Putting "Community" in a Community Agency

So what does it mean to be a "community" agency?  This past year this question happened to be discussed in multiple meetings, informal settings, and as food for thought in impromptu conversations on my campus.

The results of these dialogues essentially fell into one of two camps.  The first, was the accessibility to the agency.  If the agency could be reached geographically from all over a certain community, then this camp felt comfortable defining the agency as a "community agency".  However, the second camp was much more philosophical in its definition.  Although geographic acces was nice, this group was much more interested in a "communal approach" to what "type" of Jew would feel comfortable attending, joining, or "accessing" this agency.  To this group "community" had much more to do with klal Yisrael than it did to zip codes and toll roads.

I have spent the better part of my career in the "community day school" world...the community day school world who defines itself according to the second description above.  But the reason I share this thought is because when I went on the BBYO trip this summer, it was clearly obvious that BBYO also defines itself in this second way.

From even before day one of the trip, during our training, through the very last day of the experience, participation in Jewish life, support of Jewish knowledge, and reinforcement of the teens Jewish identity, was all about accepting them wherever they were along their journey of Jewish self-discovery and practice.  Once we accepted them for who they were Jewishly "community" took over from there.  Our job was to build a community of differing opinions, shared thoughts, and multiple perspectives into one Jewish community.

For me, it was like being "home"...thanks BBYO!

And of course, here's a few more photos...

 Havdallah in Rome...

 ...enough said!

We even tried some Tikkun Olan (repairing the wold).
Straightening this building out didn't quiet work as planned???

Building community!

My BBYO Summer Experience

As many of you know, this summer I decided for the first time in my career that it was finally time to take a "real" vacation.  So, in the classic nammie way, my vacation brought three of my favorite subjects together; travel, Jewish education, and teens...hence the BBYO connection.

Basically, to cut to the chase, Lisa and I decided we would chaperone a BBYO trip through Europe.  The following are a few photos of the experience. With all good intentions I thought I would be able to blog each day...yeah that changed on Day 1!

Anyway, in hopes that over the next few days I can at least share some of the highlights.  Here are a few shots from the first two days.  Enjoy!

Touring Pompeii

The group at Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

On our way up Mt. Vesuvius

Hiking up Mt. vesuvius with a view of the Mediterranean Sea

Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers, 1651)
centered with the Egyptian Obelisk at Piazza Navona, Rome

Fontana del Moro (1576), located at the southern area of the Piazza Navona, Rome

New Year's Traditions...

So, this year I learned of a tradition that has apparently existed since Talmudic times...eating black-eyed peas on Rosh Hashanah!

However, in all fairness, the way I discovered it was through a visit to a friend's house on January 1st where I learned that apparently this was a "Southern" custom. Ken, originally from Texas, was boiling a wonderful and aromatic pot of black-eyed peas (along with a variety of other meats, vegetables, and spices) when my look probably just said it all. To this Brit the custom might as well have originated on Mars, it was that "foreign" to me!

Then, preparing to write this New Year's blog I did a little research on this intriguing custom only to find out that this is in fact a Jewish tradition that dates back thousands of years and was first recorded around 500 CE in the Babylonian Talmud!

"Abaye said, 'Now that you have said that an omen is significant, at the beginning of each year, each person should accustom himself to eat gourds, black-eyed peas, fenugreek..." [Read more]

Although I did not partake in this particular custom this year, it is certainly on my agenda for next year! However, I guess I did partake in a sort-of "food" custom this New Year's...I became a "Sardine". I guess technically, I became a "Committed Sardine".

And what's a "Committed Sardine" I hear you asking. Well, the best way to describe it is to use the 21st Century Fluency Project's own description as follows:
First, an aside. A blue whale is the largest mammal on earth. An adult blue whale is the length of 2 1/2 Greyhound buses put end to end, weighs more than a fully loaded 737, has blood vessels large enough for an adult to swim down, a heart the size of a Volkswagon Beetle, and a tongue 8' long and weighs 6000 lbs. A baby blue whale is estimated to gain more than 50 pounds an hour from birth to age one. (now that's a high fat diet - certainly not Atkins). The blue whale is not only the biggest, but the loudest animal. At 190 decibels, a blue whale's call is louder than a jet (140 decibels), and much louder than a person can shout (70 decibels).

A little known fact is that a blue whale is so large that when it decides to turn around, it can take 2 to 3 minutes to turn 180 degrees so that it can swim in the opposite direction. As a result, some people have drawn a strong parallel between blue whales and our school systems. It just seems to take forever for schools to turn things around. Our ability to adapt to changing times helps explain at least in part the rise in demand for vouchers, charter schools, home schooling and virtual schools. There are some people who just don't believe or don't want the public school system to turn things around in time.

But compare the way a blue whale turns around (slowly) to how a school of fish turns around - specifically a school of sardines - which has the same or even a greater mass than the whale, does the same thing. A school of sardines can turn almost instantly. So the question that comes up is - How do they do this? How do they know when to turn. Is it ESP? Do they use cell phones? Are the using the Internet

The answer is simultaneously a little simpler and quite a bit more complex. If you take a careful look at a school of sardines, you'll notice that although the fish all appear to be swimming in the same direction, in reality, at any time, there will be a small group of sardines swimming in a different direction, in an opposite direction, against the flow, against conventional wisdom. And as they swim in another direction, they cause conflict, they cause friction, and they causes discomfort for the rest of the school.

But finally, when a critical mass of truly committed sardines is reached - not a huge number like 50 percent or 80 percent of the school, but 15 to 20 percent who are truly committed to a new direction - the rest of the school suddenly turns and goes with them – almost instantaneously!

Isn't that what has happened with our attitudes towards drinking and driving? Isn't that what became of our feelings about smoking? Isn't that exactly what happened to the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union? Isn't that what caused the Internet to suddenly appear overnight. Each and every one of those events was an overnight success that took years in the making. Overnight successes that took a small group of people who were truly committed despite the obstacles, challenge, yabbuts, and TTWWADIs to make the necessary change.

Noted anthropologist Margaret Mead once wrote:

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world -

indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

That's why we're Committed Sardines - Thinking Outside The Can!

This New Years I became a Committed Sardine! When will you?

Gilad Shalit & Sukkot

On this eve of Sukkot 5772, I can't think of more wonderful news to consider than instead of imagining Gilad Shalit as a "forgotten" Ushpizin guest for the holiday, we might actually get to see him in person sitting in his home after five years of imprisonment (shavuy milchamah).


To summarize the happenings of the last 24 hours, and having read multiple announcements, summaries, and assessments of this historic turn of events, the best one that I have read, and the one I recommend everyone read as basic background is the summary posted by Dr. Jonathan Mirvis, International Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, as posted below...

Israel Update

11 October 2011

Breaking News: Gilad Shalit to Be Released

Dr Jonathan Mirvis
International Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ------------

Two hours ago we received the exciting news that Gilad Shalit, after spending over five years in captivity in Gaza, is to be released. In this release Israel is demonstrating once again the high price she is prepared to pay for 'pidyon shvuim' - for the release of captives. One Jewish soldier will be exchanged for 1000 terrorists and prisoners. In his opening address to the Cabinet this evening, Prime Minister Netanyahu quoted the traditional saying that 'kol Yisrael arevim ze le'ze' - that all Jews are personally responsible for each other.

In this update we will outline the details of the agreement and thereafter give the background to the motivation for this agreement. It is important to note that this update is based on snippets of information that have been leaked and that the full story will only be complete in a few days.

According to reports released thus far the agreement was reached on Thursday between Hamas and the Israeli Government. This agreement was initialed by both sides this morning and thereafter Prime Minister Netanyahu invited Noam Shalit, Gilad's father, to his home to give him the news of Gilad's pending release. The Prime Minister spoke as well to Aviva and Gilad's grandfather, Tzvi, by phone. The Shalit family has been camping outside the Prime Minister's residence for over a year and thus Noam Shalit did not have far to go to receive this news.

According to first reports a total of 1000 terrorists and prisoners will be released. They will be released in two stages. At the first stage, 450 terrorists and prisoners will be released, after which Gilad will be transferred to Cairo where he will meet with his parents. Thereafter the second batch of 550 terrorists will be released and Gilad will fly home to Israel via Germany. Since this deal was negotiated by a German mediator with the strong support of the German Government, it is on German soil that Gilad will be officially released.

The terrorists and prisoners will be released as follows: One group will be released to the territories, a second group will be released to the Gaza Strip and a third group will be released to an unnamed country and this group will not be allowed access either to Gaza or the territories.

In agreeing to this deal Israel has created a precedent for releasing its captives which goes far beyond that which was negotiated with the Hizbollah in previous prisoner exchanges. For the first time an exchange will include terrorists who are serving multiple life sentences for the murder of thousands of Israelis. Until now Israel has refused to release terrorists with 'blood on their hands' and this exchange reflects a major change in policy. A second precedent is Israel's agreement to release terrorists who come from East Jerusalem and other parts of sovereign Israel. Until now Israel has maintained that since Israeli law governs these areas, those who have committed crimes are defined as murderers and not terrorists and cannot be included in such agreements.

Many commentators are trying to understand Israel's change of policy. Following is an attempt to answer this question.

During this past year there have been dramatic changes in the balance of power in the Middle East.

1. The Egyptian Government was overthrown and a weakened interim government is now in power south of Israel's borders. This Government is under severe pressure to adopt an anti-Israeli policy and there are calls in Egypt to renounce its Peace Treaty with Israel. Until now Egypt has played a major role in mediating between Israel and Hamas and its ability to do so in the future is seriously in question. Israel therefore felt that it is crucial now to take advantage of Egypt's mediation as in the future Egypt may not be in a position to mediate at all.

2. PLO President Abbas' position has been highly strengthened by his attempt to declare a Palestinian State at the United Nations. For the past five years Abbas has opposed the release of Shalit in the fear that it would strengthen Hamas. However, now that Abbas seems to have taken a stance which has infuriated the Israeli Government, Israel feels at liberty to negotiate with Hamas and indirectly enhance Hamas' standing in the Palestinian street and thereby increase the rivalry between Hamas and the PLO.

3. A key figure who is included on the release list is Mustafa Barghouti. Barghouti belongs to Abbas' PLO and was sentenced to five life sentences as a result of the murders he planned in the second Intifada. Barghouti speaks a perfect Hebrew, is highly charismatic and within the PLO presents the greatest political challenge to Abbas. This may yet be another Israeli attempt to unseat Abbas and open a new relationship with a potential Palestinian Government headed by Barghouti.

4. Israel feels that the Palestinian public in the territories has relinquished its armed struggle, and therefore the potential threat of potential terrorism will be counterbalanced by the strong feeling in the Palestinian street that the armed struggle is something of the past.

5. Netanyahu realizes that while this release will be condemned by many of the victims of terror it will have the widespread support of the Israeli population. He has been under major pressure from the "Release Shalit" movement, soldiers in uniform and hundreds of thousands of Shalit sympathizers. In taking this step he is taking it with the support of the Israeli public.

In this exchange it must be realized that Israel is taking a major gamble. Those who are released may create winds of change in the territories leading to a third Intifada. It has been claimed that it was the terrorists who were released in the 80's who were behind the first Intifada. Furthermore, this release could well be an incentive to kidnap soldiers in the future with the full knowledge that this is the best proven method for securing the release of terrorists. Hopefully this will not be the case.

"At-one-[mo]ment"

Not withstanding the rabbinic and ancient traditions and teachings of the meaning and purpose behind Yom Kippur.  As I sit here in preparation for leaving work to go home and begin my observance of Yom Kippur, I can't stop thinking about a "throwaway" comment made earlier today that has me pondering: "At-One-Ment".


The literal definition of "Atonement" is the reconciliation or making up for one's sins.  It is the act of "trying to right the wrong"; and Yom Kippur is the Jewish day to observe this act of reconciliation.


However, what if we don't look at it as one full day?  What if we thought of it as the reconciliation of many "moments" that take place throughout the day.  This 25 hour fast, which we are about to embark upon, challenges us as we reach further into the later hours, to struggle and repress the pangs of thirst and hunger and stay sharp and focused until the concluding Neilah prayer service.  These very real attempts to move from moment to moment as we visually imagine the gates of heaven closing before our very presence makes the sands of time seem to be moving through the hourglass at an unusually painfully slow pace.

What if the message of Yom Kippur, our "Day of Atonement" comes down to these very slow-motioned seconds or literally "moments" of time.  Martin Buber philosophized about the "I-Though" relationship.  What if tonight and tomorrow are only the representation of every moment we have throughout the year?  Would we choose to live our lives the same way?  Would we appreciate these "moments" a little more?


Whatever you think, or however you chose to use your time, please remember, this year, as you get ever closer to the conclusion of this sacred day, consider all the ways you could have chosen, acted, behaved, considered, thought, listened, spoke, and/or imagined yourself differently and know that there's room for improvement in each of us.


May you enjoy all the blessings, wishes, and fruits of your desires, and need to ask for nothing more nor less; and may you be signed into the Book of Life for another year.


Gmar chatimah tovah!