Volume 4 | Issue 2

October 2023

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From the Rabbi's Desk

Dear Friends,

I have no words

Literally no words

The catastrophe, the massacres that have

occurred inside the State of Israel

Leave me without words

The tragedy that is unfolding

in light of what has happened

Leaves me without words

The hostages held…….

The unleashing of hate

Yet the support and image of the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate

The White House draped in light blue and white

Leave me without words

As I prepare to leave you

Searching for healing and spiritual wholeness

A sabbatical

In the vacuum of this tragedy

Leaves me without words

With every fiber of my being

I pray for peace

For shalame

For all of us

Perhaps just prayers

Oseh shalom bimramov

May the One who makes peace in the heavens

Bring peace and safety and rebalancing and love to all Israel

And to all humankind

We will gather at 10:30 tomorrow on Shabbat morning,

a zoom service

One week

leaves me with no words

with love and a broken heart, committed to hope

Rabbi Ilene Harkavy Haigh

Link for Shabbat Morning

10:30

One week

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/7259482096

One tap mobile +16468769923,,7259482096#

Password 856328

Meeting ID: 725 948 2096

From the President's Desk

My fellow congregants:

Like you, the glow of the High Holy Days has for me been overshadowed by the horrific violence in Israel. Shir Shalom stands with Israel as it fights for the right to exist in peace.

We are forming an Israel Working Group at Shir Shalom to guide us in our responses to the evolving situation. Our commitment to supporting Israel in these challenging times is unwavering, and we invite you to join us to discuss our planned actions and share your ideas at our inaugural meeting

Join the Shir Shalom Israel Working Group

Meeting on Monday, October 16 at 7 PM

Via Zoom

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7466951483

We continue our work in Tikkun Olam repairing the world, During our Rosh Hashanah service, the Rabbi spoke eloquently about the need for our participation in the effort to combat climate change. She informed us about a nationwide coalition being formed among major Jewish organizations to assist congregations to join the effort.

At the meeting of the Board of Directors the next week, we voted to join this coalition, called the Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition. Dan Gottlieb has agreed to be our liaison with the Coalition. At Shir Shalom, we are forming a new group within the Building & Grounds Committee. This group will be asked to come up with recommendations on how to reduce our carbon footprint. This might take the form of heat pumps in the Sanctuary, solar panels on the roof, or something else.

Since Rosh Hashanah, I have had numerous congregants express an interest in helping. If anyone wishes to join this new effort, please contact me (president@shirshalomvt.org) or Elliot Goodman, Chair of the Building & Grounds Committee (facilities@shirshalomvt.org). This project will need our time and our resources, but we believe it is well worth both.

These two initiatives and all that we do at Shir Shalom are deeply important.

In closing, I want to remind everyone that our website contains a detailed calendar of all that is happening at Shir Shalom as well as other useful information. I urge everyone to explore and use our portal on ShulCloud to its fullest extent. You can access it easily by going to shirshalomvt@org and signing in. If you need assistance in gaining access or in creating an account, feel free to contact Ann Brandon, our Temple Administrator, at the office.

We pray the fighting ends soon with a just result and thank you for all that you do for Shir Shalom.

Sincerely,

Michael Brown

President

From the Education Director's Desk

Hello Shir Shalom!

Because of the drizzle the night of Simchat Torah, the atmosphere felt almost serendipitous.

Did you know that as we restart the Torah, it coincides with the onset of the rainy season in Israel?

On the day leading up to Simchat Torah or during the holiday itself, there is a celebration called Shemini Atzeret. This day brings with it the tradition of reciting a special prayer for rain, highlighting our deep connection and gratitude for nature's life-giving force.

I'm particularly fond of this Mizrahi Jewish prayer that poetically describes different types of rain:

With rains of light, brighten the earth.

With rains of blessings, bless the land.

With joyful rains, fertilize the soil.

With singing rains, make the ground sing.

With rains of life, bring life to the land.

With rains of goodness, help reclaim the earth.

Vermont, as we've all seen, has certainly had its fair share of rain this year. Yet for us, it felt special. After sharing a potluck together as one big community and viewing the Torah in our sanctuary, we cozied up under the outdoor tent. Protected from the raindrops, the kiddos in attendance settled into a movie near the sukkah.

We watched a few selected cartoons from Max Fleisher's Superman (1941-1943), a cartoon series beautifully animated by a Jewish artist and based on a Superhero created by two Jewish Immigrants.

With hopes and prayers for peace,

Rachel Findley

Our Hebrew classes will resume this Sunday, October 15th.

Introducing Our Rabbinic Intern,

Ezra Leventhal

Ezra Leventhal (he/they) is a fifth-year Rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College. Originally from San Jose, Calif., he was born into an interfaith family and found a deep connection to Judaism in his teen years, which he began to pursue whole heartedly in college. He graduated UC Davis in 2015 with a double major in Religious Studies and Political Science, completing an honors thesis in the Religious Studies department. After college, he got his start in the professional Jewish world as a Jeremiah Fellow with Bend the Arc Bay Area. From there, he began working for multiple synagogues in education, administration, and justice work.

Ezra began his journey with HUC in 2019, which means he is a proud member of the Year in Israel cohort sent home by the pandemic. He moved to Jersey City in Fall 2021 and began working at Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, NJ, under the mentorship of Rabbi Philip Bazeley. Ezra is known for his work in creative education, including the creation of his own DND inspired Torah Study, in which students play through the Exodus as a fantasy adventure, help Moses build the tabernacle, solve murder mysteries in Shtetl times, and pursue many other wacky quests.

He currently splits his time between Woodstock, staying in New Jersey with family to attend school, and Durham, NC, where his partner, Maureen, has settled after finishing her graduate degree. When not working on his degree, he loves spending time with Maureen and their cats, reading and listening to media analysis, and watching enough scary movies to write his thesis on them (so far, he’s still sleeping okay).

Letter from the VP of Ritual:

What is the Learner's Service?

On two Saturdays this year, November 4^th and December 2^nd, Shir Shalom will have a Learner’s Service Workshop at 10:30 am. These sessions were originally designed as part of the Bet Mitzvah program, but we have expanded them to invite the entire congregation.

Growing up in a very traditional conservative community, I was taught how to say the prayers, when to stand and when to sit, but I can't remember ever having a discussion as to why those prayers are said. At our Learner's Services, we talk about the significance of the prayers and spend time going over the reading and chanting of those prayers. If there are questions, we stop, listen and discuss.

Here is the opportunity to have your questions answered. I hope that you join us.

A Learner's Service is scheduled once a month. They are always on a Saturday following Friday's live Shabbat Services, they are held in the Sanctuary, and they start at 10:30 am and end at noon.

Here are the dates for 2024:

Nov 4th

Dec 2nd

Jan 20th

Feb. 3rd

March 16th

April 6 and

May 4th

Shavua Tov (may you have a good week)

Art Skerker

Join the Shir Shalom Israel Working Group Meeting on Monday, October 16 at 7 PM

Via Zoom

We are forming an Israel Working Group at Shir Shalom to guide us in our responses to the evolving situation in Israel. Our commitment to supporting Israel in these challenging times is unwavering, and we invite you to join us to discuss our planned actions and share your ideas at our inaugural meeting on

Monday October 16^th at 7pm

Zoom invite: (NOTE: we are using a different zoom number from the one we use for services or Board meetings)

Israel Working Group is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting on Monday 10/16 at 7 pm

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7466951483

Our agenda for the meeting will include a discussion of the following proposed actions:

1. Shir Shalom Congregation Project: Kfar Azza, a kibbutz on the border with Gaza, has been devastated by the Hamas attack and Dr. and Mickey Medzini recommended that we help them rebuild and recuperate.

2. Social Media Awareness: Combat misinformation on social media by sharing accurate, unbiased information about Israel and thereby countering anti-Israel and antisemitic content.

3. Informing the Congregation: Provide regular updates on the current events in Israel to keep our congregation informed.

4. Advocacy: We will collectively let our representatives in Washington, D.C., know that we strongly support continued full U.S. government assistance to Israel.

5. Future Travel Plans to Encourage Israel: We will discuss the possibility of planning our next trip to Israel, to take place once peace has been restored.

6. Community Engagement: Organize a Friday service dedicated to Israel or host a vigil or meeting that we invite the larger community to attend.

7. Other Good Organizations: We will provide information to the Congregation about other worthy organizations that individuals might consider supporting.