SYNABLOG: Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills

"Shabbat Together: Focusing on Family at the Family Retreat" by Rabbi Mason-Barkin

It seemed like a scene out of an idyllic old movie.  The kids ran around outside - practically frolicking as they climbed trees, threw balls, made up games, giggled, shouted, and played.  I even saw two girls twirling in circles on the vast green lawn singing 'the hills are alive with the sound of music.'  Though a little wet from the rain, the Temple Emanuel Family Retreat couldn't have been more perfect.  Cell phones were put away.  Video games were nowhere to be seen.  Email went unchecked, and at home, trusty DVRs saved the shows that went unwatched.  The kids played under the watchful eyes of our staff, and the adults slowly but surely disconnected from the speed of life, and relaxed into a state of content Shabbat rest.

 

This year, we enjoyed the family retreat at Camp Ramah, in Ojai.  The drive to Ventura County filled us all with anticipation as we prepared for the experience.  From the moments of candlelight as the sun began to set on Friday evening, to watching the stars rise on Saturday night, we were able to recharge spiritually, both as individuals, as families, and also as a community.

 

A few weeks ago, we screened the movie Race to Nowhere at Temple Emanuel.  In the movie, concerned parents and children expressed worry over the amount of hard work children are expected to do, and the lack of time that children spend just playing.  While in our 'real' lives we need to continue striking the balance between work and play, it was refreshing to have a weekend where there was no choice to make.  Spending some time away from the hustle and bustle of city life was healing, as it allowed parents and children to put one another first, without ordinary  distractions or obligations.

 

During our final activity, we thought about what it is that we all hope to bring back from the family retreat to our 'regular' lives.  For some it was the friendship, for others the memories or the time spent as a family. Whether it was the early morning yoga, the melodies and harmonies we wove during services, roasting marshmellows over an open fire or delighting in the site of city kids frolicking in the green grass, at the family retreat we all experienced something special - a moment that can never quite be replicated, but that we can strive for every Shabbat... until next year, at our next weekend away.

 

Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin

"Sharing our Bounty on Big Sunday, May 15th" by Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin

I have never had a green thumb.  The meek little houseplant I attempted to tend died a slow, sad death after being neglected over a number of months.  Luckily, I live in an apartment that has little opportunity for landscaping.  The Jewish imperative to 'save the corners of our fields' for those in need (Leviticus 19:9-11) has always felt distant to me.  I would have made a terrible farmer!

Fortunately, we come from a tradition that embraces metaphor.  Reaping fields isn't an option for me, yet, perhaps there are other ways for those of us who are less agriculturally gifted to bestow our bounty to those in need.  The essence of peah (the instruction to save the corners of our fields) is grounded in giving some of what we can spare to those who need it. 

All of us, from the youngest children in our schools to most mature members of our community have something to give.  While few of us have fields, we might have some extra cans of food in our pantry.  We might not be able to harvest, but we can check our cupboards to see if we have some unused toiletries to donate.  We can rummage through our closets for the clothes we have outgrown, and we can clean our children's toys that they no longer play with in order to pass them on.  For those of us who are not blessed with an abundance of material goods, we can spend time visiting the elderly, writing letters on behalf of causes we believe in, or creating something colorful and beautiful to brighten another's day. 

Big Sunday is coming up on Sunday, May 15th.  On this day, all of us who are a part of Temple Emanuel will come together along with the rest of the Los Angeles community to bestow our bounty upon those who are in need.  On this day, Big Sunday, we will all come together to bring what we have to spare, and share it.  Together, we will be gathering and organizing books for those who need them, compiling care packages for a women's shelter, donating blood to those who are undergoing medical procedures, collecting school supplies for those who don't have, making sandwiches for those who need something to eat, and more.

In order to make this day happen, we all need to bring a bit from our 'fields.'  We are looking for a number of materials and talents from our community - and everyone can help.  We need captains to coordinate projects, sponsors to fund them, and generous souls to donate materials and supplies.  Finally, on May 15th we will need all of you to come out and help us make a difference by organizing, painting, fixing, compiling, and giving your heart to all of these causes. 

When we each set aside a small corner of what we have in money, time, energy, or other resources we gather a bountiful field of generosity for our community.  If you are able to give, either as a team captain for a Big Sunday project, or as a sponsor please contact alla@tebh.org.  Soon, you will see donation bins in the lobby of our Burton Way building where you can bring material gifts.  And we can't wait to work alongside you, to share our goods and our time on Big Sunday, May 15th. 

Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin

"Westside Shpiel" by Rabbi Jonathan Aaron

I remember the first time that I saw "West Side Story." It was the mid sixties, summer, and my parents decided to take us to the drive-in to see it. I remember the crazy kind of music, the snapping of the fingers, wild dancing with colorful costumes, and falling asleep in the back of the station wagon. We're going to have it all at Emanuel this Saturday night when we have our annual Megillah reading and Purim Shpiel at 5:00 PM- sans the sleeping in the station wagon. It will be the west coast premier of "West Side Shpiel," a different version of the original with a brand new cast and totally different words to the songs of this great musical.

It has been our long standing tradition here at the Temple to take popular melodies and make them fit the Purim story. This year, when listening to the songs, we fell in love with these fantastic melodies all over again. If you want to brush up on the songs, we'll be doing, "The Jets", "Something's Coming", "Tonight", "America", "Maria" (Hadassah), "I Feel Pretty", "Officer Krupke", "Cool", and "There's a Place for us". Download them, get familiar again with these amazing songs, and then join us for an unforgettable evening with crazy music, snapping fingers, spinning groggers, wild dancing and colorful costumes.

We've had a great Purim Ball, an outstanding Purim Carnival, this week you will be receiving our creative Purim Baskets - and to top it all off - the Shpiel. It's a fantastic way to finish off your Purim - ON PURIM (Saturday night), and a great way to spend the night with friends. (The 5:00 PM starting time was so that the adults could go out afterwards to celebrate.)

Speaking of the Purim Carnival. A big thank you goes out to our tireless chair-people who put together a memorable Purim Carnival: Lisa Greer, Bonnie Nadell, Lisa Novian, Sue Procko Boxer, Jerry Silverhardt, Diane Vanette and staff Alla Feldman and Yoni Rosenberg. And thank you to all of our volunteers from our Emanuel community. The Carnival is a place where our spirit really comes out, and all the work that was put in by so many of you made the day a special one for all of the kids from the Temple and the community.

See you Saturday night.

Rabbi Jonathan Aaron

"I'm not religious; I'm spiritual." by Rabbi Laura Geller

We start a new book of Torah this week, all about getting closer to God .The path laid out is so foreign to us... burnt offerings, animal sacrifices,  fire, priests. What does any of this have to do with us? What are we supposed to learn? Consider just one verse from next week's portion:

A perpetual fire shall be kept burning on the altar, not to go out."
(Leviticus 6:1-6)

We know that after the destruction of the Temple and the end of the sacrificial system, there was no literal fire. But I think the metaphor remains powerful.  As the Sefat Emet, a Chassidic text from the nineteenth century, explains: "In the soul of every Jew there lies a hidden point that is aflame with love of God, a fire that cannot be put out... This is true of the human soul: there needs to burn in it a fiery longing  to worship the Creator, and this longing has to be renewed each day..."  

So the challenge to us is to make prayer powerful enough to awaken this fiery longing. How?  A hint comes from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, writing in the nineteenth  century.  "It is our daily duty to bring to our observance of the mitzvah a new zest, as if each time it was the first time." Then Rabbi Hirsch cites another verse:  "'And the priest shall take up the ashes...carry the ashes outside.'  The relics of the previous day's work need clearing away, before the new day's work can begin in a clean and renovated place."

Clearing away the ashes, making room for new insights, new ways to experience prayer, is fraught with tension. On the one hand, if prayer is just routine, it is not able to awaken a fiery longing. On the other hand, if prayer is not familiar, it is difficult to pray in community. This tension is captured in the classic description that so many of us have heard so many times: "I'm not religious, I am spiritual."  Translation?  I have my own connection to a sense of divinity; I don't need any organized structures to facilitate the connection. The word "religion" comes from the Latin 'religare' from the word meaning "to bind." Therefore the term 'religion' evokes "being obligated." Religion has rules, structures, and obligations - to God, to a tradition, to other people, and indeed to the larger world. Spirituality, on the other hand, is about an individual's connection to divinity.  Without religion, spirituality runs the risk of becoming a kind of narcissism; without spirituality, religion risks smothering the fiery longing in the ashes of repetition, routine, and fear of change.

What might it mean for us to "carry away the ashes"?  For some Jews, it means bringing different kinds of spiritual practice into Jewish prayer.  At Temple Emanuel this past Shabbat,  we had a the opportunity to experience Hebrew kirtan led by Rabbi Andrew Kahn  in our Shabbat morning worship.  Kirtan is "call and response chanting" influenced by  Hindu prayer practice.  Later that evening, over 140 people came together for a city-wide Kirtan, several hours of chanting Hebrew prayers. For me, kirtan was a completely new experience, not altogether comfortable. But there is no question that it was powerful, with the physical reverberations of the chanting lasting long after I returned home that evening.
And those 140 people - who were they?  Jews connected to  our synagogue and many other synagogues, and even more Jews not connected to any Jewish institution but longing to be connected to one that would help them clear away the ashes to make room for their fiery longing.

Samantha Orshan, a student in the joint program of the Hebrew Union College School of Jewish Non-Profit Management and the Rabbinic School, wrote her thesis on spirituality, studying Temple Emanuel. It didn't surprise her that there were many congregants who called themselves "spiritual seekers," looking and finding  intense spiritual experiences within our  congregation.  What did surprise her were how many people within the congregation said they were not spiritual, but who really valued the opportunities offered here to bring more intensity into the prayer experience - through powerful participatory music, meditation, and silence.  She calls those Jews "hide and seekers."  And she challenges us to do even more to help them come out of hiding.

Maybe that's what  Torah means by "clearing away the ashes" so we can keep the fire burning in our synagogue and in own hearts.

Rabbi Laura Geller

" The Oscars are Over, but We Need You to Star in Our Movie..." by Rabbi Jill Zimmerman

Maybe I watched too many grand epic movies growing up, with casts of thousands in period costumes, music swelling, grand vistas  - but this is the scene I hold in my head as I read, this week in Torah, about the Israelites putting the finishing touches on the traveling sanctuary. I see women running across town with their finely woven linens to drape the tent, artisans of all kinds scurrying to polish the gold on the candlesticks, chieftains choosing their most special gems for the sanctuary.  Can you see the rush of activity?  Can you feel the hum?  Can you imagine the scurrying to finish and mostly - can you experience, even in your mind's eye, what it must have felt like to work together for such a holy endeavor?  Yes, the final product was surely beautiful, but what was even more astounding was the energy created by the people working as one to accomplish this goal.

As you may remember, the reason God asks us to build the Mishkan in the first place is so that God can dwell among US - not for the sake of the building itself, but rather, that the community can come together for sacred purposes and experience Sinai once again in each other's eyes. 

Starting many months ago, our synagogue began to buzz with a sort of this same excitement.  Can you guess why?  PURIM!  Purim, quite a big deal here at Temple Emanuel, is on the minds of our own artisans, weavers, and chieftains.  It's been "backstage" but as we draw near to "Show Time" the call has gone out to the cast of thousands (that is where YOU come in) to help make this happen!  We need lots and lots of volunteers.  Last year, we had record numbers - but our lists are sparse right now - we really do need your help.

As with the Mishkan, Purim will simply not be able to take place without the efforts of the entire community.  Whether you decide to add your energy to the Purim Carnival on March 13 (volunteer to work a shift at a fun game, sponsor a booth, sell food) or if you choose to help pack or deliver Mishloach Manot baskets - there is no doubt that we can't pull this off without your presence, your physical help, and your positive attitudes.  (Come with your Chavurah, or friends, or parents from your child's class...)

Here's what I know to be true from my own life experience:  community doesn't just "happen" - we MAKE community happen when we put ourselves in the mix.  These Purim activities offer you an opportunity to make new friends, contribute to the memories of our children, and do a mitzvah by delivering gifts to people's doorsteps for which they will be so grateful.

Please take a second RIGHT NOW and email or call the people below with how YOU can participate.  We really need you now.  If Rabbi Geller and I can dress up in tutus for "the cause", you can certainly do this...and you can wear a costume, too, if you choose.

Purim Carnival: Sunday March 13.  Shifts are 10:45 AM -1:00 PM, 1:00 PM -3:00 PM, 3:00 PM -4:30 PM.  EMAIL OR CALL JERRY SILVERHARDT TO SIGN UP (you will make him a very happy man):  310-271-5509 or jerry.primrose@gmail.com

Mishloach Manot:  Tuesday - Saturday, March 15 - 19, from 10:00 AM- 3:00 PM every day.  We will pack baskets from Tuesday through Thursday and start delivering on Thursday.  EMAIL SHELLEY BLUMENFELD IF YOU CAN HELP (you will make her very happy, too):  Shelley@tebh.org or 310-288-3737

And now the music begins to swell as hundreds of people take to their phones and computers to email or call Jerry and Shelley to say "yes, count me in, I'll be there." 

The End.

Rabbi Jill Zimmerman

(PS - Don't forget to attend the Purim Shpiel on Saturday March 19 at 5:00 pm)