Dear Temple Sinai Members and Friends,
A new car. A new home. A new job. A new book. A new dress or suit. These are things that bring excitement and joy to most of us. Something new is something special. So it is, at least for me, when I begin reading a new book of the Torah, particularly the fifth and last book Deuteronomy.
This coming Shabbat when I open the scroll and see how the right side of the Torah has gotten so much fuller and the left side so much smaller, I realize that this year, 5785, is beginning to come to its end and a new year is approaching. With Deuteronomy, it is time for me to begin working on my High Holy Day Sermons. It is time for me to be sitting down with Cantor Shir and the Temple Religious Practices committee and begin focusing on the many parts of the High Holy day services that need to be put in place so the special days are as special for everyone as they should be. It is time for me to begin focusing on the Adult Education offerings for the coming year.
Temple Sinai will be offering an Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah program. Some people have already expressed interest in becoming an Adult Bat Mitzvah, so please let me know if you wish to be a part of this wonderful experience. I would like to have a class which would be a follow-up to those who have been Bar/Bat Mitzvah whether as an adult or a child. I am wondering if the congregation is interested in a class that traces the Jewish belief in God throughout our history. This class would also open a discussion of who God is to each participant. What do you think? I am toying with the idea of teaching a class on some aspects of Kabbalah. If there are any other classes you would be interested in, please let me know. Rabbi Marci Bloch of Trustbridge Hospice is hoping to teach a class on Ethical Wills.
This coming Sunday, August 3rd is the 9th of Av. As many of you know this is a day that marks many of the greatest tragedies in our Jewish history including: the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE and the second Temple in 70 CE; commencement of the First Crusade on 15 August 1096; expulsion of Jews from England on 18 July 1290; expulsion from France on 22 July 1306; expulsion from Spain on 31 July 1492; Germany’s entry into World War I on 1–2 August 1914; SS commander Heinrich Himmler formal receiving approval from the Nazi Party for “The Final Solution; and on 23 July 1942 the mass deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka began.
On Sunday I am intending to observe Tisha B’Av with a special ceremony to be held at 4:30 pm. I am choosing 4:30 pm as that was time of day, during the summer, when most days of work at Auschwitz ended. They began, by the way, at 4:30 am. There will be some special readings capturing the events of the day. We will recite kaddish and sing Hatikvah. As the traditional understanding of the destruction of the first Temple is that it was caused by the sins of the Jewish community at that time, we will have a “community” Tashlich ceremony. We will throw bread into our pond adjacent to the Temple as a way of throwing away the sins of our People. I hope that you can find a half hour to join me on that important day and do so regardless of whether you are fasting or not.
My prayers for a week filled with all of God’s blessings.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Steve