Friday, June 19, 27 Sivan 6:00 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Services Please join Rabbi Plumb and Cantor Elana Rozenfeld for a virtual "From Our Home to Yours"
Join us as we honor Cantor Elana Rozenfeld and thank her all the beautiful music and inspiration she has brought to Mishkan Tefila. We will miss the uplifting, spiritual experience that Elana's voice brought to our Shabbat prayers, when she and her family make Aliyah this summer. Wishing Elana and her family b'hatzlacha/luck!
We will also be commemorating Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day. June 19 was the date of the emancipation of the last remaining enslaved African Americans in the South.
Recommended Event to Celebrate Juneteenth
This Friday night at 5pm, Be’Chol Lashon is leading a Global Kabbalat Shabbat service led by Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Rabbi Isaama Goldstein-Stoll. Join us and Jews around the world to extend this moment into a movement for racial justice. Click here to register.
Saturday, June 20, 28 Sivan 9:30 - 10:30 AM Shabbat Mevarchim Morning Services Please join Rabbi Plumb, Cantor Ellen Band and Rose Spitzer reading Torah for a virtual "From Our Home to Yours"
The Parasha is Sh'lach L'cha Numbers 13:1-3 The Haftarah is Joshua 2:1-24
Please click here for the link to the new Conservative prayerbook, Siddur Lev Shalem: Shabbat Shaharit Siddur Lev Shalem The prayers will be the same as in our usual blue siddur, so feel free to use that instead if you wish.
We Remember: This week's upcoming Yahrzeit and Shloshim Observances
Saturday Simon Lewin
Monday Leonard Florence Harry Tichnor
Tuesday Sara Stone Alex Yanovich George A. Guild
Wednesday Gertrude Tolman Benjamin Stone
Thursday Marjorie Perlman Rose Schuster Hilda Stein Leonard Goldstein Adele Karas
Friday Esther Sereisky Silas B. Flashman Ella Chyet
In this weeks parasha, Parashat Shlach Lecha, we read of the 12 spies who were sent to scout out the Promised Land before going in. As we know, 10 spies brought back a report filled with fear of failure, and two brought back optimism and confidence. One of the spies was named Palti ben Rafu—Palti son of healing. Palti was one of the spies who brought back a fear-filled report. Being the son of a healer, he perhaps might have learned how to heal from his past of Egyptian slavery but the trauma was too great. Persistent, long lasting trauma can extinguish hope.
In the past month we have seen that the trauma of slavery can continue for over 400 years in a society. Today, America has woken up, both literally and figuratively, to Juneteenth, the day that the slaves in Texas were finally freed on June 19th, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Being from Texas, I grew up with Juneteenth. But even so, as a child, I did not understand its significance or impact on a whole swath of fellow citizens.
This week, I explored the number 19 in Hebrew gematria. I found some powerful connections. Three words, Betach (Bet, Tet, Het), Achi (Aleph, Het, Yod), and Havah (Het, Vav, Hey) all equal the number 19.
Havah means Breath and has become central to our world at the moment. The ability to breathe is of course necessary for survival. The coronavirus has caused the death of hundreds of thousands around the world because it has stopped our lungs from drawing breath.
George Floyd's death and cries of I can't breathe, remind us of racism as a social virus that also robs black and brown people of their lives. Methods used by police to prevent suspects from drawing breath are being re-examined again today. The cries of 'I can’t breathe’ have given life to a second civil rights movement.
Havah is also the Hebrew name of Eve, the mother of us all, regardless of skin colour.
The number 19 is embedded in the word Achi—my brother, my sibling. This second civil rights movement is reminding us in powerful ways that each human being is our sibling. Each of us are descended from Havah/Eve, and from The One Who Gave Us Breath. Judaism is very clear—we have responsibility for each other, regardless of race, creed, religion or sexuality. We all draw breath from the same divine Source of All Breath.
Finally, Betach also is made up of 19. Betach means security or confidence. We each have a role to play in ensuring that everyone in our family (our human family) feels safe and secure and able to live up to their potential as human beings.
This Shabbat we have the opportunity to be lead in prayer by three voices, three people who use their breath to help our souls rise. The first is a Kabbalat Shabbat service held by Global B’Chol Lashon, an organization of support for Jews of colour. This service is commemorating Juneteenth today, at 5:00 pm. Jews around the world are invited. I will be there, and I hope you will join me. The service will be led by two rabbis, Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Rabbi Isaama Goldenstein-Stoll.
The third beautiful voice we will celebrate tonight is that of Cantor Elana Rozenfeld, who we are honouring tonight. Cantor Rozenfeld and her family are planning to make aliyah this summer and we want to wish her well. Please join us at 6:00 pm for our From Our Home Yours Mobile Mishkan Kabbalat Shabbat service and give her your blessing.
May our Shabbat be filled with deep breathing, hope and life
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
