Sunday, March 8, 2015

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: DESTINATION CUSTOM BAR BAT MITZVAH: SAVANNAH HISTORIC CENTER

BAR OR BAT MITZVAH with

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

PLEASE WISH MOZEL TOV TO B'NAI MITZVAH TWINS, ELLIE AND MAX, AND THEIR PARENTS DRS LISA AND BEN, WHO HAD A BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE CEREMONY IN MARCH, AT THE LANDINGS PLANTATION CLUB, SKIDAWAY ISLAND, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA .

MOM AND DAD PRINTED CUSTOM SIDURIM WHICH RABBI SEGAL WROTE FOR THE WONDERFUL EVENT.

DESTINATION BAR OR BAT

MITZVAH CEREMONIES

CONTACT RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

AT RABBIASEGAL@AOL.COM

A bar or bat mitzvah is a special occasion not only for the young man or young woman, not only for the family, but for Judaism. Without learned children, our religion with its rich traditions would not survive.

Our sages tell us that the children played a very important role in the fact that God gave us the Torah.

Before God gave the Torah to the Jewish people, He demanded guarantors that the Torah, which up until then was in God's possession, in the spiritual realm, will be studied and cherished.

Jews made a number of suggestions which were rejected by God. Only when they declared, "Our children will be our guarantors" did God accept and agree to give them the Torah.

Giving our children a Torah education from a very early age is essential to the survival of Torah and Judaism.

With this is mind, the optimum way to prepare and become a bar or bat mitzvah is with study with your rabbi in your synagogue.

More and more people, 60% of American Jews, are not affiliated with synagogues. This is not because they are being frugal, or not spiritually aligned with Judaism. Polls and research shows they cannot tolerate the sinat chinam, the baseless hatred, and harsh politics, that occurs in many temples.

So many have destination Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremonies, and the Hilton Head , SC area is a wonderful place to do so, as families can join in this safe and beautiful environment. I have also conducted Bar and Bat Mitzvah services on cruise ships. I was the first rabbi to conduct both Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies on the world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.

As I do with weddings, I will put together an intimate service that can include parents, siblings, grandparents, other relatives and friends.

If one is doing a destination Bar or Bat Mitzvah the optimum is to have all of the study done and completed in your home town with face-to-face learning with your rabbi. Then I can spend some time via phone with the young person, and parents, to ensure all runs smoothly, and conduct the destination ceremony.

The other way of course, is when I do teaching over the phone and via email weekly, with the student.

If one wants me to prepare their child for a bar or bat mitzvah and the child lives locally, I will first ask them to consult my town's local pulpit rabbi.

Rabbi Arthur Segal can also conduct Bar or Bat Mitzvah services for adults who did not do this ceremony when they were young teenagers. Rabbi Arthur Segal, an ordained rabbi with semikah, will sign and present a official certificate of becoming a bar or bat mitzvah, an important Jewish document.

In all ways a destination Bar or Bat Mitzvah is a joy that all will remember and cherish!

JEWISH WEDDINGS

JEWISH WEDDINGS OFFICIATED BY RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: TRADITIONAL, INTERFAITH, CO-OFFICIANT, DESTINATION

"One of the Joys of being a Rabbi," says Rabbi Arthur Segal," is working closely with the bride and groom and officiating at their wedding." He can do this with couples living near by or with couples having a destination wedding in the greater beautiful Hilton Head Island area.

Rabbi Arthur Segal helps develop a custom ceremony with the couple so that each word in the ceremony rings true to them. His ceremonies can range from the very traditional to what ever the couples desires. Rabbi opines that this is the couple's special day, and to treat each wedding as unique.

For those who are having an interfaith wedding, Rabbi takes special care to respect both traditions, again with total input from the couple. He will be pleased to co-officiate at weddings, using non-Trinitarian language.

Rabbi Arthur Segal also will do recommitment marriage ceremonies with the same care as he does weddings.

Rabbi will work closely with the wedding planer and/or caterer to make sure the wedding is seamless, and the bride and groom can totally enjoy themselves on their special day.

Rabbi Arthur Segal is available, and actually prefers, to be at the rehearsal, to ensure all is going smoothly, and to get to know the bridal party, and family, before the actual wedding day.

For those that wish to have a Ketubah, rabbi will work closely to make sure everyone's name has correct calligraphy on the document, in English and Hebrew, so the signing ceremony is flawless.

For a beautiful gallery of Ketubahs go to JudaicConnection.com (My couples receive a $15 shipping discount)

Rabbi Arthur Segal tries to limit his weddings to Hilton Head, SC, Bluffton, SC, Palmetto Bluff, SC, Savannah, GA, and Charleston, SC, but has been known to make himself available elsewhere, even out of the USA. He will also conduct weddings and recommitment ceremonies on cruise ships.

In keeping with Jewish ethics, if the couple resides in Rabbi Arthur Segal's town, Rabbi will ask, unless there are some special circumstances, if the couple has first asked the local pulpit rabbi to officiate.

RABBI DR ARTHUR SEGAL

REBBETZIN ELLEN SEGAL
www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.com/books www.FaceBook.com/Arthur.L.Segal www.FaceBook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal www.RabbiArthurSegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Hilton Head Island, SC; Bluffton, SC; Savannah, GA

Thursday, March 5, 2015

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: AFGHANI PASHTUN'S JEWISH ROOTS: AFGHAN JEWISH HISTORY

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: AFGHANI PASHTUN'S JEWISH ROOTS: AFGHAN JEWISH HISTORY

HISTORY OF JEWS IN AFGHANISTAN A COLORFUL STORY

BY RABBI DR ARTHUR SEGAL

WWW.HILTONHEADJEWISHWEDDINGS.COM HILTON HEAD JEWISH WEDDINGS

WWW.HILTONHEADJEWISHINTERFAITHWEDDINGS.COM HILTON HEAD JEWISH INTERFAITH WEDDINGS

WWW.SAVANNAHJEWISHWEDDINGS.COM SAVANNAH JEWISH WEDDINGS

WWW.JEWISHSPIRITUALRENEWAL.COM JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

BLUFFTON SUN, HILTON HEAD SUN, SUN CITY HILTON HEAD SUN

EDITOR LYNNE HUMMEL

Shalom and Peace:

Let us continue exploring international Jewish communities with a country in the news, Afghanistan. Its Jewish history dates back 2,700 years to the Assyrian conquest of the 10 northern tribes in Israel, and the subsequent Babylonian conquest of the 2 remaining tribes in Judah. In 2013, Israel unveiled the first physical evidence discovered in captured Taliban caves of ancient Jewish Afghans.

The Pashtun, the main Afghan tribe, call themselves Bani-Israel (Children of Israel). Many Pashtun names have Hebrew roots, i.e. Asheri and Naphtali, and they have Hebrew customs of wedding chupahs and circumcising sons on the eighth day. The exiled Afghan Royals say they are from the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin.

A tenth and eleventh century CE Jewish community in Ghazni, Afghanistan is recorded by Muslim documents. Jewish Isaac was advisor to Sultan Mahmud (1010 CE). In 1839, thousands of Jews fled forced Islamic conversions bringing Afghanistan's Jewish population to 40,000. They traded skins, carpets and antiquities. In 1870 Afghan Muslims enacted anti-Jewish measures, triggering a mass exodus. 1933 brought Nuremberg-like laws and more exoduses. When Israel was created and their travel ban was lifted from leaving, 5000 Jews left in 1951. With the Russian invasion of 1979, only 10 remained.

In 2005, only Zebulon Simentov and Isaac Levy were left. They lived at separate ends of the decaying synagogue in Kabul on Flower Street. Each claimed to be the owner of the Torah and guardian of the synagogue, and each accused the other of attempted theft of it. Both men were imprisoned and tortured in Taliban jails due to accusations against each other. The Taliban took the Torah scroll. Each man would celebrate holidays and Shabbat alone. The feud remained, Levy died in 2005 and Simentov would not attend the burial. Simentov turned the first floor of the synagogue into a store selling rugs and kabobs. He has since closed his stores but rents the space to other businesses. A play entitled: "The Last Jew of Afghanistan" was written about this absurd feud.

Ironically in the western city of Herat, (Kabul is in the east), the Islamic Agha Khan Trust is restoring four synagogues in the Jewish quarter. The Yu Aw synagogue has been completed, and is used as a school. (refer to photograph).

Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org . Email at RabbiASegal@aol.com

RABBI DR ARTHUR SEGAL

REBBETZIN ELLEN SEGAL

www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.com/books

www.FaceBook.com/Arthur.L.Segal

www.FaceBook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal

www.RabbiArthurSegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Hilton Head Island, SC; Bluffton, SC; Savannah, GA