June 24, 2006 –Sivan
28, 5766
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman,
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“TO
DO” LIST FOR THE SUMMER
·
How about
learning some Hebrew prayers?
Here’s a developing site that will help you do just that: http://www.learnhebrewprayers.com/
- and speak to the cantor if you wish to become part of a synagogue skills
class.
·
Or maybe read
a Jewish book or listen to Jewish podcasts. Some summer reading suggestions are
below
·
Or maybe
learn how to give a d’var Torah.
More info below.
·
And of
course, “to do” is to be here – we are open 365 days a
year. Join us for morning minyan,
Shabbat services or whatever!
HAVE A GREAT SUMMER
Contents
of the Shabbat O Gram:
(Click
to scroll down)
Just
the Facts (service schedule)
Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities
Required Reading and Action Items (links
to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)
Announcements (goings on in and around
TBE)
Quotes for the Week
“Only
those who see the invisible can do the impossible.”
-
author unknown
JUST THE FACTS
Friday Evening
Candle lighting: 8:11
pm on Friday, 23 June 2006,- Havdalah is at 9:12 pm on Saturday
evening. For candle lighting times, other Jewish calendar information, and to
download a Jewish calendar to your PDA, click on http://www.hebcal.com/. To see the festivals of other faiths as
well, go to http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/
Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:30 PM – in the
sanctuary (due to predicted storms)
Tot Shabbat: 6:45 – in the chapel. The final one of the season. Tot Shabbat will be
hosted this week by Steve and Cheryl Bader-Goldblum and their children, Evan,
Rachel, and Danny in honor of Danny’s 6th birthday.
For those who can’t
get enough of Tot Shabbat, Nurit conducts Tot Shabbat Morning at 10:30
am every Saturday morning. All are
welcome to attend.
AND SIGN UP NOW TO HOST A
TOT SHABBAT FOR NEXT YEAR!!! Contact Jeff and Heidi Trell at jefft@acmesignco.com or contact our Tot
Shabbat committee contacts:
Jeff and Heidi Trell 203-322-1531
Deb Goldberg: 203-323-3307
Stuart Nekritz: 203-322-0872
Shabbat
Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal tov to Morgan Temple who will become Bat
Mitzvah this Shabbat morning.
Children’s services: 10:30
Torah Portion: Shelach Lecha Numbers 13:1 - 15:41
1: 14:8-10
2: 14:11-20
3: 14:21-25
4: 14:26-38
5: 14:39-42
6: 14:43-15:3
7: 15:4-7
maf: 15:4-7
Haftarah Joshua 2:1
- 2:24
See a weekly commentary
from the UJC Rabbinic Cabinet, at www.ujc.org/mekorchaim. Read the Masorti commentary at http://www.masorti.org/mason/torah/index.asp. University of Judaism, JTS commentary is at: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/.
USCJ Torah
For online Parsha quizzes from Pardes in Israel, go to http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/parsha_quizzes/ Torah for Kids: http://www.torah4kids.net/ Weekly Lesson of Popular Israeli Rabbi Mordechai Elon: http://www.elon.org/archives/archives.htm - and his parsha sheets: http://www.mibereshit.org/special/download_eng_pdf.htm From Bar Ilan University: http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/; http://www.torahproductions.com/weekly_article.jsp
THE ENTIRE
HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE TRANSLATION
AT
Morning Minyan: Weekdays at 7:30, Sundays at
9:30 AM
TO ENSURE A “GUARANTEED MINYAN” FOR
THE DAY OF YOUR YAHRZEIT – GO TO THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER AT WWW.TBE.ORG
AND ALSO CONTACT ME AT RABBI@TBE.ORG.
Please
sign up at www.tbe.org - Rosner Minyan Maker
We’ve had several people coming lately
who are saying kaddish following recent deaths in the family. We want to make sure we have a minyan
each day. Your presence any morning is greatly appreciated!
A
Midsummer Night’s Dream
British psychologists
evidently consider the 23nd of June to be the
happiest day of the year.
I’m not sure how they
came up with that conclusion, but a plethora of good things happened this week
in the Jewish world, things that one would have considered unthinkable only a
short time ago:
The Israeli Magen David
Adom at long last received legitimacy in the eyes of the international Red
Cross, the Presbyterians reversed their position on divestment and Israel,
surveys in France indicated a sharp rise in support for Israel (on the eve of
the 100th anniversary of the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus) and a
soccer star from Ghana proudly waved an Israeli flag as his team was advancing
(he’s also on an Israeli professional team). Plus, as you’ll see below, some
great news out of the Zionist congress, which took place this week.
What does all this
mean? I’ll try to figure that
out at services tomorrow, in light of this week’s portion. Meanwhile, maybe its best not to
overanalyze, lest we awaken from this dream. Here’s more about these stories
from the JTA:
Red Cross vote reflects decades of work
The Presbyterian Church declared
suicide bombing and terrorism as crimes against humanity.
The 35th Zionist Congress
The 35th World Zionist Congress took place this week and
ended on a hopeful note (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/730461.html
also see an earlier report at http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/729848.html). You might recall our campaign for more
Conservative (Mercaz) representation this past fall. If you click on the Election
Results, you’ll find that Marcaz did as well as last time, 33 seats,
well under the Reform (Artza) representation, but still enough to press a
pluralistic agenda featuring human rights for all Israelis and freedom of
religion. The 35th World Zionist Congress came 109 years after Theodore Herzl,
the founder of the modern Zionist movement, gathered about 200 Jewish leaders
from around the world in
Read about the Congress at
In 2004 the previous congress passed the landmark Jerusalem
Program, aimed at revitalizing a Zionist movement that is now over 100 years
old. Here is the plan:
The Jerusalem
Zionism, the national
liberation movement of the Jewish people, brought about the establishment of
the State of Israel, and views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State
of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people
for its continuity and future.
The
foundations of Zionism are:
1. The unity of the
Jewish people, its bond to its historic homeland Eretz Yisrael, and the
centrality of the State of Israel and Jerusalem, its capital, in the life of
the nation;
2. Aliyah from all
countries and the effective integration of all immigrants into Israeli Society.
3. Strengthening Israel
as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state and shaping it as an exemplary
society with a unique moral and spiritual character, marked by mutual respect
for the multi-faceted Jewish people, rooted in the vision of the prophets,
striving for peace and contributing to the betterment of the world.
4. Ensuring the future
and the distinctiveness of the Jewish people by furthering Jewish, Hebrew and Zionist
education, fostering spiritual and cultural values and teaching Hebrew as the
national language;
5. Nurturing mutual
Jewish responsibility, defending the rights of Jews as individuals and as a
nation, representing the national Zionist interests of the Jewish people, and
struggling against all manifestations of anti-Semitism;
6. Settling the country
as an expression of practical Zionism.
This week’s congress featured an important milestone for
Conservative Judaism. Our movement
joined Kadima and two other groups in coalition for the Congress. This is
not meant to be a political endorsement as such, but a working agreement, which
will enable us to achieve committee positions and working relationships within
the WZO-Jewish Agency structures and enable our movement to influence policy
and decision-making.
There is still a long way to go in achieving equal rights and a
pluralistic perspective. For
instance, the president of
Olmert:
Masorti Movement Represents the Golden Path
June 21, 2006
Yesterday an
agreement was signed between representatives of MERCAZ Olami, the world Masorti
Zionist Movement, and representatives of the "Kadima" party in the
presence of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the text of which is printed below.
The agreement
gives Jews of the Masorti-Conservative stream in
Rabbi Vernon
Kurtz, President of MERCAZ Olami, said, "We found in the Kadima party an
open door and true support for our social-spiritual approach. We enter
this partnership not only for purposes of the Congress, but see it as a
strategy that will allow us to have an impact on Israeli society as a
whole."
From Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert's letter to members of the United Faction composed of
Kadima, MERCAZ Olami, the Green Zionist Alliance, Pensioners Party and the
Zionist Youth (Hanoar Hatzioni), "The Conservative (Masorti) Movement
exemplifies what Maimonides praised as the 'Golden Way', the middle path of
tradition, which distances itself from all extremes and advances a vision of
unity through tradition, faith and Jewish culture."
Dear Friends,
I apologize that I am
not able to attend this conference with you – delegates of Kadima, Hanoar
HaZioni, the Pensioners Party and the Conservative Movement to the 35th Zionist
Congress. Although I cannot be
there in person, I did not want to give up this opportunity to say a few words
to you, even if they are only in writing.
The united faction of
Kadima, HaNoar HaZioni, the Pensioners Party and the Conservative Movement
restores the unique and primary purpose of the Zionist Movement. The delegates that Herzl assembled at
the First Congress in 1897 represented the unity of the Jewish People and took
action together – secular and religious, Socialists and Liberals, workers
and bourgeoisie, young and old, from all over the Jewish world – in order
to ensure the future of the Jewish people and its return to its historic
homeland.
Our new party
continues this tradition today, unifying four different bodies, each of which
decided on its own, to put aside its political differences and unite around
joint principles.
The Kadima Movement is
the result of political forces in Israel that could not bear the old political
party frame; engulfed in their old fashion doctrine, and came together to
create a unified centre that expresses the beliefs and aspirations of the
majority of Israeli citizens in Israel.
Kadima’s members include former right and left wingers, friends
from the Religious Zionist Party, Israeli born citizens along with new
immigrants, Jews and others from various minorities. These people understood that they have
more in common than that which separates them, that a clear understanding of
reality is better than clinging to obsolete slogans that have no content.
The Pensioners Party
is a result of similar unification of people who knew how to put their
differences aside and unite behind a cross party platform, promoting the elder
and weak populations within Israeli society.
It’s not by
chance that Kadima found it easy to find a common language with the Pensioners
Party, and it was not by chance that they were the first party to join the
coalition that we put together. The
alliance in the Zionist Movement is a natural continuation of this, and I hope
that the parties in the Knesset will follow the representatives of the Zionist
Movement, and form one unified faction.
The Zionist Youth
Movement, being the oldest among the copartners of this new faction despite the
young age of its members, has been doing the very same thing for the past 80
years. It rose against the backdrop
of separations from right and left within the Zionist Movement as a unifying
movement that gives priority to national interests over sectarian interests. It
works within 48 different countries, educating generations of young Jews on the
base of Herzl’s political Zionism and Trumpeldor and Weitzman’s
idea of personal fulfillment.
The fourth partner,
the Conservative Movement represents the middle road that Maimonides speaks so
greatly of, a golden path of tradition that steers away from extremes of all
kinds and prefers the unifying way of tradition, faith and Jewish heritage.
The alliance that we
have built between these four bodies portrays the central stream of Zionism,
the Zionism of Herzl and Weitzman.
A Zionism that incorporates ideals with pragmatism, dreams with reality,
keeping to tradition while understanding the changing reality.
I am convinced that
this alliance of enlightened and moderate voices, dedicated with their heart
and soul to the Zionist cause, will become a major factor in the Zionist
Movement, leading it towards fruitful action for the future of the Jewish
People.
Sincerely,
Ehud
Olmert
Summer Reading and Listening
While you travel or on the beach, here are a couple of fascinating
podcasts to consider (programs to download on your iPod or mp3 player).
http://www.nextbook.org/ (A
gateway to Jewish culture and ideas – especially books)
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/
(fascinating programs on faith, ethics and ideas)
If reading is your thing, some books I’m planning to take a
close look or have recently read include:
Some books by the new chancellor-elect of the Jewish Theological
Seminary,
The Chosen People in America: A Study in
Jewish Religious Ideology (Modern Jewish Experience) by
Rethinking Modern Judaism : Ritual,
Commandment, Community (Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism)
by
The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community
in America by Steven M. Cohen and Arnold M. Eisen
The Modern Jewish Girl's Guide to Guilt
by Ruth Andrew Ellenson
Aliya : Three Generations of American-Jewish
Immigration to Israel by Liel Leibovitz
A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1 : You Shall
Be Holy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin (which was interorduced right here
last winter) – If you would like to host a monthly book group discussion
of this important text at your office or home in the fall, let me know.
Why
Do We Come to the Synagogue?
“What does a person expect to
attain when entering a synagogue?
In the pursuit of learning one goes to a library; for aesthetic
enrichment one goes to the art museum; for pure music to the concert hall. What
then is the purpose of going to the synagogue?
Many are the facilities which help us to
acquire the important worldly virtues, skills and techniques. But where should
one learn about the insights of the spirit? Many are the opportunities for
public speech; where are the occasions for inner silence? It is easy to find
people who will teach us how to be eloquent; but who will teach us to be still?
It is surely important to develop a sense of humor; but is it not also
important to have a sense of reverence? Where should one learn the eternal
wisdom of compassion? The fear of being cruel? The danger of being callous?
Where should one learn that the greatest truth is found in contrition?
Important and precious as is the development of our intellectual faculties, the
cultivation of a sensitive conscience is indispensable. We are all in danger of
sinking into the darkness of vanity; we are all involved in worshiping our own
egos. Where should we become sensitive to the pitfalls of cleverness, or to the
realization that expediency is not the acme of wisdom?
We are constantly in need of self-purification. We are in need of experiencing
moments in which the spiritual is as relevant and as concrete, for example, as
the aesthetic. Everyone has a sense for beauty; everyone is capable of
distinguishing between beautiful and ugly. But we must also learn to be
sensitive to the spirit. It is in the synagogue that we must try to acquire
such inwardness, such sensitivity.
To attain a degree of spiritual security, one cannot rely on one's own
resources, One needs an atmosphere where the concern for the spirit is shared
by a community. We are in need of students and scholars, masters and
specialists. But we also need the company of witness, of human beings who are
engaged in worship, who for a moment sense the truth that life is meaningless
without attachment to G-d.
I grew up in a home of worship where the spiritual was real. There was no
elegance but there was contrition; there was no great wealth but there was
great longing. It was a place where seeing a Jew, I sensed Judaism. Something
happened to the people there when they entered the house of worship. To this
day, every time I go to a synagogue my hope is to experience a taste of such an
atmosphere.
This is why we come to synagogue.”
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
(As quoted on the website of Temple Beth Zion, Brookline, MA)
"Like a multi-screen theater,
Synaplex™ offers a variety of Shabbat
experiences
for our diverse Jewish community."
-- starsynagogue.org
INTRODUCING
OUR NEW LOGO…
Save the date for our Grand Opening:
Oct. 27-28
Featuring
SHABBAT UNPLUGGED,
THE FIRST ANNUAL TBE “ROSNER BOWL” TOUCH FOOTBALL GAME, TBE PET
PALLOOZA, TORAH YOGA, and much more…
And save the following dates as well…
SYNAPLEX at TBE 5767
Friday and Sat., October 27-28 GRAND
OPENING Synaplex Shabbat
(Including Shabbat Unplugged on Friday night)
Friday, December 8 - Synaplex Shabbat
(theme of diversity, Sephardic dinner, December Dilemma)
Friday and Sat. January 19 and 20 - Synaplex Shabbat/Shabbat
Unplugged
Scholar in Residence Dr. Benjamin Gampel
Fri and Sat. February 9 and 10 - Synaplex Shabbat
Scholar in Residence, Rabbi Burt Visotzky
Havdalah Unplugged
Friday March 9 - Synaplex Shabbat, Shabbat Unplugged,
Shabbat, April 7 – Beth El Cares Synaplex Shabbat -
Passover
Friday and Sat. May 4 and 5 - Synaplex Shabbat/Shabbat Across
Shabbat Unplugged
Shabbat, June 23 -Synaplex Shabbat, adult b’nai mitzvah