 | As I write these words, Israel and Iran are at war, and our community has sustained losses. And, after a brutal-weather winter, climatological spring is starting at last. The joy of Purim opened a runway to the renewed liberation of Passover. Jewish spirituality is about how we see what we see, stretching to be more and holding it all. And in service of calibrating our vision and our hearts, Jewish life is about choosing what we plug into – and sometimes selectively unplugging to heal our vision and our inner circuits. |
By Rabbi David
I write at a poignant time. There's much to see, feel and do.
Israeli TV blares in the background with the latest from Israel and Iran. I'm in constant touch with Israeli friends in bomb shelters. I pray for Israel's safety, for an end to antisemitic terror, and for the safety of innocents in Iran across the Mideast who surely deserve far better.
Our community mourns Lila Croen z"l, beloved mom of Susan (Dahni) Nisinzweig and grandmother of Eitan. Our community will unite on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00pm to honor Lila and enfold her beloveds. May Lila's love and light continue to shine as a blessing forever, and may Susan, Dahni and the entire Nisinzweig family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Our community stands with our administrator Suzanne Saperstein, who lost her beloved brother-in-law, Craig, last Shabbat. We stand with Suzanne, Craig's brother Larry and the Saperstein family during their time of sadness.
I write at a poignant time. There's much to see, feel and do.
Israeli TV blares in the background with the latest from Israel and Iran. I'm in constant touch with Israeli friends in bomb shelters. I pray for Israel's safety, for an end to antisemitic terror, and for the safety of innocents in Iran across the Mideast who surely deserve far better.
Our community mourns Lila Croen z"l, beloved mom of Susan (Dahni) Nisinzweig and grandmother of Eitan. Our community will unite on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00pm to honor Lila and enfold her beloveds. May Lila's love and light continue to shine as a blessing forever, and may Susan, Dahni and the entire Nisinzweig family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
Our community stands with our administrator Suzanne Saperstein, who lost her beloved brother-in-law, Craig, last Shabbat. We stand with Suzanne, Craig's brother Larry and the Saperstein family during their time of sadness.
At the same time, Shir Ami gathered at the home of Joan & David Green to bring in the joy of Purim.
Now that it's March, climatological spring begins at last. This weekend, clocks will "spring forward." Prep for Passover and reliving our ancestral liberation begins.
Grief, joy, anxiety and hope – all are parts of life, and thus all are parts of Jewish life. Jewish spirituaity calls us to live them all – and thus calibrate our ability to hold them all and toggle between them.
This is big, friends. We easily can get stuck in one or the other – grief or joy – and shelter or numb ourselves to the other. Judaism "knows" that and builds practices to help us shift deftly, open our hearts and feel more together.
The greatest of these practices is Shabbat, precisely because it asks us to interrupt our usual instincts, our habitual ways of "plugging in" to whatever we plug into.
Now that it's March, climatological spring begins at last. This weekend, clocks will "spring forward." Prep for Passover and reliving our ancestral liberation begins.
Grief, joy, anxiety and hope – all are parts of life, and thus all are parts of Jewish life. Jewish spirituaity calls us to live them all – and thus calibrate our ability to hold them all and toggle between them.
This is big, friends. We easily can get stuck in one or the other – grief or joy – and shelter or numb ourselves to the other. Judaism "knows" that and builds practices to help us shift deftly, open our hearts and feel more together.
The greatest of these practices is Shabbat, precisely because it asks us to interrupt our usual instincts, our habitual ways of "plugging in" to whatever we plug into.
On March 6, Shir Ami will have a special "Unplugged Shabbat" dedicated exactly that.
Themed to National Day of Unplugging, our Shabbat of March 6 will feature no screens. (Yes to zoom for remote participants, but no slides.) There will be no piano, no big sounds, no big displays.
For those sometimes a bit addicted to our phones (which might be all of us), I will distribute Shir Ami-themed burlap bags for our phones. Perhaps we can give them a Shabbat as we give ourselves a Shabbat, too.
The heart of Shabbat is about calibrating our automated nervous systems, our routine ways of plugging in, numbing, feeling and protecting ourselves from feeling. This moment in our community and in our world needs us to expand our hearts and minds to be with it all and toggle between them fully and gracefully. On March 6, we'll explore some of that together, and what it can mean for us individually and as a community.
At this cusp between winter and spring, I bless us all with extra big hearts – big enough to feel both loss and celebration, anxiety and joy, lament and hope, the whole of life unfolding poignantly in real time.
And powered by big hearts able to plug in fully, may we live into this season that needs all the love and care we can give.
Themed to National Day of Unplugging, our Shabbat of March 6 will feature no screens. (Yes to zoom for remote participants, but no slides.) There will be no piano, no big sounds, no big displays.
For those sometimes a bit addicted to our phones (which might be all of us), I will distribute Shir Ami-themed burlap bags for our phones. Perhaps we can give them a Shabbat as we give ourselves a Shabbat, too.
The heart of Shabbat is about calibrating our automated nervous systems, our routine ways of plugging in, numbing, feeling and protecting ourselves from feeling. This moment in our community and in our world needs us to expand our hearts and minds to be with it all and toggle between them fully and gracefully. On March 6, we'll explore some of that together, and what it can mean for us individually and as a community.
At this cusp between winter and spring, I bless us all with extra big hearts – big enough to feel both loss and celebration, anxiety and joy, lament and hope, the whole of life unfolding poignantly in real time.
And powered by big hearts able to plug in fully, may we live into this season that needs all the love and care we can give.
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