Author: Melissa

The end of the secular year is fast approaching and so, once again, we have the opportunity to take stock of what has happened in the past  12 months and think about what 2014 might look like….      What new idea or attitude do you want to embrace in the new year? What do you want to make happen for someone you love? What do you want to contribute to your family? Your community? Our planet?  I know that it is easy to get caught up the whirlwind of the holiday season, but don’t forget to take a few minutes over Shabbat to think about these important questions. 2014 will be here before you know it and with it, you have the opportunity to begin again. What will you do with this fresh start?

Wishing you all a Shabbat filled with peace, joy and the opportunity for self-reflection!

Pamela Joy Barkley, Director of Education

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Samaeach!  I hope that your Thanksgivikah was wonderful, that you are enjoying a well-deserved day off, that your team (both real and fantasy) is winning, that you were on line early enough to get that Black Friday deal you have been planning for all month, and that you will join us at TBA tonight for Shabbat/Chanukah services.  When the Maccabees reclaimed The Temple from Syrian Greek occupation they needed to clean up, light the ner tamid, and rededicate The Temple in order to begin sacrificing again.  Their sacrifices sent a pleasing odor to God in thanks for all that they had.  This week as we exchanged recipes, shopped, cleaned our houses, set tables, and prepared for the family to arrive I hope that you spent some time thanking God for all that you have.  Thanksgiving weekend has always been an opportunity to reclaim our lives with some rest and relaxation surrounded by family and friends.  Tonight as we join together we will light candles for the 3^rd night of Chanukah and Shabbat and spend some time reclaiming ourselves, enjoying community, prayer, music and have an opportunity to be thankful for all that we have.  I hope that you will join us in the Sanctuary but if you can’t make it you will log in at 7:30pm and be a part of services through our live stream. Just go to
www.tba-ny.org and join us.

L’shalom,

Margot

Many years ago, the 10th graders asked me if they could use John Lennon’s song “Imagine” as the prayer for peace in their Confirmation service.  I told them that I didn’t think that the lyric, “and no religion too” was a good text for a prayer service.  After some discussion, we changed the line to “and one religion too,” and used it at Confirmation.  Immediately after the service was over two congregants came up to complain, not about using the Beatles in a service, but about having dared to change John Lennon’s classic lyrics!

I guess that times have changed; tonight we will be changing all the lyrics.  We are going to set much of the traditional Hebrew liturgy to Beatles melodies.  I imagine that there will be some who will be unhappy with this choice.  Perhaps you consider it inappropriate to set sacred lyrics to pop music.  For those of you who feel this way, I offer this historical tidbit:

Adon Olam was a poem written as praise of God in the 15^th century.  Through the years it has been set to many different melodies.  But the one that you most likely grew up with (the “traditional” melody) was composed in the 17^th century.  However, it was not composed for the synagogue.  It was a German drinking song, whose original lyrics seem to have been lost, but whose melody is enshrined in synagogue services throughout the world as a closing song.  Today we think of it as perfectly appropriate, but I can only wonder what the synagogue Board Meeting sounded like following the first time it was used!

Jewish musicians have always used the contemporary idiom in creating their liturgical music.  That’s why Sephardic music sounds Middle Eastern, German Jewish music sounds Lutheran and late 20^th century American Jewish music sounds like folk songs.  What we are doing tonight is very much in keeping with Jewish tradition.  I doubt that singing Shalom Aleichem to the tune of “With a Little Help from My Friends” will become a classic, but it is definitely not sacrilegious.  And I’m certain that it will be a lot of fun!

Shabbat Shalom!

Jacob and Esau, Darwin’s Finches, Deena and Shechem, Machu Picchu, wrestling with an angel, Ollantaytambo – what could all of these items have in common? If we think about this week’s Torah reading and I can add in a few comments from my recent vacation, perhaps we’ll find some connections.

In another of Genesis’ fully packed parashas we find the stories of Jacob’s reunion with his brother after twenty years of separation, his nighttime encounter and wrestling match with an ish, a man who is usually interpreted as an angel, Deena’s encounter with Shechem and its aftermath followed by the stories of Rachel’s death giving birth to Benjamin, and the death of Isaac. Two overarching themes that we find here are transformations and interpersonal relationships. Jacob is forced to confront his past as he prepares to meet Esau, is transformed after he wrestles with what? His conscience? An Angel? God?  Deena is forever changed after her encounter with Shechem and relations between Jacob and his sons and his neighbors are also altered by this episode. Benjamin’s birth at the cost of Rachel’s life and Isaac’s death drive our narrative toward the next chapters of our history.

My wife Anita and I were fortunate to travel recently to the Galapagos Islands where the sight of Darwin’s Finches along with sea lions, iguanas, and of course, tortoises reminded us of the beauty, frailty, and nature of change in the animal kingdom. The transformations of these species allowed them to survive for us to see them in their natural environment. After that we saw man made wonders in Peru and heard the stories of how these came to be. Plenty of human drama, conflict, and change here as well.

At the end of the video of our Galapagos trip our Expedition Leader reminded us to look for opportunities to preserve wildlife in our own home environments. Similarly, while we can appreciate the stories in each week’s Torah reading, our real challenge is to apply the lessons we find there to our lives today. I hope that each of us can find beauty and meaning in our natural and our spiritual environment and that those can enrich our lives.

Shabbat Shalom!

Only 18 days until Chanukah begins!

I can hear the gasps from here. Really? Isn’t it November? Well in case you have somehow missed the hype, Chanukah and Thanksgiving collide this year and it is the only time it will happen in our lifetime so you better enjoy it while you can!  I know you are all not completely in the holiday spirit yet, but at TBA, we are getting into full swing starting this weekend. Sunday we have Latketeeny, which is an everything-Chanukah fair from 9:00am-1:00pm. There are vendors to buy presents from, teddy bears to stuff,  latkes to eat, books to purchase, courses to learn from, and raffles to win.  Come check it out, because it will definitely help you kick off the holiday season!

 Wishing you all a peaceful Shabbat

Pam Barkley

Only 18 days until Chanukah begins!

I can hear the gasps from here. Really? Isn’t it November? Well in case you have somehow missed the hype, Chanukah and Thanksgiving collide this year and it is the only time it will happen in our lifetime so you better enjoy it while you can!  I know you are all not completely in the holiday spirit yet, but at TBA we are getting into full swing starting this weekend. Sunday we have Latketeeny which is an everything-chanukah fair from 9-1. There are vendors to buy presents from, teddy bears to stuff,  latkes to eat, books to purchase, courses to learn from and raffles to win.  Come check it out because it will definitely help you kick off the holiday season!

Wishing you all a peaceful Shabbat

Pam Barkley

Shabbat Shalom!  I was once told that the best way to shine a light on an atrocity was to come together as a community and to talk about it and not sweep it under the rug.  As a community, we come together each week to celebrate Shabbat in part to stand together and show the world that all of the atrocities perpetrated on our people have not succeeded.  Rabbi Holtz and I would like to invite you to join us at services next week (Friday, November 8 at 7:30) in commemoration of Kristallnacht.  Let’s shine a light by gathering together to pray, to study, celebrate Shabbat, and to remember those who were lost fighting to keep the flame alive.

Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom (a series of coordinated attacks) against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht)  On the night of November 9, 1938, the sounds of breaking glass shattered the air in cities throughout Germany while fires across the country devoured synagogues and Jewish institutions. By the end of the rampage, gangs of Nazi storm troopers had destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, set fire to more than 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and deported some 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps.  “Kristallnacht” provided the Nazi government with an opportunity at last to totally remove Jews from German public life. It was the culminating event in a series of anti-Semitic policies set in place since Hitler took power in 1933. Within a week, the Nazis had circulated a letter declaring that Jewish businesses could not be reopened unless they were to be managed by non-Jews. On November 15th, Jewish children were barred from attending school, and shortly afterwards the Nazis issued the “Decree on Eliminating the Jews from German Economic Life,” which prohibited Jews from selling goods or services anywhere, from engaging in crafts work, from serving as the managers of any firms, and from being members of cooperatives.  (People & Events “Kristallnacht”, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX99.html)

Recently the Cantor and I spent two days at a conference/workshop on prayer.  It was largely an opportunity to hear from people who are experimenting with how to express ancient feelings in new ways, such as chanting or yoga, or with how to present our familiar prayers more creatively, such as using a beautiful on-screen siddur, called visual tefilah.

But for me, the most interesting exercise by far was when we were asked to define what our goal was for a prayer service.  What do we want worshippers to feel/think/get at the end of Shabbat services?  And then, of course, we have to figure out how to get there.  What was fascinating about this was to discover that people have so many different goals for prayer.  Peace.  Energy.  Comfort.  Inspiration.  Intellectual Challenge.  Connection with Myself.  Connection with God.  Connection with Community.  Strength.  Answers.   This was amazing – and a bit daunting.  Is it possible to create a service that does all of that?  I’m going to be working on this for a while.  And how about you?  What would you like to get from a prayer service?  Have you found it here at TBA?  If so, I’d love to hear about it.  If not, I’d love to hear that too.  And I’d love to know if you have a sense of how the service might change to help you find it.

The restorative power of prayer has always been at the core of Jewish meaning.  It has sustained and enriched generations of Jews.  But today, for so many, it seems to be slipping away.  It takes practice and it takes attention, but the results are transforming.  I hope that we can help you find meaning in prayer, and I hope that you can help us create ever more meaningful prayer services.

Shabbat shalom.

As Shabbat arrives, 75 congregants of all ages will be beginning a weekend retreat at KinderRing Camp in Hopewell Junction, NY. This annual Shabbaton has become something many of us look forward to each year. It is an opportunity to get away from the regular weekend routine and take some time to relax, reflect, and connect. Whether you are joining us or not, I hope that you each find a moment during the next 24 hours to just take a much-needed break.  Talk to someone you haven’t spoken to in a really long time. Go out and enjoy the beautiful weather and the magnificent changing leaves. Just breathe.

Shabbat Shalom one and all!

Pamela Barkley

So what do this week’s bar mitzvah boy and I have in common? He’s young and handsome and looking forward to being called to the Torah.  And I’m… Well you can look at the photo and judge for yourself. But both of us have strong relationship with Abraham.  As we begin the Amidah tomorrow, we’ll call upon Abraham and Sarah and their children and grandchildren – the Avot v’ Imahot (Patriarchs and Matriarchs). We don’t mention Adam and Eve or Noah. Our connection to a Jewish faith starts with Abraham. And in this week’s parasha, Lech L’Cha, he bursts upon the scene with a call and promise from God. Showing the personality trait by which he is known, Avram (as he is known in this parasha) obeys God’s command and goes forth. Commentators have long struggled with the enigmatic and grammatically unusual phrase which gives this week’s reading it’s name.  Is he going to himself,  for himself,  with himself? All of these have their proponents and each finds a different meaning in Avram’s action of taking himself away from his land, his birthplace, his family. As his feet take him closer to the land that God will show him, is he also taking an inward journey? Is he comfortable with this change? He’s certainly a risk taker and willing to embark on a new and presumably better phase of his life when he answers the call that he hears. Our Jewish journey also begins here as we see that our God is not tied to place or time, that our God is with us wherever we are and throughout history.

I wish our bar mitzvah Mazel Tov as he continues his Jewish journey now as an adult member of our community recalling that this is the anniversary of my own bar mitzvah.  Turns out that we do have something in common!

Shabbat shalom!

“Are you ready? Yes, I’m ready.” Remember these song lyrics from the mid-1960’s? In the context of  Barbara Mason’s song they referred to a relationship but at this time of year we can apply them to other things that affect our Temple Beth Abraham community. When I last wrote a post, we were getting ready to start the month of Elul. This is the month preceding Rosh Hashanah and traditionally a time of introspection. We take stock of ourselves, our lives, and our relationships. We know that the High Holydays are approaching and that it’s the time when our liturgy tells us that we will be judged for the coming year. While our fate is determined by our actions of the past year, we also learn, in an unusual display of cognitive dissonance, that we can modify our inscription for the coming year: “Repentance, Prayer, and Tzedakah avert the severe decree”.  So we can each ask whether we are ready for the High Holydays which will begin next week. Are our homes ready? Our relationships? Ms. Mason’s song was also about love and at this time of year we can take the time to look at what and who we love and recall why. If we think that too much of our time is spent thinking about “stuff” and not enough about the people that are important to us, we have the chance to change that.  Let’s take this opportunity to find the true meanings in our lives and create a fresh start for 5774.

Am I ready? Well…almost. As I work to get TBA ready, let me take this opportunity to extend wishes from Anita, myself,  and our family for a New Year filled with Health, Happiness, Joy, and Peace to all of you and your families.

L’Shana Tova,

Stuart