What a journey this life is.

We move so fast through each day, that lingering in the moment and savoring the milestone events along the way isn’t always possible. And when we do stop, it’s often a bittersweet reflection – an awareness that time is passing – and with it, our lives are changing. There are graduations, weddings, births, B’nai Mitzvot...the days fly by so quickly that we soon

discover that we’re living the verses of Sunrise Sunset. We can’t capture time in a bottle -- we can barely capture those family selfies along the way.

Time is passing – and with it, our lives are changing.

With every milestone event, we inevitably move forward along this journey

of ours. Yet we can’t help but think how wonderful it would be if we could

simply freeze frame these moments rather than take that first step forward

into a topsy-turvy world of uncertainty. Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove noted that at

every stage in life, there is a human tendency to live in avoidance of the

one thing we cannot avoid -- the unknown future.

With today’s realities, the future certainly seems to invite us to shelter in

place. How simple that would that be!

In this week’s parsha, Shela, the drama of the Exodus, Mount Sinai, and

the building of the Tabernacle are past. The Israelites are enroute to their

Promised Land. Twelve spies are sent to scout out the land. These were all

leaders, princes, heads of tribes. They were trusted.

After forty days, ten of them returned with reports that the land could not be

conquered. They confirmed that the land flowed with milk and honey, but

the people who dwelt there were strong, of great height, and their cities

fortified. The spies, trusted and respected leaders, proposed that the

Israelites remain in place rather than move forward to face the challenges

they witnessed. Their message was one of fear, and it demoralized the

Israelites.

Only two spies, Joshua and Celeb, felt that the conquest of the land was

possible because G-d was with them. Their voices weren’t heard over the

ten.

Fast forward. We find that this week’s parsha is a window into our shared

humanity. How do we, as women who are leaders within our Jewish

communities, meet today’s challenge of relentless change and face an

unknown future? Although there are no deserts for us to cross, armies to

conquer, manna to find for our meals, our future is, nonetheless, filled with

uncertainties. We don’t know what to expect. Our calendars for 2022-2023

have a lot of “either /ors.” The challenge is what to we do with these

uncertainties – how do we lead?

We are told that G-d once whispered to Abraham, “Go forward.” Although

it’s human to have some anxiety about the future; how we go forward is

about the choices we make.

We can choose to embrace the future with strength and courage – moving

forward one step at a time. We can choose to step bravely into that

unknown future. We can choose to lead with spirited confidence. We can

choose to embrace every opportunity to lead as an opportunity to inspire

our members to be all that they can be as Conservative Jewish women. We

can choose to call upon the strength of our bond as Conservative Jewish

Women to help each other in our mission to make a difference.

What I wish for all of us today is the strength to go forward as protectors of

the past, caretakers of the present, and guardians of all that the future can

promise; and the courage to go forward with purpose so that our lives may be a

Shabbat Shalom, 

We dedicated our social action initiative for our Spring Conference 2022 to Ukraine. Our dedication and advocacy continues. We can extend our sense of renewed hope and send our light forward by a donation via The Schechter Institutes, Inc. www.schechter.edu/donate or via Masorti Olami: Support Our Work (masortiolami.org)

www.schechter.edu/donate or via

Masorti Olami: Support Our Work (masortiolami.org)

We are very happy that so many of you were able to join us for our mini–Spring Conference 2022, Beyond the Rabbit Hole –Into CGLR’s SUN-day!

It was great being together, even virtually. We followed the sun, celebrated

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009318809144

It is hard to believe but our B’Yachad Campaign will end next Thursday June 30^th at midnight. If you have last minute donations, please do so online by 11:55 PM ET on Thursday June 30^th. If you send in checks, they need to be to the office by June 30^th. E-card totals will be added to your July report.

·     Next year's theme will be Chazak v’Ematz- Be Strong and Courageous

·     The Torah Fund office DID NOT move!

rebeccatorahfund@gmail.com

to

CGLR Education Chair

on June 25

&

Paula Ferguson,

CGLR Social Media

on July 1

***********************************************

Judie Blumeno, Past Michigan Branch President, and family on the graduation of her grandsons Ryan Rosenthal from George Washington University with dual degrees in Law and International Relations. Ryan will be working for the Treasury Department. And grandson Ben Rosenthal graduated high school and will attend Vanderbilt University.

If you would like to write Judie, her email is Judieblumeno@gmail.com

of happiness!.

Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24 - June 25, 2022

The story of this week’s parashah is a familiar one to many of us: God instructed Moses to send twelve men to scout the land of Canaan. While there, they cut down a branch with a cluster of grapes so big it required two men to carry it. After forty days, they brought back their report: the land flowed with milk and honey, but the people there were powerful giants. Caleb and Joshua alone said that the people should go into the land; the others said that they could not attack the people, who were stronger than them. Tragically, the nation listened to the majority, deciding not to enter the land; as punishment God decreed that they would travel in the wilderness for forty years, and all the men aged twenty years old and up (fighting age), except for Joshua and Caleb would die. The next morning the people changed their minds, deciding to go into the land, despite Moses’ warning not to do so. The Amalekites and Canaanites attacked and defeated them.

The parashah ends with the passage that is the third paragraph of the Shema: the commandment to put fringes (tzitzit) on the corners of our garments to remind us of the commandments.\

The haftarah has a strong connection to the parashah.

Forty years later, Joshua assumed the leadership of the nation and planned once again to enter the land. He sent two men to spy out the land. They came to the house of a woman named Rahav, who hid them from the King of Jericho under the stalks of flax on the roof of her house. After she had diverted the king’s men out of the city, Rahav came to the spies; recounting how her people had come to fear the Lord after hearing about all the wonderful things that they had heard about what God had done for Israel, Rahav exacted a promise from them to save her and her entire family when they took possession of the land. After three days’ time, the spies returned to Joshua, bringing him the positive report that victory would be theirs. Thus, the haftarah is the sequel to the parashah. Joshua is fulfilling the mission at which Moses’ spies failed. Joshua and Caleb alone survived the forty years in the desert because they brought back a favorable report; in the haftarah, Joshua takes his place as the leader of the nation, and a midrash (Numbers Rabbah 16:1) tells us that Caleb was one of the two spies sent into Jericho by Joshua.

In the parashah we are told to place a blue thread in our tzitzit to remind us of the commandments; Rahav placed a red thread in the window as a sign of her faithfulness to the Jewish people.

The parashah warns us to wear tzitzit so that we do not stray (zonim) from God; Rahav is described as a zonah (prostitute or innkeeper.)

A grammatical connection occurs in the use of the verb shelach (send) which gives the parashah its name (Numbers 13:2); this same verb appears three times in the haftarah (2:2, 2:3, 2:21).

Thus, the haftarah demonstrates the fulfillment of the prophecies made so many years before when God promised to bring Abraham’s descendants into this land. Ours is a faithful God.

Join Zoom Meeting: 

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Meeting ID: 630 830 287           

Password: 875936                      

NEW Phone Number

NEW Office Address:

 

520 8th Ave., 4th Floor, New York, NY 10018

Randy Sue Meyers, author of Fashion Orphans.

Sunday, January 8, 2023, at 1pm ET

Lori Banov Kaufman, author of Rebel Daughter.

co-authors of The Thread Collectors.

Join Zibby Owens, famed Bookfluencer, Podcaster, Author, Publisher, and Mother of four, for a conversation about her loves, her losses and how Judaism made it all meaningful.

This is a FREE event!

Zibby Owens wrote Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Less, and Literature as a candid and charming memoir about the ups and downs of midlife through the lens of reading and books. In conversation with Rabbi Sherre Hirsch, Zibby one of American’s most beloved book influencers, will share how books and Jewish wisdom helped her navigate tough times. After losing her closest friend on 9/11 and later becoming utterly stressed out and overwhelmed by motherhood, Zibby was forgetting what made her her. She turned to books, and writing. Just when things seemed particularly bleak, Zibby unexpectedly fell in love with a tennis pro turned movie producer who showed her the path to happiness: away from type A perfectionism and toward “letting things unfold organically.” What “unfolded” was a meaningful career, a great love, and finally, her voice, now heard by millions of listeners, as well as a journey toward Judaism and connection.dress 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)

The 23rd National Masorti Women's Study Day will take place on

in the Ukraine.

Sunday, July 17 @ 12noon EDT- Congregation Kol Emeth, Skokie, IL "Public Policy & Social Action: The Women's League, Sisterhoods, and Resolutions"

Tuesday, July 19 @ 8:00PM. EST MAVEN program- Judaism as a Path for Connection: Love, Loss and Meaning

Saturday, September 10 @7:30PM CDT- Congregation Beth Hillel B'nai Emunah Sisterhood goes to see The Devil Wears Prada

Sunday, September 11 @10:30AM EDT "Public Policy & Social Action: The Women's League, Sisterhoods, and Resolutions

Thursday, November 17 @ 7:00PM ET- WL Reads interviews Randy Sue Meyers, author of the book, Fashion Orphans.

Sunday, January 8, 2023 @ 1:00PM ET- WL Reads interviews Lori Banov Kaufman, author of the book, Rebel Daughter.

Thursday, April 27, 2023 @ 7:00PM ET- WL Reads Alyson Richmond and Shaunna Edwards, co-authors of book, The Thread Collectors.