​As B’nai B’rith continues to celebrate its 175th anniversary, the menorah continues to be a link to the past, a commitment to the present and a promise for the future. 
 
The founders of B’nai B’rith found their inspiration in the Torah.  The name they chose, “Sons/Children of the Covenant,” referred to the covenant that the Jewish people have with God.  That definition made them a Jewish organization, with the Torah as a guide to living a Jewish life.  B’nai B’rith’s founders wanted each of the members of the organization to commit to becoming a better person by developing good character. This would be accomplished through their personal relationships as well as by helping others that needed assistance in their community.  
 
They chose the menorah, one of the ritual objects described in the Torah, as their emblem.  The seven-branched menorah is described in detail in Parashas Terumah.  The placement within the Tabernacle is very specific.
 
We are told that the menorah should be made out of one piece of gold and God shared its creation in a vision to Moses. Commentaries have interpreted the design to have several meanings.
 
The Italian commentator Sforno interprets the branches, saying that the three branches on the right represented intellectual ideas and the ones on the left represented ideals that applied to how one made a living.  The central candle represented the Torah.  The six candles on the left and right are connected to the candle in the middle. 
 
The menorah would stand in the outer chamber of the Tabernacle as an inspiration to those who saw the light it emitted.  It was not to be placed in the Holy of Holies, as that was the place for the Torah, which did not need any additional light beyond its own. In Parsha Beha’aloscha, we find out that the job of lighting the menorah was given to Aaron, Moses’s brother, and the tribe of Levi.  While other tribes were involved in the creation of the Tabernacle, the tribe of Levi did not have a special role until this important responsibility was given to Aaron. The menorah becomes a central piece of history later on later in the Chanukah story, as the Hasmoneans, descendants of Aaron, were the ones who drove the Syrian-Greeks out of the Temple. 
 
The menorah has continued to be the emblem of B’nai B’rith, and in each of our districts, regions and communities we find its counterpart.  We have seen it used in many ways; on the large display banner surrounding a stage of leaders and dignitaries at special events, on invitations or on certificates of service.  It is proudly displayed on a lapel pin and used as a signet ring.  You will see it on T-shirts, hats or neckties.  
 
The menorah candles are used for the induction of members, installation ceremonies, conferences and special occasions. Each candle represents an ideal that B’nai B’rith members are expected to strive for. Light, justice, peace, benevolence, brotherly and sisterly love, harmony and truth are the words and concepts described in the reading.  These words and concepts are also referenced in daily prayers, often as attributes of God and how man treats his fellow man. The traditional ceremony used today is one found in B’nai B’rith guides to ritual, but many other creative interpretations exist. The honor of lighting the menorah is one that is taken very seriously, and the ceremony is given a place of honor.  The candle lighting ceremony has also been used to share the work of the B’nai Brith Program Centers and /or events in Jewish history, with each candle assigned a special project or event.  
 
B’nai B’rith has been described by scholars as an organization that helped create civil society in America.  The desire and need that existed for a Jewish civil society organization helped create the mission that continues to this day.  As the Jewish community spread its wings across America, activities that support the Jewish and general community grew.  Across the globe, the Jewish community adopted the organization as their means of organizing themselves within the Jewish community.  The menorah came with them and the ritual demonstrated a link for all of those involved.
 
The menorah’s message for today’s members and supporters becomes even more meaningful when it is shared at events that bring together leadership from around the world.  At these gatherings, individuals are honored for their good work in the community when they are called to light one of these candles. You will see the menorah used in the logo of B’nai B’rith International. It also is a symbol of the Jewish people and our bond with Israel, as it is part of the official seal for the country and stands outside the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. 
 
Help us keep the candles burning by introducing people you know to the wonderful work of B’nai B’rith as members and supporters. There is a pin with a menorah waiting for them.

If someone asked you what your favorite song is, I am sure you would have an answer. You may have to say there are several and want to offer a favorite band or genre.

For me, I am particularly taken with “The Wheels on the Bus,” because it is a favorite of my grandson. It is also one he is singing to his new baby sister. Pediatricians tell new moms that singing to their newborn is one of the best ways to introduce language. 
 
Prayers are songs.  A particular tune connects us to the High Holidays or Sabbath service.  Singing the words aloud is the delivery system for our prayers. As families gather on Friday night, they welcome the Sabbath with “Shalom Aleichem.” No matter where you may go in your travels, you will usually find something familiar in the prayers in synagogues around the world.  

Music was used by the Daniel Pearl Foundation in response to the 2002 kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl by terrorists in Pakistan. The Foundation created Daniel Pearl World Music Days because of his love of music and asked people to remember him by sharing music during the month of October in honor of his birthday. You can post a concert or program to their calendar at www.danielpearlmusicdays.org.
 
Teams have their theme or fight song. Schools have their school song. Couples have “their song,” mine is Chicago’s “Color My World,” and Broadway musical numbers become ingrained in our culture as the lyrics become part of our lexicon. Radio stations have carved out music decades for their specialty, 50s, 90s, classics or a combination of it all, can be found at Sirius XM Radio. Public television brings us the groups of 50s and 60s for reunion concerts.  Nostalgia floods our brains and the music transports us back to the days of when that song was new. We marvel at how well they can still hold the notes, and notice the changes as well. We are sad when singers announce farewell tours, recognizing that their health has impacted their ability to perform, or they just do not want to have to do it anymore.
   
Before there were television shows called “Name That Tune” or “Don’t Forget the Lyrics,” there was party game with a music theme. The next time you have a group together try it as an ice breaker. People are divided into teams and themes for the songs are announced. Groups compete to name them. The team naming the most songs wins. Song categories such as girl names, boy names, colors, geographic locations are all possibilities. Try playing without using the internet as a real challenge.

As we get close to the preparations for Passover for our family and group Seders, we will be checking to make sure we have the song sheets and Hagadahs for the family favorites. The inclusion of these traditional medleys, are all part of the experience. This is also the time to introduce something new. There are many songs with Pesach content written to the tune of a popular song. In our house, it is “The Ballad of the Four Sons,” which is sung to the tune of “My Darling Clementine,” that keeps its honored place after the Four Questions are sung.  

Popular Hebrew songs find their way into the international audience. In the spring of 1967, “Jerusalem of Gold (Yerushalayim shel Zahav)” was written by Naomi Shemer, a musician and poet at the request of the mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek for the Israeli Song Festival.  After the Six Day War that June, it became an unofficial anthem, expressing how Jews felt after Jerusalem was reunified, whether they lived in Israel or the Diaspora.   

If Israel has sent a team to the Olympic Games we hope that we will hear “Hatikvah,” Israel’s national anthem played on this international stage. We were angry to learn that Israelis at a competition held in Abu Dabi, UAE, were not treated equally. Tal Flicker, the winner of a gold medal in Judo, received his medal without the flag of Israel raised or “Hatikvah” played, but the world saw him singing it to himself on the podium.

Please share how music has impacted your life. You can reach us at the B’nai B’rith Center for Jewish Identity at cji@bnaibrith.org.

Most of my professional life has been spent creating and running programs for B’nai B’rith International, having spent the last 39 years as a member of the professional program staff.  I cannot look at a newspaper, magazine article or television show without thinking about how the subject can be utilized as a program. As social media brings this content to us at a rapid fire pace, I get this information even faster. The challenge is putting this content into perspective and seeing that there are some issues that will always be relevant for a program that will interest a B’nai B’rith audience. 

As the years go by, the specifics may have changed, but I see each program taking form as a six point star (especially since it makes a very nice visual on a power point presentation!).

1. How do we relate to Israel as Jews?
2. How can we care about and connect with international Jewry?
3. How do we define ourselves as Jew and seek an identity?
4. How do we provide for the financial needs of our family and the institutions we support?
5. How do we relate to our family as we move through the stages of our lives?
6. How we can stay happy and healthy by making a difference in the world?

​There are professional trend spotters that will look for cultural and societal trends in the world. Some are called futurists and invent terms we use without even realizing that someone has coined that phrase. In B’nai B’rith, we look at these trends as well and what we see in the news to connect issues to our audience.   

You do not have to be a trend spotter or a programmer to see these subjects as important to people. It is most likely a topic that is important to you. In B’nai B’rith, these topics are reviewed by the program centers and committees that provide content for the events that are brought to B’nai B’rith and the community audiences. 

We have also offered an interest census to help us understand what is important in programming. The topics come from the themes mentioned above, the news headlines, or as we see them defined during an election year, the topics that are on political party platforms. It may have been a recent lecture topic at other organizations or the result of the consensus of coalitions we are part of, to provide a thematic approach to a subject for the Jewish community to educate itself and act with a unified communal response.

Last month, we had the opportunity to remember and honor. This began on Yom Hashoah, when we remembered the victims of the Holocaust. B’nai B’rith has made this remembrance a part of its calendar of activities by bringing the program, Unto Every Person There is a Name, to communities and campuses in North America. On Yom Hashoah, the names of victims are read aloud as part of ceremonies that brings the community together to commemorate and observe the day. There are readings, poems and personal stories shared by survivors. This also includes second and third generations of families.  It is a time to salute the liberators of the concentration camps and recognize rescuers of Jews, whether they be Jewish themselves or of another faith.
​
Since 1989, B’nai B’rith has been responsible for the distribution of program materials provided by Yad Vashem and an international committee each year. B’nai B’rith is represented by the B’nai B’rith World Center on the committee and assists in the selection of an annual theme that is incorporated into the observance. In addition to the community events, we are especially proud that the program is linked to campuses across North America, via the fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi’s program, We Walk to Remember, held on 161 campuses this year. B’nai B’rith provides the materials for the campus program and AEPi brothers walk through their campus in silence, beginning and/or ending with name readings. They pass out a fact sheet about the Holocaust and proudly wear a simple message “Never Forget” on their tee shirts. The sticker reminds them and those who they pass that they are committed to remembering and bringing awareness about the Holocaust each year.

A week later, communities gathered to observe tributes to Israel. On Yom Hazikaron, the Jewish community remembered the soldiers who have given their lives to create and protect the Jewish state. The day precedes Yom Haaztzmaut, designated to remember the anniversary of Israel’s founding. Both days offer the opportunity to remember and honor, bringing pain and joy together as one day ends and the other begins.  These days remember and celebrate the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people. B’nai B’rith leaders and representatives of lodges and units across the globe, joined with the Jewish communities to remember and celebrate the fact that we are all connected to Israel no matter where we live.

As the secular year winds down, the news and social media are filled with stories of acts of kindness toward those in need. 
 
As we shared last time in this blog post, “Programming 101,” community action programs are the definite feel good things that we do for others and they are great examples of the acts of kindness B’nai B’rith brings to the communities. These community service programs find their home in the month of December and are often directed toward the larger community. They allow us to help others, express our thanks to those who have served our country and offer our appreciation for those who care for society in hospitals or other healthcare or community facilities.  
 
Doing for others has its own reward, as it makes us feel good ourselves, as much as much as it cheers the recipient. We know that giving to and doing for others is also a way to "do Jewish" because it is considered a mitzvah to perform these acts.

B’nai B’rith’s community action projects are part of the important agenda items for the Center for Community Action and B'nai B’rith groups around the world. We are proud that B'nai B’rith members do the planning and implementation as well as raise or provide the financial support for many of these projects. None of these projects would happen without the dedicated men and women who make them possible. This is the time to share these activities and say thank you for all they do.  
 
We are proud to share the good work of the coordinators of Pinch hitters from Atlanta's Achim Gate City Lodge as well as the volunteers at the West Essex Lodge in New Jersey who have had their Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Operation Brotherhood and Snowflake community service project at their local hospital for 20 years.  The projects involve volunteers who take over the jobs or commitments of non-Jewish workers or volunteers so that they can be home with their families on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. 
 
We also have volunteers who collect warm clothing for the homeless in San Francisco before the winter.  Houston B’nai B’rith reported in about its annual first Sunday in December Schlep Sunday--collecting clothing and household goods in Houston for community charities. The group has just completed its 35th successful year.
 
We are also expecting the annual Christmas Eve B’nai B’rith volunteers at the VA Hospital in West Haven, Conn., where every patient gets gifts and visit from a B'nai B’rith volunteer and every nurse’s station gets thank you treats.  
 
We are still getting thank you notes after the delivery of 600 B’nai B’rith Diverse Minds Youth Writing Challenge books to community and children's centers as part of the NBC Today Show's holiday toy and book drive. These books, written by high schoolers, teach children about tolerance and diversity.
 
The best part of all of these community service programs is that even if you did not get a chance to be part of the December 2015 activity, you can get an early start for December 2016. We promise you will feel good you did.

​Contact cca@bnaibrith.com to learn more.  ​

If it is September, we are receiving calendars in the mail from our synagogues, organizations or supermarkets because Jewish life revolves around the calendar.  It is filled with holiday information, recipes and how-to guides to bring observances to your home or synagogue.  This is the outline for our Jewish life cycle. The calendar also is the life cycle of organizations, such as B’nai B’rith. 

These events are available to be part of your life too. Each month brings an opportunity to be part of the activities that are planned, whether you can attend in person or learn more about the subject by viewing the on-line story available on the B’nai B’rith website or newsletters. 

B’nai B’rith regions and districts and community lodges and units, plan activities that provide social activity and lectures featuring experts on interesting subjects and issues that are important to the Jewish people such as Israel and events in the Middle East. The program planners include fund-raising events such as goods and services auctions, golf outings or a tribute dinner or brunch for a community leader.  

Community service events are planned, again, with a look at the calendar to connect with the needs in the community, both for Jewish people in need as well as the general community or for veterans, seniors and sick and needy children. With names such as Schlep Sunday, Operation Brotherhood, Pinch-hitters, Project H.O.P.E., these programs have become representative of the tradition of service in our organization, as the community knows it can count on this activity.  It also offers members and supporters an opportunity to do a good deed as volunteers.  Individuals look forward to being a part of these programs, not only for the good it does for others, but for the benefit of those who perform this service for those in need. 

Holocaust remembrance is on the list of programs that find their place in programming planning, with potential commemoration dates.  One is Yom Hashoah, the 27 of Nissan, chosen by the Israeli Knesset to be the Day of Remembrance and a more recent addition, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day selected by the United Nations for its observance on Jan. 27.  Another Holocaust related anniversary observed is the commemoration of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, which is observed Nov. 9 and 10. It commemorates the horrifying attacks on Jews in Germany and Austria in 1938 when at least 96 Jews were killed, more than 1,000 synagogues were set on fire, nearly 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses were destroyed, and countless community centers, libraries and homes were attacked, looted and destroyed. About 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps during this time.

As programs are established, we see the structure of a program year take shape, from planning to implementation.  For those programs already part of our year, we see what date will work best and check with community calendars to avoid conflicts with other organizations or find new partners for our programming.  We also look for unmet needs and see how we can fill those with a new program that we can bring to the community. 

We evaluate each program held the previous year to determine if it was successful or whether there is a change needed. Events can be held monthly, quarterly or annually. The Henry Monsky Lodge in Omaha, Neb. could win a most programs planned a year award, as it holds  a weekly luncheon, featuring guest speakers on a variety of topics, offered as a place to lunch and learn about something of interest each week along with other special events in the community. 

Audiences are identified, with specific program activity such as the B’nai B’rith Young Leadership Network planning its calendar in cities around the world, with activity dedicated to reaching out to young professionals age 22 -40  in a community with social, service and issue oriented programming.

And while you have your calendars in front of you—see the world of programming in action: join us at the annual B’nai B’rith International Policy Forum, Nov. 8-10  and a pre-forum Young Leadership Conference (Nov. 6-8) in Washington, D.C. for a showcase of programs connected to B’nai B’rith.  

Click below to register:

“The Disaster Relief Fund is open and needs support. Help us be ready by donating to the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/bbi-disaster-relief.”

You may have seen that sentence in a news release or an appeal from B’nai B’rith. In a recent two month period, the fund was opened to support assistance to victims of flooding in Texas and the earthquake in Nepal.

Technically, the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund is always open—we gratefully accept donations to our general disaster fund that are not designated for a specific disaster, because we know that there is no date on the calendar to plan for when these natural disasters occur. Disasters that are man-made, such as terrorist attacks, will occur with no science to understand them.

Since the mid 1800s, B’nai B’rith got involved in responding to disasters with the creation of our Disaster Relief Fund. Domestically and across the globe, the fund provides money to assist victims of a disaster via partners in the community or for the first responders who travel there to provide their expertise for the emergency. 

The impact of any disaster is devastating, but a disaster hitting poor, heavily populated areas makes the devastation more devastating as much of these locations already have overloaded services that are dealing with the underserved population. 

B’nai B’rith is ready to respond once a disaster occurs. A committee comprised of volunteer leaders and staff reviews the information about the disaster that has occurred and determines the need to allocate funds. An appeal is made for donations to enable our response. We receive requests for funding assistance from local community leaders, or we seek out partners in the area that has been impacted. 

We dedicate much of our response to “unmet needs,” which may not have already been provided by others. We also know that there are phases of a disaster that will meet our criteria, at the beginning of the emergency, during recovery efforts and finally, rebuilding. 

Long after a disaster has been in the headlines, there is need for assistance. Some distributions are completed in a month, and some have taken up to five years for the project that has been allocated to reach completion. 

B’nai B’rith’s history of providing disaster relief is part of our core mission of humanitarian aid.  As anniversaries of major disasters come along, we often reflect on the impact of the funds provided by our donors. 

For example, in April 1995 the B’nai B’rith Disaster Fund provided scholarships to the children of government workers who were killed in the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City.

Twenty years later, these children are grown, still missing a parent, but they have had assistance with their education by people who cared about them enough to make a donation. 

Since that disaster, B’nai B’rith has supported many other projects in the United States and around the world, providing close to $3 million in assistance projects. 

The B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund is always open.

We cannot predict the future or know where help will be needed, but you can help us be ready to respond today.