can you use an ereader on shabbat?

Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz, also a member of the CJLS. (Conservative Rabbis committee Jewish law and standards)

In his twenty-seven-page response Rabbi Spitz said this: (minority view)

 

Reading is among the joys of Shabbat. The resources for reading have changed slowly over time but are now morphing quickly. We, Jews, are the last group to actively commission hand-written scrolls on parchment.  Scrolls replaced writing on shards or chiseling on hard objects-such as those famous two stone tablets. The printing press in the 15th century was a revolution that enhanced the availability, accuracy, and cost of the written word. Electronic reading devices are now swiftly replacing printed books.

 

He further states, "In my own congregation, I held a public conversation on the use of electricity and electronic devices during a Shabbat morning after the CJLS vote on the Nevins teshuvah. There were over one hundred and fifty people present. No one supported the majority vote banning the use of electronic devices on Shabbat. They spoke about how Judaism has evolved and how the question of what is shabbasdik is different than what is halakhically permitted. It made me pause and appreciate that CJLS teshuvot are written precisely for these Jews."

 

He then concludes,

 

In sum, reading, warming [food], and conversing add to the joy of Shabbat. As with the use of electricity, electronic devices may enable us to both have greater comfort and knowledge and enhanced connection to loved ones. In sum on Shabbat it is halakhically permissible to read from an electronic device... It is permitted to read on Shabbat from an e-reader. It is forbidden to make purchases or to write with the intention of permanent recording on these devices, including the composing and sending of e-mails.

 

conservative or Conservative

David Remnick in The New Yorker described Haaretz as "easily the most liberal newspaper in Israel", its ideology as left-wing and its temper as "insistently oppositional."

<sup>They published a story today about the new Israeli ambassador to the USA. 
Ron Dermer's challenge: To overcome his reputation as a conservative 
ideologue

Any Israeli ambassador must accept that the U.S. Jewish community is 
overwhelmingly progressive on economic and social issues and supports 
the two-state solution - in short, stalwart Democratic voters.
What does it take to be a great Israeli ambassador to the United 
States?

The question arises once again following the announcement that Ron 
Dermer will replace Michael Oren as Israel’s top diplomat in Washington 
some time this fall.

The job may be one of the most complex diplomatic postings in the 
world, because the ambassador must fulfill so many functions 
simultaneously.

Possibly, three of the most important are to nurture healthy relations 
with the U.S. administration, maintain support for Israel in Congress 
and look after the crucial relationship between Israel and the 
American-Jewish community.

Ambassador Dermer faces challenges on all of these fronts. The Obama 
administration has consented to his appointment because of his close 
ties to Prime Minister Netanyahu, which promise to be useful if 
Secretary of State John Kerry’s initiative to renew Israeli-Palestinian 
peace talks bears fruit. But Dermer must overcome his reputation as a 
conservative ideologue if he wants to forge good working relations with 
a Democratic administration. The same is true in Congress where the new 
ambassador will be welcomed with open arms by Republicans but may face 
initial suspicion from some on the Democratic side of the aisle..."</sup>


Many American Jews get the distinction between political conservative and religious denomination Conservative. but it is a much tough distinction for those outside of the USA, and non-native speakers. one of my converts from another country who identifies Jewish Conservative, wanted to know how having a conservative ambassador would impact their Conservative community.

Deuteronomy and Tisha Bav

Intro to the parasha Deuteronomy

Tisha Bav Monday night

synagoguergy

Life in the 21st century is changing so fast. Computer power doubles every 18 months. Smart phones, wireless, planes that land themselves on aircraft carriers, drones, online education, ebooks, ipads, texting, ordering 15 kinds of pizza from your phone to suit your tastes. Many now get their primary news and education from tv, video, internet, their phones and ipads. Much communiucation comes in short texts via a phone. Dinner around the dining room table increasingly seems to be everyone looking down at their phones.

Jewish life is changing for some too. And very quickly. For some, no changes. Jewish life continues pretty much as it has for centuries. And those Jews have 10 childrem starting at 18. For others, Hebrew school used to be 4 days a week, then 3, then 2 and now more and more, its Sundays only. Many stop learning at 13, if they learn at all. Many never marry, and if they do, they may marry multiple times, have one or two children. Families used to live within blocks of each other. now, many live continents apart and communicate by skype. Some marry the same gender, some switch genders. Some marry someone from another religion who may or may not, convert. Some switch out of Judaism, some switch into Judaism. Some synagogues are hopping, full of large crowds and exciting. More often, synagogue membership is shrinking, full of the elderly, merging or going out of business. Some people spend 7 years and hundreds of thousands to earn a rabbi degree, others a few thousand and get a degree online. There are exciting, innovative newly emerging forms and communities of Jewish expressions, but they so far have not attracted the masses. 

This blog is not meant for those who live inside Orthodox communties. For the most part, they are very satisfied with the forms of Judaism they inherited. This site is meant for the seekers, who feel the soul searcing desire but not sure about the where, how, why, what to be Jewish. wee have developed, as have others, many resources to help in that search.

The 2000 year old mishnaic text Pirke avot teaches: be like the disciples of Aaron...bring them closer "Mikarave" to the Torah. That is what we hope to do.

What is SYNagoguERGY?
 A synagogue, (from Greek: συναγωγή meaning "assembly"; ביתכנסת beyt knesset, meaning "house of assembly"; ביתתפילה is a Jewish house of prayer. When broken down, the word could also mean "learning together" (from the Greek συν syn, together, and αγωγή agogé, learning or training). 

Synergy is the interaction of multiple elements in a system to produce an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects. The term synergy comes from the Greek word synergia συνέργια from synergos, συνεργός, meaning "working together 

Therefore, SYNagoguERGY is what we are about-the bringing together of our interaction with you to produce an effect greater than the sum of our individual efforts, by inspiring the Living, Loving and Learning of Judaism 

www.synagoguergy.blogspot.com

Terrosist set the Arizona fires? So why aren't we securing the borders?

Palestinian Terror Group Claims Responsibility for Arizona Wildfires

Arizona wildfires / AP

BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
July 9, 2013 1:09 pm
A Palestinian terror group has claimed responsibility for the deadly wildfires that have spread across Arizona, according to reports.
A Palestinian jihadist group known as Masada al-Mujahideen took credit for the fires in a statement that was obtained and translated by Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Intelligence Group, according to the Clarion Project.
The terror group claims that the fires are a reprisal for Israel’s “occupation” of what they say are Palestinian lands.
Nineteen firefighters have been killed while fighting the blaze.
“We had previously announced an unconventional war against the occupation state of Israel, and then we escalated this war to reach its main supporter, America, so that it receives a major share of it, which will destroy their flora and fauna, with permission from Allah and then with our hands,” the group said, according to Clarion and SITE.
“In order to make it clear and to make it known that we can reach it when we warn it, and to make it certain that our hands don’t just reach it but also strike it,” the group reportedly said.
The group promises similar attacks in the future, stating that the Arizona fires “will not be the last, if America does not respond to our demands.”
Clarion reported that al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for setting fires in several European nations.
“The summer 2012 issue of Inspire, the online propaganda magazine run by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, devoted 11 pages to starting forest fires in NATO countries, including instructions,” Clarion reported.