Rabbi's Message

Shabbat Shalom!  I hope that you and your family are settling into summer routines.  Rachel and I have sent our kids off to Camp Ramah this week, and now are getting a taste of the empty nester life (not bad ).  Hopefully the summer is a time to slow a bit, relax, refresh, and try some new experiences.  It is in this spirit that we are launching “Summer Shul” this Shabbat.  On Shabbat mornings over the summer, we will move from the sanctuary to the more intimate Rose Chapel/Jenofsky Beit Midrash.  Together we will celebrate Shabbat with a more informal service that will include singing and study, along with some refreshments available when you arrive.  The dress is Shabbat casual, and we hope you can join us in person, or on the Rose Chapel/Jenofsky Beit Midrash livestream, for our weekly opportunity to gather as a congregation. 

This week we will also be joined by a special guest.  Yizhar Hess is the Vice Chairman of the World Zionist Organization and the past Executive Director of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel.  He will be sharing his thoughts and experiences from the front lines of the protests, and more generally about the political situation in Israel.  We will think about this with him through the lens of a verse from our Torah reading this Shabbat.  In the second of the two portions we will read, the evil prophet Bilaam says that the Israelites are “Am L’vadad Yishkon” – “A nation that dwells apart.”  Ancient and modern commentaries have used this verse to try and understand their own moment in Jewish history.  Are we destined to always be different from everyone else?  Do we voluntarily set ourselves apart or are we set apart by antisemitism?  The early Zionists strived to found the state of Israel so we would be a nation just like any other.  What does this verse, and what we have learned since Israel’s founding, say about this goal?  Yizhar will help us think about these questions, and consider our role as lovers of Israel and the Jewish people.  I hope that you will be able to join us for our wonderful new experience of Summer Shul, along with Yizhar Hess, this Shabbat.