Rabbi s Reflections: Rosh Hashanah and the Rhetoric of Fear

Transcription

1 August 2017 Av - Elul 5777 Volume 32 Issue 11 Temple Talk Rabbi s Reflections: Rosh Hashanah and the Rhetoric of Fear Table of Contents Rabbi s Reflections 1 Special Shabbat Services 2 Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah... The completely righteous are written and sealed immediately for life. The completely wicked are written and sealed immediately for death. The in-betweeners are in suspense, and they stand from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur. If they merit, they are written for life. If they do not merit, they are written for death. Mark s Remarks 3 Donations/Thanks Yous 4 Event Notes 5 High Holiday Schedule 6 Calendar 7 Yahrzeits 9 Annual Meeting Details Read this Talmudic teaching from Rosh Hashanah 16b and watch your fun concept of Rosh Hashanah as a birthday party for the world fly around like a rapidly deflating balloon. Maybe it could be inflated again, later. Much later. But after seeing this teaching, my deflated happiness is shriveled and sad, hanging limply over the top of the door. Try living the Hasidic mitzvah to be joyful after reading this teaching! The message HAPPY BIRTHDAY! is now illegible on the balloon. According to this Talmudic teaching, and for many Jews, the message of Rosh Hashanah is: You Are Being Judged. I don t really want to talk about this teaching, but I feel obligated to. I m not into being afraid on Rosh Hashanah, or really ever. I know that Rosh Hashanah is about awe and fear - they are called the Days of Awe for good reason - and of course teshuvah is such an important mitzvah. The Days of Awe - Yamim Nora im - are also called the Ten Days of Teshuvah - Aseret Y mei Teshuvah. Transforming, improving, returning to our best selves, recognizing God s presence in the world in ever deeper ways - these are all good. But do you have to be afraid of bad consequences in order to do teshuvah? No. One can avoid the fear by doing teshuvah out of love. But the above Talmudic teaching, which is completely about judgment, not love, is central to the prevailing message of Rosh Hashanah. That s why I m writing silly, wordy things about shriveled balloons. Rosh Hashanah is coming, and I m reminded how my Jewish soul balks and rebels against judgment. It makes me squirm; (Continued on page 8) The next bulletin will be for September. If you have an article that you would like to submit please get it in to the Temple office before August 15. Rabbi: David Finkelstein Cantor: Ellen Band President: Mark Frydenberg Vice Pres.: Lester Macklin Secretary: Susan Baron Treasurer: George Isaac Membership Secretary: Ellen Macklin Editor: Andrea Baron Address 25 Harvard Street Waltham, MA office@tbiwaltham.org Website: (781) Office Hours Monday - Friday 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

2 Join us on Sunday August 27th for our Annual Meeting and Breakfast. Please RSVP to the Temple Office or Saturday, August 5 Cantor Ellen Band will be leading P'sukei, Shacharit and Musaf as well as chanting the entire Torah portion. Congregants will be chanting the haftarah - Nachamu and giving the D'var that week. Please join us! Shabbat Evening Services and Dinner Friday, August 18th Menu: Summer Chicken Salad Services begin at 6:30 pm Dinner begins after services, around 7:30 pm. Vegetarian option available on request. Please let us know if you have any other dietary requirements when you sign up by contacting the Temple office. $18 per adult, $40 per family if paid by the Weds. before the dinner $21 per adult, $45 per family for later reservations You can register online at or contact the Temple office to sign up. Future Dates September 8 October 6 November 17 December 8 FIRST FRIDAYS Services None in August. Come together to welcome Shabbat, to sing, to pray, and to hear a story or a brief dvar Torah. A dinner does not follow these services. Future Dates to Mark on your Calendars October 20, November 3 and January 5 2

3 Mark s Remarks: What do we value as a community? By: Mark Frydenberg In my July bulletin article, I shared results from the June community conversation on future planning. I wrote about "How are we doing" in a variety of areas at the synagogue, as we identified areas where we have the right amount of focus, and initiatives where we should increase or decrease our attention. At the June conversation, we also participated in a values exercise where I asked those in attendance to write five responses to the sentence: Temple Beth Israel is committed to. The group created over 100 responses to the sentence. I analyzed these responses using a word cloud, to get a sense of general patterns and themes that emerged. A word cloud is a chart that visually displays a list of words using font sizes based on frequency; that is, the larger the word appears in the word cloud, the more times people wrote it in their responses. To keep it manageable, this word cloud displays only those words that appear at least three times in all of the responses. Common words like "and" and "the" are not included. In the spirit of the proverb "a picture is worth a thousand words," my bulletin article this month is very short. The word cloud below reflects your ideas of what we value as a community. Please join for the congregation's annual membership meeting on Sunday, August 27th at 10:00 AM. We will talk more about how we can sustain Temple Beth Israel in the coming year, guided by what is important to us as a community. See you then. 3

4 Donations Beth Israel Cemetery General Donations Catherine Cantrell, in memory of Oscar Krichmar. Lester and Ellen Macklin, in memory of Oscar Krichmar. Vicki Ni, in memory of Renee Brown. Howard and Deborah Fink, in honor of Al Simon s 92 nd Birthday. Yellow Candle Donations Catherine Cantrell Saturday Kiddush Sponsors August 5 - Diana Korzenik, in memory of her father. The cost to provide our Kiddush lunch for our usual attendance of 30 to 40 people is about $150. To ensure that we can continue providing Shabbat lunches into the future, we ask those who attend Shabbat services regularly to sponsor a Shabbat The cost for a single grave is $2,200 for Temple members. Non-members are charged an additional $575 to become members of the Temple. The total for non-members is $2,775 per grave. Two graves together are considered a lot. For members a lot costs $4,400 and for nonmembers it costs $5,550. A single grave in the Kulanu - Interfaith Section is $3,775 for non Temple Beth Israel Members which includes $575 for one year membership. If you have been a Temple member for at least 2 years the cost per grave is $2,800. Please contact Jay Trilling of Menorah Cemetery Management Corporation, at (857) for further information. Jim Baron Cemetery Chairman Thanks to those who read Torah, Haftarah, or gave a D'var Torah in June/July Please contact readtorah@tbiwaltham.org to volunteer to read from the Torah or chant a Haftarah, or contact susan@theindexpros.com if you would like to give a d'var torah in the coming months. Rabbi David Finkelstein Rabbi Sara Meirowitz Celia Schneider Susan Kane Caroline Nudelman Susan Holbert Phyllis Werlin Mike Rosenberg Mark Frydenberg Yossi Weintraub Yaron Shragai Michelle Lauder 4

5 Second Time Around The Yom Hashoah program at Temple Beth Israel included a warm presentation by Dr. Rita Goldberg about her parents holocaust experience as the subject of her book, Motherland, Growing up with the Holocaust. After her presentation, many attendees purchased a copy. Ellen invited her book group, The 55-Plus book club, to read the book before attending the breakfast with the author, and many of them attended. After a month of advertising, Dr. Rita Goldberg returned to TBI to answer questions posed by our members and members of the book club. The information gleaned from the author was priceless! If you read the book, pieces of the story came together. She spoke about her father who was a U.S. Army psychiatrist while they lived in Germany. Her mother was in my estimation a war hero, as she outsmarted the enemy. Her mother spent time in the root cellars of a farmhouse, endangering the farmer and his family. If caught by the Germans, all would be executed. Kudos to the righteous gentiles who saved others. Rita's stories were endless and I recommend reading her book. For those who did not read Motherland and found Dr. Goldberg s presentation worthwhile, buy the book or borrow it from our library. Dr. Goldberg s presentation was preceded by a bagels-and-lox breakfast. The Program Committee soon will be planning our programs for the coming year, and we invite you to contact us with your ideas. Let us know the types of programs that would interest you, and help us make them happen. Lester Macklin We Need Your Help TBI Waltham wants to be more inclusive for people with disabilities and their family members. We are starting to meet with a small group of people who are interested in this cause. If you would like to help, please Howard Trachtman at hdt@mit.edu or call him at (781) Howard also is chair of development committee and welcomes ideas for fundraising or possible grants to apply for. FROM THE CHESED / CARING COMMITTEE If you are saying kaddish and would like us to notify congregants to attend a Monday or Thursday minyan, please contact Susan Holbert at susan@theindexpros.com or call at least one week ahead of time. While we can't guarantee a minyan of ten will be present, we can work together to spread the word! 5

6 High Holy Day Services and Schedule 5778 Selichot Saturday, Sept. 16 8:30pm Evening Program 10:00pm Selichot with Rabbi Finkelstein Erev Rosh HaShanah Wednesday, Sept. 20 7:30pm Evening Service Rosh HaShanah Day 1 Thursday, Sept. 21 Rosh HaShanah Day 2 Friday, Sept. 22 8:30am Morning Service 10:30am Children s Service (until 11:30 am) 8:30am Morning Service 10:30am Children s Service (until 11:30 am) Shabbat Shuva Saturday, Sept. 23 9:00am Shabbat morning service Sunday Minyan followed by Cemetery Memorial Service Sunday, Sept. 24 9:00am Morning Minyan (at TBI) 10:00am Service at Beth Israel Memorial Park, 190 South Street Erev Yom Kippur Friday, Sept. 29 5:30pm Kol Nidre Service Yom Kippur Saturday, Sept. 30 8:30 am Morning Service 11:30am Yizkor (approximate time) 10:45am Children s Service (until 11:45 am) 3:30pm Discussion led by Susan Holbert 4:30pm Mincha, Neila, Ma ariv, Havdalah 7:30pm Shofar and Break-the Fast Build the Sukkah Sunday Oct. 1 10:00am Put up Sukkah (Rain or Shine) Erev Sukkot Wednesday, Oct. 4 5:30pm Family Event: Decorate the Sukkah 6:30pm Potluck Dinner in the Sukkah Sukkot Yom Tov Day 1 Thursday, Oct. 5 7:00am Morning Service/Kiddush in Sukkah Sukkot Yom Tov Day 2 Friday, Oct. 6 7:00am Morning Service/Kiddush in Sukkah Hol HaMoed Sukkot Friday, Oct. 6 6:00pm Shabbat Evening Service and Dinner in the Sukkah Hol HaMoed Sukkot Saturday, Oct. 7 9:00am Shabbat morning service/kohelet Hoshanah Rabbah Wednesday, Oct. 11 7:00am Morning Service Shemini Atzeret Thursday, Oct 12 7:00am Morning Service (with Yizkor) Simchat Torah Evening Thursday, Oct 12 6:00pm FamilyEvent: Snack and Torah Tour 6:20pm Evening Service/Dancing with Torah Simchat Torah Morning Friday, Oct 13 7:00am Morning Service: Complete Torah Shabbat Bereshit Saturday, Oct. 14 9:00am Shabbat Morning Services Events and times are subject to change. 6

7 TBI EVENTS CALENDAR August 2017 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 1 Tish'a B'Av Tisha B'Av 7:00 am Tisha B'Av Services 2 7:00 pm Board Meeting 3 4 6:30 pm Friday Night Service - No Dinner 7:42 pm Candle lighting 5 Parashat Vaetchanan Shabbat Nachamu 9:00 am Shabbat Morning Services 8:40 pm Havdalah (42 min) 6 7 Tu B'Av :30 pm Hebrew Class 11 7:32 pm Candle lighting 12 Parashat Eikev 9:00 am Shabbat Morning Services 8:31 pm Havdalah (42 min) :30 pm Hebrew Class 18 6:30 pm Shabbat Service and Dinner 7:22 pm Candle lighting 19 Parashat Re'eh 9:00 am Shabbat Morning Services 8:21 pm Havdalah (42 min) 20 Decordova Museum Rosh Chodesh Elul 23 Rosh Chodesh Elul 24 6:30 pm Hebrew Class 25 7:11 pm Candle lighting 26 Parashat Shoftim 9:00 am Shabbat Morning Services 8:09 pm Havdalah (42 min) 27 10:00 am Annual Membership Meeting

8 Rabbi s Reflections: (Continued from page 1) it makes me nervous. As much as I want awe to be about wonder and radical amazement, I can never silence the voice that whispers in my ear, Be afraid on Rosh Hashanah. You re one of the in-betweeners, and you might not merit. You might be written for death. And that sounds so unfriendly! What do we do about this? Some of us are at peace with the scary side of Rosh Hashanah. Maybe, hopefully, the fear and awe motivate us to become kinder friends, siblings, parents, etc., in the new year. Maybe you don t relate to my squirming and joking to avoid the elephant in the room: the rhetoric of fear. But I m a love Jew. Maybe you re a fear Jew. Not me. Love Jew here. Fortunately, there is an answer: Elul. Thank G-d - Barukh Hashem! - for Elul! Elul is the month before Rosh Hashanah, which begins this year on Wednesday, August 23rd. It is the month of preparation for the Day of Judgment - preparation through prayer, through introspection and meditation, and through other preemptive changes in our daily lives. Elul is the reason why I feel free to sing and pray and yes, even to dance and enjoy myself on Rosh Hashanah. During Elul, we have the opportunity to imagine and to plan how we will walk through the gate of Rosh Hashanah this year. In his collection of teachings called Toledot Yaakov Yosef, Yaakov Yosef of Polnoyye, an early Hasidic master, notices that the Talmudic teaching from Rosh Hashanah 16b never tells us in front of whom the books are opened. I always assumed they were opened in front of G-d, but no, says the Toledot Yaakov Yosef. The three books, he says, are opened in front of every individual. We each write our own name in the book we choose for ourselves, and this writing of our names has a certain impact on what kind of New Year we will have. If we have visualized in detail or otherwise planned how we will be more righteous in the new year, then we are poised to write our names among the completely righteous. If G-d forbid, the opposite is the case and we have resolved to be like the completely wicked, to give free reign to our appetites, to eschew growth and positive transformation, then our names are written among the completely wicked, G-d forbid. The challenge is the choosing. Of course I want to write my name in the Book of Life, among the righteous. But how do I choose righteousness for a whole year in one moment? Part of the answer is, through a month of preparation. Rosh Hashanah is a gate. We choose how we will walk through it by the choices we make, by the preparations we do, during the month of Elul. How we will walk through the gate of Rosh Hashanah is in large part determined by how we walk through the hallway of the month of Elul. Happy Elul! 8

9 August Yahrzeits Chaya Zacharewich Av 09 1-Aug Paul Lewis Ginsburg Av 09 1-Aug Hyman Brown Av 09 1-Aug Rachel Leah Ingber Av 09 1-Aug Ida Kaitz Av 10 2-Aug Bernard Bloomenthal Av 11 3-Aug Paul Onigman Av 11 3-Aug Howard P.Mermelstein Av 12 4-Aug Evelyn Forbes Av 12 4-Aug Albert Chorney Av 12 4-Aug Coleman Wexler Av 14 6-Aug Ellen Leavy Av 15 7-Aug Manehan Snyder Av 16 8-Aug Dina Ella Backer Av 17 9-Aug Fannie Zelinetsky Av 17 9-Aug Karl Meiselman Av 17 9-Aug Samuel Tatelman Av Aug Nathan Ullian Av Aug Molly Sheer Av Aug Mulcan bat Yosef Av Aug Sadye Canter Av Aug Hannah M. Sheer Av Aug Harold Bloom Av Aug Hyman Kulin Av Aug Adele Ullian Av Aug Esther Davidson Av Aug Helene Altman Av Aug Samuel Blackstone Av Aug Nadia Shirazi Av Aug Israel Pill Av Aug Anna Esther Katz Av Aug Moses Nochemsohn Av Aug Walter Kaplan Av Aug William Michaelson Av Aug Harris Greene Av Aug Katherine Sidell Av Aug Corinne Freeman Av Aug Blanche Levison Av Aug Jacob S. Merowitz Av Aug Aaron Mendelsohn Av Aug Ethel Griff Av Aug Oscar Davidson Av Aug Sumner Mason Tirk Elul Aug Morris Potash Elul Aug Anna Araten Elul Aug Louis Alpert Elul Aug Ella Weiner Elul Aug Rose Ritter Elul Aug Aaron Blauer Elul Aug Bertha Zellin Elul Aug Cecelia Belle Freeman Elul Aug Rachel Shecktman Elul Aug Alexander Freedman Elul Aug Ruth Cormier Elul Aug Abraham Goldstein Elul Aug Benjamin Greenblott Elul Aug Agatha Baron Elul Aug Gayle Raye Schupak Elul 10 1-Sep Joseph Kennen Elul 10 1-Sep Carrie Altman Elul 10 1-Sep Sara Weinstein Elul 10 1-Sep Samuel Wolf Elul 11 2-Sep Nathan Weiner Elul 12 3-Sep Mary Nochemsohn Elul 13 4-Sep Louis Goldberg Elul 13 4-Sep Samuel Arnold Elul 14 5-Sep Jennie Bernstein Elul 14 5-Sep Harry Goldberg Elul 14 5-Sep Anna Ginsburg Elul 15 6-Sep Hyman Cohen Elul 15 6-Sep Rose Jacobs Elul 16 7-Sep Rebecca Wolf Elul 18 9-Sep Stanley Bloom Elul 18 9-Sep Daniel Leaken Elul Sep Dorothy Nottenburg Elul Sep Bessie Aronie Elul Sep Morris Macklin Elul Sep David Feingold Elul Sep 9 Louis Kniznik Sarah Mendelsohn Dedicate an Elul Sep Elul Sep A. Harvey Cinamon Elul Sep Louis Goldstein Annie Siegel Hedwig Benedick Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Abraham Crevoshay Elul Sep Sarah Caplan David Pokat Samuel Pill Abe Grater Lillian Michaelson Celia Chorney Herman Bootin Doris Resnikoff Max Russell James Zieff Marion Cohen Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Elul Sep Etz Hayyim Chumash Temple Beth Israel recently received several Etz Hayyim Chumashim from another synagogue. You can dedicate one with a bookplate by making a donation of $18 per book, along with the inscription for the book plate.

10 NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING The Temple Beth Israel Annual Membership Meeting will be held on Sunday, August 27 at 10 am. Please notify the Temple Office if you are able to attend so we can plan an appropriate amount of food to serve for breakfast. The agenda will include reports from the officers, rabbi, and office manager; committee and other updates; election of officers and directors at large; and vote to approve two bylaws amendments sent out by mail. You may find the entire TBI bylaws online at and proposed bylaws changes to be voted on at this meeting on the "For Members" page. Or you may contact the Temple office to arrange to receive a copy. Nominating Committee Report The Nominating Committee proposes the following slate of officers and directors to be elected at the Temple Beth Israel annual meeting on Sunday, August 27 at 10 a.m. The last day to submit self nominations was July 28, The nominating committee received one self-nomination. Officers for Election: President: Vice President: Treasurer: Membership Secretary: Mark Frydenberg Lester Macklin George Isaac Ellen Macklin Secretary Susan G. Baron was elected one year ago for a two-year term, so she is not eligible for re-election. Board Directors at Large for Election, nominated by the Nominating Committee: Dina Wolfman Baker (3 years) Julie Gagnon (2 years) Bruce Trager (2 years) Self Nominations for Board Director at Large: Paul Smith (2 years) The Nominating Committee: Catherine Cantrell, Susan Holbert, Esther Keaney, Alan Levine, Caroline Nudelman We will vote on the entire slate of officers first. If the entire slate is not approved as a result of this vote, or if there are contests for any of these positions, we will vote on each candidate individually. We will then vote on the directors at large following the same process. The bylaws require electing one director at large for a three year term and two directors for a two year term. 10 (Continued on page 11)

11 The Nominating Committee nominates three directors at large to serve on the Temple Board of Directors. Directors at large are voting board members. Nominated by Nominating Committee: Dina Wolfman Baker joined Temple Beth Israel with her husband Brad when they moved to the Waltham in Since then, Dina has served on the Rabbi Search Committee, chaired the New Rabbi Advisory Committee, chaired the Bylaws Committee, and will chair the Social Justice committee that is now forming. She works as a marketing and communication executive in a career that has spanned 34 years (and counting). Dina grew up first in the Philadelphia suburbs and then in Cambridge, MA. Returning to Philadelphia, she and Brad raised their children Audrey (who lives in Ithaca, NY) and Isaac (who recently moved to Boston) and Dina served in leadership at their synagogue. They moved to the Boston area to live close to Dina s step-mother and enjoy all the riches of the area including, as it turned out, the TBI community. Dina and Brad feel extraordinarily fortunate, particularly now that they enjoy the addition to their family of their grandson Atlas (Audrey s son, age 2-1/2) and of Paige Sable, who will marry Isaac in September. Julie Gagnon is a cat enthusiast living in Newton with her husband Chad Gagnon, recently bat mitzvahed daughter and TBI child care specialist Audrey Gagnon, dad Ed Brown, a cat and rabbit. In her spare time, Julie works on art projects or organizes events, which suit her love for art and her architecture/project management background. She graduated from Syracuse University School of Architecture, as one of only 5 girls. Fun fact: Julie strongly dislikes onions and recently acquired a love of mushrooms. Remember (per her mom): Life is hard by the yard but a cinch by the inch. Bruce Trager is a lawyer with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Office of the Attorney General. Nicknamed "Mr. Justice" by the late Morris Hollender z"l, Bruce is a regular at morning minyan, frequently leading on Mondays and Thursdays, and every Friday when usually only he and another congregant attend. Bruce has been a member of the Ritual/ Religious Committee for several years, and was its co-chair, with Caroline Nudelman, in He also served on two recent TBI Bylaws Committees. Bruce and his wife, Jill Stanton, are the parents of Shoshana and Sarah, and also maintain a synagogue membership at Tremont Street Shul in Cambridge, where they attended before moving to Waltham in The committee nominates Dina Wolfman Baker for a three-year term, and Julie Gagnon and Bruce Trager for two-year terms. Self -Nominations: NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING Paul Smith has nominated himself as candidate for a Director at Large position for a two-year term. Paul writes, I am submitting this request to be nominated as an At Large Director for Temple Beth Israel for years I do this with the thought that I can be of good service to the Temple based on my past experience as a President and/or Secretary of a board of directors of a community numbering over 300 condominiums. As president, I was responsible for the care and maintenance of every structure and the upkeep of the grounds, swimming pools, and any other structure. This meant as well, working with a management company for the purpose of collecting and expenditures such as bank loans totaling well over a million dollars. The goals, as it will be for Temple Beth Israel, is for the good and welfare of every member. Paul is a resident of Belmont, Mass. 11

12 TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL 25 Harvard Street Waltham, MA Phone: August 2017 We re on the Web General Fund High Holiday Donation Rabbi s Discretionary Fund Carl and Caryl Goldstein Siddur Memorial Fund Morris Hollender Torah Reading Fund Children s Services and Programming Other, please specify: It is never too late to Donate! Temple Beth Israel Donation Form For your convenience, please use this form to make your donations and send to: Temple Beth Israel, 25 Harvard Street, Waltham, MA I have chosen the fund indicated at the left: (Please use a separate form for each fund. Minimum donation: $10) Attached is my check in the amount of: $ The donation is being made In Honor Of In Memory Of Other This donation is made by: Name: Address: City/State/Zip Please send acknowledgement to: Name: Address: City/State/Zip 12