From http://partnersintorah.org
About the Author
Harry Rothenberg
Harry Rothenberg, as his accent suggests, is originally from Philadelphia and still spends too much time rooting for its sports teams. An attorney, he is best known for his representation of victims of catastrophic injury at the Rothenberg Law Firm, where he works with his parents and 5 of his siblings. But he’s equally passionate about lecturing on Jewish topics, particularly to audiences that did not have the same opportunity that he had to study for 3 years in Israel at Ohr Somayach yeshiva. A 1988 graduate of Columbia College and a 1993 graduate of Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, Harry lives in northern New Jersey with his wife Amy. Their 8 children range in age from their 21 year old eldest son to their 3 year old twin boys, who as their frequent guests can attest, are now in charge at their house.

HappyPurim from our house to yours.

Biography of Rabbi Joseph R. Black from his web site

Joy in the experience of learning. That’s a big part of Rabbi Joe Black’s approach to contemporary Jewish music. With children, he is energetic, surprising, and dynamic. With adults, his superb musicianship, powerful songwriting and sense of spiritual awareness creates an opportunity for the head and the heart to come together.

Rabbi Black is one of the most popular Jewish contemporary artists in the United States. He has been a featured performer at the Coalition for Alternatives in Jewish Education (CAJE) Conference as well as the Biennial Conventions of the Union for Reform Judaism. He has shared his music with hundreds of Jewish communities around the United States and Canada. He also has been featured in many acoustic music venues around the country. Rabbi Black has been honored as one of the “Top Ten Artists” in both the categories of “Jewish Children’s Music” and “Male, Adult Contemporary Jewish Music” by Moment Magazine and TARA Publications. His recordings have received accolades from sources as diverse as The New York Times, Haddasah Magazine, Parent’s Choice, The American Library Journal and Kids First: The Coalition for Quality Children’s Video. While living in Chicago, he hosted the Emmy award winning television program, The Magic Door on WBBM TV.

Rabbi Black became Sr. Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Denver, CO in July of 2010. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Albert in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 1996-2010. He served as Assistant and then Associate Rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis MN from 1987-1996.

Rabbi Black is thought-provoking and accessible, a rare and wondrous combination. His infectious musical style teaches while entertaining. A Rabbi Joe Black performance is an engrossing experience–an extraordinary and unique extension of the rabbinate.

His intense commitment to both modern Jewish music and to his home congregation means that he performs only a few select concerts each year, choosing venues where his creative musical approach can counsel, guide, and teach…but most of all, entertain.

Rabbi Black has recorded five critically acclaimed albums of Jewish music:

· Aleph Bet Boogie – fun filled songs for Jewish families
· Everybody’s Got a Little Music – more exciting music for Jewish families
8 Nights of Joy – a live Chanukah concert with Chicago’s acclaimed, Maxwell Street Klezmer Band.
· Leave a Little Bit Undone – thought-provoking and lively contemporary Jewish Music
· Sabbatical – more contemporary Jewish Music

He also has published the New Rabbi Joe Black Songbook and Boker Tov! – a joyful picture book based on his original song.

CONTRIBUTED BY STUDENT RABBI MIRIAM FARBER

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to spend Pesach with the Jewish community of Belarus along with another HUC student. By far the most powerful day of the trip was the time I spent in the community of Lida. Igor, a member of the community there, showed us around the city and its Jewish sites. We stood in the parking lot of an apartment complex, as Igor gestured around us and said, “This used to be a Jewish cemetery.” Were it not for the small plaque put up by the Jewish community, no one would know. We drove a little bit out of the city proper, to a monument on the side of the road, across from a forest. This monument, Igor told us, marked the spot where all of Lida’s Jewish children were killed when the Nazis liquidated the ghetto in the spring of 1942. Their parents were marched into the forest across the way. In the forest, we needed no monument. Mounds of earth rose unnaturally from the ground in a clearing, now covered with grass and wildflowers.

At our seders, we pair the salt water of Jewish tears with karpas, the greenery symbolizing springtime, rebirth, and renewal. That night in Lida, the seder was our karpas. We walked into a room bustling with seder preparations. A young girl, Lena, sang the Four Questions beautifully. We applauded the children’s choir, recently returned from a choral competition in Minsk. They proudly sang for their parents and their community, without any hesitation. The pride in their voices and reflected in the faces of the adults around them was a powerful contrast to the sites we had seen earlier that day.

The Gevurot prayer speaks of m’chayeh ha’meitim, the revival of the dead, in its traditional version. While we might not believe literally in this idea, the revival of Jewish life in Europe, in communities like Lida, testifies to the power of imagining a different future than the expected, obvious path. The Jewish community of Lida is finding its own way across the sea, building a vibrant Jewish community for the next generation. Lida’s Jewish presence is not in its monuments and memorial plaques, but in the voices of its children, and in the community’s hope for a better future.

Chag Pesach Sameach!

We had a lovely Pesach Seder last night; food and fellowship made for a great evening.

We wish a bittersweet farewell to Adam Koslen as he moves to a bigger media market, Sioux Falls gain is our loss. Welcome to the Bergs and the Wilkins; we look forward to getting to know you better.

Todah Robah to Sandy Thares and the O’Haire Inn for creating such a wonderful meal and to Laura Weiss for all of the behind-the-scenes work and organization to make the evening possible.

Mark your calendars for the second night of Passover in 5774, downstairs at the O’Haire!