Red Rue in Times Square

Golem Performs Chervona Ruta: Surely you remember Golem, the punk rock klezmer band that appeared at ¡Globalquerque! last year (see Golem @ ¡Globalquerque! 2014).

For those of you who refuse to click - Abq Jew knows who you are, and will be unable to keep from divulging your names if "enhanced interrogation techniques" are ever even hinted at. But to refresh your memory -

Klezmer-rock band Golem was founded by Annette Ezekiel Kogan in New York City in 2000.  

Since then, the band (Annette Ezekiel Kogan, Aaron Diskin,Jeremy Brown, Curtis Hasselbring, Taylor Bergren-Chrisman, Tim Monaghan) has become a leading re-interpreter and innovator of Yiddish and Eastern European music, pushing tradition forward into the 21st century.   

Golem performs nationally across the United States and internationally, in clubs and festivals in France, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Mexico.

Golem is known for its virtuosic musicianship, theatricality, humor and fearless wild energy, combined with a boundless love of tradition.  

Golem is “not your father’s klezmer band, unless of course your father was Sid Vicious.” (Jewish Week).

Anyway - here is Golem's newest video, performing the Ukrainian Oldie But Goodie Chervona Ruta in a snowless, pre-"Blizzard of 2015" Times Square.

Now, if you are anything like Abq Jew - which is a frightening thought for an otherwise (please G-d!) peaceful Erev Shabbos - the first thing you'll want to know is

Where does this song come from?

Wikipedia (of course) provides answers - here and here and here. But the best explanation comes from the website Ukraine as it is.

Click! Please! Go ahead! But if you don't, here is the gist of it.

Every country has it. The United States has America the beautiful, Australia has Waltzing Matilda, New Zealand has Pokarekare Ana, Korea has Arirang and Latvia has Dzimtā valoda. 

Ukraine is no different. The song that is bound to get any Ukrainian on their feet and sing is Червона рута (Chervona Ruta, meaning Red Rue in English), a song that was recorded in 1968. Despite being classified as an "oldie," it is still a hit.  

So how has this piece of music become immortal? The song is related to the holiday of Ivan Kupala Day in Ukrainian culture which is celebrated on the night of 23 - 24 June in the Gregorian or New Style calendar. 

According to the legend, the rue turns red from its original yellow on the night of Ivan Kupala and the girl who finds this flower at this time will be happy in love forever.  

In 1968, a 19 year-old student at the Lviv Medical Institute looked through his father's library and found a collection of "kolomyjka"s (the author of the collection was Volodymyr Hnatyuk), traditional folk songs/dances of Pokuttia and Prykarpattia (both terms are historic in describing East and Central Europe). 

Looking through his father's prized possessions, something caught his eye: the legend of Ivan Kupala Day. The young man was bemused by the legend because he was taught in school that rue is yellow and stays yellow. 

This stuck in his head and he began writing a song about it. Little did he know that he would gain cult status in the entire Soviet Union for this work. The young man's name was Volodymyr Ivasiuk. 

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!

Good Shabbos, New Mexico!

Solving the Jewish Dropout Problem

Jewish New Mexico - Our Education: As you know from Abq Jew's blog post NM Jewish Population Survey Results Announced, preliminary results of the only established permanent floating Jewish Population Survey in New Mexico have just been released.

And if you've been following (you have, haven't you?), you must surely suspect that the beautiful and talented Tzipi Hotovely has nothing at all to do with the JFNM Population Study.

What she does have to with is Transportation and Road Safety, having joined the Israeli government as Deputy Minister of same in March 2013. As of December 2014, she is also the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology.

And as of March 17 - Israel's upcoming Election Day, curiously scheduled for St Patrick's Day - she could be something altogether different.

She's here to attract your eye and your brain, dear reader. How's she doing?

Let's see what the Survey has to say about the highest level of education attained by the New Mexico Jewish community.

This is truly amazing.

The results confirm that old Jewish joke:

What's a Jewish dropout?

A Yid who only has a Bachelor's Degree.

Just to compare - take a look at the pie chart that Abq Jew has thoughtfully provided.

The New Mexico Jewish community has about as great a percentage of Graduate and Professional Degrees as the overall New Mexico population has of High School Graduates.

And let's not even count the Remainders.

Or, to look at it another way -

92% of New Mexico Jews have a post-High School Degree.
Compare that to 32% of the general New Mexico population.

One might even say

Yep, we just fit right in.

Abq Jew has been making fun of this, but there are two much larger issues at stake.

1. Poverty. Charles M Blow recently wrote in The New York Times:

But surely we can all agree that no child, once born, should suffer through poverty. Surely we can all agree that working to end child poverty — or at least severely reduce it — is a moral obligation of a civilized society. 

And yet, 14.7 million children in this country are poor, and 6.5 million of them are extremely poor (living below half the poverty line).

The Children’s Defense Fund has just released a report entitled “Ending Child Poverty Now” that calls this country’s rate of child poverty “a moral disgrace.”

Poor kids, hungry kids, cannot learn. In New Mexico, 29% of children live in poor families. The national rate is 22%.

Russell Contreras (AP) recently reported in The Navajo Post:

New Mexico continues to rank near the bottom in child poverty and the state has been slow to recover economically and stop the dwindling of resources, a new report said. 

The New Mexico Voices for Children on Tuesday released its annual New Mexico Kids Count report, which also faulted state lawmakers for not presenting any new anti-poverty initiatives to help one of the poorest states. 

The study said the state ranked 48th nationally in child poverty and only four states ranked lower than New Mexico in the percentage of children whose parents lacked full-time, year-round employment. 

In addition, the report said New Mexico ranked near the bottom in fourth-grade proficiency reading rates.

2. Desire. No, not that kind. What Abq Jew means is the desire to achieve, the desire to succeed, the desire to make a big difference. The desire to know, the desire to learn, the desire to do.

We read in Pirke Avot (4:1):

 Who is rich?

He who is happy with what he has.

In this sense (but not in so many others), Jews are among the poorest people Abq Jew knows. Jews are (almost) never happy with what they have. They always want to do more and to have more.

Yet the New Mexicans Abq Jew has been fortunate to meet are among the richest people he knows. They are happy with what they have, and - once they've got the essentials - they do not see any need for more.

Abq Jew wishes they would study more, and pass the love of learning on to their children. But would this make them happier? Or would this only make them poorer?

Stay tuned! There's more to come!

Complete preliminary results of the Survey are now posted at

http://www.jewishsurveynm.org/

Gone to Denver, Every One

Jewish New Mexico - Our Age: As you know from Abq Jew's blog post NM Jewish Population Survey Results Announced, preliminary results of the only established permanent floating Jewish Population Survey in New Mexico have just been released.

And if you've been following (you have, haven't you?), you must surely suspect that the beautiful and talented Doron Matalon (Miss Israel) has nothing at all to do with the JFNM Population Study.

What she does have to with, at least peripherally, is SelfieGate - the selfie she took with Miss Lebanon, which has sparked outrage in that country. In the event, neither Miss Israel nor Miss Lebanon was crowned Miss Universe; the title went to Miss Colombia.

She's only here to attract your eye, dear reader. How's she doing?

When last we visited the Survey, Abq Jew presented this singing pie chart

Sing to the tune "Where Have All the Young Jews Gone?"

and promised more insightful commentary.on the Survey results. Well, here goes.

What we see here is an older and aging
New Mexico Jewish community. 

No, all the young Jews have not gone to Denver. Some have gone to Phoenix. Some have gone to Houston. Some have gone to Chicago, or Los Angeles, or even New York. And some have ascended to the Land of Israel.

Many were born and raised in the Land of Enchantment - and then sent away to college. And just never came back. UNM ("University Near Mom") did not fulfill them - but Boston University and schools of similar quality and reputation did.

Abq Jew must point out: This is not just a problem for New Mexico's 24,000 Jews. This is a problem for the entirety of New Mexico's wonderfully diverse population.

What is New Mexico's chief export?
Our children ....

Other Survey results point out that - while New Mexico's Jews mostly came from someplace else - most of us have been here for years. Chances are, we'll die here. Which  of course means

We're going to need a lot more cemetery space.

We're also going to need a lot more senior citizen services - housing, transportation, education. And guidance  - some of which Abq Jew has thoughtfully provided on his World to Come page.

Oh yeah - we're going to need more support for the Jewish Care Program

and more Chevre Kaddisha volunteers!

The recent announcement of the Jewish Academy's closing (see Jewish Academy of Arts & Sciences to Close) was just one indication of our community's age demographic: there aren't enough Jewish kids to keep the school going.

The JAAS announcement was also a blow to the chances for New Mexico Jewry's rejuvenation. The dedicated young Jews we oldsters seek will may see the lack of a community Jewish day school as a serious drawback, and may decide to take their Jewish neshamas elsewhere.

But there is some good news!

ABQ Tribe, a group of young Jewish professionals loosely associated with Congregation B'nai Israel of Albuquerque,
is large, dynamic, and growing!
Contact Abq Jew to get in touch with them!

Stay tuned! There's more to come!

Complete preliminary results of the Survey are now posted at

http://www.jewishsurveynm.org/

Mishkan Chants Shefa

Jiding In The Jemez: When it comes to Hebrew chant, no one can beat Rabbi Shefa Gold. Who maintains a permanent base in the Jemez, but who travels all over the world (even, sometimes, to Albuquerque). Chanting.

Abq Jew has not been a big fan of chanting. If G-d had wanted us to chant, why would She entice us with wonderful-sounding and uber-expensive banjos, guitars, fiddles, and other instruments of mass entertainment?

But Abq Jew could be wrong. Rabbi Shefa says

Chant is a path for all of us who lead with our hearts, who are determined to seek out the truth that is buried deep beneath the ground of our lives, and who have made a commitment to live that truth, from moment to moment, breath to breath, ‘one little bit at a time.’

Rabbi Shefa Gold is a leader in ALEPH: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and received her ordination both from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (z”l).

She is the director of C-DEEP, The Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

Her latest book, published by Jewish Lights, is The Magic of Hebrew Chant: Healing the Spirit, Transforming the Mind, Deepening Love.

And then there's Mishkan Chicago.

Mishkan, says their website, is a spiritual community in Chicago reclaiming Judaism's dynamic essence through prayer and learning experiences rooted in music and intellectual exploration.

We really believe that Judaism done right is a vehicle for bringing more light, more goodness, more justice, and more joy into the world, and that inspired prayer and inspired living reinforce on another.

Abq Jew's excellent Facebook friend Salvador Litvak (aka The Accidental Talmudist) was the one who discovered the combination of Rabbi Shefa and Mishkan in this video.

There's good Jewish stuff happening out there. Enjoy!

Shabbat Shalom, Albuquerque!

Good Shabbos, New Mexico!