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A Reform synagogue in Brooklyn is holding special High Holidays services for Israelis
(New York Jewish Week) — In Israel, the right-wing government’s effort to weaken the country’s court system has divided society, with some of the fault lines forming between Orthodox and secular Jews.
Thousands of miles away, in Brooklyn, a Reform synagogue is hoping that it can provide a space for local Israelis wrestling with the crisis — and seeking to create community that transcends politics, too.
This weekend, Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope will be hosting its first Rosh Hashanah service geared toward Israelis. The service is part of a larger suite of programs at Beth Elohim aimed at bringing Israelis together to pray and practice Judaism in an atmosphere that is inviting to them.
“I wanted to make sure in that moment, when I thought people might really be feeling despair, that they have a sense that there’s going to be a chance to come together as Israelis in Brooklyn, and that CBE as an institution stands in solidarity with them,” said Rabbi Rachel Timoner, who leads Beth Elohim and announced the service in July, right after the Israeli government passed the first component of the judicial overhaul.
The initiative is an example of how the debate over the overhaul is forging new connections between Israeli and American Jews an ocean away. The Rosh Hashanah service comes about two months after a gathering of some 40 Israelis on the roof of Brooklyn’s Kane Street Synagogue on Tisha B’Av, the summer fast day that commemorates the destruction of the two ancient Jewish temples in Jerusalem. At the Tisha B’Av event, participants also lamented the passage of part of the overhaul.
Beth Elohim’s initiative is also the latest in a bevy of efforts to engage a growing community of expatriate Israelis — many of whom do not identify as religious — within traditional American Jewish institutions.
“For Israelis who didn’t grow up with a synagogue tradition, the chagim are really family time,” said Rabbi Josh Weinberg, who will be leading the service, using the Hebrew word for “holidays.” “And so in a place where they don’t have their parents or grandparents, it’s great that we can try to provide something.”
Beth Elohim has offered opportunities aimed at Israelis for years, including a dual Hebrew-English preschool. Dan Nadel, an Israeli Brooklynite and the music director at Manhattan’s B’nai Jeshurun synagogue, used to be a leader of Beth Elohim’s Shira B’ShiShi program. Hebrew for “Singing on Friday,” it was a monthly Shabbat service for Israelis that was led in Hebrew and incorporated Israeli food, song and poetry. The program ended in 2016 due to a lack of funding but Beth Elohim hopes to restart it.
“That was an easier lift in the sense that it was Friday night. There was music, food and community. It’s a recipe for success if you do all those things,” said Nadel. “High Holidays are a different kind of challenge.”
The High Holiday services — which will also meet on Yom Kippur and take place alongside the synagogue’s main service — will be conducted entirely in Hebrew and will incorporate modern Israeli music and poetry. Attendees can expect to hear classic Israeli folk songs like “Al Kol Eleh,” a 1980 standard by Naomi Shemer about the “bitter and sweet” of life, as well as more modern tunes from artists like Ishay Ribo, an Israeli Orthodox pop star who played to a crowd of 15,000 at Madison Square Garden last week.
“An Israeli folk song can actually take on a different dimension when it’s used as a part of the tefillah,” said Weinberg, using the Hebrew word for “prayer.” Weinberg, a Beth Elohim member and the Union for Reform Judaism’s vice president for Israel and Reform Zionism, immigrated to Israel in 2003 and spent a decade there before returning to the United States.
Weinberg added that the services for Israelis are not bound to the traditional framework typically used in American Reform spaces. He would not say how many attendees he expects but said he hopes to “fill the room” and will be happy “as long as they make a minyan,” or prayer quorum of 10 people.
“We really need to aim at a cross-section of Israelis, mostly a secular crowd, that doesn’t have a great deal of synagogue experience,” Weinberg said. “So we are going to include a lot of music, singing, discussion, and learning.”
The services will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, a conflict that, in Israel, is mourned as a tragedy in which many families lost loved ones.
Israelis at the service will sing “Lu Yehi,” also by Shemer, which she wrote during the Yom Kippur War as a prayer for Israel’s safety. It was originally inspired by the Beatles’ classic “Let it Be,” and is understood by many Israelis to capture the grief of war and the hope for a brighter future.
There will also be opportunities for attendees to study with each other from source sheets that include both classical Jewish texts and modern sources. Discussion themes will include repentance, new beginnings, Zionism and forgiveness. Weinberg hopes that the High Holiday services will be the start of more Israeli gatherings in Brooklyn, whether or not they are related to the political situation in Israel.
“It’s a diverse group, and people have different opinions and different political leanings,” said Weinberg. “Still, I think it’s an opportunity for people to come together, and to really find more community, a connection to Judaism, to spirituality, and to find a way to celebrate these holidays together.”
For many prospective attendees, finding community at a synagogue will mark a shift. In Israel, the vast majority of congregations are Orthodox, and a large portion of secular Israelis rarely if ever spend time inside them. Religious Jewish Israelis are a key part of the current government’s base, and Omer Granit, another Brooklyn-based Israeli, said some secular Israelis associate Orthodoxy with right-wing politics. Multiple Israelis said that, days before the holiday, they were still unsure whether they would attend.
But Granit recognizes that in the United States, where most Jews are not Orthodox, the landscape is different. And unlike in Israel, where a festive atmosphere pervades the fall, Jews in America need to make more of an active effort to observe the season’s holidays.
“There’s no question of identity in Israel. Everybody celebrates the holidays. But when you come here it becomes an issue,” said Granit, a former Israel Defense Forces officer who has been active in protests against the judicial overhaul. “We do care about the holidays, even if we don’t really relate to the Orthodox way of life.”
He added, “Many Israelis want to keep some of the traditions, and the Reform and Conservative movements make Judaism much more accessible for people like us.”
Nadel said he believes a prayer community for Israelis in Brooklyn can thrive. But he said offering a holiday experience that rings true to Israelis in Brooklyn who have different backgrounds, needs and opinions can be challenging — and Israel’s political crisis could make things harder. “It’s a very thin line to walk because the wounds in Israel are so open right now,” he said.
Yoni Hersch, an Israeli who attended the Tisha B’Av event and is unsure whether he will go to Beth Elohim’s Rosh Hashanah service, said that while those pain points may be difficult to navigate, they also might be what draws Israelis to come together at an American synagogue, more than 5,000 miles from where they grew up.
“In a moment of crisis, people are looking for encouragement and help,” he said. “And what is community if not that?”
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The post A Reform synagogue in Brooklyn is holding special High Holidays services for Israelis appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
The post Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
The post Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.