Sukkat Mitzvah – Our Mitzvah Sukkah

September 28-29, 2018 / 20 Tishrei 5779

Shabbat Chol Hamo’ed Sukkot

Torah Portion:    Exodus 33:12-43:26, Deuteronomy 16:13-17

Haftarah Portion:  Ezekiel 38:18-39:16

“Sukkat Mitzvah – Our Mitzvah Sukkah”

Dear Friends,

The Festival of Sukkot is our Jewish harvest festival, the forerunner of America’s Thanksgiving holiday.  It is also a deeply spiritual and mystical holiday as it embodies all the elements of Tikun Olam, World Repair.

We build fragile and flimsy huts covered with green branches and eat and live in them for the whole week (some sleep in them, too).  The roof is open to the sky so that the stars can be seen at night. Wind blows through and rain drips within.  Sitting in the sukkah, we celebrate the abundance of food that is being harvested at this time of year. In addition to Sukkot being our annual celebration of abundance, it is also an encounter with poverty, hunger and homelessness.  We become aware of those who have no food at all and those who have no homes.  Yes, for one week, our Jewish tradition has us consider what it is like to be homeless! We have numerous texts in the Hebrew Bible about harvest time.  We are continually instructed to leave food in the field and at the corners of our fields for those who have nothing - the widow, the orphan and the stranger.

This year, as you celebrate our fall harvest festival, think of those who sleep in the cold every night.  Think of those who forage for food every day.  Think of those who live in endless poverty. Find some way to help.

Shabbat Shalom and Hag Same’ach – Happy Holiday,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Jewish History

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

September 21-22, 2018 / 13 Tishrei 5779

Shabbat Ha’azinu

Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1 - 32:52

Haftarah: II Samuel 22:1-51

“Jewish History”

Dear Friends,

How important is learning our history today? In this week’s Torah portion, Moses began his final address to the Children of Israel with the words, “Remember the days of old. Consider the years of ages past.” Three thousand years ago, as the Israelites were preparing to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Moses was the telling the Israelites to know their history and remember the past.

History is critical to Jewish identity.  It is a fundamental pillar of Reconstructionist Judaism.  For us, history is more than learning stories about long ago.  It is our way of connecting with our ancestors who lived in the past.  It is our way of understanding how they lived as Jews, celebrated Jewish life, and added their own unique creativity to our evolving religious civilization. As Elie Wiesel teaches history bonds Jews to a “collective memory.”

As we enter a New Year, I encourage you to pick up a book or watch a video about Jewish history. Discover your roots in Jewish history. Then, be ready to embrace the Jewish future.

Zay a mentsch – Be a Good Person.

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

Circling and Spiraling Through Life

September 14-15, 2018 / 6 Tishrei 5779

Shabbat Vayelech - Shuvah

Torah: Deuteronomy 31:1 - 31:30

Haftarah: Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20; Joel 2:15-27 | Shabbat Shuva

“Circling and Spiraling Through Life”

Dear Friends,

This Shabbat we celebrate “Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Returning.”  The name comes from this being the Shabbat between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, the ten days of repentance.  During these days, we are supposed to be thinking about our lives and how we will ‘return’ to our true paths in life, how we will ‘return’ to God and how we will ‘return’ to the beginning of the year and get a new start on life.  Usually on this Shabbat I start humming Harry Chapin’s famous lines:

All my life's a circle;

Sunrise and sundown;

Moon rolls thru the nighttime;

Till the daybreak comes around.

All my life's a circle;

But I can't tell you why;

Season's spinning round again;

The years keep rollin' by.

Chapin talks about life being a circle.  We go around and keep coming back to the beginning, only to start over again. Judaism teaches about ‘returning’ or ‘shuvah’ while it guiding us towards ‘repentance’ or ‘tshuvah.’  Both Hebrew words sound the same because they essentially have the same meaning.

Shabbat Shuvah, however, is not about returning to some place to start over again, because we can never return to any exact same place. Rather, Shabbat Shuvah recognizes that life is a spiral.  With each new year, we realize that we are one year older, wiser and more experienced. Life has changed us and we are further along on the path of life. Each year, we return and we grow.  For me, “All my life is spiral…”

Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tova – a Good, Healthy and Happy New Year to all!

Zay a mentsch – Be a Good Person.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

To Life

Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow

September 7-8, 2018 / 28 Elul 5778

Shabbat Nitzaveem

Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9 – 30:20    Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9

“To Life”

Dear Friends,

In a few days, our congregation’s  ‘annual convention’ the High Holidays will begin.  We will gather for prayer, reflection, and repentance. We will also gather to build community, renew relationships, and participate in the life of our congregation. This is exactly what Moses is telling the Children of Israel to do in this week’s Torah portion.  As we approach the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is preparing the Israelites to unite as one community and follow the Jewish tradition.  He encourages them to enter into a covenant with God and follow God’s ways.  He tells them not to worship idols, only the one God of all time and space. He tells them that understanding and following the ways of the Torah are not too difficult and not foreign.  The Torah is within our hearts, minds, and souls. Finally Moses tells the Children of Israel to ‘Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.’  We Jews celebrate life.  That’s why we toast on a glass of drink with the expression, “L’chayim – to life.”

As we enter the High Holidays, take to heart Moses charge. Let’s continue to build our holy Shir Hadash family as a place of prayer, reflection, repentance, community, relationship, and participation – a place of covenant, Torah, and life!

Dawn joins me in sending you and your families our fondest wishes for a Shanah Tovah – a good year, a healthy year, a happy year, a prosperous year and a year of life!

Zay a mentsch – Be a Good Person.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow