Hachnasas Awe-inspiring Event for Eugene Hachnasas

Rabbi's Message in March

Our new Home Page

Our brothers and sisters are here "University of Oregon Jewish Student Union".

President's Corner

I'm sure each of us will remember a particular aspect of the Hachnassas Sefer Torah as being especially meaningful. For me there were actually three: the story of our Torah and the role it and we play in the intergenerational transmission of the Word; the personal connections made with Orthodox Jews from New York and their support of our unusual traditional shul; and the loving support and participation of so many members of Eugene's larger Jewish community. I want to especially thank Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin for encouraging the members of Temple Beth Israel to help in welcoming the Torah, and for himself participating in our celebration. We have come together before in sorrow. To come together again for a simcha not only strengthened the Jewish community and the future of Judaism, but advanced the work of tikkun olam immeasurably. Yasher Koach! Be well.

Nechama

Minyanairres Break New GroundMinyanairres Break New Ground

Minyanairres have kept the excitement of our Hachnasat Sefer Torah alive by coming together for minyanim on Monday and Thursday mornings. As of this writing we have had a full minyan-plus for these weekday services.

The formation was in response to Leon Goldenberg's inspiring challenge at the Torah installation Sunday morning. At one point he said very animatedly, "This Torah must be read not just on Shabbos, but also on Monday and Thursday mornings as well! This is a Torah to be used, not to sit in the Ark!" Moved to action by those words, Alan Scott-Thoennes of Corvallis called Rabbi Davidson Sunday evening and said, "So, Nu, what time is Shachris tomorrow?" Minyan-formers, including Adina, went to the phones and in a short time had commitments. The group met Monday morning and after davening called Leon at his office to share with him the impact of his charge.

We met again on Thursday morning where the participants agreed to commit to coming regularly, and to setting up a schedule to insure that the minyan is maintained. If you would like to be a regular Minyanairre please call Rabbi Davidson at the office to sign up. It can be for every Monday and Thursday or even once or twice a month. May we continue to go from strength to strength.

The importance of the Monday and Thursday services should not be understated. The Torah tells us that the Jews wandered for three days without water, an unfortunate occurrence. From this, Chazal, our Sages taught that since Torah is compared to water, we mustn't go three days without reading Torah publicly. Thus, we read the Torah publicly on Monday and Thursday mornings as well as on Shabbat during both Shachris and Mincha.

Davening and Tefillin Workshop

Rabbi Davidson will be giving a workshop that will include the basics of Tefillin and prayer services. How to put on Tallis and Tefillin, the blessings said, the structure of the prayer service, what prayers must be said and which may be skipped and when are some of the "how to" aspects of the class. We will also learn about the construction of the Tefilin themselves, why they are worn as they are, what makes them kosher and not kosher, and other aspects of the Tefillin and davening.

The time of the workshop will be announced. Bring your Tefillin if you have them; otherwise pairs will be available. Please call the office for more information.

If you would like to purchase a pair of Tefilin please be in contact with Rabbi Davidson. The halachic requirements of assembling the various parts of the Tefillin are many and varied and unfortunately there are too many on the market that are either not kosher from their inception or become invalid after a very short time due to poor quality. Rabbi Davidson can help you obtain a pair that is of high quality and lasting value at a price that is reasonable.

Hachnassat Sefer Torah
The joy experienced at the installation of our new torah will probably be a once in a lifetime high for most of us. Mr. Chaim Lipman, his son Menachem, his son-in-law Shimshon Halperin and Mr. Leon Goldenberg will forever hold a special place in our hearts for making the gift of this rescued torah possible. The Board of Directors adopted a resolution at its last meeting recognizing Gary Glasser for his outstanding work in coordinating this event and for donating countless hours to carry out the details necessary to make everything run smoothly. Yasher Koach! Thanks also to all the other people without whom the events leading up to and including the installation would not have been possible:

Summer Youth Opportunity

Haganat Hateva (the Society for the Preservation of Nature) and Hillel at the University of Oregon have organized a teen trip to Israel. The program can accommodate 10-15 students, ages 14-18. Two University of Oregon Hillel students will be chaperones along with the Haganat Hateva guides and staff. The camp will utilize the society's extensive network of field study centers and will include hiking, ecology, archaeology and Judaica. Approximate cost: $1,500 including travel. If you are interested, please write a short essay on why you want to attend and what your goals are as you move into Jewish adulthood. Send your brief essay along with your name, birth date, parents name, address and phone number to Temple Beth Israel: attention Sharen Eidelberg-Spratt.

Kosher Update

Tillamook Butter currently carries an unauthorized OU. Do not use it until we get word from the OU that it's all right. And remember that butter is no longer a group one food as whey from non-kosher cheese could have been used to process the butter. Challenge butter and Trader Joe's are both OU.

Rabbi Eidlitz now accepts all tofu as a group one food: that is, it doesn't need a heksher. But just plain tofu. Baked, formed or any other further processing of the tofu requires certification.

Prayer for the State of Israel

Mark March 8 on your calendars now. On that Shabbos we will have our regularly scheduled lunch as well as learning regarding the Prayer for the State of Israel. The Board recently voted to recommend inclusion of the prayer in our Shabbos services. The Rabbinic Council of America has approved it and many Orthodox congregations already say it. Rabbi Davidson will lead a learning group about the prayer and the concept of making changes in the prayer services. We will also discuss what adding this prayer would mean to us. As a community we will decide on whether or not to include it before making Havdallah on the 8th.

From our Talmud Class

On First Study of the Talmud

As young man I was a confirmed atheist as was my father, although both my father and mother were of Jewish descent. As I grew older and learned of the scientific method I became an agnostic. As I grew still older and learned quantum mechanics in depth, I came to believe in Gd. From a purely scientific point of view Judaism seemed to me to be the Gd model closest in conformity with reality.

At this time I had for over 20 years been following an ethical system based on the notions that the maximization of creativity was the basis of all good and that anything that decreased anyone's creativity was evil. The ethics of the Torah seemed to be in harmony with this ethic, which I call the "evolutionary ethic". Furthermore, it was obvious that as a group, the Jews were the most creative people in the world, relative to their numbers. The paradox was that the most creative Jews seemed to be secular Jews, and not religious Jews.

After reading the Torah several times and reading the writings of Maimonides, I studied the history of the Jews and Jewish anthropology. My big surprise was that the Jews were neither a race nor even a genetically homogenous nation; they always reflected the genetic make up of the people among which they lived. The Jews, therefore, represent a genetically heterogenous people within an ethical culture , who have become Jews by choice. This is a much more wonderful thing than being a race.

This was a strong indication that the Torah was a mapping of ultimate reality so that people who lived in accordance with the ethical principles of the Torah would, in the long run, maximize their creativity, although these principles followed mechanically, without understanding, would provide a short term disadvantage, as has often been the case for the Jewish people throughout history.

I had developed a scientific model that the ultimate reality of the universe is information, not matter or energy. Furthermore, this ultimate reality was tied to modern quantum mechanics as developed by David Bohm. This indicated that our reality of space, time, energy and matter was partially governed and perhaps created by a greater reality of infinite true information. This greater reality of infinite true information, existing in a timeless, spaceless universe, might be interpreted, metaphorically, as the memory of Hashem, the Gd of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Torah in general and the ethics of the Torah in particular are highly metaphorical, although, as in the case of the Ten Commandments, the ethics can also be very specific. The main point is that the Torah must be interpreted. It is not devoid of ambiguity. The most enlightened interpretations of the Torah are in the Mishna and the Gemara, which together make the Talmud. Therefore, in 1995 I began to study the Talmud as a way of better understanding the Torah in order to better integrate Jewish ethics with modern science.

The study of the Talmud has convinced me even more, that the Torah is what I had seen it to be and that the ethics of both the Torah and the Talmud are in one to one correspondence with an ethical system based on maximizing creativity, the Evolutionary Ethic.

For example consider the Talmudic notion of kadusha, holiness. Quantum mechanics would predict, and experiment confirms, that the ethical use of anything would endow that thing with some ethical information; as it acquires more ethical information, it acquires more kadusha. The Talmud teaches the same thing, although it does so in a more metaphorical way.

The Talmud also teaches that we should expect no reward from doing a mitzvah other than the opportunity to do another mitzvah. Evolutionary ethics teaches the same thing, namely, that truly ethical behavior results from purely ethical intentions without expectation of reward or fear of punishment.

Remember that in my system the ultimate reality is information. Hashem, as a spirit, is pure information not dependent on matter or energy; He exists outside of time and space. This is also the nature of the infinite truth of quantum reality, according to David Bohm's model. It can also be shown scientifically that from information can be created energy; from energy can be created matter;  from matter can be created life; from life can be created mind; and from mind can be created ever more information. This is the infinite upward spiral of evolution that has no beginning or end.

Gd is truth. Gd is infinite truth. Every scientific concept of ethics is in the Torah, as well as some of the implications of the latest findings in quantum mechanics. To me this is evidence that the Torah truly comes from Hashem and that those who work and study to understand and live by the Torah are truly following in the footsteps of God; therefore, they and their descendants will become ever more creative, as has been the case for the Jewish people, but has not been the case for any other people who always undergo a long creative decline after a brief initial period of creativity. A careful study of history shows that the closer a people live in accordance to the ethical principles in the Torah the more creative they are. People who grossly violate Jewish ethics, are totally uncreative. The Torah is a system for maintaining ethics in a people under the most adverse circumstances, as has been the case for the Jewish people.

However, part of this process is to eventually understand that the underlying ethical goal of the Torah is to make the people who follow its ethics the most creative on earth. Therefore, the fundamental ethical goal of all true Jews must be to maximize creativity.

Intuitively creativity is the process by which we discover scientific laws, invent machines, produce works of art, and help others do these same things. The most creative thing we can do for ourselves is to help maximize the creativity of another. In my books I have shown that creativity is equal to intelligence multiplied by ethics. In order to maximize creativity we must learn all truth and not specialize in any single truth. Judaism will have fulfilled its destiny when all Jewish ethics are fully integrated with all modern science and there is no conflict between the two. There can never be a conflict between true science and true ethics. Truth cannot contradict itself, and neither can Gd.

Spinoza said that the purpose of life is the intellectual love of Gd. According to Spinoza we love Gd by understanding and emulating Him. Again, according to Spinoza, we understand Gd through science and we emulate him (as the Torah says, "follow in His footsteps" by following his ethics as given in the Torah and the Talmud and summarized in the Evolutionary Ethic,"We Must Maximize Creativity". Scientific ethics, the Torah and the Talmud all say the same thing.

By,

John David Garcia

Drop in on the Rabbi

Rabbi Davidson is inviting you to drop in and say hello, ask a question, bring a suggestion, or have a cup of coffee and a shmooze. Drop-in times will be on Tuesday through Thursday from 11:00 am - 12:00 noon. It's a great time to check in and share your thoughts.

Occasionally the unexpected will call the Rabbi away. In the event that Rabbi D. will be out of the office at that time he will, whenever possible, leave an outgoing message on the voice mail and a note on the door.

Stop by and say howdy!

Spirituality Now on Cassette

The West Coast Orthodox Union held it's convention recently in Los Angeles, drawing over 400 people over five days to hear speakers such as Dr. David Luchins, special assistant to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who presented a sensitive and realistic perspective on homosexuality; Dr Lisa Aiken who spoke on intimacy in relationships; Rav Zev Leff of Israel, renowned international speaker and author, who gave the keynote address on spirituality. All forty of the talks and sessions were professionally recorded and are available for $7.75 each. A complete list of topics is available at the Minyan office. The tapes will be shipped from the Los Angeles office.

Teen Group Forming

Rabbi Davidson is forming a teen group that will meet once a week to discuss and learn about Jewish topics of importance to youth. The atmosphere will be informal and serious, wherein teens will have a forum to ask questions about Jewish thought and practice and discuss issues of interest to them. Please call the office for more information and to sign up for the group.

Orthodox Union Briefing

The National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY), the Orthodox Union's youth organization, proudly announces the establishment of the National Jewish Sports League (NJSL).

Initial projects include a national schedule of 3­on­3 basketball tournaments for high school students and the establishment of a national network of local Jewish basketball leagues. Future projects include competitions in a variety of sports, several of which will include national championships, an elite sports camp in Israel and the naming of "Jewish All American" teams in several high school sports.

David Kufeld was appointed as NJSL commissioner. Mr. Kufeld, an experienced sports management and sports marketing professional, was an All American basketball player at Yeshiva University, NBA draftee of the Portland Trail Blazers and Israeli pro league player. He is generally acknowledged as the highest achieving Orthodox Jewish athlete in recent memory. Mr. Kufeld was president of the New York­based Jewish Sports Congress.

The NJSL is also eager to develop a roster of adult and youth volunteers to assist with league and event operations. Parents who have experience in sports are particularly encouraged to become involved with the league.

For further information, contact David Kufeld at 516­745­5568 or via E­mail at:

DJKUFELD@ AOL.

New to the Newsletter

People who have visited since November 1, 1996=

Cyberfriends Links

Letters to the editor

Last months newsletter

The month before that

The month before that