Insights from The Torah (Aired March 21 & 22, 2020)

RadioRotary Co-Host Jonah Triebwasser interviews Rabbi Jonathan Kligler of the Woodstock Jewish Congregation in this unusual and extremely interesting program based largely on Rabbi Kligler’s book Turn It and Turn It for Everything is In It. The book’s title comes from an ancient Rabbi’s saying about the Torah scroll that is a part of every Jewish temple and used in various services. The Torah’s text consists of the first five books of the Old Testament, common to Jewish and Christian faiths, but the scroll is a special handwritten version on parchment that is a physical representation of those texts. In a temple, the scroll is on rollers so that turning the rollers reveals a different part of the text. In the interview, Rabbi Kligler’s book consists of 54 chapters, one for each week in a lunar year, each relating to a specific passage of the Torah. There are deeper meanings that are found in the creation story and in the stories of Abraham, Jacob (Israel), Joseph, and Moses. Rabbi Kligler also tells a bit about his early career teaching dancing to children and about his other role today as a musician who has worked with many of the great folk musicians of the twentieth century.

Learn more
Woodstock Jewish Congregation: https://www.wjcshul.org/
Rabbi Jonathan Kligler: https://rabbijonathankligler.com/
Turn It and Turn It for Everything is In It: https://smile.amazon.com/Turn-Everything-Essays-Weekly-Portion/dp/1725251078/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1dchild=1&keywords=turn+it+and+turn+it+Rabbi+Jonathan+Kligler&qid=1585405803&s=books&sr=1-1-fkmr0
The Torah and Torah Scroll: https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/texts/torah.shtml

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April 3, 2020 · Posted in Religion  

Working for Peace with the UN (Aired March 14 & 15, 2020)

Millbrook Rotarian Jim Lubin and his wife Diane visit RadioRotary to tell how they came to be Peacekeepers for the United Nations and involved in two of the more significant conflicts at the end of the 20th Century. Jim Lubin grew up in England during World War II and as a boy observed the American Air Force heading for the D-Day invasion of Europe. As a young man be made a career of proofreading, which eventually led to his being an editor at the United Nations, where he met and married Diane. Jim thought he could do more for world peace by volunteering to lead missions that the UN conducts to help maintain peace during conflicts. When he went to oversee elections in the new nation of Namibia in southwest Africa, Diane joined him on the mission—the first husband and wife team of UN Peacekeepers. With a successful mission to Namibia behind them, the pair volunteered to help resolve the conflicts between the new nations that used to be part of Yugoslavia, but this active war was between ethnic groups who were out to kill each other and who were not going to stop just because the UN was there. Having survived the war in Croatia, Jim and Diane retired to the United States. Diane was from Oneonta, NY, and had frequently driven the Taconic to New York City, so when the Lubins looked for a retirement home, exiting the Taconic at Millbrook became the key.

Learn more
Peacekeeping by the United Nations: https://peacekeeping.un.org/en
War and Election in Namibia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Border_War
War in Former Yugoslavia: https://www.britannica.com/event/Bosnian-War
Millbrook Rotary Club: https://www.MillbrookRotary.org

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April 3, 2020 · Posted in Humanitarian Service, Peace, United Nations