UPDATE FOR OCTOBER 8, 2008
May you have an easy fast.
No Wednesday Hebrew or TJS classes this week.
The Temple office and Preschool will be closed on Thursday, October 9 for Yom Kippur.
All services will be at the Heritage Theatre in Campbell.
Street closing: Friday, October 10, 7 AM to 5 PM
Myrtle Street from Taylor to Hedding (the last coat of resurfacing)
In this Update:
Upcoming Services
Sunday Schedule
Adult Education: there’s still time to join the classes!
Sunday classes
Wednesday Beit Midrash & Adult Ed
Month of Mindfulness Zen Meditation starts this Sunday October 12
Auxiliary Activities
Game Night Saturday, Octber 11, 6-10 PM
- Torah Portion of the Week
UPCOMING SERVICES
Wednesday, October 8 Kol Nidre
6:00 PM Family Alternative Service (1st grade and up)
8:00 PM Kol Nidre Service
Thursday, October 9 Yom Kippur Day (Temple offices/Preschool closed)
9:00 AM Children’s Service (Preschool – Kindergarten)
10:00 AM Yom Kippur Morning Congregational Service/Gesher Program
12:30 PM Sermon Discussion with Rabbi Magat
1:00 PM Tikkun Olam Committee Discussion
2:00 PM Yom Kippur Afternoon Service, including Healing Service and Haftarah
3:30 PM Musical Interlude
4:30 PM Concluding Service, Yizkor, Neilah and Havdallah followed by Break the Fast
Friday, October 10
7:30 PM Erev Shabbat Service: Ask the Rabbi
Saturday, October 11
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan led by Maggie and Bob Cant
10:30 AM Adam Heerwagen, son of Hilary Schneider and James Heerwagen, will be called to Torah as a Bar Mitzvah
Monday, October 13
5:30 PM Bring your own dinner: eat in the Sukkah
6:30 PM Erev Sukkot Service (in the Sukkah)
Tuesday, October 14
8:00 AM Sukkot Morning Service
Friday, October 17
7:30 PM Erev Shabbat Service
Saturday, October 18
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
10:30 AM Scott Lunell, son of Anita Lunell, will be called to Torah as a Bar Mitzvah.
Monday, October 20
6:30 PM Erev Simchat Torah Service and Consecration of new students in our Religious School
Come see a Torah scroll unrolled around the sanctuary and hear the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Genesis as we celebrate the never-ending cycle of Torah.
Tuesday, October 21
8:00 AM Simchat Torah Morning Service and Yizkor
Sunday Schedule: October 12
9:00 AM Hebrew Classes/Confirmation
10:00 AM Brotherhood Meeting (Cottage)
10:15 AM Jewish Studies
10:15 AM Adult Intermediate Hebrew Conversation
10:15 AM Wisdom of Heschel (Cantor Unterman)
10:30 AM Adult Aleph Hebrew (introductory)
11:30 AM One Heart, Two Homes: Israel and the Sacred Identity of American Jews (Rabbi Magat)
11:30 AM Jewish Ethics (Cantor Unterman)
1:00 – 5:30 PM Zen meditation retreat (followed up with 4 Wednesday night classes) Can pay at the retreat.
Wednesday Adult Ed: resumes October 15
6:15 PM Western Faiths (Cantor Unterman)
7:15 PM Rock and Roll with Rabbi Magat
7:30 PM Eastern Religions (Cantor Unterman)
7:00 PM Meditation Classes (4 weeks, following up on Oct 12 retreat)
AUXILIARY ACTIVITIES
Saturday, October 11
6:00 – 10:00 PM Game Night (sponsored by Sisterhood and Brotherhood)
Bring a game, a snack to share. Suggested donation: $5 per person. Pizza and drinks provided.
Sunday, October 12
9:00 AM Brotherhood Meeting in the Cottage
Sunday, October 12
1:00 – 5:30 PM Zen Meditation Retreat
The lead-off event for the Month of Mindfulness
Sunday retreat, followed by Wednesday evening classes, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, October 15, 22 and 29, and November 5. Retreat only: $40 for Temple members, $60 for non-members; retreat plus classes: $75 for Temple members, $100 for non-members. Wednesday classes are cumulative and students are expected to attend all four sessions. RSVP to admin@templesanjose.org; can pay on Sunday.
Sunday, October 19 10:30 AM
Larry Magid, host of CBS radio and TV, noted child safety expert and writer for the SJ Mercury News will speak at Emanu-El on how to keep your children and grandchildren safe online and recognize warning signs or issues. sponsored by Brotherhood. RSVP to brotherhood@templesanjose.org
Saturday, October 25, 2008:
Shabbat in Nature at Sunol Regional Park
Shabbat Morning Service, Potluck Lunch, hikes and more….
No minyan at the synagogue this week.
Sunday, October 26
Brotherhood and Sisterhood Trip to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco
Thank you for the great response to this trip! There are still a few places left on the bus (but you can go up on your own as well). We prefer prepaid museum admission (gets you $1 off and gets us a better head count for the tour, because space is limited).
Depart Temple by handicap accessible bus at 12:45 pm
Return to Temple at approx. 5:30 pm
COST: $15.00 per seat
MUSEUM COST:
Admission: $9.00 adult, $7.00 senior, under 18 free, Museum members free.
Our docent-led tour is at 3:00 pm. and will last approx. 60 minutes. Brotherhood and Sisterhood are hosting the tour which is included in the prepaid museum admission. Spaces are limited.
For questions: Contact Barbara Berlant (e-mail preferred) auntbarbara@comcast.net
Saturday, November 8 6:00 – 10:00 PM
Diaspora Dinner XVI: The Jews and Cuisine of Scandinavia
A five-course gourmet dinner and history presentation by Jonathan Hirshon.
Space is limited to the first 80 diners. Your check ($49 per person) payable to Brotherhood guarantees your spot. Optional wine-pairing $18 per person (can be shared).
Torah Portion of the Week:
can be found on the URJ website, http://urj.org/torah/
Haazinu, Deuteronomy 32:1–52
Shabbat, October 11, 2008 / 12 Tishrei, 5769
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp.1,555–1,566; Revised Edition, pp.1,398–1,412;
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary , pp. 1,251–1,270
Haftarah, II Samuel 22:1–51
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 1,626–1,630; Revised Edition, pp. 1,413–1,417
D'VAR TORAH |
The Last Lecture: Moses’s Valedictory Song
Sue Levi Elwell
What would you say to the people you care about if you knew you were about to die? How would you choose and position your words to reflect your deepest commitments? How would you capture and then keep the attention of your listeners and, without self-pity, give them the tools to carry on after you are gone? Every year, when we Jews are focused on questions of life and death during the High Holy Day season, we read Moses’s last lecture, Moses’s final song.
Few of us have the opportunity—and the skill—to articulate a valedictory speech, a legacy of direction to those we love. Moses’s words as presented in Parashat Haazinu and preserved for so many centuries pose more questions than answers. These words serve to provoke more than to calm, to challenge rather than to comfort.
Moses’s words are in the form of a poem, Shirat Haazinu , also called the Song of Moses. In the Torah scroll, and in some printed versions, these forty-three verses are written in two columns, the only poem that appears in this format in the Torah. This ancient form was chosen by the editors of the Torah to underscore the importance of Moses’s last words, even as the poem tells of a"relationship gone awry" (Andrea L. Weiss, in The Torah: A Women’s Commentary , ed. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Andrea L. Weiss [New York: URJ Press, 2008], p. 1,251).
The poem begins with great strength as Moses addresses not only the people, but also the heavens and the earth:"Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; / Let the earth hear the words I utter!" (Deuteronomy 32:1). He continues by invoking the natural water sources above and below and comparing his words to their power:"May my discourse come down as the rain, / My speech distill as the dew, / Like showers on young growth, / Like droplets on the grass" (Deuteronomy 32:2).
As Moses stands at the edge of the land he will not enter, he pours out his heart to his people. The words that tumble from his mouth are full of love, but as so often happens when we desperately hope that our listeners will take our words to heart, Moses turns to rebuke, warning, and threat. While God is"upright," the Israelites are"Unworthy children— / That crooked, perverse generation" (Deuteronomy 32:4–5). Employing a rich range of metaphors, Moses speaks of God as father, as companion, as eagle, as nursing mother. In spite of this nurturing, the Israelites"grew fat and gross and coarse— / They forsook the God who made them / And spurned the Rock of their support" (Deuteronomy 32:15). Only when God realizes the potential drawbacks of destroying the people does God decide to preserve them—and honor the covenant. Moses recalls God’s words:"I might have reduced them to naught, / Made their memory cease among humankind, / But for fear of the taunts of the foe, / Their enemies
who might misjudge / And say, ‘Our own hand has prevailed’" (Deuteronomy 32:26–27). Instead of offering us a nechemta , a message of comfort and healing, the final images of the poem are of an angry, vengeful God:"O nations, acclaim God’s people! / For He’ll avenge the blood of His servants / Wreak vengeance on His foes, / And cleanse His people’s land" (Deuteronomy 32:43).
Who is Moses as he delivers these words? Does Moses feel caught between his loves: his love of God and his love for the Jewish people, described here as hopelessly entangled in conflict? Is the weather-beaten, still powerful patriarch expressing his own pain and terror as he reflects on this strained relationship, a relationship that represents his lifework, his raison d’etre?
As Moses concludes, his tone markedly changes:"He said to them [all Israel]: Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching. For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life; through it you shall long endure on the land that you are to possess upon crossing the Jordan" (Deuteronomy 32:46–47). Moses has been speaking to the Israelites for over forty years as God’s mouthpiece, attempting to serve both his God and his people. Here, at the last moment, he wants desperately to give direction and guidance to the people he is about to leave. With words of love that reflect his life’s passion, he reminds them that true service to the Holy One demands all our energy—indeed, our entire beings. He points the people to read these words as one part of a much larger corpus:"take to heart all the words ," those spoken today and those spoken on our long journey fr
om slavery to freedom, on the shared and arduous trek toward the land of promise. These teachings are"your very life."
The parashah concludes with one of the most poignant exchanges in the Torah. God tells Moses,"Ascend these heights . . . to Mount Nebo . . . and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites as their holding. You shall die on the mountain that you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your kin. . . . You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it—the land that I am giving to the Israelite people" (Deuteronomy 32:49–52). Perhaps this excerpt from the poem "I Wasn’t One of the Six Million: And What Is My Life Span? Open Closed Open," by the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, best describes our patriarch at this moment:
. . . I still have the fire and the smoke
within me, pillars of fire and pillars of smoke that guide me
by night and by day. I still have inside me the mad search
for emergency exits, for soft places, for the nakedness
of the land, for the escape into weakness and hope,
I still have within me the lust to search for living water
with quiet talk to the rock or with frenzied blows.
Afterwards, silence: no questions, no answers.
( Open Closed Open, trans. Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld [New York: Harcourt, 2000], p. 3)
Moses’s song is spent, and he is silent. We remain, to consider his direction, his passion, his angers, his loves. We remain, to weigh Moses’s words and to contemplate his, and our, end.
. . .
As we complete our Torah study for 5768, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to study with you through this extraordinary medium. I am particularly thankful to the faithful editors who enabled us to study together: Debra Hirsch Corman, Audrey Merwin, and Rabbi Joan Glazer Farber. I am also indebted to the many colleagues who extended and expanded our inquiry and insights through their davar acher contributions. We can keep in touch through e-mail: slelwell@urj.org. L’shanah tovah!
Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell , Ph.D., serves as the director of the URJ Pennsylvania Council and the Federation of Reform Synagogues of Greater Philadelphia and as co-president of the Women’s Rabbinic Network. You can contact Rabbi Elwell at slelwell@urj.org.
DAVAR ACHER |
Unfinished Journeys
Eric Eisenkramer
In her d’var Torah, Rabbi Elwell describes Moses as a "weather-beaten, still powerful patriarch." He is an elderly, exhausted man, a man who fears that his life’s work may be erased by his death. Moses knows that he cannot enter the Promised Land and that his journey of forty years will end just short of the destination. As he prepares for his own death, Moses must have felt deep sadness and disappointment, perhaps even despair, at not being able to cross the Jordan River.
Like Moses, we too will not complete all of our journeys in this life. There will be tasks left undone, goals not accomplished, dreams left unfulfilled. No matter how hard we work, there will be tasks we leave behind. The higher goals that we pursue, creating peace and repairing our world, cannot be completed in one lifetime. It is our very mortality that prevents us from achieving all that we would hope.
Yet the Torah teaches us not to despair over the unfinished work. In the Book of Numbers, Moses ascends the heights of Abarim, to view the land before he dies. God then tells Moses to"single out Joshua son of Nun, an inspired individual, and lay your hand upon him" (Numbers 27:18). Joshua will continue the journey, leading the people to the Promised Land.
As Moses ordained Joshua, we too pass on the unfinished tasks to those who come after us. It is the next generation that offers the possibility of completion and redemption.
In the Talmud, we read,"Rabbi Eleazar said in the name of R. Chanina: The disciples of the wise increase peace in the world, as it says: ‘All thy children shall be taught of the Eternal, and great shall be the peace of your children’ (Isaiah 54:13). Read not banayich [your children] but bonayich [your builders]. Not my children, but my builders" (Babylonian Talmud, B’rachot 64a).
In our lives, we may not be able to accomplish our loftiest goals, like creating shalom, peace, in this world. Therefore, we teach our children to be our builders and, like Joshua, to continue the journey toward the Promised Land.
Rabbi Eric Eisenkramer is the rabbi of Temple Shearith Israel in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He also writes a blog, The Fly Fishing Rabbi, www.flyfishingrabbi.com , about trout, God, and religion.
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