Friday, August 4, 17 Av 6:00 PM Please Rabbi Marcia Plumb and Ellen Allard for a VIRTUAL ONLY Kabbalat Shabbat Service.
Join us as Rabbi Plumb speaks on racism and antisemitism.
Saturday, August 5, 18 Av, 9:30 AM Please join Rabbi Marcia Plumb and Cantor Ellen Band for a VIRTUAL ONLYShabbat Morning Service.
Join us as Rabbi Plumb speaks about Judaism and the death penalty, based on the conclusion of the trial of the Tree of Life Murders.
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
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 Lila Kotzen
Saturday Abraham M. Kotzen
Sunday Rebecca Chafetz
Monday Avraham Einstein Ruth Allen Richard L. Sternberg Amal Murarka
Tuesday
Wednesday Mario Davidovsky Mary Adelson Eleanor Ross
Thursday Frank H. Friedman Morris Lichter
Friday Lois Fleischer Bernard Kaye
A Teaching from our Rabbi
וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ׃ When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to your G-d יהוה for the good land given to you.
This famous verse from our parasha is found in the Birkat Hamazon, the Grace After Meals. It is a traditional mitzvah–we say a blessing before we eat, and we do the same when we are finished. But how many of us actually follow it and bless our food? More often than not, we simply put the food in our mouths without thinking much about it. Saying a blessing before and after we eat reminds us that eating is a sacred act. I find blessing my meals reminds me of the mystical text which says that every time we chew, we add divine sparks to the universe. According to this idea, the very act of mindful, conscious eating adds goodness to the world. Blessing brings mindfulness. Somehow my food tastes better accompanied by a blessing.
A Hasidic text tells us that if we don’t bless our food, it is like stealing. We take something that is not truly ours without acknowledging where it comes from, and without saying thank you. The food we eat comes from the earth, air and water that belongs to G-d, so ultimately it comes as a Divine gift. When we get a gift, we are meant to say thank you. When we unwrap it, open it, and use it, we say thank you again. Eating a meal is like receiving, unwrapping, and enjoying a gift. Offering a blessing before and after we eat is the same as the thank yous.
This Shabbat may our homes be filled with blessings. May we have all we need and appreciate it all. May every bite of our Shabbat meals bring goodness.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
