Dear Friends:
 
In the opening words of an oft-cited poem by Rabbi Alvin Fine, “Birth is a beginning, and death a destination, and life is a journey.” Using that image, I believe that Judaism can provide us with unique markers along the path.  These markers are designed to enhance our appreciation that our lives are both meaningful and valuable.
 
At early stages, we are welcomed into the community through Brit Milah (circumcision) or naming rituals.  As we mature, we become familiar with our Jewish traditions during weekly events like Shabbat, e.g., through the lighting of candles or the blessings we receive from our parents.
 
On a longer timescale, we start to recognize annual holidays as we participate in Passover seders, help build and eat in (or even sleep in) sukkot, dress in new clothes for the High Holidays, don costumes for Purim, and spin dreidels on Hanukkah.  And we enjoy transitional life ceremonies including those commemorating our becoming Bar or Bat Mitzvah and those that celebrate our choice of a life partner.  Finally, we acknowledge our mortality when we observe Jewish burial practices at the death of a loved one.
 
In my rabbi work over the last quarter, I’ve been fortunate to play a role in many aspects of this trajectory by assisting others on their life journeys. I emphasize to others that Judaism is not all about weekly synagogue attendance (though I’m happy when people come to worship services). Jewish practice is a mechanism for helping integrate individuals into a community.  Judaism can therefore place our lives in a broader, richer context than would otherwise be possible. 

As we chart the journey of our lives, the teachings of a Rabbinic work called Pirke Avot (Chapters of the Sages 5:21) can serve as signposts on our progress.  “At five years of age the study of Scripture; At ten the study of Mishnah; At thirteen subject to the commandments; At fifteen the study of Talmud; At eighteen the bridal canopy; At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel; At sixty old age; At seventy fullness of years; At eighty the age of “strength”; At ninety a bent body; At one hundred, as good as dead and gone completely out of the world.”  Perhaps some of these signs need to be moved a bit, but I still find the text to be informative.

I recently spoke with someone who is considering converting to Judaism, and one of her reasons for caution is the hostility displayed towards Jews that we see today. This woman worried about what she might be subjecting her children to in the future. While I don’t at all downplay antisemitism (see photo of my Leadership Certificate in Combating Antisemitism through the Spertus Institute), I think that being Jewish is a gift that can add immeasurably to our lives.  I welcome your insights into the benefits of living a Jewish life, in whatever way you’ve chosen to lead it.
 
B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack

Reading list for the quarter

Dear Friends:
Recently I have fallen into a modest exercise routine which involves racking up steps on my pedometer most mornings while listening to classical music; truth be told, as an avid indoorsman, I am usually marching around in my basement.

Once I’ve selected a particular composer, I listen to his (not too many women, unfortunately) symphonies sequentially; often I try to detect a development in style as the composer matured.  Most composers last me about a week, give or take (think Beethoven’s 9 symphonies), and no, I did not go through all 104 Haydn symphonies!

About two weeks ago, I made my way to Antonin Dvorak, the great 19^th century Czech composer.  (Seeking Jewish connections, I learned that Dvorak was not Jewish, but he was a major influence on Erwin Schuloff whose compositional career was extinguished when he was deported to the Wülzburg prison where he died in 1942). 

Methodically I began with Dvorak Symphony #1 which he composed at age 24 and which I find delightful and exhilarating.  As the days progressed, however, I found myself dreading day 9 and the famous work, From the New World, commissioned and written by Dvorak during his extended American visit in his mid-50s.  In my mind’s ear leading up to number 9, this symphony was overblown and overplayed, and I was sure I’d be bored.

Surprisingly, however, this piece which I’ve probably heard dozens if not hundreds of times, sounded refreshingly wonderful when the ominous day arrived.  And herein lies a lesson, perhaps.  I’m not the same person I was when I last listened to this composition, and maybe this is how we can approach situations, books, and even people with whom we’ve become disenchanted.

Think, for example, of our annual cycle of reading the Five Books of Moses, one portion a week beginning with Simchat Torah and progressing until the following Simchat Torah when we approach Genesis Chapter 1 yet again.  The text remains the same year after year, but each time we read the appropriate verses, we read them with new insights and ideas because we’ve changed in the intervening time.  Each of our life experiences adds a dimension to our understanding of the world around us. 

Of the Torah, the first century CE sage known as Ben Bag Bag (probably a pseudonym to hide the fact that he’d converted to Judaism against Roman law) says “turn it and turn it again, for all is in it” (Pirke Avot 5:22).  There’s always something new to learn because we’re renewed each day, something for which we should always be grateful.

This past quarter, I had the honor to officiate at a wedding, multiple conversion ceremonies, and a Bat Mitzvah; to deliver a sermon on antisemitism at several local churches; to participate as part of a cohort of Jewish leaders on Combating Antisemitism through the Spertus Institute in Chicago; to deliver two talks about Jewish American Nobel Physics Prize Winners; to serve on a panel of rabbis at the Albuquerque JCC on the topic of the High Holidays; to teach a pair of classes at the Los Alamos Jewish Center on the liturgy of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur; to lead services for the Thailand Progressive Jewish Community in Bangkok; and to lead Shabbat services both at home in Los Alamos, and in Santa Fe at HaMakom.  With each of these activities, there was the potential to act in autopilot mode, yet I am energized whenever I expand my Jewish experiences, and I always learn something in the process.

Ben Bag Bag speaks of “Torah,” he is talking of Torah in its broadest sense – we should turn it and turn it again, for indeed, all is in it.

B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack

Reading list for the quarter

Below is my reading list from the past quarter, with an asterisk denoting a particularly good selection. 

Bruno Schulz: An Artist. A Murder. And the Hijacking of History* – Benjamin Balint

Einstein: A Stage Portrait – Willard Simms

Guide to Yiddish Short Stories – Bennett Muraskin

The Quiet City: A Play in Two Acts – Irwin Shaw

Antisemitism: Here and Now – Deborah Lipstadt

Three Prose Works – Else Lasker-Schuler; tr. James Conway

The Fran Lebowitz Reader* – Fran Lebowitz

Loss of Memory is Only Temporary – Johanna Kaplan

Limassol – Yishai Sarid; tr. Barbara Harshav

Inheritance (Yerushe) – Peretz Markish; tr. Mary Schulman

Alfred Dreyfus: The Man at the Center of the Affair* – Maurice Samuels

Indignation – Philip Roth

Weights and Measures* – Joseph Roth; tr. David Le Vay

An American Type – Henry Roth

Golda Meir: Israel’s Matriarch* – Deborah Lipstadt

World of the High Holy Days Volume II – ed. Jack Riemer 

These Holy Days: A High Holidays Supplement After October 7 – Ed. Ora Horn Prouser and Menachem Creditor 

Pascin – Joann Sfar; tr. Edward Gauvin

End of Days – Haim Hazaz; tr.

The Big Bow Mystery – Israel Zangwill

The Road to Miltown – S.J.Perelman

David Golder* – Irene Nemirovsky; tr. Sandra Smith

Dear Friends:
According to the book Hebrew Ethical Wills, selected and edited by Israel Abrahams, there is a beautiful custom dating back millennia for Jews to compose testamentary directions for the religious and secular guidance of their children. 

In Abrahams’ anthology, there is a passage from an ethical will composed by Moses Hasid and published in the early 18th CE. The author says, “I prefer to pray less so as to read more.”  I suspect that not every rabbi would subscribe to this sentiment, but I’d like to devote this quarterly message to the topic of reading, an activity that I value above most others (to the occasional dismay of Beverly, who thinks – for reasons I cannot fathom – that it is unhealthy for me to stay indoors 24 hours a day).
 
I derived tremendous joy out of reading nightly to Dov and Orli when they were young, though admittedly I would occasionally fall asleep in the middle of one of their stories.  It is my contention that reading to one’s children is among the most important actions that parents can take to launch their progeny on a lifelong love of learning.
 
When we read, we are able to journey to different eras and locales, experience different cultures, and gain insight into different perspectives than our own. While the phrase “People of the Book” was first applied by Muslims to those with a previous scriptural revelation, many Jews have now appropriated those words to refer to ourselves. The eminent Harvard scholar, Harry Wolfson, stated that, “As far as I know, we are the only people who, when we drop a book on the floor, we pick it up and kiss it.”  (I’m not sure of the custom associated with a Kindle).
 
Beverly and I made a few trips to New York this past quarter; the first one provided me with an opportunity to sing on the stage of Carnegie Hall, and on the second, we celebrated with a dear friend who turned 83-years of age.  By rabbinic math in which a full life is ascribed to 70 years, he became 13 for the second time. Friends and family of the “Bar Mitzvah” came from all over to share in the joy as he read from the Torah scroll. This individual set a tremendous example to all who attended, showing that reading and learning in Jewish tradition never cease.  While in New York on that trip, several former congregants came up to me to say that they enjoy reading my quarterlies.  I was filled with gratitude.
 
On our New York subway rides, I was acutely conscious that by wearing a kippah, I was telegraphing my Jewish background, and I remain deeply troubled by the alarming rise in antisemitism in this country and throughout the world.  I’ve been continuing making the rounds of local churches and sermonizing on antisemitism; my goal is to build as large a community of allies as possible to help combat this scourge.  You’ll see below in the list of books I’ve read recently a few more works that help inform my understanding of antisemitism, and I’m honored to have been accepted as a member of the newest cohort for an intensive through the Spertus Institute in Chicago entitled Leadership Certificate Program in Combating Antisemitism for Professionals. I don’t doubt that we’ll get a huge reading list!
 
Am Yisrael Chai and B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack
 
*the quotation “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” is attributed to Fran Lebowitz

Reading list for the quarter

An asterisk* denotes a book I particularly enjoyed reading.
 
Jews Don’t Count – David Baddiel

J’Accuse* – Aharon Shabtai; tr. Peter Cole

Childe Harold of Dysna – Moyshe Kulbak; tr. Robert Adler Peckerar

In the Land of Happy Tears – ed. David Stromberg; tr. various

The Drive – Yair Assulin; tr. Jessica Cohen

Bauhaus Tel Aviv: An Architectural Guide – Nahoum Cohen

The Only Daughter* – A.B. Yehoshua; tr. Stuart Schoffman

The Kaddish Prayer: a New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic Sources – Nosson Scherman

The Humbling – Philip Roth

What is Life? – Erwin Schrodinger

Amos Oz: Writer, Activist, Icon* – Robert Alter

The Way to the Cats – Yehoshua Kenaz; tr. Dalya Bilu

Blessed Hands – Frume Halpern; tr. Yermiyahu Ahron Taub

The Problem of Space in Jewish Mediaeval Philosophy – Israel Isaac Efros

Thistles: Selected Poems of Esther Raab; tr. Harold Schimmel
 
Medical Frontiers and Jewish Law: Essays and Responsa; ed. Walter Jacob

The Crime of Writing – Haim Lapid; tr. Yael Lotan

The Hebrew Teacher – Maya Arad; tr. Jessica Cohen

Medicine and Jewish Law: Volume II – ed. Fred Rosner

One Hundred Saturdays*: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World – Michael Frank

Feynman’s Tips on Physics* – Richard Feynman, Michael Gottlieb, and Ralph Leighton

The Forgotten Physicist: Robert F. Bacher, 1905-2004 – Alan Carr

Desires – Celia Dropkin; tr. Anita Norich

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.

Rabbi Jack with Lindsey and Zachary under the chuppah

Dear Friends:
This being another in a series of quarterly missives from a physics rabbi, I’d like to share with you a few thoughts about relationships, mostly from a Jewish perspective (don’t panic – there will be no equations!). 

In physics experiments, it is often the interaction between particles that evokes the most interest.  My research was focused on nuclear fusion, a process that brings lightweight nuclei together to produce something new.  Isotopes of hydrogen, for example, can fuse and form helium, and in the process, energy is released. This is how the sun and all stars work. 

Similarly, in human beings, it is the interactions between people that are particularly interesting, and it struck me recently that Jewish life cycle events largely mark a fundamental shift in relationship.
 
Weddings are perhaps the most obvious example of this principle: under the chuppah, two adults come together to form a completely new entity – a married couple.  I love conducting wedding ceremonies and being present as this shift in relationship occurs. 

A Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony also signifies a shift in relationship.  In this case, it marks a moment when a young person becomes identified as a card-carrying member of the worldwide adult Jewish community. I always stress that Jews become Bar or Bat Mitzvah – they don’t have a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.  Many Jewish teens participate in a Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony, but the shift in status occurs when the young person comes of age, regardless if the occasion is marked with a religious service or a party.  Nonetheless, Jews who never celebrated the occasion often feel less than, which I think is terribly unfortunate. 

It is always an option to celebrate being a Bar or Bat Mitzvah in conjunction with a worship experience, and I am looking forward to participating as a dear friend marks his 83^rd birthday with a ceremony.  Why 83, you ask?  A rabbinic teaching suggests that 70 years of age marks a full life, and by sophisticated mathematics, 83 years of age is a second chance at publicly and joyously reaffirming one’s connection to the adult Jewish community.  I note, as an aside, that my full life moment is rapidly approaching!
 
Birth is a miraculous event that establishes the relationship between a new human being and the human race, and by extension, Brit milah/baby naming events publicize the establishment of a new relationship between an infant and the Jewish people. 

Death, on the other hand, marks the severing of the physical relationship between an individual and those who remain alive.  One responsibility of the survivors is to preserve that person’s memory through emulation of their good deeds and teachings, and Jewish funerals as well as unveilings provide opportunities for relatives and friends to reflect on their loved one’s life.  I was privileged to conduct such ceremonies this past quarter and help ensure that the memory of the deceased serve as a blessing and a guide for the living.
 
I’m not quite sure how to relate the other, likely more familiar nuclear process, nuclear fission, to this description of relationships – fission being the disintegration of a heavy nucleus into lighter particles.  Perhaps fission teaches us that even when something comes apart (a marriage, a parent-child relationship, even death), new things can emerge which are also valuable in their own way.

May all your relationships bring you new insights at the very least, or to quote the 12^th century Spanish Jewish author, Joseph Zabara, in his work Sefer Sha’ashuim (The Book of Delights), may your life be filled with “love, which is the best relationship.”
 
B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack

Book list

Below is my reading list from the past quarter, with an asterisk denoting a particularly good selection. 
 
The Polish Lad – Isaac Joel Linetski; tr. Moshe Spiegel

The Non-Jewish Jew – Isaac Deutscher

Flight Without End* – Joseph Roth; tr. David Le Vay

The Diamond Setter – Moshe Sakal; tr. Jessica Cohen

The Jews of Vienna 1867-1914: Assimilation and Identity – Marsha L. Rozenblit

Laugh, Jew, Laugh – B. Kovner (Jacob Adler); tr. Abraham London

Montage: Works by Debora Vogel; tr. Anastasiya Lyubas

Lamed Vav: A Collection of the Favorite Stories of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach – Tzlotana Barbara Midlo

Poland, A Green Land – Aharon Appelfeld; tr. Stuart Schoffman

Remnants: The Last Jews of Poland – Madgorzata Niezabitowka & Tomasz Tomaszewski

Die Ephrussis Eine Zeitreise: The Ephrussis. Travel in Time* 

Fire in the Blood – Irene Nemirovsky; tr. Sandra Smith

Tract on Prayer – Shalom DovBer of Lubavitch; tr. Eliezer Danzinger; ann. Avraham Vaisfiche

Amsterdam – Maya Arad Yasur; tr. Eran Edry

Proust: The Search* – Benjamin Taylor (Yale Jewish Lives series)

To Jerusalem and Back* – Saul Bellow

Creations and Creators – Abraham Goldberg; tr. Daniel Kennedy

My Yesterdays – Israel Emiot; tr. Byrna Weir and the author

Frankfort – A. Freeman and F. Kracauer; tr. Bertha Szold Levin

One for Each Night: The Greatest Chanukah Stories of All Time

Almost Dead – Assaf Gavron; tr. Assaf Gavron and James Lever

JEWels: Teasing Out the Poetry in Jewish Humor and Storytelling; ed. Steve Zeitlin; lead commentary by Peninnah Schram

Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation*: Adapted by Ari Folman, illustrations by David Polonsky

May the Angels Carry You: Jewish Prayers and Meditations for the Deathbed – Simcha Paull Raphael

Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement, 1755-1816: Pawel Maciejko

Trembling of the City – Hagit Grossman; tr. Benjamin Balint
 

Dear Friends:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
 
Dickens’ words seem quite apt following the horrific Hamas attack on Shemini Atzeret.  I am deeply saddened by this willful aggression towards innocent civilians, and I am also angered by the lack of condemnation of this terrorist activity by many non-Jews.  Further, I am discouraged about the prospects for peace.  Fifty years from now, long after I am gone, I suspect that the memory of the October 7^th atrocities will still be part of the Jewish psyche, and that event will become part of the long history of antisemitism.  Nonetheless, Am Yisrael Chai – the people of Israel will endure! 
 
My itinerant rabbi work this last quarter took me to Warsaw, Poland, for the High Holidays, and I experienced the full gamut of emotions during our sixteen-day visit.  On the one hand, our trip was dominated by the obvious tragedy of the Holocaust.  Those ghosts of murdered Jews were somehow always present for me, and I made visits to Auschwitz and Treblinka (and the reclaimed Jewish cemetery at Tarczyn and the Remah cemetery in Krakow and the Warsaw Jewish cemetery on Okopowa Street).  Dead Jewish souls everywhere.
 
On the other hand, I relished the opportunity to serve a living Jewish community that exists today despite the devastation of the community of the previous centuries.  As one congregant put it, this congregation is a remnant of a remnant, and yet we sang familiar tunes, shared familiar prayers, and observed familiar Jewish holidays just like anywhere else in the world.
 
In Warsaw, I conducted a couple of lively Q&A sessions, led services on Erev Rosh HaShanah, both days of Rosh HaShanah, erev Shabbat Shuvah and Shabbat Shuvah day, Kol Nidre, and a full Yom Kippur day as well as conducting a funeral just before leaving town.  I also gave a talk in the History Department at the University of Warsaw on the Jewish scientists involved in the Manhattan Project when Los Alamos was created to develop the first atomic bomb.  All in all, this Poland adventure was quite the experience.
 
These past few months, I had the honor of officiating at wedding ceremonies in Chicago, Bend (Oregon), and Washington, D.C. I delivered a variety of talks (on the Manhattan Project Jews; on Lewis Strauss and Robert Oppenheimer; on our experiences between 2014 and 2018 in Beijing; on the Jewish attitude towards medical aid in dying; on preparations for the High Holidays and the liturgy of Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur; and a 3-part introduction to Judaism) around the state and on Zoom with the Warsaw community.  Balancing some of the sadness associated with end-of-life issues and cemeteries, I had the pleasure of leading both a baby naming and a Bat Mitzvah ceremony in Los Alamos this past quarter.  I also led Shabbat services over Zoom for the congregation in Lima, Ohio.
 
Perhaps we appreciate joy more fully by recognizing that there are times when we also experience great sadness.  As the Psalmist says, “Weeping may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning (30:6).”  “May such mornings come to all of us when we most long for them” (Psalms of the Jewish Liturgy – Miriyam Glazer).
 
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Jack

Dear Friends:

I’m often intrigued by false cognates.  Hoodoos, also called tent rocks, are common geological features around Los Alamos, the result of erosion of soft rock underneath a harder rock.  This results in a tall, frequently tapered spire with a hard rock sitting up on the top.  Upon first seeing these amazing structures, one wonders how that rock got up there!  “Hodu” in Hebrew means to give thanks, and though the words sound quite similar, they are unrelated etymologically.  Nonetheless, this false cognate (words that sound the same in different languages but mean something completely different) teaches us an important lesson.  We have so many things for which we can and should be thankful, including the beauties of the natural world.
 
The Jewish practice of starting every day with a series of morning blessings is particularly wise, in my opinion, because it forces us to begin our routine by acknowledging all that we have for which to be thankful.  I encourage us to consider taking two minutes out of our morning to open our eyes to the miracles around us.  Please feel free to share with me the results of this experiment; I’m confident it will help inspire me to focus more carefully on my own, sometimes rote practice.
 
This past quarter included a week-long trip to Israel to visit Beverly’s father, and we were fortunate to time things and experience both Israel Memorial Day and Israeli Independence Day.  Regardless of one’s views on the controversy in Israel, I am glad that we are including a prayer for the State of Israel in our services at the Los Alamos Jewish Center and HaMakom.
 
Sadly, I officiated at multiple unveilings (Annie Kuzava, Itai Rosen, Zev Guber) and funerals (Harvey Taylor, Harry Rosenblum) which also serve as a reminder for us to be thankful for each day of life.  It was certainly joyous to help Zev’s grandson receive his Hebrew name (Zev) – the Ashkenazic custom of memorializing one who has passed away is particularly powerful to me.  Preparing and delivering presentations on 1) the Jewish dimension to Robert Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss, 2) Maimonides as a medieval exemplar of the unity between faith and science, 3) the Jewish perspective on medical aid in dying, and 4) a reprise of a talk I’ve given previously on the Jews at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project.
 
Listening to the beautiful song by Craig Taubman called “Kaddishel” about the person who recites the memorial prayer for one who has died prompted another false cognate for me with the word “codicil,” the modification to a will.  Perhaps we should be living our lives so that our wills – what we pass on to the next generation – are modified to ensure people will remember us for how we helped make the world a better place when we left than when we came in.
 
B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack

Dear Friends:

The fall holidays provide us with an annual opportunity to take stock of where we’ve been and where we are heading.  A different cycle also came to a close for me with the completion of a study discipline focused on the lesser known of the two Talmuds, the Talmud of the Land of Israel, sometimes called the Jerusalem Talmud or Yerushalmi.  This is distinct from the Talmud of Babylonia, the Bavli, which is regarded as the more authoritative of the two encyclopedic works. 

In August 2018 I embarked on a study routine of a page of Yerushalmi a day, Daf Yomi Yerushalmi, following a worldwide study regimen, and I am pleased to have survived the process, learning the very last page at the end of October 2022.  This calls for a Shehechiyanu blessing, expressing gratitude for having reached this special occasion.  It also is incumbent on me to eat an extra piece of dessert, based on the teaching from the Yerushalmi (Y. Kid. 4:12) that “a person will be called to account on judgment day for every permissible thing that he might have enjoyed but did not.”

In addition to my Yerushalmi practice, I kept busy this past quarter with the rich traditions of the fall holiday cycle, co-leading services for the HaMakom Santa Fe congregation with Cantor Cindy Freedman.  In order to give proper attention to the Bavli, I also instituted a Saturday afternoon Talmud class where we’ve been progressing methodically through Tractate Megilla (nominally discussing Purim but getting far afield at times).  It’s been wonderful to have a dozen or more HaMakom participants in that weekly class. 

The Los Alamos Jewish Center and the Albuquerque JCC also provided me with opportunities for additional adult Jewish education programs, and we’ve looked at a high-level overview of the High Holidays as well as the Jewish perspective on termination of pregnancy.  I also recently spoke to a Los Alamos National Laboratory First Responders group about Jewish traditions associated with death and burial.

Recent life cycle events ran the gamut from tragedy to elation – I officiated at a funeral for a beloved teenager as well as offering blessings for special birthdays in the congregation, kiddush at the wedding of some good friends and reciting one of the sheva berachot at Beverly’s niece’s wedding.

All in all, I find myself quite content in northern New Mexico, acknowledging that the same page of the Yerushalmi also teaches that “it is forbidden to live in a town that does not have a physician or a vegetable garden.”

Books continue to be my obsession.  Below are titles I read over the past quarter, and I’d love to hear your suggestions.

B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack

Last quarter’s reading list is below

Poems of Jerusalem – Yehuda Amichai

Jewish Vienna 1860-1938 – ed. Helfried Seemann and Christian Lunzer

The Palace Gates: Parables for the High Holy Days – Rabbi Shalom Wallach

To Be A Man – Nicole Krauss

Seeds in the Desert – Mendel Mann; tr. Heather Valencia

The Dark Gate: Selected Poems of David Vogel; tr. A.C. Jacobs

Yiddish for Everyone – Leslie Michele Manas

Before Our Very Eyes – Danny Siegel

Tashlich and the Thirteen Attributes – translation and commentary by Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer

The Book of Alfred Kantor: An Artist’s Journal of the Holocaust – Alfred Kantor

It Is Impossible to Remain Silent – Jorge Semprun and Elie Wiesel

I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help! How to Help Someone with Mental Illness Accept Treatment – Xavier Amador

Letters to Camondo – Edmund deWaal

The Scout – Steven Plaut

Where We Once Gathered: Lost Synagogues of Europe – Andrea Strongwater

Hebrew Manuscript Painting – David Goldstein

Twenty Girls to Envy Me: Selected Poems of Orit Gidali; translated by Marcela Sulak

Insight Israel: The View from Schechter – David Golinkin

100 Poems Without a Country – Erich Fried; tr. Stuart Hood

Man Ray: The Artist and His Shadows – Arthur Lubow