Our Season of Rejoicing
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VOLUME 125 NUMBER 2 OCTOBER 2019 ShalomTHE BULLETIN OF REFORM CONGREGATION KENESETH ISRAEL & THE MEYERS LIBRARY Our Season of Rejoicing From KI Leadership Why Bimah Honors on the High Holy Days? President’s Tekiah! Teruah! Tekiah! The High Holy Days communal and embrace the rich liturgical voices of Message are here and with them the beginning of our “new” the Jewish past with the aspirations of our people year. 5780 has arrived! today. Everyone who participates in our services During the High Holy Days, many in our either by taking part as an honoree or as a commu- congregation are called up for Holy Day Honors. nity participant can be moved by the experiences As varied as our members are, so are these groups, offered in this innovative set of prayer books. from HaMotzi Volunteers, to Greenfaith committee For the last three years, I have read one of the members, to those who have made extraordinary opening poems. I feel great pride that I am called donations to our beloved synagogue and to those upon to use my voice to set the pace for others who donate lots and lots of volunteer time to our to follow. I take a deep breath as I stand before synagogue. In our new prayer books, Mishkan the congregation and think the Days of Awe are Janice Hanefesh, beyond the traditional prayers we are beginning and here I am on the Bimah. Everyone Schwartz-Donahue, so familiar with, there are many opportunities is quiet, I look out and begin to read, a prayer President for poems and prayers to be read by congregants. inspired by a hymn for the New Year by Rabbi I find it interesting that our Rabbi and Cantor select David Einhorn who served as a KI Rabbi from congregants who fit perfectly, almost seamlessly 1881–1886. “This Autumn Night the shades of into their parts, and each year I anticipate seeing darkness in the sky are signs of earth’s turning, who has been chosen to read a particular portion. the fleeting ways of nature…” In that brief moment Past presidents read prayers for the Congregation, I can feel the darkness descending and I am acutely other leaders head the Hakafah Procession, KIFTY aware of the gentle turning of the seasons, just as members read from the Torah, Social Justice I know I am meant to be at this place at this time. advocates read messages filled with calls for advocacy, I am embraced by my KI community. I am filled someone reads a poem called Judaism Street, another with gratitude for the turning of the seasons. about Israel. There are poems about dignity and When Rabbi and Cantor invite you up for Bimah power, God as our Rock and Protector, blessings honors, when they thank you for being a truly over the works of our hands, and blessings for peace. integral part of our KI community, remember As diverse as we are as a congregation the prayers the High Holy Days are a time for reflection, and poetry of Mishkan Hanefesh, give everyone an introspection, prayer, and re-connection. Be opportunity for unique self-expression. This new mindful and join us in this spiritual experience! Machzor was written to bridge the personal and the Shanah Tovah. 2 OCTOBER 2019 From the Bimah Overharvesting The first month of the Jewish year is filled as we want. We cringe at the “waste” of national Rabbi’s with holidays including Sukkot, the seven-day parks, which could be sold and exploited for wealth Message Biblical harvest festival. During Sukkot, we build and not just held as an heirloom. I imagine Teddy our symbolic harvest huts (“Sukkot”) and wave the Roosevelt would not be very happy with our endless lulav, all as ways of demonstrating our gratitude pursuit of consumption at the beginning of the for all that sustains us. My guess is that just about 21st century. every culture has some kind of harvest festival I am not against wealth or pleasure. I am for the and that gratitude is a universal human concept. prudent protection of resources, natural and fiscal. Indeed, saying “thank you” is one of the very first I am not against enjoyment but I am for charity and things we feel compelled to teach our children believing in the common good. As Lloyd and Hardin when they are very young. taught, we cannot overstock the “Commons” with The opposite of harvesting and giving thanks ever-larger herds with the single goal of increasing Rabbi Lance J. is “overharvesting” (or over-exploitation). It is an our own herd without some realization that the Sussman, Ph.D. idea that goes back as far as Aristotle and was given “Commons” is finite and needs to be shared modern expression by a 19th century English proportionately. economist, William Forster Lloyd, and later, an To me, the idea of overharvesting does not American ecologist, Garrett Hardin, who wrote mitigate accumulating riches. Instead, it stands as the seminal piece on overharvesting, “The Tragedy a caution again lack of planning, failing to see the big of the Commons” in Science magazine in 1968. picture, ignoring the common good, of refusing to Judaism anticipated overharvesting by instituting give back or working to help others succeed. To that just practices as peah, “corner,” that is, leaving the end, Sukkot has a powerful moral message. First, be corners of the field un-harvested for the benefit grateful for what we have. Second, share from what of the poor. we have with others less fortunate than ourselves. Overharvesting is an important idea for our Third, plan together for the benefit of all. time in which we often expect so much for ourselves These are big ideas. At the macro level, they are in terms of material culture, wealth, and pleasure. easy to state. At the micro level of life, they are hard For too many, there seems to be a belief that all to apply. However, it is important to have ideals our resources are endless and can be continually and ideas. So this year, even as we give thanks for exploited for our benefit and pleasure. Restraint, the harvest, let us think about the perils of over- saving, deferred enjoyment, simplicity, and modest harvesting as well and what we can do individually living are increasingly distant concepts and values. and collectively to preserve the Commons for the We are entitled, so it seems, to everything all the time good of all. without limit. We can take as much from the earth Shabbat Shalom and happy holidays to all. Torah Blessings With Rabbi Sussman. Special celebration of the 80th anniversary of coming to the US. From left to right, Rabbi Sussman, Hilde Goldstein, Eve Mennies, Renate Elgart, and Ilsa Cowan. SUPPORT KI! Call 215.887.8700 or visit www.kenesethisrael.org. Thank you! SHALOM KI 3 From the Bimah Gift of Life Cantor’s As we celebrate the holiday of Sukkot, we family who lost a loved one, twenty-three years ago, Message reflect on the abundance of the harvest. We reflect he received the gift of life. They both will share their on what we may have in excess that we can give, story of the Gift of Life. especially to those in need. This Sukkot, could We are trying to find a match for a kidney we think about the gifts that we have been given donation for our congregant, Elliot Eisman, who is within our own body that could possibly benefit in desperate need of a kidney; his kidney function and give the gift of continued life? Could we share is currently at 1%. Elliot is an active member of KI; an organ such as a kidney, or could we give a bone you may also know him as Lynore Eisman’s husband. marrow, or a stem cell donation? The “gift of Lynore is the president of our Sisterhood (Women continued life” is deep-seated within our tradition of KI), very active in HaMotzi Dinners, and in our as the Talmud teaches us that one who “saves the KI Mitzvah Garden. Her husband is always by her Cantor life of one human being saves the entire world.” side. Elliot, whose motto is “Be Positive,” is a good Amy E. Levy (Babylonian Talmud: Sanhedrin 37a.) father, son, friend, and co-worker who is in need of a In principle, Judaism supports and encourages kidney from someone who has B or O blood type. organ, eye, and tissue donation in order to save lives. He is in Stage 5 kidney failure and doing dialysis When we consider organ, eye, and tissue donation, each night. The Eisman’s have two wonderful we are considering tithing of ourselves, setting aside sons, two lovely, daughters-in-law, and they are what might be “extra” in the right candidate. unbelievably happy to be new grandparents to On Friday, October 11 at 8:00 p.m., we will grandson, Irving Ansel Zinner Eisman. hold our “Gift of Life Shabbat.”Special musical As we move into our harvest season, let us guest, my father-in-law, George, who recently remember to be thankful for the abundance in our celebrated a pseudo-Bar Mitzvah, will join us. lives. Let’s consider our own blood, tissues, and For 13 years, George has been living as a kidney organs as a way of setting aside life for someone transplant recipient. An old high school friend, who is in need. This is modern-day holiness and Patti, donated the kidney when he was in dire wholeness. We look forward to seeing you on need to survive.