In this Newsletter:
. Meditation, Shabbat service & Sam’s B’Mitzvah Feb 5!
. International Holocaust Remembrance Day
. Cantor Wunch tries to make sense of Colleyville Texas
. Lunch and Learn Feb 15
. Details about our Purim event coming soon!
. Check out past offerings if you missed them
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Dear Members:
Although the snow is piled up and the days are cold, this Hebrew month of Adar, which begins on February 1, is the gateway to spring, a month for celebration and happiness. In Adar we celebrate the festival of Purim, when we are instructed to party and enjoy. Adar offers us a moment to move from a sorrow mindset to a joy mindset. The cold, hopefully, starts to decrease, the snow melts; by the end of February, perhaps there are signs of spring.
That all seems hard and far away right now as we cope with pandemic restrictions and struggle to find meaning in this situation. Still, there are reasons to celebrate; the days are getting longer, the temperatures are starting to be less brutal, the sun sparkles on the snow.
Thank you to the organizers and participants of the January 23 poetry morning. It was an enjoyable and very popular event. There have been requests for a repeat and the board will pay attention to those requests. We will be posting our poets’ work on our website soon.
Please join the MacCool-Garber families to celebrate Sam’s B’Mitzvah on February 5, another moment of joy. We are confident it will be a wonderful simcha.
CSL still needs volunteers. We need your energy, ideas and commitment. There are opportunities for board membership and to join or start committees. All of you contribute to the joy and meaning of our congregation.
Board of Directors
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International Holocaust
Remembrance Day
January 27, 2022 was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as Cantor Wunch noted in our January service. The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops in 1945. Congregation Shir Libeynu remembers the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, and their families.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a time to reaffirm our commitment to counter antisemitism, racism, and all other forms of intolerance, which result in mass atrocities and human rights violations around the world. We also recognize, as we do in our Land Acknowledgement, the Canadian policy of cultural genocide to eliminate Indigenous peoples.
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Join Cantor Wunch for a very special Shabbat service on Saturday, February 5 at 10:30 am, when we will celebrate the B’Mitzvah of Sam MacCool-Garber. All members, family and friends are welcome!
There is no need to register. We will send the Zoom link to everyone on our email list, along with the PDF of the siddur (service booklet), on Friday, February 4. Please do not share this link, especially on social media. If you receive this newsletter, you will automatically receive the service link.
If you have not received the service link by 2:00 pm on Friday, please email Lillian, our Administrator, at shirlibeynuadmin@gmail.com. If you know of anyone who wants to attend our services, please ask them to email Lillian.
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Meet Sam MacCool-Garber
Sam is a Grade 8 student at Spectrum Alternative Arts school in Toronto. He is an affectionate, loyal, creative and most importantly, a hilarious “Sultan” who knows how to relax and enjoy life. Sam is passionate about art, animation, Mine Craft, nature, swimming (even in freezing cold water!), summer camp and being a (kosher) “ham”.
While cut short by COVID:19, Sam completed the Shir Libeynu B’nei Mitzvah program and really appreciated and enjoyed the experience.
His Moms, Jennifer Garber and Fiona MacCool, and his big sister Belle are proud to celebrate this important milestone on February 5th and are grateful to Cantor Wunch and the community at Shir Libeynu for their ongoing encouragement and support.
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Catch Your Breath Before the Service with Lorne Blumer
Before the service on February 5, from 9:30 to 10:15 am, join Lorne Blumer for “Meditation on Shabbat.”
Abraham Joshua Heschel once described Shabbat as a “sanctuary in time.” Let’s see if we can cultivate a sense of exactly that as we near Shabbat services, catching our breath, finding some stillness, and working with meditation (guided and silent), shaped by the mood of the moment and ancient Jewish texts.
Lorne Blumer is a graduate of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s program in Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training, who's often led meditation for the Shir Libeynu community.
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Offering Hot Tea to a Stranger
On January 15, Jews across North America watched with our collective breath held for 11 hours as Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three of his congregants were held hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas. It was a terrifying day for the rabbi, his community, his family and the congregants’ families, and all of us watching from afar. In the evening, after Shabbat had ended and we started to gain a better understanding of what was going on, I was invited to a Zoom call where over 1000 Jewish leaders gathered for a quick update, some prayers, and the chance to sit with one another in our worry and anxiety. I, like many of you, had been watching the news at frequent points throughout the day, hoping for more information, but it wasn’t until I was looking through page after page of small video boxes on my screen, seeing the faces of my friends and colleagues praying and crying, that I began to feel the weight of what was happening.
That evening, on that Zoom call, I understood that we were all having the same two thoughts running through our heads—“please let them be safe” and “this could be me.” After the rabbi rescued them all from the hostage taker and we learned about his heroic acts, those thoughts turned to “thank God he acted as he did” and “would I have acted as he did?” There is much to be said, much for us to think about in the wake of this event. We know that antisemitism is a growing problem that must be addressed. We know that mental healthcare is sorely lacking and needs to be more accessible. We know that safety in our houses of worship should be a given, and that none of us should have to wonder “would I have acted as he did?”
I can’t address all of these issues in this one newsletter article. In fact, I find myself still thinking through and processing everything that happened, but please know that we, your Board of Directors and I, are aware that safety is a primary concern. Once the COVID numbers allow us to return to in-person worship and programs, we will be reviewing and updating our own safety protocols. It is a must. We want to make sure that everyone feels secure and comfortable participating in our community.
To be clear, that safety and comfort truly must be for everyone. Shir Libeynu has always been and will always be a community that welcomes everyone with open arms and open hearts. Rabbi Cytron-Walker was asked if he would offer hot tea to a stranger again. I think that his answer was perfect for his community and for ours:
This was one individual. I have led thousands and thousands of services at the congregation over my 15-plus years with the community. This was the first time we had something along those lines. So when someone comes to the door? Yes, I'm going to do the same kind of visual scan that I did. And I'm going to assume that even if they do not look like the stereotypical person who's going to come into a Jewish synagogue, I want them there. Whether they're somebody who's Jewish, who's coming in from another community or from our community, or whether they're not Jewish, and maybe they're exploring Judaism for the first time, or they just want to see what a Jewish service is all about because they're curious and they're asking, am I going to belong? And I want them to know that they are going to belong. Hospitality means the world.
B’ahavah,
Cantor C. Wunch
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Lunch and Learn
Tuesday, February 15, from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
on Zoom
Join Cantor Wunch for our monthly Lunch and Learn You don't need to register. For registration details please email Lillian, our Administrator, at shirlibeynuadmin@gmail.com.
We'll chat and engage in some casual text study. We'll begin with the weekly Torah portion (in English), and see where our interests take us. No previous experience with text study is necessary--just an inquisitive spirit!
Looking forward to seeing you there, learning and having fun together!
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Stay tuned for details about our special Purim event!
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If you missed any of our past offerings or wish to view them again, please email Lillian, our Administrator, at shirlibeynuadmin@gmail.com.
Shabbat Service, January 8, 2021
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Congregation Shir Libeynu
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