Tikkun Israel - A Vision for 5771

The past couple of years were a time of concern and frustration on the part of Jewish leadership, who were in search of “next generation Zionists”. To these leaders I say “fear no more”. 5771 promises to be one of continued renaissance in the Jewish world. The Jewish People need not resign to past achievements to find the courage to confront the challenges of today. Instead, look to creative initiatives sprouting in communities across North & South America, Europe, Israel, and other communities across the Jewish world. A young and innovative generation has revealed itself as inspired and ready to take hold of their destiny; to form a “ViZion” for tomorrow.

These young Jews are laying a common ground for dialogue and perspective on what it means to be a Jewish professional today. Where in the past Jewish institutions and movements found common ground by reacting to crises facing Israel and the Jewish People, today’s Jewish professionals are proactive. They are interested in collaborating beyond political and religious ideology and in working together to create transformative experiences for others to develop their own link to Jewish life and Israel. If Leon Pinsker and Theodore Herzl interpreted their Zionism in reaction to anti-Semitism, Jewish dispersion, and on defining the post-exilic Jew, 21st century Jews are initiating a ”reclamation of Zionism” as a source of inspiration and creativity. Reclaiming Zionism has become a prism through which each and every one of us imagines the potential of Jewish Peoplehood, the potential of Israel.

The call for a focus on Jewish Peoplehood comes from the depths of our collective Jewish consciousness, but has only recently resurfaced to the foreground of Jewish activism. As evidenced by the revised mandate of the Jewish Agency – focusing on Jewish Peoplehood over Aliyah - the time has come once again for a return to Peoplehood. We cannot afford to wait another 2,000 years, as our parents and grandparents did, to realize our dreams. We must learn from the past and work to ensure that our dreams are realized in the present.

Jewish tradition teaches us to actively engage in healing the world - Tikkun Olam. However, presumed in that message is the pre-requisite to also actively engage in Tikkun Israel – in healing ourselves. “ViZion”, a project of the American Zionist Movement (AZM), is engaged in Tikkun Israel, investing in the future of the Jewish People - the future of Israel. Our network focuses on:
1. Connecting Jewish young professionals working in Zionist, Israeli or Jewish not-for-profits.
2. Creating a network of like minded professionals sharing the challenges facing the Jewish communal world and their own professional development.
3. Cultivating the future of Zionist and Jewish communal leaders in a safe and open environment.

It is our responsibility as the “next generation of Zionists” to inspire others to be proactive (and not reactionary) towards strengthening Jewish Peoplehood. ViZion is the space where productive dialogue takes place; where encounters create sparks of innovation, leadership, and action. If the past couple of years were a time of concern and frustration on the part of Jewish leadership in search of ”next generation Zionists”, I say “fear no more”. As we embark on 5771, let’s look back at our accomplishments, not for self-gratification or ammunition in defense of Israel’s antagonists, but for conviction and creative inspiration. Let’s stand atop the mountain of contributions our People have made and together create a meaningful ViZion for Jewish Peoplehood and generations to come.

L’Shanna Tova u’metukah – Wishing us all a sweet and good new year,

Rabbi Leor Sinai

Feel the Shofar blast!

In the midst of the month of ELUL, the month preceding the High Holy Days; it is during this month that the voice of the Jewish People - Kol Am
Yisrael - is heard. Our People’s voice is heard every morning of the
month after Shacharit/morning services – through the blasting of the Shofar – the ram’s horn (except for the first and last days of the month to make a clear distinction between rabbinic ruling and the Torah's commandment to blow Shofar on Rosh HaShanna).
Why did the rabbis feel the need to create this ruling, to blow the Shofar throughout the month of Elul? Is it not enough during the High Holy Days?
Deep reflection is not to be taken lightly. Just as we invest our time and energy in our professional aspirations, and other needs and desires – so too we must invest in reflecting on our lives, searching for the very essence of who and why we are.
The Shofar blast every morning is meant to remind us of this very purpose; an alarm clock that awakens us from a deep, at times mundane slumber. The blasts of the Shofar scream out on behalf of our souls: CAN YOU HEAR ME?!
It is also during this period of reflection that the process of asking forgiveness for the wrong we have done to others begins (God cannot forgive us for sins done to others until we obtain forgiveness from them).
The combination of hearing the Shofar blast, and taking responsibility for our actions, is part of a journey towards heightened awareness in three areas: between one and one’s self, between one another, and one and God –
ben adam l’atzmoh, ben adam l’havero, u’ben adam l’makom.

It’s never too late to get started - your return on investment is priceless
- feel the Shofar blast!-- Rabbi Leor Sinai

World Zionist Congress - Delegate Press Release

Rabbi Leor Sinai of New York City is one of 145 American Jewish representatives who are traveling to Israel to attend the quadrennial World Zionist Congress.

A member of Darkhei Noam, Leor has been elected a delegate on behalf of MERCAZ USA, the Zionist organization of the Conservative movement.
The 36th World Zionist Congress, set for mid-June, comes 113 years after Theodore Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement, gathered about 200 Jewish leaders from around the world in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss the condition of the Jewish People. The delegates at the meeting decided to create the World Zionist Organization, which led the campaign that culminated in the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
His selection on the MERCAZ USA slate comes in recognition of his volunteer service in the community.

MERCAZ USA is the Zionist organization of the Conservative movement, the voice of Conservative Jewry within the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Zionist Movement and the Jewish National Fund. Founded more than 30 years ago, MERCAZ’s mission is to support religious pluralism in Israel and strengthen the connection between Israel and the Diaspora. For more information, go to www.mercazusa.org.

And you shall tell the story...

There are three essential mitzvoth of Passover: the removal of Chametz (made from one of five types of grains – wheat, barley, spelt, rye, & oats – mixed with water), eating Matzah, and telling the story of our ancestor’s liberation.  Of the three mitzvoth, ‘telling the story of our ancestor’s liberation’, may seem unnecessary – isn’t it obvious that we are going to tell the story anyway?  After all, its narrative serves as an instigator of Jewish memory and ritual.  

                                   

And yet we have also witnessed the story’s influence in other peoples’ movements for redemption.  From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of ‘the promised land’, to Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”; for those who seek justice, the story has inspired the masses to march for freedom.

What is it about the Passover story, as opposed to any other story of redemption?  

Rabbi Shalom Noach Berezovsky, a famous Hasidic master, believes that unlike the liberation we experienced from Babylon, or any other emancipation throughout 2,000 years of exile, יציאת מצרים, exodus from Egypt represents a redemptive status unlike any other we have experienced.  He explains that slavery in Egypt was not just physical; it was a spiritual captivity - a slavery of our neshamot, our souls.  Such confinement shackled our collective inspiration to serve as Gd’s partner in creation, bringing justice to the world. 

It makes sense that the rabbis would insist on such language of commandedness.  The mitzvah of telling the story of liberation, generation after generation, seems to have a transformative component to it, if but for a moment - Avadim Hayinu, “we were slaves…” – is real.    

This Pesach, tell the story of physical AND spiritual redemption, a redemption that offers us continuous revelation and the realization of Klal Yisrael, Jewish Peoplehood.

חג כשר ושמח

Wishing you a Liberating Passover

From Sinai