Too Klez for Comfort Klezmer Kabbalat Shabbat
Shabbat Services
Friday, October 25, 26 Tishrei 6:00 PM Kabbalat Shabbat Service Arts Matters Shabbat with Too Klez for Comfort, Rabbi Plumb and Cantor Elana Rozenfeld
Saturday, October 26, 27 Tishrei 9:30 AM Shabbat Morning Services with Rabbi Plumb and Cantor Ellen Band
Shloshim & Yahrzeit Saturday, 27 Tishrei through Friday, 3 Cheshvan
Saturday: Abraham Cohen Theresa Blumer
Monday: Charles Silk Dr. Harry Blotner Sarah Korbman
Tuesday: Abraham Pugatch Milton Hart
Wednesday: Laura Brown
Thursday: Louis Cutter Richard Hyman Florence Kaplan David Eastman
Friday: Anne Honey Katz
A Teaching
Yesterday morning, I awoke from one of those bad dreams that leave us feeling groggy and unsettled. I couldn't get my bearings until I began my Shacharit prayers. I davvened in our sukkah, even though Sukkot is over. The sun shone through the schach, the birds sang and the wind lightly brushed by the sukkah.
It was a perfect morning to recall Gan Eden, the Garden of Eden, in Parashat Bereshit, the beginning of the Torah that we read on Simchat Torah. I felt much better. The sound of my prayers mingled with those of the birds and lifted my soul. I woke up to the potential of the day.
A friend with whom I was davvening, Dorit, asked me what blessing we would say when we have a positive attitude change, like I had that morning. We decided it would be, 'Baruch ata adonai, eloheinu melech ha-olam Oseh ma'aseh bereshit.' Blessed are You Holy One, who creates beginnings and beauty(my translation).'
We can say this blessing whenever we notice good things, and when we practice the Mussar middah of Hakarat Hatov, seeing the good. We can say it when we notice optimism and positivity in ourselves and others. We could also use it as a plea, to ask for help to lift us out of sadness or negativity. 'God, help me to see the good in Your Creation.'
I pray that we each have a Shabbat filled with Hakarat Hatov, the appreciation of the good in ourselves,and the world. May we each feel that a door opens for us this week.
Shabbat Shalom, have a beautiful beginning,
Rabbi Marcia Plumb
Congregation Mishkan Tefila 384 Harvard St. Brookline, MA 02446
