Friday, November 20, 4 Kislev 6:00 PM Please join Rabbi Plumb and Rabbi Lev Friedman a virtual "From Our Home to Yours" Kabbalat Shabbat Services
Saturday, November 21, 5 Kislev 9:30 AM Please join Rabbi Plumb and Marc Stober with Rose Spitzer reading Torah (live) for a virtual "From Our Home to Yours" Shabbat Morning Services
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.
Please click here for the link to the page numbers for Shabbat morning prayers in Sim Shalom (Blue) and in Lev Shalem Page Numbers for Shabbat Morning
We Remember: This week's upcoming Yahrzeit and Shloshim Observances
We know that this Thanksgiving will be strange and unsettling. The people who usually gather together for this American holiday will most likely be apart.
So why mark it this year? If we can’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the usual way with family and friends what is the purpose of marking it at all?
This year, we need Thanksgiving more than most years. In the midst of fear, loss of life from Covid, and an uncertain political time, we need to celebrate the blessings in our lives. Mussar reminds us that gratitude can help us manage what is difficult. Hodah’ah, gratitude, brings balance to the sadness. Giving thanks helps steady us when we feel unsettled.
The Torah gives us another reason to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. In our parasha, we read of a conflict between the Philistines and Isaac’s family. They resolved their differences and, as the text says, ‘Then he made for them a feast, and they ate and drank’ (Gen.26:30). This year, there is much in America that needs healing and reconciliation. We pray that we will take inspiration from the Torah and soon be able to sit at the same American ‘table’ and enjoy the fruits of this great nation--freedom, democracy, human rights, responsibility towards each other and the bounty of our land.
This year, we also remember the indigenous people who lived on this soil for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived. They taught us all a love of land, nature and harmony between humanity and creation.
So, in honour of hope, gratitude, reconciliation and resilience, we celebrate this holiday with true thanksgiving. And when we are finished with our meal, we offer this blessing for all that we have in our lives, ‘When you have eaten and are satisfied, give thanks to God'
I invite you to join with our CMT family on Tuesday night at 7.00 pm to celebrate Thanksgiving together through song and prayer.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
