tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1049424329099935202024-03-07T02:11:48.618-08:00Fusion 613An Interfaith forum discussing the impact of religion on culture and events in the world...fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.comBlogger361125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-51036368446103025342019-09-01T20:37:00.000-07:002019-09-01T20:37:02.675-07:00Travel essays from my Sabbatical to Auschwitz, Poland, Prague and Germany<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article234399447.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article234399447.html</a><br />
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I returned from my Sabbatical in August and have written two columns in the newspaper on my experiences. I hope you read them.<br />
Below is a prayer in anticipation for Hurricane Dorian. I hope it gives you some perspective as we prepare for this ominous storm. May God be with us and as we say, "Pray as if everything depended on God and act as if everything depended on you."<br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">God of the Heavens</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Nature and all you have created are truly awesome.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Often, we take these wonders for granted.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Teach us to cherish all your gifts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Try as we might, we know we cannot control</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The oceans, the mountains, the weather.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We also firmly believe that ever since the time of Noah,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">You do not send floods,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Make the earth shake,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Or dispatch weather formations such as hurricanes,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As warnings or punishments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So we ask, as this storm approaches,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">That you shelter all who are in its path.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Watch over our loved ones, friends and members of the community,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Many of whom will spend tonight-</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And perhaps many nights-</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Away from their homes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Give them strength, courage, and resolve to ride out this storm;</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Answer their prayers and ours</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">That they be blessed with goodness and be spared from harm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Blessed are you, Source of life and nature,</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Whose awesome power and strength fill our world</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">And inspire us to be strong in the face of all of life’s difficulties.</span></div>
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fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-24594138598941388842019-07-11T21:34:00.002-07:002019-07-11T21:38:20.894-07:00Two recent columns on the freedom of preaching from the pulpit and homosexuality<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article232248312.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article232248312.html</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article230341969.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article230341969.html</a><br />
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I have been a bit lax at not sending you my recent newspaper columns. So here are two recent ones. I hope you enjoy reading them and as always I appreciate the time you take to offer your comments pro or con.<br />
Take care and God bless you.<br />
Rabbi Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-11945098370675123512019-05-09T20:28:00.000-07:002019-05-09T20:28:46.774-07:00Holocaust Memorial Day message<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article229951749.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article229951749.html</a><br />
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I published this last Sunday in preparation for our community's Yom HaShoah commemoration. Tell me what you think? Thanks for clicking the link and saving this column.<br />
Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbo Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-83341942193724259332019-05-08T22:36:00.000-07:002019-05-08T22:36:40.830-07:00When do the shootings end?<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article229899494.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article229899494.html</a><br />
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Here is the new article on the shooting in Poway, Ca<br />
Please click the link and save this column. Thanks for reading it and taking the time to share your opinions. Please share this column with others.<br />
Shabbat Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-50695721234710100272019-02-23T20:49:00.000-08:002019-02-23T20:50:38.179-08:00Be careful about judging groups of people based upon externals.<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article226194125.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article226194125.html</a><br />
Hey folks,<br />
My newest column comments on public perceptions of religiously observant people and their unusual dress alongside the actions or lifestyle of completely secular people do not determine the moral makeup of people. Goodness and hatred can be found just as much behind the veneer of ritually observant people as they can be identified inside those who have no interest in public religion.<br />
Take a read and tell me what you think?<br />
Thank you for taking the time to read it.<br />
Just click the link as we pay homage to the digital deities that determine who will write and who shall not have columns.<br />
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Thanks everyone<br />
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Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-27843507617686782322019-01-05T21:18:00.000-08:002019-01-05T21:18:10.336-08:00Moses vs Pharaoh: Politics is what it is all about then and today.<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I know we live in an era where so many are fed up with politics. The cable news cycle and the drama we watch daily, and nightly in our homes and it all shows variations on a theme about the dynamic of power. Politics has become an evil word today because power is often the golden fleece rather than policy. All of this political toxicity in our world and in our nation’s political discourse has eroded the faith of the people in our democratic institutions. Is religion the place to escape that kind of politics? </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The answer is yes and no. What I am going to show us tonight is that the negotiations between Pharaoh and Moses look a lot like what we see in today’s world whether we are referring to politics or any form of an adversarial negotiation. Our stories in the Torah are political and we simply have to embrace them and the lessons they teach about human character. Politics are very much connected to this week’s Torah portion Vaeira and the showdown between Moses and Pharaoh who demands of his brother “Let my people go!” This Torah portion goes down in our memory as the Torah portion of plagues. These are the same plagues we commemorate which Moses invoked during the Passover Seder meal. We pour one drop of wine for each plague concluding with the plague of the death of the first born in Egypt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> Don’t be fooled for a moment by thinking this story in Exodus isn’t a political power play between the two leaders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Pharaoh tried to show his magicians were just as powerful as Moses by producing plagues, but, in the end Moses’ power, bestowed upon him by God, was too great for Pharaoh who finally acknowledged the power of Adonai. The plagues are meant to show that the power of faith and God’s intervention were superior to anything that Pharaoh could muster up. This episode, the speaking of truth to power, and Moses invoking the Divine Presence to bring on the plagues is part of a greater narrative in the Torah about a religious and political movement of liberation. The Exodus is all about politics. How could it not be?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I just love the negotiation between Pharaoh and Moses. As each plague wreaks havoc on Egypt, the text tells us that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Each time Pharaoh’s seems to relent from his stubbornness and appears ready to let the Israelites go, he then changes his mind. Is Pharaoh playing to his base for fear that if he gives in he risks appearing weak and, therefore, loosing the bases of his support?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Yet, the Torah tells us how each plague created its own cycle of Pharaoh changing his mind to get rid of the Israelites only to change his mind again in the aftermath of the plague. The failed negotiations proved that Pharaoh was a man you just couldn’t do business with because no matter what he says he always changed his mind. Finally the plague of hail illicit a different reaction from Pharaoh when he remarked, “I stand guilty this time. The Lord is in the right for I and my people are in the wrong. Plead with the Lord that there may be an end to this thunder and hail. I will let you go and you need not stay here any longer” (9:28-29).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The sad and tragic aspect of this political stand off is that even after Pharaoh said these things in acknowledging that Adonai is just and that he was wrong and that the Israelites could go free, it all meant nothing because Pharaoh said again shortly afterwards, “ But Pharaoh’s heart hardened and he refused to let the children of Israel go” (9:35).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The sages have their own viewpoints about this power dynamic. Some espoused the belief that the purpose of the plagues was to educate Pharaoh about the power of God and others said it was to remember compassion in anger.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> When we get to the Passover Haggadah itself, the Reform movement focused on the plagues as a metaphor on how humanity brings on the plagues upon themselves when we are disrespectful of each other and our environment. Elie Wiesel wrote that the purpose of dropping the wine for each plague was to teach us to remember the compassion for the Egyptians who were also victims, albeit of their own arrogance. Again, another rule of politics the people always end up suffering at the hands of the arrogance from their own leaders. Eventually that is what happened to the Egyptians when the final blow from the death of the first born of Egypt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The plagues, whether we are referring to the plagues used by Moses or those brought on my Pharaoh’s magicians, are as much political weapons as they were literal weapons used by each side to prove their power. Moses knew that Pharaoh’s word was meaningless. He saw through the lies of Pharaoh, when he said , “But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God” (9:30). In politics you can negotiate and achieve solutions even when both sides are completely opposed to each other. The problem is when there is not enough respect or trust for each side to achieve a mutual agreement. That is the core of the problem, in my estimation, between Moses and Pharaoh. This is why, in next week’s parashah Bo, the plague of the death of the first born in Egypt qualifies as the only factor that broke the political will of Pharaoh. Cable news cynics would say that mass deaths of Egypt gave Pharaoh the political cover to let them go and not loose power with his base.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In a way Moses was playing to his constituent base too. Was the base God or the people? That is the question we ask throughout the rest of the Torah. It drives the entire story of the Exodus and the revelation at Sinai as well as the stories of Moses loosing his temper and saving his people too. I cannot help but believe that negotiations between Moses and Pharaoh resemble in many ways the kind of negotiations between political leaders today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Alas, politics are part of life and their repercussions have an impact on the people. In the realm of religion too, our national narrative as a free people is very much connected to politics and negotiations. Many of us would like to think that that Judaism should be free of political discussions. We come to study Torah to be enriched spiritually. At the same time this our destiny and our history, how do we deny what is our past? How do we learn those lessons and apply them for how we conduct ourselves in the present for the benefit of the Jewish people, Israel and for America?</span></div>
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fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-12627230306927338192018-12-27T19:35:00.002-08:002018-12-27T19:35:28.692-08:00Resend of my column on gaining a grandson and loosing a mother<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">My daughter recently gave birth to a son, and I beheld with wonder my first grandchild. I entered his nursery and she proudly showed me a shelf of new books that she would soon be reading to her newborn. My eyes lit up and my emotions began to swell when I saw that same book on the shelf. I was touched that the book had such an impact on her after all these years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Within days of my return home, I received the news that my beloved mother, who was 97, had taken her last breath and peacefully, on the last day of Hanukkah, passed on to eternity. It was now my turn to take mom into my arms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I’m home again after officiating at mom’s funeral. I read a passage from Chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiastes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">These words exemplify the Bible’s understanding of the cycle of life and they are just as powerful today as when they were written.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I feel contrasting emotions vividly in my soul — the cycle of life with a newborn followed by the passing of this infant’s great grandmother. I am the next generation now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">There was always something about my mother’s presence that protected me from the thought of my own mortality and helped me feel that I was still a young man. My sense is that she felt younger than her friends in the assisted living facility where she lived because she had a child who had just passed sixty years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As we escorted her casket and lowered it into the grave, I recalled that cherished children’s book. But this time. it was me holding her in my arms, laying her down on the bed for a night of eternal sleep and saying, “I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my mother you’ll be.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I am at peace with her death while at the same time looking forward to a new journey with my grandson and his parents. Just as there was always a sense of peace and tranquility when I laid my little daughter down on the bed at night, I experienced that same harmony and flow of life as I laid mom to rest in her grave.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I no longer see the birth of a child and the death of a great grandparent as a conflict of emotions. If, as the writer Abraham Joshua Heschel once observed, death is the “great homecoming,” then so, too, is birth the great homecoming, when a newborn is welcomed into his or her new family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Aren’t these experiences simply two sides the same coin?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The thought of my daughter reading those words from the book to her son brings me great comfort. I hope she will one day repeat these words to me when I enter my final years: “I’ll love you forever. I’ll like you for always. As long as you’re living, my daddy you’ll be.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Ecclesiastes speaks of the transition of generations which affirms how a newborn and the passing of an elder belong to the same continuum of life:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“Generations come and generations go but the earth remains forever”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I feel at ease witnessing the goodness of this new generation’s arrival. I also mourn the passing of the eldest generation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Have I taken the first conscious step in preparing myself for my own passing and believing that it will be OK when my time has come?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I pray that God gives me the longevity to hold this new child and watch him grow up. At the same time, I know that I have left something sacred of myself behind that my parents bequeathed to me when I was born.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Now, I will pass that on to my daughter and my grandson.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I believe even more in tomorrow. As Proverbs says:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">“For surely there is a future and you will not be cut off.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">My mother’s memory lives on in me, and so, I pray, shall I live on in my daughter’s and grandson’s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Thank you God for the gift of life and memory. </span></div>
fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-81324929310877815232018-12-25T20:34:00.002-08:002018-12-25T20:34:42.453-08:00The cycle of life from birth of a grandchild to the passing of a beloved mother.<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article223300350.htm">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article223300350.htm</a><br />
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Many of us who read this column have experienced the loss of a loved one followed by the birth of a brand new baby. Or maybe it's the opposite. Well it happened to me and I have a newspaper column about how that felt and what I am learning from the cycle of life.<br />
What do you think?<br />
Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-62392727964202792552018-11-22T20:06:00.002-08:002018-11-22T20:06:37.980-08:00Thanksgiving reflects the best side of America's promise.<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article222001420.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article222001420.html</a><br />
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Hi Everyone,<br />
Here is my Thanksgiving day message which shows us how in our nation's history we have used Thanksgiving as a day to unite the nation from the core of our universal values. Take a read and tell me what you think. I hope you had a great day of being with family and friends.<br />
Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-38610843564495243982018-11-11T21:42:00.002-08:002018-11-11T21:42:25.726-08:00The 80th Anniversary of Kristallnacht<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">I sat down this week with a couple in my congregation. The man told me a story about how on the morning of November 9th, 1938, he awoke to the sound of hard banging on his front door. Standing outside of his home were brown shirted Nazis SA soldiers who triggered a nightmare for them and for the rest of the Jewish people. His father was a physician who had left early that morning to visit a patient. The next time this teen saw his father was four years later in New York City in 1942. This amazing man captured me with his harrowing tale of being on the last ship leaving his community in August of 1939. They made it to America, began new lives and created a future for themselves which they have enjoyed over the years. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">He was, sadly, the exception for Kristallnacht was simply put a state sponsored national and international series of pogroms or riots sponsored and incited by the German government in Germany and occupied Austria against the Jewish people. All of the violence and destruction against the Jewish communities including their synagogues and businesses and the imprisonment of Jews in concentration camps like Dachau and the increase of racial laws were meant to further isolate and humiliate the Jews from the rest of their society. All of it originating from a seventeen year old German born-Polish Jew Herschel Grynspan who shot and killed Nazi diplomat Ernst Von Rath in the German embassy in Paris. <br />
Goebels and Hitler seized on this moment to send the ultimate message which was that there was no future for the Jewish people in Germany and Austria.This is why Kristallnacht represents the Prelude to the so-called Final Solution or the Destruction of the Jewish people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">There are so many stories recorded by many like my congregant which is why we respectfully remember and commemorate the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht and we ask what lessons does the Night of Broken Glass teach us today?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">First, aside from what Kristallnacht represented in Hitler’s war against the Jews it has significant meaning for our times too. This nationwide German people’s rampage against the Jewish people teaches us how a state unleashed it police, its army, it fire department and the citizenry to run wild to destroy Jewish synagogues and businesses. They incarcerated thousands of Jews in the concentration camps of places like Dachau. Since then we have witnessed how other nations have entered the realm of insanity and hatred and done the same things to their own citizens too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As Jews we cannot help but react differently this year to Kristallnacht in light of the recent murderous rampage by a bigoted and evil man that took the lives of 11 Jewish worshippers at the <br />
Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. We see what is possible in our own country. Some say that this events like the march of Nazis at Charlottesville in 2016, or the burning of a Nazi Swastiker at a National Socialist Rally in Draketown, Georgia in April of 2018, point to an unprecedented upsurge of anti-Semitic outbreaks that may set an ominous and dangerous new trend for us in America and for world Jewry. Others question whether or not the Jewish community in America is vulnerable in a way that we would never have imagined or contemplated before? Again we are left with more questions than answers as to what the past can teach us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The program we have prepared for today combines the first hand testimonies from people who experienced the wanton rage against the Jewish people that night. Their voices are still alive for us and in that way we too will bear witness to that past. The music that the brilliant maestra Mary Green has prepared will take us on a journey of the soul and hopefully will inscribe in our hearts the despair and the concern of the times in the mid 1930s as the Nazis gained power all over the world. We owe a debt of gratitude to the Mary Green singers and the musicians who are hear today. Our task this afternoon is to combine the readings and the music into our consciousness to forever hold the Night of Broken Glass or Crystal for its place in history and for its symbol for why we should work for a future when nothing like it will happen to us or to any Jewish community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally we should be well advised to do our best to open up the dialogue with other groups to create the fortress of strength and resistance against these kinds of hate groups who not only rear their ugly heads against the Jewish community but against many communities in our country. The enemy who hates us today is the same person who despises the diversity of this great nation. How can we ignore the moral imperative to build bridges to a safer future for ourselves and for all Americans?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">On Friday Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel held a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht.“We should remember it every day, not only on a day of commemoration. Let us work every day to ensure that what happened 80 years ago can never happen again.“I am convinced that we can only draw the right lessons if we understand the November pogroms of 1938 as part of a process,” she said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The French Foreign Minister Edouard Philippe noted on his Facebook page the 69 percent increase in France of anti-semitic attacks. He said, "Every attack perpetrated against one of our citizens because they are Jewish echoes like the breaking of new crystal," Mr Philippe wrote on Facebook, referring to Kristallnacht.”"Why recall, in 2018, such a painful memory? Because we are very far from being finished with anti-Semitism.” Mr Philippe cited Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel as saying; "the real danger is indifference”. And that is exactly our mission today. To sharpen our awareness and to fight indifference to hate and oppose any effort by a government to destroy its own population because the stakes for Jewish survival couldn’t be any greater today.</span></div>
fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-3464352240664796502018-11-11T21:34:00.001-08:002018-11-11T21:34:43.099-08:00The aftermath of the murders of Jewish worshippers in Pittsburgh<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article220829535.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article220829535.html</a><br />
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My most recent newspaper column from the island packet.<br />
The title speaks for itself. Thanks for taking the time to read it. Let me know what you think?<br />
Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-22234130815127874772018-11-11T21:19:00.001-08:002018-11-11T21:19:07.024-08:00When your loved one has a stroke, is God Present for us?<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article220475555.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article220475555.html</a><br />
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I have had quite a few congregants and relatives who have recently suffered strokes. We all know how debilitating a stroke is on a human being. Is there a spiritual dimension and a moral dimension when we are supporting our loved ones? My newest newspaper column explores this topic. Let me know what you think?<br />
shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-34394900677129292612018-10-20T20:31:00.004-07:002018-10-20T20:31:58.176-07:00Hilton Head Mayoral Election and the fight against Holocaust Deniers.<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article219713365.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article219713365.html</a><br />
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This latest piece from my newspaper column is part of a four part series I have written about the current Hilton Head Mayoral Race. My focus has been on exposing the the public that two candidates have made openly hostile comments about the denial of the Holocaust and admiration for Adolph Hitler. My purpose has been to inform the community about these candidates viewpoints because I believe that our community has a right to know who they are voting for in this election. Have a good read and tell me what you think.<br />
Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-85313795288507094202018-10-20T20:19:00.001-07:002018-10-20T20:19:18.223-07:00Life Journeys are never a straight line. Torah portion Lech L'chah Genesis 12:10<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">A life journey isn’t always a straight line from beginning to end. Sometimes a journey feels more like a line that goes down and then heads up and for others like a zig zag. I suppose it all depends upon how we approach the living and the great moments of triumph and success as compared to those times when we feel as if we were on a descent of sorts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Jewish spiritual language likens those same ups and downs to a spiritual ascent called an aliya and the opposite, a descent, which is commonly called a y’ridah or descent. I suppose that is why Israelis call immigrating to Israel -making aliyah- and leaving the land as y’ridah or descending.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> We find ourselves doing things in a life journey that we would have never imagined us doing in order to solve a problem, resolve a conflict, make a peace, bring comfort or face a difficult truth. At some point we look at the sunset and contemplate. “How did I do in this life? How did I measure up to those challenges? Was it worth all that I did?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I have to wonder about our patriarch Abraham and the arc of his life journeys too. The Torah portion portrays him engaged on several journeys after God call us him to the ultimate challenge to inaugurate a new vision for humanity and a new belief system of a covenant between God and the Jewish people.Did Abraham have his ascents and descents in life too?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We see that the first new journey he makes at seventy-five years old is a spiritual ascent from his original homeland of Haran in Babylonia to the Land of Canaan. In chapter twelve Abraham enters the Promised Land and travels to a few places where each time he sets up an altar to give thanks to Adonai the Lord of all. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Yet that first ascent to the land of Canaan was short lived because in that same chapter the text says; “There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt and dwelt there for the famine was severe there” (12:10). Suddenly there is a famine and he leaves the Promised Land. I wonder if we look at those words with a deeper perspective how could we understand the meaning of the famine and his descent into Egypt followed by his eventual return or ascent back to the Land of Canaan? And is there another level of meaning for us related to the life journeys we all experience? The meaning may vary but what is important is that we see the connections between all our life journeys and how each of them contributed to making us who we are.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> The Torah tells us about several instances when our Patriarchs experienced famines and felt forced to go down to Egypt. Not only did Abram go down to Egypt during a famine but Isaac, his son, also faced a famine in Canaan and left Canaan in search of food. Joseph’s brothers also faced a famine and ultimately went down to Egypt to find food which led them to come face to face with their long lost brother Joseph. So there seems to be trend that famines occur in the lives of the Patriarchs and going down to Egypt is a short term solution but never seems to solve the underlying issues.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The story of Abram in Egypt goes on to tell how he prepared his wife Sarai that when they arrive in Egypt to tell Pharaoh that she is his sister and not his wife. Again was this a test of his personal integrity or was it justified for their survival? Ultimately Pharaoh is about take her as his wife when God brings a fever upon Pharaoh and his court so that Pharaoh rebukes Abram for hiding the fact that she is his wife. And they left with food and clothing and returned to Canaan with enough supplies to survive and even prosper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Were these tests of Abram’s character and resourcefulness? Was his lying to Pharaoh part of that life journey that maybe we have all had to do things we would not have preferred to do but felt compelled to do for the betterment of ourselves and our responsibilities to our families? Does the famine symbolize a descent of moral character? Does his return to Canaan represent a return to the better side of himself or a renewal of his original mission to fulfill God’s calling to him?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">When we experience a famine of the soul it means that something is missing in our lives and that we have a hunger for truth, enlightenment and renewal. Is it possible that Abram was looking for his own voice when he left Canaan? To balance spiritual needs with the physical needs? </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> Sometimes a life journey makes us take a step or two backwards before we can move forward. Sometimes we face the disappointment and even failures in our lives not just in jobs but in relationships. Isn’t that part of living today just as it might have been in Abram’s times too?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Have we not all heard that maxim, it is not how we go down but how we get up in life that really matters? Is that the upshot of Abram’s descent or going down into Egypt? Is that not the same for us when we take a hit in life? For Abram the Midrash says that his return to Canaan was the first of many tests in his life leading up to the ultimate test which was his going up to Canaan and ultimately up to Mount Moriah which is where in the next week’s Torah portion he would comply with God’s command to offer Isaac up for a sacrifice. How we respond to the tests that life presents us with says a great deal about our character. It did so for Abram and it does for us as well. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Rabbah taught his students:</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">In the world to come every person is led you before the judgment seat of God and will be asked several questions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Did you conduct your business affairs with integrity?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Did you set aside fixed times for the study of Torah?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Did you fulfill the commitment to procreation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Did you hope for salvation?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Did you occupy yourself with the study of wisdom?</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, Did you learn to understand how one thing follows from one another? (Talmud Shabbat31a)</span></div>
fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-50777180484577496472018-10-12T14:09:00.001-07:002018-10-12T14:09:27.286-07:00Was Noah a good leader for humanity? <div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;">If there is one lesson that American Presidents have learned over the past 16 years or so it is that when a natural disaster, like a Hurricane, occurs it is absolutely crucial that the public see and feel that the nation’s chief executive officer is involved and on top of marshaling resources to support communities affected by the ravages of a storm. We have witnessed the opposite when the public perception was that the president was not engaged directly with the people impacted by the Hurricane. When that happens rest assured there will be serious political consequences afterwards. The last three American Presidents have had to deal with massive hurricanes and we have seen the results when a President was truly engaged versus those who only appeared to be involved and compassionate with those who have suffered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The Torah portion is Noah and the sages also have a lot to say in support and in criticism of Noah who had to exercise communal leadership for this catalysmic act of divine retribution. Our commentators have a wide variety of views as to whether Noah was truly a hero or engaged leader for building the ark and following god’s orders. What were some of the criticisms that the sages leveled against Noah and were they legitimate? Staying silent and not appearing to be an advocate for one’s people or community is not a good example for leadership in any age. The same is true in politics as it is religion that if a perception exist in which people think that a leader is not totally engaged on the people’s behalf then that leader will likely confront harsh and adverse repercussions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">One of the most poignant but subtle attacks against Noah was his reaction to the idea that God was going to destroy humanity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The most important book of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, speaks to Noah as deserving of criticism. The sages like to contrast Noah with Abraham with the intention of saying both were good men but Abraham was unique because he had a degree of compassion that surpassed Noah. How so? In chapter of six of Genesis God says to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come to me”……” and behold I will destroy them from the earth. Now go make an ark of gopher wood” (6:13).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The rabbis say, “Noah held his peace and said nothing, neither did he intercede. Whereas when God was about to destroy the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomarah, Abraham said to God, “ Will you also destroy the righteous and the wicked.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Now the rabbis add on with further criticism of Noah in comparison to Abraham. Rashi, the most famous of biblical commentators, observed the difference between Abraham and Noah in that Noah needed God’s support to perform his duties but Abraham strengthened himself and walked in his righteousness by himself.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> There are even some scholars who take a more middle of the road approach to Noah in contrast to Abraham. They ask what is the meaning of the verse in Genesis, “Noah was a man righteous and whole hearted in his generation” (6:9). In one Midrash they ask, “what does the phrase “in his generation,” mean? The answer is mixed for some sages say it to his credit and others to his discredit. Was Noah righteous in his generation but not in others? This could be compared to a man who places a silver coin amongst copper coins, then the silver appears attractive. So Noah, therefore, appeared righteous in his generation of the flood. Still others interpret Noah to a jar of balsam placed in a grave which gave off a goodly fragrance. Had it been placed inside the house how much the more so would the fragrance be appreciated. (Tanhuma).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Finally, back to Rashi who commented on verse seven which says “Noah went into the ark before the waters of the flood.” Rashi says, “Noah had little faith, only half believing that the flood would actually come and he did not enter the ark until the waters forced him to go inside.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Clearly the rabbis do not hold Noah in the highest esteem. Were trying to diminish Noah so that they could build up Abraham? The most important critique we read was that he was silent and said nothing to defend humanity. He did nothing to challenge the justice of God’s decree to vanquish human civilization. And that is contrary to biblical figures like Abraham, Moses and Job who did challenge God when they believed God was being unfair or unjust against the Jewish people. If there is anything that is a distinguishing feature of Jewish theology it is that we do challenge God and even criticize God when we believe God is decreeing a punishment against us which we believe to be unjust.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Indeed why wasn’t Noah a stronger advocate on behalf of humanity before god? Why didn’t he speak out to God to try to intervene and convince God to hold his wrath? Noah is not a bad man but could he not have been a better advocate for humanity? If there is one thing we as a people have learned it is that silence in the face of any injustice is not the Jewish ethos we prize in assessing effective leadership. </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As Americans we have, embedded in our societal values, a belief that one should speak out when we feel justice is perverted. Our compassion as a society demands we speak out not only against God but against leadership when we strongly disagree. That ethos stems directly from the Torah.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">So when there is a crisis of a natural disaster like a flood, hurricane or earthquake the nation’s leader is expected not to be silent. The leader is expected to be a fierce advocate in bringing compassion and advocacy on behalf of the citizens that leader represents.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Can we go one step further by suggesting God expects us to exhibit compassion in times of travail even if we have brought on our own suffering? In Noah’s case the answer is yes. We have seen the reason why being silent and not advocating is contrary to our belief system. Americans have had to use that advocacy when natural disasters have hit our communities and the people needed the government to get involved in helping our fellow citizens find the resources to rebuild after a devastating hurricane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The rabbis have opened our eyes to a different dimension of the Noah story where Noah is a good man and righteous but not altogether meeting the standards of other great leaders who would have taken a much more proactive course of action to protect the people. Presidents and other leaders could do well to remember that following orders and staying silent, even if for honorable reasons, may, in fact, send the wrong message about how to be a leader in a time of crisis. Paraphrasing from Ecclesiastes, “There is a time for silence and a time for speaking out.” Noah missed that opportunity and God help any leader who does the same when a natural disaster hits our community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Shabbat Shalom</span></div>
fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-80619994404532121142018-09-25T22:28:00.000-07:002018-09-25T22:28:06.589-07:00God created everything except the ability to Lie.<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/</a><br />
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This is my most recent newspaper column. It is about lying and telling the truth. A very important lesson for clergy and elected officials running for office. This is especially relevant when we have a mayoral candidate who is a Holocaust denier. Read on and tell me what you think?<br />
<br />fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-87086777292106410582018-09-01T21:45:00.001-07:002018-09-01T21:45:07.814-07:00Hilton Head has a problem: Time to speak out against hate.<br /><a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article217382410.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article217382410.html</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article216583460.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article216583460.html</a><br />
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We like to believe that all is well in our community. For the most part it is except that we have the beginnings of a mayor's race where two of seven candidates have publicly espoused views of denial and creating fake truths about the Holocaust and another who expresses admiration for Adolph Hitler. It is time to face up to this problem. I have written over the last few weeks and published two articles in my newspaper column some of my own perspectives on this matter. Needless to say that National attention has been focused upon us. Hilton Head likes to think of itself as a world class community rating no 1 in America for resort living. World class means many things. Now are we being tested as to whether we are a world class community or not with the way we respond to the onslaught of two candidates for mayor who seem to be comfortable with such views.<br />
Thanks for reading these two articles and I appreciate your reactions and viewpoints.<br />
Happy New Year.<br />
Rabbi Bloom<br />
<br />fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-68002667077240351332018-08-03T13:55:00.002-07:002018-08-03T13:55:40.204-07:00Torah Portion Ekev Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 8:3 Man does not live by bread alone."
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<span class="s1">We spend our lives working, raising kids and planning exactly for these so- called golden years. We hope that we can call them our golden years. Isn’t this the time when we have financial resources to live without having to work. And if we do work it is because we want to and not because we have to work. Isn’t this the time when we begin to acquire some level of perspective and wisdom about the struggles we went through and the challenges we faced earlier on in life? Isn’t this the time when we reassess the past and recognize the success we had on multiple levels which we might have not appreciated earlier on in life? And isn’t this the time as we watch our children follow the pathway of work, earning a living and giving to their children as we gave to them that we begin to rethink about what we needed<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>to survive in or previous years versus what they need today to survive and be satisfied in the world?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Torah portion give us some insight about the meaning of a life well lived. In the Torah Portion Ekev, Deuteronomy Chapter eight verses two-three. We read, “He subjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had ever known, in order to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but that man may live on anything that the LORD decrees.” What does that mean for us? How shall we apply this verse to us and our lives over the years?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This verse combines something that strikes a familiar chord about life. Struggle is part of life. Hardship contrasted with moments of beneficence whether we call God the source of these moments or not. Judaism has struggled for a long time with this verse. Generally in the popular culture this verse was used to give us perspective that man does not live by bread alone meaning<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>don’t count on the road of life to be easy. Don’t be surprised when bad things happen or when good things can happen.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The other part of the verse is that God is testing us to see how we cope with these ups and downs.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is hard to involve God this way because holding God<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>responsible as the arbiter of our fates good or bad often creates more theological problems that it solves for us. We see these issues, for example,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>play out in biblical books such as the book of Job as he lashes out at God for causing him so much suffering. Joseph shares his faith with his brothers when their father Jacob died by saying that God put him through all the suffering of his kidnapping, his servitude in Potiphar’s house and then his servitude in jail for valid reasons which were to solve the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>problems<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>with his brothers and make peace. We look at biblical women who enjoyed the rapture of joy when they were able to give birth to children. These same women suffered great anguish because they had trouble and suffered much emotional trauma<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>at not being able initially to have children. The upshot is what most of us know which is that there is no easy ride for most of us in this world. Have we not come to understand that life is all about facing struggle and challenges as well as liberation and joy?</span></div>
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<span class="s1">No one wants the suffering for ourselves or for our loved ones, yet, without pain, how can we live a real life? We want to protect our children from all harm yet when we do<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>that and they get what the want. Haven’t<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>we<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>inoculated our kids from facing the challenges of life? Do we not handicap them at the same time when one day we will not be able to intervene to help or shield them? What have we done for them to give them skills for life? I am as guilty as the rest of trying to do these things<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>for my child. I suppose most of us have done the same. We worry and then there comes a moment when they surprise us and find a way to step up to the plate and meet those challenges just as we did.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Talmud in tractate Yom 74b comments on chapter 8:3 and gives us some perspective about focusing on real priorities in life. They ask how can there be affliction when the Israelites were eating manna? What was the affliction?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi disagreed on this matter. One said you can’t compare between one who has bread in the basket and one who does not have bread in the basket. In other words the affliction was that there was no leftover food the next day in the basket after they ate the manna. So the people worried each day that they might not have any food to eat each day. Here there is a clear distinction.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The other rabbi said there is no comparison between one who sees the food and eats it and one who does not see the food and eats it. Though the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>manna could taste like anything, it always looked the same and did not look as it tasted. But being unable to see the food that they tasted was an affliction.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I use this talmudic text to say that the symbol of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>food to represent<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>life means life’s challenges.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The rabbis are pragmatic about life’s realities when contrasting those with versus those without food.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Yet the other rabbi gives us a different kind of message. One who sees the food he eats verses one who does not see the food. The idea of seeing makes all the difference of the world. The point is not about how it tastes but about not being able to see it. Thus<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>literally seeing the food is a deeper message which says not seeing could mean not appreciating and not grasping the meaning of having the food that God gives.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Basically the spiritual message reminds us all that not appreciating what we have and how we survive is like being unable to see those blessings or being able to unable to understand the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>blessings we have in life.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So the Torah says that God tested us with hardships of hunger and gave us manna and reminded us that Man does not live by bread alone but that man may live on anything that the Lord decrees.’ This verse along with the rabbis analogy is trying to enlighten us about facing the challenges of life as part of life versus those who do not do so.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
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<span class="s1">The real spiritual hunger is not seeing or grasping that which we hunger for in life. Food is one level going up the hierarchy.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>To see the food is all about understanding and making peace with how we lived and how we continue to live in the world today.</span></div>
<br />fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-70827149103220901032018-07-20T13:54:00.002-07:002018-07-20T13:54:48.579-07:00Thoughts on the 9th of Av-Keeping the peace within the Jewish people.<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"> Modern Jews have trouble dealing with the tragedies of Jewish history. People often tell me that they feel that the sages focused too much on tragedy claiming how it spoils our attitudes towards a positive viewpoint towards being Jewish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">This time of the year is especially geared to remembering tragic episodes in Jewish history. Tomorrow begins the fast day called Tisha B’av or the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av when we remember the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the anniversary of the Spanish Inquisition in 1492 in which the edict was signed expelling Jewish from the Iberian Peninsula.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"> We started this series of remembrances by signaling on the 17th day they Hebrew month of Tammuz on June 30th. From this time until July 20th we remember the process by which the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem of the Second Temple in 70CE. During this interval time leading up to the 9th day of AV, no marriages are performed. This period is called “The Three Weeks.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">a. Some customs are no eating meat or drinking wines during this period.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">b. One is not allowed to say the Shechiyanu prayer</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">c. No purchasing any new garments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">d. Parents or teachers may not chastise their children during these days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">e. No haircuts during these days for adults or children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">f. The day before the 9th of Av one should not travel for any pleasure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Laws on the 9th of Av</span></div>
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<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Be uncomfortable when going to bed.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Do not wear tephillin</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Go to services and pray with tears of sadness.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Read the biblical book of Lamentations.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">Study the book of Job</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A pregnant woman or nursing woman should try to fast.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A woman from the 7th-30th day after birth is encouraged to fast as long as she feels she can do so.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">A sick person who is not dangerously ill may fast even if it is for a few hours.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">No washing of the body for pleasure. Health purposes is fine.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10.<span style="font-kerning: none;">A woman may not enter the mikveh on the eve of Tisha B’av so that she will not be obligated to have sex that night and through the next day.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>11.<span style="font-kerning: none;">No wearing of leather shoes</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>12.<span style="font-kerning: none;">No marital relations</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>13.<span style="font-kerning: none;">Business transactions are forbidden until midday.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>14.<span style="font-kerning: none;">Work is allowed after midday.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>15.<span style="font-kerning: none;">No sitting on a chair until midday.</span></li>
<li style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>16.<span style="font-kerning: none;">One may perform a circumcision after midday.</span></li>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">I think we get the point of how serious our sages took these days and how they wanted the Jewish people to feel the pain of exile and loss as part of what it means to be a Jew. This led to the debate in modern times that Tisha B’av would suffice to include the commemoration of the Holocaust. Yet, the state of Israel decided differently and introduced Yom HaShoah in April on the hebrew date commemorating the Warsaw ghetto rebellion against the Nazis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">We also have an additional issue for liberal Jews with regard to the Ninth of AV. In 1885 when the Reform <br />
Rabbinate developed their first platform of ideas that would guide <br />
Reform Judaism for over 130 years these sages disavowed the return Palestine and the rebuilding of the 2nd Temple. We have come a long way since then when it comes to Zionism. Reform Jews, however, still do not aspire to hold rebuilding the Temple and the sacrificial cult alongside it as a theological goal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">As a matter of fact many Jews especially secular Jews and not only Reform Jews, believe that we do not need Tisha B’av anymore since we have a Jewish state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Just go to the main plaza of the Western Wall on Tisha B’av and see the amazing contrast between how the ultra Orthodox stand at the wall and pray with prayers of mourning. Yet the overwhelming rest of the people who fill up the plaza are practically in a celebratory mood. What a paradox!</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Many Rabbis today will quote from the Talmudic dictum that the Temple was not just destroyed by the Romans in 70CE but the real cause for the destruction of our most sacred institution was that the Talmud says we were cast into exile because of sinat hinam or baseless hatred within the Jewish people. In other words the teaching has been that because we were divided amongst ourselves we became vulnerable to the Romans. So the idea is that if we are divided today then we too are vulnerable to the same fate as our forbearers. Unfortunately this idea has a lot of relevance to the tensions Israel has these days between ultra orthodox and Reform and Conservative Jewry as well as secular Jews in Israel today. The most recent example is the new bill that the Israeli Knesset passed this week that has, through new directives and policies, fortified the Jewish character of the state of Israel. Whereas opponents of this bill claim that this new legislation will diminish Israel a pluralistic and democratic state.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">The first chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy which are read this Shabbat remind us of how important it is to remember history. Moses outlines the history particularly about the years of wandering in the desert and headed towards the Promised Land. Again Moses is trying to instill in the minds of the first and second generations about to enter the Promised Land a feeling for the past mistakes and triumphs. He too saw how baseless hatred could threaten the inner fabric of this new people chosen by God to introduce Torah to the world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;">Mourning the catastrophes of our people’s past is appropriate. Having rituals that help us stay connected spiritually to that past is also fitting. <br />
Reform Judaism may not be able to reconcile the hope to rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem again. But we can make Tisha B’Av the ninth of Av a holy day which reminds us of not letting ourselves be the cause of infighting. History has taught us the results when a nation turns against itself and how it can subject its population to suffering at the hands of new oppressors. It is a good lesson for the leaders of Israel today and for our leaders in this country.</span></div>
fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-90922106106766700972018-07-15T21:40:00.001-07:002018-07-15T21:40:59.231-07:00Reflections on my Sabbatical: The Meaning of the Sabbath<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article214552360.html">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article214552360.html</a><br />
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Shalom to all,<br />
I just finished my first installment on my Sabbatical. So I published this new column on the meaning of the Sabbath and how we use time to be productive. But is being productive and efficient all that defines a human being? So I hope you will take a read and click the link to keep this column alive. There are some insights here that might just provide some new thinking about the wisdom of our tradition in the hustle bustle world we all live in.<br />
What do you think?<br />
Thanks<br />
Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-73075770872727392742018-07-08T21:56:00.003-07:002018-07-08T21:56:46.611-07:00The Battle for the Soul of America: Finding our Better Angels.<a href="https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article214180649.html#navlink=Lead">https://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article214180649.html#navlink=Lead</a><br />
<br />
This is my fourth of July newspaper column. I recently finished the new history book <u>The Battle for the Soul of America: Finding our better Angels.</u> by Jon Meachem. I strongly advise reading this great book. This is a message to give some perspective on being an American and what it will take to preserve our country. Let me know what you think.<br />
Shalom,<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-61558550809259207722018-06-19T21:39:00.000-07:002018-06-19T21:39:00.772-07:00The dangers of politicians quoting Scriptures to justify separating children from their parents who are entering the United States.<a href="http://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article213433159.html">http://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article213433159.html</a><br />
<br />
This is my most recent newspaper column where I discuss the current issues related to Attorney General Sessions quoting Romans 13 as a justification for incarcerating all children of illegal aliens entering out country from the Mexican border. I am praying and hoping to act too on this subject so as to advocate that the Administration end this policy. So tell me your viewpoint about this tough subject.<br />
Remember to click the link to save this column from the digital deities. Please share this link with your friends and remind them to click the link.<br />
Thanks<br />
Rabbi Brad Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-65671804810097300652018-05-09T22:42:00.001-07:002018-05-09T22:42:25.371-07:00The firing of Chaplain Conroy from the House of Representatives.<a href="http://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article210202244.html">http://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article210202244.html</a><br />
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<br />
This piece is about the recent firing of Chaplain Conroy from his position as Chaplain of the House of Representatives. He is the first Chaplain to be fired from the position. I am delighted to report to you that Speaker Ryan restored him to his job this week. So I hope you will read this column and share it with others. Remember to click the link so as to save this column in the world digital deities. Let me know what you think!<br />
All the best.<br />
Rabbi Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-40698320977727229322018-04-09T22:35:00.002-07:002018-04-09T22:35:26.414-07:00Fake News versus "what you do matters."<a href="http://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article208313199.html">http://www.islandpacket.com/living/religion/faith-in-action/article208313199.html</a><br />
<br />
This is my most recent newspaper column. I write about the story of the two kids at a local elementary school in our community who dressed up as Adolph Hitler. It created a national controversy all the way to CNN. Needless to say the circumstances were very difficult and the publicity was widespread. Yet this column tells the story of how we dealt with the problem and made a positive impact upon 100 fifth graders. Read this piece and tell me what you think.<br />
Remember please click the link so that we can keep this column alive.<br />
Thanks<br />
Rabbi Bloomfusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-104942432909993520.post-41942197347713502982018-03-25T22:16:00.001-07:002018-03-25T22:17:05.069-07:00March for Our Lives in Hilton Head and Bluffton Rally<a href="http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/crime/article206595479.html">http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/crime/article206595479.html</a><br />
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<br />
This is a clip from the recent rally held in Bluffton between students from Bluffton and Hilton Head High Schools. For your information.<br />
More to come. Is this history in the making? Or will it fizzle out? Time will tell. But it certainly good to see how today's young people aren't afraid to speak their mind. I am glad people see how important the value of the right to free speech is and the right to assembly.fusion 613http://www.blogger.com/profile/04527618316229889614noreply@blogger.com0