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First and foremost, on behalf of the entire Temple Isaiah family, our clergy, staff, and congregational leadership, I want to extend the wish that everyone is doing as well as possible during this time that is unlike any other we have ever experienced. Please remember that in addition to Rabbi Maimin, Cantor Doob, Rabbi Amy and our whole staff, there are many in our congregation who are standing by wanting to help in any way they can. That includes folks who can deliver food and other necessities, medical professionals, and trained therapists who are available to talk as well as to facilitate individual or group sessions about anxiety and coping skills. We expect to be advertising specific opportunities for such sessions in the days ahead, but in the meantime, please be in touch with any of us if you have any need or interest in any kind of support.
As promised, we are posting video messages throughout the week, and there is a beautiful new message on our homepage from Rabbi Amy Hertz, our Director of Congregational Learning, about hope (and particularly about how hope and optimism are not one and the same). I encourage you to take a few minutes to view it, and take her message to heart. If you go to our website, https://www.templeisaiah.net/ and scroll down towards the bottom of the page you will find all of those video messages as they are posted, along with archives of recent worship services.
And I want to remind everyone of two opportunities for us to learn together, and just connect, by video, over the next few days. We have been using the word virtual a lot, but the kind of connection we are talking about is a real one, just not taking place in person.
Please note: the sessions will be conducted via Zoom Meeting, which allows participants to join by video, using a computer, or by phone. If you are wondering about how to use this technology, we have members of our congregation who are prepared to help train anyone who would like to take advantage of that opportunity. If that is the case, please contact me or Rabbi Maimin well in advance of any session in which you would like to participate, and we will help facilitate that (if you can let us know by the night before, that would be ideal, but we should be able to help even with just a few hours notice. It is actually pretty intuitive and straightforward, so if you are generally comfortable using a computer or a tablet, it may not be much of a challenge, but again, there are folks would be happy to help show you how to use this technology.
Tomorrow, from 1 PM – 1:45 PM, I will be teaching a video- based session on the weekly Torah portion, Vayakhel-Pekudei (it is a double portion, which happens in Jewish non-leap years several times a year, hence the two names). We will be focusing mostly on the beginning of the portion, but the whole double portion forms a unified piece, so if you have a few minutes between now and then you might want to look at the whole thing. You will find it in the book of Exodus, 35:1 - 40:38 (that is chapter 35, verse one, through chapter 40, verse 38). With the conclusion of this week’s portion, we conclude the reading of the book of Exodus, and prepare to start reading Leviticus next week.
If you would like to find a good translation online, I can recommend several possibilities. Unfortunately, none of them are completely gender inclusive, but other than referring to God as “the Lord” (as opposed to, for example, “the Eternal”), this one is pretty good:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+35-40&version=NRSV
And if you would like a side-by-side, Hebrew-English translation, I would recommend https://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0235.htm
And a host of thoughtful articles/commentaries about the week’s portion can be found at
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/torah-portions/parashat-vayakhel-pekudei/
Please be sure to sign on before 1 PM as will be starting promptly at that hour. Sign on will be available beginning 12:45 PM.
You can join:
By computer, tablet, smart phone:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/7362031823
OR Call in here - just like a conference call!
1-646-876-9923
Enter Meeting ID: 736 203 1823
On Thursday morning, Rabbi Maimin will be teaching our Sisterhood Clergy Class, which is open to everyone. Our topic for the spring is Studying Responsa Literature (answers to modern questions based on Jewish tradition), and Rabbi Maimin, Cantor Doob, and I will continue to teach his class on Thursday mornings through April.
That class will run as it does every Thursday from 9:30 AM – 11 AM, and again, we ask that you please be signed on before 9:30 AM:
Sisterhood Clergy Class with Rabbi Maimin - open to all!!
Studying Responsa Literature
Thursday, March 19 9:30-11:00 am (Class begins at 9:30 am, please join beforehand)
By computer, tablet, smart phone:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/7362031823
OR Call in here - just like a conference call!
1-646-876-9923
Enter Meeting ID: 736 203 1823
Please know that we are working on more ways to keep us all connected, and ways for us to find strength and comfort during this time. We will, of course, keep you apprised of all such opportunities.
We will continue to be in touch in the days and weeks ahead. And again, please do not hesitate to reach out to any of us, and at the same time, please remember to keep reaching out to others around us, including, especially, those who are living alone right now, for whom social distance can too easily become social isolation.
Together, we will make it through this challenging time and be able to look back with the knowledge that we brought our best selves forward.
L'shalom,
Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe
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