Today is April 25, 2024 /
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On the Shabbat of Chanukah, we read in the prophetic book, Zachariah, one of the most inspiring lines in all Tanakh, how God truly interacts in our lives. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit …” I have always interpreted this to mean that God’s divine works are manifested though people guiding and caring for others. It is a great charge for Chanukah, where the festival miracle is not a man-made act of winning a battle, but of the oil that lasted for eight days, instead of the assumed one day’s worth. Faith and spirit wins out over brawn.
Tradition and Change: This is the catchphrase of the Conservative Movement. It originally comes from the book of the same title written by one of our Movement’s greatest rabbi’s, Mordechai Waxman almost sixty years ago. In it, Waxman states that Conservative Judaism is “a coherent tradition: anchored in our sources, internally dynamic, able to house a plurality of opinions.”
I could not agree more, for it is what I witnessed happening at our own Beth Sholom these past two months. We are a synagogue offering both tradition and change for our congregants and our greater community. I want to highlight some great examples.
I love the liturgy of Rosh Hashanah. Prayers, such as l’el Oreyh Din, Unetaneh Tokef, B’rosh Hashanah, or Hayom, along with their unique and haunting melodies are always majestic, spiritually uplifting, and thought provoking. Maybe their allure is due to the fact that I only pray them at the High Holy Days. I’ve always enjoyed the service since I was a kid. Becoming a rabbi only increased my knowledge and understanding of the awesomeness of the days.
As time has gone by, I’ve also come to value and appreciate not only the traditional liturgy and service structure but new, alternative ways of approaching prayer, spirituality, and connectedness to the Divine.
So much of what our synagogue children learn about Judaism is centered in the classroom. Since coming to Temple Beth Sholom, I’ve been extremely proud of our Religious School. Our students don’t just learn to read Hebrew, or why Israel is important, or how we celebrate the holidays, they have fun in the process. This attitude is quite different from when I went to Hebrew school. We had to learn, without the love of learning. It took me until my high school years to appreciate the love of Jewish learning. At TBS, we do it right!
One of our secret weapons is to make Jewish learning experiential.
Right after Memorial Day, we celebrate the second of our three major festival days, Shavuot. Shavuot is equal in importance with Passover and Sukkot. Whereas Passover celebrates our people’s liberation from slavery to freedom and Sukkot celebrates God’s protecting love and care for the Israelites crossing the wilderness by providing their needs and now ours, Shavuot commemorates God’s precious gift to us—The Revelation of Torah.
Sadly, Shavuot seems to be an afterthought holiday. It is only a two-day holiday in this country, whereas Passover and Sukkot are eight. The other two festivals have major, tangible symbols associated with them that are either edible, beautiful to behold, or pleasing to smell.
Mordecai recorded these events (the Purim story). And he sent dispatches to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, 21charging them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, every year—22the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor. 23The Jews accordingly assumed as an obligation that which they had begun to practice and which Mordecai prescribed for them.
This past November, large areas of Israel were devastated by consuming waves of fires, both rural and urban. Some of the fires occurred naturally; others were arson attacks. Many major cities were besieged. The largest fire occurred in Haifa, where over 500 apartments were destroyed, leaving 1,600 people homeless. 75,000 Haifa residents, about a quarter of the city’s population, were evacuated from 11 neighborhoods. Other major fires occurred in Zikhron Ya’akov, the Jerusalem area as well as smaller fires all across Israel and the West Bank. Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority reported that more than 20,000 dunams (4,900 acres) of forests, bushland and open space were burnt, the largest amount since the Mount Carmel forest fire in 2010.
“Open my lips that my mouth may speak Your praise.” This is the overture to the Amidah we recite during Shabbat services. The Amidah is one of the core sections of worship. The rabbis of the Talmud referred to the Amidah as just t’fillah, “prayer.” During the Shabbat morning services, the Amidah is recited twice, once before the Torah service and again in the Musaf service. Both times we sing parts of the Amidah together or responsively, along with parts that are just done silently. It’s quite complicated. So how then do we meaningfully “open our mouths” to pray the Amidah?
In services, over the last several weeks, we’ve made a small but significant addition to the Kaddish Shalem and Mourner’s Kaddish. We’ve inserted the Hebrew phrase, “וְעַל כּל־יוֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל- v’yosh-vay tayvel—and peace for all humankind—into the final line of both prayers.
The verse we’re normally familiar with is: עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם בִּמְרוֹמָיו, הוּא יַעֲשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם עָלֵֽינוּ וְעַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאִמְרוּ אָמֵן.—May the Almighty who creates peace in God’s heavens, create peace, for us and for Israel. Many people know it by heart and can just join in when we sing it together. This was also the version found in our previous Sim Shalom prayer book.
Our five senses help us perceive the world around us. Taste, hearing, smell, sight, and touch provide the stimulus for living life. These senses can even create “memory cells” that can be recalled when wanted or needed. I want to connect our five senses to the Fall Jewish holidays. From Rosh Hashanah through Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, each sense can give extra meaning to our experiencing the Holy Day or Festival. And each sense can create positive memory cells that can be recalled, taught, and experienced years from now.
Taste and Rosh Hashanah: It would be easy to connect hearing and the shofar with Rosh Hashanah.