|
|
|
|
 |
This past Monday evening, hundreds of people gathered in our sanctuary for prayer and song following the tragedy in Pittsburgh last Shabbat. One of the prayers that Rabbi Frenkel included - "We stand in grief with the devastated families in our nation...we mourn together over this senseless act of violence and destruction" - comes from what would once have been an unlikely place: the Reform Rabbis Manual. It surely says something about the times in which we live that a clergy manual needs to include a prayer "For National or Communal Tragedies." What was once the exception has become routine.
One mother about whom I read this week reports that in discussing the Pittsburgh shootings with her 15 year old son, "He shared that he was sad for the people who died and their loved ones. That it was truly awful. 'But Mom,' he said, 'this is my normal. I was born after Columbine and 9/11. All the horrible things that your generation thought could never happen are just normal for my generation. Terrible people shoot Black people in churches, and LGBTQ people in nightclubs, and kids sitting in classrooms at school, and now Jews in synagogues.' When I asked my son if it was OK that I quote him in a blog piece, he told me, 'It's OK - but please just make sure they know that my generation isn't callous or doesn't care. People always try to say that Gen Z doesn't care about anything. We care a lot. This is just normal for us. We are doing our best to survive.'"
A well-known story has Abraham at Sodom and Gomorrah, replying to a youngster who questions why he continues to protest when no one is listening. To which Abraham replies: "At first I protested, screamed, shouted, in order to change them. Now I protest, scream and should so that they will not change me."
As we approach this Shabbat following the tragedy at Tree of Life synagogue, we can take comfort in these words of Rabbi Tamara Cohen: "It is a Tree of Life - the Torah, the sacred tradition of the Jewish people, the sacred traditions of all peoples, the faith, practice, community, ritual, beliefs, questions, stories, songs, weight of history that get us up again and again, that roots in the pursuit of justice, that keep us gathering, doing what we do, that fuels our anger, our knowing how to walk in grief and fear towards a vision of a healed world that needs us, each of us, in our wondrous difference. May we all hold fast to it."
The American Jewish Committee is promoting this weekend as "Show Up For Shabbat" - to bring Jews as well as non-Jews to synagogue this Shabbat as way of making a statement, creating solidarity, and lodging a spiritual protest against the voices in our culture that spew and spawn hatred. Please join us this Friday at 8:00 pm for our first Shabbat Chavurah service of this year as our Chavurah ensemble along with Cantor Harrison lead us through music that can comfort and inspire. My sermon will focus on "fragility and stability" in light of the tragic events of the past week. And we will wish a long-distance "Shabbat Shalom" to the 37 women traveling in Israel as part of our M'kor Shalom Women's Mission.
On Shabbat morning at 9:00 pm, I will be leading Torah study, and at 10:30 am, Scott Kushner will be leading Spice Up Your Judaism. Also at 10:30 am, I will join Cantor Harrison in the sanctuary as we celebrate Olivia Yaffe becoming Bat Mitzvah. Mazal tov to Olivia and her parents, Rob and Barbara.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Richard Hirsh
If you wish to have a Mi Shebeirach said during our Shabbat services, please let us know by noon each Friday so we can give the names to the rabbis.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WE CELEBRATE
The Bat Mitzvah of
Olivia Yaffe
daughter of Rob & Barbara Yaffe
The Birth of
Ariella Rebecca Levene
granddaughter of Martin & Audrianne Levene
|
|
THE WEEK AHEAD
Friday, November 2
8:00 pm Erev Shabbat Service: Shabbat Chavurah (Sanctuary;
webcast)
Our Chavurah Ensemble joins us.
Saturday, November 3
9:00 am Torah Study, led by Rabbi Hirsh (Chapel)
10:30 am Spice Up Your Judaism, led by Scott Kushner (Boardroom)
10:30 am Shabbat Morning Service (Sanctuary)
We celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of Olivia Yaffe
Sunday, November 4
Daylight Savings Time Ends
7:30 pm Social Action Committee Meeting (Boardroom)
Wednesday, November 7
7:30 pm Social Action IHOC Committee Meeting (Chapel)
7:30 pm House Committee Meeting (Bride's Room)
Friday, November 9
6:30 pm Kabbalat Shabbat Service (Sanctuary)
Join us for pre-service refreshments starting at 6:00 pm.
|
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Please click on each event name for more information or to register for that event.
Now through Friday, November 2 make your donation count 10 times more! If you have not done so already,
designate Congregation M'kor Shalom as your preferred charity and start every visit at
smile.amazon.com.
Click here to
contribute online. Participate at
any level that is comfortable for you. No contribution is too small or too big. Contributors will be recognized in
The Source.
Wednesdays, November 7, 14 & 28, 10:30 am - led by Rabbi Hirsh
Sunday, November 11 - Lunch 12:30 pm, Show 3:00 pm (Off-Site)
Monday, November 12 through Monday, November 19
Wednesday, November 14, 7:00 pm
Friday, November 16, 5:30 pm
Order Deadline: Sunday, November 18 (Pick-up begins Friday, November 30)
M'kor Marketplace: 2018 Gift Gala & Holiday Bazaar
Sunday, November 18, 9:00 am - 2:30 pm
A holiday shopping extravaganza with over 50 new and repeat vendors! Hand crafted one-of-a-kind gifts for everyone. Fashion, Jewelry, Accessories, Judaica, Kids, Sweets, Home Decor, Beauty, and much more!
Friday, December 7 - Dinner 6:15 pm, Service 8:00 pm
|
For late-breaking news, please visit our website at
www.mkorshalom.org.
Note: We hope you appreciate receiving this message. If you do not wish to receive these weekly messages, please
let us know and your name will be removed from the list, or click SafeUnsubscribe at the bottom of this email.
Michelle Bross
Executive Director
Congregation M'kor Shalom
850 Evesham Road
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
(856) 424-4220
(856) 424-2890 (fax)
ExecutiveDirector@mkorshalom.org
|
|
|
|
