Friday, April 15, 14 Nissan 6:00 PM Please join Rabbi Plumb for a brief 'From Our Home to Yours' online Erev Shabbat Service.
Saturday, April 16, 15 Nissan 9:30 AM Please join Rabbi Marcia Plumb and Cantor Ellen Band for an online especially festive Pesach Morning Shabbat Service.
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.
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 are observing a yahrzeit or saying kaddish and need a minyan on a different evening, please let us know and we will make it happen - contact Toni.
Mazel Tov to Hannah and Adam Armstrong, on the birth of their daughter, Hazel Amelia Armstrong. Proud grandparents are Nancy and Sid Lejfer and proud great-grandmother is Marjie Tichnor.
Mazel Tov to Zakary and Mina Grau, on the birth of their son, Oliver Grau. Proud grandparents are Cheryl and Daniel Grau.
We Remember: This week's upcoming Yahrzeit Observances
Saturday Samuel Gross Thelma Katz Rose Silberstein
Why do we tell the story of the Exodus so many times and in so many ways? We tell it via the four children, the four questions, the maggid, Dayenu, songs, and food. It’s as if the rabbis who edited the first Haggadah were master educators. They knew that different people understand and absorb information differently. Some people learn through hearing stories or participating in reading, others through music or singing, and still more through kinesthetic actions, like eating, or opening doors to let Elijah in.
That makes sense, but a question still remains. We are not being tested on this material. What difference does it make if we ‘get’ the story or not? Why does it matter? Wouldn’t it be enough to simply have a nice meal, tell the story once, and go home?
Because of one key mitzvah (commandment):
בכל דור ודור חיב אדם לראות את עצמו כאלו הוא יצא ממצרים,
‘In every generation a person must regard themselves as though they personally had gone out of Egypt.’s (Haggadah)
We are obligated to see ourselves as if we ourselves came out of Egypt. The story must become our own. Not only must we understand the story, but it needs to be relevant, meaningful and personal to us, in our day, in our lives.
Furthermore, the Haggadah tells us: ‘And anyone who adds [and spends extra time] in telling the story of the exodus from Egypt, behold she is praiseworthy.’
To help us fulfill these mitzvot, I encourage you to add these questions to your seder tonight and tomorrow night. They are designed to help us think about, and articulate, what the seder, and Pesah, mean to us individually this year. Bring them to your table, and invite those at your seder to answer them.
1. What difference does, or can, this night of Passover make on: a. Our people ( the Jewish people) b. The world c. Our next year d. You e. Your next year
2. How have you grown and changed since Pesach last year?
3. What is most precious to you about Pesach this year?
In this year of the continuation of our plagues of COVID, climate change, racism, lack of compassion and more, may we be freed from despair, and be brought to the Promised Land that is hope and resiliency. May our ancient story of freedom enter our hearts this year, and inspire us to create a future worthy of our past.
Hag Pesah Sameah, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
