Do You Know this Wealthy Jew?

A quick Web search of the Detroit Jewish News Archives from the past two decades will yield a handful of covers featuring head shots of some of our Jewish community’s most successful businessmen who are remembered for their generous charitable contributions. These individuals were mega-wealthy, but they were glorified for their mega-philanthropy. What many may not realize is that the founder of our faith was a wealthy businessman too and the Torah’s first Hebrew might serve as a paragon of virtue for today’s mega-wealthy.

In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Lech Lecha, Abraham is commanded by God to "lech lecha," that he should leave his ancestral land and travel to a new place that God will show him. Right after this divine order, we are informed about Abraham’s financial status. V’Avram Kaved Meod (Abram was very rich.” Our patriarch was rich in cattle, silver and gold. There is much to be learned from this word kaved, or rich. The word most often used for rich or wealthy in the Torah is ashir. So we must be curious about the choice to use kaved here.

In modern Hebrew, we use the word kaved to mean heavy, as in a physical weight, but it can also mean a burden. Rashi mentions this meaning in his commentary on the verse, and adds another meaning of kaved that we are familiar with from the fifth commandment of the Ten Commandments -- kabed et avicha v’et imecha (you must honor your parents). Similarly, from the same root is the word for an honor that is given out in synagogue, a kibood. Finally, the word kaved also means liver, which is the heaviest part of our body. So, in the Torah portion, we learn that Abraham is very wealthy and that the term used to demonstrate his wealth is an unusual choice.

"Kaved" is used to tell us that Abraham was weighted down with many possessions because of his wealth showing that it can be a challenge to have a financial fortune. In the very next verse, we learn that Abraham traveled from the Negev desert to Beit El “in stages,” which Rashi explains as meaning that Abraham took the same route on his return staying in the same places he had lodged on his way down to Egypt before he had wealth. This means that while Abraham is wealthier now, he has retained his humility and doesn’t choose to stay in nicer places. Abraham, our patriarch, was not altered by his accumulation of wealth. Recognizing the tendency to be burdened by money and possessions, Abraham maintain his kavod (honor) when he became kaved (wealthy). This is not always the case.

We tend to only see the positive side of enormous financial wealth. But, having power and wealth can be burdensome, it can be a challenge. In our society, such a vast possession of wealth requires much responsibility and integrity. It catapults people into the public eye, living life in a fishbowl, having every business decision scrutinized, every investment maneuver questioned. There are many advantages to a life of wealth, but it must be done while maintaining kavod.

There is much to learn from our patriarch Abraham. He was wealthy, but he was also well respected and humble. A model for us in modern times, Abraham possessed the dignity to keep him from a life of over-indulgence in material wealth. Many of the mega-rich tycoons in the corporate world of the 20th and 21st centuries were not paragons of virtue. Their wealth became burdensome, they became greedy and many ultimately got into legal trouble before their ultimate downfall. Such has not been the case with the Detroit Jewish community’s leaders over the past century. By and large, our community has been blessed with a disproportionate number of mega-philanthropists who have used their fortunes for the common good, bolstering noble causes in our community. Like our patriarch Abraham, the pillars of our dynamic community have maintained their kavod while being kaved.

For further discussion:

1. Have you noticed behavioral differences in friends or relatives who have become wealthy suddenly?

2. What are ways we can teach our children to make philanthropy a priority in their lives?

Originally published in The Detroit Jewish News

The Meaning of a Comeback

Much has been made of the comeback in big games this year. Beginning with the NBA Finals this past June when the Cleveland Cavaliers were down 3 games to 1 to the Golden State Warriors. Most basketball fans counted the Cavs out, but the team was led by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to come back and win the team's first championship. In a best of 7 series, being down 3 games to 1 is usually a death sentence, but the Cavs seem to have set a trend with their come from behind victory.

Next, it was the perennially lackluster Chicago Cubs who, like the Cleveland Cavliers, were down 3 games to 1. Trailing the Cleveland Indians, the Cubs managed to summon the strength in the 2016 World Series and win the team's first championship since 1908. Down 3 games to 1 in the World Series gives your opponent 3 games to win just 1 game, while you have to sweep the final 3 games. Somehow the Cubs managed to do it and millions flooded the Chicago streets to celebrate.

Next up was one of the most exciting tennis matches I've ever witnessed. The finals of the 2017 Australian Open between veteran players Swiss Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Federer was down, yes, 3 games to 1, in the fifth and final set, but managed to come back and win his 18th Grand Slam title.

Finally, in the NFL there are no championship series like in basketball and baseball. However, in the Super Bowl this past Sunday evening the New England Patriots scored 31 (there are those numbers again!) unanswered points to win their 5th Super Bowl. Quarterback Tom Brady and the Pats were down 25 points to the Atlanta Falcons, but miraculously battled back to win thanks in large part to the best Jewish NFL player Julian Edelman's amazing catch.

A Return to Simpler Times (Before Technology Complicated Things)

I've always had a tremendous appreciation for technology. I'm continuously wowed by the innovations that have revolutionized our lives, but I also fear that technology is causing us to lose our foundation with some of the most basic human engagement. I'm a tech evangelist, but I often think about where we, as a society in general and as a Jewish community in particular, must draw the line.

Last month, we observed the High Holidays and, as we do every year, we heard the Hebrew word "teshuvah" used a lot. Teshuvah is most commonly defined as repentance, but it literally means return. Perhaps it is time we return to basics as a way of resetting for the Jewish new year. Many people praise technology, but also express how they yearn for the much simpler times of the past before technology dominated our waking hours. Teshuvah can be a path for us to continue to embrace technology, but also unplug and return to that simpler time.

LL Cool J is a Good Friend to the Jews

I just read an article in the Jewish Journal about a recent appearance that rap legend LL Cool J made at a benefit for The Ulmer Institute. The article, titled "LL Cool J discusses his Jewish friends, Israel and more," includes an interview LL Cool J gave at the event.

LL Cool J with Rabbi Jason Miller

The event Wednesday night supported TUI, which focuses on treating, researching and training around trauma relief for using methodologies developed by Israeli psychiatrists. Its founder, Faith Central Bible Church Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, is a friend of LL Cool J, who served as an honorary host of the event.

I'm not at all surprised that LL has been getting more involved with the Jewish community, Black-Jewish relations, and that he expressed interest in visiting Israel soon. I had the chance to shmooze with him a few years ago and he told me then that he was hoping to get to Israel soon.

LL Cool J even offered a "L'chayim" greeting to me on video:

Here is the complete interview with the Jewish Journal:

Getting Marco Rubio to Say Shabbat Shalom

Can Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio speak Yiddish? Marc Daniels of "Weed Out Hate" has made yarmulkes with all the presidential candidates' names on them. He was in Iowa earlier this week and tried to get Rubio to say Gut Shabbes! on video while wearing a Marco Rubio kippah. Fortunately Lauren Selsky, who covers the Rubio campaign for CNN, was right there to video his three attempts. The first thing Rubio had to do was learn that it's Gut as in "good" and not Boot Shabbes. Here's Selsky's tweeted video:

'Gut' Shabbos or 'Boot' Shabbos? You decide. #2016 #Iowa @mikiebarb pic.twitter.com/7Z3W6s12RB

— Lauren Selsky (@LJSelsky) January 31, 2016

Maybe it's becoming more popular to get famous people to say Shabbat Shalom. After writing about my friend Lisa Lis, who collects video Shabbat Shalom greetings from celebs, I decided to try it myself. I've found it's much easier to get celebrities or politicians to say the much easier "Shabbat Shalom" on video rather than the Yiddish expression of Gut Shabbes. Too bad Marco Rubio didn't have that option! Here are some famous Shabbat Shalom greetings from the past couple of years:

Shaquille O'Neal Says Shabbat Shalom:

Tina Fey Says Shabbat Shalom:

Charles Barkley Says Shabbat Shalom:

Michael Bolton Says Shabbat Shalom:

Russell Simmons Says Shabbat Shalom:

Bill Cosby Says Shabbat Shalom (Not really!):

Kevin Pollack Says Shabbat Shalom:

Conan O'Brien Says Shabbat Shalom:

J.B. Smoove Says Shabbat Shalom:

Joe Torre Says Shabbat Shalom:

Henry Winkler Says Shabbat Shalom:

Learn Something Online in the New Year

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are holidays of transformation. Many rabbis encourage congregants to use the High Holy Days as a time of reflection and personal growth. In sermons, rabbis speak of mending fences and healing fractured relationships, improving your outlook on life and making a difference in the world. This past Rosh Hashanah, however, I decided to talk about transformation in terms of taking on something new.

Rather than preaching about the importance of being a better person in the coming year -- something I've certainly spoken a lot about in Rosh Hashanah sermons past -- this year I decided to give some practical advice to the congregation. My message was that is never too late to transition to something different.

A generation ago it was commonplace for people to stay in the same profession and even the same job for a lifetime. By the time they retired they felt it was too late to start something new and different. Today's generation is less static and more flexible. That doesn't mean simply having the courage to transition from one profession to another. It can mean taking on a new hobby, going back to school or even launching that company you always dreamed about.

No matter how old you are or how comfortable you are with your status quo, I encourage you to consider taking on something new in the new Jewish year of 5776. Whether you're interested in learning a new language, taking a cooking class or learning to read Torah, the necessary resources are available today thanks to the power of the Internet. Of course it takes a commitment and no matter how busy you are these days, time will never stand still to allow you to take that class without making a sacrifice.

Technology today makes learning a new skill or hobby so much easier. Never before in human history has the access to education been so readily available. Reliable online classes are everywhere. Khan Academy can teach you new skills and YouTube videos can teach you new hobbies. You can get that master’s degree online that you probably thought was out of reach at this stage in your life. In the Digital Age, it's possible to simply take a walk every evening and learn a new language along the way. Listening to educational podcasts during your commute to work can be rewarding and provide you with the proficiency to transition to a new career.

Here are some recommendations for transformation and educational growth in the new Jewish year thanks to modern technology:

CODE ACADEMY
With the evolution of the Web and mobile apps, being able to write code has never been more in demand. Coding isn't just for young college students; it is an ideal skill for retirees as you can work from home. One Code Academy student went from knowing nothing about coding to building one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Websites.

A Jewish Calendar for the Digital Age

Besides the often told joke that the definition of a Jewish holiday is “they tried to kill us, we prevailed, now let’s eat,” there are not many jokes about the Jewish calendar.  You might be surprised to know that the only one I can ever remember was actually told by a non-Jewish late-night talk show host. In his opening monologue on The Late Show several years ago, David Letterman turned to his Jewish bandleader Paul Shaffer and wished him a “Happy New Year” since it was Rosh Hashanah. Letterman then asked Shaffer what the Jewish year was, to which he explained that it was now 5759. Letterman quickly deadpanned “Well, I’m sure I’ll still be writing 5758 on all my checks for a few weeks.”

Google's Calendar now includes Hebrew dates

The joke struck a chord for so many Jews because we all know we don’t use the Jewish year or the Jewish calendar very much in our everyday lives. Even most Israelis write the secular year on their checks and on contracts and celebrate the Gregorian date for birthdays and anniversaries. The Jewish calendar, however, does play a significant role our lives. We need to know when to observe our departed relatives’ yahrzeits dates. We need to schedule our events and travel plans around the Jewish holidays. We need to schedule our children’s bar and bat mitzvahs according to their Jewish birthdays.

Jewish Themes in Michael Jackson's Songs

Today is the fifth anniversary of Michael Jackson's sudden death. He died on June 25, 2009 and like the notable deaths of other big name celebrities, I remember exactly where I was at the time. As a child I was a big fan of Michael Jackson's music. I recall listening to the cassette tape of Thriller on the way to and from Hillel Day School in the Fall of 1982. When I discovered MJ's "Off the Wall" cassette in my parents' music collection I listened to it until it just broke. Today, my oldest son loves listening to Michael Jackson, which is certainly a good sign that his music will outlive him.

In Michael Jackson's memory I've gone through his entire song catalog to find the "Jewish themes" in his music. Thanks for reading and sharing... Enjoy!

ABC – Learning the alef-bet in cheder

A Brand New Day – Havdallah

Another Part of Me – Neshama Yiterah (our second soul on Shabbat)

[I’m] Bad – The Vidui (Confessional)

Baby Be Mine – Pidyon Haben

Beat It – Hoshanah Rabbah theme

Beautiful Girl  – King Ahashverosh's serenade of Queen Esther

Ben – Hebrew for “son”

Black or White – How some describe Jewish law

Break of Dawn – Hashkama Minyan (early risers' prayer group)

Can't Get Outta the Rain – Mashiv haruach u'morid hageshem (prayer for rain)

Can't Let Her Get Away – Agunah (chained woman without a bill of divorce)

Cheater – Ryan Braun

Come Together – Minyan

Dancing Machine – There’s one at every Jewish wedding

Dirty Diana – The Princess of Wales in niddah (sorry!)

Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough – What you don’t say to a mohel

Earth Song – "Kol Ha-olam Kulo"

Fly Away  – Shiluah Haken (shooing away the mother bird)

Free  – Yovel (Jubilee year when all slaves and prisoners go free)

The Girl Is Mine – Kinyan at a Jewish wedding "Harei at mekudeshet lee b’taba’at zo…"

Got to Be There – That guilty inner monologue before holiday dinners with the family

Heal the World – Mi-Sheberach prayer for the Ill

I Want You Back – Pidyon Haben (redemption of the first born)

I'll Be There – Elijah says this before every bris

In the Back – Where everyone sits in shul

Jam – Goes nice on a bagel

Keep the Faith – Ani Ma'amin (b'emunah shleyma)

Leave Me Alone – Lonely Man of Faith (Soloveitchik)

Man in the Mirror – Cheshbon Nefesh (personal accounting before High Holidays)

Night Time Lover – Mikvah Night

Off the Wall – What happens to your kvittel (note) if you don't stick it deep enough into the cracks of the Kotel (Western Wall)

Privacy – Yichud

(No Michael Jackson songs that start with Q)

Remember the Time – Kiddush (Remember the Sabbath day...)

Rock with You – Palestinians said this to Israelis during Intifada

Save Me – Hoshiah Na!

She’s out of My Life – Get (Bill of Divorce)

Somebody's Watching Me – God's omnipresence

Someone in the Dark – Pharaoh during the 9th plague

Speechless – Vayidom Aharon (Aaron was speechless - Lev. 9)

Take Me Back – Ba'al Teshuva

Unbreakable – The groom can't smash the glass at his wedding

Up Again – T'chiyat Hametim (resurrection of the dead)

(No Michael Jackson songs that start with V)

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – Simchat Torah

We Are Here to Change the World – Tikkun Olam

We’ve Had Enough – Dayeinu!

(No Michael Jackson songs that start with X)

You Are Not Alone – Hashem is everywhere

You Can’t Win – Trying to convince Bubbie you're not hungry

(No Michael Jackson songs that start with Z)

Shaq Speaks Hebrew Pretty Well

A few years ago I saw one of those quick "catch a celebrity getting into his car" video clips on TMZ.com in which NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal walked out of a restaurant and wished all his Jewish friends a L'shanah Tovah. It was right before Rosh Hashanah and it was circulated pretty quickly around the Web.

I had forgotten about that video when I asked Shaq to say "Shabbat Shalom" into my cellphone yesterday. My friend and fellow native Detroiter Lisa Lis got me hooked on video recording celebs saying those two Hebrew words a couple years ago and I've already collected several which I uploaded to my YouTube.com channel.

Yesterday at CES in Las Vegas I heard a wonderful interview with Russell Simmons, the Hip Hop pioneer and entrepreneur. After the interview he graciously offered a "Shabbat Shalom". After meeting Russell, who is the president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding along with Rabbi Marc Schneier who serves as chairman, I had the opportunity to meet Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent. Something told me that he wouldn't be so into saying Shabbat Shalom, but Shaq was more than willing. In fact, he took the time to ask me what "Shabbat Shalom" means and when it's appropriate to say it. He even surprised me with some other Hebrew phrases ("Baruch Hashem" and "L'shanah Tovah"). Shaq and I shmoozed for a while inside the Monster booth at CES. When he saw the large American Express bag I was carrying with me, he asked where I got it because he needed a large bag to carry his gifts from Monster. I gave him the bag and in return he presented with me a nice pair of Monster DNA Pro headphones. A great deal!

I suppose had I gotten 50 Cent to say "Shabbat Shalom" on video it would have been the triple trifecta of Shabbat Shalom greetings in one day from three uber-successful entrepreneurs in the African American community. All three gentlemen struck me as very impressive, nice guys who are each doing great things to promote technology and entertainment in the 21st century.

The Shabbat Shalom videos of Shaq and Russell Simmons are below:

A Blessing On Becoming An Uncle For the First Time

"Uncle Jason" -- I really like the sound of that! Yesterday evening as my children and I kindled seven Hanukkah candles on the hanukkiyah, I received the anticipated phone call from my wife who was at a hospital in Chicago with her sister. "It's a boy," she said, and with those words I became an uncle. I told my children and watched them jump for joy with the news that they now had a first cousin.

The Hebrew word for uncle is dod (דוד), which sounds a lot like the word "dad." It is also the same word the Torah uses for beloved. A quick etymology search on the website Balashon.com informed me that the Hebrew dod is related to Syriac דדא for uncle or beloved, Mandaic, Nabatean and Palmyrene "dada" meaning father's brother and the Arabic "dad" for foster-father. Balashon.com explains that the Hebrew dod is the most ancient Hebrew word for love and was probably a primitive caressing syllable taken from the sound "da-da" that babies make.

Spelling Knaidel and Bravo's Princesses Reality TV Show

We Jews have arrived! That seemed to be the general sentiment on my Facebook news feed last night as word traveled around the social network that the winning word in the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee was "knaidel" - the Yiddish word for matzah ball. Most excited Facebook users chimed in on the variant transliterated spellings of the Yiddish word wondering how the organizers of the annual spelling bee could agree on just one accepted spelling.

Arvind Mahankali, the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee champ spelled Knaidel for the win (NBC)

The Jewish Flavor of Maurice Sendak

Originally published on JTA.org

A few months after my first child was born, I went to a bookstore to buy a few books that I thought needed to be on the bookshelf of my new baby’s nursery. Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" was one of those books.

A childhood favorite of mine, I knew the day would come when I would read it to my son as part of our bedtime ritual. I immediately recalled that bookstore visit when I heard the news that Sendak had died Tuesday from complications of a stroke. He was 83.

Much has been written about Sendak’s imagination and his uncanny ability to create characters to whom children can relate. Many of the characters in his books were developed based on the Torah stories that his father told him as a child. Sendak has said that he embellished those stories to make them more interesting for children.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I saw the Jewish flavor that peppers Sendak’s works.

The characters in his most well-known children’s story are based on his old Jewish relatives. In some of his stories, Yiddish words are interspersed with his poetic English.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is even based on the Yiddish vilde chaya (wild beast), which Jewish parents for generations have used to describe rambunctious children.

Some of Sendak’s stories, including “In the Night Kitchen,” speak to his own fears of the Holocaust. His immigrant parents lost most of their family members in the Holocaust and reminded him that he would have had many more cousins were it not for the Nazis.

Having learned that Sendak was influenced by his father’s nightly bedtime stories drawn from the Torah, I have found real value and meaning in reading Sendak’s books to my own children at bedtime. His children’s stories are my kids' most requested bedtime books.

Over the years, I've read “Where the Wild Things Are” to my children many times. In fact, I recently read it to them in Hebrew.

Just a week ago, my daughter brought home a Hebrew version of Sendak’s masterpiece. His brilliance comes through no matter the language.

Turning the pages of the Hebrew translation, I began to laugh as I recalled the author’s uproarious appearance on "The Colbert Report" earlier this year.

Even at 83, Sendak was still entertaining both children and their parents.

His memorable illustrations and ability to turn scary monsters into lovable friends will live on into future generations, and I look forward to the day when my own children will read the stories of Sendak’s wonderful imagination to my grandchildren.

The Hanukkah Spelling Confusion

I was excited when I saw that J.J. Goldberg, editor-at-large of The Forward, wrote an article referencing my recent "Jewish Techs" blog post about the Hanukkah (חנוכה) spelling confusion on The Jewish Week's website ("How Do You Spell Hanukkah?"). And then I started reading the first paragraph of Goldberg's piece. Say what?

Goldberg asserts that I start off with "an incorrect premise" and then look for an answer "in the wrong place" as I lead my readers on "a bit of a goose chase." Fortunately, he concludes his opening paragraph by maintaining that I eventually get to the right place. So, I wondered... What was Goldberg's beef with my blog post?

At the end of Goldberg's treatment of how Hanukkah got to be spelled with so many variations, my head was spinning faster than a battery-operated dreidel. Goldberg didn't like that I began by asserting that there are different acceptable spellings of Hanukkah, but then demonstrated through the rules of Hebrew-to-English transliteration that there are, in fact, more than one possible spelling. He then gave a terse lesson in Hebrew grammar followed by a lesson in Arabic grammar (why he prefers a K or Q for the former Libyan leader's name over a G).

Goldberg also took exception with the fact that I showed which transliteration spellings of Hanukkah were most popular through Google search results. What Goldberg might not have understood is that most people who are confused about which spelling of Hanukkah to use aren't concerned with learning about Hebrew consonant letters that take a dagesh. They don't want a lesson in Arabic gutturals either. They just want to know which is the most common spelling. And for that, Google is very helpful. So, I don't think I was doing a disservice to the many people wanting to know which English spelling of December's Jewish holiday is the most prevalent. Wikipedia chooses the Hanukkah spelling as well. Other encyclopedias like Encyclopedia Judaica have its own rules for transliteration.

No matter which spelling of Hanukkah you choose to use, the holiday's over. At least until next December... when this conversation begins anew.

Obama's Bar Mitzvah Speech

President Barack Obama gave what even he described as a "Bar Mitzvah speech" at the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Biennial on Friday afternoon. Love him or hate him, the President gave an impressive speech that earned him no less than 70 rounds of applause.

In the speech, he not only defended his administration's record on Israel, but claimed that, "no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel's security than ours. None. Don't let anybody else tell you otherwise. It is a fact."

Telling the audience that his daughter Malia has been on the bar and bat mitzvah circuit, he took his daughter’s advice and gave a D’var Torah about this week's Torah portion. Obama's message focused on the Hebrew word "Hineini" (I Am Here) saying that like Joseph from the Torah, he is here and ready to take on challenges even if he can’t predict them all. He also dropped some other Hebrew words, but didn't pronounce all of them well. He struggled to pronounce the term "Tikkun Olam" but fared better with other words and received a rousing ovation when he wished the audience a "Shabbat Shalom."

Obama's "Shabbat Shalom" came with the acknowledgement that he knew it was still a few hours before the Jewish Sabbath. He said, "Even though it is a few hours early, I'd like to wish all of you Shabbat shalom." His former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (or any other Jewish adviser for that matter) could have informed him that we Jews start wishing each other "Shabbat Shalom" as much as 24 hours prior to the actual Shabbat. My sense is that Obama knows this and his statement was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the criticism he received for hosting the White House Hanukkah party two weeks before the actual holiday.

Who knows if "Hineini" will replace "Hope" as Obama's 2012 campaign slogan, but here are some Obama Hineini t-shirts and products just in case (available online).

Farmar in Israel, LeBron and Kobe at the JCC, and Hebrew with Amare Stoudem

NBA basketball players got a much longer summer vacation than they expected because of the lockout. It feels odd to have gone through the entire month of November without any professional basketball games to watch.

So what have these NBA stars been doing with their newly found free time? NBA player Jordan Farmar has been playing in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv. Farmar, whose mother is Jewish and step-father is a Jewish Israeli, has spent the NBA lockout playing in front of sellout crowds at Yad Eliyahu Arena. He is the first Jewish player in the NBA since Danny Schayes, son of NBA Hall-of-Famer Dolph Schayes, retired in 1999.

A number of other NBA stars have been hooping it up at local Jewish Community Centers. TMZ.com reported that LeBron James was a last minute fill-in for a team at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The second he stepped on the court LeBron "instantly became the best player to ever compete in the Herbert S. Diamond league." Apparently, the former Cleveland Cavaliers player got a call from some of his friends who had a 7:30 PM game at the JCC and King James was happy to oblige. He led his squad to a ten point victory.

The NBA Lockout led superstars like Kobe Bryant and Lebron James
to play at their local Jewish Community Center (JCC)

After the game, LeBron James tweeted "Just got done hooping in the JCC league. So funny but good run @RichPaul4 had a few 3's #basketballneverstops." Here's a video clip of LeBron playing at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Cleveland:






While LeBron was playing in the gym of the Cleveland JCC, his nemesis Kobe Bryant was having a private training session at a Jewish Community Center in Irvine, California. Once again it was TMZ.com that broke the story (that means some 12-year-old kid at the JCC called it in). JTA reports, "the Los Angeles Lakers' star guard, according to the TMZ website, brought a trainer to the Southern California JCC to work on shooting drills and cardio training as spectators watched.

Here's the video of Kobe Bryant at the JCC in Irvine:





And if Kobe and LeBron are becoming regulars at the JCC that means that the New York Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire has to do something even more Jewish than that after discovering there was Jewish heritage on his mother's side last year. Don't worry, the 6-foot-10 superstar who visited Israel for the first time last year now says he's interested in opening a Hebrew school, according to the New York Daily News. "An unnamed source told the newspaper that Stoudemire has discussed opening a school that would focus on teaching the Hebrew language and Jewish history, though no school is actually in the works."

But who will teach at the Hebrew School Amar'e Stoudemire opens? He will of course. Here's Stoudemire's first Hebrew lesson:




Well, that was Tov Meod!

Rahm Emanuel Just Says "Lo"

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be stumping for his old boss, President Obama, in Iowa this weekend. In an interview with NBC's Harry Smith, Rahm Emanuel explicitly said he will never run for president and even went so far as to state it in Hebrew.

“No, not,” he told NBC’s Harry Smith. “I’ll say it Hebrew: ‘Lo.’”

Yiddish Everywhere and Late Night TV Goes For the Jewish Triple Play

I've always maintained that if an alien from Outer Space arrived in the United States and spent just a short period of time here, he would conclude that Jews make up much more than the measly 2% of the population that we actually do. Jewish people are influential in many areas of society and somehow Jewish themes and words seem to always creep into pop culture.

Take the Yiddish language for instance, which has long been considered the dying language of the Jewish people. Many Yiddish words have crept into popular parlance as I blogged about this summer when presidential candidate Michele Bachmann mispronounced the word chutzpah. Just a few weeks ago another candidate for president, Mitt Romney, attempted to say the same Yiddish word in a televised debate. "I like your chutzpah on this, Herman," Romney said to Herman Cain. Romney's pronunciation was much better than Bachmann's, though he still wasn't able to get that throat-clearing hard "ch" sound.

And it's not only Mormon politicians who are casually tossing out Yiddish words and expressions. I've begun to notice more Yiddish words being used by non-Jews recently. Last month I was playing a round of golf with an Indian businessman. On this rainy afternoon, he drove the ball into a patch of wet mud. When we arrived at his ball I heard him express his dissatisfaction as he exclaimed that his ball landed in the schmutz. I guess he plays golf with a lot of Jews.

And then earlier this week Canon Kevin George a pastor friend of mine from Windsor, Ontario emailed to ask if I could speak at his church on the Sunday following Thanksgiving in an interfaith service. I responded to his email explaining that I had already committed to officiating at a wedding that afternoon, to which he replied simply: "Oy vey!"

My new Greek friend Nick Raftis, the owner of The Inn Season Cafe (a delicious vegetarian restaurant in Royal Oak, Michigan certified by Kosher Michigan), is always asking me if I want to come in to his restaurant to have a nosh.

These Yiddish phrases have even found their way into social media. I received an email from the social media analytics website Klout informing me I had a new notification. When I logged into my Klout account, there was a message that said, "Mazel tov! You received 1 +K for doing something awesome." Amazing.

And then of course there's late night TV. Saturday Night Live is singularly responsible for bringing such Yiddish words as "verklempt" and "shpilkis" into the mainstream through Mike Myers' "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman". Last night, I noticed what I would call the Late Night Triple Play when it comes to Jewish references.

First, at the end of The Daily Show last night, Jon Stewart gave a very heartfelt tribute to the late Gil Cates, producer of the Academy Awards. Introducing the "Moment of Zen" dedicated to Gil Cates' memory, Jon said that the man who produced the two Oscar shows that he hosted was "in layman terms, a mensch." The next Jewish reference came on Tosh.0 when Daniel Tosh (who is not Jewish) encouraged his viewers to come to his stand-up tour taking place over the holidays and then said, "I mean the Jewish holidays". The third Jewish reference came from the Irish Conan O'Brien who is hosting his late night show from New York City this week. Joking that he couldn't see the small signs held by audience members in the back of the theater, Conan asked how he was supposed to be able to read these small signs that look like they're written in Hebrew.

With all of these references to Jewish themes, from the political arena to late night television and in regular everyday conversation, it really is amazing that we Jews are such a minority in America. In fact, even that topic made it into The Daily Show episode last night. John Hodgman told Jon Stewart how surprised he was that Jews only made up 2-3% of the population because "You (Jews) seem to be everywhere!"

Midrash, Manicures and Middle School Girls

I love reading about the creative ways in which my colleagues are bringing people closer to Torah. Over the weekend I read about one young colleague (a Conservative rabbi) who is using manicures to teach midrash in a Jewish day school. Yes, manicures!

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times

The NY Times reports that Rabbi Yael Buechler of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Westchester, New York teaches her middle school students how to do their nails with designs inspired by the weekly Torah portions. 

It’s the Midrash Manicures club at Schechter, a Jewish day school here, where the weekly club offerings include math club, glee club, sports writing club and this one, in which Rabbi Yael Buechler teaches girls in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades how to do their nails with designs inspired by the weekly Torah portion. (The term “midrash” refers to the deep textual interpretation of the Bible, with every word examined for meaning.)

If the mix of acetone fumes and Torah study strikes you as unusual, you’re not alone. When Yarden Wiesenfeld, 13, first heard about the club, she wondered whether there was another meaning for “manicure,” one that did not involve the coloring of fingernails.

But Rabbi Buechler has been at it since college, when she seized upon the manicures “as a way for me to personally explore my own Jewish learning.”

“Re-envisioning education is what this is all about,” said Rabbi Buechler, 25, who was ordained in May by the Conservative movement’s Jewish Theological Seminary and is the middle school student life coordinator at Schechter. “If I said come to a Midrash course, I’d have five or six students. But Midrash Manicures? Twenty plus.”

It seems to me that this is a wonderful example of how a rabbi who is a woman is embracing her femininity and using it to achieve the goal that all rabbis are striving for -- teaching Torah. Rabbi Buechler, who's father Rabbi Howard was ordained from JTS in 1985, is not trying to be like her male rabbinic predecessors. Rather, she is doing something that those male rabbinic predecessors could never have done. She brilliantly connects with these middle school girls in a Jewish Day School environment and makes Torah learning fun.

Prof. Jonathan Sarna, who taught Rabbi Buechler as an undergrad at Brandeis University, told the NY Times that "her Torah-inspired manicures were both innovative and in keeping with the Jewish precept 'that we worship God with all of our bones and our muscles and, by extension, with our fingernails.'" I especially liked the quote from Rabbi Buechler's boss, the school's principal Nellie Harris (wife of my beloved Torah teacher Rabbi Robbie Harris), who described the manicures as "a modern tzitzit."

Incidentally, this is now the second time this year that I've blogged about Rabbi Buechler, although the last time (March 2011) she was still a couple months shy of gaining the title. On this blog I referenced a very funny video Yael Buechler made for Purim at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York starring the Seminary's Chancellor Arnie Eisen as Sesame Street's "Ernie" and Professor Burt Visotzsky as "Bert".

I certainly hope that her manicure curriculum takes off and that other Jewish Day Schools (including the one my own children attend) begin offering this club to their female students. Perhaps some day my own daughter will get a Torah-inspired manicure from Rabbi Buechler. I'm already very proud of my beautiful daughter who turns 6-years-old later this month and can already (pretend) to read from the Torah. Here's the video:

Jewish Kids Get Detroit Tigers Fever

Detroit is enjoying a very exciting sports season this autumn. The Detroit Lions are heading into tonight's Monday Night Football game against the Chicago Bears with a 4-0 record (their best since 1980) and the Detroit Tigers are in the American League Championship Series against the Texas Rangers. The Detroit Red Wings are undefeated so far this season. The University of Michigan football team is 6-0 and Michigan State University's football team is 4-1 (undefeated in the Big Ten Conference) as the two teams face off against each other this weekend at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.

After seeing David Craffey's creative photo going around Facebook of a little girl writing her alphabet on a chalkboard in which she writes the 'D' as the Olde English 'D' of the Detroit Tigers logo, I decided to create the Hebrew School version of the photo in which the Hebrew letter dalet becomes the iconic Detroit Tigers 'D'. Here's my attempt:

Inspired by David Craffey Design

Go Tigers!

Devarim - The Importance of Hebrew

Hebrew, Hebrew, I Speak Hebrew

As a child, one of my favorite songs was a silly song that taught new Hebrew words using English puns (“Etz a nice tree! How do you say ‘tree’ in Hebrew? Etz!). The refrain is “Ivrit, Ivrit, Ivrit Daber Ivrit” (Hebrew, Hebrew, Speak Hebrew). This song was a staple at Family Camp during my youth and now my own children love to sing it too. I’ve taught this song on the bus during trips I’ve led through Israel because it’s a simple way for participants to return home having learned a few dozen Hebrew words. After all, one can’t travel to Israel without learning some Hebrew – the indispensible language of the Jewish people.

There are many Jews who are not comfortable with the Hebrew language. In this week’s Torah portion, Devarim, we read “On the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this teaching.” What does this mean? The commentator S’fat Emet wrote, “Moses interpreted the Torah in many languages, so that future generations of Jews in many lands would have access to the Torah in a language and in terms that they could understand.”

I want every Jew to be able to understand the Torah. Likewise, I want every Jew to understand what they are saying during their prayers. I want the vast library of rabbinic legend and lore, the midrash, and the great legal works of the Jewish people to be accessible to the entire global Jewish community. It is for that reason that I embrace the translations of the Torah and the Talmud, the prayer book and Hebrew literature, into so many languages. If an English translation means that one more Jew embraces the beauty and wonder of our sacred liturgy who otherwise would not have been able to because the Hebrew was a barrier, then it is a worthwhile tool.

However, I also believe that Hebrew is the indispensable language of the Jewish people and every Jew should make an effort to learn Hebrew, which is known as l’shon ha-kodesh “the holy language.” Resources exist in our community to learn Hebrew from the most basic level. While it is possible to study the Torah in English, it is no replacement for understanding our sacred Tradition in its original Hebrew.

In The Sacred Cluster, Rabbi Ismar Schorsch writes, “Hebrew is coterminous with that of the Jewish people and the many layers of the language mirror the cultures in which Jews perpetuated Judaism. It was never merely a vehicle of communication, but part of the fabric and texture of Judaism. Words vibrate with religious meaning, moral values, and literary associations. Torah and Hebrew are inseparable and Jewish education was always predicated on mastering Hebrew. Hebrew literacy is the key to Judaism, to joining the unending dialectic between sacred texts, between Jews of different ages, between God and Israel. To know Judaism only in translation is, to quote Bialik, akin to kissing the bride through the veil.”

There is nothing like being able to go to Israel and get directions in Hebrew or order a meal in Hebrew. Yehudah Amichai’s poetry in English is still marvelous, but it is not the language in which the poet expresses himself best. Studying Torah in the language in which it was originally written is a feeling that every Jew should experience.

God hears our prayers in any language. However, there is something beautiful about the Hebrew language. Something about it that connects us together as a people. As the Jewish new year is approaching, it is a great time to resolve to learn Hebrew or advance your Hebrew literacy. The Torah will come alive like never before.

Shabbat Shalom!