On April 12, 19, and 26, Sixth Street Community Synagogue will be hosting the “Baruch She’amar” Festival of the Spoken Word!

Monday April 26th, 8.15 pm: Samuel Menashe and Stanley Moss!Two poetry titans, Samuel Menashe and Samuel Moss will read their poetry, and afterwards hold court in a panel discussion about their personal Jewish poetics. Curated by Jake Marmer.

Samuel Menashe is the first recipient of the Neglected Masters Prize established by The Poetry Foundation. Born in New York City in 1925, Menashe has practiced his art of “compression and crystallization” (in Derek Mahon’s phrase) in poems that are brief in form but startlingly wide-ranging and profound in their engagement with ultimate questions. Dana Gioia has written: “Menashe is essentially a religious poet, though one without an orthodox creed. Nearly every poem he has ever published radiates a heightened religious awareness.” Intensely musical and rigorously constructed, Menashe’s poetry stands apart in its solitary meditative power. But it is equally a poetry of the everyday, suffused, in the words of Christopher Ricks, with “the courage of comedy, flanked by the respect of innocence.” The humblest of objects, the minutest of natural forms here become powerfully suggestive, and even the shortest of the poems are spacious in the perspectives they open.

See WNYC’s video special on Menashe’s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EefUhL2kHkM.

Stanley Moss is a widely acclaimed poet and translator, as well the publisher of the Sheepmeadow Press. John Ashberry called Moss the “American poetry’s best-kept secret, better known as the innovative publisher of other poets than for his own highly charged, stingingly beautiful lyrics.” To read NYT review of Moss’s work, and find out more about him see http://stanleymoss.com/.

 Previous Baruch She’amar gigs -

Monday April 12th, 8.30pm: The Night of Jewish Performance Poetry, featuring Vanessa “Hebrew Mamita” Hidary, Matthue Roth, and Jake Marmer.

Vanessa Hidary, AKA The Hebrew Mamita is a native New Yorker, who seems to write a lot about Jews, men, race, and juicy thighs. She has aired three times on HBO’S Def Poetry Jam, was a finalist at Nuyorican Poets Café , and her solo show “Culture Bandit”, which has toured nationally, has been produced by LAByrinth theatre company, Roar @ Nuyorican Poets café, and the Hip Hop theatre festival, among others. She was featured in the award winning film “The Tribe” which appeared in numerous festivals such as Sundance and Tribeca Film. She is the director of the show “Monologues” ; An evening of solo performances exploring Jewish Identity inspired by a 10-day trip through Israel. She received her MFA in acting from Trinity Rep Conservatory. See her signature poem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubdGjzzJiVs

Matthue Roth, is the author of the Orthodox Jewish punk-rock road-trip novel Never Mind the Goldbergs, two other novels, and a memoir that isn’t true. His screenplay “1/20″ is in production as a motion picture. He lives in Brooklyn and keeps a secret diary at http://www.matthue.com . See him live here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyk09_rbcrQ.

Jake Marmer is a performance poet who has performed widely in New York and Jerusalem with illustrious jazz greats. Here’s a sample of his work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBWjed_1cx4, and you can check out http://jakemarmer.wordpress.com/ for more.

Monday April 19th, 8.30pm: Yiddish Play! David Mandelbaum’s “Yosl Rakover Speaks to G-d.” On the the anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Yiddish Theater on the Lower East Side.

Suggested Donation $18
The show runs 50 minutes.
David Mandelbaum as Yosl Rakover
Directed by Amy Coleman

In the ruins of the ghetto of Warsaw, among heaps of charred rubbish, there was found, packed tightly into a small bottle, the following testament, written during the ghetto’s last hours by a Jew named Yosl Rakover.

For twenty years the story of Yosl Rakover was believed to be an eyewitness account of the ghetto’s last hours, and the true story of a pious Jew whose fate it was to die fighting the beasts that destroyed his world. In the hours before his death he reconsiders his relationship with G-d and concludes that although his relationship with G-d has changed, his faith in Him remains, and his love for Him burns as strongly as ever.

The story was actually written in 1946, by Tzvi Kolitz, a young Palestinian who as a delegate to the World Zionist Congress traveled extensively to speak on behalf of the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine. His clandestine purpose was to recruit fighters for the Irgun, of which he was a member. While in Argentina, he was asked to write an article for a Yiddish paper in Buenas Aires for their special Yom kippur edition. The result was Yosl Rakover Speaks to G-d. Through a set of bizzare circumstances the story was republished in an Israeli Yiddish journal without his name on it, and was assumed to be real. It has since been recognized as one of the classics of Holocaust literature, been translated into many languages, and been the subject of essays by theologians and philosophers. Adapted for the stage and performed by David Mandelbaum, it makes for powerful and compelling theater. In Yiddish with English Supertitles.

Yom HaShoah Holocaust Remembrance Commemoration

Sunday, April 11th, 2010

7.30 pm

In this memorial program the Community Synagogue Max D. Raiskin Center will remember those who perished and must never be forgotten.

Ms. Herta Weiss

Ms. Weiss will recount her experiences as a child and young adult on the eve of World War II.

Mr. Shlomo Mastbaum

Mr. Mastbaum will tell of his parents’ experiences in Poland during World War II.

Please submit names to the synagogue office of those holocaust victims you wish to be remembered at this program. We will read these names during the program.

Yahrzeit candles will be lit and Memorial Prayers recited.
We ask all members and friends of our synagogue to join us.

Parashat Tzav

This week our parasha continues with the details of the korbanot, the offerings to be brought on the altar in the mishkan, and later the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Last week we read about the various offerings that an individual would bring. These offerings were always brought during the day.

In Parashat Tzav we get an insight into the domain of the kohanim (priests), whose activities extended into the night. “It is the olah offering that  is on the fire all night, until the morning, and the flames of the altar will remain burning” (Lev. 6:2).

The night seems to be the stage for acts of  elevated holiness, to take place while most of the world is sleeping.
The Talmud (Eruvin 65a) reports an interesting exchange about the different qualities of day and night activities. Rabbi Yehuda says that nights are for sleeping, implying that daytime is the best opportunity for acquiring wisdom, while R’ Shimon Ben Lakish says that moonlight was created only for learning.  Rav Zeira credited the clarity of his learning to his daytime study. Obviously there is more going on here than meets the eye.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) teaches that for most of the world, the day is the most powerful platform for our activities. The clarity that Rav Zeira mentioned is epitomized by the unique prophecy of Moshe himself, who, unlike any other prophet, did not communicate with G-d in a dream or night vision. “Rather, the Word of G-d that came to Moshe reached the lucid intellect of an aware individual” (R’ S.R. Hirsch, Vayikra 6:2). Therefore, it is only natural that the korbanot be offered during the day. No new offerings could be accepted after hours.

But, after a day of striving, of accomplishment, of offering our best, and celebrating our very existence, we can rest assured that the processes that went into play by light of day can continue into the night. Rav Hirsch points out a chronological dichotomy. The universal structure of time begins at night, and proceeds into the day. “……And it was evening, and it was morning, one day” (Gen. 1:5).  The yearly calendar follows suit. Rosh Hashana, the anniversary of the creation of human life, takes place in the fall month of Tishrei. The year begins in the autumn and proceeds into the night of winter, and awakens to spring time, matures into summer, and fades away in a wash of color.

Not so the sacred chronology. Here, life begins with the day, where one can toil, and invest in the future, knowing that our physical and spiritual offerings will remain burning deep into the night. Rav Hirsch writes,” For the night, which symbolizes the stillness of death, cannot drag down the day down after it; rather, the day, which symbolizes a life of closeness to G-d, raises with it the night”.

Likewise, the sacred calendar starts with the month of Nissan, the month of Aviv, that is, springtime.  Our dedication and hard work make it possible to proceed into the dark of winter knowing that we have done our part, and that G-d will provide the return on our investment.

As the fires burn on the altar into the evening, the darkness of night provides the stage for our ultimate redemption.  It’s no surprise we are days away from the festival of freedom, from Pesach. The Torah tells us the Exodus took place at midnight, and during our seder we will recall the power of the divine illuminated against the dark backdrop, in the song Vayehi bachatzi ha’layla, It Happened at Midnight.

“Bring quickly, Lord, the day which is not day or night.
The day is yours, G-d, and so is the night.
Set guards about your city day and night,
Give us vision clear by day by night,
And it came to pass, at midnight”

The true vision of freedom will be as clear as day.
Next Year in Jerusalem…..

Shabbat Shalom, and good night,
Rabbi Greg

“The past is the present, isn’t it? It’s the future, too.”
Eugene O’Neill

.

Parashat Vayikra

Now the half-time air was sweet perfume
While sergeants played a marching tune
We all got up to dance
Oh, but we never got the chance (Don McLean)

This week we begin our annual reading of Sefer Vayikra ( Leviticus), the third of the five books in the Chumash, the Five Books of Moses. Unlike the thrilling narrative contained in the earlier two books, Sefer Vayikra is virtually a collection of mitzvot, of commandments concerning the service in the mishkan (tabernacle) and the sacrificial rites. Our sages refer to this book as Torat Kohanim, the laws of priestly service. Many regular synagogue attendees, as well as those following along at home, respond with a yawn, or a rolling of the eyes.

Those that actually choose to engage are often challenged by the erstwhile, primitive activities. Sacrifices? Yuck! What kind of religion is this? Is this what we are praying for in every Amidah with the words, “Be favorable Hashem our G-d, toward your people Israel and their prayers, and receive their fire offerings and prayers with love…”?

To understand these, and other fascinating questions an inquiring mind should have, means rolling up your proverbial sleeves, and getting into the middle of a nearly thousand year old debate. Why should the Torah require such seemingly senseless slaughter?

The Torah calls the sacrifices korbanot, from the Hebrew root koraiv, to draw close. A korban is an offering, and animals are only one  of  a variety of offerings. If animals were NOT included it is doubtful that the English translation, “sacrifices”, would have the same connotation. Before we proceed we must note that “sacrifice” does not have the meaning of  “waste”. The animals offered were, except in a few cases, used for food, to be eaten by either the kohanim (priests), or the person bringing the offering. Even in the case of the korban olah, the burnt offering, the hide of the animal was used for shoes and clothing.

Here is what Rav Kook, a strict vegetarian who opposed the needless picking of a blade of grass, said about the morality of animal offerings:

Some people object to the idea of sacrifices out of concern for the welfare of animals. However, this objection contains a measure of hypocrisy. Why should compassion for animals only be expressed with regard to humanity’s spiritual needs? If our opposition to animal slaughter is based not on weakness of character, but on recognition of the issue’s fundamental morality, then our first step should be to outlaw the killing of animals for food, clothing, and other material benefits.

In the world’s present state, the human race is weak, both physically and morally. The hour to protect animal life has not yet arrived. We still need to slaughter animals for our physical needs, and human morality requires that we maintain clear boundaries to distinguish between the relative value of human and animal life.

At this point in time, to advocate the protection of animals in our service of God is disingenuous. Is it moral to permit cruelty towards animals for our physical needs, yet forbid their use for our spiritual service, in sincere recognition and gratitude for God’s kindness? If our dedication and love for God can be expressed - at its highest level - with our willingness to surrender our own lives and die “al kiddush Hashem,” sanctifying God’s name, then certainly we should be willing to forgo the life of animals for this sublime goal. (Olat Re’iyach, vol. I, p. 292)

Okay- but how can this type of action bring us closer to G-d?

Rabbi Saadia Gaon (882-942) noted that it is natural that people would want to bring an offering to G-d, a matana, or gift. It is something of value that is “sacrificed” to show our appreciation. Although G-d needs nothing from us, the act of offering our best raises us up, and brings us closer.

But why animals?

The Rambam (Maimonides) wrote in his Moreh Nevuchim (Guide For the Perplexed) that this type of offering was a concession for the underlying need for idolatry. Many people either worshipped pagan deities by offering animals, or worshipped animals by refraining from killing them. By channeling this instinct into a legislated ritual the Israelites could be weaned from the innate human tendencies toward illicit worship. By offering these same animals worshipped by other cultures the belief in the sovereignty of G-d was strengthened.

The Ramban (Nachmonides) vehemently disagrees with the Rambam, and states that this not a concession at all, but the divine plan for achieving spiritual unity.
The Torah states animals should be offered on the altar for a “re’iyach nicho’ach“, a pleasing aroma, the smell of roasting meat. If animal sacrifices were initially deviant behavior, why would the Torah document the offerings of Abel, Noah, Abraham, etc? Rather, the reason to offer animals on the altar is as an atonement for our shortcomings, and the animals are there in place of us! He makes a symbolic comparison of the specifics of the offerings to various ways humans fail. Even the continuous communal offerings (korban tamid) are in recognition of the fact that as a people we will continuously falter. He closes with a midrashic aside…”Do you want the truth? I only commanded the offerings so that my will be fulfilled…”.

Most medieval commentators line up on one side or the other of this debate, with various clarifications, side points, and flag waving.

If we fast forward 6 centuries we get a creative way of perhaps reconciling the opposing views. The Shadal, Rabbi Shlomo David Luzzato (1800-1865) suggests that the offerings were designed to create community, to create national unity. All offerings had to be made in the Temple, by the kohanim, and to participate one needed to be there, in person. The re’iyach nicho’ach,  sweet perfume, would only further contribute to the festivities of travelers from all over ascending to Jerusalem for spiritual growth and good times.

Sense of community… fresh barbeque.. tailgate party anyone?

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg

(more…)

Not to be missed!!

The Max Raiskin Center for the Arts at the Sixth Street Community Synagogue, in Manhattan’s historic East Village, is proud to announce the March 22 premier of NYC’s newest addition to the canon of new Jewish influenced music and culture, the Ayn Sof Arkestra and Bigger Band, under the direction of saxophonist Jazz Rabbi Greg Wall and grammy winning trumpeter Frank London.The Arkestra consists of some of the most innovative artists on the scene today, such as Pam Fleming, Paul Shapiro, Aaron Alexander, Fima Ephron, Eyal Maoz and many others. The repertoire will consist of original compositions and arrangements of the members and guest composers, in the great NuJu/Rad Jew/SunRaJoo tradition. It all kicks off on March 22, at 9PM

Admission:$15 including one free libation 

Join us for Jazz Rabbi’s invitation on Monday March 15th

7pm - How to make youse house kosher for Passover

9pm - Klezmerfest! band

Klezmerfest! is a outstanding klezmer band in the great Eastern European tradition. Klezmer music is festive dance music, the joyous sounds of celebration from the old country insuring revelers reach ecstatic heights. Klezmerfest! celebrates the great tradition of yiddish instrumental music-from the shtetls of the old country to the contemporary sounds of today’s Lower East Side revival.Freylachs, bulgars, doynas and chassidls, along with old favorites from the days of Yiddish theater make for an enjoyable, heart warming and foot stomping evening of music.

Klezmerfest! has been delighting audiences for years at such venues as the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Eldridge Street Project, the Knitting Factory, and synagogues and schools throughout the Northeast. Their latest CD is entitled “Life of the Party” , a follow up to their critically acclaimed “Party Music.

Klezmerfest! is well know for their award winning Klez for Kidz program.

www.klezmerfest.com

Dear Friends,

Pesach is here! The deepest, most liberating, ritualistic, theatrical, fun Jewish holiday - the Sixth Street Shul will be hosting both seiders. Swinging between tradition and utter hipness, Rabbi Greg Wall will lead community through these wonderful meaningful nights. The first night will recap the very basics of the tradition, in the most user-friendly warm fashion. The second night will delve deeper - into the mystical, creative underpinnings of the holiday.

The celebration is co-sponsored by Passover Across America and the National Jewish Outreach Program.

First Seider: Monday March 29th at 7pm

Second Seider: Tuesday March 30th at 7pm

Please register now - the space is limited.

To register for the first night:

To register for the second night:

Zmanim

Erev Pesach
Sunday Night:
Search for chametz after 8:03PM

Monday
Siyom Bichorot: after 6:30AM Minyan
Latest Time for Eating Chometz: 10:55AM

Latest Time for Burning Chometz: 11:58AM

Candlelighting: 6:55PM
Mincha: 7PM

Day One-Tuesday:
Shacharit 9AM
Mincha 7:10PM
Light candles after 8PM

Day Two-Wednesday
Shacharit 9AM
Mincha 7:10PM
Havdala:8:01

Shabbat Pesach
Friday
Candle lighting:7:03PM
Mincha 7:05PM

Saturday
Shacharit:9AM
Mincha: 6:55PM

Sunday
Candlelighting:7:05PM
Minchah 7:10

Monday
Shacharit: 9AM
Minchah 7PM
Light Candles after 8:07

Tuesday
Shacharit 9AM
Yizkor 10:45AM
Mincha 7PM
Havdala: 8:08

Dear all,

This Sunday, March 14th, you’re most cordially invited to our Sundays @ Sixth Street series, featuring the String Nucleus Project.

There will be a FREE masterclass with the band at 1.30pm, followed by the concert at 3pm. To purchase tickets for the concert, click here.

String Nucleus, appropriately named, is an acoustic/electric string trio, designed by nature to be expansive from the core. The core members include string players, Jon Weber, Earl Maneein and Jessie Reagen Mann, whose versatile, musical range spans multiple areas. These three musicians began working together in 2003, collaborating in the genre-bending ensemble DBR & The Mission (Opus 3 Artists). Since then, they went on to serve as leaders of Jay Z’s Hustler Symphony Orchestra, which performed with Jay-Z, Beyonce Knowles and ?uestlove, live at Radio City Musical Hall in 2006. Additional projects include performing with and recording for Cole Gentles Symphonic Rock Revival, as well as being featured as improvisers with Albert Hammond Jr (The Strokes), on his second album “¿Cómo Te Llama?”. In addition, String Nucleus has performed with Sonos Chamber Orchestra and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  Most recently, String Nucleus performed as part of the Pioneers for a Cure project, a unique organization that raises money for cancer through musical downloads. String Nucleus is featured on several recorded tracksEach of these players, classically trained by members of the renowned Orion String Quartet, views chamber music with a broad sense, respecting and integrating the core values of classical chamber music, while expanding those values to explore the uncharted, cutting edge territories that chamber music can offer audiences of all generations. http://www.myspace.com/stringnucleus

Parshiot  Vayakhel/Pekudei

“Lord Almighty I feel my temp’rature rising,
Higher and higher it’s burning through to my soul”
The Tupelo Rebbe

Our  sidra (a double !) opens with yet another mention of the mitzvah of Shabbat. It seems that Shabbat is a running sub theme of the entire tabernacle (mishkan)  section, woven throughout the text like a design in a flowing tapestry. It is no surprise that the entire methodology of tabernacle  building is what we use to codify the specifics of shabbat observation.
The Talmud (Shabbat 49B) teaches that the specific activities involved in building the mishkan are the source of the 39  catagories of creative activity (melachot) that are to be curtailed on the shabbat.

Curiously, the text of our parasha does not present us with a list of these activities, only (after threatening blatant scofflaws) a directive to refrain from building a fire on shabbat.
Why was fire singled out from among the 39 melachot? Perhaps we can learn something from the nature of fire itself.

Rabbi Ovadia Sforno (1470-1550) points out that fire can be  destructive   or  constructive. Fire was  a necessary component of  processing mishkan materials, and it was this beneficial use of fire that the Torah prohibits on Shabbat.  It was the intention that turned a potentially destructive act into a creative endeavor.

This concept is discussed at length again in tractate Shabbat (105B), as well as many other places in the Talmud. Melachot done for the wrong reason, or without intention are not considered significant.
I think we can play with this idea a bit, and apply this approach to all our activities, and the observance of shabbat itself.
Through sincere intention our activities can turn from a trivial exercise into a significant statement. Mindless ritual, especially of the type that would seem to technically avoid shabbat desecration actually is destructive-it removes us from the “zone” that is shabbat itself.

We have a choice: we can look at the cessation of creative labor as a prison, and a parallel reality emerges. Our activities and rituals can become spiritually destructive, and create a harmful fire inside that prevents us from experiencing our taste of heaven on earth.

Alternatively, we can choose to perform or refrain from the same activities, with an intention of  immersing ourselves in shabbat and basking in a glimpse of revealed light.  This can actually have the constructive benefit of giving our bodies pleasure, our minds stimulation, and letting our spirits soar.

That same burning fire, while capable of reducing a house to ashes, can heat a home, and warm our hearts.

“You light my morning sky with burning love
With burning love (hunka hunka burning love Ha)”
ibid.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg

For more info on the Tupelo Rebbe:
www.amazon.com/Schmelvis-Search-Elvis-Presleys-Jewish/dp/155022462X

Not to miss! Fabulous events this month at the Sixth Street Synagogue:

Monday March 8
Class-7PM “How to prepare your kitchen for Pesach
Concert-9PM Jazz Rabbi’s Monday Night Invitational featuring New American Quartet
$10 cover

Sunday March 14 - String Nucleus Band
1.30 Master Class with the Band
3.00 Concert

Master class is FREE; the concert is $15. Register here: http://sixthstreetsundays.eventbrite.com/

String Nucleus is an acoustic/electric string trio, designed by nature to be expansive from the core. The core members include string players, Jon Weber, Earl Maneein and Jessie Reagen Mann, whose versatile, musical range spans multiple areas. These three musicians began working together in 2003, collaborating in the genre-bending ensemble DBR & The Mission (Opus 3 Artists). Since then, they went on to serve as leaders of Jay Z’s Hustler Symphony Orchestra, which performed with Jay-Z, Beyonce Knowles and ?uestlove, live at Radio City Musical Hall in 2006. Additional projects include performing with and recording for Cole Gentles Symphonic Rock Revival, as well as being featured as improvisers with Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), on his second album “Cmo Te Llama?”. In addition, String Nucleus has performed with Sonos Chamber Orchestra and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Most recently, they performed as part of the Pioneers for a Cure project, a unique organization that raises money for cancer through musical downloads. String Nucleus is featured on several recorded tracks. Each of these players, classically trained by members of the renowned Orion String Quartet, views chamber music with a broad sense, respecting and integrating the core values of classical chamber music, while expanding those values to explore the uncharted, cutting edge territories that chamber music can offer audiences of all generations.

Monday March 15th

Class-7PM “How to prepare your kitchen for Pesach”
Concert-9PM Jazz Rabbi’s Monday Night Invitational featuring Klezmerfest!
$10 cover

Klezmerfest! is a outstanding klezmer band in the great Eastern European tradition. Klezmer music is festive dance music, the joyous sounds of celebration from the old country insuring revelers reach ecstatic heights. Klezmerfest! celebrates the great tradition of yiddish instrumental music-from the shtetls of the old country to the contemporary sounds of today’s Lower East Side revival.

Freylachs, bulgars, doynas and chassidls, along with old favorites from the days of Yiddish theater make for an enjoyable, heart warming and foot stomping evening of music.

Klezmerfest! has been delighting audiences for years at such venues as the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Eldridge Street Project, the Knitting Factory, and synagogues and schools throughout the Northeast. Their latest CD is entitled “Life of the Party” , a follow up to their critically acclaimed “Party Music.

Klezmerfest! is well know for their award winning Klez for Kidz program.

http://www.klezmerfest.com

Monday March 22nd

Class-7PM “How to prepare your kitchen for Pesach”
Concert-9PM Jazz Rabbi’s Monday Night Invitational featuring the Ayn Sof Archestra, 15-piece Jewish Big Band!
$10 cover