Opinion
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Dry Bones CLEARING IT UP
Editorial
Enriching God's Orchard
A
dat Shalom Synagogue
is doing its part to
bridge the physical
and emotional expanse between
diaspora Jews and Israeli Jews
by partnering with a small
Conservative shul in the north of
the Galilee. It's the kind of part-
nership that other synagogues,
no matter what their affiliation,
would do well to consider.
Kehillat Hakerem, begun 27
years ago, is in Karmiel, Hebrew
for God's orchard. That descrip-
tion is apt: It's a hilltop town of
about 50,000 people, almost half
from the former Soviet Union.
Many others are from Latin
America. The U.S. and Great
Britain also are represented.
The partnership is a source
of enrichment and opportunity.
There's little downside if the
commitment remains two-way
and strong.
The 75-family shul is one of
several Conservative congre-
gations in or near the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Partnership 2000 region
in the Central Galilee. Now in its
12th year, P2K is about build-
ing better relationships between
Metro Detroit Jews and their
Israeli brethren. P2K provides
educational, cultural, spiritual
and economic ties.
Rabbi Tsvi Landau presides
from a simple little building in
Karmiel, but one bursting with
Jewish life. Congregants not only
pray, but also learn, support
each other, chart social activism
and experience cultural joys.
Adat Shalom has sent financial
aid generated from congregant
contributions to help Kehillat
Hakerem hire a youth worker
and two community outreach
workers, one versed in Russian
and the other Spanish speaking
in deference to Karmiel's demo-
graphic.
Rabbi Rachel Shere of Adat
Shalom and Rabbi Landau
recently completed a rabbinic
exchange to get to know each
other's congregation.
"With our help, our sister con-
gregation can unite Israeli soci-
ety, healing divisions between
religious and secular, between
cultures and ideologies. We can
help heal Israel society, perhaps
MR BAKER, AREN'T
YOUR IRAQ STUDY
GROUP SUGGESTIONS
SIMPLY A CALL FOR
in a little way; but nonetheless,
let us do our part," Rabbi Nevins
declared in his Yom Kippur ser-
mon.
That's a tall order to fill
through a partnership link-
ing congregations 6,000 miles
apart. But Rabbi Nevins says he's
bound and determined to do so
— and we're enthused by his
optimism. Regular e-mail cor-
respondence among congregants
on both sides of the Atlantic is
a start.
Coming together as Jews
united in purpose and resolve
though separated by vast dis-
tance is a very Jewish thing. New
connections among Jews far
away from each other help rein-
force that we're a people. Rabbi
Nevins put it well: "The Jewish
people should not be like vapor,
floating aimlessly in the air. We
should be united like drops of
water, giving life to the land and
nourishing our souls."
May other local synagogues
find inspiration in what Adat
Shalom is doing as a Zionist-
rooted mitzvah punctuated
with promise and with hope.
This new partnership is but
one of many powerful ways that
American and Israeli Jews can
connect in a very real way with
one another, with Torah and,
ultimately, with God.
to refute a large part
of the global warm-
ing thesis in a book
called The Skeptical
Environmentalist, he
was pilloried.
A committed environ-
mentalist, Lomborg was,
nevertheless, accused
of misusing data for
political purposes by
the Danish Ministry of
Science and made to appear before
an investigative panel. He was
cleared of the charges and success-
fully defended the accuracy of his
findings.
When Scientific American
got a copy of his book, however,
the magazine went apoplectic. It
rounded up a panel of scientists
— all of whom had published
material in support of man-made
global warming — and turned
them loose to chew on Lomborg.
In the interest of "fair-
ness," he was given
one page to reply.
Lomborg tried to
answer the charges
against him by
reprinting the stories
on his Web site and
refuting each one
point by point. He was
sued by the magazine
for copyright infringe-
ment. So much for fairness.
Global warming has become
the foundation of a Green religion.
Those who question it or argue
that the data are inconclusive and
incomplete often do so at their
professional peril.
The globe is certainly warming,
as it has warmed and cooled for
millennia. It is the role that human
activities play in this warming
that remains open to question.
Although you wouldn't know it
from most media coverage, a large
portion of highly qualified scien-
tists remain unconvinced.
You would also not guess that
flooding of coastal cities is an
absolute worst-case scenario, a
device commonly employed by
journalists to pump up a story.
There is a lot we don't know and
there is a lot open to conjecture.
Before passing legislation that
would clobber the auto industry,
among others, it would be good
to know the science is on a higher
level than that which led to spuri-
ous lawsuits and bans on breast
implants.
After all, only a decade ago or so
we were being told by the media
that we were headed for another
Ice Age. Now there's an inconve-
nient truth.
I- NONSENSE! ! THIS CA' ts
NOT BE CALLED A
SURRENDER FOR ONE
SPIRE REASON! !
WE WON'T BE
CARRYING
WHITE FLAGS.
DryBonesBlog.com
E-mail letters of no more than 150
words: letters@thejewishnews.com .
Reality Check
Turn On The Heat
L
ast winter wasn't very
good to Patrick. He is
the high school kid who
lives in the court across from our
house, and on snowy days he has
the job of digging us out.
We only needed his services
three times last year. So Patrick is
not thrilled about the possibility of
global warming.
Neither is Vanity Fair. This
publication, which usually places
semi-naked movie stars on its
cover, put out a "Green Issue' It
featured a fully clad Julia Roberts,
looking like the goddess of corn
flakes in a truly strange green
gown and a wreath around her
forehead. George Clooney and
some politicians were shown, too.
"A Threat Graver Than
Terrorism': said the big type.
"Global Warming. How much of
New York, Washington, and other
American cities will be under
28
January 4 @ 2007
water?"
Vanity Fair then went on to
accuse the Bush White House of
trying to suppress information
about this terrible event. That isn't
surprising, since the mag blames
Bush for everything from bird flu
to the sack of Constantinople.
But if this is a cover-up it's got
to be the worst of all time. Every
organ of the media has carried
frightening global warming stories
and any American who isn't aware
of it has to be living in a trench.
In fact, those trying to present
the opposing arguments are most
likely to be ignored or shouted
down. Some commentators have
compared them to Holocaust-
deniers and argue their opinions
are dangerous and should not be
published.
When Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish
social scientist and statistician,
gathered hard data that seemed
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com.