About
October 10, 2006 by Rabbi Brant Rosen
I’m the Rabbi of Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (JRC) in Evanston IL. I won’t bore you with the rest of my CV.
“Shalom Rav” is a collection of posts that have nothing in particular in common other than my desire to share them with you. A glance at the categories will give you a better idea of this weblog’s overall content. I invite you to read regularly and welcome your comments!
I hasten to add that the opinions expressed here are mine alone and are not intended to reflect the policies or platforms of JRC or any other institution. (That’s what’s known in the shul biz as a “disclaimer…”)
Great Website!
I could spend hours with all this info and the great links!
I will be a regular visitor.
Mazel Tov!
Karen
Hi Brant….what a joy this erev Shabbat to read your blog, to be in touch with JRC, the progress of our new home, all of this from faraway Delhi, India.
I’ll be back in Evanston soon, after 22 successful days of introducing Women Founders Collective to women founders of NGO’s (nonprofits) here in India as well as Nepal. I even managed to attend, here in Delhi, the 50th anniversary celebration of the Delhi synagogue, Judah Hyam (a congregation of 10 families)….what timing!
Shabbat shalom. Sallie Gratch
Addendum to the above message: the website for Women Founders Collective, for any women founders out there who want to be connected to a global support network for women founders is: http://www.womenfounders.org
Sallie Gratch
I found your weekly blog on the Parshat Yitro particularly engaging. You dared to say what runs counter to many within the Jewish community would want said, and put it in a Jewish context. All people matter, and all can suffer.
Thanks and keep up the good/bold work
Concerning “The Genocide Olympics” - My mother was born the day WW1 ended. My grandfather, an immigrant from Austria, named his daughter Peace. In 1936, my mother joined in a boycott of the Berlin Olympics as there was no way my grandfather was going to allow any glorification of the Nazi regime. . Some Jewish athletes participated, some boycotted, The Head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, not wanting to offend Hitler, excluded some Jewish athletes from taking part in their events. It is interesting to note that African-American athletes who were living in a racially oppressive America did not boycott in 1936.
When America entered the Second World War, my mother volunteered and rose to the rank of Captain, serving with the famed 101st Airborne Division. She witnessed and treated holocaust survivors.
Should we be glorifying the People’s Republic of China? It is not just Dafur but also Tibet and repression in Xinjiang province.
Beijing will be a stage-managed spectacle. My own family’s history fills me with pride. They did the right thing. We should not forget.
great site (where can I learn to do this?), insightful commentary, nice concert footage, perhaps we’ll see a category on(Jewish)foods in the future.
Hello,
Kim from Hormone Colored Days sent me your way. I’ve started a new blog called YourJewishMother.wordpress.com. It’s a work-in-progess and plans include posting stories and anecdotes by Jewish mothers about being a Jewish mother. Submissions can be cultural, religious, serious, irreverent, humorous. I’m not looking for rants about politics or rambles about kids, but for well-crafted tales of all things Jewish and all things mother, combined.
If you know anyone who might be interested, they can reach me at JewishMotherBlog@aol.com.
Thank you!
Amy
Your Jewish Mother
I’m fascinated by to points you commentary on the “Crossing”
at the Sea of Reeds. How poingnant you should choose the
word “fragile”. When a mother is given birth to her child
both mother and child are in an oh so very fragile state.
How much fragile still is our God when he is giving birth
to a people of whom will dedicate their lives and future to.
How fragile too the circumstance that Hashem should choose
water to protect Bnei Yisrael when it was water which was
used to destroy mankind in the day of Noah. So too in the
day of crossing that the violence in Pharoahs’ heart and the
hearts of his armed men was washed away like the rising
waters in the day of Noah.
Second, you stated that we all possess the hardened heart
of Pharoah to a certain degree. I too agree but you would
be surprised just how much of our modern daily lives are
deeply entrenched in the phenomenon that is “Pharoah”.
Wherever we have been, wherever we go, there is Egypt until
as the prophet Amos declares “the day of decision”.
Baruch HaShem,
Russell K. Shenn
Augusta, Maine
I can’t believe you’ve been blogging for nearly 2 years (I’ve been at it for 5) & I’ve not previously heard of you or yr blog. My reader Shamai Leibowitz brought you to my attention. I’m so proud of rabbis who blog about I-P peace. Thank you.
I hope you gib a kook to my own blog, Tikun Olam sometime.
I’ll add you to my blogroll & hope you get a few hits fr. it.
Hi Brant - I really enjoyed your footage and commentary about JRC’s “move-in” day, February 10,2008. Even though I wasn’t there, I could feel what it must have been like. I’m so proud to be a member of this congregation and look forward to many future experiences like that of last Sunday.
sallie gratch
you are great to be success to coordinate between me from nepal and Brant.
really you both are great communicaters for me.
naan sharma
Me again. I don’t know if you saw an earlier story I did about Rabbi Funnye and Beth Shalom, but I thought you (and your congregants) might be interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZEDr8Hl6-Q
Thought you might like to se this…
http://unlitcandle.org/
Found it over on the Velveteen Rabbi’s site.