"Reform Jews don't do that"

This morning the torah-study group continued looking at kashrut, and someone raised the issue of kashrut standards for the synagogue kitchen. (Several of us would like there to be some beyond "no pork".) We talked about that for a while and then a relative newcomer said the words that really bug me: "Reform Jews don't keep kosher". (Just to be clear, my gripe is with the first three words of that sentence.)

My response was (approximately): The Reform movement isn't about not doing things. It's about autonomy. We can't just say "I'm Reform so I don't do that"; we're required to study and make an informed choice. Sometimes that informed choice will be "I don't do that", and sometimes it will be "I do that".

Sigh. The Reform movement certainly has its bad apples (as do all movements, or for that matter all organizations). And it's had some really embarrassing history, mainly in the 19th century. But we get enough flack from outside the movement that it really bugs me when people inside don't recognize that it's possible to take this seriosuly.

Maybe, if I'm lucky, I helped to enlighten one person today. It's a start.

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We had an On the Mark practice today. It went well. Some of the songs that I remembered as being in not-so-good shape last practice worked well today. If we can keep this up, we're going to sound great at Darkover (Thanksgiving weekend).

I'd like to try to add a couple more new songs to the repertoire, just to keep our performances fresh for that audience. (This will be our twelfth year there, I think.) We have some possibilities for that. We've also been re-working some older songs ("Black Widows in the Privy" as ska is something I never would have thought of, but it sounds great!). And, of course, we do have the talents of two new members to show off, so that alone will make us different from last year.

Jenn asked me if I would sing at their wedding. I'm flattered. She specifically asked if I could sing any psalms in Hebrew, so I sang something for her today that she liked. Maybe the muse will strike and I will actually compose something for the occasion, but if not I have something to fall back on.

Friday night at services Rabbi Freedman talked about lashon hara -- usually translated as gossip, but it's really a more general form of hurtful speech. (The phrase literally means "evil language".) He spoke well. This is something I have tried to pay attention to over the last few years (not always successfully), but it's rare that I hear about it from the pulpit. I don't know why that is.

I have finally gotten to the end of a Shabbat with the melody for a particular song still intact. Now I can write it down. It's a lovely "Hashiveinu" that I've heard perhaps half a dozen times over the last few years. Not that I have real occasion to sing it (other than at my synagogue when it's being led), but I still wanted to get it recorded somehow just so I wouldn't lose it.

Tomorrow afternoon I will rebuild the piece of the sukkah that went missing. (I went to Home Depot Thursday for parts.) I think I have a better way to build it than what I did before; we'll see. Then later we'll have dinner with friends before sundown, and then it will be Yom Kippur.

To my Jewish friends: tzom kal (have an easy fast) and g'mar chatima tova (may the final seal be for good).