SYNABLOG: Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills

Thought for the New Year

How lucky we are. We get to reflect twice. Once for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and now, when the calendar year rolls over onto the next year. It seems to me, back in September while in synagogue, each of us thought about our lives through an ethical lens. Did I live up to myself? Did I treat people correctly? Questions like that. Now, as the year 2011 comes to an end, the questions are different. I feel like I reflect less on behavior and more on events, less on how I treated people, and more on how was this year different than last, and how can next year be filled with hope for the future. And whether this was a successful and “simcha” filled year for you, or if it was filled with challenge and tragedy, our tradition offers advise concerning an approach to the new year and thinking about your life.

 

Ben Zoma, the second century sage, writes in Pirke Avot: “Who is rich? One who is happy with what one has…” Such a simple phrase, and yet, so difficult to accomplish. If this year, for you, has been a banner year, appreciate it, relish it, be happy with what has come to you. Others have worked just as hard, others have put in the effort, but did not taste the fruits of success the way you did. Be happy with what you have…If this year was the opposite, filled with strife and difficulty, take a look at your life, and understand that what you do have is worth appreciating. That life, in itself, not anything outside of it, is worthwhile, and that no matter what befell you this past year, it is only a part of the wholeness of life, and what remains, what is within your grasp, is worth holding onto.

 

As the clock works its way down this year, and that ball falls from the top of the tower in Times Square, look back on the year, look forward to the new one, and realize what Ben Zoma said, “be happy with what one has,” and move forward with hope for 2012.

Rabbi Jonathan Aaron

Lighting the Flame -- One Student at a Time

Happy Hanukkah!  As we celebrate the festival of lights and take note of the miracles of light and life all around us, I’d like to let you know about a particular “shamash” who creates a vibrant spark at Temple Emanuel.  Marnie Greenwald, 1^st grade teacher at Temple Emanuel Academy Day School, recently was the recipient of the annual Milken Family Foundation award.  Awarded to only four Southern California based, Jewish Private School teachers, the award is considered to be the preeminent award among Jewish Day School Educators.   Marnie has illuminated the lives of so many students during her tenure as a teacher.  She instills a passion for learning, and brings light to the faces and more importantly to the minds of the next generation.

The Milken Educator Awards are the nation's preeminent teacher recognition program, having honored more than 2,500 K-12 teachers, principals and specialists coast to coast with over $63 million in individual, unrestricted $25,000 awards. A total of $137 million has been devoted to the overall program, which includes powerful professional development opportunities throughout the recipients’ careers in education. Awardees are heralded for what they have achieved… and for the promise of what they will accomplish in the future.

Launched by education reform leader Lowell Milken to celebrate, and elevate, the Awards program showcases in a very public way that greatness in education must be recognized and rewarded. For a quarter-century, the Milken Educator Awards have been instrumental in communicating to parents and policymakers the proven fact that the quality of the teacher in the classroom is the most important school-based factor in determining student achievement.

In the fall, when the notifications are made during all-school assemblies—filled with cheering students, proud colleagues, an entourage of distinguished officials and the media—each new Milken Educator is caught completely by surprise. In a moment's time, they experience well-deserved acclaim and receive what Teacher Magazine hails as the "Oscars of Teaching."

Click here to see Marnie as she is notified of her award in front of the entire school http://www.mff.org/newsroom/news.taf?page=videos&init=JEA&dateYear=&vid=1211

We are all so proud of Marnie as she continues to light the path for our students, opening their minds and hearts to the world.

Cantor Yonah Kliger

Bringing Hanukkah Light with Tzedakah

It’s a religious school routine, and has been for generations. Before you get out of the car in the carpool line, you hang your head over the front seat and put out your hand. 

“I need a dollar.”
“What for?”
“For tzedakah.”

And then, inevitably, the parent opens his or her wallet, fishes out a dollar or any other spare change, and hands it over. Later, as the tzedakah-box gets passed around the classroom, the student is proud to have something to contribute.

Some parents brought this up to me recently as an issue.  They wondered if this request for tzedakah is as meaningful as it could be. Do the kids know where their tzedakah is going? Do they know that tzedakah can take forms other than money? How meaningful is it, really, to ask for a dollar while hanging over the front seat of the car? There must be a better way.

There couldn’t have been a more perfect time of year to begin this conversation. On the brink of Hanukkah, giving is on all of our minds. Without getting too swept up in the frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we seek out ways to give meaningful gifts to family and friends. 

But of course, gift giving was never the original purpose of Hanukkah: this aspect has been amplified due to Hanukkah’s proximity to Christmas, and increased marketing efforts to consumers like us.

Presents are not a bad thing. It feels good to give to those we love. However, there is room in our tradition for adjustment: to include not only gifts for family and friends, but also gifts to those who are in need. This way, the gifts that we give and receive on Hanukkah become even more impactful when we include gifts of tzedakah.

With the help of the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and their new educational campaign entitled ‘Where Do You Give?’, we adjusted our Hanukkah Hagigah this year to include an emphasis on tzedakah. Together, parents and children made lists of the gifts that they have in their lives. With everything ranging from ‘X-Box’ and ‘friends,’ to ‘food to eat’ and ‘supportive family,’ it was clear that our community at Temple Emanuel is very blessed. From there, families used the lists that they had made to think about the sorts of gifts that they might be able to help provide for someone else. From volunteering at a soup kitchen to collecting money for an animal shelter, these gifts, our families decided, would be excellent tzedakah opportunities to try during Hanukkah this year.

This conversation began a few weeks ago between the students and teachers in our Religious School regarding the tzedakah that we collect each week. We heard parents say that they didn’t want our tzedakah collection to begin and end with that dollar from the car, and we agreed. This year, our tzedakah collection will go towards a year-long effort, culminating with Big Sunday (a community-wide day of service taking place this year on May 6, 2012). Each of our Religious School classes has chosen a Big Sunday project to support with their tzedakah, and they look forward to the hands-on connection with the tzedakah they have raised in May. 

As the year continues and we work hard to raise the level and awareness of our focus on tzedakah in the Religious School, we look forward to seeing the way that parents and teachers will partner together to make more meaning out of that moment in the car. 

Perhaps it will begin as our families light their Hanukkah menorahs. AJWS suggests adding the following ritual to your candle lighting and gift giving this year. After saying the traditional Hanukkah candle blessings, consider putting a few coins in the pushke and saying these words:

As we gather by the light of the Hanukkah candles, we are thankful for the many blessings and gifts in our lives. We commit to giving tzedakah so that others may also enjoy these blessings and gifts.

May we continue to have the courage to give generously and the wisdom and patience to give responsibly.

Amen.

Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin

Another Miracle

OK, it was a little early.  But we lit candles anyway, holding them in our hands (wax dripping) as we shared the gifts we received by our work together.   The group was TAL,  a task force dedicated to Transforming Adult Learning at Temple Emanuel. There were  eighteen diverse congregants, --- younger, older, some with kids in our schools, others with empty nests, some in their 20’s and 30’s, others in their 50’s and 60’s, some  who already study  in our adult education  classes, others who have not been inclined to participate.  We’d been guided by wonderful educators, including our own congregants Lynn Flanzbaum and Dr. Isa Aron,  our Congregational Educator Rabbi Sara Mason Barkin and our intern Beth Lieberman.  We’d met monthly since April expanding our ideas of how we learn.  We thought about the differences in Jewish and secular education, and what the goals of Jewish learning ought to be. We spent a fascinating evening exploring “limiting assumptions,” all those reasons why we “can’t” do things differently.  We discovered that in fact we can think about learning differently --- that it doesn’t have to be a class, that it doesn’t have to happen only at the synagogue. We explored new technologies and how they might enhance learning; we imagined one on one learning, including  different models of mentoring across generations. We asked about reaching out specifically to people at different stages in their lives: parents with school aged children, families around b’nai mitzvah, 20’s and 30’s, baby boomers and   older congregants. We asked where learning can take place outside the congregation, including homes, coffee houses, and board rooms. We talked about partnering with other congregations…and we looked at best practices around the county.

We imagined a future five years from now:  a cohort of 20s and 30’s (young professionals, no kids) getting together once a month at a local club or member’s homes for film screenings, dinner parties or other events that reframe what they love to do into something Jewish. We could see families with school age kids engaging in “anytime” learning…parents of b’nai mitzvah kids learning through videos we’d produce on our website how to do aliyot or explore the meaning of bar mitzvah or the prayer service as they wait for their kids in the lobby of the clergy office. We envisioned  parents and 5-7th graders engaging in a tzedakah collective, learning how to be thoughtful philanthropists, researching organizations, that they wanted to support, training these younger kids to be ready for MATCH, Temple Emanuel’ s successful high school philanthropy program. We imagine mentors or coaches that can guide fellow congregants in designing their own Jewish journeys. And we see bringing together  boomers seeking to navigate or deepen the meaning in life’s transitions sharing some of the spiritual issues around growing older.  And we embraced the idea of discovering DIY (DO IT YOURSELF) Judaism through an online “E-Manual” that offers interactive learning, holiday rituals and everything you might want to know to really “LIVE” Judaism within the context of a community that matters. In the months ahead, this group and other interested congregants will begin to make these dreams come true.

So we each held a candle, and as we placed it in the menorah we shared the gifts that each of us received through TAL. For some it was the new relationships, the excitement of making profound connections with people we hadn’t known before; for others it was learning new technical tools, like Google Docs; for still others it was the learning we did together in each of our gatherings. But for all of us, it was the feeling of making a difference in our synagogue, and helping it become a place that really makes a difference in people’s lives. One member said:  “The greatest gift is to feel that I can be a shamash, the candle that lights other candles, eventually illuminating a synagogue of living Judaism.”


A little early maybe.  But a Hanukkah miracle none the less.

Rabbi Laura Geller