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
Nosh and Drash: Torah Study with Rabbi Plumb Saturday, October 28, 8:45AM
Join us for a powerful event as we gather as a community to take pride in Jewish life and show our support for Israel!
The community rally for Israel will take place at Join us for a powerful event as we gather as a community to take pride in Jewish life and show our support for Israel!
The community rally for Israel will take place at 9 Babcock Street in Brookline on Sunday 10/29.
At 1PM we will begin a solidarity walk around Coolidge Corner.
At 1:30PM, we will partake in a Solidarity Walk, symbolizing our support for Israel in these challenging times.
From 2 to 4PM we invite you to join us for food, music, and activities for kids back at Babcock Street. We hope you will join us to stand together as a community and show our unwavering support.
Thanks to the Brookline PD who has graciously agreed to close a portion of Babcock Street and staff this event.
In partnership with: The RJCF, IAC, StandWithUs, AJC, CAMERA, Friends of the IDF (FIDF), Magen David Adom, the Israeli Consulate of New England, the Jewish National Fund, Christian and Jews United for Israel, Temple Emanuel (Newton), Temple Beth Shalom (Needham), Temple Israel of Natick, Congregation Kehillath Israel (Brookline), the Jewish Law Students Association at Suffolk Law, Shaloh House, and Solomon Schechter Day School.
We Remember: This week's upcoming Yahrzeit Observances
Shloshim Stephen Burg
Saturday Eve Dickerman Mira Schwartz Samuel Sarver
Sunday Paula Sands Swartz Eliezer Eshkenazi Miriam Kressyn
Monday Harvey Hecker
Tuesday Louis Charnow Morris L. Selib Bessie Levine
Wednesday Sybil Sherman Florence Madow
Thursday Morris Aronson
Friday Anne Rothstein Samuel Rosen Minia Hochman
A Teaching from Our Rabbi
Dear Friends,
As this is my last Rabbis message as your senior rabbi, be prepared for a slightly longer teaching. It is a rabbis prerogative! And there is a lot going on in the world…
I wish I could just talk about the parasha, Lech Lecha, in which Avram and Sarai go on a journey to a place they do not know. They leave beloved family and friends behind as they follow Gods urging to find a new life. All they have to help them take the leap of faith is their life experiences thus far, and God’s promise that they will be blessed. I am on a somewhat parallel journey. As I have throughout my life, I am following God’s path to go beyond where I have been,and reach toward a new calling. Even as I will fill my days with children’s song, and more Mussar, I will miss you. I hope our paths will continue to cross and that we can study and pray together in the future.
The ending of the sacred relationship between Rabbi and congregation is hard and shakes up the status quo. Dayenu…that would have been enough of a challenge for this Shabbat and the following days.
But we have a much bigger challenge ahead of us. We have to manage the losses and fears brought about by the attacks of Hamas, and still hold tightly to our Jewish values.
We have been, and still are, in mourning. We are still in shiva, with only some of our dead buried. We are just beginning to awake from shock, and see the world around us. And what we see is terribly disturbing. We notice media bias, ignorance, rampant anti semitism and a misunderstanding and manipulation of the facts. We also see the pain and suffering of our own people and those in Gaza. We are struggling with how to articulate our grief, and respond. For the sake of our own souls and our humanity, we need to balance our anger and sadness with our Jewish love for all human life. Every person is a child of God- that is the teaching in Bereshit. But how do we hold onto that belief in the face of terrorist attacks, and the resulting grief and anger?
As I ponder the effects of Israel’s efforts to win this war against terrorist organisations, I keep thinking of a powerful text in the Talmud. Rabbi Meir and his wife Bruriah faced a challenge too. Their house was robbed of precious possessions. Rabbi Meir cursed the robbers, saying ‘They should all die.’ Bruriah admonished him saying, ‘God does not want the sinner to die- only the sin.’ Rabbi Meir, Bruriah, and we, must hold conflicting emotions and values at the same time.
I firmly believe that Hamas must be destroyed for Israel to be safe. That means some innocent Palestinians are and will be killed in the process. Like God who wept when the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea, I too cry for the average Palestinian who simply wants to live their lives. Despite our rage, the fact is that not all Palestinians are terrorists.
The IDF is struggling to hold onto the Jewish value for human life as well, while fighting a war. The IDF is not perfect, but it still shows its unique morality by warning civilians to leave before they strike. What other army in the world does that? Israel does not celebrate when Palestinians are killed, even when terrorists are killed. Rather we Jews say we wish such deaths were not necessary.
I have heard some suggest that all of Gaza and the West Bank should be bulldozed. But I am saddened and terrified when I hear that. For, if our values are overwhelmed by anger and fear, then we have lost our Jewish heart and soul. And that would be the biggest loss of all.
This Shabbat, may Israel and the region find peace. May the hostages be released. May we all find the courage and determination to follow God’s path of love and righteousness.
Like Abraham and Sarah, may our paths through life’s uncertainties be steady and easy to walk. May we be guided and protected by God’s blessings.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
