Carnegie Shul Chatter

Transcription

1 Candle lighting time is 5:07 Shabbos services are at 9:20 Carnegie Shul Chatter March 1, 2017 Purim This year Purim will be celebrated on Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 11. When I was a kid, we celebrated Purim by going to shul, listening to the Megillah, and spinning our groggers and booing every time we heard Haman s name being read. We also attended a small Purim Carnival at the shul and ate Hamentashen. Candle lighting time is 5:56 pm Sabbath services start at 9:20 am BDS Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Many of you know that the BDS movement has become, unfortunately, very popular on college campuses and has been a major source of anti- Israeli and anti-semitic rhetoric among young people. In fact, Israel Apartheid Weeks are about to begin on college campuses around the world. One of the greatest Jewish scholars of our day is Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. An international religious leader, philosopher, award-winning author and respected moral voice, Rabbi Sacks was recently named the winner of the 2016 Templeton Prize in recognition of his exceptional contributions to affirming life s spiritual dimension. As I got a little older, I observed that people, both young and old, were attending Purim services in costume, and shuls were having costume parades. Still later, I became aware of short Purim shpiels being done by members of the congregations. Now, Purim has grown even bigger and better. Chabads have themed Purim celebrations, and Purim shpiels have become community-wide events with professional directors being hired here in the South Hills and performers like Leon Zionts starring in the shpiel in Squirrel Hill. I love that Purim has become such fun for Jewish adults and kids alike. But alas, some shuls, in order to fit all of this in, read an abridged version of the Megillah. The costumes and shpiels are great, but they should never take away from the most important part of the holiday, the mitzvah of reading and hearing the Megillah. Happy Purim!

2 Since stepping down as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth a position he served for 22 years between 1991 and 2013 Rabbi Sacks has held a number of professorships at several academic institutions, including Yeshiva University and King s College, London. He currently serves as the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor at New York University. Rabbi Sacks has been awarded 17 honorary doctorates including a Doctor of Divinity conferred to mark his first ten years in office as Chief Rabbi, by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey. In recognition of his work, Rabbi Sacks has received, among others, the Jerusalem Prize in 1995 for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life, The Ladislaus Laszt Ecumenical and Social Concern Award from Ben Gurion University in Israel in 2011, The Guardian of Zion Award from the Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University in 2014, and The Katz Award in recognition of his contribution to the practical analysis and application of Halakha in modern life in Israel in He was named as The Becket Fund s 2014 Canterbury Medalist for his role in the defense of religious liberty in the public square, and won a Bradley Prize in recognition of being a leading moral voice in today s world. Rabbi Sacks was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer, taking his seat in the House of Lords in October Here is Rabbi Sacks explanation as to why BDS is so dangerous, and why Jews, humanitarians of all faiths and of none, and all those who value a free society, must stand up against it: The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel is dangerously wrong, because beneath the surface it is an attempt to delegitimise Israel as a prelude to its elimination. No Jew, and no humanitarian can stand by and see that happen. Besides which, it will harm the very people it seeks to help, prolong the situation it seeks to end, and lead to wrongs in the name of rights. I support the right of the Palestinians to a state of their own, and the right of Palestinian children to a future of dignity and hope. But the BDS campaign will achieve neither of these things. Let me explain why. Human rights are the rights we have because we are human. They are universal or they are nothing. So the test of any movement in support of human rights is: is it really universal, or is it a matter of rights for some but not for others. If the BDS movement were really about human rights, its supporters would be protesting the breakdown of human rights in countries across the Middle East, in Africa and around the world. They would be demonstrating against the barbarism of ISIS. They would be campaigning against the abuse of human rights by Hamas in Gaza. Any nation can be held to account at the bar of human rights, but in a world awash with human rights abuses, to focus on one nation only and that, the only effective democracy in the Middle East looks less like a campaign for human rights than a campaign against Israel s very right to be. It is in fact the latest chapter in a sustained attempt to do just that. In 1948, 1967 and 1973, Israel s enemies tried to destroy it militarily, by war, and they failed. Beginning in 1973 with the Arab boycott, they tried to destroy it economically, and they failed. In 1975 with the notorious Zionism is racism motion in the United Nations, they tried to destroy it politically, and they failed. From 1994 to 2002, by a campaign of suicide bombings, they tried to destroy it psychologically, and they failed. Now, through the BDS campaign, they are trying to delegitimate it morally. This too will fail, but it is serious. It is based on a vicious lie: that Israel is a colonial presence in the Middle East. It is nothing of the kind. The Jewish connection with the land of Israel goes back roughly twice as long as the history of Christianity, three times as long as the history of Islam. Jews are the only nation in history ever to have established a nation state in the land, and the only nation never to have lacked a presence there. And because Israel is the world s only Jewish state, and the only state whose very right to exist has been constantly challenged, the campaign against it is

3 recognisably the latest mutation of the world s oldest hate: antisemitism. BDS will fail because when people seek to end a conflict by focusing on only one party to that conflict, they don t end it. They perpetuate it. There could have been a Palestinian state in 1947 with the United Nations vote for partition; in 1948 when the modern state of Israel was born; in 1967 after the Six Day War; in 2000 at Camp David; 2001 at Taba; in 2007 under Ehud Olmert; and since. In each case Israel said yes, offering land in exchange for peace, but the Palestinian leadership said no. And even when Israel unilaterally withdrew from territory such as South Lebanon in 2000 and the Gaza Strip in 2005, the space was immediately filled by terrorist organisations Hezbollah and Hamas dedicated to Israel s destruction. Simply put, the BDS campaign will delay, defer, and endanger the very chance of a Palestinian state, prolonging the suffering it seeks to end. This is because it misrepresents the conflict as a zerosum game: either Israel wins and the Palestinians lose, or the Palestinians win and Israel loses. But the conflict is not a zero-sum game. From war and violence, both sides lose. From peace and security, both sides win. If we really care about the rights of Palestinians, then we must care about those of Israelis likewise. Rights are universal or they are nothing, and if they are merely a concealed form of hate, then they become not rights but wrongs. Any movement for human rights, or peace, or justice, must be fair to all sides; recognise the rights of all sides; seek the agreement of all sides; and win the trust of all sides. The BDS campaign, which seeks to intimidate and silence the other side, fails these tests; which is why all who care for our shared humanity must find another and better way. An international celebration of doing good! This year the Jewish Federation Volunteer Center is partnering with almost 40 neighborhood associations, religious institutions, and non-profit organizations to have over 800 volunteer spots all across Pittsburgh on April 2nd! Our city is part of a global day that unites people from over 75 countries to do good deeds for the benefit of others and the planet. Bring your friends and family! Register at

4 Face Painting Inflatable Obstacle Course Come from 12:15-2:30 PM for Moon Bounce Balloon Artist Megillah Reading - 12:45 & 1:45 pm Carnival Games and Prizes Make & Exchange Shalach Manot Hosted by: Beth El Congregation of the South Hills Temple Emanuel of South Hills Chabad of South Hills BBYO South Hills Jewish Pittsburgh JCC-South Hills All Inclusive Bracelet: $15 at door $12 in advance at: Beth El Congregation Main Office, Temple Emanuel Religious School Office, JCC-South Hills Front Desk, Join Our Purim Carnival Volunteer Corps! Contact Ann Haalman at

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