The Sipping Seder

Plus an awesome link to  The Sipping Seder.

Chag Sameach!

We who have lost our sense and our senses – our touch, our smell, our vision of who we are; we who frantically force and press all things, without rest for body or spirit, hurting our earth and injuring ourselves: we call a halt.

We want to rest. We need to rest and allow the earth to rest. We need to reflect and to rediscover the mystery that lives in us, that is the ground of every unique expression of life, the source of the fascination that calls all things to communion.

We declare a Sabbath, a space of quiet: for simple being and letting be; for recovering the great, forgotten truths; for learning how to live again.

May the brightness of these candles banish all gloom, anxiety, and care from my heart and from the hearts of my loved ones.

May this Shabbat festival bring us peace and serenity, joy and rest. Keep aglow within us, O God, the spirit of gratitude for Your many blessings, so that we may know the sweet taste of contentment and the rich harvest of sharing.

Kindle in our home and temple a deeper love for one another, for our people, and for all Your children.

Amen

The quoted bit in the middle is from “Only One Earth,” a United Nations Environment Programme publication for “Environmental Sabbath/Earth Rest Day,” June 1990; UN Environment Programme, DC2-803 United Nations, New York, NY 10017.

The full text was given to me by a colleague on a Taglit-birthright israel program as a reading before lighting Friday night candles. I am looking at different texts as I create my own traditions for my home. Please comment with any additional texts, links or traditions you find or practice.

Links
Traditional Candle Lighting Blessing in Song with text
Shabbat Blessings on the Union for Reform Judaism Site (sound files)
Candle Lighting Blessing in Feminine and Masculine God/dess forms
How to Light Shabbat Candles Flash Presentation
Ladino Women’s Prayer for before candlelighting with translation
Yiddish Prayer in translation for before candllelighting
Traditional Yehi Ratzon prayer for after candlelighting FAQ on Shabbat blessings and rituals
Find out Candle Lighting Times and print out Jewish Calendars at HebCal
Find out candle lighting times in additional cities all over the world on the Chabad website

I had the privilege to meet Chris Schwarz through my work. He was an extraordinary human being. If you are ever in Krakow, go to the Galicia Jewish Museum to see his amazing, life’s work.

From the Galicia Jewish Museum website, a description of the museum and their permanent exhibition. [The catalogue of the permanent exhibition Photographing Traces of Memory is beautifully produced in English and Polish and is highly recommended.] :

The Galicia Jewish Museum exists to celebrate the Jewish culture of Galicia and to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust, presenting Jewish history from a new perspective.

The permanent exhibition, Traces of Memory, is a contemporary look at the Jewish past in Poland.

The exhibition features the work of photographer Chris Schwarz, with texts by Prof. Jonathan Webber (UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham, UK). Over a period of twelve years, they traveled together town by town and village by village, gathering material that offers a completely new way of looking at the Jewish past that was destroyed in Poland. The exhibition pieces together a picture of the relics of Jewish life and culture in Polish Galicia that can still be seen today, interpreting these traces in a manner which is informative, accessible, and thought-provoking.

The exhibition is divided into five sections, corresponding to the different ways in which the subject can be approached:

Section 1 is entitled Jewish Life in Ruins, with all the sadness of confronting the past.
Section 2, Jewish Culture as it Once Was , displays remaining signs of the original culture.
Section 3, Sites of Massacre and Destruction shows the horror of the Holocaust.
Section 4, How the Past is Being Remembered recognizes the efforts to preserve the traces of memory, and
Section 5, People Making Memory Today, shows people involved in recreating the memory of the Jewish past in Poland today.

A talented photographer, Chris came to Poland on an unrelated job, filming a documentary. He noted that the remains of Jewish life in Galicia were going undocumented. He was concerned that the existing iconography of the Holocaust and Jewish life [in Poland] were very limited. He then proceeded to make it his life’s work to rectify the situation.

In addition to producing and hosting high quality exhibitions and housing an excellent bookstore, the gallery has since become a center of community life, with concerts and classes, and a newsletter that chronicles local Jewish activities and culture.

I hope they continue to go from strength to strength in fitting tribute to Chris.

Chris Schwarz went about his chosen path in a thoughtful, humble way, with a sense of humor and irony, a clear purpose, and a wonderful, sensitive way with people. He was a special human being. He will be greatly missed.

Found an old website of his which describes work he has done.

Update: From the August Newsletter of the Galicia Jewish Museum:

Messages of condolences can be sent to
info@galiciajewishmuseum.org
from where they will be taken and placed in the official Book of Condolence at the Museum.

Obituary from The Times Online

Obituary from The Boston Globe (NY Times News Service)

Happy Passover!

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Songs:

Korin Allal and Eran Zur – Cshe’zeh Amok – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal and Eran Zur – Tmuna Impressionistit – Hebrew Lyrics
Eran Zur – Parparei Ta’atu’a – Hebrew Lyrics
Eran Zur – Leilot Shel Yareah Maleh – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Motek – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Ein Li Eretz Aheret – Hebrew Lyrics – Was kinda fun to listen to this song in a roomful of Israelis who have chosen to live in NYC.
Korin Allal – Hataba’at Nafla – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Zan Nadir – Hebrew Lyrics – Not Zan Adir
Korin Allal – Eretz Ktana Im Safam – Hebrew Lyrics

Light a Virtual Menorah:
Virtual Menorah

Fun alterna-rock Hanukkah Songs:
myspace: The LeeVees
theleevees.com

Hanukkah Hey-Ya Video:
Hannukah Hey-Ya Vid

More Hanukkah Sounds:
Hannukah Sounds at huji

On Jelly Donuts:
wikipedia:Sufganiyah
marthastewart.com: recipe

Virtual Dreidel Game:
virtual dreidel game

Good Musical Hanukkah Gifts:

Hanukkah Rocks (Music) Artist:The Leevees Manufacturer:Reprise / Wea Released:25 October, 2005

Barenaked for the Holidays (Music) Artist:Barenaked Ladies Manufacturer:Warner Bros / Wea Released:05 October, 2004

Unorthodox (Music) Artist:What I Like About Jew Manufacturer:WILAJ Records Released:11 April, 2006

Youth (Music) Artist:Matisyahu Manufacturer:Sony Released:07 March, 2006

Link 1 from AISH

Link 2 from Project Genesis

Dear Friends and Supporters,

The High Holy Days are upon us and we wish “Ramadan Kareem” to our Muslim readers, I wish I could write to each of you personally, but must be content to write to all of you collectively.

…

Below you will find some of my thoughts on Rosh HaShana Eve, however, I must unfortunately begin with an urgent funding appeal. We have been “victims of our own success” this past year. Our successes have required unbudgeted expenses. Because of the generous financial component of the Niwano Peace Prize we had sufficient funds for this year. However, next year our projected income falls some $160,000 short of what we need just to maintain existing programming. There is a very direct and harsh relationship between cutbacks on our part and peoples lives:

Our lawyer in Hadera preserves the economic lifeline of the poorest and weakest Israelis whose support is threatened by the Israeli Wisconsin Plan. We were just asked if we could run a similar program in Ashkelon. However, our lawyer does not have enough hours to represent everybody who needs her in Hadera. A lack of sufficient hours translates directly into more Israelis going hungry or literally reduced to begging in the street.

Our Olive Tree Campaign allows Palestinians to access lands they had not been able to reach for years. In order to fulfill our obligations to the expanding list of villages that ask for our help, we are going to go $20,000 over budget this year on transportation alone. Again, the formula is harsh. When we are not present, people do not get to their land. When we are not present, people get hurt.

There is a waiting list of pre-army academies who want us to run a year long course on Judaism, democracy and human rights based on Tractate Independence. Each of our students will be a soldier who will face moral dilemmas in the course of his/her service.

When our legal department intervenes, home demolitions are prevented and complaints about settler harassment are taken seriously by the police. This in turn translates into a change in settler behavior. If our lawyers aren’t available, more homes will be demolished and more Palestinians will be harassed.

The true test for RHR may be our impact on policy, but our successes this year changing the State Budget and winning a High Court victory regarding agricultural access are directly related to our grass roots work in Hadera and in the olive groves.

Your financial support (In the U.S. tax deductible through RHR-North America) directly and concretely translates both into policy change and making people’s lives better. If you can make a gift now it will influence our planning and budgeting discussions over the next few months.

Two thoughts for Rosh HaShana:

1. On Saturday night the slikhot service where I prayed was one of the most beautiful and moving I can recall. However, I couldn’t help but notice that most of the prayers and piyutim were asking God to intercede and wipe out our sins. We recited the rote vidui (confession), but there was no commitment to changing our ways or rectifying the wrongs we have done to our fellow human beings. (The Rosh HaShana prayers will address the changes we need to make, and Yom Kippur even more so.)

I don’t know whether the authors of the slikhot services were more interested in pardon than in genuine change, or whether they felt that our sins are so overwhelming that there was no possibility of sufficient change and therefore the only hope was begging for mercy.

Many of the prayers implore God to hear us. I couldn’t help but wonder, with all of the thousands of words that many of will pray through Yom Kippur, whether we will find the time to hear God. I hope that, as overwhelming as the changes are that we need to make both on the individual level and the societal level, these coming days will be a time of clarification for us. I pray that we will come through this period with a clearer sense of what we must and CAN do to effect tikkun (repair.)

I hope and pray that we will neither run from the words of the Makhzor (High Holy Day prayer book) nor let them get in the way.

May each of our souls be open to hearing the God of justice and compassion.

May we feel that we are a part of God’s Unity that unifies all human beings and all creation.

May we utilize these precious days to gain a clearer vision of how we can give that Unity _expression in our personal relationships, in our relationship to the earth, and in the way we build a society that honors the dignity and human rights of all.

May we be God’s partners in making this a sweeter year for those Israelis forced into the Israeli Wisconsin Program, for the Dari family and all the others living with the daily fear of their house being demolished, for foreign workers being forced to work in reprehensible conditions, for the women forced into prostitution, for the growing number of victims of the resurging nfor Palestinian farmers kept from their land because of the Separation Barrier or settler violence and army collusion, for the residents of unrecognized villages and the S. Hebron Hills being threatened with expulsion, and for the single parents, elderly and others whose pensions and allocations are far from what is needed to live with dignity.

May our commitment to giving _expression to this Unity lead us to sweeten the lives of those whose neighborhoods became killing zones this year in Israel, Lebanon, Gaza and so many other places around the planet.

2. Humility. This has been an amazingly successful year for RHR and an extremely difficult year for the Middle East.

In the past year RHR made significant changes in Israel’s state budget improving the lives of many of the poorest and weakest Israelis. RHR and our coalition partners opened an office in Hadera, allowing us both to impact on the public debate on the “Israeli Wisconsin Plan” and to help individual Israelis to preserve economic safety net. RHR, along with ACRI and local councils, won a major High Court appeal regarding the state’s obligations to provide and protect the access of Palestinians to their agricultural lands. (See the following links regarding just how important this victory was: Haaretz Article 1; Haaretz Article 2 (link to Akiva Eldar column in Hebrew from August 29th, see second subject)

Our Olive Tree Campaign is now helping over 30 villages. RHR’s legal project has changed the behavior of both police and settlers. Our educational programs continue to expand and influence a widening circle of Israelis, many of whom find themselves in key positions in Israeli society or the army. Our work received recognition through the prestigious 2006 Niwano Peace Prize.

I speak of our successes with a sense of humbleness. Although I continue to believe that the human rights work we work on at the micro level affect the macro issues of peace in our region, we saw this summer how the macro can overwhelm us, overshadow and even reverse in an instant achievements slowly attained after years of hard work. I thought of the old Spike Lee film, “Do the Right Thing,” in which the relations between the residents of an African American neighborhood and the white pizza parlor owner who had stayed long after all other white people had fled, unravel in an instant. As we prayed on Tisha B’Av in a Kiryat Bialik bomb shelter and then handed out toys to children, we were reminded that no one individual or organization can control all events or effect Tikun Olam by themselves.

For this reason, our High Holy Day liturgy envisions us forming Agudah Ekhat L’Asot Ratzonkkah BaLevav Shalem, “A United Community of Faith and Purpose dedicated to doing Your Will with all our heart.”

At this time of crisis, when much of what we have dreamed and prayed and worked for is being called in to question, I am urgently asking for your renewed and strengthened commitment to a United and Powerful Community of Faith and Purpose dedicated to building the Israel we believe in. In light of the tremendous expenses of this war and recovery, the promises to allocate additional resources to the poorest and weakest Israelis are being forgotten. We must be a Community of Faith and Purpose to ensure that the poor are not forced to disproportionately bear the burden. Our High Court achievement held out great promise, but the post-war national mood is likely to be much more tolerant of settler violence, home demolitions and the prevention of Palestinian access to their lands. We must be a Community of Faith and Purpose ensuring that the missiles that rained down on us dם not continue to explode in our hearts, destroying our humanity and our ability to honor the Image of God in all. In a country searching for answers, our Community of Faith and Purpose must be able to reach as many Israelis as possible through our educational programs, especially those for soldiers and those about to enter the army.

We are more aware than ever that we need a partnership with you, our members, volunteers and supporters, in the pursuit of our common dreams.

If you believe that we must be an Agudah Ekhat, please, as indicated above, make an extra effort this year to support us financially as generously as possible. However, please also make an extra effort to write letters when we call upon you, and to join us here to harvest and plant. Please invite me or another RHR representative to your community. If you are a rabbi, I hope to see you at RHR-NA’s rabbinic conference on Judaism and Human Rights December 10-12 in NYC.

For a Sweet New Year United in Faith and Purpose, Shabbat Shalom, and Ramadan Kareem to our Muslim supporters,
Rabbi Arik Ascherman
Executive Director
RHR

Additional information about The First North American Rabbinic Conference on Judaism and Human Rights For Rabbis, Cantors, and Rabbinic and Cantorial Students – December 10–12, 2006 / Kislev 19–21, 5767

Rabbis for Human Rights – Yom Kippur Vidui

Donate money to Rabbis for Human Rights

http://www.happybirthdaysara.org

I have sent an email to Donald Wiseman, editor of the website of Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter and Archives.

It is a useful site for people researching Jewish life and geneology in the Northeast of England. They have a section about the Jewish Cemetery in Hartlepool. It is not always online so I have decided to reprint details here with links to my photos of the graves taken on August 20, 2006.

The photos I have uploaded so far can be found here as a group:
Flickr Set of Photos of Hartlepool Jewish Cemetery

There will be more uploaded. Below are details and links to individual photos. On Flickr when you are on a photo’s page you can click on “All Sizes” and get larger sizes of the photos and you can download them.

Individually:

Abraham Barnett and Freda Barnett (Father and daughter)

Gravestone for Abraham Barnett who died Jan. 23, 1918 (age 44) and for his daughter Freda who died Feb. 25, 1919 at the age of 14. His Hebrew name was Avraham ?? son of Dov. Her Hebrew/Yiddish name was Freda.

Grace Barnett

Died November 7, 1984 (age 87). Her Hebrew name was Gitel daughter of Avraham. (KMBRO doesn’t have the date listed on its site nor a record of the stone.)

Jacob Barnett

Gravestone of Jacob Barnett who died April 13, 1945 (age 70). His Hebrew name was Yaakov son of Shaul.

Yetta Barnett

Gravestone of Yetta Barnett who died December 7, 1957 (age 77). Her Hebrew name was Yetta daughter of Yechezkel.

Samuel Benjamin

Gravestone of Samuel Benjamin who died July 2, 1881 (age 50). His Hebrew name was Shmuel.

Israel Broady

Gravestone of Israel Broady, husband of Shiphrah Broady, who died September 16, 1902 (age 85). His Hebrew name was Yisrael son of Yitzhak.

Morris Cohen

Gravestone for Morris Cohen son of Solomon and Rachel Cohen who died August 30, 1877 at the age of 23 months. His Hebrew name was Meir son of Yehoshua Shlomo.

Wolf Golt and Fanny Golt

Gravestone in memory of Wolf Golt who died May 11, 1939 (age 67) and Fanny Golt who died June 10, 1923 (age 47). Their Hebrew names were Ze’ev son of Chaim and Fredel daughter of Tuvia.

Hyman Hirschfeld

Half of the gravestone of Hyman Hirschfeld who died September 24, 1877 (age 58). His Hebrew name was Chaim son of Yehuda.
Photo of Gravestone as It Was

Sarah Hush

Gravestone of Sarah Hush who died July 10, 1882 at age 3 months. She was the daughter of Isaac and Henrietta Hush. She was from nearby Middlesbro.

Abram Jacobs and Rosie Jacobs

Gravestone for Abram Jacobs who died Nov. 25, 1928 (age 68) and Rosie Jacobs who died November 16, 1930 (age 72). Their Hebrew names were Avraham Yaakov son of Chaim Shlomo and Raizel daughter of Arye. [Name listed on stone as Abram (not Abraham).]

Annie Kaufman

Gravestone of Annie Kaufman who died in 1932 at the age of 32. Her Hebrew name was Chana daughter of Yisrael.

Isaac and Rachel Kaufman

Monument to Isaac and Rachel Kaufman who passed away in 1907. Hebrew names were Yitzhak son of Shalom and Rachel.

Hinda Levi

Gravestone of Hinda Levi who died August 21, 1878 (age 59). Her Hebrew name was Hinda daughter of Yehuda.

Solomon Isaac (Sol) Levinson

Gravestone of Solomon Isaac (Sol) Levinson who died May 11, 1993 (age 74). His Hebrew name was Shlomo Yitzhak son of Yaakov. His wife Betty still lives in town and makes a nice cup of tea.

Annie Levy

Gravestone of Annie Levy who died November 10, 1883 (Date gotten from Hebrew date). Her Hebrew name was Chana daughter of Yitzhak.

Harry Levy

Gravestone of Harry Levy who died March 7, 1922 (age 49). His Hebrew name was Aharon Tzvi son of Shlomo Halevy.

Louis Levy

Gravestone of Louis Levy who died on April 15, 1876 (age 56) (or April 4, 1877 – depending on if the last letter of the year is a Vav or Zayin – based on Hebrew date). His Hebrew name was Yehuda son of Arye Halevy.

Marian Levy

Gravestone of Marian Levy (widow of Jacob Levy) who died Feb. 4, 1914 (age 84). Her Hebrew name was Miriam daughter of Elyakum Arye. (Kmbro has her listed as Miriam.)

Calmer Lotinga

Gravestone of Calmer Lotinga who died on June 25, 1904 (age 96). His Hebrew name was Klonimus son of Moshe Halevi.

Maurice Michel Michelson

Gravestone of Maurice Michel Michelson who died at the age of 6 months. His Hebrew name was Moshe son of Asher.

David Morris

Gravestone of David Morris who died Nov. 27, 1963 (age 67) . His Hebrew name was David son of Yisrael Moshe.

Kate Nathan

Gravestone of Kate Nathan (widow of Benjamin Nathan) who died October 30, 1883 (age 61). Her Hebrew name was Gitel daughter of Eliezer Hacohen.

Joyce Barbara Rachkind

Gravestone of Joyce Barbara Rachkind who died April 20, 1972 (age 46). Her Hebrew name was Shayna Basha daughter of Avraham.

Sidney Rose and Esther Rose

Gravestone in memory of Sidney Rose who died April 29, 1963 (age 61) [KMBRO has this listed as May.] and Esther Rose who died August 16, 1978. [Listed on Stone in Hebrew Date.] Their Hebrew names were Zussman son of Avraham and Esther daughter of Yaakov.

Louis Smith

Gravestone of Louis Smith of Middlesbrough who died January 8, 1880. His Hebrew name was Eliezer son of Yechezkel.

Jacob Stockton

Gravestone for Jacob Stockton who died in 1879 at the age of 12. The only legible parts are the name Stockton, The acronym for May his soul be bound up in the bond of life (from Samuel I, 25:29) and the Jewish year 5640 which translates to 1879.

Graves I can’t identify:

General pictures of the cemetery:

Update: Featured in Kehilat Middlesbrough Newsletter No 22 November 2006 page 12 (of 12)