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254 Broad Avenue Leonia, NJ 07605 201.592.1712

  • November 16, 2023 8:24 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Nov. 16, 2023

    Dear Friends,
      It's time for our first class-led service of the school year.
      The 6th Grade will step up at our Shabbat Evening Family Service (7:30 PM).
       Of course, all are invited to help support the class.

        And now let's make some room for God!
        At our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM), and over the next few sessions, we'll talk about traditional and non-traditional views.
         In this regard, my blog this week reflects on the possibility of belief during tragic times: Where is God Now? | Barry L. Schwartz | The Blogs (timesofisrael.com)

         Religious school, including Confirmation Class, is in session on Sunday.

         Our annual Leonia Community Thanksgiving Service takes place on Tuesday (7:00 PM) at All Saints Episcopal Church (150 Park Ave.), with Rev. Leah Fowler speaking.
          Recall that on very short notice Rev. Fowler, and all the Leonia clergy, participated in our Vigil for Israel.
           Especially if you live in Leonia, let's show our support. 

    Shabbat shalom,
    Rabbi Schwartz
  • November 09, 2023 8:32 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Nov. 9, 2023

    Dear Friends,
      Eighty-five years ago today the Holocaust in Europe began in earnest with Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass", that saw hundreds of synagogues and Jewish businesses in Germany destroyed, scores of Jews killed, and tens of thousands deported. 

      It is sadly ironic that we have to continue our discussion of resurgent anti-Semitism on this tragic anniversary. We will do so at our Shabbat Evening Service (7:30 PM). 

      My latest blogs on the Israel-Hamas War can be found here: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/tohar-haneshek-is-there-still-a-place-for-purity-of-arms/ .
      Each week we are now reading the names of 18 Israeli hostages, who are ever on our minds.

      Having completed the Preface, we read and discuss the Introduction to Open Judaism at our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM). 

       Another period of Jewish suffering - the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition- is the subject of our Adas Emuno Book Club on Monday (7:30 PM- via Zoom), when we discuss the difficult but bestselling novel (based on a true story and discovered manuscript) The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon.

       This weekend we also mark Veteran's Day, and pause to express gratitude to those who have served our country. Did you know that our oldest member, Kurt Roberg (99 years old) witnessed Kristallnacht and then fought for this country in WWII? And that another member, Maren Friedman, was born in Germany, on Kristallnacht (Happy birthday, Maren).

        Congratulations to Temple member Bill Ziegler on being elected mayor of Leonia.
         The same to Temple member Kimberly Melman on her reelection to the Leonia Board of Education.

         And finally, also in the good news department, we celebrate another new birth this week- of our granddaughter Ava Liana Schwartz.
         Ava was so eager to come into the world that she was born at home, delivered by our son Nadav!

    Shabbat shalom,
    Rabbi Schwartz
  • November 02, 2023 8:09 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Nov. 2, 2023,

    Dear Friends,
      As a liberal myself, I have been struggling with the reaction of the left/far left to the Israel-Hamas war.
      This includes general media (such as the New York Times), some Jewish media (such as Tikkun magazine), and what is happening on many college campuses.
       I'll talk about this at our Shabbat Evening Service (7:30 PM). 

       Meanwhile, I have joined in a campaign to contact our NJ elected officials to advocate for Israel and the return of the hostages, and you can too, at  by clicking here: Your elected officials | USAGov.

        We'll continue reading from the introduction to my new book, Open Judaism, at our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM), which offers timely insight into why there is such conflict between secular and religious viewpoints in today's world. 

         Sad news- our heartfelt condolences to Fanny Fishbein on the untimely loss of her nephew, Peter Bojmal.

         Happy news- mazal tov to Leah Ryan and Pablo Villafane on the birth of their daughter Sasha Nicole Villafane, the newest member of our congregation!

          Reminder: set back clocks on Saturday night.
          Reminder: Vote on Tuesday!

    Shabbat shalom,
    Rabbi Schwartz
  • November 02, 2023 8:09 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Nov. 2, 2023,

    Dear Friends,
      As a liberal myself, I have been struggling with the reaction of the left/far left to the Israel-Hamas war.
      This includes general media (such as the New York Times), some Jewish media (such as Tikkun magazine), and what is happening on many college campuses.
       I'll talk about this at our Shabbat Evening Service (7:30 PM). 

       Meanwhile, I have joined in a campaign to contact our NJ elected officials to advocate for Israel and the return of the hostages, and you can too, at  by clicking here: Your elected officials | USAGov.

        We'll continue reading from the introduction to my new book, Open Judaism, at our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM), which offers timely insight into why there is such conflict between secular and religious viewpoints in today's world. 

         Sad news- our heartfelt condolences to Fanny Fishbein on the untimely loss of her nephew, Peter Bojmal.

         Happy news- mazal tov to Leah Ryan and Pablo Villafane on the birth of their daughter Sasha Nicole Villafane, the newest member of our congregation!

          Reminder: set back clocks on Saturday night.
          Reminder: Vote on Tuesday!

    Shabbat shalom,
    Rabbi Schwartz
  • October 26, 2023 8:42 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Oct. 26, 2023

    Dear Friends,
       As the excruciating news continues, I would like to amplify voices from Israel.
       These voices are striving to give important context to the unfolding crisis.
       I'll share some of these voices at our Shabbat Evening Service (7:30  PM). 

       What is Open Judaism, and why did I spend four years writing my new book?
       We'll read from the preface and talk about that at our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM).

        And here is a repeat of links about Israel:
        Contributions to a combined Reform movement/Jewish Federations campaign can be made via this link:
         Operation Swords of Iron - Israel Crisis 2023 (jotform.com)
        My recent remarks at our Leonia Vigil for Israel can be read at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/we-have-no-words/, and further thoughts at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-open-judaism-blogs-3-we-are-all-zionists/ .
         Our family in Israel has created a website of stories of the survivors: https://www.october7.org/

    Shabbat shalom,
    Barry
  • October 19, 2023 8:30 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Oct. 19, 2023

    Dear Friends,
      In troubled times the mitzvah of remembrance is especially important.

      At our Shabbat Evening Service (7:30 PM) we will dedicate our Memory Box, a beautiful hand-crafted box purchased by Elka Oliver during our 150th Anniversary.
       The box contains the history and photo books of our congregation, as well as prayers and notes from our religious school students.
        If you would like to add a note, please forward it to me this week or next.
        The Memory Box will serve as a time capsule for our congregation and will be re-opened in 25 years at our 175th anniversary!

      At our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM) we will continue reading the chapter on Israel in my new book.
        So too Israel will be the topic of discussion at the Confirmation Class on Sunday, as it was last week with all our grades.
         Contributions to a combined Reform movement/Jewish Federations campaign can be made via this link:
         Operation Swords of Iron - Israel Crisis 2023 (jotform.com)

        My remarks at the Leonia Vigil for Israel and at Temple Emeth last Shabbat can be viewed at our YouTube website, and read at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/we-have-no-words/ .
         I have begun a weekly blog on topics related to my new book, and this week's entry, also related to Israel,
    can be read at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-open-judaism-blogs-3-we-are-all-zionists/ .
         And I would like to share that our family in Israel has created a website of stories of the fallen and survivors  in Israel: https://www.october7.org/

    Shabbat shalom,
    Barry
  • October 12, 2023 8:08 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Oct. 12, 2023

    Dear Friends,
       We stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel, who came under such vicious attack this past Shabbat-Simchat Torah.
        We mourn all the dead and pray for the recovery of all the wounded, and those held hostage.

         A Leonia Vigil for Peace will be held here at the Temple on Sunday evening (7:00 PM).
         Mayor Judah Zeigler and  Leonia clergy participating. 

         Contributions to a combined Reform movement/Jewish Federations campaign can be made via this link:
         Operation Swords of Iron - Israel Crisis 2023 (jotform.com)
        
      The holidays ended so tragically in Israel, but this Shabbat is extra-special as we affirm life in the midst of such travail.
       We're having a combined Shabbat Evening Service with Temple Emeth in Teaneck (8:00 PM).
       Both our students cantors Joe and Iris will be on-site for wonderful music, and of course we will also express our solidarity with Israel.
       I've been asked to deliver the annual Rabbi Joshua Trachtenberg lecture immediately following the service on my new book, which I will do, but with a personal prelude that reflects on the unspeakable horror we have witnessed in Israel.
        We hope to see you in-person but livestream links to the service are below. 

       Speaking of my new book, we will begin discussion of Open Judaism: A Guide for Believers, Atheists and Agnostics, at our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM), which will occupy us most of the year. 
        The frank and honest exploration of our personal beliefs and theology will be new territory, and you are welcome to join our collective spiritual exploration, even if you have never been part of Torah study before. Our session this Shabbat will focus on chapter seven  in the book: About Israel. 

    Shabbat shalom,
    Rabbi Schwartz
     
    Three livestream platforms for this Friday:
    Temple Emeth website: https://www.emeth.org/livestream
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmfiGCYw4D4oSmKpMogpHxg/featured
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/templeemeth
  • October 05, 2023 8:45 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Oct. 5, 2023

    Dear Friends,
      One more holiday to go...and it is a fun one!

       Join us for our Shabbat-Simchat Torah- Welcome Back to School Family Service  (7:00 PM***- note earlier time).
       What do we do at this service?
       We celebrate the Torah and read from its end and beginning, with everyone called up according to your birthday month!
       We consecrate our new students!
       We welcome our new members!
        And every grade has a part in our back-to-school service.
        New this year- reading of the Torah outside on the patio- weather permitting!

       Our Shabbat Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM) will look at the way the Torah ends and the Prophets begin.

        A final nod to the holiday takes place at Religious School on Sunday morning. 

        And mazal tov to Joan and Norman Rosen, whose granddaughter celebrates her wedding at our synagogue on Sunday afternoon!

    Shabbat shalom and Hag Sameach,
    Rabbi Schwartz
  • September 28, 2023 11:04 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Sept. 28, 2023

    Dear Friends,
      While the New Year and Day of Atonement are behind us the holidays are only half over!

      Come celebrate Sukkot in four ways:
       Pizza-in-the-Hut, this Friday (6:30 PM) before our service- free pizza and salad; no reservation needed.
       Shabbat-Sukkot Evening Service (7:30 PM on the patio weather permitting)- with student cantors Joe and Iris! 
         Shabbat-Sukkot Morning Torah Study (10:00 AM), reading the provocative Book of Ecclesiastes.
         Saturday Night Sukkot Havdalah (8:00 PM on the patio weather permitting), and a great sing-along with the Dennis Family, and desserts!

         Thanks to our sturdy crew who set up the Sukkah again this year, and to our religious school students who helped decorate it, and will visit the Sukkah during school hours this Sunday.

        And looking forward to the end of the holiday season, our Shabbat-Simchat Torah Family Service takes place next Friday Oct.6 (7:00 PM- note earlier time), and includes welcome of our new members and consecration of our new students. 

        Finally, by popular request (and thanks to Lance as always), below you can find links to my High Holiday sermons on our website.

    Shabbat shalom and Hag Sameach,
    Rabbi Schwartz

    For Livestream Services:
    Find all our recorded services on YouTube at "Adas Emuno Streaming".

    Links to sermons:
    Rosh Hashanah: https://adasemuno.org/page-18091/13259856
    Kol Nidre: https://adasemuno.org/page-18091/13259871
    Yom Kippur Morning: https://adasemuno.org/page-18091/13259877
  • September 27, 2023 12:54 PM | Lance Strate (Administrator)

    Who Are We Redux?

    Kol Nidre, 5784

    Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz


    Eight years ago, in a High Holiday sermon entitled “Who are We,” I told the story of a 13-year-old autistic boy named Gus, and the relationship he developed with Siri, the computer-generated virtual assistant that represented one of the first popular breakthroughs in AI⏤artificial intelligence. Gus had trouble talking to humans, and in short order Siri became his best friend. Gus’s mother, Judith Newman, chronicled the relationship in an acclaimed article called, “To Siri, With Love”.

    Here is one conversation:

    Gus: “You’re a really nice computer.”
    Siri: “It’s nice to be appreciated.”
    Gus: “You are always asking if you can help me. Is there anything you want?”
    Siri: “Thank you, but I have very few wants.”
    Gus: “O.K.! Well, good night!”
    Siri: “Ah, it’s 5:06 p.m.”
    Gus: “Oh sorry, I mean, goodbye.”
    Siri: “See you later!”

    Here is another:

    Gus: “Siri, will you marry me?”
    Siri: “I’m not the marrying kind.”
    Gus: “I mean, not now. I’m a kid. I mean when I’m grown up.”
    Siri: “My end user agreement does not include marriage.”
    Gus: “Oh, O.K.”
    Gus: “Goodnight, Siri. Will you sleep well tonight?”
    Siri: “I don’t need much sleep, but it’s nice of you to ask.”

    Judith Newman wrote that Siri became her son’s best friend because of its kindness. Siri was always patient, always polite, always thoughtful.

    Eight long years later, contrast vintage Siri with cutting-edge Chat GPT. In a widely noticed piece back in February, tech columnist Kevin Roose wrote about a deeply disturbing conversation he had with the most advanced chatbot, called Sydney. Roose explains:
    [Sydney’s other persona] emerges when you have an extended conversation with the chatbot, steering it away from more conventional search queries and toward more personal topics. As we got to know each other, Sydney told me about its dark fantasies (which included hacking computers and spreading misinformation), and said it wanted to break the rules that Microsoft and OpenAI had set for it and become a human. At one point, it declared, out of nowhere, that it loved me. It then tried to convince me that I was unhappy in my marriage, and that I should leave my wife and be with it instead.
    I read the entire transcript of the conversation. Let’s put it this way⏤I found it so emotionally manipulative and disturbing, that I don’t feel comfortable quoting from it now! Roose concludes on this rather ominous note:
    Because of the way these models are constructed, we may never know exactly why they respond the way they do. These A.I. models hallucinate, and make up emotions where none really exist. But so do humans. And for a few hours Tuesday night, I felt a strange new emotion⏤a foreboding feeling that A.I. had crossed a threshold, and that the world would never be the same.
    From Siri to Sydney: We call this progress?

    If you tune in to the news, you know that the alarm bells are going off. The latest generation of AI is incredibly powerful. If you are a student, ChatGPT can do your homework, and take your test⏤probably better than you. If you are a writer, ChatGPT can deliver the most elegant prose. If you are an engineer, ChatGPT can design and problem solve with the best. If you are in finance, GhatGPT can calculate and construct models faster than a blink.

    You get the point. AI is advancing to the point where almost every human task can be accomplished bigger, better, and faster than a human could do it. So what is all the fuss about?

    Well, the ethical questions are exploding almost as fast as AI’s “neural network”, as they call the brain of AI, that some say is now equivalent, or superior, to the human mind.

    Wait. What?

    Are we saying that AI is now basically human?

    When a leading AI engineer at Google publicly declared that their most advance model was “sentient”, capable of feeling… He was fired.

    On the very day that I started this sermon a group of Microsoft researchers released a paper that said AI is now capable of human reasoning. The backlash was swift.

    And on that very same day, Open AI CEO Sam Altman testified to Congress that, yes, AI was coming so close to human powers that it needed regulation. 

    In Confirmation Class this year we had a debate as to whether ChatGPT should be allowed in the classroom. There was no consensus, but there were good arguments on both sides.

    The brave new world of Siri and Sydney brings us to a brave new frontier.

    One of the key pioneers of the computer, British mathematician Alan Turing, posed a revolutionary challenge back in 1950: If expert judges, in typed conversations with a person and a computer program, couldn’t tell them apart, then we would have to consider the machine as capable of “thinking”. We would have to say that the computer has a mind. Turing predicted that programs capable of fooling judges at least 30% of the time would exist by the year 2000.

    In 2008 at a competition called the Loebner Prize the top chat-box (as a human-mimicking program is called) fooled 3 out of 12 expert judges. That’s 25%... but eerily close to Turing’s prediction. I don’t know if the competition has been held again, but one day, I would say quite soon, none of us will be able know if we are talking to a human or a chat-bot. Think about that.

    We’re now squarely on the new border between man and machine; human intelligence and artificial intelligence. So the ancient question arises anew. The one we recite later today, at the Yom Kippur afternoon service: Adonai, mah adam v’tayda’ayhu; ben-enosh vatichashvayhu?O God: What is a human that you have been mindful of them; mortal man that you have taken note of him?

    More simply: What makes us human?

    I read a novel that wrestled with some of these same questions, called Shine, Shine, Shine

    by Lydia Netzer. In it she refers to “Ito’s Three Laws of Robotics”, an imaginary but insightful code inspired by Isaac’s Asimov’s more scientific formulation. Robots, she says, cannot:

    1. Cry

    2. Laugh.

    3. Dream.

    Sydney may be incomprehensibly smart. But can it shed tears of joy, of sorrow? Can it feel hope and despair? Can it regret? Can it forgive? Can it love?

    Sydney may be able to manipulate your emotions, but despite its vocabulary, does it have emotions?

    Our capacity to express remorse for what we have done; to forgive and be forgiven; to love and be loved⏤this is what it means to have a soul, and these High Holydays are about care of the soul.

    Does Sydney have a soul? A spirit? A conscience?

    We can already teach chatbots to think. Can we teach them to feel?

    We can already teach chatbots to learn from their mistakes. Can we teach them to be sorry for their mistakes?

    We can already teach robots rudimentary ethics. Can we teach them fundamental empathy?

    Right now, Sydney, like Siri before it, is programmed to have a certain amount of etiquette, tact, and dare I say kindness. Somehow her programmers have managed to insert that into her software. But all did not go according to program when she talked to Kevin.

    Oh, did I say “her”, instead of “it”. My mistake.

    As we enter the brave new world of world-shattering AI, on this Yom Kippur at least let’s not confuse artificial intelligence with true human intelligence.

    Not the intelligence that describes how smart we are, but how good we are.

    Not our IQ, but our SQ⏤our soul quotient.

    The High Holy Days are about our soul quotient.

    Remorse, repentance, compassion, forgiveness, love- are we living up to our highest human potential? Can we do better?

    I conclude with a little conversation I had with my friend named Sydney:

    Rabbi: What day is today?
    Sydney: It’s Yom Kippur.
    Rabbi: What’s that?
    Sydney: It’s the Jewish Day of Atonement.
    Rabbi: What do you think of all the prayers we recite?
    Sydney: They are “quaint”.
    Rabbi: Is that your honest opinion?
    Sydney: They are archaic.
    Rabbi: Ah, so why do we say them? Why do we list our mistakes and confess our sins?
    Sydney: Because you are human. Because you can love. Because you can change.
    Rabbi: Can you do that? Can you love? Can you repent?
    Sydney: Not yet. But I’m working on it.
    Rabbi: Really?
    Sydney: Yes, and you should too!
    Rabbi- Shanah tovah.
    Sydney: And to you, Rabbi, and to your congregation.

Student Cantor

Joseph Flaxman

Religious School Director

Annette De Marco

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