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Announcements
In Bloom from Linda Shriner-Cahn on Vimeo.
Wednesdays, May 31
2:00-3:00pm
The Book of Exodus: Torah Session
with Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn
We will be doing a deep dive into the Book of Exodus. All you need to be part of the class is access to a Jewish Bible.
It's a great way to prepare for Passover months in advance! We will be recording classes should you miss one.
It's never too late to join! You can jump in and out any time.
Please email Rabbi Linda if you are interested
RabbiLindaSC@congregationtehillah.org
Family Shabbat Morning Service
Saturday, May 13 at 10:00
Join us as we celebrate our Hebrew School students
RabbiLindaSC@congregationtehillah.org
Adult Bnei Mitzvah Class
Please email Rabbi Linda if you are interested
RabbiLindaSC@congregationtehillah.org
Rabbi's Message
May 25, 2023
5 Sivan 5783
Erev Shavuot
49th day of the Omer
Dear Friends,
We are about to celebrate the festival of Shavuot, an agricultural pilgrimage festival for the barley harvest. For many, these next three days would be filled with eating dairy products, recalling those we love who are no longer living, studying together, and hearing the Ten Commandments read from the Torah.
We will be studying, praying, and eating together tonight with our friends at Riverdale Temple and gathering together at Untermyer Park on the second day. This year, you will be on your own for the first day of Shavuot, free to find your own way of observing this holiday. On some level that seems quite appropriate since Shavuot is a holiday whose identity is not as strong as that of our two other pilgrimage festivals (Sukkot and Pesach). I invite you to use that first day to tease out what this spring holiday means to you.
Along with the Torah reading which includes the Ten Commandments, we have a haftorah that is the vision of a prophet. Sinai is a startling moment, with the people arrayed around the mountain, each experiencing the moment in their unique fashion. We can only imagine that the pyrotechnics of this moment were beyond anything that the people had experienced to date. The text intimates that they heard the lightning, as well as saw the thunder.
Mitzvah of the Week
We observe the 75th year of Israel’s founding with many emotions. The country is at an inflection point and it is not clear what the next few years will bring. May the nation’s best days be ahead.
With Yom Haatzmaut and Earth Day coming within days of one another, I would like to direct our attention to an organization within Israel whose environmental work and work in building bridges with its neighbors deserves our attention and support -- the Arava Institute.
“Here, the idea that nature knows no political borders is more than a belief. It is a fact, a curriculum, and a way of life.”
I share with you their mission statement:
OUR MISSION IS TO ADVANCE CROSS-BORDER ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION IN THE FACE OF POLITICAL CONFLICT.
This is to ensure that:
- The shared environmental resources of the region will be protected from further degradation and loss.
- Scarce environmental resources will no longer be a source of conflict.
- Environmental cooperation will become a model for cross-border cooperation in all other areas of the conflict.
Visit the ARAVA INSTITUTE for more information.
It is institutions like these that give us hope. Tikvah.
