Dear Friends:
When I was a kid, I enjoyed watching cartoons. The sign off for Looney
Tunes (That’s All, Folks) meant time to go back to something more
productive than television, and I was never terribly happy about that.
Endings often have an element of sadness associated with them. In
Jewish history, the destruction of the Temple, particularly the Second
Temple, was a hugely traumatic event and ended the whole construct of
sacrificial worship.
Weekly, we mark the end of Shabbat with a Havdalah ceremony that
includes smelling spices. One explanation for this custom is to cheer
us up as the Sabbath departs. And, of course, we mark the end of
someone’s life with a funeral service, an event that’s clearly steeped
in sadness.
Yet often in Jewish tradition, an ending serves as a passageway to the
next phase. The Temple is gone, but prayer substitutes for sacrifice.
Shabbat ends, but the new week begins. A life ends, but memories and
lessons from someone’s life remain with us. Simchat Torah, the day
which ends the fall holiday season, is observed by reading the final
passages from the last book of the Torah, and then we start all over
again moments later. Perhaps we should look at endings as transitions
and acknowledge the liminality as opportunities for growth.
This past quarter, I conducted several communal Havdalah ceremonies.
Beverly and I shared the conclusion of Shabbat with Temple Montefiore in
Las Vegas, NM, over Martin Luther King Day weekend, and I offered some
teachings from the great rabbinic advocate for civil rights, Abraham
Joshua Heschel.
The Los Alamos Jewish Center has been holding a once-a-month community
third meal/program/Havdalah for a while now, and one of the programs was
modeled on the popular public radio program called Selected Shorts
which included readings of short stories by several Jewish writers. The
Albuquerque-based Chavurat HaMidbar provided me with an opportunity to
reprise my talk about Lewis Strauss and J. Robert Oppenheimer, and we
ended the evening with Havdalah.
And Beverly and I traveled 700 miles to attend Hora Eclipse 2, an
Israeli Dance weekend that was held at a Jewish camp which lay along the
path of totality just outside Waco, Texas. Beverly was rewarded with
three solid days of Israeli dance (unfortunately I was unable to
participate because of a severe attack of danceaphobia, but I got a lot
of reading accomplished), and I led an outdoor Havdalah ceremony where I
extinguished the candle flame and said that we hoped the sun would be
extinguished the subsequent Monday. Indeed, clouds obscured much of our
four minutes of totality, but we did get to enjoy the incredible
experience of a total solar eclipse during the last 20 seconds or so of
totality. Sometimes endings can be wonderful!
I also spoke this quarter at the memorial service for Bert Heil,
longtime member of the Los Alamos Jewish community, and I conducted the
funeral for Dr. Robert Sacks, distinguished tutor from St. John’s
College. May their memories be a blessing. In conjunction with my
attendance at the second annual Stand With Us Rabbis United conference
in Los Angeles, I was able to visit the grave of my parents on my
mother’s Yahrzeit. My mom’s physical end was 8 years ago, but she lives
on in my memory and the others who loved her.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
Judaism for Your Nuclear Family
physicsrabbi@gmail.com
www.physicsrabbi.com
Reading list for the quarter
Not
all of the following were read at the Hora Eclipse 2 dance camp, but I
did make it through Nirenberg’s book from start to finish while there!
An asterisk denotes a book of special value to me.
Cheerful Moments: Short Humorous Stories – B. Kovner (Jacob Adler); tr. Abraham London
Sayings of Yakov Frank – tr. Harris Lenowitz
Seize the Day – Saul Bellow
18: Jewish Stories Translated From 18 Languages – ed. Nora Gold
Hebron Stories* – Yitzhaq Shami; tr. from Hebrew by several translators
Conscious Community – Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira; tr. Andrea Cohen-Kiener
Swamp Story – Dave Barry (no Jewish content, but I like Dave Barry)
Judith – Miriam Karpilove; tr. Jessica Kirzane
Saints and Sinners in Milltown – Ron Duncan Hart
An Anthology of Practical & Clever Phrases – Abraham Schneider; tr. Daniel Kennedy
How the Other Half Lives – Jacob Riis
Stupid Ways, Smart Ways to Think About God – Michael Shevack and Jack Bemporad
Sloan-Kettering – Abba Kovner; tr. Eddie Levenston
The Treasure – David Pinski; tr. Ludwig Lewisohn
Tales of the Prague Ghetto – Siegfried Kapper; tr. Jordan Finkin
Moods – Jacob Rodack; tr. Daniel Kennedy
How to Fight Anti-Semitism – Bari Weiss
The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science – Peter Hotez
Seder Interrupted: A Post-October 7 Haggadah Supplement – ed. Ora Horn Prouser and Menachem Creditor
The Hebrew Alphabet – Edward Hoffman
Israel, Palestine and Peace* – Amos Oz
Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth* – Noa Tishby
Anti-Judaism – David Nirenberg
Previous talks and articles
Antisemitism talk at Unitarian Universalist, Jan 2024:
Click here
Are Physics and Religion in Harmony or Conflict? Podcast with Daniel Whiteson:
Click here
Cal Tech Archives interview:
https://heritageproject.caltech.edu/interviews-updates/rabbi-jack-shlachter
Santa Fe New Mexican article about Exploring the Jewish Experience program:
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/beyond-hebrew-school-new-course-delves-into-jewish-religion-culture-and-history-for-adults/article_ec339f6c-bb00-11ee-aa23-5bf9033b8844.html
Jack interviewed on Israeli TV (in English) about Oppenheimer film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DLXLs7Z0lU
At the Heart of the Film Oppenheimer is a Clash Between Real Life Jews (Jewish Telegraphic Agency article): https://www.jta.org/2023/07/16/ideas/at-the-heart-of-the-film-oppenheimer-is-a-clash-between-real-life-jews
Oppenheimer Helps Raise Awareness of Los Alamos Jewish Community (Santa Fe New Mexican): https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/oppenheimer-helps-raise-awareness-of-los-alamos-jewish-community/article_5b0447cc-50e7-11ee-849e-9762395279c3.html
Two Rabbis Discuss Oppenheimer and Jewish Ethics (with Rabbi Raphael Zarum): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZHmqQUO4UE&list=PLmg8fwxbUbH3mAuwSr9-l2fByIsS1-Xf2&index=9
Fifty (Well, Maybe Two) Shades of Grey: Nuance in the Relationship Between Lewis Strauss and J. Robert Oppenheimer (sponsored by the J Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee, recorded at SALA event center in Los Alamos): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb7oMfKZjQg&t=3682s
Finally! Part 2 of Jewish Perspectives on Termination of Pregnancy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwqvIpW5svs
Jews in the Manhattan Project for the Santa Fe Distinguished Lecture Series – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehxFELPrRhg&t=28s)
The Forward article on Oppenheimer and Strauss: https://forward.com/culture/554486/robert-oppenheimer-movie-nolan-lewis-strauss-jewish/
Rabbi Jack quoted in this article about the Jewish Catalogs: https://forward.com/culture/553586/diy-ritual-jewish-catalog-havurah-hippie-strassfeld/
Click here for a recording of part 1 of a 2-part class entitled “Jewish Perspectives on Termination of Pregnancy,” presented at the Los Alamos Jewish Center.