Shavuot message and Torah from Around the World #116

[[BLISS NOTES] Philip Bliss]

Shavuot 24 May 2012 / 3 Sivan 5772 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST FORWARD TO A FRIEND VISIT OUR SITE CONTACT US CLICK TO DONATE Click to make a secure contribution.   UPCOMING EVENTS June 1-2, 2012   Biennial Conference of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ), Israel  For more details, please visit the IMPJ website.    June 8-10, 2012   80th Anniversary and Biennial conference of the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ), Johannesburg   For more details, please visit the SAUPJ website.  June 22-24, 2012   Movement for Reform Judaism (UK) Biennial Conference, Daventry, England   For more details, please visit the Biennial page.   July 5-15, 2012   The Bergman Seminar for Jewish Educators, Anita Saltz Educational Center, Israel   For more details, please visit the Anita Saltz Educational Center, Bergman Seminar website.   July 19-22, 2012   UPJ Annual Conference, Spandau, Germany   For more details, please visit the UPJ website.   July 22 - August 1, 2012   The Roswell Seminar for Social Justice, Anita Saltz Educational Center, Israel   For more details, please visit the Anita Saltz Educational Center, Roswell Seminar website.    August 8-12, 2012   World Union for Progressive Judaism-Latin America (WUPJ-LA)'s 4th Conference of Jewish Communities, Buenos Aires   For more details, please visit the WUPJ-LA special conference website.   October 25-28, 2012   UPJ Biennial Conference, Sydney, Australia   For more details, please visit the UPJ website.     April 28-30, 2013   WUPJ Executive Board Seminar and International Assembly Meeting, Jerusalem, Israel    May 1-5, 2013   World Union for Progressive Judaism's 36th International Biennial, Connections 2013- Being the Difference, Jerusalem, Israel Read more in Upcoming Events      World Union for Progressive Judaism projects are supported by The World Zionist Organization   In This Issue:  Celebrating Shavuot with the newly published Plaut Torah Commentary in Russian Presidential reflections on... The Evolution of Shavuot Torah from around the world _____________________________________________ Celebrating Shavuot with the newly published Plaut Torah Commentary in Russian According to tradition, the Torah was given to the Jewish People on the festival of Shavuot. This is the best occasion to celebrate and share the new Russian language Plaut Torah Commentary with Russian readers in your community. The most widely used Torah commentary edition in Progressive Judaism is the Torah commentary edited by Rabbi W. Gunther Plaut. Originally published in 1981 (and more recently revised in 2005), the text is an excellent integration of traditional Jewish commentaries and perspectives on the Torah and modern, critical scholarship. The Plaut Modern Torah commentary is also a substantial resource for explaining and clarifying the Progressive Jewish approach to Torah study and an overall appreciation of the principles of Progressive Judaism. Read more...  Back to In This Issue    Presidential reflections on... The Evolution of Shavuot by Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs, President  One of the great examples of Progressive Jewish thinking, some 2000 years before there was anything called Progressive Judaism, regards the Festival of Shavuot.   In the Torah, Shavuot was strictly an agricultural holiday, a celebration of both the first summer fruits and the barley harvest. Our ingenious Rabbinic Sages reformed (and I use that word purposely) the festival into the anniversary of when our biblical ancestors received the Torah at Mount Sinai. We cannot be sure of exactly how it happened but I imagine a scenario much like this: Read more... Back to In This Issue      Just Who Counts? // B'midbar (Numbers 1:1-4:49)    by Rabbi Stanley M. Davids, Immediate past-president of ARZA, and Rabbi Emeritus, Temple Emanu-El of Greater Atlanta, US    Counting should be a very straightforward kind of thing. You send out an e-vite to a child's party, and each of the recipients can not only indicate with a key stroke whether s/he will be attending, but there is a listing on the side noting how many other recipients of the electronic invitation will be attending, and how many will not and how many laggards have not yet replied. Numbers are facts; nice, comfortable, reliable facts.  Read more... Back to In This Issue       Sincerely,   World Union for Progressive Judaism

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