Friday, April 26, 2013

From Music to Cohens

Dear Haverim,

*Tonight, April 26, 6:30 p.m., Kabbalat Shabbat (Happy Hour 6 p.m.). We celebrate Ethan Fruchtman’s bar mitzvah.

Dvar Torah:Jewish Sacred Time Through Music. Come & sing along!

*Tomorrow, April 27, 9:30 a.m., Shabbat services (10:15 a.m. Torah service). Guest darshan: Ethan Fruchtman.

Topic: It’s Tough to be a Cohen

*Sunday, April 28, Lag B’Omer. Todd Herzog in Concert, Siegel JCC. 11 a.m., PJ Library Family Concert. 2 p.m. Community-wide Concert. This is our community’s Israel @ 65th Birthday Bash. Free and open to all. Please come.

B’Shalom,

Rabbi Michael

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Boston Bomb Blasts to Equality Delaware

Dear Haverim:




Tomorrow Evening, Friday, April 19, Kabbalat Shabbat services, 6:30 p.m. (Happy Hour 6 p.m.) Sermon topic: Prayers of Healing After the Boston Marathon Bombing. I will also share a statement from the Rabbinical Assembly after the Senate’s failure to pass any gun reform amendments.



Shabbat, April 20, Dalet-Hey student-led Shabbat services, 9:30 a.m. (Torah service: 10:15 a.m.). Sermon topic: Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim & Marriage Equality. Guest speaker: Parker Wright of Equality Delaware discusses HB 75 under consideration before the Delaware House, which if approved by the DE General Assembly, would make Delaware the 10th state in the Union to approve same-sex marriage. Today’s Torah reading has text directly pertaining to this legislation. Our Omer meditation continues…



With the mitzvah of counting the 49 days, known as Sefirat Ha'Omer, the Torah invites us on a journey into the human psyche, into the soul. There are seven basic emotions that make up the spectrum of human experience. At the root of all forms of enslavement, is a distortion of these emotions. Each of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot is dedicated to examining and refining one of them.



The seven emotional attributes are:

Chesed ― Loving-kindness

Gevurah ― Justice and discipline

Tiferet ― Harmony, compassion

Netzach ― Endurance

Hod ― Humility

Yesod ― Bonding

Malchut ― Sovereignty, leadership



The seven weeks, which represent these emotional attributes, further divide into seven days making up the 49 days of the counting. Since a fully functional emotion is multidimensional, it includes within itself a blend of all seven attributes. Thus, the counting of the first week, which begins on the second night of Pesach, as well as consisting of the actual counting ("Today is day one of the Omer...") would consist of the following structure with suggested meditations:



WEEK 4 ― NETZACH ― ENDURANCE



During the fourth week of counting the Omer, we examine and refine the emotional attribute of endurance known as Netzach. Netzach means endurance, fortitude and ambition and is a combination of determination and tenacity. It is a balance of patience, persistence and guts. Endurance is also being reliable and accountable, which establishes security and commitment.



Without endurance, any good endeavor or intention has no chance of success. Endurance means to be alive, to be driven by what counts. It is the readiness to fight for what you believe, to go all the way. This, of course, requires that endurance be closely examined to ensure that it is used in a healthy and productive manner.



Friday, April 19, Day 24 ― Tiferet of Netzach: Compassion in Endurance



Healthy endurance, directed to develop good qualities and modifying bad ones, will always be compassionate. The compassion of endurance reflects a most beautiful quality of endurance: an enduring commitment to help another grow. Endurance without compassion is misguided and selfish. Endurance needs to be not just loving to those who deserve love, but also compassionate to the less fortunate. Does my determination compromise my compassion for others? Am I able to rise above my ego and empathize with my competitors? Am I gracious in victory?



Exercise for the day: Be patient and listen to someone who usually makes you impatient.



Shabbat, April 20, Day 25- Netzach of Netzach: Endurance in Endurance



Everyone has willpower and determination. We have the capacity to endure much more than we can imagine, and to prevail under the most trying of circumstances.



Ask yourself: Is my behavior erratic? Am I inconsistent and unreliable? Since I have will and determination, why am I so mercurial? Am I afraid of accessing my endurance and committing? Do I fear being trapped by my commitment? If yes, why? Is it a reaction to some past trauma? Instead of cultivating endurance in healthy areas, have I developed a capacity for endurance of unhealthy experiences? Do I endure more pain than pleasure? Do I underestimate my capacity to endure?



Exercise for the day: Commit yourself to developing a new good habit.



Sunday, April 21, Day 26 ― Hod of Netzach: Humility in Endurance



Yielding ― which is a result of humility ― is an essential element of enduring. Standing fast can sometimes be a formula for destruction. The oak, lacking the ability to bend in the hurricane, is uprooted. The reed, which yields to the wind, survives without a problem. Do I know when to yield, out of strength not fear? Why am I often afraid to yield?



Endurance is fueled by inner strength. Hod of Netzach is the humble recognition and acknowledgement that the capacity to endure and prevail comes from the soul that God gave each person. This humility does not compromise the drive of endurance; on the contrary, it intensifies it, because human endurance can go only so far and endure only so much, whereas endurance that comes from the Divine soul is limitless.



Do I attribute my success solely to my own strength and determination? Am I convinced that I am all-powerful due to my level of endurance? Where do I get the strength at times when everything seems so bleak?



Exercise for the day: When you awake, acknowledge God for giving you a soul with the extraordinary power and versatility to endure despite trying challenges. This will allow you to draw energy and strength for the entire day.



Monday, April 22, Day 27 ― Yesod of Netzach: Bonding in Endurance



Bonding is an essential quality of endurance. It expresses your unwavering commitment to the person or experience you are bonding with, a commitment so powerful that you will endure all to preserve it. Endurance without bonding will not endure.



Exercise for the day: To ensure the endurance of your new resolution, bond with it immediately. This can be assured by promptly actualizing your resolution in some constructive deed or committing yourself to another.



Tuesday, April 23, Day 28 ― Malchut of Netzach: Nobility in Endurance



Sovereignty is the cornerstone of endurance. Endurance that encompasses the previous six qualities is indeed a tribute and testimony to the majesty of the human spirit. Is my endurance dignified? Does it bring out the best in me? When faced with hardships do I behave like a king or queen, walking proudly with my head up, confident in my God-given strengths, or do I cower and shrivel up in fear? Exercise for the day: Fight for a dignified cause.



WEEK 5 ― HOD ― HUMILITY



During the fifth week of counting the Omer, we examine and refine the emotional attribute of Hod or humility. Humility ― and the resulting yielding ― should not be confused with weakness and lack of self-esteem. Hod or humility is modesty ― it is acknowledgment (from the root of the Hebrew word "hoda'ah"). It is saying "thank you" to God. It is clearly recognizing your qualities and strengths and acknowledging that they are not your own; they were given to you by God for a higher purpose than just satisfying your own needs. Humility is modesty; it is recognizing how small you are which allows you to realize how large you can become. And that makes humility so formidable.



A full cup cannot be filled. When you're filled with yourself and your needs, "I and nothing else", there is no room for more. When you "empty" yourself before something greater than yourself, your capacity to receive increases beyond your previously perceived limits. Humility is the key to transcendence; to reach beyond yourself. Only true humility gives you the power of total objectivity. Humility is sensitivity; it is healthy shame out of recognition that you can be better than you are and that you can expect more of yourself. Although humility is silent it is not a void. It is a dynamic expression of life that includes all seven qualities of love, discipline, compassion, endurance, humility, bonding and sovereignty.



Wednesday, April 24, Day 29 ― Chesed of Hod: Loving-kindness in Humility



Examine the love in your humility. Healthy humility is not demoralizing; it brings love and joy not fear. Humility that lacks love has to be reexamined for its authenticity. Sometimes humility can be confused with low self-esteem, which would cause it to be unloving. Humility brings love because it gives you the ability to rise above yourself and love another. Does my humility cause me to be more loving and giving? More expansive? Or does it inhibit and constrain me?



Exercise for the day: Before praying with humility and acknowledgment of God, give some charity. It will enhance your prayers.



Thursday, April 25, Day 30 ― Gevurah of Hod: Discipline in Humility



Humility must be disciplined and focused. When should my humility cause me to compromise and when not? In the name of humility do I sometimes remain silent and neutral in the face of wickedness? Humility must also include respect and awe for the person or experience before whom you stand humble. If my humility is wanting, is it because I don't respect another?



Exercise for the day: Focus in on your reluctance to commit in a given area to see if it originates from a healthy, humble place.



Friday, April 26, Day 31 ― Tiferet of Hod: Compassion in Humility



Examine if your humility is compassionate. Does my humility cause me to be self-contained and anti-social or does it express itself in empathy for others. Is my humility balanced and beautiful? Or is it awkward? Just as humility brings compassion, compassion can lead one to humility. If you lack humility, try acting compassionately, which can help bring you to humility.



Exercise for the day: Express a humble feeling in an act of compassion.



Thursday, April 4, 2013

California Kosher to Yom Ha Shoah Commemorations



*Tonight, Friday, April 5th, 6:30 p.m., Gan-Aleph Shabbat. (Happy Hour 6 p.m.) Services run on kid-power, featuring the very youngest of our congregants.   Sermon topic: California Kosher: Why is it TOTALLY COOL to Keep Kosher?

*Saturday, April 6th, 9:30 a.m., Shabbat services (Torah service, 10:15 a.m.) Sermon topic: Parashat Shemini: The Death of Aaron’s Sons & Yom Ha Shoah:   WHY DO WE SUFFER?!

Many Yom Ha Shoah/Holocaust Day Commemorations to choose from:

*Sunday, April 7th, 3 p.m., Siegel JCC. Congregant Rachel Harad will be dedicating a tree to honor and memorialize the two sisters who sheltered her father during the Holocaust, Suzanne and Andree Romain. Our congregants, the Kan/Alexander family, are also dedicating a tree to remember the institution that provided shelter for Elly's mom, Francisca. The ceremony will take place at the Rededication of the Garden of the Righteous Gentiles. Eva Fogelman, co-founder of the Jewish Foundation for Christian Rescuers and author of Conscience and Courage: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust, will be the featured speaker at 3 p.m.

The garden, the first monument outside Jerusalem to Christians who saved the lives of Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe, contains trees originally planted in 1981 by Holocaust survivors residing in Delaware. Three decades of exposure to the elements took their toll, but the garden has been restored by its original landscape architect, Robert Grenfell, and the Halina Wind Preston Holocaust Education Committee.

*Sunday, April 7th, 7:30 p.m, Shiva for Jerry Grossman’s father, Marvin, at Congregation Beth Shalom, including an abridged Yom Ha Shoah service.

Also *Sunday, April 7th, 7:30 p.m, Community-wide Yom Ha Shoah Service, Temple Beth El, Newark.

 

*Monday, April 8th, 12 noon – 1 p.m., State-wide Yom Ha Shoah Program, Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French St., Wilmington, including musical offerings by both Cantor Elisa (Sephardic) and Rabbi Michael (Ashkenazic).

And our Omer Self-Improvement Count continues…

WEEK 2 ― GEVURAH: JUSTICE, DISCIPLINE, RESTRAINT, AWE

After the miraculous Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people spent 49 days preparing for the most awesome experience in human history ― the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Just as the Jewish peoples' redemption from Egypt teaches us how to achieve inner freedom in our lives; so too, this 49-day period, called 'Sefirat Ha-Omer' the Counting of the Omer, is a time of intense character refinement and elevation.

During this time, the aspect of the human psyche that most requires refinement is the area of the emotions. The spectrum of human experience consists of seven emotional attributes, or sefirot.

The seven emotional attributes are:

  1. Chesed ― Loving-kindness
  2. Gevurah ― Justice and discipline
  3. Tiferet ― Harmony, compassion
  4. Netzach ― Endurance
  5. Hod ― Humility
  6. Yesod ― Bonding
  7. Malchut ― Sovereignty, leadership

This week we continue Sefirat Ha'Omer, utilizing the seven dimensions of the seven emotional attributes. The first week after Pesach was dedicated to examining the aspect of chesed, loving-kindness. The second week corresponds to the emotional attribute of gevurah, discipline or justice.

If love (Chesed) is the bedrock of human expression, discipline (Gevurah) is the channel through which we express love. It gives our life and love direction and focus. Gevurah ― discipline and measure ― concentrates and directs our efforts, our love in the proper directions.


Underlying and driving discipline must not only be love, but also compassion. Compassion is unconditional love. It is love just for the sake of love, not considering the others position. Tiferet is a result of total selflessness in the eyes of God. You love for no reason; you love because you are a reflection of God. Does my discipline have this element of compassion?

Exercise for the day: Be compassionate to someone you have reproached.


Effective discipline must be enduring and tenacious. Is my discipline consistent or only when forced? Do I follow through with discipline? Am I perceived as a weak disciplinarian?

Exercise for the day: Extend the plan you made on day two for a longer period of time listing short-term and long-term goals. Review and update it each day, and see how consistent you are and if you follow through.


The results of discipline and might without humility are obvious. The greatest catastrophes have occurred as a result of people sitting in arrogant judgment of others. Am I arrogant in the name of justice (what I consider just)? Do I ever think that I sit on a higher pedestal and bestow judgment on my subjects below? What about my children? Students?

Exercise for the day: Before judging anyone, insure that you are doing so selflessly with no personal bias


For discipline to be effective it must be coupled with commitment and bonding. Both in disciplining yourself and others there has to be a sense that the discipline is important for developing a stronger bond. Not that I discipline you, but that we are doing it together for our mutual benefit.

Exercise for the day: Demonstrate to your child or student how discipline is an expression of intensifying your bond and commitment to each other.


Discipline, like love, must enhance personal dignity. Discipline that breaks a person will backfire. Healthy discipline should bolster self-esteem and help elicit the best in a person; cultivating his sovereignty. Does my discipline cripple the human spirit; does it weaken or strengthen me and others?

Exercise for the day: When disciplining your child or student, foster his self-respect


During the third week of Counting the Omer, we examine the emotional attribute of Tiferet or compassion. Tiferet blends and harmonizes the free outpouring love of Chesed with the discipline of Gevurah. Tiferet possesses this power by introducing a third dimension ― the dimension of truth, which is neither love nor discipline and therefore can integrate the two.

Truth is accessed through selflessness: rising above your ego and your predispositions, enabling you to realize truth. Truth gives you a clear and objective picture of yours and others' needs. This quality gives Tiferet its name, which means beauty: it blends the differing colors of love and discipline, and this harmony makes it beautiful.


Examine the love aspect of compassion. Ask yourself: Is my compassion tender and loving or does it come across as pity? Is my sympathy condescending and patronizing? Even if my intention is otherwise, do others perceive it as such? Does my compassion overflow with love and warmth; is it expressed with enthusiasm, or is it static and lifeless?

Exercise for the day: When helping someone extend yourself in the fullest way; offer a smile or a loving gesture.

 


For compassion to be effective and healthy it needs to be disciplined and focused. It requires discretion both to whom you express compassion, and in the measure of the compassion itself. It is recognizing when compassion should be expressed and when it should be withheld or limited. Discipline in compassion is knowing that being truly compassionate sometimes requires withholding compassion. Because compassion is not an expression of the bestower's needs but a response to the recipient's needs.

Exercise for the day: Express your compassion in a focused and constructive manner by addressing someone's specific needs.


True compassion is limitless. It is not an extension of your needs and defined by your limited perspective. Compassion for another is achieved by having a selfless attitude, rising above yourself and placing yourself in the other person's situation and experience. Am I prepared and able to do that? If not, why? Do I express and actualize the compassion and empathy in my heart? What blocks me from expressing it? Is my compassion compassionate or self-serving? Is it compassion that comes out of guilt rather than genuine empathy? How does that affect and distort my compassion? Test yourself by seeing if you express compassion even when you don't feel guilty.

Exercise for the day: Express your compassion in a new way that goes beyond your previous limitations: express it towards someone to whom you have been callous.