Scroll down for Rabbi Falick's commentary:

Please contact Sarah Markowitz, 1luciannn1@comcast.net or Cathy Radner, radner210@gmail.com, with any questions.

If you -- or someone you know -- would like to share your love of Humanistic Judaism, please contact Rabbi Falick, rabbi@birminghamtemple.com!

We’ll be considering both English and Hebrew names! (And if you have an English idea that you want to translate, you may consult with Rabbi Miriam Jerris of the Society for Humanistic Judaism - rabbimiriamjerris@shj.org - or Rabbi Falick - rabbi@birminghamtemple.com.

Please send your ideas to office@birminghamtemple.org.

💐 SPRING CELEBRATION SIGN-MAKING EVENT 💐

Who is invited: BT members, and friends of all ages -- family friendly, children may join in the art.

What are we doing?: Making signs in support of issues important to you. No art experience or ability required. The Social Justice Committee will provide the art supplies. Participants may bring extra to use or share ideas and guidance. WE WILL ALSO BE MAKING LAWN SIGNS FOR THE TEMPLE WITH THE NAMES OF BLACK VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE. 

Goal: Self-expression about causes we care for!

Optional Yoga session: 1-1:30pm with Connie Grossman, BT member & amazing yoga teacher, who will lead a gentle practice of standing postures

No yoga experience necessary to participate -- a great chance to try out this relaxing exercise

We'll also provide: Water and snacks, friendly DISTANCED conversation; our nearby play structure for children; information about current social justice issues and events!

By email to Audrey Pleasant (audreypleasant@gmail.com) or text 313.478.641. 

ALSO: canned tuna & chicken * proteins / grains * canned fruits & vegetables * soups / sauces / condiments * breakfast items * snacks

Contact Audrey (audreypleasant@gmail.com) for more details.

Gender-neutral baby clothes for expected newborn ● Pants in large or extra large for pregnant mom ● Shoes for mom: women's size 9 ● Shoes for dad: men's size 10 ● Size 5/6 clothes for boy ● Socks for boy and mom ● Comb for Afro-textured hair ● (Please note: No wipes or diapers needed!)

Audrey (audreypleasant@gmail.com) if you are able to donate any of these or would like her to shop for you.

Join us for an interview to learn about the work protecting the constitutional right to religious freedom for all members of the United States Armed Forces. There will be time afterwards for participants to be seen and share reactions with one another about the issues raised.

Sponsored by SHJ's pluralistic social justice initiative, Jews for a Secular Democracy, you can find more information here about how our volunteers bring a uniquely Jewish perspective to defending the wall between religion and government.

Free and open to all but PLEASE REGISTER HERE FOR THE LINK.

A HIAS-facilitated interactive discussion of the HIAS Book and Film Club, to discuss the book "Tell Me How It Ends" by Valeria Luiselli: This story is structured around forty questions the author asked undocumented Latin American children facing deportation, illustrates how our immigration system treats children arriving in the United States in search of a better life.

Join "The Women's Medical Fund" for a screening of "Abortion Hotline, This Is Lisa" to learn how the Hyde amendment has been punishing low income people for 47 years.

Sign up for the Social Justice Committee email list for information about what's happening at BT and beyond. Meeting agenda and copy of the monthly report to the board is emailed to all list members. Send your request to audreypleasant@gmail.com.

“Jews will not replace us!”

Back in August 2017 that was one of the rallying cries in Charlottesville, Virginia at the beginning of what became a hate-filled and, ultimately, deadly weekend under the banner of “Unite the Right.” Following that event (according to the Anti-Defamation League) white nationalist violence grew by over 180% in 2017. This trend has continued, much of it characterized by antisemitism.

Much of this rise of white supremacy is also tangled up with some version of the so-called “great replacement theory.” It forwards the claim that there is a tremendous conspiracy afoot -- abetted by Jews -- to reduce birthrates of white people while simultaneously replacing them with “non-Europeans.” In America this “theory” is a common component of white (or white Christian) nationalism.

When hard-core replacement rheorists focus their ire on Jews, the results can be deadly. The terrorist who killed eleven Jews at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 specifically cited Jewish aid to refugees and immigrants.

For too long now these extremists have been dismissed as fringe actors, unrepresentative of anything in the right-wing mainstream. Yet just last week Fox News’ rating king Tucker Carlson placed “replacement theory” firmly in the center, employing rhetoric that maps very easily onto the manifestos of white supremacist terrorists. (The Daily Show did a nice job of illustrating this here.)

In a sharp-worded response to Carlson, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the ADL, issued a public letter to Fox News calling for Carlson’s dismissal:

Greenblatt’s letter goes on to cite numerous examples of Carlson’s repulsive race-baiting (“obedient third-world” voters) and antisemitic dog whistles and worse. A response from Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Corporation CEO, dismissed the ADL’s concerns just as he and others at the channel have done previously when called out for promoting racist or otherwise injurious conspiracy theories and lies. 

Though I’ve been an occasional critic of the ADL, it is still America’s largest Jewish civil rights and defense organization, one of the few that is influential enough to take on Fox News. For that reason I’m gratified that Jonathan Greenblatt issued this powerful public message. I encourage my colleagues in the rabbinate and in other positions of Jewish leadership to do the same.

Rabbi Hillel’s famous question asks, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I?” In other words, how do we balance our self-interests against the needs of others? There have been times in Jewish history when this was a real quandary. Today’s America is not one of those times. Today we must ask a different question: “What will it take for us to realize that being for others is the only real way to be for ourselves?”

The password was sent under separate cover. Please contact rabbi@birminghamtemple.com if you need it.

"From Baghdad to Sepharad and Ashkenaz: The Jewish Diaspora in the Early Middle Ages"

Best Wishes for a Speedy Recovery to:

*THIS WEEK'S CARTOON