Emanu-El Updates

Special Update for August 25th

2008-08-25T20:57:03Z

Three Very Important Things

1) Rabbi Magat is back, and so the summer vacation for Lunch & Learn is over. Lunch & Learn Torah Study will resume THIS WEDNESDAY, August 27 at noon in the BFR. Bring your lunch, some drinks provided.

2) The deadline for High Holy Day requests is August 30. This includes childcare reservations, ticket requests, Yizkor book entries, HHD greetings, and Gesher Program (1st-3rd grade) reservations. The whole shebang. You can do this easily online from the button in the upper right corner of the Temple's home page (www.templesanjose.org), or mail in or bring in the forms from the booklet.

3) If you are expect to have your child attend Religious School this year and have not yet turned in the forms, please do so immediately! If you need forms, contact the School office, 292-3223. In order for your child to attend the first day of school, September 14, all paperwork must be completed by Friday, September 5th.

Emanu-El Update for August 21, 2008

2008-08-21T20:48:19Z

We are collecting school supplies for Friends Outside and the San Jose Family Shelter. If you go to drugstores, office supply stores, etc., take advantage of their sale prices and pick up a few extra binders, packages of paper, pens, markers, etc. They will be put to good use. Donations may be brought to the main office.

UPDATE FOR AUGUST 21, 2008

In this Update:

Upcoming Services
Auxiliary Events
- Brotherhood: Havdallah, Dinner and a Movie, this Saturday, August 23
- “Getting to Know Us” brunch, Sunday, August 24, 10 AM – noon for prospective members
- Craft Night, sponsored by Sisterhood, Wednesday, September 10, 7-9:00 PM
In the Community
- The Eye of Recovery: The 3rd Anniversary of Katrina
sponsored by the JCRC, Sunday August 31, 3:00 PM, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, 2nd floor, 150 E. San Fernando St.

- Refuah Shleymah
- Life Cycle
- Torah Portion

UPCOMING SERVICES

Friday, August 22
6:30 PM Rock Shabbat: a unique and lively Shabbat service in the Temple House. Come prepared to sing and make a joyful noise!

Saturday, August 23
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
6:30 PM Havdalah, Dinner and a Movie (RSVP to brotherhood@templesanjose.org)

Friday, August 29
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service: Labor Day Speak Out
Potluck Dinner and Political Discussion following.

Saturday, August 30
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
10:30 AM Noah Rubin will be called to Torah as a Bar Mitzvah

Friday, September 5
6:15 PM Congregational Potluck Dinner (RSVP to the admin office)
7:15 PM Erev Shabbat Family Service

Saturday, September 6
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyna
10:30 AM Alicia Blumstein will be called to Torah as a Bat Mitzvah

TEMPLE AUXILIARIES…

Sunday, August 24, 10 AM – noon
“Getting to Know Us” a brunch for prospective members
Do you have a friend who is looking for a synagogue home? This is the perfect opportunity to meet our clergy and staff, get tours of the facility, find out about our wonderful programs and school.

Wednesday, September 10 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Craft Night, sponsored by Sisterhood. A no-glue, non-messy evening. Make fun gifts for your friends (or keep them for yourself). RSVP to Bernice Gaon.

IN THE COMMUNITY

Sunday, August 31, 3:00 PM at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 150 East San Fernando, 2nd floor.

A Community Forum:
The Eye of Recovery: 3rd Anniversary of Katrina
Learn what you can do to help bring civic works projects and with them, economic and social recovery to the Gulf Coast.
Sponsored by San Jose Sate University Gulf PCoast Civic Works Project;
San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP, Jewish Community Relations Council of Silicon Valley. RSVP to diane@jvalley.org

Refuah Shleymah – we pray for the following congregants – that they will be returned to good health in short order so they can resume a full life with their loved ones.

- April Miller
- Eva Stanley

Life Cycle Notifications:

We note with sorrow the passing of

Florence Marcus on August 11, 2008 (with apologies for listing her name incorrectly last week). A celebration of her life will be held at Temple Emanu-El on Sunday, August 31st at 2:00 PM.

Torah Portion of the Week from www.urj.org

Parashat Eikev, Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25
Shabbat, August 23, 2008 / 22 Av, 5768
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp.1,379–1,408; Revised Edition, pp. 1,226–1,250;
The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, pp. 1,089–1,114

D’VAR TORAH |
New Words Inscribed on Old Tablets
Jonathan E. Blake

Parashat Eikev presents itself as a sermonic address by Moses to the Israelites, whose principal theme is a reaffirmation of the Sinai covenant. At the center of this address, Moses narrates a version of the events that transpired at Sinai: how he went up the mountain for forty days and forty nights to retrieve God’s tablets; how, upon descending, he encountered the molten calf and in his rage smashed the tablets; how—putting his anger aside—he convinced God not to destroy the people, despite their defiance.

“Thereupon the Eternal One said to me,” Moses continues, “‘Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood. I will inscribe on the tablets the commandments that were on the first tablets that you smashed, and you shall deposit them in the ark’” (Deuteronomy 10:1–2).

Commenting here, the thirteenth-century Spanish exegete Nachmanides (RaMBaN) interprets Moses’s meaning: “After I cast myself down [in supplication] before the Eternal One for forty days and forty nights, was acquiescent to me that that I should write the second tablets. However, the first ones were the work of God, and ‘the writing was God’s writing’ (Exodus 32:16), whereas with these, God instructed me that they should be hewn by my hands, and the writing should be like the original writing which was by God’s finger” (Nachmanides, ad loc.,translation by Jonathan E. Blake, emphasis added).

Nachmanides is clear: God inscribed the first set of tablets; but a mortal, Moses, carved the second. God specifically charged Moses to make the second tablets like the first, but Moses would guide the chisel. Human hands would now reify God’s thoughts.
Moses’s tablet-making provides an apt metaphor for our own religious enterprise.
Reform Judaism recognizes the age-old impulse in Judaism not only to preserve ancient wisdom but also to apply mortal hands to its evolution. That a text or tradition must undergo scrutiny in every age is a standard cherished in Reform Judaism. Each new generation inscribes its wisdom on the tablets of the old. Text and commentary, intertwined one after another, constitute the warp and woof of our Jewish tapestry.

In some cases we have deemed ancient laws outmoded and thus dispensable. We have, as it were, smashed old tablets. Such trends we can observe even in the Bible itself. It is clear, for instance, that when the Torah says, “Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents: one shall be put to death only for one’s own crime” (Deuteronomy 24:16), this ruling “indicates the need for counteracting certain then-prevailing conditions [the likes of which the Bible elsewhere records]” ( The Torah: A Modern Commentary, rev. ed, ed. W. Gunther Plaut [New York: URJ Press, 2005], p. 1,340). The Torah demolishes old norms of collective punishment and inscribes in their place a new principle.

Rabbinic literature is littered with the detritus of biblical dicta no longer functional. Rules pertaining to the sacrificial cult, for instance, are explained away as impossible to implement so long as the ancient Temple lies in ruins and the priesthood remains relegated to ceremonial functions.

Reform Judaism has also smashed once-sturdy tablets. In November of 1885, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler of New York convened a delegation of Reform rabbis, with Isaac Mayer Wise presiding. At this meeting in Pittsburgh, the leaders adopted a seminal text (now informally known as the “Pittsburgh Platform”). The following passage illustrates how Reform Judaism, at certain stages of its development, has unabashedly rejected old norms:
“We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual elevation” (see www.ccarnet.org/articles and search for “Pittsburgh Platform”).
Sometimes, it should be noted, we have put the pieces of the old tablets back together again! Witness how many Reform Jews of late have adopted Jewish dietary practices and the wearing of tallitot, kippot, and even t’fillin ,in sharp distinction to the nineteenth-century attitudes espoused above!

Evoking Moses on the mountain, our ever-evolving faith has also seen fit to inscribe new meanings upon old tablets. The ancient Rabbis famously interpreted the Bible’s harsh “eye for an eye, life for a life” legislation of retribution ( lex talionis )to mean that a person would owe money for inflicting a wound (“an eye’s worth for an eye,” and so on)—but that God forbid one should pay with his limb or his life for an injury! This radical reinterpretation of biblical law is a hallmark of the Rabbinic imagination.

So it is too in Reform practice. These words from another gathering of Reform rabbis, again in Pittsburgh, in 1999, speak to our endeavor: “We are committed to the ongoing study of the whole array of mitzvot and to the fulfillment of those that address us as individuals and as a community. Some of these mitzvot , sacred obligations, have long been observed by Reform Jews; others, both ancient and modern, demand renewed attention as the result of the unique context of our own times” (see www.ccarnet.org/articles and search for “Pittsburgh, 1999”).

In particular, our Movement’s egalitarian emphasis has made it necessary to write a new layer of sacred interpretation upon the old norms. We embrace ceremonies to welcome baby girls into the covenant of the Jewish people, the ordination and investiture of women as rabbis and cantors, and the newly published The Torah: A Women’s Commentary ,which exemplifies our thoughtful interweaving of ancient concerns and modern demands.

There are no stone tablets anymore. We have only parchment scrolls and fragile books—all deservedly revered for the wisdom they offer. But they don’t get the last word. By engaging in Torah study you become part of the story. You, dear reader, are already participating in the next chapter, soon to be written upon the old.

Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake is associate rabbi of Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York. A graduate of Amherst College (1995), he was ordained at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 2000 and was a regular contributor to 10 Minutes of Torah in 2005–2006. You can send feedback directly to Rabbi Blake at office@wrtemple.org.

DAVAR ACHER |
The Crux of the Jewish National Spirit: Autonomy
Zach Newburgh

Rabbi Blake’s interpretation of Parashat Eikev teaches us that we must be actively engaged in the progression of a Judaism that has, and must, continue to evolve throughout the ages. He suggests that our ability to scrutinize our sacred texts is a right contained within the very essence of Reform Judaism. Further, Rabbi Blake proposes that our engagement with Torah is one that allows us to participate in supplementing our already extensive commentary so that we may provide additional meaning to the texts that we hold so very dear to our hearts.

The beauty of Torah stems from the variety of interpretations that can be surmised from its words. God’s wonder and majesty are exemplified within each individual’s commentary, and it would thus be offensive to suggest that only one interpretation of God’s word is valid. The Talmud exemplifies this basic theme, which depicts our basic right to interpret Torah, communicated; namely, that Jewish law is not contained within the heavens, but in the hands of the people ( Bava M’tzia 59b).

However, in whose hands does interpretation reside? Similar to the organization of secular society, tradition states that the majority creates and interprets the laws by which the whole must live. Yet with regard to Torah, tradition suggests that God spoke not only to the entire community, but also to each individual standing at the base of the mountain. We were each given the Torah at Sinai, and we are thus each entitled to own and interpret for ourselves each of God’s words. But in interpreting Torah for ourselves we must also consider the interpretations of the past.

As Rabbi Blake explains, Moses’s speech to the Israelites in Parashat Eikev is centered not solely on the journey ahead, but also on recounting the details of this historic forty-year trek. Moses teaches us an important lesson in this week’s parashah . Like Moses, we must “know from whence came, to where are going” (Akavya ben Mahalalel in Pirkei Avot 3:1).

As the president of NFTY, the official youth movement of the Union for Reform Judaism, this concept of generational leadership has been central to my term on board. Although my term has come to a close, I am confident that this concept will guide the choices I make throughout my life. Whether I am struggling with what to do during my university career or whether I am unsure of how to remedy a situation during parenthood, I am sure that I will look first toward the past in order to determine the path ahead.

Although we have been blessed with the ability to discern for ourselves how we wish to practice Judaism, we are also burdened with a responsibility. We carry the obligation, in all that we do, to engage with the past, so that we too may “know from whence came” and thereby determine to where we are going. Like Moses, it is only with this in mind that we will be enabled to successfully trek through our own deserts and achieve refuge in our own lands of milk and honey.

Zach Newburgh is currently a student at the University of Toronto studying International Relations/Peace and Conflict Studies with a concentration on the Middle East. Prior to serving as NFTY’s fifty-eighth North American president, Zach served NFTY’s Northeast Lakes Region as its regional president and religious and cultural vice president in his senior and junior years, respectively. In Zach’s spare time, he enjoys reading Bradley Burston’s “Special Place in Hell” section of www.haaretz.com , fiddling with his guitar, and jump-starting an athletics program at Kutz : NFTY’s Campus for Reform Jewish Teens.

Emanu-El Update for August 14, 2008

2008-08-14T20:09:20Z

>> PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE A POTLUCK DINNER THIS WEEK ONLY FOR THE TOT SHABBAT FAMILIES.

>> There are still some spaces at the Pool Party and BBQ on Sunday at the JCC pool at the Levy Family Campus. Contact Harriet Reisner if you plan to attend. Entrée BBQ will be provided; bring an appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. Come enjoy a day in the sun or in the shade. We’ll be there (WOTE and Brotherhood) from 11 AM to 3 PM.

>> More volunteers are needed for the High Holy Days, for all services. If you have helped in the past, we can use your help again. If this will be the first year, there will be a training session in September. Ushers, people to distribute and collect prayerbooks and handouts.
Lots of people are needed as ushers, prayerbook passer-outers and collectors, security and more. Please contact the Temple office, 292-0939, or admin@templesanjose.org if you can help.

UPDATE FOR AUGUST 14, 2008

In this Update:

Upcoming Services
Auxiliary Events
- WOTE Meeting Thursday, August 14, 6-9 PM in the Cottage
- Brotherhood: Havdallah, Dinner and a Movie, Saturday, August 23
- Sunday, August 17, 11AM – 3PM, Pool Party & BBQ at the JCC
- “Getting to Know Us” brunch, Sunday, August 24, 10 AM – noon for prospective members

In the Community
3rd Anniversary of Katrina: Support HR 4048, Sunday, August 31, 3:00pm
Grandpals Kickoff at the APJCC, September 19,11 AM – noon.

- Refuah Shleymah
- Life Cycle
- Torah Portion

UPCOMING SERVICES

Friday, August 15
6:30 PM Tot Shabbat and Kabbalat Shabbat Service (all together)
Young families will adjourn to the playground after half an hour for a potluck dinner. Bring something delicious to share – be generous, because people come hungry. Dessert provided.

Saturday, August 16
9:30 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan led by the Weintraub-Lilly Family

Friday, August 22
6:30 PM Rock Shabbat: a unique and lively Shabbat service in the Temple House. Come prepared to sing and make a joyful noise!

Saturday, August 23
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
6:30 PM Havdalah, Dinner and a Movie (RSVP to brotherhood@templesanjose.org)

Friday, August 29
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service: Labor Day Speak Out
Potluck Dinner and Political Discussion following.

Saturday, August 30
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
10:30 AM Noah Rubin will be called to Torah as a Bar Mitzvah

TEMPLE AUXILIARIES…

Sunday, August 24, 10 AM – noon
“Getting to Know Us” a brunch for prospective members
Do you have a friend who is looking for a synagogue home? This is the perfect opportunity to meet our clergy and staff, get tours of the facility, find out about our wonderful programs and school. Have them RSVP to the Temple office, 292-0939.

In the Community:

Sunday, August 31, 3:00pm. MLK Library 2nd Floor,
150 E. San Fernando St. San Jose

The Jewish and African-American communities of Silicon Valley are joining together to acknowledge the victims of Katrina, who are still struggling to recover on this 3rd anniversary of the hurricane, and to spread support for H.R. 4048, the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project. Learn how you can support this effort to bring economic and social justice to the Gulf Coast.
Local survivors will tell their amazing personal stories, State Assemblywoman Sally Lieber will explain the legislation. Help build an African American-Jewish social justice community in Silicon Valley.
RSVP: diane@jvalley.org
Questions: 408.357.7504

Grandpals Shabbat Kick-off Event at the JCC
Friday, September 19, 11:00am-noon
Miss your grandchildren, or wish you had some? Be a Grandpal! Come enjoy some refreshments and find out what this year’s Grandpals Shabbat program is all about. Grandpals Shabbat brings together preschoolers from the APJCC Preschool and older adults, for music, art, storytelling, and Shabbat. The Sept. 19 kick-off event is just for the Grandpals, not for the children. Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center, 14855 Oka Road, Los Gatos. For more information, contact Cyndi Sherman at 408.357.7408.

Refuah Shleymah – we pray for the following congregants – that they will be returned to good health in short order so they can resume a full life with their loved ones.

- Bunny Fisher
- Eva Stanley

Life Cycle Notifications:

We note with sorrow the passing of

Lillian Marcus, mother of Mitzi Sapper, grandmother of Judith & Ernie Sapper. She was 104 years old.

Torah Portion of the Week from www.urj.org

Va-et’chanan, Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11
Shabbat Nachamu, August 16, 2008 / 15 Av, 5768

D'VAR TORAH |
Va-et’chanan : What Is Enough? Where Is Home?
Sue Levi Elwell

Last week, we began the Book of Deuteronomy, D’varim , literally “Book of Words.” The name of each parashah throughout the Torah is determined by significant words, often verbs, that are among the first words of the portion. This week’s “word,” Va-et’chanan , “I pleaded,” sets the tone for a portion that can be read as a primer for biblical—and subsequent—Jewish belief and practice, for both the Decalogue and the Sh’ma appear in this portion. The previous portion sets the stage for Moses’s words to the people Israel “on the other side of the Jordan” (Deuteronomy 1:1) and continues with his recollection of God’s angry response to the people’s rejection of Caleb and Joshua’s report: “Because of you the Eternal was incensed with me too, saying: ‘You shall not enter [the land] . . .’” (Deuteronomy 1:37).

Moses’s pain embedded in this statement erupts as this new portion begins: “ Va-et’chanan . . . I pleaded with the Eternal at that time, saying, ‘O Eternal God, You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness and Your mighty hand, You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal! Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country, and the Lebanon” (Deuteronomy 3:23–25). How often have we begun to tell a story and then been surprised at the power of the emotions evoked by our recall? It is almost as if Moses is ambushed anew by the grief that he has carried since that time when “the Eternal was wrathful with me on your account and would not listen to me” (Deuteronomy 3:26).

As we read Moses’s plea, we hear the echo of one of the names of God in his petition; the use of the verb root, chet-nun-nun , reminds us of, El rachum v’chanun , the “God compassionate and gracious” we beseech in our liturgy (Exodus 34:6 and Mishkan T’filah [New York: Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2007], p. 496). In our parashah , Moses continues, “You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness . . .” (Deuteronomy 3:24). It is as if Moses says, “You with whom I have a long and established and tested relationship—You who have shown me wonders throughout my life’s journey—will You please let me cross over and see ‘the other side’? Will You grant me the grace to continue this journey with the people I have served with faithfulness? My service has not been perfect, and this people Israel has stumbled and erred. But, Holy One, will you please extend your generosity and allow me to cross into this promised—and promising—land?” Moses is not arguing with God
, but rather bargaining, crafting his words to strengthen his case. God’s response is unequivocal: “Enough! Never speak to Me of this matter again!” (Deuteronomy 3:26).

This final book of the Torah is Moses’s diary, his recounting and retelling of his relationships with God and with the people Israel, connections of love and anger and frustration and commitment so compelling that we return to this book again and again. Each time we read these words, we discover new ways to understand Moses’s story, and our story. God says, “Never . . . again,” and Moses responds to this “never” with a version of “forever.” He adjures the people to remember “the things that you saw with your own eyes . . . so that they do not fade from your mind as long as you live ” (Deuteronomy 4:9, italics added). Then he repeats, “This is the Instruction . . . that the Eternal your God has commanded to impart to you, to be observed in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you, your children, and your children’s children may revere the Eternal your God and follow, as long as you live , all the divine laws and commandments, that I enjoin upon yo
u, to the end that you may long endure” (Deuteronomy 6:1–2, italics added). This juxtaposition of never and forever frames the Book of Deuteronomy and this portion, which includes a reframing of the Ten Commandments and also includes the version of our beloved statement of God’s unity and uniqueness, the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 5:6–18, 6:1–9). Moses, facing his own mortality, turns from never to forever, from personal loss to his people’s survival.

Let us return to God’s response to Moses’s plea: “, The Eternal One said to me, ‘Enough! Never speak to Me of this matter again! Go up to the summit of Pisgah and gaze about, to the west, the north, the south, and the east. Look at it well, for you shall not go across yonder Jordan’ (Deuteronomy 3:26¬–27). God’s terse first phrase is, rav lach. Our translation, “Enough!” is alternatively rendered, “Enough for you!” in The Five Books of Moses [Robert Alter [New York: W. W. Norton, 2004], p. 896) and as “You have much” in Ma’ayanah shel Torah (Wellsprings of Torah) (A. Z. Friedman [Brooklyn, NY: Judaica Press, 1990], p. 573).

What is enough? Is this about sufficiency or about abundance? The phrase appears twice in the previous portion to describe God’s response to the Israelites’ tenure, “You have stayed long enough” (Deuteronomy 1:6, 2:3). Alter calls this God’s “impatient phrase” ( Five Books of Moses , p. 896). Rabbi Shefa Gold reads, rav lach , as a reflection of God’s blessing: “You have so much!” She continues as if to say Moses need never speak of this matter again: “I am answering your request in this very moment, but you must open your eyes to receive it. You must lift your eyes beyond your own limited expectations. You must climb the mountain to take in the wide expanse. You don’t need to cross the Jordan. You are already Home” ( Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land [Teaneck, NJ: Ben Yehuda Press, 2006], p. 177).

Because we have read this book before, we know the ending. We know that Moses will not cross over. He will not physically enter Canaan, the Promised Land. Yet we continue to measure and consider each word of his very human journey, for it is our journey as well, a journey we continue throughout our lives. Does Moses’s cry for mercy remind us of the rivers each of us longs to cross? Do we crave abundance when we can live well with sufficiency? Do we have the strength, vision, and courage to cross over from never to forever? What might it take for Moses, or for us, to know that we are already home? 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.

DAVAR ACHER |
Va-et’chanan : Telling the Stories That Bridge Never to Forever
Jonah Dov Pesner

In the play known by the same name, Hamlet’s final dying words uttered to Horatio are as follows:
Had I but time—as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest—O, I could tell you—
But let it be. Horatio, I am dead;
Thou livest; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied. . . .
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.
(William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, act 5, scene 2)

Hamlet’s dying words echo the teaching implicit in Rabbi Elwell’s powerful commentary: the bridge from never to forever is in our stories. As she points out, the book we read these weeks is D’varim, which means “Words.” It is the retelling of the story of Moses and the Israelites at the liminal crossing point between past and future. This is the retelling of the story to the new generation. The generation who experienced slavery, who experienced redemption, who received Torah has passed. Miriam and Aaron are gone. A new generation, born in the wilderness, stands ready to enter the Promised Land—without Moses.

Moses will never cross over. And still, he retells his story and he retells the sacred master narrative. It is through story that we articulate our values, our commitments, our highest aspirations. The Book of Deuteronomy, D’varim , is Moses’s retelling of the story so that this next generation of Israelites, guided by a new leader in Joshua, will understand the content of God’s exhortation: “And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe. . .” (Deuteronomy 4:1). As our stories articulate our values, our laws codify them in practice.

It is not only Moses who must tell the story to bridge never and forever. The Israelites themselves are told, “Do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes. . . . And make them known to your children and to your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9). God and Moses retell the story of revelation at Sinai, as we retell it every year. Though we didn’t stand in that literal place of covenant in history, we enter it through story. The text teaches, “You have but to inquire about bygone ages that came before you, ever since God created humankind on earth . . .” (Deuteronomy 4:32) and then retells the story of creation, Sinai, and the Exodus from Egypt.

Our portion concludes with the famous words of Sh’ma and V’ahavta, including the injunction “Impress [ v’shinantam ] them upon your children” (Deuteronomy 6:7), literally “repeat” them. Again and again we gather with our parents and our children, with our families and our communities, and we repeat those sacred stories that impress upon one another the core beliefs that define us. It is in the telling that we enter forever.
Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner is founding director of Just Congregations at the Union for Reform Judaism.

Life Cycle Notification

2008-08-13T18:00:26Z

Life Cycle Notification

We note with sorrow the passing of Florence Marcus, mother of Mitzi Sapper, grandmother of Judith and Ernie Sapper. She celebrated her 104th birthday earlier this month. A private funeral has been held. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date in San Jose.

EE Update for August 7, 2008

2008-08-07T20:36:16Z

The Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that James Perlstein will be the new Executive Director of Temple Emanu-El. He will be in the office full time beginning August 13th. James will be welcomed with a special Oneg on Friday, September 5th (note revised date), following the Erev Shabbat Family service, which begins at 7:15 PM. We hope you will come to welcome Shabbat and take advantage of this opportunity to meet James.

>> Special presentation: Wednesday, August 13, 12:00 – 1:00 PM in the BFR
Rabbi Joshua Fenton of the APJCC Center for Jewish Life & Learning will come to Temple Emanu-El to give us “A Taste of Melton.” This is a one-hour introduction to the largest adult Jewish education network in the world. Classes are held at the APJCC/Levy Family Campus in Los Gatos on Monday mornings or Wednesday evenings, beginning in September, taught by outstanding local rabbis and teachers.

>> 35 more congregants have responded via the online High Holy Day button on the website. Thank you! Make all your High Holiday arrangements on-line via the button in the upper right corner of the Temple home page (www.templesanjose.org). You can take care of ticket orders, childcare, Yizkor book and more. Save time, paper, and postage. Try it! You’ll like it!

>> Childcare for High Holy Day services is available for children ages 2 through kindergarten. There is no charge for Temple members, but pre-registration is required. On Erev Rosh Hashanah and Kol Nidre, childcare hours are 6:00 – 7:30 PM (for families attending the Family Alternative Service (1st grade and up), and on Rosh Hashanah Day (12:00 AM – 12:30 PM) and Yom Kippur Day (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM). The deadline for reservations is August 30, but please don’t wait that long!

>> We are now accepting applications for volunteers for the High Holy Days, for all services.
Lots of people are needed as ushers, prayerbook passer-outers and collectors, security and more. There will be training available for people helping for the first time. If you want to help WOTE with Break-the-Fast, also let us know. Contact the Temple office if you can help, or pick up a form from the Shalom Table.

>> If you are planning to register a child in Religious School for the fall and have not yet turned in the enrollment materials, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions or need the packet, contact the School office, (408)292-3223.

UPDATE FOR AUGUST 7, 2008

In this Update:

Upcoming Services
Auxiliary Events
- Brotherhood meeting, Sunday, August 10, 9-10:30 AM offsite
- WOTE Meeting Thursday, August 14, 6-9 PM in the Cottage
- Brotherhood: Havdallah, Dinner and a Movie, Saturday, August 23
- Sunday, August 17, 11AM – 3PM, Pool Party & BBQ at the JCC
- “Getting to Know Us” brunch, Sunday, August 24, 10 AM – noon for prospective members
sponsored by the Membership Committee

- Refuah Shleymah
- Torah Portion

UPCOMING SERVICES

Friday, August 8
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service, led by Cantor Intern Meeka Simerly

Saturday, August 9
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan, led by Linnea and Ken Abrams

Friday, August 15
6:30 PM Tot Shabbat and Kabbalat Shabbat Service (all together)
Two potluck dinners will follow (young families on the playground after half an hour). Bring something delicious to share – be generous, because people come hungry.

Saturday, August 16
9:30 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan

Friday, August 22
6:30 PM Rock Shabbat: a unique and lively Shabbat service in the Temple House. Come prepared to sing and make a joyful noise!

Saturday, August 23
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
6:30 PM Havdalah, Dinner and a Movie (RSVP to brotherhood@templesanjose.org)

Friday, August 29
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service: Labor Day Speak Out
Potluck Dinner and Political Discussion following.

Saturday, August 30
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
10:30 AM Noah Rubin will be called to Torah as a Bar Mitzvah

TEMPLE AUXILIARIES…

Sunday, August 10, 9:00 – 10:30 AM Brotherhood meeting offsite
Carrows Restaurant on Saratoga Avenue. RSVP to brotherhood@templesanjose.org.

Thursday, August 14 – WOTE Potluck Dinner and a Meeting
Our first meeting in the Cottage at 6:00 PM
RSVP to Harriet Reisner to let her know you will attend.

Sunday, August 17 –
from 11am to 3pm
TEMPLE SUMMER BBQ & Pool Party
swimming, water slide, and BBQ with friends
at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center
on Oka Road in Los Gatos
Sponsored by Brotherhood and Sisterhood

We provide the main course, chips, drinks and paper goods.
You bring a side dish or dessert to share.
Special Added Attraction: The Brotherhood Band will be playing!

RSVP to Bernice Gaon to make sure we have enough food.
$5 per person or $20 maximum per family
Pay at pool or send check to temple.

Sunday, August 24, 10 AM – noon
“Getting to Know Us” a brunch for prospective members
Do you have a friend who is looking for a synagogue home? This is the perfect opportunity to meet our clergy and staff, get tours of the facility, find out about our wonderful programs and school. Have them RSVP to the Temple office, 292-0939.

Refuah Shleymah – we pray for the following congregants – that they will be returned to good health in short order so they can resume a full life with their loved ones.

- Bunny Fisher
- Karen Hirsch
- Nancy Markham
- Eva Stanley
- Henry Thailer
- Gerry Witkin
- Joelle Wolf

Torah Portion of the Week from www.urj.org

D’varim, Deuteronomy 1:1−3:22
Shabbat Chazon, August 9, 2008 / 8 Av, 5768
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp. 1,312−1,333; Revised Edition, pp.1,161−1,173;
Third Haftarah of Affliction, Isaiah 1:1–27
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, pp.1,590–1,594; Revised Edition, pp.1,180–1,183
To listen to this commentary, please click here.

D'VAR TORAH |
It Is Not Up to Us to Complete the Task
Carol Ochs

In the first portion of the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses begins a series of farewell addresses to the Israelites.

The task before Moses is an enormous one: he wants to remind the Israelites of what came before—interpreted now through his perspective—and he wants to give them a vision for the future. He is entirely aware that the way he structures time in his presentation is extremely important in passing on the faith. He must help the Israelites place all they have experienced, all they expect to experience, and all they will actually experience within the framework of a story—the story of God’s relationship to them.

Like a parent parting from his adult children, Moses knows that things will not always be easy for them. How can he forewarn them of the vicissitudes ahead without destroying their faith? The only tool Moses has at this moment is story, but story is a powerful instrument for overcoming despair, unifying a people, and offering hope. Just like Moses, we pass on the tale of our people— our story—to our children. And the generations before us have passed it along so that in every time and location—and at every trial—we have the story of our people and our relationship to God to help us make sense of what we must face and to give us the strength to do that.

Moses begins his recounting, explaining the division into tribes and tribal leaders because, he tells them, “I cannot bear the burden of you by myself” (Deuteronomy 1:9). He begins with an example of his own limitations as a leader and then reminds the people of the solution that enables them to function despite his shortcomings. Thus right from the start, Moses prepares the people for his death: he cannot bear the burden of managing them all by himself but offers assurance that God will provide guidance and a way for them to thrive with legitimate leadership.

The passing on of leadership and power is always a frightening event in the story of any group. How will they avoid factionalism? How can they maintain the unity forged in these forty years in the wilderness? Moses reminds the people of the time they thought that dividing the group into units of thousands, hundreds, and tens, with a chief for each, was a good idea. They consented then and will retain the division agreed upon at the dawn of their liberation.

The people, through Moses’s leadership, had a legal code that was not distinct from their religious code. They had ritual observances and ethical jurisdictions; they had plans for operating as a unified military force and plans for division of the land and property they would acquire during its conquest.

They had come out of Egypt “a huge throng of astonished human beings” (W. Gunther Plaut, The Torah: A Modern Commentary , rev. ed. [New York: URJ Press, 2005], p. 431). Over time, in the wilderness, they were shaped and transformed into a people whose identity has persisted for three millennia.

When we try to enter into the full experience of D’varim , we think of the many forces that have shaped our own children (a throng of astonished human beings) and how we hope our values will be predominant. How much can we actually say they have absorbed? And how much must we simply hope is already implanted in the marrow of their bones? We know that lectures won’t do it—but stories might. Children like to hear stories about themselves and their ancestors. If told well, the story may be all we need to enable them to face the promised, but as yet unconquered, land that we ourselves cannot enter.

We remind them of their strengths, their faithfulness, their genuine gifts. We also remind them that they make mistakes and will, from time to time, face the consequences. And we remind them that even when we cannot be there, our love is enduring. Yes, that sounds a lot like what Moses is doing. We feel within ourselves his anxiety over what has taken a lifetime to build and his hope that it will last.

The frightening moment comes when we realize we have said all we can say. Now we must bless and release. We turn back to our portion and find that Moses is ahead of us showing us how: “Do not fear them, for it is the Eternal your God who will battle for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22).

It is not up to us to complete the task, and so, with trust that we have made a good beginning, we and Moses bless and release.

Dr. Carol Ochs is director of Graduate Studies and adjunct professor of Jewish Religious Thought at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

DAVAR ACHER |
A Story of History: A History of Stories
Oren J. Hayon

The Book of Deuteronomy presents Moses’s retelling of the Israelites’ journeys, all having led up to their current position: poised on the border of the Promised Land, about to enter an uncertain communal future together. Those who closely study these texts learn that occasionally the details of the stories seem to change from the events recorded earlier in the Torah and Moses’s recounting of them in Deuteronomy. Far from presenting theological difficulties for us, however, these variations reveal the marvelous fractal properties of Deuteronomy: it is essentially a story about a story about a story. And as we add our own stories, the narratives continue to curl in upon each other, coiling like a nautilus.

Dr. Ochs comments astutely on the awesome power that hearing these stories can hold for us and for our children. When the Jewish story functions optimally, none of us encounters its wisdom and power as mere listeners. The greatest wisdom of our narrative legacy may be that it trains us all as storytellers. The more we willingly bind ourselves to these texts, the more we realize that we are the ones writing them.

The challenges facing Moses are the same ones that confront all Jewish leaders: how can we inspire our community with confidence and engender leadership within it? Moses’s solution is the same one seized upon by all effective leaders in our own day: to demonstrate that our stories matter, that we are all instrumental to the creation of the wild and sprawling, glorious history called Torah. The God who spoke the world into being reassures us that our stories matter too, that the things we say to ourselves—about ourselves—are what will ultimately escort us into our communal future together, into the Promised Land of truth, meaning, and limitless happy endings.

Rabbi Oren J. Hayon is associate rabbi at Temple Emanu-El of Dallas, Texas.

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Emanu-El Update for July 31, 2008

2008-07-31T20:59:19Z

The Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that James Perlstein will be the new Executive Director of Temple Emanu-El, beginning August 18, 2008. James is relocating to the Bay Area from Chicago, and brings a wealth of congregational experience. He will be welcomed with a special Oneg on Friday, August 22nd, following the Rock Shabbat service in Temple House. We hope you will come down to welcome Shabbat and take advantage of this opportunity to meet James.

>> Almost 10% of the congregation has already responded via the online High Holy Day button on the website. Thank you! Be part of this important (and easy) shift. You can make all your High Holiday arrangements on-line via the button in the upper right corner of the Temple home page (www.templesanjose.org). You can take care of ticket orders, childcare, Yizkor book and more. It saves time, paper, and postage. Try it! You’ll love it!

>> It’s not too early to sign up as a volunteer for the High Holy Days, for all services.
Lots of people are needed as ushers, prayerbook passer-outers and collectors, security and more. There will be training available for people helping for the first time. If you want to help WOTE with Break-the-Fast, also let us know. Contact the Temple office if you can help, or pick up a form from the Shalom Table.

>> If you are planning to register a child in Religious School for the fall and have not yet turned in the enrollment materials, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions or need the packet, contact the School office, (408)292-3223.

>> New this year: Shabbat Shalom Chaverim: a monthly Saturday program open to members and the community involving participation in Shabbat minyan (for the adults) and wonderful activities for children born between 12/03 and 3/05. There is also time together for music and light refreshments. Contact the school office for more information, or pick up a flyer from the Shalom Table.

UPDATE FOR JULY 31, 2008

In this Update:

Upcoming Services
Auxiliary Events
- WOTE Comedy Sportz night, Saturday, August 2nd at 7:00 PM.
- Brotherhood: Havdallah, Dinner and a Movie, Saturday, August 23
- Sunday, August 17, 11AM – 3PM, Pool Party & BBQ at the JCC
- Refuah Shleymah
- Torah Portion

UPCOMING SERVICES

Friday, August 1
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service: WOTE Summer Shabbat

Saturday, August 2
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan, led by Cantor Intern Meeka Simerly

Friday, August 8
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service, led by Evann Aronoff and Becca Bronstein.

Saturday, August 9
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan

Friday, August 15
6:30 PM Tot Shabbat and Kabbalat Shabbat Service (all together)
Two potluck dinners will follow (young families on the playground after half an hour). Bring something delicious to share – be generous because people come hungry.

Saturday, August 16
9:30 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan

Friday, August 22
6:30 PM Rock Shabbat: a unique and lively Shabbat service in the Temple House. Come prepared to sing and make a joyous noise! Introduction of James Perlstein, new Executive Director.

Saturday, August 23
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
6:30 PM Havdalah, Dinner and a Movie (RSVP to brotherhood@templesanjose.org)

Friday, August 29
6:30 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service: Labor Day Speak Out
Potluck Dinner and Political Discussion following.

Saturday, August 30
9:00 AM Shabbat Morning Minyan
10:30 AM Noah Rubin will be called to Torah as a Bar Mitzvah

Return to top

TEMPLE AUXILIARIES…

Women of Temple Emanu-El
There’s still time to sign up to go to COMEDY SPORTZ
tomorrow night, Saturday, August 2.
It’s a family appropriate showspecial family event, 288 South 2nd St., corner of 2nd and San Carlos, in the Camera 3 building. Parking will be validated. If you would like to eat at the theater, food is available in the lobby cafe before and after the performances at reasonable prices ranging from $3.00 to about $10.00 for hotdogs, salads, soups, or sandwiches.
Family showtime is 7:00 p.m. ending about 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $12.00 for seniors and children.

Contact Estelle Kadis to let her know how many will be attending.

Thursday, August 14 – Dinner and a Meeting (in the Cottage)at 6:00 PM

Sunday, August 17 –
from 11am to 3pm
TEMPLE SUMMER BBQ & Pool Party
swimming, water slide, and BBQ with friends
at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center
on Oka Road in Los Gatos
Sponsored by Brotherhood and Sisterhood

We provide the main course, chips, drinks and paper goods.
You bring a side dish or dessert to share.
Special Added Attraction: The Brotherhood Band will be playing!

RSVP to Bernice Gaon at 269-0131. RSVP to make sure we have enough food.
$5 per person or $20 maximum per family
Pay at pool or send check to temple.

Refuah Shleymah – we pray for the following congregants – that they will be returned to good health in short order so they can resume a full life with their loved ones.

- Bunny Fisher
- Karen Hirsch
- Nancy Markham
- Gerald Prizant
- Eva Stanley
- Henry Thailer
- Gerry Witkin
- Joelle Wolf

Torah Portion of the Week from www.urj.org

Mas’ei, Numbers 33:1−36:13
Shabbat, August 2, 2008 / 1 Av, 5768

D'VAR TORAH |
Preaching on the Haftarah and Reassessing Tishah B’Av
Lewis M. Barth

Parashat Mas’ei is the concluding reading from the biblical Book of Numbers and is filled with a wealth of historical detail. This year, the Shabbat on which we read Mas’ei comes at the beginning of month of Av. If this had been any other month in the Hebrew calendar, we would have read Isaiah 66:1–24, the traditional haftarah for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, "the Sabbath that falls on the first of the month." But instead, we read a special haftarah chosen for the period leading up to Tishah B’Av (Jeremiah 2:4–28, 3:4, 4:1–2). This haftarah from Jeremiah is part of a series chosen just for this season, when we remember the destruction of the First and Second Temples (586 B.C.E. and 70 C.E.).

Jeremiah 2:4–28, 3:4, 4:1–2 is the second of ten haftarot in the series; traditionally, three are read on the Sabbaths prior to Tishah B’Av (Jeremiah 1–2:3; Jeremiah 2:4–28, 3:4, 4:1–2; and Isaiah 1:1–27), and seven are read on the following Sabbaths. These ten are known as, Aramaic words meaning “the three of retribution and the seven of consolation.”

The “program” of reading these haftarot was created in the Land of Israel probably no later than the fifth century c.e. By the tenth or eleventh century, these readings were accepted for these Sabbaths throughout the Jewish world, that is, in Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions; Reform Judaism follows this practice as well.

As will become clear, the contents of these haftarot suggest to me that we might consider a reassessment of the meaning of Tishah B’Av in our congregations and communities. What would it mean if we spent that day in communal self-reflection focusing on self-evaluation regarding the legal, economic, social, moral, and religious issues of our own time—rather than on the ancient destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem? If we were to institute such a program, we would be following the lead of rabbis in the Land of Israel who used these three haftarot, as well as the next seven, as the basis for a remarkable collection of midrashic sermons found in P’sikta D’Rav Kahana (a fifth- or sixth-century-c.e. collection of homilies for special Sabbaths and holidays) that deal with just these subjects.
***
Broadly speaking, the three haftarot of retribution (also called the three haftarot of affliction) were chosen to represent prophetic visions of the sins of the Hebrews that led to the destruction of the Temple. Our portion, Haftarat Shim’u (“Hear!”), derives its name from the first word of the opening verse, Jeremiah 2:4. The prophetic text, and the P’sikta D’Rav Kahana sermon built on it, deal with every aspect of religious disloyalty and the incapacity of the people to hear, understand, and accept responsibility. Put another way: God cannot comprehend why the people would follow other gods. God knows what God has done for the people; why do they not understand, appreciate, and turn only to God?

This idea is expressed in the first verses:
Hear the word of the Eternal, O House of Jacob,
Every clan of the House of Israel!
Thus said the Eternal:
What wrong did your fathers find in Me
That they abandoned Me
And went after delusion and were deluded? (Jeremiah 2:4–5)

In the next verses, the prophet makes a list of what the people never asked themselves, a series of questions that should have reminded them of all the saving acts God performed. The list begins with the redemption from Egypt and concludes with God bringing the people to a “country of farm land to enjoy its fruit and bounty” (Jeremiah 2:7). As is typical of prophetic literature, much of the content of the haftarah is, tochachah , “rebuke,” detailing the defilement of the land, the failings of priests and guardians of Torah, rulers, and prophets—in short, all who disappointed God by turning away from God’s teachings. Only at the end of the haftarah does the prophet offer nechamah , “consolation,” that if the people truly repent and swear, “‘As the Eternal lives,’ in sincerity, justice, and righteousness,” the nations will bless themselves through Israel (Jeremiah 4:2).

Our haftarah opens and concludes expressing one central theme: the need for the people and its leaders to take responsibility for their beliefs and actions. This theme is picked up and strengthened in the midrashic sermon in P’sikta D’Rav Kahana on Shim’u . As is typical of the Rabbinic interpretation, the midrash turns Jeremiah 2:5 from rebuke of the “fathers” to praise, as a technique to cast the “children” in a worse light:
What wrong did your fathers find in Me that they abandoned Me and went after delusion and were deluded? The Holy One said to Israel: “My children, your fathers found no iniquity in Me, but you found iniquity in Me.” ( Pesikta de-Rab Kahana , trans. William G. Braude and Israel J. Kapstein [Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2002], pp. 270–271)
In other words, the midrash reads Jeremiah 2:5 as a rhetorical question with a negative answer—the fathers found no wrong in God! Four examples of “fathers” follow: Adam, Pharaoh (!), Moses, and the ancestors in the desert. A parable in the Adam example suffices to stress the contrast between the ancestors and their descendants regarding the theme “acceptance of responsibility”:

With whom may Adam be compared? With a sick man whom a physician was attending. The physician said: “Such-and-such you may eat and such-and-such you are not to eat.” But the sick man disregarded the physician’s instructions and so found himself on his deathbed. When his kin came in to him and asked him: “Would you say that the physician used bad judgment in this treatment of you?” he replied: “Certainly not. I am the one who brought death upon myself. The physician gave me specific instructions . . . but when I disregarded his instructions I brought death upon myself.” (Ibid., p. 271)
The midrash then concludes with Adam quoting God’s command not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:17). Adam goes on to state that by violating the command, he alone was responsible for his own demise.
The emphasis throughout this haftarah, as well as the ones that precede and follow it, is not on mourning the destruction of the Temple, but on the actions and beliefs of the people who—from a biblical perspective—violated God’s commands. The midrash and the examples it presents stress the capacity for self-reflection and self-evaluation, and an acceptance of responsibility for what has gone wrong. Together, the biblical text and its Rabbinic interpretation offer a transformative model for our thinking about Tishah B’Av. Tishah B’Av could be a day that we spend in self-reflection and self-examination regarding (1) the legal, economic, social, moral, and religious issues of our own time, (2) the ways our congregations and communities might measure ourselves and society against our commitments to social justice, and (3) the obligations we have to take responsibility for helping to make this a better world.

Rabbi Lewis M. Barth is professor emeritus of midrash and related literature, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, California.

DAVAR ACHER |
After Darkness—There Is Light . . .
Linda Joseph

I once was a slave in the narrow straits of Egypt. I stood at Sinai and received Revelation in a moment of glorious quiet. I entered the Promised Land with Joshua, ready to fight battle if required. I lived in Jerusalem when King Solomon built the richly hued Temple. I listened to the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah preach. (And alas! I didn’t believe a word they said!) I witnessed the destruction of the First Temple, and then later the Second Temple.
In every generation my being has lived every moment of Jewish history because these are the stories that run through our Jewish veins. Each tale may not have immediate, obvious relevance, but they provide the deep well of possibility of Jewish resonance, if not for comprehension now, then for later, or for a generation to come. As Robert Coles writes, stories “become for us a signpost, a continuous presence in our lives” ( The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination [Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989], p. 68).
Our haftarah for Mas’ei relates how we departed from God’s ways, regardless of God’s beneficence and despite warnings of dire consequences. The Ashkenazim and Sephardim each offer different coda (see W. Gunther Plaut, The Haftarah Commentary [New York: UAHC Press, 1996], pp. 416, 424). The Ashkenazim give us Jeremiah 3:4, “Just now you called to Me, ‘Father! You are the Guide of my youth.’” And the Sephardim add these passages from Jeremiah 4:1–2: “If you return, O Israel . . . / If you return to Me . . . / And do not waver . . . / Nations shall bless themselves by you.” Both postscripts call for a return from wrongdoing toward responsibility and God, with a redemptive promise inherent in such a return.
We follow the haftarot as they escalate their words and symbols toward the tragic day of Tishah B’Av. We see how again and again the redemptive opportunity was not optioned by us. Layer upon layer of each of the messages of the haftarot read before Tishah B’Av echo the repetition of tragic history, as destruction ensues over and over on the ninth of Av. In contrast, the haftarot that follow Tishah B’Av offer repetitive comfort.
The pattern is the symbolic lesson. After darkness—there is light. Following the preface to tragedy, and catastrophe itself epitomized by Tishah B’Av, there is consolation. There is value in this design of haftarot, a symbolic prequel to our worst of times. There is merit to the commemoration of Tishah B’Av, the remembrance of the blackest historical moments we endured as a people. It becomes an appropriately buffered signpost, so that we can live other yearly moments in Jewish being and celebration.

Rabbi Linda Joseph is the regional director of the URJ Southeast Council and South Florida Federation.

Emanu-El Update for July 31, 2008

2008-07-31T20:56:46Z