Selichot
Selichot Evening Service: Penitential Preparations, Saturday, September 12, 2020, 6:00 pm
Join us for our Friday Night Live Kabbalat Shabbat Service
6 p.m. August 28th
Faith and Science
Can we have one without the other?
Rabbi Liebowitz Live Streaming on Facebook
Until further notice, services will be at 6:00 via Facebook Live on the Congregation B’nai Israel Facebook page. If you cannot make the “live” service, it will be available to watch any time at your conven- ience. This is the link to the Temple’s Facebook page:
Simply go to the page at 6:00 and click on the live video to view. Saturday morning Torah studies will be held via Skype at 10:00
Dear Friends,
The Farmer’s Almanac dates the “Dog Days” of summer from July 3 to August 11. What are the Dog Days, exactly? They are a period of particularly hot and humid weather occurring during the summer months of July and August in the Northern Hemisphere.
As such they were thought to be time of drought, bad luck, and unrest, when dogs and men alike would be driven mad by the extreme heat. They were named after the Dog Star Sirius, the brightest of all stars in the sky which is part of the constellation Canis Majoris—the “Greater Dog.” The name “Sirius” even stems from Ancient Greek seírios, meaning “scorching.” For the ancient Egyptians, the dawn rising of Sirius (known to them as “Sothis”) also coincided the Nile River’s flood season which contributed to the extreme weather of the season. So far so good!
However, unlike the Egyptians, the ancient Greeks and Romans were not as pleased by Sirius’s appearance. For them, Sirius signaled a time when evil was brought to their lands with drought, disease, and discomfort. How sadly relevant this is in our afflicted times: economic, civil unrest and Covid-19.
I have a friendship with a local Roman Catholic Priest with whom I break bread some three to four times a year. Buoyant and optimistic, he always looks on the brighter side of life, seeking what good can come out of the bad. He is much like the ancient Jewish sage Ish gam zo, who always said “This too is for the best!” I must admit that I struggle, as I am sure you do as well, with the afflictions that have beguiled us these past five months.
Yes, there are great stories of devotion and caring that punctuate these difficult times. Jews have not been reluctant to question the divine, especially when the innocent are hurt and worse. So, we struggle to be like Ish gam zo, trying not to sound like Pollyanna who said “I could have broken the other leg as well!” We take solace from our history in which the Jewish people down and out so many times rose and persevered again and again.
An old saying has it that “Israel does not believe in the stars (astrology) yet there is a star for Israel.” I pray that the Star Sirius will bode shine with bright anticipation of better days for us and all mankind.
Revising an old folk saying, let us live with this hope:
Dog Days bright and clear
Indicate a happy year; But when accompanied by rain, For better times, our hopes will not be in vain.
Rabbi Yossi Liebowitz, D.D.
Until further notice, services will be via Facebook Live on the Congregation B’nai Israel Facebook page. If you cannot make the“live” service, it will be available to watch any time at your convenience. This is the link to the Temple’s Facebook Site.
Simply go to the page at 6:00 p.m. and click on the live video to view.
Join us for a Friday night live service 3rd of July with special musical guest Carl McGarn celebrate our Jewish heritage and our American heritage 6 p.m.
Our Friday Nite Live Kabbalat Shabbat service will start at a new time. At egg-zack-ly 6:00 p.m. Join Rabbi Carl, Railey, Nancy and Lynn.
Live Streaming on Facebook!
Dear Friends,
In my youth I would watch some WW II films with my Dad. As a veteran of “the best generation” he would more than relate to the shows, commenting on its realism, exaggerations, and zeal. He got a real thrill when John Wayne (Sargent Striker) in the film The Sands of Iwo Jima said “Amen!” after a Jewish G.I. gave forth with his last breath “Shema Yisrael!” I suspect that this made Dad feel included as he was in no small way victimized by anti-Semitism in the Army Air Core in which he served. Watching another film Battleground (starring John Hodiak, James Whitmore, a very young Ricardo Montalban before he became KHAN in Star Trek) Dad would laugh at the jokes that were threaded throughout the film. It puzzled me that in the midst of gunfire, explosions, general death, and ugly mayhem, a jest would be
uttered. “There was always humor,” dad remarked. “Even in the grimmest of times!”
In the spirit of that recollection I was pleased that a reform rabbi Bob Alper, stand-up comedian has freely posted a daily joke that you can get on the internet. It pops up on my g-mail every day. Rabbi Alper looks like Steve Martin and comes off like an old fashion Borscht belt comic. (Above is the web site of a recent TV interview worth watching.)
“It’s no laughing matter!” is a common refrain that often comes up in this very difficult time. That is certainly true most of the time. But as one psychologist put it “Laughter is but our tears veiled!” In that spirit I shared above some of my favorite quotes. I look forward to that time we can laugh together in per- son. That the words of the psalmist may find its way to us once more: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)
Rabbi Yossi Liebowitz, D.D.
P .S.
When will services resume? And what about the High Holy days? Religious School? We are presently as- sessing and discussing safe and reasonable ways to carry on. Stay tuned! Stay healthy! Be patient!