Shir Chadash Newsletter
June 18 - 24, 2020
26 Sivan - 2 Tamuz, 5780
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This Week's Shir Chadash To-Do List
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- June 19: Fancy Friday - Back to the 70's!
- June 22: Zoom Performance - Jewish Women's Theatre
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Be honest - have you been wearing the same pair of sweatpants for a while? Are you losing track of time because you're not dressing up for Shabbat? Shir Chadash has the answer...
FANCY FRIDAYS!
Every week we'll dress to a different theme. Put on your glad rags (and your makeup and your jewelry...), take a photo of yourself/yourselves and send it to us at
[email protected]
so we can share it on our Facebook page, or dress to impress for Kabbalat Shabbat!
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This week: Back to the 70's!
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Spread the Smiles
We know that these last couple months have been unlike any other and that we have all had to adjust to our new way of life in quarantine. We hope that along with all the change we have experienced, there have been moments of laughter and lots of smiles - and we would love to hear about them! Please share a fun moment or experience you have had while staying at home - whether it's a piece of writing, or maybe a photo - we would love to share a smile with the rest of the community.
If you would like to contribute,
Here are some entries from this past week:
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Mazel tov to Elissa Merlin on becoming Bat Mitzvah! Elissa and her family invite you to watch her recorded service from last Sunday at the link below.
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We wish Sol Heiman a big
♫ Happy Birthday ♫ Until 120!
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Join us at 9:15am for our Sunday minyan followed by a check-in and a virtual L'Hayyim!
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Sisterhood Corner
Join us
online
for our regularly scheduled Sisterhood Tanakh class as
w
e continue our journey through the book of Judges.
Wednesdays at 10 am
For questions or for more info about Sisterhood, contact Charisse Sands
504-231-6464
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Looking Ahead
(Click on the bold writing to join the ZOOM meeting)
SOME OF THE LINKS HAVE CHANGED.
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Friday, June 19th
Saturday, June 20th
Sunday, June 21st - Father's Day
Monday, June 22nd
Tuesday, June 23rd
Wednesday, June 24th
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Thursday, June 25th
Friday, June 26th
Saturday, June 27th
Sunday, June 28th
Tuesday, June 30th
Wednesday, July 1st
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Buy Your Own Siddur Lev Shalem
Thanks to the generosity of our donor, we are able to offer the Siddur Lev Shalem for purchase at a price of $40.00 (a discount of $9.00 from the list price).
Additionally, anyone who wants to can borrow an 'old' Siddur Sim Shalom.
Please email the office if you would like to arrange a purchase or pick up –
[email protected]
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Dear Shir Chadash community,
When I first began to work here, I thought carefully about how to address us collectively. My choice of the word ‘community’ over ‘congregants’ is deliberate. I can’t remember where I first learned that ‘congregation’ comes from the word for ‘flock,’ whereas ‘community’ comes from words that mean something more like, ‘together.’
I’m not a shepherd and have no interest in becoming one. By contrast, I am very taken with the idea of addressing us as a togetherness, a sharing.
Pre-COVID, it was very easy for us to live out this idea. We would converge on a single place; we would sit together; we would whisper together; we would sing together; we would kiss or embrace; we would share food from a single dish. All of those were ways of expressing our shared sense of togetherness.
But recently, our understanding of community has had to change. I’m sure you will all have seen those lists, graded by number, of activities that it might be safe to consider undertaking in the near future. It always makes my heart sink when I see ‘communal worship’ with the highest numbers, meaning the highest element of risk.
So while the Synagogue continues to consider a phased opening with the care it requires, I suggest that we also need to broaden our idea of what it means to be a community.
When Jerusalem was conquered by the Romans in 70CE, the rabbis and leaders of the time had to pivot quickly. With the Temple gone, there was no central place for sacrifices, the primary form of worship. With the land gone, there was no possibility of observing the festival cycle through agriculture, its primary expression. With the monarchy destroyed and the priesthood redundant, there was no clear chain of leadership.
It was out of this crisis that what we now know as Judaism emerged. Prayer replaced sacrifice, the calendar grew beyond agriculture and a collective leadership emerged based on interpreting (and disputing!) Torah.
While our present circumstances are challenging, I think they still don’t quite match up to those of 70 CE,. And so I believe that we will be able to continue to create Jewish community. But we will need to shift our parameters a little.
Let me offer one idea as a starting point:
Being in community means taking care of, and for, each other.
What does this mean? Perhaps it means a phone call. Perhaps it means a doorstep delivery. Perhaps it means a card in the mail. Perhaps it means coming to virtual services so a friend can say Kaddish. And in due course, perhaps it means making some changes in our behavior and our prayers at the Synagogue so that we can keep each other, and our staff, safe.
I wish us a peaceful, restful Shabbat.
Rabbi Silver
PS - I always provide a few new links for Shabbat, so please scroll down…
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Virtual services and
pre/post Shabbat materials
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We hope that playing these in the background has been getting you in the mood for Shabbat!
Here
is our Shabbat playlist and for our younger members,
here
is the Shir Chadash Youtube page, where you can spend some time with Miss Meryl and the Shabbat dinosaur!
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Please use
this link
for Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday night at 6:15 pm.
Coronaspection: from the Elijah Institute
Over the past two months, the Elijah Institute, centered in Jerusalem, asked spiritual teachers from all the great traditions, and from across the globe, to offer words of wisdom and
ḥizzuk
. Many were in the form of interviews conducted by Rabbi Dr. Alon Goshen-Gottstein, the institute's founder. The result is a marvelous and colorful panorama of religious personalities, teachers, and teachings. It can be found
HERE.
If you first want to see just the trailer, click
HERE
.
Look out for Rabbis Art Green and Jonathan Wittenberg!
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Shabbat morning liturgy at home
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I hope that by now we are in the habit of making a computer-free time on Shabbat to pray, to reflect and to study.
You can find an online Siddur
here
- please download before Shabbat.
At the end of
this article
is Rabbi Wayne Dosick’s prayer to say in place of Kaddish.
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Torah: Numbers 13:1 - 14:7
Maftir: Numbers 14:5-7
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24
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Torah study
The Torah reading for this week is in the red panel above. If you do not have a Humash at home you can find it on the link below. We are reading Triennial Year 1, but you might like to read the full portion (“
Full Kriyah
”).
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Brochure
Our Shabbat brochure with the Verse To Live By, yahrzeits, and simchas for this week is
attached
. You might wish to take special notice of those who are sick and take a moment to direct your thoughts towards them.
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Prayer for Medical Workers
Please continue to say this prayer for all those who work to keep us healthy and safe.
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Holy One
We ask your blessing for our doctors
for our nurses
for all our hospital workers
who stand between the living and the dying
as Aaron once stood.
Help them to know they are not alone
as they undertake the overwhelming holy work
of deploying and organizing,
of caring and healing and comforting.
Bring them strength
and fortitude
and grace.
May the work of their hands be blessed.
And we say,
Amen.
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The Musicians’ Clinic
&
The Blood Center
partner with New Orleans’ iconic music and cultural venues. Hosting blood drives each Saturday in June these empty stages are banding together to address New Orleans’ critically low blood supply at the start of hurricane season. Successful whole blood donations will be tested for COVID-19 antibodies.
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Community Events and Announcements
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Juneteenth Kabbalat Shabbat
Join Rabbis Sandra Lawson and Isaama Goldstein-Stoll for a special Kabbalat Shabbat service on Zoom to mark Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the day when the enslaved people of Texas were freed, more than two years after the Emancipation...
Read more
globaljews.org
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PJ Library
is offering a collection of ways to keep your family busy over the summer. Check out their
June newsletter
below for crafts, recipes, and more fun activities!
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Not sure about summer plans?
USY has just the thing!
Starting July 1, USY will be premiering
#MyUSYfiSummer
-- six weeks of amazing virtual programming for Jewish teens!
What is #MyUSYfiSummer?
A HUGE variety of virtual programs for all Jewish pre-teens/teens entering 5th grade all the way through the graduating class of 2020, covering a ton of different categories, including college/test prep, performing and visual arts, Israel education, Jewish studies, cooking, leadership training, and more.
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Have you ever used
ZOOM
? We are holding meetings and classes using this online program. Please look at this tutorial so you can join us! We hope to see you soon!
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Thank you to all our generous donors. We are deeply grateful for your support.
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General Fund
To: Alvin & Madilyn Samuels
In honor of your 60th wedding anniversary
From: Ricardo & Marcela Totah
Herbert & Margot Garon Memorial Fund
To: Alvin & Madilyn Samuels
In honor of Alvin & Madilyn's 60th Anniversary and Madilyn's special birthday!
From: Eileen Wallen
Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund
In memory of Wendy Good
From: Eileen Wallen
In memory of Harris Dulitz
From: Eileen Wallen
In memory of Bill Goldsmith
From: Eileen Wallen
In memory of Beverly Kaplan
From: Eileen Wallen
In memory of Bill "Zev" Goldsmith
From: Sandra Chass Goldsmith
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Sisterhood Fund
In memory of Beverly Kaplan - A Wednesday morning participant in Sisterhood's Study Group
From: Lazelle, Amy, & Becky Alexander
In memory of Bertha Kern - a past President of Shir Chadash Sisterhood
From: Lazelle, Amy, & Becky Alexander
Sandy Kahn Memorial Lecture Fund
In memory of Bertha Kern
From: Eileen Wallen
Yahrzeit Fund
In memory of Edmund Golden
From: Edmund & Joyce Golden
In memory of Seymour Oberman
From: Edmund & Joyce Golden
In memory of Mildred Brown
From: Carmel Cohen
In memory of Maurice Burk
From: Jeannine Burk
In memory of Romain Luksberg
From: Jeannine Burk
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Chaverweb Online Member Access
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Watch the video above that another congregation put together with some basics about how to use ChaverWeb. (Please note - some of the functionality in this video is specific to the Beth Chaim Congregation and not yet available to Shir Chadash at this time.)
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Did you get your welcome email?
If not, please contact the synagogue office.
Subject line: Welcome to Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation's Online Member Access!
With this online portal, you can manage your personal synagogue business online:
- Manage your account online
- Set a secure private password
- Update your info (name, address, photo, link yourself to family members and Yahrzeits)
- Check your account balance
- Make payments and donations
- RSVP for upcoming events (coming soon)
- and so much more!
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Rabbi
Executive Director
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Director of Youth Education
and Community Engagement
Sarah Lustig
Office Assistant
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