The “New Year Of The Trees” arrives in this season. Tu B’Shvat, celebrated on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevet ( this year that is Wednesday Feb. 4) brings focus on trees, nature and now the environment. Synagogues will celebrate with special “sedarim” that speak to values of living within nature. The symbol of the tree, of course, is prominent. A symbol of stability and also learning. It is in this context that we begin, this week, a new section of jewishsacredaging.com. TALMUD TORAH will offer insights around an educational theme. We hope to expand this section to offer mini-courses that will examine issues and include items for discussion and thought that relate to our age cohort.
For this first foray, we welcome a regular contributor to the site, Rabbi Jonathan Kendall. Rabbi Kendall begins with a take, from his personal slant, on Israel. This is a concern for many, given the ever changing fabric of current events and the oft quoted drift from alignment with Israel on the part of millennial and Gen-Xers. We hope that Rabbi Kendall will continue to create educational pieces that get us thinking about Israel.
We invite your ideas and even participation in this new section. Feel free to send in ideas and suggestions for teachers.
In the meantime, enjoy this festival and Talmud Torah.
Shalom,
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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