Author: Melissa

Summer is here!

I know you wouldn’t know it from all of the rainy days we have had, but in fact in just seven day it will  officially be summertime! I hope you will all use this time to take a break from your normal routines. Eat ice cream. Go for long walks. Blow bubbles.  Watch the sun set. Sit outside with a good book.  Go swimming. Whatever it is that you enjoy, take the time to do it.  When we were all young, summer seemed to last forever, didn’t it? Well, we now know that it doesn’t  – in fact it seems to fly by. So I hope you will take advantage of every precious moment.

Wishing you all a summertime filled with long, glorious days!

Pamela Joy Barkley

A train ride into New York City afforded me the opportunity to read some Torah commentaries on this week’s parasha. And interestingly, both Reform and Conservative commentators picked up on the same point. This Shabbat we read the story of Korach and his revolt against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  As a Levite, a member of the tribe of Levi, and like Moses and Aaron in that way, Korach was galled by the fact that Moses was in charge. He didn’t understand why Moses and Aaron should have all of the power and control. After all, we were told at various points in the Torah and contemporaneously through the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land that “The whole congregation, all of them are holy.” By this reasoning, shouldn’t anyone be able to be the leader of the Israelites? And here is where the commentators agree. As in so many instances in the Torah, a very close and careful reading provides the answer. Dr. Benjamin Sommer observes, “These verses never simply tell us, as Korach does, that all Israelites are inherently holy. Rather they command Israelites to become holy by observing the mitzvot that the Torah commands” (emphasis added). Just before giving the 10 Commandments, God says (Exodus 19:5-6), “So now, if you all truly obey Me and adhere to My covenant, you will be My personal treasure from among all nations.” Korach has overlooked the word “if” and that changes the picture entirely. His presentation suggests that we inherit holiness where the text makes it conditional. We are commanded to perform mitzvot in order to attain holiness. Each of us has a stake in creating our own claim to holiness. And part of what is required of us involves watching our speech. From the earliest moments of each morning service we are reminded of this. We proclaim, “Baruch she-amar v’ hayah haolam”. Blessed is the one who spoke (emphasis added) and the world came to be. God was able to create the world with just his words. So we all need to be mindful of the power of language. Leaving off, or including, one word at times can make all the difference.

Shabbat Shalom!

As our nation prepares to commemorate Memorial Day, I share with you the words of Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn, and suggest that you might want to read them at the beginning of whatever gathering you attend this weekend.   Rabbi Gittelsohn was the first Jewish Marine Corps Chaplain and he went ashore with the marines when they landed on Iwo Jima.  Of the 70,000 troops, 1,500 were Jewish.  After the five-week battle was won, Division Chaplain Warren Cuthriell, a Protestant minister, asked Rabbi Gittelsohn to deliver the memorial sermon at a combined religious service dedicating the Marine Cemetery. Cuthriell wanted all the fallen Marines – black and white, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish – honored in a single, nondenominational ceremony. Unfortunately, racial and religious prejudice was strong in the Marine Corps; the majority of Christian chaplains objected to having a rabbi preach over predominantly Christian graves.  Cuthriell refused to alter his plans.  Gittelsohn wanted to save his friend embarrassment. So, three separate religious services were held.  At the Jewish service, Rabbi Gittelsohn delivered the eulogy he originally wrote for the combined service:

 Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors generations ago helped in her founding, and other men who loved her with equal passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes and whites, rich men and poor . . . together. Here are Protestants, Catholics and Jews together. Here no man prefers another because of his faith or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. Among these men, there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred. Theirs is the highest and purest democracy …Whosoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or who thinks himself superior to those who happen to be in the minority, makes of this ceremony and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, hollow mockery.

 To this, then, as our solemn duty, sacred duty do we the living now dedicate ourselves: to the right of Protestants, Catholics, and Jews, of white men and Negroes alike, to enjoy the democracy for which all of them have here paid the price …We here solemnly swear that this shall not be in vain. Out of this and from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this will come, we promise, the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere.

Among Gittelsohn’s listeners were three Protestant chaplains who were so incensed by the prejudice voiced by their colleagues that they boycotted their own service to attend Gittelsohn’s.  One of them borrowed the manuscript and circulated several thousand copies to his regiment.  Some Marines enclosed the copies in letters to their families. An avalanche of coverage resulted. Time magazine published excerpts, the entire sermon was inserted into the Congressional Record, and the Army released the eulogy for short-wave broadcast to American troops throughout the world.

Rabbi Gittelsohn’s powerful eulogy reminds us of the real reason we have a Memorial Day Weekend.

Shabbat Shalom!

As the race to the end of the school year is in its final lap, I can say with certainty that Shabbat tonight will be a welcome respite. There is much end of year planning and preparing to do and a good amount of warranted celebration. But even celebrating can be tiring sometimes and so I will remind you, as I remind myself, to make sure you take the time to breathe. When running between sports events and end of year picnics and awards ceremonies and concerts, don’t forget to take stock – truly – of how much you have to be thankful for. Part of the point of Shabbat is to take a break from all that running so that we can do just that – count our blessings. But no matter how you choose to officially mark Shabbat, you can choose to officially mark the accomplishments, big and small, of each member of your family. You can do that tonight at dinner, or tomorrow morning around the breakfast table or at any other time that works for your family. But  give yourself the gift of that conversation.

Wishing you all a Shabbat shalom,

Pam Barkley

Last Shabbat we completed the reading of the Book of Leviticus. As we complete each book of the Torah, the congregation rises and calls out “Chazak, Chazak, v’Nitchazzek“. We congratulate each other by exclaiming “Be strong, be strong, and let us summon up our strength!” The original phrase comes from the Book of 2 Samuel and only had a single Chazak but has evolved over time to the current usage.  We are glad to have reached the end of the book and are actually speaking to the Torah reader for his or her strength in learning the reading, to the person honored with the aliyah to the Torah, and to each other for having reached this time.  It is our custom to read the Torah only in the presence of a minyan, the required group of 10 people of bar mitzvah age or older. This is one of many practices that require a minyan and we all draw strength from each other’s presence. I think that’s a microcosm of a Temple community. Each person plays their individual part – Torah reader, honoree, congregation, as above – but together we are more than the sum of our parts. We can see this dynamic repeated again and again throughout Temple Beth Abraham. We come together to support those in our community who have suffered a loss and a shivah minyan is another place where at least 10 are required. Tonight we’ll have many more than a minyan for our Chai Plus Shabbat honoring those who have been members for at least 18 years. The number of members in that category are a tribute to the continuity of our community. We have seen this with the number of people who support, for example, various Tikkun Olam programs and we’ll see it again on Shavuot when 17 of our young people will be confirmed. So let’s all congratulate ourselves on being proud members of TBA and think about ways to strengthen and sustain ourselves for many years to come.

Shabbat shalom and (a bit early) Chag Shavuot Sameach!

I love our new sanctuary. I love sitting there watching the light come in or the sun set. I love looking at that beautiful wooden ark with all those lovely phrases on it. But here’s a confession. I don’t really know what it says. I mean, I know it’s the Ten Commandments, but literally, what does it say in Hebrew? I learned to read Hebrew only sorta, a long time ago, and once you take away my vowels, forget it. So there I am, struggling to figure out how it should sound; is it an “eh” sound or an “ah?” And aren’t the Ten Commandments more than two words? Also, while I am sure many people can whip off the actual 10, I find I am often missing one, which upsets me more than forgetting one of the Seven Dwarves (usually Sneezy.) I did a little digging and discovered that the two words per commandment are the first two words of each, and refer to the rest of the sentence. I got the transliteration and the definition of each with the help of Stuart Skolnick. So just in case I am not the only one who just doesn’t know, here’s a guide to your ark. Next time you look at it, you’ll know how it’s pronounced and what each one refers to. As to the sentence that goes across the whole top of the ark, that is a line from Psalms and means “worship God with joy.” This month we celebrate Shavuot, when God gave the Torah to us, so now you can know exactly what we got, and how to say it. Happy Shavuot to all.

Sharon DeLevie

Shabbat Shalom!  Mazel Tov to our Religious School graduates!   We hope that you will join us tonight at 7:00pm during Family Shabbat services as we congratulate our graduates, hear what they have to say about what staying on has done for them and join with us as we encourage out 7^th-11^th graders to stay in Religious School as well.

When Rabbi and I each were confirmed our congregations had a wonderful ceremony that linked their Confirmation classes to the classes/generations before them.  Each of our congregations had a silver chain and each ring represented a Confirmation class.  When I was confirmed I stood, with my Mom,  on the bima at Temple Beth El of Great Neck and proudly added the ring from my Confirmation class to that of my Mother’s linking us together and linking us to the congregation’s history.

In 2007 Rabbi Holtz, Pam Barkley, and I created a similar ceremony for our High School graduates.  Tomorrow night during Family services our High School seniors will see their names engraved on the ring that we presented to their class at the end of their 7^th grade year and we will link that ring to the chain of the classes that came before them as well as to the Founders Ring that we created when we began.   Our  8^th, 9^th, 10^th and 11^th grades will also join us on the bima and link their ring to the chain showing their commitment to Judaism and TBA!

The road to graduation begins when our 7^th graders commit to remaining in Religious School even after their b’nai mitzvah.  Our current 7^th grade class will receive their ring and we look forward to them standing on the bima again in 5 years as graduates of our Religious School.

Please join us as we welcome Shabbat and congratulate:

Amanda Cohen

Benjamin Kumka

Abigail Osborn

Adam Parker

Daniel Parker

Adam Prince

Isabelle Rose

As they graduate from TBA’s Religious School.

It has been an extraordinarily difficult few weeks for our Rivertowns communities.  A series of tragic losses have left both adults and children feeling shaken and uncertain.  We want answers to so many questions, the first of which is usually “why?”  As I have said to many of you this week, I don’t believe that “why” has a meaningful answer.  I think the better questions are “what?” and “how?”  as in, “what can I do for you and how can I be of help?”  The phrase “we are God’s hands” is not a platitude, not a metaphor.  We bring God’s loving presence into the world through our actions.  I do not know why tragedies happen, but I do know what to do:  enfold those who are suffering in our loving arms; help take care of day-to-day needs; offer your tangible help with meals, rides, etc. And, perhaps most important of all, don’t forget about them as the weeks and months go by.

As I have witnessed our individual and collective  responses, I am filled with awe and gratitude to be part of such a supportive, tight-knit Temple community.  In the midst of our own grief we have reached out:  helping families; counseling and comforting folks who are shaken to their core; holding powerful and healing discussions with our children.   It has been an affirmation for me of the beauty and importance of being connected to a community, and in particular a synagogue community.

This week Shabbat cannot come soon enough.  It is an opportunity to breathe, to think about what is truly important and to give thanks for the many, many blessings that fill our lives.  Even if you are not a regular at services, I hope you’ll consider coming to TBA tonight or tomorrow morning.  It will be good for you, and good for your community.

I get the privilege of writing to all of you the day before we, as a community, celebrate our very own Cantor Margot! There is not enough room in this little note to write all the ways in which she has enhanced our lives spiritually and educationally. She is such a huge part of what TBA is, and how we function, that it is almost impossible to imagine any event happening without her help. And yet, tomorrow night we will do just that – we will be at an event that she did not have to plan at all. It’s a miracle!

On Friday evenings in traditional homes, the poem “Eshet Chayil”, a “Woman of Valor” is recited. It is from the book of Proverbs and is often used as a blessing of sorts for women. It begins: An accomplished woman, who can find? Her value is far beyond pearls. And indeed, what could be a truer statement about our Cantor?  She is always pushing herself to be the best Cantor she can be and seems to manage a myriad of tasks all at the same time, and always with a smile. So yes, her value is far beyond pearls and we, her congregation, are lucky to have her in our midst.

So tonight, as the sun sets and Shabbat begins, I hope you will take a minute to think of a way that the Cantor has impacted your life. This might be something big or small,  something she said or something she did. It might just be a favorite memory you have of her in your life, or the life of your loved ones. As we welcome Shabbat tonight, let’s fill the air with sweet thoughts and fond memories

Wishing you all a peaceful and restful Shabbat, and here’s to the cantor’s 18 wonderful years at TBA!

Pamela Barkley

Director of Education