Tesla Will Choose New Mexico

Elon Musk Will Cite Chosen People As Influence: In a highly anticipated development that may have stunned others but didn't faze Abq Jew even one bit, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk will announce later today that

Tesla Will Choose New Mexico

as the site of its planned battery factory. The factory will cover 500 to 1,000 acres and employ up to 6,500 workers. The finished batteries will be shipped to Tesla’s assembly plant in Fremont, California.

The reasons and reasoning behind Elon Musk's decision (and it was his decision) to bring Tesla to New Mexico were not publicly disclosed. But Abq Jew has learned that

 

Elon Musk Chooses the Jews
Crypto No More! Tesla CEO Comes Out
for the Jewish Community of New Mexico

Moreover, Abq Jew has learned just why Mr Musk has chosen to join with the Jewish community of New Mexico. In a statement you won't read anywhere else, Mr Musk said

 

I bought Stan Hordes' book, To the End of the Earth, a few years ago - because it was about the exile of Spanish and Portuguese Jews to New Mexico, something I had never heard of. 

Until then, I had thought we all went 'to the end of the Earth' in South Africa, where I'm from. 

Dr Hordes really opened my eyes. Ever since then, I've been trying to figure out a way to join my landsmen in the Land of Enchantment.

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez (whose Crypto-Jewish roots are still unexplored) was overjoyed - not only with Tesla's decision, but especially with Mr Musk's reason for that decision. In another statement you won't read anywhere else, Governor Martinez said

Tesla's decision to build batteries in New Mexico is a complete vindication of my astute and progressive business policies. But more importantly -

Tesla's decision is an affirmation of  the strong ties between all Jews - crypto and straight - and the financial interests of this state.

Governor Martinez also expressed her strong support of the upcoming 2014 Jewish Federation of New Mexico (JFNM) Population Study. In yet another statement you won't read anywhere else, Governor Martinez said

Especially in hard financial times like these, it is important to know how many Jews live in New Mexico, where exactly they live, how much money they have, and how to contact them. 

We already know where the rabbis are. But when push comes to shove, they really can't help us much. 

That's one reason why the 2014 JFNM  Population Study is so important.

In another development that didn't faze Abq Jew, Elon Musk even offered - as a small token of good will for his joyous return to his roots - to pay the entire cost of the 2014 JFNM Population Study. But the JFNM told him

Nah. We got this. If everyone just increases their pledge by even a few bucks, we'll have this covered.

So, Abq Jew hears you ask

Is this true? Elon Musk, MOT? 

Is Elon Musk really not only Jewish, but an actual Jew?

You may point to the website JeworNotJew.com, which only gives Mr Musk a Jew Score of 6 (Maimonides is a 15; Mel Gibson is a 0) and a Verdict of Sadly, not a Jew.

But Abq Jew points to Jspace.com's December 2012 expose of The Jews of Forbes Most Influential List. There's a photo of our own (yes, he is!) Mr Musk, second from the top.

And Abq Jew also points to the Habrador Blog's enticing article, Everything about Elon Musk's religious views. Wherein the blogger states with conviction:

But as someone with a great wealth, and at the same time is a public figure, Elon Musk has to cope with an increasing amount of rumors. 

One of these rumors is that Elon Musk's religious background is Jewish and one conspiracy theory is that the only reason to why he became so successful is because 

he is a Jew and a part of a great Jewish conspiracy. 

The other part of that conspiracy is that Elon Musk is a member of a lizard race from a distant planet ....

It's not strange that people believe that Elon Musk is Jewish. The name Elon is Hebrew for oak tree ... There are unconfirmed sources saying that Elon Musk attended Jewish schools in South Africa ... It's unclear what Elon Musk's parents religion were  ....

Still not convinced? Going to stick with the lizard theory? Abq Jew offers this further proof of Elon Musk's Jewish identity:

Elon Musk has five sons.
Tevye der Milkhiker had five daughters
(in Sholem Aleichem's original stories, not Fiddler).

And finally, in conclusion, Abq Jew must invoke that famous Irish Jew

Ken O'Hara
from this Abq Jew Blog to G-d's ears

And for them what are still confused by all this, Abq Jew reminds us it's

Rosh Hodesh April &

Purim 'til it's Pesach!

Body and Soul Language

Rabbi Marc Angel on Parshat Tazria 2014:  As noted in previous blogs (among them Since You've Asked), the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals 

offers a vision of Orthodox Judaism that is "intellectually sound, spiritually compelling, and emotionally satisfying".

The Institute was founded in October 2007 by Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel, formerly of Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City.


And speaking of Tazria, the creative and talented folks at G-dcast.com remind us:

Tazria is possibly the grossest parsha in the entire Torah, full of scaly skin, sprouting sores and breakouts of Biblical proportions. 

But this week, Rabbi Angel - a prolific and award-winning author - turns his attention to body and spirit, examination of character and purification. In his article Body and Soul Language, Rabbi Angel begins with Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, and what the great kabbalist was able to see.

Note: for your convenience, Abq Jew has reprinted the entire article below.  But you are strongly encouraged to visit the Institute's website - http://www.jewishideas.org - to learn more about the Institute's work, and especially to read and view Rabbi Angel's thoughts and opinions.

It was said of Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, the great kabbalist of 16th century Safed, that he was able to see into people’s souls when he looked at their faces. By looking into one’s eyes, he could gain clear insight into that individual’s personality. 

For this reason, many people were ashamed to appear before Rabbi Luria, believing that he could detect their character flaws and inadequacies. 

Actually, one does not need to be a saintly kabbalist to assess people’s character traits on the basis of external observation. Psychologists have pointed out that people often reveal their personalities through their facial expressions and body language. 

A careful observer can learn much about others simply by paying close attention to their expressions and gestures. While these observations may not be as accurate as those of Rabbi Luria, they nonetheless provide insight. 

In our own experience, we find ourselves drawn to warm, smiling and kindly-looking people. We find ourselves repelled by mean, scowling and arrogant faces. We raise our guards when we feel we are in the presence of smooth-talking hypocrites; we feel at ease when we are in the presence of compassionate and thoughtful individuals. 

We shape our views of others by looking into their eyes, by examining their demeanor, by reading their facial expressions. Surely, our judgments may be wrong at times; yet, we intuitively feel that there is an intimate connection between physical appearances and spiritual / emotional / psychological qualities. 

This week’s Torah portion deals with “tsara’at” (often translated - incorrectly - as leprosy), providing details that are very difficult for us to understand. Yet, the underlying message seems to be: spiritual impurity may manifest itself in a physical blemish. 

When a person is stricken with “tsara’at,” a purification ritual is required to bring body and spirit back into proper alignment. 

Our inner feelings and personality traits are indeed reflected in our physical appearances. While some people are better able to camouflage their emotions, even they will inevitably betray their real selves in moments of weakness. 

Our goal should be to maintain a healthy spiritual/emotional life so as to have nothing to hide! We can all strive to be good, compassionate and sensitive human beings - and these qualities should be easily detected in our faces and our physical appearance. We can all strive to avoid the negative qualities associated with the arrogant, the bullies, the egotists. 

We can all hope to be approachable and kind, so that others will be drawn to us rather than be alienated from us. 

The manifestation of a “tsara’at” wound was a wake up call to ancient Israelites, demanding that they self-reflect and then purify themselves. Although we lack the “tsara’at” of biblical times, we have mirrors. If we look honestly at ourselves, we might detect some character traits that need improvement, and we can work to purify ourselves. 

If we look into the mirror and don’t see character flaws that need improvement, then we can be fairly sure that we indeed do have “tsara’at,” that we have become content with ourselves … and therefore have become spiritually numb. 

Even if we do not see our own spiritual / emotional / character shortcomings, others can observe them clearly enough by looking at our facial expressions, our gestures, our physical demeanor. 

We need to live our lives in such a way that we would not be ashamed to stand before Rabbi Yitzhak Luria … or anyone else.

But far be it from Abq Jew to leave you on Erev Shabbat with such a serious, thought-provoking message. For whenever Abq Jew thinks of Parshat Tazria, he (truly) cannot help but conjure

Jewish music (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Joshua Sondheim, Jerome [Wilson Rabinowitz] Robbins) at its very very best.And so here for your pre-Shabbos and forever after enjoyment is

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!

Good Shabbos, New Mexico!

The Ultimate Mitzvah

A Call for Chevre Kaddisha Volunteers: We are taught, Rabbi Min Kantrowitz tells us, that anonymous giving is the highest type of assistance we can offer another human.

The ultimate anonymous mitzvah is that of participating in tahara, the ritual purification of the body of a Jewish person before that person is buried.

Why? Because the person cannot thank you!  

In fact, the family is not supposed to know who participated, so they cannot thank the members of the tahara team. It is an act of chesed shel emet, true lovingkingness.

In Albuquerque, we are blessed with a community-wide
Chevre Kaddisha (Holy Society).

The Chevre Kaddisha is group of trained volunteers, men and women, who perform this mitzvah for any Jew in the community. The group is very varied: some people are quite observant, some don't even belong to a congregation. They all share, however, a sense of how profound and how important this act of love can be.

But there are often not enough Chevre Kaddisha members
available to perform a tahara with ease.
We need new volunteers.
(We especially need men right now.)

The time commitment is not large. Each tahara takes one hour (or sometimes a bit more), and we are rarely asked to do more than one a month.

We will be scheduling a Chevre Kaddisha training session for new volunteers within the next few weeks. Please consider participating.

Coming to the training does not obligate you to participate in the Chevre Kaddisha - it simply introduces you to the mitzvah, its history and procedures.

Ask your Rabbi about it. Ask your friends. Ask who else in your congregation currently participates (you may be surprised!).

Please consider coming to the Chevre Kaddisha training session - and possibly joining.

Before participating in training - and particularly before performing their first tahara - many people are concerned about how emotionally challenging this work can be.

Be assured that Chevre Kaddisha members usually find that the mitzvah is much more spiritually satisfying than emotionally difficult.

To learn more, please contact

Chevra Kaddisha of Greater Albuquerque
Rabbi Min Kantrowitz
(505) 239-5299      RabbiMinKantrowitz@gmail.com

Marc Yellin
(505) 792-4322      marc@abqjew.com

You will not be thanked by the individual you help along his or her final journey, but the Albuquerque Jewish community as a whole will appreciate your generosity and your love.

A Holocaust Survivor's Story: Gabrielle Falk

New Mexicast Presents: After decades of wondering what happened to his family members during the Holocaust, Stephen Falk turned his curiosity into a quest, and uncovered fascinating stories of survival and connection.

Gabrielle Falk

A Holocaust Survivor's Story

Thursday March 27 ~ Saturday April 12

Comcast Channel 27 (uABQ)

And anytime on YouTube

New Mexicast founder and former TV news anchor / reporter Rosa Linda Román presents a four-part series that shares Stephen Falk’s discoveries about his mother, Holocaust survivor Gabrielle Falk, and their family.

The four parts of the story will be presented in two half-hour New Mexicast episodes.

Episode 10

Part 1: Family Historian
http://youtu.be/2i24PLY9Tuc
In Part 1, New Mexicast talks with Stephen Falk, the son of a Holocaust survivor, who is working to piece back together the fractured pieces of his family tree.
By combing through archives and traveling the world, he finds the tiniest clues that help him reconstruct his family history after so much was lost.

Part 2: Gabrielle
http://youtu.be/3TYxKWEy41E
In Part 2, New Mexicast introduces you to Holocaust survivor Gabrielle Falk.
Through what she calls “incredible  luck,” she managed to slip through the grasp of the Nazis and now shares her story  publicly for the first time.
With the help of her son, Stephen Falk, Gabrielle’s amazing story of survival is being preserved for, and shared with, future generations.

Episode 11

Part 3: Kristallnacht
http://youtu.be/ecB8OGvWoEE
In Part 3, we take a closer look at the terror Gabrielle and her family faced in Nazi Germany.
Specifically, this episode focuses on Gabrielle and her parents, Walther and Ellinor Freund, during the war.
The title comes from a night of  violence inflicted on Germany's Jewish community Novemer 9 - 10, 1938, known as Kristallnacht. A night Gabrielle, and many other German Jews, will never forget.

Part 4: Falk Finale
http://youtu.be/gvcAHexXG0c
In Part 4, the final installment of this four part series, we learn the ultimate fate of Gabrielle and her father and mother; Walther and Ellinor Freund.
We also finally discover the role Swiss Chocolate played in  one family member's survival.
After seeing this story, it is hard not to agree with Gabrielle’s assertion that she and her family had some "incredible luck!"

Shown below is the latest information Abq Jew has about the Comcast schedule. Please check here just to be sure you don't miss anything!

Episode 10                  Episode 11

Thu March 27 @ 11:00 am     ---
Sat March 29 @  9:30 am     ---
Mon March 31 @ 10:00 am     Mon March 31 @ 10:30 am
Thu April  3 @ 10:30 am     Thu April  3 @ 11:00 am
Sat April  5 @  9:00 am     Sat April  5 @  9:30 am
---                         Mon April  7 @ 10:00 am
---                         Thu April 10 @ 10:30 am
---                         Sat April 12 @  9:00 am

However ... If you do happen to miss an episode, or if you would just rather watch on your own schedule, or if you are not a Comcast customer, do not despair!

Abq Jew has thoughtfully provided the YouTube links at the appropriate spots above!

And if you'd like to watch all four parts at one time, just click here for the playlist!

About New Mexicast

New Mexicast was created by former TV news anchor / reporter Rosa Linda Román after the birth of her second daughter in 2007.

Now a mother of three, Rosa Linda continues to use her broadcasting background and independent film experience to introduce you to interesting people and places in New Mexico and beyond.

Each episode of New Mexicast is a testament to what is possible, as Rosa Linda makes the journey from the mainstream media to motherhood to independent storytelling.

Want to start at New Mexicast's beginning? Here is a great introduction and history.