Tornados to Gossip to C-Span

Dear Haverim,

     Well, it’s been quite an eventful week for me.  Thank you to those of you who were able to celebrate Ariella’s bat mitzvah with us, meet our friends and family, and especially for those of you who honored us by co-sponsoring the Shabbat Kiddush Lunch.  I will be thanking you individually but I wanted to get a collective todah rabbah out ASAP!

     *Friday night,May 24,6:30 p.m. (Happy Hour 6 p.m.) Dvar Torah topic: Moore,OK:God in the ‘Still Small Voice’ NOT The Wind Storm

This is a special B’nei Mitzvah Shabbat, celebrating the students and families of our upcoming B’nei Mitzvah class.  Please come and make them all feel welcome as they begin their spiritual adventure and assume greater religious leadership roles in our Shabbat davening.

      *Saturday morning, May 25, 9:30 a.m. (Torah service: 10:15 a.m.) Dvar Torah: B’ha’alotecha: Discovering the Roots of Gossip

     I was honored to represent our synagogue before the U.S. Senate on Thursday morning.  I love CBS and Delaware, and have a profound love and respect for our Delaware Congressional team, for the kavod  they show me and for the support they have given to both Beth Shalom, locally, and the State of Israel internationally.

       Below, please find the C-Span clip of the prayer, as well as the New Journal coverage of the blessing.

        Shabbat shalom,

      Rabbi Michael

 

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4452928

Wilmington rabbi gives opening Senate prayer Written by Nichole Dobo The News Journal May 23, 2013 2:49 PM |

delawareonline.com

The opening prayer at the U.S. Senate was given today by a Wilmington rabbi.

The Congregation Beth Shalom’s Rabbi Michael Beals served as the guest chaplain today. He prayed for the community of Moore, Okla., which was devastated by tornadoes earlier this week. Beals was invited to do the prayer by U.S. Sen. Chris Coons.

Here is the text of Beals’ prayer, as provided by Coons’ office:

“Let us join together in prayer. Ribbonolam, Master of the Universe, we send our first prayer to the residents of Moore, Oklahoma. May be Your will that those who are missing be found alive and be cared for. Send comfort to those who have suffered loss, and with the help of those gathered here, send the resources required to rebuild. Eternal our God, You commanded us to care for the widow; the orphan; and you commanded us to care for — so appropriate today — the stranger in our midst. Thank you for giving our nation these esteemed United States Senators to help us as a nation fulfill the command to care for the most vulnerable in our midst. Into each of these honorable United States Senators, you have implanted Your divine spark. Help these senators, Your humble servants, find a way of working together for the common good. In doing so, may they best take their individual holy inner light and join them together, creating one unified shaft of light so strong that it will shine clear up to the firmament above. We pray this in your sacred and holy name, and let us all say, Amen.”