Shir Chadash Newsletter
June 4 - 10, 2020
12 Sivan - 18 Sivan, 5780
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Dear Shir Chadash community,
It feels like a long time since I wrote an ‘ordinary’ Shabbat email; and a great many painful and extraordinary events have taken place in the interim. You have already heard from me once this week about the events surrounding the killing of George Floyd. But of course there is more to say.
In my first email, I quoted the verse from the heart of the Torah that states, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ I find myself sitting with the question, ‘how do I do that when my neighbor is different from me?’ It’s for this reason that I have been trying all week to bring myself into contact with voices I have not previously heard - voices from different communities and different demographics to my own, voices with which I might not necessarily agree but which still command my attention.
I feel that I should share statements from some of our associated organizations. You can find a new resolution from the Rabbinical Assembly
here
.
And this week my colleague Rabbi Yoav Ende of the Hannaton Educational Center in the Galilee wrote to me and my colleagues:
"...when I see the photos and videos of marches and confrontations, I feel as if I am there, experiencing the shocking events with you...we support you, we are thinking of you, and we know that the people of the United States have the power to endure and overcome. The Jewish community in the US has a particularly strong and stirring legacy of fighting on behalf of civil rights and a humane, democratic society. These characteristics are central to the fabric of American society, to Judaism, and to the story of the Jewish people."
But for me this week is all about listening. The word shema is central to Judaism and it spans a range of meanings from ‘hearing’ to ‘listening,’ to ‘understanding,’ to ‘acting properly.’ I am hoping that as we listen, we come to understand better; and out of that understanding, to know better how we must act.
Shabbat shalom,
Warmly
Rabbi Silver
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Virtual services and
pre/post Shabbat materials
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We hope that playing these in the background has been getting you in the mood for Shabbat!
Here
is our Shabbat playlist and for our younger members,
here
is the Shir Chadash Youtube page, where you can spend some time with Miss Meryl and the Shabbat dinosaur!
While
this
is not a Shabbat book, I post it in the hope that it’s helpful to our young families in addressing the events of the past week.
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Please use
this link
for Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday night at 6:15 pm.
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Shabbat morning liturgy at home
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I hope that by now we are in the habit of making a computer-free time on Shabbat to pray, to reflect and to study.
You can find an online Siddur
here
- please download before Shabbat.
At the end of
this article
is Rabbi Wayne Dosick’s prayer to say in place of Kaddish.
And here is a prayer for these times adapted from the words of Rabbi Naomi Levy:
Help us, God, to unite our great country
In the wake of this racial injustice and violence.
Teach us to listen to one another,
To heal and to hope.
The days that lie before us are ours to shape.
Let them be days of repair,
Days when we join together
To build a new future,
To rise above our differences,
And to welcome in a new time of understanding.
Bless us God, with ears to hear,
Hearts to love,
And hands to reach out,
So that we can ensure liberty for all, dignity for all and life fo all.
Teach us, God, to pledge our allegiance
To every soul in need
And every person in pain
And every child praying for a better tomorrow.
Amen.
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Torah: Numbers 4:21 - 5:10
Maftir: Numbers 5:8-10
Haftarah: Judges 13:2-25
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Torah study
The Torah reading for this week is in the red panel above. If you do not have a Humash at home you can find it on the link below. We are reading Triennial Year 1, but you might like to read the full portion (“
Full Kriyah
”).
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Brochure
Our Shabbat brochure with the Verse To Live By, donations, yahrzeits, and simchas for this week is
attached
. You might wish to take special notice of those who are sick and take a moment to direct your thoughts towards them.
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Prayer for Medical Workers
Please continue to say this prayer for all those who work to keep us healthy and safe.
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Holy One
We ask your blessing for our doctors
for our nurses
for all our hospital workers
who stand between the living and the dying
as Aaron once stood.
Help them to know they are not alone
as they undertake the overwhelming holy work
of deploying and organizing,
of caring and healing and comforting.
Bring them strength
and fortitude
and grace.
May the work of their hands be blessed.
And we say,
Amen.
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Spread the Smiles
We know that these last couple months have been unlike any other and that we have all had to adjust to our new way of life in quarantine. We hope that along with all the change we have experienced, there have been moments of laughter and lots of smiles - and we would love to hear about them! Please share a fun moment or experience you have had while staying at home - whether it's a piece of writing, or maybe a photo - we would love to share a smile with the rest of the community.
If you would like to contribute,
Here are some entries from this past week:
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Shoshana Sernik, granddaughter of Fran and Barry Ivker, graduated with honors from both Columbia University and Jewish Theological Seminary (List College) last week. They attended 3 virtual commencement ceremonies and a celebratory party without leaving home. Mazel tov to the whole Ivker/Sernik family!
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Karen and Leopold Sher are celebrating a very special anniversary this week in isolation! Congratulations on 45 wonderful years of marriage!
Also, join us in wishing Leopold Sher a great big Mazel Tov for being awarded Tulane Law School's Monte Lemann Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching!
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"More of a guffaw than a smile..." By Stan & Ellen Kessler
It was early in our home sheltering, right before Passover. Neither Stan nor I had ever ordered groceries before, and because our children (and especially our grandchildren!) told us to use Instacart, (had never even heard of it), we did.
I asked Instacart to shop for the groceries at the Rouse's market near us because we needed mostly non-Passover items.. I had seen some jars of gefilte fish there, so I ordered that, too. I waited expectantly for the delivery.
To my consternation, almost everything that appeared in our delivery was wrong-size, item, kind.I was disappointed. But the response to my request for gefilte fish was worthy of inclusion in this section: my shopper didn't see the gefilte fish (the about 28 oz size), so she satisfied my request by a 4" square packet of.......cat food. Cat food!
Although I wasn't very amused initially, after I cooled down, we started laughing and still are! I have shared this story with some friends and with my children, and everyone enjoyed it, too. 🤗
Fortunately Kosher Cajun had the fish and we ordered it, some more matzah and other things that we really didn't need for just the two of us. We used Zoom to be with the family, and one of the best parts was telling the cat food story!
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Our Moving Up Ceremony was beautiful! Thank you to all who joined us!
Click
here
for a a treasure trove of pictures, following our Shul School students throughout the year.
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Join us
online
for our regularly scheduled Sisterhood Tanakh class as
w
e continue our journey through the book of Judges.
Wednesdays at 10 am
For questions or for more info about Sisterhood, contact Charisse Sands
504-231-6464
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Join us at 9:15am for our Sunday minyan followed by a check-in and a virtual L'Hayyim!
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Looking Ahead
(Click on the bold writing to join the ZOOM meeting)
SOME OF THE LINKS HAVE CHANGED.
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Friday, June 5th
Saturday, June 6th
Sunday, June 7th
Tuesday, June 9th
Wednesday, June 10th
Thursday, June 11th
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Friday, June 12th
Saturday, June 13th
Sunday, June 14th
Tuesday, June 16th
Wednesday, June 17th
Thursday, June 18th
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Chevra Thilim Memorial Park
Cemetery Plot for Sale
A plot at Chevra Thilim Memorial Park at Iberville and Helena streets has become available for sale at a discounted price.
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Buy Your Own Siddur Lev Shalem
Thanks to the generosity of our donor, we are able to offer the Siddur Lev Shalem for purchase at a price of $40.00 (a discount of $9.00 from the list price).
Additionally, anyone who wants to can borrow an 'old' Siddur Sim Shalom.
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Jewish Community Health Care Workers
Take Home Meal Program
The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans is pleased to announce the launch of the Greater New Orleans Jewish Community Health Care Workers Take Home Meal Program. This program will benefit Tulane Medical Center, Touro Infirmary and Ochsner Health System. Over the next eight weeks, this program will serve 5,000 take-home meals to frontline medical staff and healthcare workers.
Three local kosher restaurants and caterers – Kosher Cajun, Rimon and Dvash – are collaborating to provide healthy, delicious meals to all three hospital campuses each Tuesday evening.
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Community Events and Announcements
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In a special Zoom meeting, Briann F. Shear was installed as president of the New Orleans chapter of Hadassah on May 26. Marla Kameny, Southern region President conducted the installation.
Joining Shear on the Hadassah board are Cindy Denn and Evette Ungar, education vice-presidents; Suzanne Stone, program vice-president; Marcela Boskis de Totah and Charisse Sands, fundraising vice-presidents; Fran Simon, marketing/communications vice-president; Teri Gross and Ilana Reisin, membership vice-presidents; Vickie Dahlman-Anger, advocacy vice-president; Michelle Allen-Hart, recording secretary; Angela Gordon, corresponding secretary; and Arlene Hines, treasurer.
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Statement on the death of George Floyd
The Jewish Federation of Greater Orleans: Goldring Family Foundation Center for Jewish-Multicultural Affairs is deeply saddened, and deeply troubled, by the unnecessary and unjustified death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Monday, May 25, 2020.
The Center for Jewish-Multicultural Affairs encourages the appropriate authorities – including the U.S. Department of Justice – to hold the offending police officers accountable under the law for this horrific incident. While we hope that the demonstrations currently taking place in Minneapolis and around the country are non-violent, we stand with those protestors in calling for a law enforcement culture in communities across America in which all citizens, regardless of race, are served and protected rather than victimized.
Our thoughts are with Mr. Floyd’s family and all those who have been affected by this tragedy.
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There is a new issue of Southern Jewish Life available, and just like last month, it is available online-only due to the coronavirus restrictions. The new issue can be viewed online at
this link
, or a PDF can be downloaded
here
. They also offer a weekly e-mail newsletter that you can sign up for by emailing
subscribe@sjlmag.com
. You may also use that address to request that the PDF version be emailed to you.
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Have you ever used
ZOOM
? We are holding meetings and classes using this online program. Please look at this tutorial so you can join us! We hope to see you soon!
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Chaverweb Online Member Access
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Watch the video above that another congregation put together with some basics about how to use ChaverWeb. (Please note - some of the functionality in this video is specific to the Beth Chaim Congregation and not yet available to Shir Chadash at this time.)
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Did you get your welcome email?
If not, please contact the synagogue office.
Subject line: Welcome to Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation's Online Member Access!
From: donotreply@chaverweb.net
With this online portal, you can manage your personal synagogue business online:
- Manage your account online
- Set a secure private password
- Update your info (name, address, photo, link yourself to family members and Yahrzeits)
- Check your account balance
- Make payments and donations
- RSVP for upcoming events (coming soon)
- and so much more!
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Rabbi
Rabbids@shirchadash.org
Executive Director
execdir@shirchadash.org
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Director of Youth Education
and Community Engagement
communityeducator@shirchadash.org
Sarah Lustig
Office Assistant
shirchadash@shirchadash.org
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