Friday, July 28, 10 Av 6:00 PM Please Rabbi Marcia Plumb and Ellen Allard for a HYBRID Kabbalat Shabbat Service.
Saturday, July 29, 11 Av, 9:30 AM Please join Rabbi Marcia Plumb and Cantor Ellen Band for a HYBRIDShabbat Morning 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
Happy Summer! CMT SUMMER 2023 SHABBAT SERVICE SCHEDULE
The Sunday Boston Globe highlighted the longevity of congregant Millie Flashman
In this article Millie Flashman reflects on her experience having recently enrolled in the New England Centenarian Study. The researchers will be choosing candidates from two other ongoing studies within that pool for the Alzheimer’s study. Flashman’s uncle, Joe Goldstein, an outgoing man who died at 102, was among the first batch of centenarians that enrolled decades ago.
We Remember: This week's upcoming Yahrzeit Observances
Shloshim Marjorie Tichnor
Saturday Sidney S. Gutlon
Sunday Stephen Boronkay
Monday Jim Sloane Samuel Dickerman Lillian Zimble Robert H. Brown
Tuesday Mark Wizansky Stanley Graff
Wednesday Jeanne G. Kotzen Dr. Hyman Florence Rose Leve Lillian M. Bernstein Dr. Jeri Traub
Thursday Peter Gutlon Lillian Katz David Kosowsky Alexander Mosse Baer
Friday
A Teaching from our Rabbi
Thank you for your many positive messages about my letter to you on Monday. According to Rabbi Marc Baker, at CJP, the majority of Jewish institutions in America are as concerned as we are.
As we know, this week, the Jewish world was shaken to the core by the events in Israel. Due to internal extremist right wing power grabs, we have all seen the State of Israel, and Jewish peoplehood, pushed toward a vulnerable breaking point.
Ironically, also this week, on Tisha B’Av, we recalled historical times of pain for our people. And in our parasha, we, the readers, are witnesses to a moment of deep vulnerability and loss.
Our parasha, V’etchanan, opens with a cry of despair. Moses, the chosen leader, the one who guided the Israelites from slavery through the wilderness to the Promised Land, becomes a lost soul before our eyes. He has been told by God that he won’t be allowed to enter the Promised Land, and he is heartbroken. We can almost hear the break in his voice and see the tears in his eyes as he begs God to reconsider and let him at least breath the air in the Promised Land.
During this week of Tisha B’Av, the day of mourning for the tragedies that have befallen the Jews throughout history, we see Moses begging G-d for redemption and forgiveness. “I pray, let me cross over and see the land. Do not separate me from this precious land, the land of our dreams and hopes, the land of our ancestors.” The Jews who were exiled from the land by the Romans cried the same prayer.
The Torah scholar Dena Weiss says that “In a time of crisis you set your Siddur aside, and you read what is written on the walls of your heart. You scream in a voice that even you don’t recognize, a voice that you do not command and that you cannot contain.”
Rabbi Eliezer of the Talmud argues that only this kind of prayer, the one that erupts from despair, and tells the truth about our pain and sorrow, our fears and hopes–only this is a true prayer.
This week, many Jews in Israel, America and around the world, have cried out in anguish at the events in Israel this week. We too say: Do not separate Medinat Yisrael (The State of Israel) from its founding values of freedom and justice. I pray that these cries and prayers will pierce the hearts of those leaders concerned only with self-interest.
At the same time that we mourn with Moses, and our fellow Jews throughout history, and around the world, we also read the first of the Comfort haftarot, known as Nahamu (comfort us), from Isaiah. Even after a difficult week in Israel, we pray “Nahamu, Nahamu”– Bring us comfort, Oh G-d.
There is a tragic truth in our Torah and haftarah this week. Our losses can feel unbearable; our cries to G-d are full of vulnerability; and yet, eternal hope remains like a lifeline to guide us through the worst to the other side.
This Shabbat, may our homes be filled with G-d’s comforting presence. May our Haftarah of comfort give us hope and courage. Please join me in person tonight and tomorrow morning to bring each other strength and comfort.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
