 | The spring quarter of the Jewish spiritual year is all about who we are as a people, and who we are becoming. Each spring holiday and Shir Ami gathering, one after the next, will uplift these themes. As we spring forward into this season of identity, we'll better appreciate and enjoy the journey if we know more about where we're going. |
By Rabbi David
The Jewish calendar expresses a human spiritual journey on Jewish terms. During springtime, the Jewish year also presses us to reflect on who we are as a people and who we're becoming.
These themes will recur at every spring holiday and gathering, one after the other – Purim, our spring course, Passover, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Shavuot.
Now that it's March and we spring forward, let's chart the first part of our spring journey. We'll better appreciate and enjoy the journey if we know more about where we're going.
The Jewish calendar expresses a human spiritual journey on Jewish terms. During springtime, the Jewish year also presses us to reflect on who we are as a people and who we're becoming.
These themes will recur at every spring holiday and gathering, one after the other – Purim, our spring course, Passover, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Shavuot.
Now that it's March and we spring forward, let's chart the first part of our spring journey. We'll better appreciate and enjoy the journey if we know more about where we're going.
Purim (March 14, 7pm) – Purim is our festive and raucous antidote to winter's gloom and dismay. This year especially!
For many centuries, Judaism has used humor and play to shake us out of our doldrums precisely when we don't feel like it. Serious matters merit serious responses, and Purim also reminds us that humor is a potent tool to cut tyrants down to size.
The Book of Esther is all about antisemitism, corruption and toxic masculinity (then and now). Puns, fun, innuendo and Girl Power save the day. As a people and community, can we make wise use of humor to face challenge with resilience and emerge lighter and brighter?
This year, our Purim theme will be St. Patrick's Day. Come in costume whether Jewish or Irish (or at least wear some green). Expect the unexpected. Lean into fun for a sacred cause.
For many centuries, Judaism has used humor and play to shake us out of our doldrums precisely when we don't feel like it. Serious matters merit serious responses, and Purim also reminds us that humor is a potent tool to cut tyrants down to size.
The Book of Esther is all about antisemitism, corruption and toxic masculinity (then and now). Puns, fun, innuendo and Girl Power save the day. As a people and community, can we make wise use of humor to face challenge with resilience and emerge lighter and brighter?
This year, our Purim theme will be St. Patrick's Day. Come in costume whether Jewish or Irish (or at least wear some green). Expect the unexpected. Lean into fun for a sacred cause.
Community Passover Seder (April 13, time TBD) – It's our annual liberation from slavery, ancient and timeless story of how we became a people, and master story of most everyone who'd be free.
We always are called to lean forward to free the bound. This year especially!
Passover asks especially poignant questions. What do Passover's themes of liberation and peoplehood mean now? What is liberation from today's bondage? So often we forget that slaver Egypt and enslaved Israel were so very close geographically. What do geographic proximity and worldview clash mean for us today?
Some things at this year's Seder will be similar to last year; other things will shift. We'll be at Round Hill instead of First Presbyterian. Our Seder will focus on Shir Ami and our guests: tell family and friends to save the date now! It'll be even more participatory. Save the date!
We always are called to lean forward to free the bound. This year especially!
Passover asks especially poignant questions. What do Passover's themes of liberation and peoplehood mean now? What is liberation from today's bondage? So often we forget that slaver Egypt and enslaved Israel were so very close geographically. What do geographic proximity and worldview clash mean for us today?
Some things at this year's Seder will be similar to last year; other things will shift. We'll be at Round Hill instead of First Presbyterian. Our Seder will focus on Shir Ami and our guests: tell family and friends to save the date now! It'll be even more participatory. Save the date!
Spring Series (starts April 15, 7pm) – This spring I'll curate a series of conversations about what the Mideast means to our Jewish spiritual lives.
So often since October 7, I've said "My heart is in the east" (לבי במזרח / Libi ba-Mizrah) – words that begin a famous poem by Yehudah HaLevi. I feel it every day. I bet many of us do, too.
Hours after the attacks, I wrote to our community unsure what would follow but fearing that calamity would follow calamity. Weeks later, our town hall meeting about our community survey became about the Mideast. Since then, the Mideast has come up countless times in services, classes, pastoral moments and oneg chats.
I've yearned to offer a course on the Mideast, but Judiciary ethics rules ban me from speaking publicly about the core of the Mideast conflict. The world's most complex geopolitical, social and religious conflict stymies most everyone. Even best efforts to teach into it can generate more heat than light, or devolve into false relativism, or leave folks feeling unmoored.
But how can we not talk about something that touches the core, over and over again? Now after 500 days, some feel "more Jewish than ever." Others feel pained and conflicted. I know some folks who pulled back from all Jewish community since October 7.
Recent Judiciary ethics guidance lets me discuss "the laws of war; the emotional and spiritual valences of terror, trauma, and moral complexity; the need to reduce and eliminate implicit and overt bias and prejudice; and recent casualties in the Mideast." So while I still can't speak of ultimate root causes of Mideast conflict, I can curate conversations about who we are amidst it all and what it means for our hearts, spirits, identity, community, values and actions.
It won't be a typical course: there won't be a fixed curriculum with assigned reading. Rather, expect focused discussions for shared meaning, strength and purpose. Stay tuned and save the date for alternating Tuesdays 7:00pm starting April 15.
So often since October 7, I've said "My heart is in the east" (לבי במזרח / Libi ba-Mizrah) – words that begin a famous poem by Yehudah HaLevi. I feel it every day. I bet many of us do, too.
Hours after the attacks, I wrote to our community unsure what would follow but fearing that calamity would follow calamity. Weeks later, our town hall meeting about our community survey became about the Mideast. Since then, the Mideast has come up countless times in services, classes, pastoral moments and oneg chats.
I've yearned to offer a course on the Mideast, but Judiciary ethics rules ban me from speaking publicly about the core of the Mideast conflict. The world's most complex geopolitical, social and religious conflict stymies most everyone. Even best efforts to teach into it can generate more heat than light, or devolve into false relativism, or leave folks feeling unmoored.
But how can we not talk about something that touches the core, over and over again? Now after 500 days, some feel "more Jewish than ever." Others feel pained and conflicted. I know some folks who pulled back from all Jewish community since October 7.
Recent Judiciary ethics guidance lets me discuss "the laws of war; the emotional and spiritual valences of terror, trauma, and moral complexity; the need to reduce and eliminate implicit and overt bias and prejudice; and recent casualties in the Mideast." So while I still can't speak of ultimate root causes of Mideast conflict, I can curate conversations about who we are amidst it all and what it means for our hearts, spirits, identity, community, values and actions.
It won't be a typical course: there won't be a fixed curriculum with assigned reading. Rather, expect focused discussions for shared meaning, strength and purpose. Stay tuned and save the date for alternating Tuesdays 7:00pm starting April 15.
Yom HaShoah (April 23, 7pm) – Save the date to join our regional Jewish community for a shared Yom HaShoah commemoration at Greenwich Reform Synagogue, sponsored by Greenwich JCC-Federation.
In this 80th anniversary year since the liberation of Auschwitz, few living Holocaust survivors remain. One will speak with us, after which I will have the honor to offer reflections
This 80th anniversary year finds Holocaust denialism surging, along with corrosion of Jewish identity, rights and peoplehood. Who are we to be in their wake? What are we called to become? These questions are vital now, particularly just after Passover. What is liberation to be for anyway?
In this 80th anniversary year since the liberation of Auschwitz, few living Holocaust survivors remain. One will speak with us, after which I will have the honor to offer reflections
This 80th anniversary year finds Holocaust denialism surging, along with corrosion of Jewish identity, rights and peoplehood. Who are we to be in their wake? What are we called to become? These questions are vital now, particularly just after Passover. What is liberation to be for anyway?
From this serious nadir, the latter half of the spring journey will lift upward to the celebrations of Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day) and Shavuot. Both will be joyous: our journey from winter leads to spring abundance. Our journey of descent leads to ascent. Our journey from despair leads to joy. More about those in my May column.
For now, it's time to spring forward. Happy Purim! Go Green! See you soon!
For now, it's time to spring forward. Happy Purim! Go Green! See you soon!
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