From the Heart with Rabbi Liebowitz
Dear Friends,
Each Shavuot marks for me (and I suspect for many colleagues) the end of the season. Not until Tisha B’Av a fast day in late July or early August will there be any holiday demands. Yet, we do look forward to our Friday night services which will be followed by dinner out for those who are inclined. Shavuot has taken on additional meaning as it coincided with the loosening up of Covid – 19 safety measures. (If you are inoculated.) As such, our outdoor services will give way to indoor once more, starting with our annual summer Lasagna Shabbat dinner.
I have already begun to cogitate about High Holy Day services which the Board will re- view in late summer for the safest way to proceed. Keep tuned!
In the meantime, we will continue with hybrid in house services with steaming, somewhat reluctantly as a certain habituation has set in. For some it is a convenience that has its upside and its downside. Such is the residue of what was a very, very difficult year.
In Yiddish there is an expression Shpilkes in Tuchus often shortened to Shpilkes. (My mother would often say when I was impatient; “Er haut a Bissel Shpilkes”). It was the linguistic equivalent of “ants in your pants” or “pins and needles” or simply fidgety. Shpilkes! As things have opened up there is a burst of activity due to the Shpilkes endured by millions.
Let us hope we never have to experience it ever again.
Yossi Liebowitz, Rabbi
