First a query sparked by our most recent Eilu V’Eilu volume on Jewish-Muslim dialogue:

How would someone other than a rabbi get involved in this dialogue on the ground? I have years of experience with dialogue, diversity, conflict resolution inside a major corporation. I led groups sponsored by Interfaith Ministries of Houston to visit mosques, Orthodox synagogues, Hindu temples, etc.

Bette Tiago
Member, Temple Beth Israel, Houston
Member, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, New York

Dear Bette,
Thank you for your question. We suggest that you contact Debra Eichenbaum, program associate at the Religious Action Center (deichbaum@rac.org), who with her colleagues has put together programs on Jewish-Muslim dialogue perfect for Reform congregational use.

Next are comments from Eilu V’Eilu subscribers from the volume celebrating Shabbat.

I believe the community has so many needs that finding a common purpose for celebrating Shabbat is quite difficult. Those families with young children, both parents working, need Saturdays to catch up with family life. From personal experience, when I had a full nest I wasn’t employed outside the home. Friday night was very special. We ate in the dining room (as opposed to the kitchen) and had a festive meal. Often we attended Friday evening services afterward. When the nest emptied, creating a Shabbat atmosphere on Friday night was an exercise in futility. As the years progressed, doing household chores became squeezed into Saturdays and Sundays because I didn’t have the energy to do any of them in the evenings. Now I’m retired. Friday nights are still empty. But Saturdays are wonderful. I attend Bible study, then I attend Shabbat services (b’nei mitzvah or not). Once a month, there is a noontime class following services which I usually attend. I have the time to indulge myself in the pleasure of Shabbat.

Evelyn Zobel
Temple Beth Or
Raleigh, NC

If the URJ’s Shabbat initiative is going to be successful, it must remain consistent with the philosophy of Reform. The appeal of separated time in our over-worked society is a great ice-breaker to begin the discussion, but to keep people practicing I believe you should encourage people to define it for themselves. This way, people will look forward to Shabbat as they should, instead of seeing it as a list of restrictions which will cause them to look at Shabbat as something they have to do. This is consistent with the autonomic and modernistic philosophy we espouse.

Jon-Eric G. Storm

A warm, warm memory regarding Shabbat. Many years ago as a student of Sam Kaminker z”l, I listened to his ways of celebrating Shabbat. He celebrated by going into his garage and building something, usually made of wood.

The traditional has its place and evolution has its place. For me, Shabbat is wholeness. I was raised in the Orthodox tradition and later explored Conservative, Reconstructionist and Reform. At this time in my life, I pray on Friday nights in my Reform temple and daven Saturday mornings in my Conservative temple. The afternoon nap is my connection to my parents and forebears.

I can’t imagine life without the island of tranquility of Shabbat, to make the hurly-burly existence of the week bearable.

Kay Goodman
Leo Baeck Temple
Los Angeles, California.

Finally some words from the Closing Statement of Robert Heller, immediate past chairman of the Union for Reform Judaism Board of Trustees, that we feel bear repeating.

It is impossible to study and take seriously our texts and tradition with their emphasis on remembering we were slaves, and on meeting our communal obligations to the least among us—the widow, the orphan, the stranger—and not strive to feed the hungry, house the homeless or provide medical care for those in need. Our ethics instruct us to pay laborers fairly and promptly, to use honest weights and measures, and to respect the land. But they lack meaning if they do not lead us to insist that workers are paid a living wage, that businesses behave ethically, and that we protect the environment. Our prayers for the coming of God’s reign and the messianic era are hollow if they do not move us to repair our fragmented world.