From the Rabbi

Shabbat Services this Week

If you have a simcha, please share it with us and receive a special blessing from Rabbi Plumb during an upcoming Shabbat service.
Sponsor a Kiddush by virtually inviting us to your home as you lead the community in KIddush and HaMotzi prayers. (we will provide challah and grape juice!)
Please contect Rosalie Reszelbach, Janet Stein Calm or Toni Spitzer to arrange.

Genesis 11:1 - 32

Please click here for pages 10-62 of the 
Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv Siddur Lev Shalem

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

If you took a Mussar Class last year, and have not yet regisered for this years class, please contact Toni - some sections start next week!

We Remember:
This week's upcoming Yahrzeit Observances

Saturday
Anne Honey Katz

Sunday
Mollie Perles
Esther M. Rosenbaum
Samuel Adelson
​​​​​​​Esther Lewis Bahn

Monday
Louis Sudikoff
Jacob Shapiro
Jason Brooks

Tuesday
Rose Aronson
Rabbi Abraham Kazis

Wednesday
Harold Burg
Sylvan Rosoff
Julius S. Cohen

Thursday
Alex Rose
 Esther Solomon
Sumner Rosenberg

Friday

From Our Rabbi: A Teaching

This week’s parasha is Noah.  Over the years, I have developed a love/hate relationship with this parashah. I love it because my childhood is full of stories and songs about the ark and the animals.  Here’s an example of one of my favourites: https://youtu.be/wHcypSv4ltY

But I have survived too many floods to see this parasha as innocent and fun.  During Hurricane Harvey, as the waters rose, I wondered if I would ever be able to read parashat Noah again without  heartache.  As the streets, cars and houses disappeared under the water, I remember hoping for an ark to magically appear.  

But there is no magic in the midst of a life-threatening flood, as our climate crisis reveals over and over.   Our parasha reminds us of this fact in the words it uses to describe the ark.  Genesis 6:16 says, ‘  
צֹ֣הַר ׀ תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣ה לַתֵּבָ֗ה   Tzohar ta’aseh la’teivah:  make an opening (for daylight) for the ark.  The word for opening here is Tzohar.  According to Rashi, ‘The word צהר is similar to צהרים, denoting illumination. And some say it was a window, for it is written (8:6), “Noach opened the window of the ark.” ... others say it was a precious stone…’

Radak, another biblical commentator, tells us that the same word for opening, and precious stone is also Tzo’ha’rayim, which means noon.  Noon is when the sun is highest in the sky and offers the most direct light.  

When one is in the midst of a massive flood, with rain continually falling, the skies are dark green, with very little light.  So, what is the Torah suggesting by insisting on a special opening designed to let in light that won’t be there? 

What exactly is the light the Torah is referencing? 
The Baal Shem Tov explained "'Make an opening for the ark (teivah)' as one should let light flow into the word (teivah) of prayer."  
  
The light is a metaphor for our words of prayer and the ark is our actions.  Our deeds of kindness connect us to others, and our relationships carry us through the rains of life. Our communication with God gives us the light, the guidance, we need to make ethical decisions.  During the pandemic, we have seen how our Judaism, our faith and traditions, our CMT family, has carried us through rocky times. Our words of hesed, kindness, have given us hope and comfort in dark days.  

This Shabbat, may your home be filled with the light of our faith.  I hope that, this Shabbat, we will bring the light of hesed to others.  May we continue to be an ark for each other.  

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Marcia Plumb