Vaet-khana and the big ten

       

Last night, Manette and I watched the movie Philomena (2013) about a young unwed mother who was forced to give up her baby. At movie’s end she forgives the woman who psychologically abused her. I had mixed feelings about this conclusion. It prompted me to ask myself a few questions. What does God require of me as a Jew and what does Judaism teach about forgiveness of a person who was extremely abusive? We all know that Judaism STRONGLY champions the process of forgiveness. But to raise the question of forgiveness from psychological abuse is an issue that takes hold of me deeply.

Ordinarily, if someone seeks forgiveness, then the injured party is required to consider the request. This is a major element of Judaism. All who attend Yom Kippur are familiar with this spiritual requirement. But psychological abuse is of such a magnitude that many of us, me included, might be reluctant to forgive the abuser.

I take a cue from the first word of this week's Torah reading and Haftarah. The Torah portion’s first word (Vaet-chanan) uttered by Moses, means ‘I desperately seek to be close to God and blessed by God’.  The first word in the Haftarah is Nachamu which means ‘all of us must comfort each other.’ These two opening words are linked. Coming close to God happens as a result of each one of us stepping forward to comfort and to be comforted.

 Furthermore, these two passages "officially" introduce the seven weeks of preparation for Rosh Hashanah. Our Hebrew calendar is in countdown mode for the High Holidays beginning with these two passages Vaetchanan and Nachamu.  I hope I have the strength to comfort and be comforted which will prepare closeness with God. This is a different approach to the crucial and challenging path and process of forgiveness. I hope the process of comforting others and obtaining comfort from others helps all of us in our path of coming close to God and granting forgiveness to each other

Shabbat shalom.  

       Rabbi Steve Silberman

  (Friday July 31, 6-7:00p.m.) is Guitar Shabbat and Yehudah on the Bimah!  Please join us for services and remain for Oneg for a few minutes.

** If anybody is interested in receiving a High Holiday honor, please contact the Shul office.

This Saturday morning (Aug. 2) we read the 10 Great Words and the Shema during Torah! Come and hear the greatest words ever!

  *** New format Saturday morning service includes coffee break. 9-9:45 early service, 9:45-10-coffee break.

   Torah service 10- Noon followed by lunch.

A Jewish Idea- Camp Ramah

It's definitely summer, hot and fairly muggy. Some of us escape to the beach. It's a natural time for us to relax and also to take trips to visit with family and friends. For the past 18 years our Shul kids have been afforded the exceptional opportunity to summer at camp Ramah.

Many of you have schlepped your kids to camp and have had them return sharing marvelous stories of their experiences. Every year at Yom Kippur we remind our Shul of  the excitement and the joy of our campers. Our heartfelt thanks repeatedly go out to Mr. Abraham A. Mitchell who makes this exceptional opportunity available to our kids. Without Mr. Mitchell's generosity many of our kids would not enjoy a summer camp experience. Without the vision of Mayer,z”l, Arlene and Abe Mitchell, Camp Ramah would not exist. Without the extreme generosity of Fanny & Bert Meisler, Ramah would not be the beautiful place it is..

We also owe our deep gratitude to Board members including Ben Meisler and Barry Ripps and many other generous supporters who make Ramah a continued reality. Ramah would not be the reality it is providing 800 to 900 Jewish with the unbeatable Jewish  summer camping experience that they enjoy.

For a few minutes enjoy a bit of Camp Ramah. ttps://vimeo.com/133768989

 Plan to send your child or grandchild as a camper or to encourage a child or grandchild to be a counselor.  And enjoy your last few days of summer!

P.S. Yom Clinic  is Clinic Day during which professional coaches, athletes and artists come to camp to help campers sharpen their skills.

Nachshonim are 14 year-olds.

Gesher campers are 16 years old and lobby on Capitol Hill and also

Visit college campuses to learn about Jewish campus life and visit Camp Ramah in the Poconos mountains.

Don't Panic

We all live with memories; rooting us in our past and influencing us in the present and towards the future. May most of our memories be loving and uplifting. Recognizing that we all own memories of sadness and loss, I hope that we give life to our memories by associating them with dates of remembrance.

We commemorate our memories in different ways. Anniversaries of love are celebrated with parties, special foods and special gatherings. Anniversaries of loss may be observed by gathering with loved ones, offering prayers and shedding tears.

It has been seven days since four Marines and one sailor were murdered by a cruel and wicked man. A week is reminiscent of Shiva. As members of Ahavas Chesed we must respond.

 We will have a brief memorial service incorporated within our Tisha b’Av service on Saturday, July 25 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. We shall begin with a very brief Havdalah ceremony and then, as a community, fulfill our tradition of collective morning. In observance of Tisha b'Av we shall not have any refreshments. We shall remember that which takes hold of us in the pit of our stomachs preventing us from eating. Tisha b'Av is a fast which takes us back to the loss of Jewish national independence and the destruction of two Jewish governments. Tisha b’Av is observed by millions of Jews throughout the world and concludes Sunday evening (July 26) when it is dark enough to see 3 stars in the sky.

          And now a word of Torah from Parshat Devarim (Deuteronomy)

associated  with the day after tomorrow-

Moses begins his first farewell address to the Israelites. He reminds them of the wilderness trek which has spanned a generation, including good and bad times. A phrase calls out to me today even 3,300 years after he first said these words.  “Don’t be afraid!”

The task for us is to not fear. As Americans who are vulnerable to attack and hate we must walk together into our future without fear! By walking together we take our first steps in overcoming the challenges which are before us.

I look forward to seeing you Saturday evening.

        Shabbat Shalom. RSS

A Jewish Idea- Tisha B'Av

It’s summer; a time for relaxing at the beach with family and friends. It’s hot and we all need to catch our breaths and escape the heat. Summer is a natural time for slowing down. Summer should not be a time for intense mourning. We have just lost four Marines and one sailor to a vicious attack and I am left with feelings of rage, confusion and deep hurt.

 We need to come together to lend ourselves and each other our presence and our comfort. We need to come together as Americans and Jews.

Saturday night July 25^th is Tisha B’Av. Tisha B’Av is a time for grieving collectively. As Jews, we lost our freedom TWICE! Babylonia conquered Jerusalem and enslaved our ancestors. Eventually, we regained a measure of freedom, only to be conquered and enslaved by Rome hundreds of years later.  Ever since, Tisha B’Av has marked a season of sadness in the middle of a summer season; offering us an alternative method of recharging our spiritual batteries by coming together for mutual support.

Please join me on Saturday, July 25^th.   We will have a brief service including a memorial for our four Marines and one sailor. Feel free to have a bite beforehand and join us at shul from 8:30- 9:30 P.M. Havdalah, always uplifting, will introduce us to a new week; a week of mixed sentiment, a time to mourn together and a time to grow.

    May we all be blessed with shalom.

    Our prayers go out to all the families of our armed forces who have suffered great loss. Our prayers join theirs.

Shalom,

 Rabbi Steve Silberman

~Our Ritual committee is planning High Holiday services. Anyone who would like an honor is requested to contact the office~

Promises... promises...

“You promised to clean your room/empty the trash/help me with housework/spend the weekend with family… the list never ends. We promise to assist others and to better ourselves. Our words leave our lips and float in the air, suspended upon the hopes of others and tied to our own intentions.

     Promises are the voices of our best selves. They are the glue upon which our relationships live. I am convinced that we truly wish to fulfill our commitments. Sometimes we fail.

     Judaism take promises very seriously. Think of the most famous prayer service of the year (Kol Nidrei) during which we stand in the presence of a Heavenly tribunal, a court of Torah scrolls and the entire community-called to account for the promises which we failed to fulfill last year. Kol Nidrei goads us to not make promises we can’t keep in the future.  A promise is not to be trifled with; it is sacred! Kol Nidrei is trying to help us to improve our future, based upon our past.

      This week’s Torah reading, Matot-Masay, begins with detailed instructions for uttering vows and keeping them. We might ask ‘why do we need rules about making promises? We know how to make a promise.’  Making promises seems easy. We just open our mouths and let words come out. But we all know that if promises are too easily made they are easily broken and that threatens our relationships. While the protocols spelled out in this Parsha are antique and our society’s roles have changed over 3,300 years, the bottom line remains the same. We must exercise care as we promise to mow the lawn/take care of the neighbor’s pet/visit a friend in a rehab hospital…Let us take our words as seriously as our loved ones and friends do.

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Steve Silberman

A Jewish Idea- G-d's Beauty,thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening... we have a blessing for that!

   

“Is there a blessing for the Czar?’ is perhaps one of the best-known phrases from Fiddler on the Roof and among the most insightful commentaries on Judaism ever offered. Literally, we have a blessing for everything, for there are deep yearnings within us to call out to the Heavens themselves in times of crisis and longing, in moments of celebration and thrill. Holding a baby, embracing a loved one, seeing a grand vista propel us into an-otherworldly realm and we need to say something. We Jews say brachot.

     Most Jews are aware of blessings for food. Some may remember that we may recite the Shecheyanu upon special occasions such as Jewish holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, receiving a new outfit or visiting a special place.

     Few Jews know that traveling to an ocean, desert or mountain range of extreme beauty deserves its own blessing. Last month, while strolling around Camp Ramah, my son Aaron and I saw a shooting star. “Look Aba,” he called out “we can say Oseh Ma-asey vreisheet!”  We did and we celebrated the beauty of the cosmos.

     Tomorrow, New Horizons, a deep space probe will nearly touch Pluto. Never before has humanity experienced in such an intimate manner this heavenly emblem of grand mystery. After nine years of journey and 3 billion miles travelled, a small payload of humanity’s most sophisticated devices will skate past Pluto and on into the ever-expanding mysteries of a little–known region, the Kuiper Belt. For decades to come, all humanity will know a bit more about this frozen enigma because of the arduous preparation of a corps of scientists, engineers, programmers and mathematicians. But it is only the tip of the iceberg; more mysteries shall remain-belonging only to the heavens and God. For this we say: Blessed are you, Lord, our god, King of the universe, Creator of all deeds of Creation.

Baruch atah adonai elohenu melech ha-olam Oseh Ma-asey vreisheet.

You may recite this blessing when seeing lightning, shooting stars, experiencing an eclipse or reveling in the images shared from New Horizons. You may recite these words when your eyes take hold of heavenly beauty and, with a lump in your throat, you seek words to express that which defies words.

Shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

Women's Rights

Two of my favorite names, Noa and Noach, may appear similar but they are vastly different. Noa, a female's name, means "movement" and Noach, a male’s name, meaning "rest", ends in a syllable which rhymes with BACH.

          Noach, well-known as the floating zookeeper, saved animals and his own family for the purpose of repopulating the planet. Noa appears in this week's Torah reading and changes history. She and her 4 sisters transform Judaism and establish a new path upon which women and men could walk together.

           This week's Parsha details a census of the tribes for the purpose of allocating tracts of land upon their eventual entry into the Promised Land.  A father of 5 daughters dies and his daughters, realizing that they will have no inheritance, come before Moses to air their grievance. Moses is bewildered and turns to God who announces that the women deserve equality in inheritance law. These 5 women (Machlah, Noa, Hogla, Milcah and Tirzah) stand up to God and Moses and revolutionize Jewish law, setting in motion a flexibility which undergirds Jewish Law even until today.

Noa needs to be remembered in her own right as a woman who moved ahead to initiate change. A woman of movement, she and her sisters stepped forward and improved her world. Noach, a man of rest, collected animals and then sat back and waited for the flood to end. Both are important and both contributed to our world but in vastly different ways. May we learn from our women as well as our men. May we never lose sight of our leaders and what they provide. May we remember their names for good.

Shabbat Shalom.

 Rabbi Steve Silberman

Freedom of Speech

Fireworks will illumine the sky.  Bands will play. We will grill burgers. We will celebrate our nation's freedom from tyranny. True enough, our nation is far from perfect. It is simple to catalog the many ills that beset our country. But, July 4 is an opportunity to celebrate. Never before during the history of this planet has there been a nation so open to many ideas, many opportunities, many people and many perspectives  for so long. Only look at the newspaper and we see too many nations whose priorities are violence, cruelty and abuse.

        We often take for granted the many freedoms we enjoy. We should never underestimate their value. For me, the greatest

gift of all is the freedom of speech. Speech differentiates us from the lower animals. As human beings we are defined by our ability to communicate. Imagine for a moment what we would be if we could not speak. Taken one step further-imagine how we would feel if we could speak and were prevented from doing so. The freedom to speak is as much a part of our identity as being human. Of course,free speech must always be protected. The greatest challenge before any open society is the balancing of the rights of all, recognizing that some are intent upon abusing free speech in order to bring about harm and devastation.

     This week’s Torah raises an interesting question concerning freedom of speech. Bilaam, considered a great orator, is offered much wealth to curse the Israelites as they are en route to the Promised Land. On three occasions he opens his mouth with the intent to curse and insult people who are different, simply because they are different. On all three occasions, at the very last moment, as words are about to exit his mouth the words become positive. What a transformation!  It’s not that simple though because we, the readers of the text, know that God has changed Bilaam’s words from negative to positive. Is all speech free?

     Perhaps in those days, when the survival of embryonic Israel was at stake, God jumped into the mix. Perhaps, God also learned that people need to be left to make their own choices and contend with the consequences.Each of us has a choice as to how to utilize speech.  Just like Bilaam, we are free to insult, to mock and to ridicule. We are free to comfort, to whisper, to laugh and to speak kindly. The choice is ours; even up to the very last moment as words exit our mouths.  The proper choice promotes true freedom and honor for all who hear and for all who speak. Shabbat shalom and Happy July 4!

Rabbi Steve Silberman

(Remember –Tomorrow evening and Saturday morning services-Wear RED, WHITE AND BLUE clothing! Show off your favorite & fun flip-flops or sandals! Try out your new togs-not too short!)

* Saturday 900- 9:45 short service.

Coffee break and Shmooze.

10:00-Noon Torah service

Special hot dog and baked beans for lunch!

Good dessert too!