Shabbat-O-Gram
Mazal Tov to Angelique and Adam Wallace on their son, Charlie,
becoming a Bar Mitzvah. Todah Rabah to Angelique and Adam
for sponsoring the Oneg and Kiddush in honor of Charlie.
At Thursday night's annual meeting, Sylvan Pomerantz receives a gift
as he prepares to hand over the presidency to Mia Weinstein in a few weeks.
Thank you to Sylvan for his stellar leadership!
Just the Facts:
Candle lighting: 7:59
PM
Services at 7
tonight, with guest musician Uri Sharlin,
9:30 on Shabbat morning
Shabbat Torah
portion: Naso. See a preview of our Parsha Packet,
"The Whole Truth," which discusses truth, lying, Jewish values and
the impact on parents, younger children and teens.
To Do List:
- Get tickets and purchase
ads for the Cantor's Concert on
June 14
- See the film Paragraph 175 at
Temple Sinai next Thursday night. This award winning documentary
about LGBTQ persecution during the Holocaust is being co-sponsored by TBE,
Temple Sinai and the JCC. Hosted by the Triangle Community
Center. I will be part of a panel discussion following the film.
- Wear Orange on
June 2, the first annual Gun Violence Awareness Day. People across the
country will wear orange to honor all those who have been killed -- and
inspire action to stop the gun violence that takes too many lives in
America. Why orange? It's a color that symbolizes the value of human
life. Hunters wear orange to alert other hunters that they're there - as a
way to take care of their own life and the lives of others. Now, we're
turning orange into a symbol for the value of human life everywhere. For
more background on the Jewish values behind this cause, see my article "Guns and
Moses."
- Look forward to Jewels
Harrison's Bar Mitzvah is next week. See videos and backstory about
Jewels, and also see my article in this
week's Jewish Week about this special event.
- Take
our very quick survey to determine Friday night start times moving forward.
Tribute to Fred
Weisman
Joan Weisman
presented the first Fred Weisman Tikkun Olam at Thursday's Annual Meeting to
Ken and Amy Temple. Fred passed away just a few months ago. Below
is an excerpt from Joan's tribute to her late husband. Such a fitting tribute
to a great man. Below is a photo of myself with Joan and Fred at the 1996 Purim
Comedy Night - one of the many programs created by Joan and Fred. Read Joan's tribute in its entirety here.
"...You must be
wondering whether Fred had 48 hours in each day, required no sleep or had super
human powers. We won't ever know, but maybe wearing his Superman or
Mickey Mouse shirts really did work. In spite of being a cancer survivor for
20 years and told he had only six months to live on at least two occasions, he
was always happy. He would often exclaim that the reason he did for
others was because he was the luckiest man alive and because of his good
fortune wanted to share with others. He truly felt that he was given
extra years because he hadn't yet done enough to save the world.
I recently found the
words Fred spoke just last year as he was honored by the Pacific House Homeless
Shelter in Stamford with the Rays of Hope Award. "It has been extremely
gratifying to return to Stamford after a 20 year absence to find Beth El
continuing what Joan and I had started at Beth El Cares. We thank you all
for giving meaning to the old adage "that those who can, must
do" There are many needy throughout the world but we must not forget
the needs of those in our own backyard."
I think the
most important question that we can ask ourselves as we think about The Fred
Weisman Memorial Tikkun Olam Award is what each of us can do to repair the
world, how we can pay it forward in even a very small way. How each of us
can find and follow our own moral compass as Fred followed his. How we
can pass on the value of tzeduka to our children and grandchildren.
I hope that all I have shared with you about my dear Fred will not be perceived
as bragging but an opportunity to see how possible it is for anyone to make the
world a better place."
The State of the
Temple
Below is an
adaptation of my report given at the Annual Meeting
Let me go against
every bar mitzvah speech I've ever written - I mean co-authored - and begin
with the thank yous. First and foremost, Sylvan Pomerantz. I knew we had a gem
when we picked a president whose brother is a rabbi. And indeed, one of
Sylvan's great assets is his ability to empathize - with clergy, to be sure -
but with everyone. We've had so many great presidents here recently that our
TBE Mount Rushmore has expanded into Wyoming, but Sylvan certainly deserves to
be there.
I work with the most
talented and dedicated senior staff any rabbi could only dream about.
Steve has become such a legend that I recently discovered that has become
global ventriloquist, able to throw his voice into Eileen Rosner when he was in
Israel. Eileen would open her mouth, and out came all the wisdom Steve
had shared with her. Eileen of course has much wisdom of her own to
share. Lisa Gittelman-Udi has revitalized not only our school, but our
entire youth program. She is an ideal educational partner, and her
dedication is unmatched.
If all had gone
according to plan, we would be welcoming Cantor Fishman here this coming week,
on June 1. Let's just say that it would have been an enormous loss for us
to have waited a whole year, because she has brought magic to our music program
and services. She is a spectacular musician, partner and human being.
I am so glad that things have worked out, for her, for all of us, and
especially for those b'nai mitzvah students who have had the pleasure of
working with her this year, who would otherwise not have had any cantor at all.
What's so wonderful
about our leadership here, senior staff, lay leaders, faculty, administrative
and maintenance staff - is that there is real partnership. We all have
learned that life is too short to be hung up on pettiness or to get stuck in
the past. We can't change what was - so we roll up our sleeves and focus
on what we can change - and on the people we serve - how much is at stake.
Every bar mitzvah student, everyone who is ill or has suffered a loss, everyone
celebrating a new child or a marriage, everyone just trying to get by, everyone
needing a place to call home - we need to respond to those needs. That's
what matters.
There are great
community and global needs that we need to address - and it is so fitting that
tonight we dedicate an annual award in memory of Fred Weisman, one who
dedicated his life to effecting change wherever he could - and our winners, Ken
and Amy Temple, have embodied the vision that Fred and Joan had when they
created Beth El Cares.
In embracing the
needs of the LGBT community this year as never before, we are responding to a
cry of this generation and we are placing TBE where it needs always to be, on
the right side of history, not only because it is morally right but also
because it is a strategic necessity.
At a recent retreat,
the board asked that I give more insight into my personal vision. You
might recall the countdown of Judaism's Top 40 values
that I emailed out last fall before the High Holidays. Embedded in that
list is this one:
Click for a clearer
pdf version of Seven
Jewish Values
The seven Jewish
values on this chart reflect my personal vision as to what a fully inclusive,
fully embracing congregation can and should be. We're pretty good at
embracing all seven of these Jewish values, and indeed all 40 of the values on
the larger list. We need to continue to get better at that - and particularly
in the area of inclusiveness of interfaith and non traditional families.
We are good - we need to be better.
A Pew Survey on America's changing
religious landscape released this month indicates that the number of
religiously unaffiliated adults has increased by roughly 19 million since 2007.
There are now approximately 56 million religiously unaffiliated adults in the
U.S., and this group - sometimes called "nones" - is more numerous
than either Catholics or mainline Protestants. Those who are falling away
from religious affiliation are now the fastest growing religious group! Yet
86 percent of millennials, those born since 1980, who are fleeing from
organized religion the fastest, still claim to believe in God. They are
out there. We need to find them, and not wait for them to find us. This
needs to continue to be a priority for us.
One way to attract
people is with scintillating and meaningful prayer experiences. We remain
committed to building our services and our Shabbat community here, both on
Friday nights and Shabbat mornings. Attendance has been increasing
steadily over the year - and so has excitement - which really peaked on Yom
Haatzmaut when about 400 joined together for a memorable Shabbat
celebration. We'll be planning a few of those mega services next year,
but in fact have the goal of making every week unforgettable. Check your email
this week for a quick survey regarding Friday night start times.
We would like to
upgrade options on Shabbat mornings too, and on June 20 we'll experiment with
two options for the first half of the service - a traditional option and one
with meditations, reflective chanting and some learning as well.
Speaking of learning,
we've had a successful adult ed year. My lunch and learn class on Pirke
Avot has been meeting weekly now for nearly half a year. We'll pick that
up next fall with some more text study. Next year I'll once again be
joining with Rabbi TelRav of Temple Sinai to do a 20 session Intro to Judaism
class, something we collaborated on last year quite successfully. We've
been doing quite a bit of collaborating with Sinai and with others - with
Shabbat Across Stamford the most noteworthy example. Community
Partnership is another of those vision values that I know we all espouse. We
also continued our interfaith collaboration on a number of levels, including
the monthly interfaith Learning and Latte discussions and our Interfaith Seder
here.
So there's a little
hint of the vision, what has been and what is yet to be. This is a
fabulous congregation and we have much to be thankful for. And so much
yet to accomplish over the coming year.
Shabbat Shalom and Happy June!
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman