 I'm Marsha Joyner, and we are navigating the journey. Navigating the journey is dedicated to exploring the options and choices for the end of life, and to assist people to talk about their wishes. It's time to transform our culture so we shift from not talking about it, but to talk about dying. It's time to share the way we want to live our lives at the end of our lives. And it's time to communicate about what kind of care we want and don't want for ourselves. Today, we're going to take just a detour on that journey. To talk about a journey that so many of us went through, so many of our people in our audience have no idea about. And for me, being the wife of a Vietnam veteran, I am going to talk about the 50th, the Welcome Home Anniversary for the 50th year since the Vietnam War. It's time to talk about it openly and honestly. We're going to commemorate those veterans. We're going to talk about what, if anything, they went through. And for me, as the wife and mother, who had to struggle with little kids through that war. So, enough of me in the tears. This is about the Welcome Home. Can we see that? Can we see this? It is so beautiful, and it's going to be a beautiful event from May 23rd until May 29th. On May 23rd, there will be a reception and registration because the veterans are coming from all over America. And then on the 24th, there will be the Taste of Hawaii at the Night Concert. And that's at the shell, of course. And on the 25th, Thursday, a Welcome Home ban quit honoring the many POWs and Gold Star families and those that are missing at action still. And that is at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor. And you do have to make reservations for that one. Or on May 26th, a commemorative movie, Ride the Thunder, true Vietnam War story about the destruction of a bridge at Da Nang in 1972. And that's on the beach at Waikiki, and of course, that's free and open to the public. On May 27th at the Pacific Aviation Museum, there will be, of course, all of the planes and all of the things that were in the Vietnam War. And at 1 p.m., there will be a Vietnam symposium. And then there will be a Welcome Home Parade and a Pre-Ceremony. And of course, you know, all parades in Waikiki take up the whole day. And the parade begins at 4 p.m. in Waikiki. On May 28th, the military unit will, all the bases will be open for veterans and anybody else that wants to go see all the military units. And then finally, on Memorial Day, a combined city, state, National Memorial Day commemoration and at the National Memorial at Punchbow, and that's at 8.30 a.m. till 10.30 a.m. So you're invited, the public is invited to everything, and this is a time, at least for me, who still has trouble, remember in those years. So I'm inviting all of you to come out and be a part of it. Thank you so much. Aloha. My name is Steven Phillip Katz. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist, and I'm the host of Shrink Wrap Hawaii, where I talk to other shrinks. Did you ever want to get your head shrunk? Well, this is the best place to come to pick one. I've been doing this. We must have 60 shows with a whole bunch of shrinks that you can look at. I'm here on Tuesdays at 3 o'clock every other Tuesday. I hope you are too. Aloha. You're watching Think Tech on ThinkTechHawaii.com, which broadcasts five live talk shows from noon to 5 p.m. every weekday, and then streams our earlier shows all night long. Great content for Hawaii from Think Tech. Hi, I'm Carol Cox. I'm the new host of Eyes on Hawaii. Make sure you stay in the know on Hawaii. Join us on Tuesdays at 12 noon. We will see you then. Aloha. Freedom. Is it a feeling? Is it a place? Is it an idea? At DiveHeart, we believe freedom is all of these and more, regardless of your ability. DiveHeart wants to help you escape the bonds of this world and defy gravity. Since 2001, DiveHeart has helped children, adults, and veterans of all abilities go where they have never gone before. DiveHeart has helped them transition to their new normal. Search diveheart.org and share our mission with others. And in the process, help people of all abilities imagine the possibilities in their lives. 3 p.m. On We Talk About Things of Interest to Those of Us Who Live Here, folks can be found at kawelukas.com. Okay. I didn't... Wankers off. Aloha. I'm Marcia Joyner and we're back. And we are going to talk about navigating the journey. And you know that in the 20 weeks we have been on, we have talked about, we have talked about many, many traditions and cultures. We had Buddhists and Muslims and Christians and everything else in between. And today we are going to talk about the Jewish tradition. Pearl, I will never be able to pronounce your last name right. It's okay. It took me a few years. After I got married, it took a while. Yeah. She is from Shabbat of Hawaii and she's the co-director of Shabbat, Hawaii. And that's a Jewish educational social service agency tending to the needs of the Jewish community. Yes. And so, again, like I said, we talk about our traditions, different traditions, different cultures and their choices and options at the end of life. However, with you, since I know nothing about the Jewish tradition, we will start at the beginning and talk about the Jewish culture. Now, what I do know about is Abraham in the beginning. That's a good beginning. That's the beginning. Yes. That's a good beginning. Yeah. Well, I think it's going to be a little difficult to cover 5,000 years of Jewish history and tradition. But before we do that, who is this young woman? Okay, this is my grandson, Dov Khazanov, and his parents were, for seven years, they led a branch of our organization on the Big Island called Shabbat of the Big Island. They just moved over from Kona six months ago, so I'm really lucky to have them near me now. And he's with me today because I love him and I want him with me. Very good. And how old are you, sweetheart? Seven. Seven. Great. He just turned seven. He just turned seven. Happy birthday. Yeah. Happy birthday. This is his little birthday treat. Happy birthday. Thank you. Okay. So, well, okay, now we can't go through 7, 5,000 years. Right. Right. So, I actually- Yes. What is the Jewish year? What is the year? Okay, so it's interesting that you asked that because as you may or may not know or some of your listeners may know, the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar. It's not a solar calendar. And according to Jewish teachings, the world is actually 5,777 years old. So we are in the year 5777, and Jewish history began, like all human history, with the beginnings of time with Adam and Eve. And the Jewish people became a nation in the Jewish calendar year of 2,448, when they accepted the Tenka Mountains on Mount Sinai. And that was good 3,329 years ago. Now, so I read on your web page about the children receiving the Tenka Mountains. Yes. Yes. And you're having an event. Oh, okay. So, also very interesting that you focused on that because that's coming up shortly. I believe it's May 30th and 31st, and Hebrew is called the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which means weeks because we count the weeks from Passover, which we just celebrated a month ago, the Exodus of the Jewish people, to seven weeks later when they stood at Mount Sinai and received the Tenka Mountains. Now there is a tradition and a teaching that when God wants to give the Jewish people the Tenka Mountains, he wants to be fear. So he didn't want to only offer to the Jewish people, and he went around to all the nations of the world and said, I have a gift, and the Torah is its name. The Torah is what we call our Bible. And each nation asked, well, what is it saying in it? And God told one nation, well, it says, do not kill. And they said, no, no, no, no, not for us. Then he went to another nation, and they said, well, what is it saying in it? And they said, it says, God answered, do not steal. And they said, no, no, not for us. Then he went to another nation, and they asked, well, what is it saying in it? And he said, honor your father and mother. And they said, no, for that we've got Father St. Mother's Day, okay? So then he came to the Jewish people, and they accepted it unconditionally. They said, we will do and we will hear. In other words, we're going to accept it. And then God said, hey, not so fast. I want to guarantee. This is a covenant between you and me forever that you're going to keep this forever. So they offered our patriarch, the forefather, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the foremothers, and God didn't accept any of them as collateral. And finally, the Jewish people said, we offer the children, because obviously this is where we get the idea that the children are our future. If the children will continue to study and observe and keep all the traditions, then we know that Judaism has a future. And then God said, okay, you've got a deal. And that's why it's important for children actually to be in the synagogue and hear the reading of the Ten Commandments, even if they can't intellectually conceptualize what's going on spiritually, we believe their souls understand. Now there is one piece of the Jewish tradition that I have repeated year after year, event after event, and have made it my own. And that is the Seder. Oh, nice. And the commandment that God says the young people will, not shall, not maybe, will tell the story in every generation and in the present tense. And I think, and I have taken that, and I think that if all of us told that story, our story in every generation and in the present tense, so that we all understood what it is, then the world would be a better place. So that's why we have chosen the navigating this journey and having people in different cultures in different religions and different traditions to tell their story in the present tense. I find it very interesting, Marcia, that you bring that up and hence my bringing exhibit aid here at the matzah. And I'll explain why I do that. You speak about Passover. Because yes, Passover has a universal message of liberation. That is, on the one hand, particular and specific to the Jewish narrative, the Jewish people. On the other hand, it speaks to a very universal human need for freedom. That we are slaves to no one but God. We are all created in the image of God, all of humankind. And again, the Jewish people accepted the commandments at Mount Sinai, but maybe a little bit later I'll talk about. There's something called the seven Noahite laws, which are seven universal laws, morality that applies to all of humankind. And the history of that is that all of humanity are called Noahites. Why? Because after the flood that's described in the Torah and the Bible, all of humanity descends from that one as children. So there are seven moral principles that apply to all of us. All the Jewish people accepted a particular code of law. All of humanity is bound by this code. And if I may briefly run through them, okay. So one is to acknowledge that there is one God, an infinite being, and we do not worship idols. We do not believe in many deities. We believe in one God, all of humanity. Number two, we respect God's sanctity by not cursing in His name. We do not use His name as a curse word. We don't take His name in vain. Number two, we respect human life, which means every human being is created in the image of God. So murder is absolutely to sell out. Unless we're talking about a case of self-defense, but that's the exception rather than rule, murder is no, no, number three. Number four, morality, sexual morality, things like incest, adultery, etc. God doesn't like that stuff. And that applies to all of human beings. Number five, respecting the rights and properties of others, being honest in our business dealings, and acknowledging that God is the provider for all of us. Number six is respecting God's creatures, which means cruelty to animals is forbidden. So for example, the laws of slaughtering animals and Jewish law is a whole body of very specific laws are all geared towards being humane in the slaughtering process. But each and every one of us, you know better than me, maybe. There's a lot of laws all over the place, so you may be right. I don't have a chapter of verse. Okay, I call Leviticus the Bible's health department. Oh, I like that. Very creative. But it may very well be probable. Because it makes sense. And even those of us that are not slaughtering animals, Leviticus talks a lot about sacrifices that we've stopped bringing animal sacrifices. They last existed when the temple stood in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. But kindness to animals is an everyday possibility for all of us, harming cats and dogs. The Torah has laws. You need to feed your animals before you feed yourself. So cruelty to animals takes many forms. And again, that's a universal law that's applicable to all of humanity. And the last one, finally, is maintaining justice. In other words, we need to have a system of justice in order to have a civilized social construct called society, where we respect each other's rights. There's the rights of the community. There's the rights of the individual. But nonetheless, all societies need to have laws and courts of justice. And in this way, we maintain a just society that's pleasing in the eyes of man and the eyes of God. I did want to go back, if you don't mind, Marcia, to something you said about Passover. So I come from the Hasidic spectrum of Jewish observance, which the media might term ultra, ultra orthodox, which means we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and we try to keep it as much as humanly possible, or the laws we believe they're still applicable. So in any case, you spoke about Passover, which on the Jewish lunar calendar was exactly one month ago today. And there's a fascinating law that is applicable only today. So I woke up, and I thought, how interesting that Marcia asked me to be here today. And today is the full moon. Okay. Today is one month from Passover, and today in the Bible. In a lunar calendar, though, you would say that today is the full moon, which was exactly a month ago. A month ago was Passover, and today is called the second Passover. And that's why I brought matzah, because we eat matzah on Passover. Not only did I bring the regular matzah that people are used to seeing, the square kind of matzah. But I brought the matzah that the way the ancient Israelites made it. What? Open it. Let's see. Okay. Let me show you what I've got here. Exhibit A. I'll give everybody in the studio a little taste. Okay. And I will tell you what it is, why we eat it, and the special spiritual significance today has for everybody. Wow. So this is round matzah, hand baked. Trust me, it's worth its weight in gold. Exactly the way the ancient Israelites made it. Well, not exactly. They made it on their backs. What do you mean on their backs? And they carried it out of Egypt. They were rushing. They had no time to bake bread. So they baked matzah. This particular box, believe it or not, comes from the Ukraine via New York to Hawaii. So it's traveled around the world. This is made in 18 minutes from scratch to finish. It's just flour and water needed, rolled, punctured with holes so it doesn't rise. Have a piece. Eek. Take it. Take it. Well, take a little bit more than that. Would you like some? Okay. After? Okay. A little bit later. Okay. So now what is this matzah? So Jewish mystical sources, we all know we eat matzah on Passover. And as I just mentioned, it's because when the Jews were leaving Egypt, they left in haste that no time to bake a full loaf of bread. So it didn't rise. And this is what we ended up with for the last 3,500 years. Mystically, this is called the food of faith. Now what's the whole idea of a second Passover? We didn't go out of Egypt twice. So what happened? When the Jews were leaving Egypt, there were some people that were carrying the bones of Joseph, Joseph being Jacob's son, the ruler of Egypt, right? And when he died, he said, very me in Egypt, but when you leave, there's going to be a day there. You're going to come out. And the Israelites are going to go, the ancient Jews, are going to go to the land of Israel. Take my bones with me and bury them in the land of Israel. So there were people that were carrying his coffin, which was a wonderful thing to do, but in Judaism and the Jewish tradition, there is spiritual impurity that is associated with death. So carrying the coffin conferred upon these people spiritual impurity. So when the first Passover was happening, they could not bring this. No, wait a minute. You went over that. But that's beautiful. Okay. That carrying the coffin does what? Okay. So on the one hand, they were doing a really, a good deed called a mitzvah, which is something good in a commandment. On the other hand, they became spiritually impure. Any connection with death and Judaism makes you spiritually impure. It's not a physical thing. It's a spiritual thing. And there's a spiritual remedy for it. So actually the matzah that we eat today on Passover, it's not only to commemorate the fact that they could not make bread when they left, but it's also to commemorate the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. So we don't do sacrifices anymore. So we just eat the matzah instead of the paschal lamb that was sacrificed at midnight the night they left Egypt. So those people that were carrying the bones of Joseph said, hey, this is not fair. We can't do the paschal lamb every year. It was a year later now. They're in the desert. They're traveling. It's a year later. And Moses gives the Jewish people a commandment. Every year on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan to commemorate leaving Egypt, you are going to sacrifice a paschal lamb. So the men that were carrying the bones of Joseph came over to Moses and said, this is not fair. We're doing something good. We're bringing the bones of Joseph to Israel. But we're spiritually impure and therefore we are not allowed to bring the paschal lamb as a sacrifice. So Moses said, you got a point. Let me go ask God what to do. So Moses turns around, goes and has a meeting with God and comes back and says, okay, this is the deal. God said, you're right. You have a point. Because you're spiritually impure on the date that you were supposed to bring the paschal lamb, you will now be allowed to do it one month later. One month later, you have a chance to make up. You can bring the sacrifice, which is a way of connecting with God. Again, this is something that's very difficult for the modern mind to understand because we no longer have animal sacrifices. But the idea was in bringing a sacrifice, one sacrifice part of his animal energy, animalistic tendencies. And we become more refined spiritually. So these people that couldn't bring it, God said, I am giving you another chance exactly one month after the first Passover, which is today. You can bring the paschal lamb. And ever since then, we celebrate a month after Passover. We no longer bring sacrifices. So eat the matzah, which is in place of the paschal lamb. So what else? Is it a ceremony? Do you have? Is it a dinner? So interesting. So the only thing we do is we actually eat the matzah, which as I said, mystically is termed the bread of faith because it nourishes our faith. But the powerful spiritual lesson behind the actual act of the physical act of eating is that it's never too late. There's always a second chance. And everybody in this world, we've all messed up at one point or another in our lives. So when on today, now, would you have a dinner? Would you have a? We could eat at dinner. We could eat at lunch. We don't make a whole big ceremony like the first Seder. Right. But do you have a Seder? Do you tell this story? We tell this. So this youngens understand what today is about. Dad, do you know what Pesachini is about? No. No? He just heard it. It's the people that were tummy, that were impure and couldn't make the first Pesach, made the second one. See that? A month later. And what's interesting is the phraseology that Moses uses to convey to the Jewish people, the commandment of the second Passover, he tells them, if any of you were impure or you were physically far away, you couldn't come to the temple and bring the paschal lab. And you know, sometimes it's your own fault. You still have a second chance. That means we could have done something in our life. We could have messed up in our relationship with God, in our relationship with other human beings. We, it could be our own fault. We could be far away on a journey where we're not supposed to be. We've gone really astray. And God says the lesson, the powerful lesson of today, because every day Jewish teaching teaches has a different spiritual energy. So today's day, I call it the day of second chances. Today's energy, by eating the matzah a month after we originally ate it, we're demonstrating that we believe and that we know that we've got a second chance to make it right in God's eyes and in other people's eyes. This is an incredibly beautiful packaging. And this comes from the Ukraine? It does. They're made in the Ukraine. They're made in Israel. They're made in Europe. They're made in New York. They're not made in Hawaii. Of course not. We brought in over 100 pounds of this for the Passover Seder. For the first Seder. Right, right, right. This is part of what's left. Okay, so at the Shabbat, what exactly do you do there? I mean, you said it's a social service agency and a religious agency. In other words, we try and meet every spiritual need in the Jewish community. And when people from outside of the Jewish community come to us, you know, we do what we can as well. In other words, we have, like every religious agency and temple, we have prayer services. We have Sunday school for children. We have Bible adult education classes. Every holiday. We have communal meals and we invite the community. We do education about Judaism outside of the community. An example would be here. Twice a year I go to lecture at the university at UH Manoa and talk about Judaism. I speak at the School of Nursing and the intersection between Judaism and the medical profession where Jewish law might interact. We help people with all kinds of, not only end of life, but beginning of life, all kinds of milestones throughout life, birth, marriage, death, performing religious ceremonies, providing counseling and support when people are in jail, when people are in the hospitals. You name it. All across the spectrum. That's then real quick now, and then you're open to anyone, not just Jewish people, but anyone. Okay. So the focus of our activities is obviously Jewish education, Jewish religious education. So that applies to people with a Jewish belief. But we've had many people that are not Jewish come and wanting to explore what is Judaism about, either for conversion or pre-conversion or just out of interest. And we try to satisfy their needs for knowledge and explain to them what they want to know. This is wonderful. And I am so happy that you came real quick now. Where is Shabbat, Hawaii? Where are you located? So we are actually located right at the edge of Waikiki across the street from the convention center. We're in the Alamoana Hotel. For those of you that have lived here long enough, we're in the former Hawaiian hut. Hawaiian hut went from being a nightclub to a house of God. That's interesting. So it's a bit of a transition. And my grandson here is being comm schooled there with my other grandchildren. So we're kind of an all purpose, we're a temple, we're a synagogue, we're a place of learning, we're a place for children and adults. And like I said, whatever need is connected with Judaism. We're here to try and fill that need. Thank you so much for coming. And thank you sweetheart and happy birthday. Thank you. You're welcome darling. And thank you so much for spending this time with us. And I am delighted. Would you come back? My pleasure. Thank you Marcia. Lovely and I'm going to leave this matzah for you and your staff to enjoy. Yeah. I can't chew because it makes noises in the microphone. Whenever you're ready in the microphone. Whenever you want to have it. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. Aloha.