In This Moment: Prayer for Florida

In This Moment As we witness the devastation taking place in Florida and other coastal states, our hearts reach out to fellow congregants and others who are suffering. Below is a Jewish prayer written for hurricane victims.   Shabbat Shalom This weekend is Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Join us for services this evening and tomorrow. Rosh Hashanah services were so inspirational - the music took us new heights! Below are some screen shots from the streaming video. The sermons can be accessed here, I focused on Ukraine on Rosh Hashanah, and I've posted some updates. Uman survived the holiday relatively unscathed, but the ongoing tragedy of Ukraine is heartbreaking, as you can see from this Tweet.  I pray that we be sealed for a good year. Shabbat Shalom and G'mar Hatima Tova Rabbi Joshua Hammerman This dog’s name is Crimea. He lost all his family with 2 children today when Russia launched a missile attack on Dnipro. Contused and scared, the dog was crying and didn’t want to leave the ruins of his home. Krym, as he is called, was taken from the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula when he was a puppy. Scenes from Screens: Rosh Hashanah @ TBE Recommended Reading TV satirizes extremist Itamar Ben Gvir with ‘Springtime for Hitler’ takeoff (Times of Israel) See video below.  it's in Hebrew, from Israel's #1 comedy show; but even if you don't understand every word, you'll get the idea. Ben-Gvir leads Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), a far-right party that will be running in the upcoming November 1 election (as it did in March 2021) together with Bezalel Smotrich’s no-less extreme (and very homophobic) Religious Zionism party.  According to recent polls, Religious Zionism – as their joint slate is known – could become the third or fourth largest party in Israel, and Ben-Gvir could become a minister if Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu succeeds in forming the next government.  See also Netanyahu unites Jewish supremacist parties ahead of November's election (Axios).  See also:  Netanyahu’s bloc drops to minority in TV poll predicting another election deadlock (TOI) Tens Of Thousands Of Jewish Pilgrims In Ukraine Despite War - Kyiv Post A Ritual to Prepare for the Yizkor of Yom Kippur - Ritualwell High Holiday prayers not working for you? Try remixing metaphors (JTA) As a country we're in need of healing. Here's how Shabbat can help How To Find Meaning in the Yom Kippur Fast (MJL) Deep Identity: An Essay on Prestige, Israel and America - Hard to get a job. My Columbia degree doesn’t mean anything here. Interesting. If by “not mean anything,” you mean that people aren’t familiar with Columbia and its reputation as a storied Ivy League institution, that’s right. It’s true that a Columbia degree doesn’t carry the same prestige points or brand signaling here. Most people haven’t a clue about their acceptance rate or perceived exclusivity. To be clear, the degree is valuable for what you actually learned: the knowledge, skills, and “education” part of “higher education.” But not the brand name. All this got me thinking: prestige—the social prestige from association with Brand X or Club Y—seems to exist less in Israel. Nobody seems to care. More than that, many Israelis resent it. I want to understand why. THE JERUSALEM POST’S 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL JEWS OF 2022 (click here for bios of the chosen 50) Share This Email   Share This Email   Share This Email Temple Beth El 350 Roxbury Road Stamford, Connecticut 06902 203-322-6901 | www.tbe.org    A Conservative, Inclusive, Spiritual Community