"... And to the Entire World

By Rabbi Stuart Kelman

I'm writing this column on the day after Simchat Torah. To say the least, this has been a most trying period of time for all of us. Not only did we have to deal with our usual business of introspection, prayer and celebration, but we were also faced with the horrors of September 11. Many of us found that being in a house of worship was the logical and comforting place to be. It was a location where we could ground ourselves in the context of a tradition that spans centuries and geography and be with others who share common values and existence.

Leon Wieseltier wrote in the October 8 issue of the New Republic:

If it makes sense to call on religion in times of trouble, it is not because religion abolishes spiritual pain, but because religion acknowledges spiritual pain. When all the political and military and economic and psychological and cultural analysis of the slaughter are exhausted, there remains the question of the justice of the world. Whether or not it has a religious answer, this is a religious question. About this question it is not easy to be brilliant. Silence is often a surer sign of mental progress than is articulateness. For some people a house of worship is useful for such reflection because it is God's house; but there are those who repair to a house of worship because it is Job's house, and therefore the natural setting for their objection to the order of things.

On Friday evening, September 15, many of us gathered for a Kabbalat Shabbat/Maariv service at the shul library. We typically have this service conducted in the neighborhoods rather than have one communal service. In the past we have tried to organize a communal Friday evening service, but it never seemed to gather enough momentum to continue. This evening, however, four days after the 11th, seemed to be an opportunity for all of us to come together. If my memory is correct, around 60 people came to that service. For me, it was an extraordinary evening - not only for the fact that we came together in unity, but for a particular liturgical experience, which I was able to share with everyone who was present.

It concerned the last and very familiar line of the kaddish: "Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom, aleynu v'al kol yisrael, v'imru: amen" - "May the One who brings peace to the universe bring peace to us and to all Israel. And respond with: Amen." This is the end of a prayer of praise to the Almighty for peace and wholeness. In other siddurim I have seen an addition to this last verse. Four words have been added: "v'al kol yoshvei tevel" - "and to the entire world". So now, the whole verse reads: "Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom, aleinu al kol yisrael, v'al kol yoshvei tevel, v'imru: amen" - "May the One who brings peace to the universe bring peace to us, to all Israel, and to the entire world. And respond with: Amen."

From that September 15 Shabbat evening onward, I needed to express the prayer that God bring peace not only to us (the nuclear family), and to Yisrael (the extended family), but also to the entire family of people on this Earth. I felt we had lost a connection with the rest of the world, and that suddenly I was confronted with the hope and desire to include the entire "global village" as part of my concluding prayer for wholeness. I may live in Berkeley, but I certainly have felt the pain and anguish of those in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania as well as that of our brothers and sisters in Israel. All of us are in need of wholeness, for ourselves and for all of humanity.

I have seen this version of the kaddish in many liberal siddurim. I also remember seeing it in the Siddur V'ani Tefilati, the siddur recently issued by the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel. Whether or not this becomes an 'official' position of the Conservative Movement, there are clear indications of its acceptance worldwide. Speaking personally, I need to add these words when I say kaddish. These are words of hope and not anguish, of potential and of a not-yet reality that I am prepared to work for. These are words of bakasha (request from God) and words of awakening for me and my community. As is our custom at Netivot Shalom, the shaliach tzibur will decide whether to include these words when leading us at shul.

May these words lead us to a new reality of shalom - for us, for Israel and for all humanity. ?

As our lives return to some sense of normal - though we all feel our lives altered by the tragedies on September 11th and events since - I've been moved and encouraged by an addition to the last line of the kaddish that Rabbi Kelman, and many other rabbis, have begun to use. The line now says, "Oseh shalom bimromav, hu ya'aseh shalom, aleinu al kol yisrael, v'al kol yoshvei tevel, v'nomar amen." "God who brings peace to the universe will being peace to us and to all the people Israel, and to all humankind, and let us say Amen." This insertion of four words serves to remind us that we are members of the community of the world, and I've found myself adding them to the last line in the silent Amidah. Most people with whom I've spoken in the weeks since September 11th have talked about the need to do something in response to these horrific events, and many have actively done so by doing things such as donating blood or money. Just as many of our rituals serve to make the mundane holy, by adding these words to the Kaddish we elevate our hopes for peace by adding this spiritual piece.

Over the Shabbat weekend during Sukkot, Rom, Avi and I attended the first ever Mosaic Family Camp, a gathering of multi-ethnic and multi-racial Jewish families. Twenty-six families from the Greater Bay Area attended this weekend, in which we discovered the wonderful diversity that makes up our larger Jewish community. Adam Weisberg and Rachel Brodie, along with Sofia, Ariella and Rachel's mother, Deborah, were also there - Adam and Rachel capably serving as Jewish educators, adding an extra Netivot Shalom flavor to the weekend. We reveled in the beauty of the high Sierras at Camp Tawonga, prayed, learned, met and became friends with families like ours, and thoroughly enjoyed the Peet's coffee that is always served at Tawonga. It seems that we are constantly defining the different communities in which we have membership.

Our Netivot Shalom community is reaching another milestone. On Sunday, November 11th we will have our special congregational meeting at which the design subgroup of the Site Work Group will present the plans that they have developed for our new home at 1316 University Avenue. This is an exciting and auspicious time in our development as a synagogue community, and I encourage all of you to attend. The meeting will be held at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Street, from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Childcare will be provided at the shul office.

At times I hear from members that they wish they felt more connected to the synagogue. This is a situation that's easily remedied, because Netivot Shalom offers so many ways to become involved. Whether it's volunteering to sit on one of our standing committees, taking classes offered by our Adult Education Committee, sponsoring a kiddush or being a Shabbat Greeter - all of these afford our members opportunities to meet other members of the community and to connect in new and exciting ways. The Nominating Committee, which will suggest members to take Committee Chair and Board positions being vacated, is being formed now. If you are interested in speaking with the committee about openings, please contact me either by e-mail (president@netivotshalom.org) or by calling me (525-1814). I will be sure to pass that information along to the Nominating Committee.

As the echoes of Yamim Nora'im settle, let us remember the resolutions we made to change ourselves, our community, and yes, kol yoshvei tevel.

It is hard to know how to respond to the terrible events of September 11. The Social Action Committee can't address the big questions of war and peace, because we are committed to working on issues on which there is substantial consensus in the congregation. We keep coming back to our own backyard. We can seek peace at home by working for cooperation and understanding in our own community.

Add two more innocent victims to the death toll of September 11- the two murder victims who apparently were targeted because of their nationality (one was Yemeni, the other Indian). Fortunately, many people have been speaking out against acts of violence and harassment toward Americans who practice Islam or appear to be Middle Eastern.

This gives me a chance to introduce the newest member of our committee, Jonathan Klein, who is looking for ways to build bridges with the Muslim community in the East Bay. He poses the question: Can we get to know each other as people of faith despite our political differences? Jon has been in contact with an imam who is an African-American Muslim. Jon also contacted the Jewish Community Relations Council and learned that they are planning interfaith activities.

Jon also has volunteered to take the lead on planning Sukkot in April (Rebuilding Together). Ednah Friedman also will help organize our participation in this annual project to fix up the home of a low-income senior, hopefully in our new neighborhood.

Another volunteer project has been suggested by a member of our congregation who shall remain nameless until I talk him into officially taking the lead on this great idea. Would anyone be interested in participating in a "Mitzvah Day" - a day to send volunteers into the community on various projects? Please start calling and e-mailing me at (510) 524-2984 or cyndiberck@hotmail.com so we can get a preliminary sense of who is interested.

I want to encourage everyone to visit the California Moratorium website: http://www.californiamoratorium.org to learn more about the issue and to sign the Moratorium petition. The list of Moratorium endorsers includes over 30,000 California residents, along with several city governments and local religious communities such as Kehilla Congregation. The Campaign's goal is to collect more that 100,000 signatures by mid 2002, in order to compel the California Legislature to seriously consider a Moratorium resolution.

Some might say that the death penalty is a distraction during this period of crisis precipitated by the terrorist attacks of September 11th, but it should be more clear than ever that the death penalty does NOT deter crime, and that the continued use of the death penalty in the U.S. lowers our standing among the world's democracies that we count as friends. At our last meeting the Bay Area Death Penalty Action Team put it this way: "Against the Death Penalty. Now more than ever." For more information, please contact Alex Madonik at 510-527-6382 or at madonika@home.com.

On October 28th the Board approved the final design plan for the University Avenue site, after many months of effort by the Site Work Group to evaluate and integrate an enormous set of functional, spiritual, aesthetic and financial considerations. We are very pleased to be able to present this plan to the membership at large at the full congregational meeting on Sunday, November 11 from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

At this meeting the Site Work Group will display an architectural drawing of the building and grounds, explain the use of each space and answer any questions you may have. As I've explained in previous newsletters, dozens of representatives from all shul functions were closely involved in each step of the design process, ensuring that the plan you will see at the meeting, which is now final and no longer subject to major revision, is the one that best meets Netivot Shalom's needs. There are more development phases to come, including bidding for contractors, construction and furnishing and interior decorating. Opportunities for you to become involved in those phases will also be discussed.

I look forward to a Standing Room Only crowd at this very exciting meeting. See you there!

If you have comments or suggestions for the Site Work Group, please contact me at MeresmanJ@aol.com.

Many of you remember that the Ritual Committee decided several months ago to try reading the full parasha once per month for a six month experimental period.

I'm happy to report the first full reading will be November 17, Parashat Toldot. It will be followed by full readings on Parashat Vayechi (December 29) and Parashat Yitro (February 2, 2002). The remaining three parashot have not yet been chosen. We are navigating around holidays, Bar/Bat Mitzvot, and exceptionally long parashot for our experimental dates. For this reason, it will not work out to exactly one time per month, but we hope to have six full readings within an eight-month period. Please let me know (by phone, e-mail or in person) how you feel about these services - your input will be a key component in letting us know whether to continue, expand or discontinue this experiment.

The meditative minyan has been meeting on the third Saturday of each month for several years now. It is currently led by the sweet voice and gentle soul of Hillel (aka Robert) Lester. I realize that this service has an appeal only to a minority of congregants, but it is to you (the mystical, meditative minority) that I am directing these comments. Where are you? Why aren't you coming? Each time I ask people who used to come why they aren't attending, I will usually hear "I forgot" or "I keep meaning to." If there is some more specific reason, please let me know and I will see if it can be dealt with. I consider this minyan's survival to be very important to the general kavanna of our synagogue. If you haven't tried it, please do: it is a wonderful, peaceful way to enter into prayer. I would attend every week if it met every week. We meet at 9:30 a.m. in Room 14 and finish just before Torah Service. Next meditative minyan is November 17.

Helen Schneider has stepped down after three years of devoted service as drash coordinator. During Helen's tenure, we were treated to high quality sermons from new and veteran congregants. Helen stepped down with a two-month list prepared for her successor, and I would like to thank her on behalf of the Ritual Committee and the congregation for her years at the helm.

Replacing Helen will be Rena Fischer. Rena graciously answered my call to the Ritual Committee to take on this responsibility, after coordinating the selection and purchase of our new Etz Haim chumashim. I thought it was important that the drash coordinator be from our committee, as the drash is a central part of our service: it is the longest section in English (and thus the best understood by the most people) and it is given when the most people are present. If you are interested/willing in giving a drash, call or e-mail Rena (510-658-8713, renaf@itsa.ucsf.edu) and she'll get you signed up.

I realize you're reading this at least a month after Yamim Nora'im are over, but I'm writing this just after Yom Kippur. I can't miss the opportunity to single out a few people whom I believe can't get enough recognition for what they've done.

Deborah Lobel and Wendy Rosov have been putting together the Yamim Nora'im services for five years and three years, respectively. It is easy, when someone does something for a long time, to begin to take it for granted. If anything, it in some ways becomes harder, because it becomes more of a chore and less of a challenge.

Debby takes care of the organizational aspect of the holydays, all the thousands of details from who-has-what-honor-on-what-day-on-what-page, to negotiating space with Northbrae and Epworth churches, to coordinating the details of the times that are printed on the tickets you receive.

Wendy constructs the separate services, balancing the talents of the congregational leaders and Torah readers with the nature of the services, male/female ratio, who did it last year vs. who should get a turn this year, and numerous other delicate but highly important decisions. Both begin work six months ahead of time and essentially sacrifice their Yamim Nora'im experience to make sure things run right. Any of us who saw what they did from up close are filled with both admiration for their mastery of detail and complexity, as well as appreciation for the amount of time and personal sacrifice involved.

It is also easy to overlook the people who get "paid" to do what they do, namely Rabbi Kelman and Peggy Sandel. I believe in many ways it's easier to be a volunteer at the synagogue than a paid staff member, because you never get paid enough to do what you do. In addition, getting paid sets up an expectation that no matter what you do, you're just doing what you should be doing. Rabbi Kelman must be "on" for as much as 14 hours straight, a constant "provider" for the congregation, not only during the services but for all the people who want/need his attention during the breaks. He too does not get to pray in the way we do, because of his perpetual public role. Peggy Sandel as Ritual Coordinator (in my view the second most important job in the synagogue) logs many hours creating all the extra services required, such as Sukkot and Simchat Torah. This happens when everyone is already fried by Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. In addition, many of these holidays are mid-week, when the pool of available people is much smaller.

All four of these people were key to the holidays being what they were for all of us: Todah Rabah! ?

I somehow managed to get through 24 years of formal education without ever taking chemistry. So I need all the help I can get when it comes to understanding the elements, and some help comes from Hebrew. The Hebrew words used for the different elements share roots with other Hebrew words and the interconnection between them makes sense of what they are and what they do. For example: