SYNABLOG: Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills

Shabbat Learning: A Morning with Brandeis President Fred Lawrence

I’ve often said that I feel so lucky to work in a synagogue that I could and would actually belong to.  Not all Jewish professionals are so privileged!  Here at Temple Emanuel I have found a community that has inspiring services that touch me emotionally and spiritually.  I have found people I connect to through learning, through common interests, and through social events.  Our communal vision matches my own for the best of Jewish life that has many doorways which open for each of us at different times in our lives, depending what it is we are seeking.

 

The first time that I really encountered this feeling was during my undergraduate education at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.  There, I met many kinds of people who opened pathways to experiences that I had never had before – from my first exposure to Orthodox Judaism, to on-campus war protests, classes ranging from sociology to biology.  My world truly opened, and I was able to learn so much about myself and those around me. 

 

Next weekend, on Saturday March 3^rd at the New Emanuel Minyan these life experiences of mine will collide, when Fred Lawrence, the new president of Brandeis University comes to speak at Shabbat services here at Temple Emanuel.  He discussion will address Tikkun Olam (Repairing the World), a topic close to many of our hearts.  President Lawrence is:

 

“One of the nation’s leading experts on civil rights and free expression… his many achievements during his first year at Brandeis include launching a major initiative to enhance the University’s presence in Israel and India, welcoming the most accomplished freshman class in school history, and presiding over the Rose Art Museum’s 50^th Anniversary celebration, all while expanding Brandeis’ fundraising outreach.”

 

I know that this morning with President Lawrence will be engaging and insightful not only for me or other Brandeis alumni, but because we all benefit when our worlds are opened, and we are exposed to new people and ideas.  We have a tremendous capacity at Temple Emanuel to find these inroads to spiritual and intellectual stimulation, and this morning will be yet one more way to stretch ourselves and encounter new ideas.

 

We are so thankful to Temple Emanuel congregants and Brandeis Alumni Gary Yale, Amy Cohen, and Sid Levinson for hosting a Kiddush lunch for this special occasion.  I hope that you will join us for this exceptional morning at the New Emanuel Minyan, when we warmly welcome this guest into our already thoughtful and prayerful shabbat space.

 

Please RSVP as soon as possible, as space is limited.

RSVP to the Office of Alumni Relations at 781-736-4041 or email rsvp@alumni.brandeis.edu. 

 

Rabbi Sara Mason-Barkin

Facebook of Love

Valentine’s Day is most definitely not a Jewish holiday. But LOVE is a most Jewish feeling. There’s even a great Yiddish saying, "Love is good. But with noodles, it’s even better.”   And the idea of something, or someone being “beshert” or meant to be, is decidedly Jewish as well.

 

Meet long-time Temple Emanuel member, Gloria Boraz and her new beau, Stanley Goldblatt.  You may have read about their remarkable love story in last week’s Beverly Hills Weekly, but in case you missed it…

 

Gloria and Stan, both octogenarian widows, recently met each other the old fashioned way… via Facebook. At the urging of one of her grandsons, Gloria only recently signed up for Facebook. Within a few days of joining, Stan sent a friend request to Gloria after recognizing her name as someone he had dated more than 60 years ago when they were both in college at the University of Washington in St. Louis. After some basic Facebook exchanges, which included photos of the two of them talking at a a college formal, the two decided to meet in person, on neutral ground in Las Vegas. (Gloria, a longtime grade-school teacher, lives here in BH, and Stan splits his time between Chicago, and Key West.)

According to Gloria, “My family thought I was crazy for going off to Vegas to meet a man I hadn’t seen in more than 60 years. But we were there for 3 days and we fell in love.” 

Those three days have changed their lives forever. Now, they want to be together for the rest of their lives. Stan and Gloria recently approached me after a Friday night service to share their remarkable story and to ask if I’d oversee a ritual ceremony where they could both thank God for having found each other. It was extremely important to them that they be able to frame their deep connection to each other as well as to our tradition, and most importantly, to God. This would not be a wedding. No ketubah, no rings, no huppah, no vows….just a few family members who would share personal blessings with the lovebirds and smiles all around.

 

Why didn’t their relationship work out all those years ago? We’ll never know. He was 21, and she was 19. And the answer to that question isn’t really what’s important. Their lives needed to take the twists and turns that they did. They needed to meet their spouses, have children and grandchildren. They needed to love fully and bring so much more love and life into the world. Their lives needed to unfold individually….BUT, thank goodness for social media and open heartedness, and being willing to take a chance on something new!

 

This past Sunday we gathered as a small group in the Chapel. With children and grandchildren present, we smiled, laughed and shed a few tears, as these two unlikely lovers shared their gratitude, their joy, and most importantly, their LOVE.

 

Are you on Facebook? Twitter? What are you waiting for?

 

Cantor Yonah Kliger

Cantoryonah/twitter.com

 

 

 

Silence is Golden

Receiving the Ten Commandments was so intense that some Sages tell us the Israelites couldn’t handle it, and instructed Moses to hear them alone. Other said that they heard only the first commandment and became awed. Still others said it was the first word that frightened them. Or, that they heard only the first letter of the first word. That letter is “Aleph,” a silent letter. Silence can bring about awe. Silence can be frightening. But just as that first silent letter of the Ten Commandments led to a vision of a better world, silence can provide each of us with a vision of a better self.

 

Last month, my wife, Michelle, and I spent a weekend at Brandeis Bardin Institute on retreat with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Other congregants were there, too: Jayne Zakheim, Bob and Judy Jason, and our rabbinical intern Sara Abrams. The retreat is designed to explore how the practices of meditation, yoga, and silence, can deepen the Jewish spirit. I was especially moved by practicing silence. From the end of the evening program at about 9:30, until after lunch the next day, we were asked to be silent…to refrain from interaction with anyone or anything.

 

Silence is difficult to do…no reading, no music, no writing…Just being…calming that voice that continues in the head. Rabbi Jonathan Slater warned us that it will seem like we are in a closed phone booth with a maniac screaming at us. He told us not to judge that voice, not to judge ourselves that we weren’t doing it right, just to notice it. The practice forced mindfulness upon me. I had to pay attention to my food, my posture, my walk. It allowed me to pay attention to my breath, and the sounds inside of me. It released me from the thoughts about what I had to do next, and allowed me to listen to another voice that seldom comes through the chatter of my day. That voice helped me to understand myself better…to judge less…to merely notice.

 

Silence is only quiet on the outside. Inside it is the sound of you. Don’t be frightened of it.

 

Rabbi Jonathan Aaron

 

A Modern Day Miriam

This is the week the sea miraculously splits.  The Israelites make it through in safety to the other side.  Moses leads the people in song first… the famous words Mi Chamocha, that we sing in every morning and evening service, were part of Moses’ song of celebration.  And “then Miriam the prophet… took a timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels.  And Miriam chanted...”  Ironic, isn’t it, that there are places in Israel where this couldn’t happen:  Miriam would not have been permitted to sing publically in front of an audience that included men. 

At the core of the controversy is the statement from the Talmud (Berakhot 24a) "Shmuel said: The voice of a woman is nakedness (kol b'isha`erva) as it says (Song of Songs 2:14) 'for your voice is sweet and your countenance comely.'" Another time we can study the halacha around this law; there are many different ways to interpret it and in fact many Orthodox authorities don’t follow this prohibition.  But what is happening within some of the most extreme Charedi Ultra-Orthodox communities in Israel is affecting all of us who care about equality and pluralism in Israel.  For example, recently the annual medical conference of Puah, an organization funded by the Ministry of Health that deals with the intersection of Jewish law and fertility, excluded women as conference presenters. In November, the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Force made it clear that “religious” soldiers would not be excused from official events where female soldiers sing, but they could choose not to attend non-formal events. The debate began in September when several soldiers were asked to leave officer candidate school over their refusal to be in an environment where they would be forced to listen to “kol b’isha.” And I hope you saw the front page article in the Sunday New York Times last month that reported on the horrible intimidation of a young Orthodox girl on her way to school in Beit Shemesh by some ultra-Orthodox Charedim because she was not dressed modestly enough in their opinion.

The good news is that many people in Israel are beginning to take a stand against this kind of gender discrimination. A leader in the struggle is Anat Hoffman, the Director of the Reform Movement’s Israel Religious Action Center. Anat and the Israel Religious Action Center challenged the policy that permitted publically-funded buses to operate in Orthodox neighborhoods to require that women sit in the back of the bus. Last year, after a four-year legal battle, the Supreme Court decided that gender discrimination on public transportation was illegal.  But it still goes on, so Anat and the Israel Religious Action Center have organized over a thousand volunteers to be Freedom Riders on routes where there have been reports about illegal segregation.

Anat is a genuine hero... a modern Miriam.  We have the opportunity to meet her this Friday night as she will be our guest speaker during Shabbat Unplugged services which begin at 7:30 PM.  She will also be speaking after services from 9:15 to 10:15 PM.

Our tradition tells the story that the sea didn’t really split until one of us was brave enough to jump into the water.  If Anat Hoffman had been at the shores of the sea, she would have been the first one in!  Please come to meet her.  She and the work she does in our names is one of the many reasons I am proud to be a Reform Jew.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/israeli_womens_rights_moving_to_front_of_bus_20120125/

Rabbi Laura Geller