Doar Shalom: December 31, 2020 / 16 Tevet, 5781
Shabbat Candle Lighting 4:05 pm
Havdalah: 5:19 pm
Parashat Vayechi / פרשת וַיְחִי
ב״ה
Rabbi Hannah's Weekly Reflection
Vayechi – Blessing with Intention
with gratitude to Rabbi Dr. Josh Feigelson
Most Torah scrolls signify the beginning of a new weekly portion by skipping to a new line. Sometimes, when a parsha ends at the very beginning of a line, the next weekly instalment begins at the end of the line, with ample space in between. This week’s portion, however, begins immediately following last week’s reading with no break at all. The phenomenon is called a “parasha setuma” – traditionally translated as a "closed portion," and, of course, our rabbis have made much of questioning the significance. “Satum means “closed,” but carries a gloss of blockage or obstruction.
 
Joseph blesses his twelve sons. Yet the blessings are awkward and disturbing; they are not all generous, and, some, you might not call blessings at all. Jacob’s ability to bless seems bungled. And, indeed, the
un-spacious nature of the beginning of the parsha, “setuma” - choked - is brought to bear.
 
I suggest that Jacob didn’t take a breath. He didn’t pause to feel into the moment of blessing; he didn’t linger in a flood of life-review and gratitude, the appreciation and grace he might have channeled to his children on his deathbed.
 
Our poet Marge Piercy opens Blessings of the Day describing the discipline of reciting the proper blessings at the proper times, saying she is “not sentimental/about old men mumbling the Hebrew by rote/with no more feeling than one says gesundheit.” Piercy’s words notwithstanding, reciting the proper blessing at the right moment is a discipline with its own virtue. It is a steadfast practice of saying “thank you,” however perfunctorily.
 
But the poet goes on to invite us into a more mindful experience of blessing: “the discipline of blessing is to taste / each moment, the bitter, the sour, the sweet and the salty, and be glad for what does not / hurt. The art is in compressing attention / to each little and big blossom of the tree / of life, to let the tongue sing each fruit, / its savor, its aroma and its use.”
 
In considering Piercy’s wisdom, and in considering Jacob’s failure to truly elevate his children with his final blessings, I think about the blessings I have received in which I have felt savored and known. And I wonder, have I, myself, offered meaningful blessings? And if I have, what did I pause to draw upon that brought light and life to my impulse?

Shabbat Shalom
Upcoming Programs and Services
See our new Event Calendar for details and Zoom links for upcoming programs, services, and events.
  • Saturday, January 2, 10 am, Shabbat Morning Service (Parshat Vayechi
  • Saturday, January 9, 10 am, Contemplative Shabbat Service (Parashat Shemot / Shabbat Mevarchim Hachodesh)
  • 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 1 to Thursday January 7
Friday, January 1

9:00 am
Men's Torah Study Group
Parashat Vayechi
Genesis/Bereshit 47:28-50:26
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 892 7010 9069; Passcode: 572724

Friday Tehillim
Friday Tehillim is taking a break this week. John Fuerst is looking forward to resuming next Friday.

6:00 - 6:30 pm
Erev Shabbat Candle Lighting
- led by Mark and Tiferet Welch, with Linda Peritz as Zoom Shamash.
Candle lighting, Kiddush, Motzi. Erev Shabbat blessings are available here.
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 889 0915 5299; Passcode: 966579

Saturday, January 2

10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Shabbat Morning Davening
Gabbaot - Miriam Eguchi, Karen Rabinovitch
P’sukai D’zimra - Marianne Rev
Shacharit - Rabbi Dina Hasida Mercy
Torah Service - Motti Lis
Torah Readers - Karen Rabinovitch, Bette Thompson, Myrna Rabinowitz
Closing - Myrna Rabinowitz
Zoom Shamash - Karen Rabinovitch

Davening will be followed by Kiddush at the same zoom link at around 12:15 pm.

Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 810 4690 4137; Passcode: 050826

Sunday, January 3

7:00 - 7:30 pm
Virtual Evening Minyan 
- led by Rabbi Hannah, with Helen Mintz as Zoom Shamash.
For a transliterated and translated weekday evening liturgy, please click here (pg 69 to 125).
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 869 8675 6931; Passcode: 291406

Thursday, January 7

12:30 - 2:30 pm
Women's Heart Centered Torah Study
Parashat Shemot
Email Dael to join: d.adams@telus.net
Upcoming Zusia Classes
Registration is Open!

Join us for a four week course on facets of health and healing from a Jewish perspective. The course will be led by Matthew Gindin and include fascinating guest speakers in an interview format. Topics include:
Week 1 - Jewish Views of Healing
Week 2 - Living In The Body
Week 3 - Medical Ethics with guest speaker Rabbi Elyse Seidner-Joseph
Week 4 - Healing The Mind with guest speaker Estelle Frankel.

Instructor: Matthew Gindin, with guests Rabbi Elyse Seidner-Joseph and Estelle Frankel.
Prerequisite: None:
Dates: Tuesdays, January 12 – February 2, 2021
Time: 7-9 PM
Investment: Members $60 Non-Members $98
Click here to register.

A dear friend and chevruta study partner of Rabbi Hannah, Rabbi Elyse Seidner-Joseph is a retired/disabled gastroenterologist and community rabbi. A graduate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, she also completed a residency and fellowship at Columbia before joining a suburban Philadelphia practice. She is also a Juliard trained, consummate pianist. Rabbi Elyse was ordained by ALEPH in 2013, and she teaches Jewish Bio-Ethics in the ordination program. She serves on the Chester County Hospital’s Pastoral Care and Ethics Committees.

Estelle Frankel is a practicing psychotherapist, author, spiritual director and popular public speaker. In her private practice in Albany, Ca. she works with individuals and couples providing brief and long-term psychotherapy and spiritual mentoring. Estelle is also a seasoned teacher of Jewish mysticism and meditation who offers workshops on the intersection of psychology and spirituality, Kabbalah and healing, and Musar, Mindfulness and Positive Psychology. Estelle is the author of two books: Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing & Inner Wholeness, a groundbreaking book on the intersection of Kabbalah and depth psychology, and The Wisdom of Not Knowing: Discovering a Life of Wonder by Embracing Uncertainty, a guide to overcoming fears of the unknown and embracing uncertainty.
Save the Date!

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
Registration to open January 7, 2021.
Upcoming Events
The next two book club meetings are taking place on:
Sunday January 10, 2021
7:30 pm
A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency by Seth Klein
A Good War is Canada’s blueprint for effectively tackling the climate crisis, transitioning to a zero-carbon society, and making these transformations in just and equitable ways.
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.
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
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.

Join via Zoom
Meeting ID: 851 6908 0043
Passcode: 190099
Or Shalom Updates
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. 

This week, get to know: Emma Mas
  • A donation was made by Rachel Mayer to the East Side Fund (Food Cards) in Honour of Michael Corber, for his community service.
  • A donation was made by Rachel Mayer to the East Side Fund (Food Cards) in Honour of Zelik, for his service to the community.
  • A donation was made by Myrna Rabinowitz to the Or Shalom Community Fund in Memory of Allan Shnier, Father of Sara Bernstein. May his memory be for a blessing.
  • A donation was made by Earl Goldstein to the East Side Fund (Food Cards).
  • A donation was made by Anna Kramer to the Building Fund in Memory of my nephew Joel Yanofsky ז׳לֹ.
  • A donation was made by Mark and Tiferet Welch to the East Side Fund (Food Cards) in Memory of Mark's father, Victor Welch ז׳לֹ.
  • A donation was made by Charles Siegel to the Or Shalom Community Fund.
  • A High Holidays donation was made by Eli Gorn.
  • Thank you to John Fuerst for his administration assistance to the Or Shalom office.
  • Thank you to Frank Segal for organizing the Men's Torah Study Group on December 18.
  • Thank you to John Fuerst for leading Friday Tehillim on December 18 and 25.
  • Thank you to Noam and Val Dolgin for leading Erev Shabbat Candle Lighting on December 18, and thank you to Linda Peritz for providing tech support.
  • Thank you to Linda Peritz for providing tech support during the Shabbat Morning Service on December 19 and during Sunday Evening Minyan on December 20. 
  • Thank you to Rabbi Susan Shamash and Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan for leading Shabbat Morning Torah Study and Shacharit on December 26, and thank you to Avril Orloff for providing tech support.
  • Thank you to Harley Rothstein for leading Sunday Evening Minyan on December 27 and thank you to Tyche Smith for providing tech support.
  • Thank you to Rabbi Hannah Dresner, Charles Kaplan and Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Martin Gotfrit, Wendy Rubin, Charles Cohen and Lorne Mallin for coordinating Chanting and Chocolate on December 27.
  • Thank you to Dave Kaplan for preparing the December 24 Doar Shalom.
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