Doar Shalom: December 24, 2020 / 9 Tevet, 5781
Shabbat Candle Lighting 4.01 pm
Havdalah: 5:15pm
Parashat Vayigash / פרשת וַיִּגַּשׁ
|
|
|
Rabbi Hannah's Weekly Reflection |
|
Vayigash – And He Drew Near
|
|
At the end of last week’s parsha, Joseph framed his youngest brother, planting a goblet in Benjamin’s sack, as if he’d stolen it. When accused, the brothers rent their garments in despair. Now, Judah steps forward offering himself instead of Benjamin, explaining that their father would die should Benjamin not return to him. Vayigash eilav Yehuda - And Judah approached Joseph, and asked: Please, my lord, yedaber, na, avdecha b’oznei adoni - let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ear…
And The Ishbitzer Rebbe wonders what Judah might have whispered, to penetrate the heart of Joseph, and he imagines Judah to whisper this plea: “There has to be one little place where, despite everything, we still love one another.” And The Ishbitzer asks: What’s the secret to unlocking a heart? Because without open hearts we're stuck in exile…
There are exiles between lovers, parents and children, between siblings, between friends. But if we really love someone, we can dig deep for the sake of that love, whispering, “Let’s just go back to that place before everything went wrong, before I made mistakes, before you were angry.”
And our parsha tells that Joseph is so moved by Judah’s altruism and his first step toward reconciliation, that he gathers his brothers to him crying so loudly - in relief, in forgiveness, in brotherly love - that he can be heard throughout the palace.
The Ishbitzer’s midrash on Judah’s whisper into the ear of the cold viceroy teaches us to remember that there was a time before the rift, before love went wrong, before we were exiled from a loved one. Remembering this is a first step. May we be blessed with such recollections, with apologies of our own, and with the grace to acknowledge apologies offered to us. May the exiles in our lives be ones we can return from, drawing near again, creating as much sh’lemut – wholeness and peace – as we possibly can.
Shabbat Shalom
|
|
Upcoming Programs and Services
|
|
See our new Event Calendar for details and Zoom links for upcoming programs, services, and events.
|
|
-
Saturday, December 26, 9 am Shabbat Morning Torah Study and Abbreviated Davening (Parshat Vayigash)
-
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 Abbreviated Davening (Parshat Bo)
-
Saturday, January 30, 10 am, Shabbat Morning Service (Parshat Beshalach)
|
|
Happenings:
Friday December 25 to Thursday December 31
|
|
Friday, December 25
1:00 pm
Friday Tehillim
- led by John Fuerst.
This Friday we will continue our exploration of the ten psalms of Rebbe Nachman’s Tikkun HaKlali. A copy of Psalm 32, the second of the ten psalms, can be found here.
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 873 2214 6883; Password: 200901
6:00 - 6:30 pm
Erev Shabbat Candle Lighting
- led by Rabbi Hannah.
Candle lighting, Kiddush, Motzi. Erev Shabbat blessings are available here. Meeting ID: 826 4524 7744; Passcode: 712461
Saturday, December 26
10:00 - 11:00 am
Shabbat Morning Torah Study and Abbreviated Davening
Torah study (Parshat Vayigash) - Rabbi Susan Shamash
Shacharit - Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan
Zoom Shamash - Avril Orloff
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 810 4690 4137; Passcode: 050826
Sunday, December 27
7:00 - 7:30 pm
Virtual Evening Minyan
- led by Harley Rothstein, with Tyche Smith as Zoom Shamash.
For a transliterated and translated weekday evening liturgy, please click here (pg 69 to 125). Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 886 4675 9468; Passcode: 574081
7:30 - 8:30 pm
Chanting and Chocolate
|
|
Join via Zoom. Meeting ID: 882 9559 3663; Passcode: 663400
|
|
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 feature fascinating guest speakers in an interview format (guest speakers TBA soon!). Topics included are: Jewish Views of Healing; Living In The Body, Medical Ethics; and Healing The Mind.
Instructor: Matthew Gindin, with guests (TBA)
Prerequisite: None:
Dates: Tuesdays, January 12 – February 2, 2021
Time: 7-9 PM
Investment: Members $60 Non-Members $98
|
|
Save the Date! February 9-March 2, 2021
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 on December 31.
|
|
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, Cecil Hershler, Charles Cohen, Dael Segal, Els Kushner, Esther Tennenhouse, Marguerite Pigeon, and Tiferet Welch
No registration is required to attend this event, all are welcome.
Meeting ID: 851 6908 0043
Passcode: 190099
|
|
Looking to top up your charitable contributions before year-end?
2021 looks to be a financially challenging year for Or Shalom and your help will be appreciated.
|
|
|
|
Don't forget your end of year charitable tax contributions. You will receive a single receipt for all your 2020 donations by mail before the end of March 2021.
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
As in past years, Or Shalom is conducting a winter giving project which involves donating $10 gift cards to needy people in our neighbourhoods. These cards are redeemable for food at McDonald's restaurants. |
|
|
As in the past, OrShniks are invited to participate in this worthwhile tzedaka opportunity. We will purchase the cards and distribute them on your behalf. Donations received before 01 Jan 2021 will qualify for 2020 CRA tax receipts and be greatly appreciated by the recipients, especially in these challenging times of Covid-19. You can make an online donation to the East Side Fund at Or Shalom's online donation page, either by cheque or by credit card.
|
|
Due to staff vacations, donations and acts of kindness carried out this past week will be reflected in the Doar scheduled for December 31. |
|
Your tax-deductible donation to Or Shalom can be used to honour an accomplishment or life event, say thank you for a mitzvah or job well-done, or remember a loved ones passing.
|
|
Dear Or Shalom Friends,
Due to the pandemic, Yael and I have not had the chance to visit you this year. We think of you frequently, and we're grateful for the occasional opportunities to be in touch from our living room in the Northern California. Also due to the pandemic, the organization I serve in San Francisco, Bay Area Jewish Healing Center, is offering one of our premier grief support programs online this year. Grief and Growing™, which Ross and Yael have both helped to run in years past, will take place via Zoom. So the bar is now much lower for Or Shalom members to participate.
Grief and Growing™ is a clinically-based, holistic, Jewish healing program uniquely designed to help individuals and families attend to their losses in community. Participants typically gain tangible support, comfort, and new tools in mourning for someone significant who has died.
There are two programs on offer this winter, one for adults, attending as individuals, couples, or families, and one specifically for families (the Redwoods Program) including participants 5-18 years old. Each program begins Saturday night and continues on Sunday:
Adult Program -- February 6-7, 2021 (applications closed on November 30)
Redwoods Program (Families with participants 5-18 years old) -- March 6-7, 2021
Applications are due by December 30, 2020 at 5:00pm. A $30 processing fee per family is due at the time of application.
This Grief and Growing™ link will take you to more information and the applications for the two respective programs. Space is limited, to allow us to provide individual attention and support to every participant.
If you have any questions, feel free to call the Healing Center at +1-415-750-3436.
Warmly,
Rabbi Natan Fenner
|
|
Have something to post in the Doar?
Just fill in this handy web-form to included your article in future editions of the Doar Shalom, Or Shalom's weekly e-newsletter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
