(I apologies to my frum readers about this post)

As you may know, the Adelaide Fringe festival is in full swing. There are hundreds of performers and shows to choose from . It truly is a remarkable and fun festival that brings a lot of business and life to Adelaide.

For those who know me, I have a background in circus, magic, and ventriloquism which I practiced throughout my high school years. I did many shows within Jewish communities around the world. Purim, Lag B’omer, Sukkot, and Chanukah you could probably find me juggling some fire torches somewhere entertaining a Jewish crowd.

On my first trip around Europe when I was seventeen years old, I traveled with a magic and juggling kit performing wherever I could.

I’ve often said that, If I were not a Rabbi I’d probably have become a performer traveling the world to places like the Adelaide Fringe festival and doing, some sort of comedy, juggling, magic, martial art performance.

I therefore have a lot of appreciation for the hundreds of performers who have worked hard and put together their  acts now showing in Adelaide. There are so many shows going on that it was hard for me to choose which ones to see. I like comedians but not the ones who use loads of foul language and talk about trash. Danny Bhoy who Rachel and I went to see last year, is my favorite comedian. If he swears in his show, it’s maybe only once or twice, and his comedy is clean.

Last night I went to see a Canadian comedian who did a 60 minute show. He was alright. I liked his presentation. He used foul language moderately, and most of his content was ‘kosher.’ On my way out of the venue I was surprised to see  several police officers, along with half dozen people holding sighs promoting salvation. The picketers were shouting things along the line, of, ‘Jesus loves you,’ ‘you can be saved,’ and ‘damnation will come.’ Along were also plenty of media personal with their big cameras waiting to see what would happen. It was almost as interesting as the show I had just seen except this one was free!

I guess I’ve not been keeping up with the Adelaide news (as not much really happens here) but anyway, a Melbourne comic; Josh Ladgrov, was doingt a show titled: ‘Come Heckle Christ.’ Ladgrove with his long brown hair and trimmed beard looks remarkably like what the West has decided Jesus looked like. He was doing a show, where dressesd as Jesus, he lets people ask him questions.

Not surprisingly this show has created lots of controversy. Some say it should be fine as a form of freedome of speech, while others claim it is poor taste to allow such a show as part of the Adelaide Fringe festival.

The reviews on the show seem to say that it is mostly in good taste and that there is no real negative portrayal, and besides it is the crowd that determines what is asked.

On the flip side, almost every performer at the fringe is jealous  of Ladgrove, because all his shows are sold out….No duh…thanks to all the publicity the people trying to remove the show gave him, everyone now wants to see it. The fringe guide has some 900 shows listed in it, and aside from a few fringe academics most people would not have even known the show to have existed, including myself.

I am happy though that no Christians decided to burn down any buildings or lynch people because of this and that the demonstrations have all been peaceful with mostly people holding picketing signs and or candles.

Though this does give me an idea…Maybe I can do a show next year, ‘Come Heckle Mosses!’

Parsha Pekudei: We Are All Important

This week a letter was published from a woman who wrote to Rabbi Chalkowski, the rosh yeshiva of Neve Yerushalayim, where I studied.  She married and moved away from her community, making a new life with her husband far from home.  However, she maintained contact with her best friend who remained behind.  She watched as her friend remained popular in the community and met with great success in her career. Yet, she was in a new community where she had a hard time making friends and her career – in the same field as her friend – remained stagnant. She wrote to the rabbi because she felt disappointed with her life, especially in comparison to her friend.

Haven’t we all felt this way at some point or another?    It is so easy to look at another person and think their life is better, that it is the one you want.  He got a promotion. She got rich. He is popular. She is famous. Why him? Why her? Why not me?

Such comparisons might leave us feeling down at times.  There is always the temptation to think we have not achieved as much, even if we have tried our hardest.

In this week’s parsha, the precious metals and gemstones donated for the mishkan (tabernacle) are accounted and then assembled.  As to be expected, gold is the most precious.  There is more silver and much more copper than gold.  It seems like the gold must be the most important and the one G-d likes the best.  If metals had feelings, how would the silver and copper feel?

The gold is used to cover the ark, which means it is pretty important. However, the gold could not do its job covering the ark if the silver and copper were not part of the surrounding mishkan that protected the ark.  Although it seems like the gold is the most important, the mishkan could not have been built without all the metals contributed.  If only gold was given, there would be no mishkan.

It is the same with people.  Although it may seem that someone else has more success, we are each equally important.  Sure, the boss is important in the company, but the company would not function without the lower workers. The boss alone could not make the company run.

The world would not function without each and every one of us to make our contributions.  We may feel that our jobs are unimportant or our success is less than others’ but the truth is that we are all equally important, just in different ways.  Just as the silver and copper had essential roles in the building of the mishkan, so too do we each have an essential role in this world we live in.

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei: Finding Our Mission in Life
Read more on Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei: Building a Home for Hashem

The Adelaide Fringe has grown from its inception in 1960 to now being the largest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere. It runs for 24 days and night from Usually mid February to mid March. There are often over 900 events attracting more than 4,000 performers from around Australia and the world. It’s no wonder South Australia calls itself the ‘Festival State!’

This year I enjoyed looking through the program seeing what shows were on, and deciding which to see with the family. With my background in Juggling and magic, I like the street performers/buskers more than the organized shows. Last year we spent a few days watching the street performers.

This year I was trying to find if there were any Jewish Performers. There is one show ‘Bekitzur,’ which is a 25 minute dance. A collaboration of contemporary dancers from Luxembourg, Israel and Australia accompanied by live music from members of local Adelaide band ‘Swimming’. ‘Bekitzur,’ in Hebrew means ‘in short,’ which it is short for a show. However, they sold out all six shows and have had fantastic reviews. The girl behind it, Liat Kedem is from Adelaide and has spent the last year in Israel studying contemporary dance. Their last show was last night.

A Jewish comedian Sandy Gutman is here doing a bunch of shows. He will do a ONE-NIGHT-ONLY SPECIAL JEWISH ‘AUSTEN TAYSHUS’ SHOW as ‘AUSTEN TAYSHUS’ for JEWISH fans on SUNDAY 2^ND MARCH AT 8PM. In the Wakefield Room QUALITY HOTEL – OLD ADELAIDE160 O’CONNELL STREET, NORTH ADELAIDE. Cost $43.   Adult show. 1 hour. Book and pay DIRECTLY TO THE HOTEL on 8267 5066 for this show.

Sandy is a vegetarian intellectual who grew up in an orthodox Jewish home in Sydney, the son of a Hasidic Holocaust survivor. At 14 he won the Australian Bible competition and competed at the finals in Israel, placing in the top 5. He later spent a few months studying at a Jerusalem yeshiva and went back to Israel to volunteer during the Yom Kippur War.

His Jewish show is a philosophical take on being Jewish, living in the diaspora in a gentile world, on Jewish pride, on maintaining a secure Israel and the Holocaust and its effect on his generation. The Jewish show toured Israel in 2010.

There are a number of other Jewish performers at the Fringe though not necessarily associated with any type of Jewish show like Jonathon Nosan, a contortionist who is in a cabaret.

Anyway, if anyone knows of any Jews either performing or have come to Adelaide to experience the Fringe, please send them our way so we can invite them for a meal.

Parshas Vayakhel: Our Adelaide Kehilla

Community is a very important concept in Judaism.  However, as we see with many words in the English language, “community” is not an adequate translation of the original Hebrew.  In Hebrew, there are three words for the one English word “community.”  And, as former Chief Rabbi Sacks once pointed out, each of them has a different meaning.  Here in Adelaide, which are we?

The first word for community is “edah.”  “Edah” means community, but it comes from the word “eid,” which means “witness.”  So an edah is a community that has witnessed something – together.  Together, the Jews stood at Sinai and witnessed G-d speaking.  They then became an edah, of one mind.  They became a homogenous community.  But this does not seem to fit the description of our Adelaide community.  Although we may all be Jewish, we all have differing ideas of what that means to us.  Some of us keep kosher, others don’t. Some keep Shabbat, others don’t.  And we are all very different people with diverse interests and personalities.

The second word for community is “tzibbur,” from the Hebrew “tz-b-r,” which means “to heap” or “pile up.”  A tzibbur is what happens when a bunch of random people are thrown together in one place.  When you show up at the Kotel to daven with a group of people, you are a tzibbur.  You will likely never see those people again, but you’ve come together temporarily out of a common interest (praying).  Adelaide, although a community composed of many and varied people, is not a tzibbur.  We are too small for that.  We all know one another and see each other time and again.

The third and final word for community is “kehilla.”  A kehilla is something of the best of both worlds.  It is a gathering of diverse people who intentionally come together to accomplish a goal.  This can be good or bad.  The Jews at the golden calf were a kehilla.  So were the Jews in this week’s parsha who came together to make donations to the mishkan.  Ah, so this is the Adelaide Jewish community: we are all very different individuals, but we come together to make things happen, hopefully for the good!

And there are many opportunities to be a part of the kehilla in Adelaide.  Like the Jews in this week’s parsha, we can come together to give tzedaka or to build things like sukkot.   We can come together weekly for Shabbat services, to help make a minyan.  We can come together to do mitzvot, like visiting the sick or cheering the elderly.  We can come together to celebrate the holidays, like Purim, which is coming up, or Pesach, which is not long after.

I doubt Adelaide will ever become an edah, nor would we want it to.  We love the diversity and individuality of our members too much.  And we don’t want to see it become a tzibbur, with the members coming together so infrequently that they don’t even know one another.  We love our little kehilla and hope it stays this way: diverse and strong.  So come be a part of the kehilla! We look forward to seeing you!

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei: Finding Our Mission in Life
Read more on Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei: Building a Home for Hashem

The Australian Association for Jewish Studies conference took place in Adelaide this past Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Academics from around Australia and the world gathered to listen to, and share ideas on the subject of ‘Jews, Judaism and Hybridity.’

Some of the topics included were, ‘The Hebrew Bible and Hybridity,’ ‘Yiddish and Hybridity,’ and ‘Hybridity in the Diaspora.’ The session I enjoyed most was ‘Jews and China,’ with Mobo Gao as convener. Felix Patrikeeff, spoke on ‘The Jewish Communities, China and Australia, 1924-1969.’ Deborah Cao, presented on, ‘Popular Perceptions of Jews and Jewish Culture in Contemporary China.’

Many things about China have always fascinated me, and more recently is the Chinese attitude and understanding of the Jews. As Deborah Cao illustrated, how many Chinese believe that the Jews are smart and good at business. She drew many parallels between Jews and Chinese emphasizing similarities like, the importance of family, preserving culture, and respect for elders. Cao showed images of some of the books circulating the Chinese market, with titles like, ‘Talmudic Wisdom,’ ‘How to Raise your Children the Jewish way,’ and ‘Jewish Business Secrets.’

The most recent book Cao has written is about animal rights and the attitude and treatment of animals in China. This is one of the strong differences between Chinese and Jews. Any form of cruelty to animals is strictly prohibited in Judaism, where as in China it is often a non-issue. She hopes through her book and blog to educate Chinese people more in this area.

Another session I found interesting was, a session on Hybridity Among German Jews chaired by Lynn Arnold. Michael Abrahams-Sprod, presented ‘From Symbiosis to Racial Pollution: the Cases of Rassenschande (Racial Defilement) in Nazi Magdeburg.’ One thing I learned was how well organized the Germans were in their anti Semitism. Every step was calculated. On a few occasions in Rassenschande the people there thought to take their anti Semitism a few steps further than had been mandated by the central government office. They were reprimanded and ordered to fix the situations.

There were many more wonderful talks and some I’m still trying to figure out what the speaker was talking about. I find that when politicians speak, I realize they have said nothing, and when academics speak, I realize they have said a lot but I’m not sure what?

Overall it was a nice three days and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet other Jews and non Jews who are involved in, and or interested in Jewish education.

Parshas Ki Tisa: More Than Just a Number

We each have numbers that “represent” us.  There are Social Security Numbers and Tax ID numbers.  There are Personal Identification Numbers and Student ID numbers.  We have driver’s license numbers and passport numbers.  And, sadly, many Holocaust survivors have numbers tattooed on their arms.

Assigning people numbers to identify them is an easy way for schools, governments, and other large organizations to keep track of them.  We no longer live in small villages, as we did hundreds of years ago, and it is now harder to keep track of all the people.  Yet we still refer to ourselves by our names, not our “numbers.”  To be referred to by numbers alone seems somehow degrading.

And perhaps even these numbers are not strictly necessary.  When Moses takes the census in this week’s parsha, there are surely too many Jews for him to know all of them, and yet he deliberately does not count them.  Rather than take a census by counting, he collects half a coin from each person and counts those.  Then he is able to know how many Jews there are.

Why do we not count Jews? In this week’s parsha, Moses is told, “When you take the sum of the children of Israel according to their numbers, let each one give to G‑d an atonement for his soul when they are counted, then there will be no plague among them when they are counted.”  Later, King David also counts the Jews, but this time the conventional way – and a plague strikes.

This is because counting individuals singles them out for judgment.  As a community, we hope to have enough merits to avert any negative judgment.  However, as individuals, many of us may have too many sins for our current merits to overcome.

Additionally, viewing a community as a whole entity, rather than as a collection of individuals, brings blessing to the community.  The Talmud teaches that blessing is not found “in something that has been weighed, nor in something that has been measured, nor in something that has been counted,” so that if we want blessings we should not count.  In other words, when we Jews are united, we all receive blessings, but we when we divide ourselves up into individual units, we invite individual judgments.

Thus, if we want to receive blessings and help our fellow Jews to receive blessings, we must be united.  Rather than counting ourselves and dividing ourselves up, we must join together.  Shabbat is an excellent time to practice this by coming to Shabbat services, where you can spend time with a nice group of other Jews.  You can also join us for our upcoming Purim gathering.  We are looking forward to having so many people that we could not count them all even if we tried!

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Ki Tisa: Parshas Parah: Taking the Bull by the Horns

Parshas Tetzaveh – The Nose Knows

Studies show that of all our senses, our memory for smells is the strongest.  Indeed, most people will agree that certain smells bring them back to earlier times and experiences, even if they no longer remember what those experiences looked, sounded, or felt like.  One smell will remind you of your grandparents’ house, which you last visited when you were three years old.  Another smell will forever remind you of the day your first child was born.  Smells are very powerful.

Our sense of smell is also our most G-dly sense.  Indeed, when he comes, Moshiach will judge not by sight or by hearing, but by smell. (Sanhedrin 93b)

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, the sense of smell was the only one of the five senses that did not participate.  Hearing listened to the snake (and Eve).  Sight saw the apple.  Touch gripped the apple. Taste tasted the apple. But at no point did Adam or Eve stop to smell the apple.  The sense of smell did not participate in this, the first sin of humanity.  So the sense of smell retains a level of spirituality and holiness.

So when it comes to the building of the tabernacle, it makes sense (pun intended!) that the instructions for its construction should “save the best for last.”  So we see that after the rest of the tabernacle is built, only then do we receive the instructions regarding the incense.

But leaving the incense for last also teaches us something about human nature.  We are building a “house” for G-d, who is Himself not tangible.  Can G-d, who cannot be contained even by the heavens above, be contained in a little dwelling here on earth?  As humans, we are inherently limited.  We cannot possibly fathom something so intangible as G-d.  Because we are unable to rise to His level, we have to bring G-d down to ours.  So we build him a house, a physical tabernacle, in which He can “dwell.”

Yet, just having a physical place with trappings fit for the King of kings is still not enough.  We have to be able to feel G-d’s presence there.  Otherwise, it would be like walking into a king’s palace only to find it empty.  This is when the incense comes in.  The sweet, heady smell of the incense taps into our purest and most spiritual sense.  This intangible smell helps transport us, helps us enter the right frame of mind to perceive our intangible G-d.

This is why the instructions for the incense altar are left until last, even though it is placed inside the mishkan with the other altars and vessels.  Because as humans we first need to build and see the physical, then we can more easily tap into the spiritual.

We hope you will join us soon at our own house for G-d, where you too can better access your spirituality.  And invite G-d into your own home, where Shabbat is the perfect time to fill your house with the smells of mitzvot: fresh-baked challah on a Friday night, cholent on Saturday, and besamim on Saturday night.

Shabbat shalom!

Read more on Parshas Tetzaveh: What You Wear IS Important