This summer!

So, I will be spending the summer as a Madrich for the oldest edah at Camp Ramah in the Poconos. While I will miss my parents, my friends and my lovely girlfriend, Michelle, I can safely say that this summer is one that I am supremely looking forward to...

Anyway, I am so very excited to spend the summer there, and if anyone wishes to send me mail, my address is:

Andy Markowitz
Tzrif G-12
Camp Ramah
2618 Upper Woods Road
Lakewood, PA
18439

Please send me things as it makes me feel loved.

Well that is all for now as I need to get some rest for tomorrow's drive!

Something's not Kosher here...

As finals quickly approach, I find myself reading less for pleasure and more for the sake of my grades. That being said; however, I was procrastinating on the facebook earlier today and I stumbled upon a website entitled "Justice for Sholom" in someone else's blog post. This site is dedicated to keep people updated on the legal status of ex-CEO of Agriprocessors inc., Sholom Rubashkin. For those who are unfamiliar with the case at hand, Rubashkin's meat processing plant (incidentally the largest kosher plant in the country) was raided in May of 2008 by the INS. They apparently were not keeping to federal immigration and employment laws and as a result of this raid, Rubashkin committed band fraud in a vain attempt to keep his plant operational. Subsequently, the company has declared bankruptcy and Sholom Rubashkin is no longer the CEO. In the aftermath of this epic scandal, Rubashkin was shunned by the majority of the Jewish community and (as Agriprocessors was the largest Kosher Beef producer in the country) there was a national kosher meat shortage immediately following.

All of this aside, the aforementioned website dedicated to updating its readers on the legal battle that ensued following the charges filed against Rubashkin, recently posted that he was sentenced to life in prison. On that site, there were links to various op-eds covering the court's decision. One in particular caught my interest, as it was from Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. Besides the fact that I once davened Neillah service with this particular man, he is also a pop-cultural icon who runs a show entitled "Shalom in the Home" on TLC. Boteach's basic argument is that while Rubashkin messed up, he did not do anything that was worthy of life in prison. He continues that since Rubashkin has 10 children (one of whom is autistic), Rubashkin should be let go before his expiration. While I am not sure what I think... I am fairly certain that this man deserves the harshest punishment under the letter of the law, as his actions led others astray... not only morally but spiritually. The fact of the matter is that he broke the law and needs to be punished. I am not an interpreter of American law, and I have faith in the prosecutor. Rubashkin's sentence should serve as a deterrent for others.

On this same point, we need to ensure that the integrity of the Kosher food market be maintained and certified. How can this be done? Well the USCJ has proposed something called "Heksher Tzedek" or a certificate of righteousness that can be awarded (as an additional certification) to food products that are produced in ethically conscientious environments. This ethics-minded kosher food movement is, in my opinion, where modern Jewish thought on this subject should be headed. What is the purpose of having nominally kosher food if it is not produced with the correct intention? It is akin to davening without the proper kavanah... the laws are set up to provide a base structure that ethical conduct would naturally flow from. In the case of Rubashkin a perversion of the original intent of the act occurred... this essentially negated the holiness of all actions derived from that meat. This means that the Kosher products that others ate, while nominally kosher, lacked the essential kavanah needed for them to truly fulfill the mitzvah. To serve as a shochet or slaughterer of kosher meat, is to serve as stand in for the individual who partakes of the meat to ensure that the animal and God are given the proper respect. When Rubashkin messed with this system, he fiddled with the holiness of the action, which in turn warped the holiness of his customer. All of this is essentially "spiritual-fraud", which to an adherent is a sin of the highest degree.

Should Rubashkin rot in prison? I cannot pretend to answer that question with authority. However, if the question is asked whether or not the meat that Rubashkin produced was "kosher" or not... I can say with confidence that as the kavanah was absent, all of that meat was essentially treif...

A Little Chicken Soup for the Mensch's Soul

In the Jewish folk tradition chicken soup is considered to be an all restorative medicine capable of healing everything from a headache to a fever. In the tradition of the great books full of stories of hope and optimism, I present to you some good old fashioned Jewish humor... found in one of the most unlikely of places: an episode of "The Simpsons". The episode in question can be found here . While viewing this... don't expect something light and hopeful; rather, go in expecting to laugh your tushy off! It is rather off color and the really funny stuff is in Hebrew... BUT this might mean that we are coming to the mainstream. Well, I would say that Jews and Jewish culture have always been (in my lifetime) in the mainstream; however, this is something else.

Shabbat Shalom, and Enjoy!

This is the Blog of Affliction

As this past Monday evening marked the beginning of the Hag HaMatzot or the "Festival of the Matzah"! That's right Passover time is upon us! An entire week of eating gluten free or matzah based products is well underway. (On a side note, my girlfriend loves this holiday as she is a celiac and cannot properly digest wheat gluten all year round, so the rest of the Jewish community is forced to eat in a similar manner to her normally. Also, this is the only time of the year that she can stock up on yummy kosher meat products such as chicken nuggets.) Any-who, my first few days of the holiday were more hectic than usual as I was busy busy busy with so many things!

Let's have a run down of my week, shall we?

Monday

As the holiday did not start until sun down on Monday, I was able to go to classes that day. There is a marked difference between ability and action. I was actually unable to go to classes on Monday as I was needed at home to pack up my room. No, I am not moving... BUT there are many repairs that need to be done after my room was, rather rudely, invaded by the snow this past winter. Thankfully the insurance is helping us out and the repairs have begun this week... BUT I needed to pack up everything so the repairmen could empty out my room in preparation for the repairs. Accordingly, I went home instead of going to class. That is not before I went to be a mashgiach (kashrut supervisor) for Hillel. I woke up very early in the morning in order to be in the kitchen to help the cook make food for Passover (which was a running theme this week, so it seems).

I immediately went home after my shift in the kitchen and began to pack up my room. My mother was in the kitchen at home making yummy Passover foods such as, Brisket and Kugel in preparation for our seder that night. Father came home and we packed up our food and we went to Rhona's, our family friend, house for the first seder. The seder was anything but conventional and the group was eclectic... but a good time was had by all. There was chopped liver, chicken, brisket, kugel, "red sea" soup (chicken-matzah ball soup with red peppers in it), gravlox, and probably much more... It was quite a feast to be sure. Instead of the traditional singing fare, there were parodies of show-tunes that featured Passover content. While I did miss some of the more traditional songs, I was having a rollicking good time singing these parodies with all those assembled.

It was very late by the time that I got back to campus... and I had to wake up early the next morning so I could masgiach again!

Tuesday

I awoke rather early this past Tuesday morning, around 7am So I could ready myself and acquire a key to the old Hillel building that we were cooking in. I managed to find said Key and I spent the day from 9am until 4:30 working on supervising the food prep at Hillel. The cook-lady was a great help and good company. Tanya truly is a sweetheart.

After my day of running around and making sure that everything remained "kosh", I attempted to return to my room for a quick nap. This was ultimately unsuccessful as I engaged in conversation with my residents for a good portion of that time... I then made my way over to the new Hillel Building to prep the room for the second Seder, which I was leading! That seder began at 8pm and I think it went really well. I took my time to explain all of the symbolism present in the seder. We sang a bit, did some tableau's of each of the scenes in the seders, and ate some yummy foods. Of course, I made a point to read aloud the piece about Matzah being the "bread of affliction" to the crowd as my Brooklynese Zayda always does. I got a kick out of it... but I don't think anyone else did. I also made a point to challenge everyone there to think about what they are personally slaves to in their lives... as the text of the Haggadah states that "we WERE slaves". But is that really true? I got some answers, but it was more of a thought provoking piece. Alas, I did not finish at Hillel until 11:30 at night, then I needed to relax for a bit in order to unwind from the day. BUT I had to wake up again to assist with cooking again!

Wednesday

I again awoke rather early to a luscious breakfast of cottage cheese and Kosher for Passover cereal. YUM. I then made my way over to the kitchen to assist in cooking again! There was much food left over as it would seem that we were not getting as big of a crowd as we could have. I finished my shift at 4:30 again, and I made my way back to my room and I attempted to nap.

I then had a staff meeting after the holiday...

Anyway, that's how my week started. To be honest, I am still rather sleep deprived but I am happy that we have options for Jews to be Jews on the Holidays here. I might be a little behind on my work, but I am happy.

Let's make it through the rest of the week without too much strain and may the Matzah be with you...

Bridging the Gap

As I sit here listening to my Greek Philosophy professor lecture on the ethics of Aristotle, my mind cannot help but wander and become distracted by the good news that I received yesterday. I received a call from the director of Camp Ramah in the Poconos, and he informed me that I was being offered the role of a Gesher Madrich (Gesher Counselor). This job, while difficult, is one of those roles that you know that you can/will have an impact on someone else’s life. I am both nervous an excited; however, receiving this job offer is akin to a dream come true!

The role of the Gesher Madrich is unique at Camp in that it serves the oldest age group of hanichim (campers), and these hanichim are given certain responsibilities that really exceptional to expect of a hanich. Literally the name of this group, Gesher, means “bridge” and the concept behind this program is to not only serve as a culminating experience for the hanichim, but also to help aid their transition into effective staff member. Each Geshernik is assigned to a specific tzrif (bunk) or program area, and they assist the staff that work in these areas for part of the week in order to gain practical work experience at camp! The role, then, of the Gesher staff is to demonstrate and teach their Gesher hanichim how to behave in that manner. While professional development is one aspect of the Gesher program, there are a number of peulot or activities that are unique to the program as well! While I am unfamiliar with the entirety of the program, as I was never a camper, I am sure that we will have all sorts of great things planed! Specifically, there is a week-long road trip that serves as a unique bonding experience for the edah (age-group).

Another part of this summer that I am particularly excited for is the staff that I will be working with! I am going to be one of 5 people working with this age group this summer! The five are headed up by Sarah Waxman, who will serve as our fearless supervisor, and I am so very excited to be working under her this summer as she is an amazing Jewish Educator and so very passionate about camp. The counselors are Me (clearly), Sara Rothschild, Rachel Berger, and my very close friend Ira Blum. I cannot begin to describe how amazing this staff is, especially since we each have a close confidant on the staff. Rachel and Sara are close friends and I would count Ira amongst my closest friends. I have found that it helps to have people who you have a strong rapport with and trust on your staff. Especially with such a small group, there are only 5 people on the staff!

That is another piece that is unique to the Gesher program, as there is only one madrich in each tzrif. That means that there will be 4 tzrifim and each will only have 1 madrich. This is not the normal structure for Camp, as in all of the other tzrifim there will be two madrichim. This system allows for a better personal connection with the hanichim, allows them to have a more relaxed atmosphere, and ultimately causes there to be less staff involvement in their culminating experience. This also means that those staff members that are involved with the program have a slightly larger workload BUT as it is such a unique experience, the intended outcome of the program is worth the effort put forth. I am nothing but excited for any and all new challenges that will come my way this summer.

The only qualm that I have is that my girlfriend, Michelle, will be coming up to camp for one week. That week happens to coincide with my week-long trip. What can you do? She is part of the reason that I love camp so much. But I will have a Shabbat to spend with her... c'est la vie!

All in all, I am sure that I am in for a challenging yet uniquely rewarding summer! I honestly cannot wait! Go Gesher Eser!

Smoothy Sailing

There are times when your faith is restored through the independent actions of others. I recently became President of Hillel at Temple University, Temple's Jewish Student Union. To be honest, it has been adding to my stresses for the past few months, and I was beginning to lose sight of why I wanted to do it in the first place. Then, out of the clear blue, came tonight. Tonight was a social event put on by one of my peers on the student board, Ms. Megan Baumel. The event was titled "Smoothies on the Roof", well due to the inclement weather it became just "Smoothies with a breif foray into the roof. As a way to connect with other faith based groups on campus we decided to invite the Newman Center at Temple University. Well, apparently smoothies are quite popular as we has an AMAZING turn out. Somewhere along the lines of 60ish people showed up and we (and by that I mean me) had to run out to get more smoothie supplies. A fair amount of my fraternity brothers were there as well. All in all it was quite a fantastic event.

Watching all of those different people interact and enjoy themselves in the Edward H. Rosen Center for Jewish Life at Temple University helped me to realize why I wanted to be a leader in the organization in the first place. Thank you to everyone who showed up and thanks especially to Megan Baumel, who really put it all together. It is times like these that rekindle old motivations.

The Etiquette of Posting

My dear friend, a Sir Jonathan Magen (whose expertise on the subject of technology is unrivaled) has recently informed me that I have made a few fopas in my first forays into the blog-o-sphere! (For all of those interested, Jonathan's blog can be found HERE.)Firstly, I should apparently be linking to the sites of the organizations/groups that I refer to in my blog. For example, I spoke about Nativ, the year program that I participated in following my graduation from my high school, Akiba Hebrew Academy . This is apparently the appropriate format for blogging. Jonathan also aptly pointed out that I should no longer sign my blog as each entry already states that it was posted by Andy... and I happen to be this Andy. Another tip was to make the header-picture smaller, which I did, and I agree that it is now more aesthetically pleasing. He also mentioned that I should engage my comments... which I plan to do, but I can't as of right now as I don't have any. Jonathan also pointed out that there is a fantastic site called Machon Mamre where I can link to Hebrew passages. What else did he say, OH YEAH! He told me to post anything that I find that is interesting to me which sounds good I suppose. All in all I am very grateful for his tips and I look forward to employing them in the future!

Thanks be to Jonathan!