Doar Shalom: January 14, 2021 / 1st of Sh'vat, 5781
Shabbat Candle Lighting 4:21 pm
Havdalah: 5:34 pm
Parashat Vaera / פרשת וָאֵרָא; Rosh Chodesh Shvat
|
|
|
Rabbi Hannah's Weekly Reflection |
|
With the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, our parsha begs the question of free will. How could God rob Pharaoh of his freedom, and then punish him for deeds over which he had no control? In answer, Maimonides teaches that it’s possible for a person to commit so many sins, that his punishment becomes loss of the freedom to abandon his evil ways. This is Pharaoh, “punished” by the natural consequence of his prolonged ruthlessness – a hardened heart, paralyzed, no longer capable of mercy.
Indeed, it’s only with the sixth plague, after six episodes of Pharaoh’s hard-heartedness, that the Torah tells of God playing a role in stiffening Pharaoh’s resolve. Maimonides suggests that in the character of Pharaoh Torah offers the archetype of a person so totally entrenched in bad behavior that he simply loses the ability to choose any other path.
The psychologist Eric Fromm says that, “…evil act[s] tends to harden a man’s heart, that is, to deaden it. Every good deed tends to soften it, that is, to make it more alive. The more man’s heart hardens, the less freedom does he have to change, the more he is determined by previous action. But there comes a point of no return when man’s heart has become so hardened and so deadened that he has lost the possibility of freedom.”
Fromm speaks with awareness of Vaera’s narrative. The story of Exodus is the story of freedom, freedom of self-determination, freedom to accept responsibility for our choices, freedom to be guided in those choices by Torah, and freedom to choose life and blessing.
What we learn from the archetype of Pharaoh is the importance of exercising our freedom in every moment, the freedom to correct our courses again and again exercising the muscle of teshuva, lest we lose the ability to change. To be free is to be mindful, flexible, and soft.
Shabbat Shalom!
|
|
Darkness: A Koreh Open Mic
In the midst of this winter darkness, we invite stories that emerge from this period of gestation, slow becoming, and generative solitudes. For some of us this is a dark night of the soul, for others a time for an intensified interiority and its magic. We also welcome the darkly humorous, the absurd and the nonsensical aspects of journeying through this time.
Our Readers: Alex Leslie, Marguerite Pigeon, Cecil Hershler, Charles Cohen, Dael Segal, Els Kushner, Esther Tennenhouse, and Tiferet Welch
No registration is required to attend this event, all are welcome.
Meeting ID: 851 6908 0043
Passcode: 190099
|
|
Learn how to bake Carmel Tanaka's unique Jewpanese Maple KaboChallah
An invitation from Carmel (pronouns: she/her): At the ripe old age of 27, I learned to bake my first challah. My teacher was none other than the late Robbie McConnell, former Publisher of the Montreal Gazette. Using his recipe as the foundation for my challah, join me in adding kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), courtesy of the one and only Kristin Eriko Posner of Nourish Co., and a splash of 100% “True North strong and free” maple syrup!
Register here by January 29 at noon to receive the recipe and ingredient list, and to receive the Zoom link. |
|
All are welcome to attend!
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 883 5053 1867
Passcode: 753561
|
|
The next two book club meetings are taking place on: |
|
Sunday February 14, 2021
7:30 pm
A Mind Spread out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
|
Alicia Elliott asks essential questions about the treatment of First Nations persons, while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, and suggests powerful tools for a better future. |
|
Sunday March 14, 2021
7:30 pm
The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole
|
The Skin We’re In exposes the long history of Canadian settler colonialism and white supremacy by weaving the history of anti-Black racism in Canada and by demonstrating that contemporary experiences are a mere continuation of state violence and oppression towards the Black Canadian community.
|
|
|
Click here for more information on both books, and for ways to obtain the book, ebook, or audiobook.
Join both book talks via Zoom. Meeting ID: 862 0308 3571; Passcode: 363634
|
|
Upcoming Programs and Services
|
|
See our new Event Calendar for details and Zoom links for upcoming programs, services, and events.
|
|
-
Saturday, January 16, 10 am, Shabbat Morning Service (Parshat Vaera)
-
Saturday, January 23, 9 am, Shabbat Morning Torah Study and Shacharit (Parshat Bo)
-
Saturday, January 30, 10 am, Shabbat Morning Service (Parshat Beshalach)
|
|
Happenings:
Friday January 15 to Thursday January 21
|
|
Friday, January 15
9:00 am
Men's Torah Study Group
Parashat Vaera
Exodus/Shemot 6:2 - 9:35
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 892 7010 9069; Passcode: 572724
1:00 pm
Friday Tehillim
- led by John Fuerst.
Enough doom and gloom. Join Friday Tehillim this week to learn and daven Psalm 148 - to praise the Holy One from the heavens and to praise the Holy One from the earth. Here is a link to Psalm 148, in Hebrew and English translation .
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 873 2214 6883; Password: 200901
6:00 - 6:30 pm
Erev Shabbat Candle Lighting
- led by Rabbi Hannah.
Candle lighting, Kiddush, Motzi. Erev Shabbat blessings are available here.
Join via Zoom. Join Zoom Meeting. Meeting ID: 890 1632 0888;
Passcode: 487812
Saturday, January 16
10:00 am - 11:45 am
Shabbat Morning Service
(Parshat Vaera)
Gabbai - Avi Dolgin
P’sukai D’zimra - Nomi Fenson
Shacharit - Charles Kaplan
Torah Service - Charles Cohen
Torah Readers - Heidi Mannis
Healing & Closing - Rabbi Hannah
Zoom Shamash - Helen Mintz, Linda Peritz
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 810 4690 4137; Passcode: 050826
10:15 - 11:15 am
Shabbat Sheli
- with Sammy Fogel
For registered students (ages 3-5).
7:30 - 9:00 pm
Darkness: A Koreh Open Mic
No registration is required to attend this event, all are welcome.
Meeting ID: 851 6908 0043
Passcode: 190099
Sunday, January 17
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
More Talmud
- led by Rabbi Susan Shamash
We continue our deep study of Women in the Talmud. This week we begin learning the final chapter - Women and Loss: Role versus Reality. We are all experiencing a lot of loss. Perhaps there is wisdom in the Talmud to help us “cope”!
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 885 0664 7133 ; Passcode: 896584
7:00 - 7:45 pm
Virtual Evening Minyan
- led by Rabbi Hannah.
Zoom Shamash - Helen Mintz
This week, we’ll open our Sunday Night Minyan with a brief ritual to re-claim our virtual sanctuary. You are invited to have a fragrant spice or herb - besamim - on hand for our ritual. An aromatic tea bag would be fine! For a transliterated and translated weekday evening liturgy, please click here (pg 69 to 125).
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 846 4320 6695; Passcode: 188964
Tuesday, January 19
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Zusia: The Bet Midrash
-
Speaking of Health: Jewish Wisdom on Caring For Self and Others with Matthew Gindin
Thursday, January 21
12:30 - 2:30 pm
Women's Heart Centered Torah Study
Parashat Bo / פרשת בֹּא
Torah Portion: Shemot/Exodus 10:1-13:16
The class is currently at capacity, please email programs@orshalom.ca if you’d like to be added to the waitlist.
|
|
Registration is Open!
People can be joined to Israel by birth or by choice. Who, though, is a born Jew? Opinions on this have shifted over the last four thousand years of the Jewish journey, and today this is a vexed topic. Must one have a Jewish mother, as Talmudic tradition came to assert, or does a Jewish father also make one Jewish? Join Rabbi SaraLeya Schley for a historically and legally informed exploration of this issue.
Instructor: Rabbi SaraLeya Schley
Prerequisite: None:
Dates: Tuesdays, February 9 - March 2, 2021
Time: 7-9 PM
Investment: Free to Or Shalom Members; Non-Members $98
Rabbi SaraLeya Schley is a colleague of Rabbi Hannah’s as one of the six rabbis who have been ordained by the Integral Halachah Institute of the Jewish Renewal movement as dayanim (adjudicators of Jewish law from a Renewal perspective). As such, she is deeply committed to a 21st century halachic process and to sustaining commitment to traditional Jewish practice.
In 2019 she was designated a Senior Rabbinic Fellow by the prestigious Shalom Hartman Institute, and since 2003, she has served as spiritual leader to several communities in California and Washington including Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, from 2008-2014. Prior to rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Schely practiced as an Ob-Gyn for 36 years.
She has three married adult children and is savta to three, including one grandchild in Vancouver! With family in Vancouver, Rabbi SaraLeya has joined Or Shalom on numerous Shabbatot, and now we welcome her to teach in an important area of her scholarship.
|
|
“Rising Song Circles are groups of music lovers in Jewish communities around the world who join together regularly to study nigunim, nusach, and Jewish musical wisdom.”
Our circle will be guided by a wealth of virtual master classes created by Joey Weisenberg,
and by our own traditional/creative blend of davenology.
If you are unfamiliar with the Rising Song Institute, please check the website:
The goals of an Or Shalom Rising Song Circle include:
- Learning traditional nusach and both old and new niggunim
- Encouraging more people to lead us in prayer and/or to enrich prayer at Or Shalom
- Providing an environment for creating new individual and group musical expressions
What do you need to join the Or Shalom Rising Circle?
- A desire to learn and to lead
- Some musical talent
- Commitment to monthly circle gatherings (over zoom, for now)
- Willingness to spend some time between session watching videos, and singing
Financial investment:
- $18/month for the Rising Circle Master Class.
Next Step:
with your interest. Joey will meet with us to help us get started!
|
|
- A donation was made by Sally Thorne and Mary Adlersberg to the Or Shalom Community Fund in Honour of Sheryl Sorokin and Hana Wosk.
|
|
-
Thank you to John Fuerst for leading Friday Tehillim on January 8.
- Thank you to Linda Peritz for providing tech support during the Contemplative Shabbat Service on January 9, and during the Sunday Evening Minyan on January 10.
- Thank you to Michal Fox, Avril Orloff, Marianne Rev, Alexis Kellum-Creer, Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta, and Tammy McCurry for organizing the book club meeting on January 10, and thank you to Linda Peritz for providing Zoom tech support.
|
|
Our sincere apologies if your name has inadvertently been missed. We still love you and appreciate all that you do! Please don't hesitate to contact the office office@orshalom.ca about an omission. We promise to acknowledged you in the next Doar.
|
|
Your tax-deductible donation to Or Shalom can be used to honour an accomplishment or life event, say thank you for a mitzvah or job well-done, or remember a loved ones passing.
|
|
The membership committee's Getting to Know You interview series is an opportunity for Or Shalomniks to get to know one another and learn about the fascinating stories and knowledge our community has to offer.
|
|
Register here. We will be reading Dr. Kimmerer’s book in our Tikkun Olam Book Group on Sunday May 9.
|
|
Mascall Dance presents: Ancestral Voices with Rabbi Diane Elliot
Join us for an online weekend workshop:
February 5th - 7th, 2021
Registration is by donation.
Open to all levels of voice and movement experience.
|
|
Dates and times (Pacific Standard Time):
- Friday, February 5, 1-3:30 PM
- Saturday, February 6, 10 AM-12:30 PM and
4-6:30 PM
- Sunday, February 7, 1-3:30 PM
|
|
Have something to post in the Doar?
Just fill in this handy web-form to included your article in future editions of the Doar Shalom, Or Shalom's weekly e-newsletter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
