Phoebe Snow~Poetry Man

The Great Phoebe Snow. Incredible voice and amazing musician. She will be missed!

Big Fish, Small Community

I have spent my life working at and being a member of small synagogues. Why, you may ask? Small synagogues have big challenges. Money, volunteer involvement, money, engagement, money, logistics-- did I mention money? All true and all extraordinarily frustrating for people like me who have devoted our lives and careers to attempting to make the Jewish experience relevant and meaningful for our communities. These monumental mountains can seem like Everest at times, especially when we inevitably compare ourselves to our Big Brother and Sister congregations in a thriving Jewish centre like the Greater Toronto Area. Over the many years of my career, I have worked for quite a few of our larger brethren. The money is better, there are fewer organizational headaches, and yet I find myself returning time and again to the more satisfying and rewarding (my opinion to be certain) work and lifestyle associated with small synagogue congregational life. I have known this fact to be true for me for many years now, but recently a few very personal events have reiterated it.

• Nothing rallies my community like families in need. A dear and beloved member has fallen ill and her family has spent months caring for her in and out of hospitals. For the past two months, her family has spent almost 24/7 at her bedside, all the while eating nothing but hospital cafeteria food and food court fare from a neighbouring subway station. Our Chesed committee, under the direction of our interim rabbi, quickly organized and began preparing meals on a regular basis to take down to the family at the hospital. The menu demands weren't easy. There were vegetarians, meat eaters and gluten-free needs to be met. No worries. Members quickly and readily volunteered to cook, pack and shlep all of the food downtown-an hour trip from where most of us live. Most of the food was homemade! On many days, one lovely gentleman who works as a physician in the area, agreed to act as "food mule" so that the transportation of the meals might be simplified. The response has been overwhelming and the family was dumbfounded. I realize that this type of behaviour exists in many other congregations, but there was a personal touch and a connectivity that could only be felt in this particular way in a small community. These weren't people calling caterers. These were friends opening up their kitchens to help. Remarkable.
• Two weeks ago, my congregation ran its annual Scholar-in-Residence program. This event is a highlight of our adult education year. The Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning services are organized to the last detail, with our choir singing, and music acting as a tremendous catalyst for the entire weekend. We knew early on that we would have no rabbi on the bimah given our interim status. I was assigned service leading duties for the entire weekend, along with my regular musical involvement, and I volunteered to chant Torah on Saturday morning. It shouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that I came down with a raging case of laryngitis on Friday afternoon and could barely utter a squeak. April showers possibly bring May flowers, but for me it brings allergies and asthma related issues. I was beside myself, embarrassed beyond belief, and truly devastated. I shouldn't have worried. Two wonderful members of my choir jumped in to fill my solos and they sang with such clarity and grace that I was reduced to tears. Two other dear friends rallied on a dime (one kind gentleman volunteered an hour before services!) to act as "rabbi" for Friday and Saturday so that I could concentrate on just the songleading and Torah reading without over-taxing my fragile vocal chords. I was so overwhelmed by their generosity of spirit and friendship, that I publicly declared from the bimah that I owe them both dinner after Pesach. My small congregation isn't blessed with extra staff to fill in when one of us is sick, but rather we rely on the kindness and capabilities of our own members. I had a true Scarlett O'Hara moment where I was forced to rely on the kindness of others.

I truly believe that success in our synagogues cannot and should not be measured by the number of members on our rolls, but rather by the engagement and involvement of those members already within our midst. Believe me, the challenges are great and sometimes can seem overwhelming. But when the people like the ones in my community are dedicated to the cause, the climb seems a little bit easier.

5 Questions Mr. Harper

“The press is the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational, moral and social being”-Thomas Jefferson

I have remained rather quiet since the government fell last week and we here in The Great White North found ourselves embroiled in yet another federal election campaign. Five trips to the polls in a little more than ten years is more than most Canadians ever bargained.  Frankly, I am weary. I am so tired of the pontificating, the brutally vicious attack ads, the robo-calls, the out and out mendacities, and the lack of civil discourse that used to be a cherished hallmark of Canadian politics. I long for the days when elections used to promise at least the hope for something new, but I have come to understand that those days are long gone. I honestly didn't think that it could get worse, until today's news that our Prime Minister is refusing to answer more than five questions a day on the campaign trail. Those five questions are being split between media from both official language media, and one question is being reserved for local press. FIVE QUESTIONS!!!!

Now it certainly isn't unusual for politicians on the trail to carefully control what is doled out to the press, nor is it unusual for press secretaries to manage every syllable that the candidates utter so as to avoid pitfalls, but it seems to me to be the height of arrogance for any leader vying for the top job to slough off the press caravan travelling with them and treat them with total disdain. It seems counter-productive to the messages that they are attempting to convey to totally piss off the reporters and attack them as the source of all of their ills. After all, isn't a free and unencumbered press a hallmark of a democratic society? With that in mind, I thought that I would pose my own five questions to the Prime Minister and I would hope that the people who actually get to pose the queries don't let up until they are adequately answered.

1. How can you claim to represent all Canadians when you refuse to answer our questions?
2. Can you adequately explain the spending frenzy that went toward cosmetic improvements in advance of the G20 summit of last year, and why your government was so negligent in adequately planning for the obvious security issues? 
3. What is your long term national child care plan given that 62% of women are now in the workforce fulltime and that Canada is one of only a handful of G20 countries without a cohesive child care initiative? 
4. Given that national crime statistics show a precipitous drop in violent crime, isn't the proposed massive spending on mega prisons merely a scare tactic utilized for purely electioneering?
5. Où trouvez-vous ces chandails?

These are just a few of mine. I have many more but since Sweatered Stevie will only answer 5, I have used up my daily allotment. Feel free to add your own.

The "If....Then..."

It seems to be the fashion lately. Some pseudo-celeb idiot publicly makes an ass of him or herself, spouts off in some form of verbal vomit while the tape or cameras are running, and is caught red-tongued. The interweb hits top gear, the Twitterverse scalds each and every megabyte, et voila-said jackass is stuck between the proverbial boulder and unyielding setting. We wait with bated breath as we know what is coming next-the dreaded and incomplete "If...Then..."

We have all heard it before. "If my words or actions have offended anybody, then I am truly sorry for the hurt that was caused." You mean you are only sorry if somebody was offended? You mean it wasn't shitty enough to cause pain to an entire group, race, religion etc? The only reason that you are apologizing is because somebody was offended? What a crock! This statement isn't an apology. It is a non-apologetic apology. It is apologizing for getting caught and called out on crappy conduct.

Look-people are fallible creatures and we all make mistakes, sometimes ugly tasteless ones. When such a thing occurs the right thing to do is to apologize, but apologize sincerely. Don't creep in the backdoor like some kind of kid trying to duck curfew. How about the following: "I am truly sorry for my words and actions. I behaved and spoke badly and my actions were intolerable. I hope that all of you can forgive my outright stupidity and callousness." 


As parents, one of the first thing that we teach our children is the art of the apology. We tell them that they can't always be right and that they can't always be perfect, and when they do err they need to express remorse fully, completely and sincerely. Many adults have forgotten these lessons or at least their publicists have. I don't think that I can stomach one more insincere crappy "If...Then..."

Looking for the Perfect Hamentaschen

Last year at this time, some friends and I embarked upon on a search throughout some local North Miami haunts for a decent hamentaschen. Given that it was Purim and we were in no mood to bake for ourselves, we thought that the local Jewish community could come up with some reasonable facsimile of what we were used to at home. Boy were we ever wrong. The stuff we eventually settled on had a distinct institutional flavour of cardboard and oil based products. The fillings were bottled jam and the mohn (poppyseed) was starchy. Suffice it to say we were tremendously disappointed.

This year the Reform Judaism blog has started the Great Hamentaschen Debate asking those willing to state their preference for their favourite Hamentaschen fillings. While I have definite ideas about this question-mohn is yucky, fruit based are heaven-I am more inclined to believe that the real art of great hamentaschen is less about the filling and more about the dough. So, dear readers I am asking you to share. Do you have a favourite hamentaschen recipe? Are you more inclined to cookie dough or yeast doughs? Oil or butter? I hope that you won't mind sharing Bubby's ancient family secrets with the blogosphere, because frankly I am sick and tired of commercial bakeries thinking that they can do it better than we can. Please post your favourite recipes in the comments section below and I will post them to share. Hamentaschen lovers of the world unite. Be happy! It's Adar-again!

Be Happy! It's Adar!

Purim has never been my favourite holiday, but I have to admit I am enthralled with G-dcast. They do it up right. Enjoy their take on the Purim story.

All Holidays are Made Up

I had a typically enlightening conversation with Older Son early this afternoon. I inquired of him if he was feeling lonely on this Family Day given that our family was scattered across the continent. In a response that was very much in keeping with his pragmatic yet sarcastic nature, he stated that it was difficult to get emotional about a holiday that was barely three years old, an invention of our provincial government to bless us with downtime during the miserable month of February, and-as he correctly reminded me-we have yet to be together as family on this day. It set off a discussion between us that began with the basic premise that all holidays are works of fiction no matter how engrained they have become in our culture. They are either remembrance days formed out of religious mythology, anniversaries of great events or birth dates, or simply an excuse to stay in pyjamas, watch DVDs, and eat junk food all day. (As I am currently in the southern home I must state that holidays down here seem more inclined to be celebrated by pushing me to buy bed linens, cars, or electronics all in the name of dead presidents.) Whatever the excuse, I can find less worthy things to commemorate than family. That said, I do offer up a few alternatives that I do believe are long overdue in being labelled statutory holidays. Apologies in advance to my Yankee friends and readers in that I can only go by what I know, and most of that is Canadian.

• I believe, my fellow Canucks, that the time has finally come to celebrate the birthday of our first Prime Minister, Sir John A MacDonald. We Canadians are often accused of our complacency and derided for our lack of patriotism. How can we debate such mendacities when we can't even claim a national holiday for our Father of Confederation? Good old John A even had the decency to be born in January, a month sorely in need of a long weekend. Rally 'round the history books folks and strike a blow for our founding father.
• While Family Day is becoming a nice and most welcome diversion in February, perhaps a more fitting day to celebrate might be Flag Day. Our distinctive red maple leaf was officially adopted our country's flag on February 15th, 1965. Doesn't Flag Day have a nicer and more logical ring to it than Family Day? Once again patriotism should win out.
• Queen's Birthday. For 150 years we have been marking the May 24th birthday of Queen Victoria. Victoria was our reigning monarch for an astounding 64 years. Our current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for an almost nearly astounding 59 years. She was born in April, but observes her official birthday in May. Why not call it Queens Day and honour both of these impressive women.
• Tax Freedom Day!!! Last year, Tax Freedom Day arrived in Canada on June 5th-a full three days later than the previous year. For the uninitiated, Tax Freedom Day is the day when most people stop working in order to pay their taxes and start working to pocket whatever they earn for themselves. An auspicious occasion to be certain. Shouldn't we do a happy dance for a long weekend in June and celebrate by spending our new found wealth on ourselves?
• Thanksgiving in Canada is observed in October. I take no issue with this harvest festival except to note that it does leave November, a dreary month to be certain, curiously lacking a long weekend. Maybe we could have American Thanksgiving as well? Many of us stay home to watch the parade and football games now as it is, we might as well have the tofurkey too. 

Those are a few of my ideas. Add your own if you wish. Otherwise, I hope you all had a Happy President's Family Day.