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To Learn and to Do Veida

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Reform Movement lProgressive Judaism in Israel

To Learn

& To Do

The 20^th CONGRESS

1-2 June, 2012 – 11-12‏‎ Sivan, 5772

 

Congress Program
 

9:30-12:00pm          General Assembly of the IMPJ

12:00-12:30pm        Meet with MK Yuli Edelstein, Minister for Information and Diaspora Affairs

1:00-2:00pm             Social Gathering

2:00-3:15pm             “To Learn & To Do” – Gala Opening

Opening prayer: Rabbi Corrie Zeidler of Ma’alot Tiv’on

Greetings from the Congress and Movement Chair

Greetings from the Chair of MARAM

Rabbi Na’ama Kelman, Dean of the Hebrew Union College (HUC) in Jerusalem – 40 years of ordinations by the HUC and 20 years of ordinations in Israel

MK Shelly Yachimovich – Social and Public Involvement in Israel 2012

Presentation of Awards of Recognition for IMPJ Activities:

Founders’ Award – Kehilat Ma’alot Tiv’on for over 40 years of activities

Builders’ Award – Amutat Ganei Haim for over 25 years of activities

Pioneers’ Award – Women of Reform Judaism and Beit Midrash Bederech

Memorial:  Remembering Rabbis Moshe Zemer, Jacob (Jack) Cohen, David Forman and Marko Banda

Coffee Break

3:45-5:15pm       Forward to Where? – Challenges facing Israeli Society in the Near Future

Discussion with Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, Chair of the Israel government committee; Opening:  Editor of The Marker, Guy Rolnik and Prof. Anat Zohar (former Chair of the Ministry of Education’s Pedagogical Secretariat)

Summary: Adv. Yizhar Hess, Director-General of the Israel Conservative Movement

Parallel study sessions in English and Russian

5:00-6:15pm             Prepare for Shabbat

In parallel:                Shabbat as an Educational Tool – study session led by Rabbi Stacy Blank

                                      Creative Kabbalat Shabbat for children led by Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism staff member Maya Vemosh

 

6:15-6:45pm             “Joy and Jubilation in the Torah”

Celebration for receiving new Torah scrolls and presenting them to the Mechina Pre-Army Program and Noar TELEM youth movement

Prayer for Receiving a Torah Scroll: Rabbi Yoram Mazor and Cantor Freddy Pe’er

 

6:45-7:45pm             “Go Forth to Receive the Shabbat” – IMPJ Kabbalat Shabbat

Gala Kabbalat Shabbat led by Daniel Centers’ rabbis and minyan leaders:

Rabbi Galia Sadan, Rabbi Mira Raz, Rabbi Talia Avnon, Or Zohar, Omer Navo

Sermon: Rabbi Talia Avnon, Director of Education for the Daniel Centers

Presentation of the IMPJ Achievement Award to Jerry Daniel

 

8:00-9:00pm             Shabbat Dinner for overnight congress participants

 

9:00-10:00pm          “Women in Song” – Happiness and Holiness

Oneg Shabbat with singing on the lawn; social interaction and dancing

Led by Or and Felicia Zohar, Kehilat HaLev musicians, cantors and members

 

10:00-11:00pm        Book Platform

Review of new books written by rabbis, researchers and members of the IMPJ and its extended family

“Parashat HaMayim” (Watershed) – edited by Rabbi Maya Leibowitz, Rabbi Dalia Marx, Rabbi Alona Lisitsa and Rabbi Tamar Duvdevani – discussion of the book and the role of water and emersion in the progressive Jewish philosophy and tradition

“Sulam Ya’akov” (Jacob’s Ladder) – discussion by Rabbi Benji Gruber and Rabbi Michael Marmur on theology and liberal Jewish philosophy in honor of the publication of the book “Sulam Ya’akov”:  Discussions between Rabbi Jacob (Jack) Cohen z”l and Rabbi Gruber with articles penned by Rabbi Cohen

“Imanhut Be’Tipul” (Mothers in Treatment) – this book was written by Rabbi Gila Caine together with the psychologist Avner HaCohen. Rabbi Caine will discuss this book with Dr. Ruchama Weiss of the HUC staff

 

In parallel:                Israeli folk dancing on the lawn

 

11:00pm                    Midnight Niggun

Jam Session of Jewish and Israeli music into the night

 

7:45-9:45am             “A New Light to Illuminate Zion” – Shabbat Shacharit Services

Led by rabbis Myra Hovav, Ezra Ende and Oded Mazor

Torah Portion:      Anat Hoffman, Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC)

 

10:00-10:30am        Festive Kiddush in honor of IRAC

Greetings: Rabbi Meir Ezri, Director-General of IMPJ at the time of IRAC’s founding, and MK Shlomo Mula, Chair of the Knesset Lobby for Pluralism

IMPJ Recognition Award will be given to IRAC founder Rabbi Uri Regev

Kiddush hosted by Adv. Nicole Maor, Director of the IRAC Centers for New Immigrants

 

10:45-12:00pm  “To Understand and to Become Wise” – seminars and study sessions on Congress issues

Social Action:          The Internet as a Tool for Social Change; what’s in politics for me now? The place for political discussion in the synagogue; Building the Future – challenges in crafting a mutual vision for Jews and Arabs in Israel; Windows to the Synagogue – mobilizing communities for social action; The Local Authority as an Arena for Public Activity; To Grab A Spot – the struggle against segregation of women as a test case for connecting field work with legal and political efforts.

Education:                From the Talmud to Action – a Jewish practicum for reform pre-schools and elementary schools; From Generation to Generation – multi-generational perspectives to Jewish educational dilemmas ; Education building Communities and Communities Building Education -  the place for educational activities within the community;  Planting Melodies – music as an educational tool for pre-schools, elementary schools and the community; Discussion with graduates of the IMPJ’s educational systems led by members from Ganei Haim’s first graduating class: Leora Ezrachi Vered and Lior Navo.

 

12:15-1:00pm          “Teach and be Taught” – Central Plenums

·         Feminist and gender struggles for social change in Israel

·         The connection between Jewish renaissance and public social change in Israel

·         Educating the values of Jewish identity and citizenship in a Jewish-democratic State

·         “Waging to lose” or “Lost wages” – the dilemma between separate Reform Jewish education and integration into the general educational system

Parallel study sessions will be held in English and Russian

 

1:30-2:45pm             Shabbat lunch for overnight participants in the Congress Center

In parallel:                 IMPJ picnic on the lawn for day participants

 

2:45-5:15pm             “Renew our Past Glory” – towards a new IMPJ prayer book

IMPJ discussion led by the Council of Reform & Progressive Rabbis (MARAM) on the need for a new prayer book, and its character

Opening: MARAM Chair Rabbi Maya Leibowitz and Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx

Roundtables: Prayer and Gender; Prayer and Jewish song; The Prayer Book as an Educational Tool; Text and Ceremony – returning ancient passages to the new prayer book

Summary: Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman, editor of the IMPJ Festival prayer book

 

4:30-5:30pm       “Circles of Justice” - Seudat Shlishit led by Israeli rabbinical students on the Congress issues

When the Economy of Wealth Meets the Sages; “Not by might and not by power but by spirit…” – educational instruction in public action; Hassidic stories and songs as educational tools; Gender-centric Education – reading the story “Cochmat Nashim” (Feminine Wisdom) by Shai Agnon and quotations from the Sages; How to Insert G-d into the Classroom; Jewish Identity and Education for Democracy; “You shall be Holy” – teaching sexuality as a positive commandment

Parallel study sessions will be held in English, Spanish and Russian

 

In parallel:

“Animal Farm” – a play based on George Orwell’s book presented by the community theater group of Kehilat Harel. Introduction: Rabbi Ada Zavidov

 

5:45-7:00pm             “To keep, to do and to exist” – summary session

Welcoming new communities in the IMPJ family

Presentation of Certificates of Recognition to Valued IMPJ Members:

“Yotzer Or” (Creator of Light) Award for Jewish-Israeli Creativity to author Yochi Brandes and singer/songwriter Shlomo Gronich

Speaker: Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, President of the World Union of Progressive Judaism

Speaker: Rabbi Gilad Kariv, Director-General of the IMPJ

For the Road: address from Leora Ezrachi Vered, National Coordinator for Noar TELEM and Dani Levenfeld, Chair of the Noar TELEM youth leadership

Closing prayer:        Rabbi Tamar Kohlberg in honor of the 10^th anniversary of the Samueli Center for Progressive Judaism in Ra’anana

 

7:15-8:00pm       “As the sun disappears behind the tree tops, come bid farewell to the Sabbath Queen” – Mincha and Havdalah

Prayers with Rabbi Golan Ben-Chorin, students of the Cantorial and “Prayer Leaders” programs of the IMPJ and the HUC

Torah Portion: Rabbi Ofek Meir, Director of the Youth Division of the Leo Baeck Educational Center

One Torah; Years of Translation: Reading the Torah translated into Russian with cantillation for the Plaut Bible and its dissemination in Israel, led by Rabbi Gregory Kotlyar

Havdalah led by students from the “Michmanim” class 

See you at the Congress Jubilee Celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the First Conference for Jewish Reform & Progressive Communities in Israel

Iyar 5773 May 2014