Shabbat Thoughts- Thanksgiving

A Hebrew pun for Thanksgiving:
Toda means 'Thank you' but the ancient and more formal word of thanks could be HODU. But HODU is also the Hebrew noun "turkey". So Hodu means both thanks and turkey.

Happy Yom Hodu=Happy Day of Thanks and Happy Day of turkey.
Please offer a moment or a word of gratitude as you gather today with your loved ones. 

Families come in all shapes and sizes. Not all families celebrate time or mark occasions as joyously as yours may. Some families experience anguish known only to their own members and some are recovering from wounds from many years ago. Our nation is celebrating Thanksgiving and many are happily gathering with loved ones; others may be alone or marking loss which you and I do not understand.

     On this national day of giving thanks remember someone outside your own home and reach out –send a text, make a phone call or drop by for a short visit. Share a moment of giving thanks with someone whom you normally do not include in your own experience. It will make this day more meaningful for you and for others as well.

     This week’s Torah reading, Vayishlach, reminds us of two brothers who had gone different paths and after 20 years came together. Jacob and Esau, bearing grudges for “he said this” and “he should have acted that way” came to an understanding. They reconciled! But, it was not a storybook ending. They chose to settle apart. They recognized that as different people they were unable to live side-by-side. However, they did patch up old wounds and start a newer life of appreciation for each other.

     Perhaps this is a message for us. Not all families look or act like the Thanksgiving commercials so prevalent on TV at this season. But all family members do possess the power to initiate a new way of understanding one other.

May we be reminded of what truly matters.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Steve Silberman

A Jewish Idea- Humanity

Our Jewish names tell a story. Mendel BAT Avi  v’ Rachel  nearly shouts a familial connection between Mendel and parents Avi and Rachel. BAT means ‘daughter of’ and BEN means ‘son of’. Our names immediately demonstrate that no Jew lives in isolation. Every person is part of a greater whole. Our own names describe a fact too common to consider but never to be ignored; we all come from someone else. Without parents we would not be. In a broader framework –without each other we would not experience the significance which emerges from relationships. Relationships with others are as essential to our personal identities as are our own names (which remind us of our interconnectedness).

     In last week’s Torah reading, Forefather Jacob flees from his controlling father-in-law (Lavan) but Lavan pursues, overtakes and complains that he did not get the chance to properly say goodbye to his daughters and grandchildren. “All of these daughters and sons are mine and the sheep are mine too.” (Gen. 31:43)

     It seems to me that Lavan is more concerned with property and quantity than he is with feelings and relationships. He lumps daughters and grandchildren into

the same category as sheep and goats; property. Rather than seeing the children as part of his identity he views them as goods to value. They are only important because the bigger numbers testify to his own importance. Value grows or diminishes dependent upon volume alone.

     Sadly, we see a dramatic diminution in the worth of humanity by and through despicable acts of terrorists. Life is no longer cherished. Terrorists only desire to eliminate as many infidels as possible. Extremists only view the world through the lens of how large is our group and how small is their group.

     How terribly cruel and myopic it is to view people as disposable and valueless, only as a result of beliefs gone amok. Narrowness of mind begets true fear of others and sets the stage for destruction. Those who are more open-minded can appreciate the beauty and value which exist in our world due to the complexity of human life and belief. It is this very appreciation of others which is apparent in how we name ourselves and those who will follow us. May we continue to take stock of those around us thereby granting and receiving a true sense of meaning in life.

Shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

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Shabbat Thoughts- Freedom

Some people like to camp and hike in the great outdoors. They find camping to be a means of connecting to God, nature or unlocking something deep within the self. Instead of seeing camping as a pleasure, though, imagine that you faced catastrophe and had to evacuate your home. Picture striking out in search of a new home, hoping against logic that the new home would be safer than the one you were leaving. Alone in the middle of enemy territory without modern conveniences, you would be at the mercy of the elements and perhaps hostile forces. You would like to believe that strangers might be inclined to help you but the need for self-preservation overrides hope and you continue on your own way.

     What a dreadful experience it would be to not trust passersby!  Yet, just hours ago a Jewish teacher walking near his own neighborhood in Marseille, France was stabbed and injured by three passersby.  One of the attackers had a T-shirt expressing support for the Islamic State. All three of them shouted anti-Semitic phrases as they attacked him. He was stabbed three times, not critically, and managed to get away. Thankfully, he survived.

     We are not supposed to live in fear. We are supposed to greet each day and imbue it with meaning, purpose and life.  For the past 2,000 years, even as we survived the Roman destruction of our Temple and our society, we have recited a small, daily blessing of appreciation of freedom.  In our own minds we see ourselves as created by God to be free! It is fundamental to our very makeup as humans.

     Freedom is a core Jewish principle (think of the importance of Pesach and Chanukah) just as it is a bedrock principle of American life and society. How are we to respond when we feel alone in the wilderness, bereft of shelter?

     In this week's Torah reading we learn that Jacob runs away from a vengeful brother. With nowhere else to go he must fend for himself, avoiding his brother's wrath and many other potential threats.  At one point, with nothing of his own, Jacob uses a stone as a pillow.  Later on, after working hard for 20 long years, it appears that he will lose his long-delayed wages. At his lowest ebb, he encounters God and it is during this exhausting struggle that his new name emerges; Yisrael –‘struggle with God and man and prevail.’  This name becomes our shared name.

     We are children of immigrants-Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as Hirschel, Chanah, Harry, Annie and the names which adorn the Yahrzeit alcove in our Shul. Collectively, we are named after this man and called the children of Jacob and the children of Israel.We bear the imprint of ancient and recent immigrants within us. As we witness our modern world contending with the dilemma of welcoming migrants and preserving our security I ask "How did our immigrant ancestors survive?"

     When they didn’t have a pillow, they used a rock. They did what was necessary to survive and  flourish. So shall we all. May we continue to be blessed with the ability to differentiate between the helpful and the antagonistic passersby. 

     May we and the people of Paris be blessed with Shalom. Please include a silent prayer for all of the people of France in the quiet and private prayer of your own Shabbat.

    Shabbat Shalom.

    Rabbi Steve Silberman

Shabbat Thoughts- Play Nice

When I was a young boy, my baby sister wanted to follow me around.  To my young mind she always seemed to be a pest. When she didn’t get her way she scratched and pinched. In self-defense, I would hold her tightly. I explained my rationale and complained when I was told to not pick on her. Poppa, my grandfather, used to say “two wrongs don’t make one right,” and instructed me to play nicely, to share and to behave better. I parroted the phrase, nodded and made myself scarce.  Over the decades I have mentally heard his words countless times. Adults struggle to impart fairness to children. Having learned the hard way, adults view family through a very different lens than do children.

    We expect adults to set proper examples for their children. Perhaps that expectation is the basis for my disappointment in Isaac and Rebekah. Parshat Toldot opens the door into one of the most famous family dramas in the Tanakh (Bible). Father Isaac favors Esau and designates a blessing for him while Mother Rebekah favors Jacob and encourages him to masquerade as Esau in order to illicitly obtain the blessing (designated for Esau) from Father Isaac. Father Isaac is enamored of his outdoorsman elder son and Mother Rebekah dotes on the more domestic Jacob. Each adult, focusing primarily on one child, forgets the primary responsibility of parenthood; lovingly guiding all children into mature adulthood.  

     As years go by, I find myself talking to Rebekah and Isaac every year at this season. As I read and re-read this Parshah I nearly ask aloud how each parent could have been so blinded by love of one child as to discriminate against the other. It is unfortunate that they never get it right in terms of rearing their twins. At least we have a chance to learn from their parental misjudgements.

     May our children learn fairness and kindness, patience and mutual respect from our daily behavior.  May we be mature enough to NOT instruct our children in the ways of jealousy, lying and deceit.  Let each of us recognize our capacity for improving our world through the contact we have with all of our children.

Shabbat shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

~Veterans Day Service Fri. Nov. 13, 6:00-7:00p.m. Oneg to follow – Please join us and honor our veterans!

~If you are like most Jews you have never studied Daniel on an adult level. Please join us for a Bible study of a very intriguing book. Mondays (beginning Nov. 16) from Noon to 1:00p.m. (No charge). Enjoy refreshments and a bit of fellowship too!

~ Proudly brought to you by Sisterhood, on Sunday Nov.15 @ 9:45 a.m. at the Shul. Please RSVP by Friday, Nov.13at 3:00 p.m. Supplies need to be purchased. There is no charge to participate. Call the shul office. ~More Info~

~Please bring small LEGO sets which will be donated to the Special Needs program at Camp Ramah. This LEGO collection drive will be an ongoing Sisterhood project. Bring them to the challah baking session or at any other time!

~ New Book in the Monday Bible study (NOON). Daniel calls out to us. No cost to join. Drop by for an hour. Open a Bible which you have never studied.  The origin of the phrase “Feet of clay” may surprise you.

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Shabbat Thoughts- Machpelah

True story- There once was a small town named Claiborne, Alabama which existed for approximately 90 years. It thrived as a commercial center, relaying cotton and other crops along waterways but the railroad pushed through the Deep South and then Claiborne died out. So, too, did the Jewish community that had lived life for three generations within Claiborne (not too far from Monroeville).  Contributing to the local community by operating businesses and being involved in civic affairs, organizing a small congregation, raising its children Jewishly and even keeping kosher, the Jews of Claiborne had their own cemetery. But when the railroad arrived, towns along waterways ceased to be relevant and they dried up. All that remains of the Claiborne Congregation is the Jewish cemetery with a headstone inscribed 1899 indicating the last Jewish burial.

      After decades of being forgotten, extensive overgrowth swallowed the cemetery and at one point in the late 1960s it was vandalized.  In the year 2000, Jewish campers from Henry Jacobs summer camp cleaned the cemetery and removed decades of underbrush. 32 graves were restored! Ina way, some of the Jewish residents of Claiborne were made available to all who are interested in visiting them. Former families had become nearly reunited with their future.

     Perhaps someday you and I might journey to a former state capital of Alabama which no longer exists and walk upon the grass viewing the markers which testify to a full and complete life lived by many people. How are we to feel when we visit the cemetery and the town no longer exists?  

      A gentle sadness lies within one small part of my heart over not being able to extend condolences to the descendants of Claiborne. If only, Halvai, someone were still attached to the cemetery. But all of life is a cycle. People live and die. People are born and others move away. In the words of Ecclesiastes “all the streams and rivers run into the ocean but the ocean is never full.”  It is the course of all things. 

     In this week's Torah reading we learn that our matriarch Sarah has died. Abraham journeyed to a place just south of Jerusalem named Hebron and bought a field which included trees and a cave. He buried his wife there and years later he, too, was buried there by both of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael. A generation later, Isaac and Rebecca were buried there followed by the next generation of Jacob and Leah. The family took root and the burial place became sacred and established in history. 

     For centuries, Jews made pilgrimage to this area known as Machpelah. Often in hands other than Jews, Machpelah was not always safe to visit. Since 1967, Machpelah has been in Israeli hands but located next to the town of Hebron (wherein significant Palestinian tension arises)  and prudent Jews have not always enjoyed secure access. While officially we Jews can visit Machpelah it is not always wise to do so. The first and only time I visited was when I was 14 years old on my initial trip to Israel. Now, 40 years later I wish I could remember more of that burial site, rendered sacred by millennia and the links between God and our ancestors.  Perhaps some day I will visit Machpelah and reclaim something that eludes the offspring of Claiborne. If not, I can teach my children and your grandchildren and someday one of them will visit Machpelah in peace; meditating upon the passage of years in quiet and calm silence.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Steve Silberman

P. S. My thanks to  Larry Voit for informing me of Claiborne and to Allie from ISJL for some fascinating background on Alabama Jewish history. Check out http://www.isjl.org/alabama-encyclopedia.html . For our own history please check out our website http://www.ahavaschesedsynagogue.org/#!the-shul/c1czk.

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Birthdays!

Who doesn’t like celebrating birthdays? Birthdays are times for gathering. As kids we get excited about the gifts, the refreshments, the friends and the hoopla. As adults we have different perspectives. Some of us don’t want to admit our ages and stop adding the numbers to our years. Some recognize that time marches on; others joyfully announce their ages.

1)     We are invited to a celebration of 3 Buffalo Soldiers who are in their 90’s! There will be a gathering at 
Bernheim Hall in the Ben May Library on Thursday, November 5 (5:30-7:30 p.m.). 
Two local soldiers are turning 91 and the third soldier is turning 99 ! The Buffalo Soldiers were the only segregated African-American infantry division to see combat in Europe during World War II. (U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown and retired Admiral Richard Landolt will be speaking ). You may recall that this group honored Agnes Tennebaum as a Holocaust survivor with a special presentation last year. Refreshments will be served.

2)     Friday, Nov. 6 is Dinner night at Shul. Dinner is from 6:00-6:45 p.m. and a BRIEF service follows from 6:45-7:15. $5 per adult; kids 8 and under eat for free. Please RSVP by Thursday night. We are shopping and preparing on Friday.

3)   Saturday, Nov. 7 is Birthday Shabbat. At lunch we honor all November birthdays. Come and enjoy lunch, ice cream, cake and perhaps a small nip of Crown Royal or Chivas Regal. Early Service is from 9:00-9:45 and Torah service is from 10:00-Noon.

4) Tuesday, Nov. 10 – The Mobile Christian Jewish Dialogue welcomes Rabbi Joseph A. Polak.  An infant survivor of Holocaust and published author, he will addressing the community at7:00 PM at Ahavas Chesed Synagogue. Reception to follow.

5)  Friday, Nov. 13 is Veterans’ Day Shabbat (6:00-7:00 p.m.). You are invited to honor our Veterans. All those currently serving in the Armed Forces and our Veterans are requested to attend in order that our Shul may recognize you and express our gratitude. Please plan to remain after this special service for an Oneg Shabbat.

May the month of November be a season of health, growth, learning, compassion, love and peace for us all!
Shalom,   
     Rabbi Steve Silberman

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