Chesterfield to Jerusalem: The Journey of Yisrael Moshe Chaim

An El Al flight had just rolled to a stop at the airport near Tel Aviv. In it sat a young African-American man, looking out the window.

“Ow wow, we’re here,” he thought to himself. “Now what?”

It was June of 2007, and Yisrael Moshe Chaim, who grew up as Marvin Casey of Chesterfield, Missouri, had arrived in his new country.

How It All Started

Marvin grew up in a Christian home built on respect, understanding, and interest in other cultures. As it happened, one of those cultures went to his school -- Chesterfield’s numerous and mostly prosperous Jewish population, a mix of secular and religious households pegged to several Reform and Conservative synagogues. They are, in large number, the chi

ldren and grandchildren of Jews who migrated from the city of Saint Louis in a thoroughly typical “white flight” that began in the 1960’s.

Teenage disaffection with Christian doctrine led Marvin to stop identifying as a believer, but still there were feelings.

“I knew I still believed in a higher power,” he recalls now, “but I didn’t know how to channel it.”

He started talking to his Jewish friends, and questions led to more questions.

When Marvin asked one of his friends to accompany him to High Holidays services, the reply was “Well, it will be a first for me, but sure, let’s go.”

One Thing Led to Another

Marvin wound up attending services at B’nai Amoona, a prominent Conservative synagogue in a neighboring suburb, and made the choice to study for conversion. After a year and a half, in December of 2003, he emerged from the waters of the mikvah with his new Hebrew name, Yisrael Moshe Chaim.

At this point, Yisrael/Moshe was still young enough to participate in Birthright, the program that flies young Jews, by birth or by choice, to Israel for ten days.

He stayed on for almost three weeks, in no small part because his expectations of Israel had been shattered.

“I got off the plane and was surprised to not hear bullets,” he explains, “Coming from the Midwest, You’re only exposed to the media. You don’t really get a chance to know people. You get the impression it’s some sort of war zone.”

Shabbat in Jerusalem was the next surprise.

“I had never seen an entire city shut down,” he recalls. “Literally everyone’s walking, no one is using their phones, the traffic dies down.”

“It caught me off guard,” he remembers now. “I wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Shabbat elevator.”

Turmoil on the Tarmac

Marvin came back from Israel and spent the next year learning about how to make aliyah. He was ready to go in 2006 but postponed because of that year’s war in Lebanon.

But it wasn’t the threat of war that had Marvin/Yisrael in a panic, sitting on the runway in June of 2007.

“I had done a lot of travelling before,” he remembers now, “but it didn’t occur to me until that moment that I was leaving everything and starting from zero. I had no friends, no place to live. I had five hundred dollars in my pocket.”

“I’m just going to stay on the plane,” he said to himself, “and wait until it goes back.”

Eventually, he did deplane, but spent most of his first week sealed off in his room at the hostel.

“I was waiting for someone to take me by the hand,” he recalls. “But people pointed to the bank and post office and said, ‘You’ll be okay.”

Marvin/Yisrael just put one foot in front of the other.

“Once I started taking those steps forward,” he relates now, “I never looked back. If I hadn’t had those bumps here, I would have had them in Saint Louis, or Chicago, or wherever I put down roots. I didn’t stop to second-guess myself. I didn’t have time to. I had to live.”

After five months in an ulpan, a Hebrew-language immersion program, Yisrael was out on his own in his new culture.

“After that, I was just pushing myself,” he says. “Trying to get some sort of foothold on the culture and the language. Looking back on my conversations, I see myself as the biggest weirdo, but I had to get over the shyness and reluctance to just speak and make mistakes.”

Yisrael Meets Oshrat

By September of 2009, the clock was winding down towards Rosh HaShanah. Yisrael was living in Jerusalem and working as a dance teacher and choreographer (Read more from the Jerusalem Post). A drink with friends crossed his path with that of Oshrat, a

daughter of Russian and Moroccan families, and the spark was immediate. (Read more from The Jewish Week)

By early 2010, the two were already making plans for marriage, and Oshrat’s Orthodox family made it clear they wanted their future son-in-law to go through an Orthodox conversion.

“They thought of me as Jewish,” he relates. “They just wanted me to be more Jewish.”

And so Yisrael dove head-first into the taffy-pull between the military, the official rabbinate, and the complexities of modern life, which in early 2010 also included five months of service in the Israeli Defense Forces. Conversion through the military seemed best, as it does for thousands of other immigrants.

“I had already been living Jewishly for so long,” he explains, “so I went straight to the beit din. They told me I had to go study at a local yeshiva until I could obtain a letter of recommendation from the head rabbi of the yeshiva, but the rav didn’t approve of conversions in the army. So he wanted me to go through with a civil conversion.”

For the next four months, Yisrael shuttled back and forth between squabbling rabbinic authorities, all the while studying, working and preparing for an October wedding. The appearance before the beit din happened with only a week to spare, and the rabbis had to scramble to arrange the documents and Yisrael’s second trip to the mikvah.

“It was a very intense ordeal,” he remembers.

Marvin The Israeli

It’s been almost ten years now since Marvin Casey of Chesterfield started the journey towards the life he now enjoys as a married Jerusalemite, fluent in Hebrew and well established within the Israeli arts community.

Still, there are times when Yisrael can’t help seeing things through the lens he acquired growing up as an African-American male in one of the most racially polarized cities in the United States.

One such time he’ll never forget.

“I was on an Eged bus with a friend in Jeruslaem,” he recalls. “I saw a very small blue and white mini-bus. I asked my friend what it was.”

“‘Oh, that’s an Arab bus,’ he said.” I didn’t know that Arab buses existed.”

It felt weird.

“Like what it was like to be a white person,” Yisrael describes, “in the 1940s or 1950s. It was like being in a white restaurant and seeing a black person walk by. It was weird to experience it on the other side. I wasn’t on the side that was getting vilified, I was on the side that was living in the suburbs.”

Another memory is a chilling conversation with a group of young children, none older than four or five.

“You were in the army, right?” one child asked.

“Yes,” answered Yisrael.

“How many Arabs did you kill?” came the next question.

Yisrael explained that he army service was meant to protect people, and killing was only a last resort. And besides, he said, he didn’t kill any people.

“Not people,” one child said. “Arabs.”

Everything Marvin grew up learning screams against what he heard from these children.

“I was raised in a household of tolerance and understanding,” he explains. “And it’s very hard for me to put all Arabs in the same boat that says, ‘Oh, they all want us dead.’ I have Arab friends, and I know very clearly that’s not the case.”

Yisrael remembers times when Marvin saw people crossing the street to avoid him, locking their doors as he approached, following him around stores.

“Being a black person,” he says, “I’ve experienced being lumped in with other people just because you share a common feature. That hits very close to home for me.”

“The bottom line is, as much as there might be Arabs who want us out of the country, there are Jews who want everybody who’s not Jewish out of the country. It’s just not going to happen. There will never be a country that is completely Jewish or Arab. We need to come to an understanding, otherwise the situation will remain what it is.”

As for Yisrael...

It’s not at all uncommon for people who grow up in St. Louis to get an itch, no matter how far away they might live, to come back to a city most famous in some parts for its frozen custard and toasted ravioli. Aside from family and childhood friends, the blended suburbs and closely knit Jewish community are a powerful draw for many.

“Sometimes I do miss St. Louis itself,” Yisrael relates. “It’s familiar. It’s something I know. St. Louis was my whole life up until making aliyah. A piece of me will always be there, and I’ll always feel a pull to go back.” Read More......

New Spirit: Attracting Young Adults to Jerusalem

Urban revitalization is happening all over the world in a number of different ways. In Israel, a group called New Spirit (Ruach Hadasha) is focusing on young adults as the main catalyst of this process. It just so happens that two of the main people behind New Spirit will be in St. Louis Thursday night.
New Spirit is based on the idea that "one of the main elements which link people to a city is emotional involvement, stemming from a feeling of personal commitment."
To achieve this involvement, they focus on getting young adults to volunteer. The primary focus of the volunteering activities is an urban 'pioneer' program in which young adults are integrated into tough neighborhoods. In describing this pioneer program, they say the following:

This project is based on the assumption that true long term integration of highly educated, ideologically committed and motivated students into Jerusalem's neighborhoods can serve as the key to long term development of local communities' human resources. Following the success of the pilot program and a recent recruitment campaign, over 120 students bought in this concept yielding 7 student groups, now making their first steps "on the ground" in Kiryat Yovel, Morasha, Katamon, Neve Yaakov, Armon Ha'natziv and other neighborhoods. Each group is committed to establish at least one form of informal educational framework (i.e. study centre, extra curricular and enrichment workshops, etc.) and is working in synergy with the local neighborhood leadership.

Additionally, New Spirit has created internship opportunities to give students the professional experience and contacts necessary to land jobs in Jerusalem after they graduate. This program has been so successful that New Spirit was asked to expand the program to several other academic institutions around Israel.

While it might be harder to convince students to live in tougher neighborhoods in St. Louis, the internship program is incredibly applicable to St. Louis, which attracts students from around the world to our fine universities, but fails to keep them post-graduation. It is my belief that a program focused on creating local internship and networking opportunities could gradually stop the brain drain.

Thursday night, drop by Next Dor at 7 and hear what these entrepreneurs have to say.
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Championing the City

Last night, in Detroit, Community Next hosted a town hall meeting. Community Next is Detroit's online community hub for young adults, and decided to host the meeting in order to figure out what additional resources or opportunities would interest the young adults it serves. The main draw was a well known business leader who recently moved his headquarters to downtown Detroit.

What started off with a simple enough premise was, to some degree, hijacked by a group of ten or so young adults who had chosen to move to downtown Detroit and focused on championing the merits of the urban lifestyle. While many of the other, suburban young adults raised objections about safety and access to groceries and other necessities, this ardent group of civic champions battled every claim.

While Community Next might not have received the information they hoped, perhaps they were given a message they (and we) need to hear. There are Jewish young adults who refused to be scared away from our urban centers and are at the forefront of rebuilding our cities.

In St. Louis, people like David Singer, of Warehouse of Fixtures, which offers new and used office furniture, or Jeff and Randy Vines of STL Stylehave decided not only to locate their businesses in the city, but also their residences.

What would happen, if here in St. Louis, we tried hosting a town hall of the same sort? Would the young urbanists even bother showing up? After all, so much of our community infrastructure is based in the county, with only one synagogue in the city itself. Many of the young adults in this community bear the cautiousness and concerns of their suburban parents, while being almost totally ignorant about the actual contents of the city. What would happen, thought, if that meeting were to take place, and the 'city Yids' actually made a strong and impassioned case for living in the city? What if the city became cool enough that it was worth taking 'risks' to live in?

Despite all of the trash talking that takes place about Detroit, maybe we in St. Louis could learn a thing or two. Read More......

Bribes to Save Jewish Lives

Later last year, I started a new position in the Jewish community that centers around reaching out to Birthright Israel participants to help facilitate connections between them and the Jewish community.

I have heard a wide range of experiences concerning the trip, ranging from transformational experiences, to those for whom the trip had zero impact. Considering all of the conversation about the effectiveness, cost, and return on investment of Birthright, I want to try to put the Jewish people's investment in Birthright in context.

This is no where close to the first time that the Jewish world has invested huge amounts of money to reconnect, reunite, or relocate Jews.

Maimonides aka the Rambam, one of the most famous Jewish scholars of all time, is said to have organized several Jewish communities to pay ransom for Jewish families taken hostage by crusaders.

In the course of the modern state of Israel's short history, it has facilitated the emigration of Jews from Yemen, Ethiopia, the former USSR, and others, often using money from the American Jewish community to pay off dictators in order to let Jews go. These programs were so successful that these days there are very few Jews in need of these types of services.

While the money of previous decades was spent saving Jews from others, today, it is spent saving Jews from themselves. Programs like Birthright Israel and Masa, which spend between $1,500 to $3,000 per participant exist not only to connect (primarily American) Jewish young adults to Israel, but also to ignite and strengthen participants' sense of Jewish identity. Whereas previous efforts and dollars focused on Jews in poverty or facing threats, many of the programs today target relatively affluent Jews.

With a wide range of Jewish foundational, Federation, and Israeli government support, these programs have taken several hundred thousand Jewish young adults to Israel for 10 day, or longer experiences. In fact, a Birthright experience is becoming almost as common as a bar or bat mitzvah. And why not? It is almost as highly incentivized.

The enormous amount of money being spent on these programs raises a number of questions, not just about the effectiveness of the programs, but also the ideas behind them. For example, should every Jewish person feel as though a free trip to Israel is literally their birthright? If so, are they going to be willing to reinvest in the future for someone else's trip? Does the trip make them any more likely to become philanthropically involved in the Jewish community? Is there some point at which providing so many free and deeply subsidized trips actually decreases the willingness of a participant to pay for something of the like in the future?

Perhaps, even with Birthright, we shouldn't set the bar too high. After all, while both the Soviet- and Ethiopian-Jewish Exodus brought Jews to safer places, the missions were not totally successful. In the United States, many of those Russian immigrants never found their place in the Jewish community, and now, many more of their children feel very little connection at all. In Israel, Ethiopians continue to face disproportionate levels of poverty and many feel disenfranchised.

With a huge share of Jewish philanthropic dollars now going towards young adult identity building, and what some say equates to bribing people to be Jewish, we have to hope that programs are effective, and that the dollars are well invested. Although it seems less dramatic than the thought of Jews threatened by the KGB, civil war, famine, or pogroms, the Jewish community has clearly decided that losing Jews to assimilation is no less of a crisis. Read More......

What's Ahead in 2011

Over the past year, at an ever-increasing rate, a number of interesting conversations have been taking place about Jewish Community, Jewish communities, and urban renewal.
I have had the opportunity to speak on a number of these topics, from the Birthright Next Conference in New Orleans, Synagogue 3000's Next Dor conversation in New York, and the recent conference on Rebuilding Jewish Communities in Detroit.

It certainly seems as though these conversations are coming to a head.

Recently, the Editor of David's Voice (my brother), wrote an interesting article about the role and responsibilities of the Jewish community in Cincinnati to the city itself, its history, legacy, and future. He writes:

And now the challenge is upon us again. I feel like it is our responsibility, as Jewish Cincinnatians, to help our city at large and help save another part of what gives our city its definition, the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. In short, we can’t let the past slip away. I implore you to learn more about the history there, to take one of the brewery tours (which are fantastic - http://www.otrbrewerydistrict.org/) or even just take a stroll down one of its enchanting streets. I think you will begin to see why what we have there is worth saving.

In many of the conversations I have been a part of, this idea has constantly resurfaced; Jews have often played a large role in the development of the cities in which they find themselves, but what about the redevelopment?

As young adults today, we have more mobility than ever, that when coupled with the allure of bigger cities, is often irresistible. And why not? Bigger cities mean more jobs, more culture, a larger dating pool, and a sense of adventure.

How can cities like Cincinnati, Detroit, and St. Louis stand up to all that New York, Chicago, and San Francisco have to offer?

The first way, as the David's Voice piece alludes to, is the there actually are quite a few interesting things already happening in our cities, but we are often so out of the loop that we have no idea. I spoke with a girl from St. Louis who is currently studying in Texas yesterday. She group us where most of the Jews did, hearing the same tired refrain that the city was dangerous, and as a result, never learned much about it. I started telling her about some of the neighborhoods and haunts I like and she responded with a bit of bewilderment. She hadn't even considered St. Louis as an option, because she knew nothing about it.

The second area in which smaller cities can compete is by emphasizing the functional gaps that do exist and presenting them as opportunities for willing entrepreneurs. I spoke with a friend yesterday who received a prestigious fellowship that will set him up for success in a new educational venture he hopes to launch. If he can be properly connect to venture capital, mentors, and human capital in St. Louis, he might be willing to start the company locally. We need to look to Washington University, among others, as a resource to connect him with young programming and leadership talent. Not only will this help him access the talent pool he needs, but it will also keep that talent in the area.

But the responsibility doesn't just rest on the secular leadership of the city. Jewish communities must take leadership roles by creating and contributing to:
1. venture capital available for young entrepreneurs
2. job placement services for both graduating students and local young professionals
3. local internship opportunities to give students a chance to see St. Louis beyond the ivory tower
4. the preservation of the unique historical character of St. Louis
5. encouragement of urban resettlement of community members

Entrepreneurs go where the opportunities are, and in a world of web-based products, the opportunity is often ease of access to capital. St. Louis, for example, ranks 3rd in dollars in trust funds. These funds do very little for the local economy because they aren't put into action. Combined with a conservative investment climate, and most harmful, a fear of failure, people are simply less likely to take chances. By putting up dollars, and creating a culture of supporting innovation and learning from failure, St. Louis can and will draw more entrepreneurs, who will create jobs.

The economic recession has created an very interesting phenomenon in which post-college children are moving back into their parents' houses. This influx of young adults, who might otherwise be elsewhere, should be seen as an immense opportunity. It is imperative that we make every effort to provide this group with productive employment opportunities while we have access to them. Additionally, it is important that we connect with university students in St. Louis in order to provide them employment opportunities post-graduation. St. Louis has already attracted top-tier talent to the city as students, but it has not retained them. Many St. Louis employers actively avoid transplant students for fear they won't stay. This must change.

Piggy-backing on this, we must create internships that will provide students with positive and appealing opportunities to spend a summer in St. Louis and get to know the city while gaining valuable experience. In a conversation hosted by a Wash U dean with alumni who had stayed in town, the one commonality was that all of us had spent a summer during college in St. Louis. That summer showed me an entirely different side of St. Louis that was exciting and enticing.

Beyond interchangeable jobs and internships, there is a character of the city which should be celebrated and preserved. The urban neighborhoods of red brick are unique and high quality (so much so that abandoned buildings are often stripped of this brick). Now, we shouldn't go overboard, requiring materials so expensive that they all but prohibit developers from rehabbing the property, but neighborhoods with character are attractive, particularly to younger buyers and should be protected.

Finally, and perhaps most controversially, is advocating on behalf of urban resettlement. Sure, the suburbs seem safer, have better public schools, and are 'great places to raise kids', but they are also unsustainable in their density and fragmentation, and tend to suck resources from their urban core. If this urban core collapses, so too will the suburbs, as we have so vividly witnessed in Detroit.

You see, quite simply, if the cities in which our communities reside collapse, our communities will surely follow. Rebuilding our cities will require the coordination and resources found in the Jewish institutions, combined with the ideas, resourcefulness and brazen idealism of our young adults. Read More......

SHI 360 Takes On The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

Who raps in Hebrew, Arabic, French, and English? None other than super-semite, SHI 360. SHI, who gained a fair amount of exposure with Subliminal, one of the most well-known Israeli rappers, has been working on his newest solo album, and just released a clip from a song called 'Jew World Order'. In it, SHI takes on many of the most insidious accusations made against Jews with a sarcastic, "We did it".

Which reminds me of a joke about a Jewish man who was riding on the London Underground reading an Arab newspaper. A friend of his, who happened to be riding in the same underground car, noticed this strange phenomenon. Very upset, he approached the newspaper reader. "Moishe, have you lost your mind? Why are you reading an Arab newspaper?" Moishe replied, "I used to read the Jewish newspaper, but what did I find? Jews being persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through assimilation and intermarriage, Jews living in poverty. So I switched to the Arab newspaper. Now what do I find? Jews own all the banks, Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, Jews rule the world. The news is so much better!"

Check out SHI's new track:

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Think Tank: Rebuilding Communities

Most people think of Detroit as the first failed major American city, but if anywhere has a chance of totally reinventing what an urban community looks like, it is this very same place.

This past Sunday and Monday, the Jewish Federations of North America convened a conference entitled "Rebuilding Jewish Communities by Attracting and Retaining Young adults.

St. Louis was an obvious candidate to participate in this conversation. The population of the city itself had been in decline for a long time, with businesses packing up shop, airlines dropping routes, and natives young adults often not returning after college.

The conference sought to present case studies of the efforts being made in several cities across North America including Montreal, Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh and STL. In addition to leaders in the young adult movements of these cities were representatives from the Schusterman Family mega-Foundation, PresenTense, Moishe House, and Jewish Federations of North America (with yours truly representing Moishe House, Next Dor STL, and JFED STL's Concierge model).

Every city is a bit different, but what united those in attendance is that they are, by and large, losing young adults to more major markets. Overwhelmingly, this population flight has been from smaller communities to larger ones, from the Midwest outward to the coasts. Richard Florida even wrote a book or two about this.

The conference showed that people are indeed troubled by this trend, and that these boom towns of the 18-1900's want to have ensure they have futures well into the 2000's.

While the conference started out with some excellent information about young adults as a demographic and the overall urban renewal strategies needed to revitalize neighborhoods and cities, the majority of the conversations focused on Jewish young adult engagement.

Some of the recurring themes included creating social venture capital, investing in Jewish young adult ideas and supporting the resulting ventures, shifting the culture from focusing on young adult philanthropic giving immediate towards building identity and community first, and then letting the value of both naturally lead into support. Many of the presenters spoke about helping connect people to the city, beyond merely the Jewish community, so that people feel a part of the city life and can see the location as a long term destination.

Speakers pointed to the fact that we live in an era of 'Jewish by choice' as well as increasingly fragmented identity, which is more fluid than previous generations. This led to the point that Judaism and Jewish community is no longer motivated by paranoia and fear, but must rather be championed by values, joy, and service.

One of the interesting points that came up in the course of the discussion is that young adults, Jewish or otherwise want to be where there is a perception of opportunity; opportunity for creating a social life, a professional life, and a romantic life. If young adults abandon smaller cities and don't return, the cities will fail under the weight of a decreased tax base and lowered density. If the cities fail, the Jewish communities will fail. It is therefore essential that any community development/engagement strategy understand that it fits into the broader goal of urban revitalization.

If you are from St. Louis and find yourself elsewhere, why did you leave? What would bring you back? And if are already here, what do you need to keep you here and excited to be here? Read More......

Review of 'Last of the Red Hot Mamas'

Sophie Tucker was one of the queens of show business. With a career that spanned several decades, styles of music, and deeply impacted the likes of Bette Middler, even those of us unfamiliar with Tucker, have likely been impacted by her contributions. When I heard that the New Jewish Theatre was performing a show entitled "Last of the Red Hot Mama's", I figured it would be worth learning more about.
It turns out that everything about Sophie Tucker was large. Her personality, her voice, and apparently, her libido. The NJT's take on her definitely got the first two parts of this equation right. The cast were all solid, particularly the three actresses playing Sophie throughout her life. Each brought a great deal of talent and passion, and songs like 'My Yiddishe Momma' were filled with emotion. The new theater at the Staenberg JCC has top quality lighting, while maintaining an rather intimate feel. A few lines were lost when actors were facing away from us, but in general, being up close to the action was worth it.

The story largely follows the life of Sophie Tucker from young immigrant, working in her parents restaurant, through her career starting off in tin pan alley, to her ascent as an international sensation. The story weaves in songs from the period to help tell the story, as well as to provide background into the sounds of the times.

I can certainly see my grandparents getting nostalgic at the performance. Which brings me to a criticism of the show. Sophie Tucker's performance and persona drew greatly from the risque and often relatively explicit content, hence the name 'Red Hot Mama'. With the exception of a few lines of dialogue, well into the second half of the show, there was little attention given to this aspect of Sophie Tucker.

Overall, the show was well produced and performed. If you are thinking about checking it out, stay tuned for details about a special performance (and price) for young adults. You can also check out dates and prices here.
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Chappy Hannukah

So the weather has suddenly caught up with the calendar, and just in time, the festival of lights shows up. So, maybe it is worth explaining, just what is this Hanukkah anyways, and why does it have a whole station on Sirius/XM
For many Jews, particularly in America, Hannukah is basically our answer to Christmas ('instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights!'). Except that it isn't, at all. For one, the holiday predates Jesus (and therefore, his birthday), and also, despite being a pretty common story (they tried to kill us and keep us from being Jews, we survived, let's eat), Hannukah is actually a pretty minor Jewish holiday.

Ok, so what is this all about? So, you probably know about Mattityahu (Hasidic Rapper Mattisyahu's namesake), and his son Judah, who revolted against the Syrian king Antiochus after the king sacked Jerusalem, spoiled the temple and effectively outlawed the practice of Judaism.

Maybe you heard that the revolt was successful and the Maccabees pushed the Syrians out of Jerusalem and rededicated the temple. And, I'm guessing that you knew that there was only enough oil to burn for one day, but miraculously, it burned for eight (which was the amount of time it took to harvest, crush, and processes more oil).

But you probably didn't know much about the mystical dimension of an eight day festival. Check it:

It has also been noted that the number eight has special significance in Jewish theology, as representing transcendence and the Jewish People's special role in human history. Seven is the number of days of creation, that is, of completion of the material cosmos, and also of the classical planets. Eight, being one step beyond seven, represents the Infinite. Hence, the Eighth Day of the Assembly festival, mentioned above, is according to Jewish Law a festival for Jews only (unlike Sukkot, when all peoples were welcome in Jerusalem). Similarly, the rite of brit milah (circumcision), which brings a Jewish male into God's Covenant, is performed on the eighth day. Hence, Hanukkah's eight days (in celebration of monotheism over Hellenistic humanism) have symbolic importance for practicing Jews.

Great, but where did all this music come from? Why is Hannukah probably the second most celebrated Jewish holiday in the US other than Passover? Probably because it is fun. I mean, you get to eat fried foods, you get chocolate coins for acting like a kid and spinning a top, and in a lot of families, you get presents.

Particularly in a country like ours, where people trample each other for Black Friday sales, and brag about their holiday present haul, its hard to not want to keep up with the Smith's, right?

Well, either way, here's to eight bright (and crazy) nights! Hannukah Sameach

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Friendsgiving

Last night, at a cozy house in Dogtown, a number of St. Louis' funkiest musicians came together for an event known as Friendsgiving.
Friendsgiving, at its simplest, is a potlock jam session, where participants bring a dish or an instrument and eat and play well into the night.

Organized and hosted by KDHX's Andy Coco, who plays in numerous St. Louis bands (Gumbohead, Dogtown All-stars, Hot Karl), the evening brought together some great people, food, and music.

Check out two of the Jams below. Apologies for the video quality, this was taken with a mobile phone.





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Moishe House St. Louis Gets Recognition

The St. Louis Moishe House has done it again, winning Moishe House's House of the Month award. This award, which highlights one of the 33 houses across the world, recognizes the work that the newest combination of residents have done.

In the month of October, MHSTL hosted events for Simchat Torah, Shabbat dinners, attended screenings of an Israeli film, Lebanon, held current event discussions, and a social action Halloween program.

The St. Louis house, which was founded in 2008, is currently located in Richmond Heights. To learn more about the group, check them out here and on facebook, here. Read More......

Sklar Brothers Bring The NSFW, Young Adults Dig It

This past Saturday night at a ballroom at the Sheraton in Clayton, comedy duo, the Sklar Brothers, unleashed their humor on the Young Professionals of the Jewish community.

The event, organized to celebrate the end of the 2010 Federation annual campaign, brought together around 300 young adults (and some not so young) to laugh at the unique tag-team style of the St. Louis natives.

The brothers, known for their work on HBO and elsewhere joked about everything from growing up thinking they were poor, to problems buying the story of the original "Karate Kid" and brought some refreshing vulgarity to a world of Jewish events often known for being rated PG.

Although the language was at times gratifyingly crude, the controversy from the evening came from a decidedly different place: the cost.

The cost of the event, $15, could only be paid once a minimum $52 contribution had been made to the Federation. That brings the cost for two to over $80. In fairness, the donation goes towards the Federation's support of basic social services, agencies, advocacy, and sexier things like Next Dor and Moishe House. Last year, the minimum donation was $100, pointed out the YPD staff person, and truly, for those of us to earn an income a dollar a week isn't really a lot to ask.

But what about all of the graduate students, new arrivals and unemployed young adults living here? Many of them aren't particularly situated here in St. Louis, have little affiliation with the city or the Federation, and tend to simply not have a lot of spare cash. For several friends, they found the required donation distasteful and a turnoff. They felt disenfranchised and saw the whole thing as a reassertion that Federation sees them only as the contents of their pocketbooks.

In my opinion, the whole issue comes down to one of communication, and might have been avoided by a slightly different marketing campaign. A casual perusal through the promotional materials will show that the impetus of the event was communicated in a way that led to a bit of confusion. Many people don't understand what the campaign is and so saying that the event celebrates its close didn't help to disambiguate. Instead, the materials could have pointed out that as a thank you to all of those who enabled Federation to continue its important work in the community with a minimum donation of $52, an event was being organized with famous comedians, candy, and an open bar for $15, which is not a bad deal. From there, communicating that it is not too late to take advantage of the event by making the minimum donation is relatively easy. That clarifies the purpose of the event, the reason for the minimum donation, and includes a call to action to inspire those stragglers to donate.

In the end, I was able, through some finagling (and a larger than minimum donation), to ensure that a friend of mine who couldn't afford it, but loves the Sklar brothers, was able to attend. The event was well produced and put together, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It was certainly a success, but even from successes, one can draw lessons from the tensions along the way.
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St. Louis Young Adults Make Waves in NYC

This story is reposted from Jewishinstlouis.org and can be found here

When the St. Louis Next Dor delegates spoke at a Synagogue3000 Conference in New York City recently before 176 attendees representing 53 congregations across the country, everyone listened with rapt attention. The four 20-somethings representing St. Louis - David Elias, Aliza Haber, Ariel Lyons-Warren and Yoni Sarason - were the youngest group of presenters addressing one of the most important issues facing our Jewish community – how to engage young Jewish adults. And they posited a unique model.

Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, CEO of S3000, said of the Next Dor STL contingent, “They not only provided a pilot project voice about what and how they’ve created a successful young Jewish adult engagement initiative, but also demonstrated to the mostly Boomer and Gen X crowd that young Jewish adults really do know what they want and how to go about creating sacred community on their terms.”

The S3000 event brought together Jewish organizers, rabbis, congregational leaders, federation representatives, experts in communal initiatives and others committed to community building for Jews in their 20s and 30s. The goal of the conference was to have a free-thinking and honest conversation about how to reach the next generation of Jews. And underlying that was to explore the relevance synagogues will play in the future of Jewish life. Next Dor, which is a national initiative for engaging young Jewish adults, is typically organized by rabbis that forge connections, build community and launch peer-driven initiatives – both in and around the congregations that host their endeavors.

But Next Dor STL takes a different approach.

Sarason, founder and a current staff member, explained it this way. “We tap young local talent to reach post-college and pre-marriage Jewish adults (ages 21 to mid 30s). Most other Next Dor sites are ensconced with a synagogue; we are independent. Other sites use their funds to hire a professional while we use it to renovate the space – we have our own house near Central Reform Congregation with whom we have a special exchange. We also focus on non-traditional programming that doesn’t take place within the confines of an institutional setting such as a synagogue or Jewish organization.”

Rabbi Susan Talve of CRC, who accompanied the Next Dor STL delegates, explained the laissez-faire set up between Next Dor STL and her congregation. “Our hope was that Next Dor STL would provide a space for young adults to find meaningful relationships, conversations and experiences.” There were contingencies in setting it up, she noted. “There were core values we expected the young people to build on like embracing the LGBT community, Jews of color, open to interfaith relationships and Jews by choice. I hope also at this critical time in their lives, in an economy that is tough for many of them to find work, they know they can still be part of something bigger than themselves, find ways to help each other and serve the common good.”

Lyons-Warren , one of the initial founders and a current board member, pointed out that Next Dor STL is indeed a Jewish community space that serves the common good. Available to and welcoming for young Jewish adults, it’s non-denominational and independent of any one synagogue. “The most important goal is providing a safe comfortable place to be…the Jewish identity will follow. Our generation does not respond to the same types of outreach as our parents’ and grandparents’ generations.”

Next Dor STL has empowered young people to form their own community. “It’s about letting us have the reigns, the power and the resources rather than conforming to someone else’s concept. Young people are full of ideas, but they’re not necessarily listened to. Here our ideas have come to fruition without the typical roadblocks,” said Sarason.

Elias, a program director and board member, said he views Next Dor STL as a success “if there are a plethora of options out there for young, Jewish adults to explore. I want young people to realize that St. Louis has a lot to offer and I see Next Dor STL as a resource for young adults and a conduit to other organizations within the city."

Haber calls Next Dor STL her lifeline to the Jewish community. “I moved back to St. Louis from Chicago, heard about Next Dor and went to a couple of events. I started to think, ‘Hey, this is pretty cool.’ I went to more and this led to other involvements. I’m more involved in Jewish social life and living than ever. Now I’m a youth director for USY, I have new friends and networking opportunities that helped me find work. In fact, my whole life revolves around things I’ve done and people I’ve met at Next Dor.”

Since opening, hosting its first event a year ago on Nov. 10, 2009, more than 300 young adults have made 1,500 visits to St. Louis’ Next Dor, participating in more than 100 programs that include social action projects, educational events and social and recreational programs. This is the tip of the iceberg. Sarason wants to ignite more relationships with existing organizations which have had not as much success with young adults in the past. “For instance, we did an interfaith dialogue with ADL that was successful. We’re doing a movie series with them. In essence, we’re taking the programs out of the institutional setting and having conversations that allow young people to express themselves and do something meaningful.”

Next Dor STL’s model has put the St. Louis Jewish community on the map, said Sarason. “I’ve heard from people in Houston, Detroit, New York. We’ve had initial conversations and many have said, ‘Wow, I would like to visit St. Louis. It sounds like a great community.’” Read More......

Eyal Kless, World-Renowned Violinist to Speak at Next Dor

Eyal Kless, born in Israel, has performed and taught throughout the world, fast establishing himself a dynamic and versatile musician. During his visit to St. Louis, to play at Powell Symphony Hall, he will also be speaking at Next Dor.

The small gathering, taking place at 7 PM on Tuesday, November 2nd, will be an intimate conversation with this fantastic musician. For more information about the event, click here.

Eyal's performances will take place Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. at the next “On Stage at Powell” program at 7 p.m., and on Monday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m., at Washington University’s New Music Building, 560 Music Center. Read More......

Do Synagogues Have a Future?

Institutions are always a product of the times in which they are created. Jewish Institutions, doubly so. Lately, many of these institutions, which form the backbone of the organized Jewish world, have had their very need questioned by young adults and others who see them as relics of another time.

Jewish hospitals, community centers and specific social services were all created to provide services for Jews which they often could not receive elsewhere. Fast forward to the present day and we find few institutions from whose most inner sanctums we are excluded. Conversely, when barriers and quotas fell, Jews enthusiastically embraced these institutions.

But surely, synagogues, which are very specifically Jewish, and whose purpose is not made redundant by other institutions have remained essential, right?

With young adults choosing not to affiliate, synagogues are getting pretty worried.
Enter Synagogue 3000, an organization seeking to help imagine and create the next generation of synagogues and young adult engagement.

S3K has encouraged what they call a 'relational' approach to Jewish engagement, stressing relationships over membership (sound familiar?), capacity building over pocketbook pandering, and a long term and more national view of the Jewish community.

This past weekend, S3K hosted a 'Next Dor Conversation', in which they invited Rabbis, Jewish professionals, and lay leaders to learn from the five initial Next Dor sites, including our very own in St. Louis. In addition to presentations by each site as to its approach and results, Steven Cohen, Sociologist of American Jewry, presented some early findings from a survey conducted of participants of all sites. His results showed increased participation, increased identification, and increased integration into the Jewish community across all sites.

Cohen's main point was this: young adults are waiting longer to get married, synagogues' main demographic are married couples, and therefore, the work that needs to be done is to keep people engaged long enough so that when they get married, the synagogue is an obvious next step.

Four of Next Dor St. Louis's crew were flown to New York to attend the conference, to present, participate, and schmooze. This opportunity provided them the opportunity to both showcase their work and the city, while exposing them to new ideas and individuals.

Judging by the enthusiasm and compliments received by the St. Louis delegation, it is clear that Next Dor STL is not only making an impact locally, but is getting the attention of serious Jewish thinkers, activists, and professionals around the country.

What will this mean for the future of traditional Jewish institutions, synagogues in particular? We aren't quite sure, but it certainly is exciting.
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Muslims Who Saved Jews: Groundbreaking Exhibition Hits St. Louis

In the dark story of the Holocaust, some of the few bright spots were the lives saved by individuals who put their own safety at risk. In the case of Jews being saved by those outside the faith, the State of Israel honors them as 'righteous among the nations'. Rarely, though, have we heard of the Albanian Muslims who saved some 2000 Jews during this period.

A new exhibition of photographs of these brave individuals is coming to St. Louis.

From the press release:

In 2003, renowned photographer Norman Gershman embarked on a project to find and photograph Albanian Muslim families who had sheltered and saved Jews - both Albanian nationals and refugees from neighboring countries - during World War II.

By 2004, after two photographic journeys to Albania and Kosovo, he had discovered roughly 150 Muslim families who had taken part in the rescue of the Jews due to their belief in Besa, or honor, an ancient code which requires Albanians to endanger their own lives if necessary to save the life of anyone seeking asylum.

Besa is, to this day, the highest moral law of the region, superseding religious differences, blood feuds and tribal traditions.

The result of Gershman’s journey, striking images of these families, as well as their stunning stories, will be on display for the first time in St. Louis at Temple Emanuel from October 21 to December 1, 2010.

The free exhibit can be viewed at Temple Emanuel, 12166 Conway Road, in Creve Coeur Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., and by appointment.

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Visionaries, Opulence, and Cold Hard Cash

One of the classic tactics in fundraising (and many other types of businesses) is to throw a big event. You make it the place to be, create an experience, and then watch the money flow in.

On Monday night, the Jewish Federation of St. Louis threw a bash to celebrate the three supporting family foundations, Lubin-Green, Krazberg, and Staenberg, who provide a huge amount of funding to the community.

The ritzy event took place at.. well the Ritz, and was quite a production. In addition to the open bars, and who's who (including the Mayor of St. Louis, the County Executive, the Senator, and the Governor), the $250 per seat dinner included entertainment from Michael Feinstein, famous singer, pianist, and music revivalist. Feinstein, at 54, was ever the entertainer, laying on the Jewish pretty thick for the audience. His smile, sealed against his teeth by what appeared to be a fresh session of Botox, was both endearing and frightening.

As one of the 30 under 30 there (not as in the award, but as in there probably were seriously only 30 people there under the age of 30), I have to say it was a totally different world.

But behind the glitz and glamor, the opulence and spectacle was a clear purpose. The Federation was looking to do what it does best: raise money. The event hoped to bring in $300,000, as well as to encourage people to set up gifts to Federation as part of their estate, as something they are calling 'Legacy' gifts.

In the current economy, not only has Federation's fundraising take been down, the needs have skyrocketed.

And so, the Visionaries event was put together and, as productions go, it was nearly flawless. Sure, the community wanted to honor some of the largest philanthropists, but in doing so, the Federation is sending some clear messages that it expects other well resourced-families to step up and pull their weight. As a former student of psychology, I can appreciate the modeling effect. Not only do you encourage a behavior by rewarding it, you can also use this reward to socialize others as to what is expected behavior.

Whether or not the Federation pulls in quite as much as they initially planned for, the event will likely be seen as a huge success in the community and put the Federation back at top of mind for many of those present.

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NEXT DOR STL SEEKS YOUNG JEWISH LEADERS FOR YEAR-LONG COMMUNITY BUILDING RESIDENCY

NEXT DOR STL SEEKS YOUNG JEWISH LEADERS FOR YEAR-LONG COMMUNITY BUILDING RESIDENCY Read More......

Nu Campaign Connects with Mattisyahu for Haiti Relief

While the initial outpouring of support for victims of Haiti's devastating earthquakes was immense, the world's attention span is short. And though the aid has decreased, the need has not.

One group that was on the ground immediately after the disaster was the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma, which set up a field hospital to deal with the most pressing needs on the ground.

The Nu Campaign, which designs and sells shirts to raise awareness and dollars for Israeli causes has just launched a new shirt targeting this issue.

In a video clip launched by NU Campaign this week, Matisyahu explains his motivation to support ICTP: "It's not about Jewish or non-Jewish or where you are from. It's about human beings helping other humans".



"In the wake of the 250,000 deaths and a dire humanitarian situation, Professor Danny Brom, Director of ICTP and other staff flew into Haiti, working with parents and teachers, teaching them coping and resilience skills and providing support to the volunteers.

They are now in the process of launching a three-year therapy program within the Haitian education system.

Among their responses to global disasters, ICTP have sent teams to Sri Lanka in the wake of the Tsunami and the USA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."

David Kramer, the force behind the Nu Campaign, was a fellow this summer at PresenTense where we had the chance to work side by side. His shirts are unique in that, not only do the proceeds benefit non-profits, but the front design rarely explains the message, an intentional omission, due to the full message being contained on the inside of the shirt. As David explains it, the outer message is meant to encourage dialog, while the full message is carried close to the heart of the individual wearing the shirt. Learn more about the Nu campaign here

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Simchat Torah Asks, Why SO Serious?

The Jewish High Holidays are a rollercoaster of emotion. We are happy with the start of a new year, yet pensive and introspective as we reach Yom Kippur, reaching that spiritual high that only comes after a certain amount of emotional agony. During Sukkot, we again rejoice, while thinking about the temporary status of this corporeal life and the possessions we cannot take with us. And so, the sheer unabashed joy of Simchat Torah is a bit of a relief.

Simchat Torah, literally the joy of, or rejoicing in the Torah, is one of these holidays in which we seek to approach an ecstatically joyful state, without the 'on the other hand' which characterizes so many of our experiences.

Too often, we put restrictions on ourselves, on the degrees to which we will experience or partake of certain emotions, experiences, or opportunities. And usually this is a good thing. Unreturned love causes pain, so we feel out our partners to make sure we aren't somewhere they aren't. Overindulgence in food, alcohol, or just about anything else has both immediate and long terms consequences. Even on other festive holidays, we rejoice, but often almost cautiously, remembering the evil we had to overcome in order to survive (and thus be able to eat and rejoice). Simchat Torah, though, is different.

One of my first memories of St. Louis comes from 'parent's weekend' at Wash U my freshman year, which happened to coincide with Simchat Torah. I was still fresh on campus, but at Bais Abe, the modern Orthodox Shul on the Delmar Loop, I felt able to let my guard down and boogie. Joy is contagious in that way.

While many religious rituals are heavy, somber, and often beyond our powers of understanding, the simple joy of celebration is one of the easiest traditions to follow. Chag Sameach. Read More......