, we have put a significant focus on growing BOTY, our youth group. Because we recently hosted a very successful BOTY lock-in, I thought it would be an appropriate time to kvell a little and share some of the exciting happenings with this crucial aspect of our education and youth outreach program.

As I think about the work that has taken place over the last months to grow BOTY, I am reminded of a famous verse from Proverbs 22:

חֲנֹךְ לַנַּעַר עַל-פִּי דַרְכּוֹ; גַּם כִּי-יַזְקִין לֹא-יָסוּר מִמֶּנָּה.

Teach a child according to his way; even when he grows old he will not stray from it.

This verse has at least a couple of ways to be interpreted. It might be (and is often thought of as) a suggestion that we should personalize our educational efforts- That if we teach a child according to his way, then he or she will not stray from it. However, another way that we can understand this verse—the one that I think can be meaningful to us as we think of the types of work we currently are doing with our teens at Temple Beth Or—is the following: If we make a point of reaching our children, then we can be more certain that they will know how to survive and thrive as they grow up.

This latter interpretation of the verse simultaneously brings me great satisfaction and energizes me as I reflect on the growth we have had with BOTY. I am satisfied knowing that we are reaching a greater and greater proportion of our teen population, because I know that we can make the biggest difference in our children’s lives if we make sure that each knows that the Temple Beth Or community is here for him or her. I am energized because this verse acts as a charge: Should some of our children not sense a tangible, caring presence from our synagogue community, there is a risk that we will fail them.

The good news is that, as of right now, our work with BOTY has me feeling great satisfaction and hoping that we are in the midst of a successful push to more effectively reach our Temple Beth Or teens. Just a few weeks ago, on December 9^th-10^th, BOTY held an overnight lock-in that was arranged in conjunction with Alan Goodis’ visit to our synagogue. Roughly 2/3 of  our high school-aged members came to the lock-in, at which they attended our special camp-themed Friday night services, stayed overnight in their lounge to socialize with one-another, enjoyed a breakfast of eggs and pancakes cooked by Rabbi Chessin and myself, and engaged in a musical, Jewishly-rooted learning session with Alan Goodis.

As a whole, I can say with great happiness that our BOTY youth group is growing. While last year it had been dormant for some years’ time, we can now expect ten or more teens to attend any given event, we have an advisor who seems to be working well with our youth, and we have a dedicated high school-led board for BOTY. We have, in fact, even become a small-but-mighty force in our larger youth group (NFTY) region: By proportion, we send more teens to events right now than many far larger synagogues.

More than anything else, I think that we can be proud of the way that our teens’ experience with BOTY will help us to fulfill the imperative from Proverbs 22: I believe that we are effectively helping our youth to find their way. I am excited to see the many great things to come as our youth group continues to grow!