Shabbat Shira-- Parashat B’shalach—Tu Bishvat January 29-30, 2010 Candle Lighting: 4:51 PM / Shabbat Ends: 5:54 PM Torah Reading: Exodus 13:17 - 17:16 Haftarah Judges 4:4 - 5:31
This Shabbat is called “Shabbat Shira” the Shabbat of Song, because we read in the Torah portion the majestic Shirat HaYam, the Song of the Sea, song by Moses and the Children of Israel after the miracle of the parting of the Reed Sea.
This Shabbat is also Tu Bishvat, the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Sh’vat, designated by the Talmud as “Rosh Hoshana La’Ilanot” the New Year of the Trees. The Talmud saw it as the New Year with respect o several agricultural laws about tithing. On Tu Bishvat, we eat traditionally of the five fruits and two grains which the Torah, in Deuteronomy 8:8 , associates with the land of Israel, “a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey” (the honey is date honey). Try to eat one of these for the first time this Jewish year and say a Shehecheyanu blessing!
Why don’t we know more about Miriam?
Miriam is the older sister of Moses; it is not stretching the truth to say that without her there would have been no Jewish people. When Moses’ parents place him in a basket in the Nile, she watches over him. When Pharaoh’s daughter rescues the infant, she boldly suggests to the princess that she allow her to fetch a Hebrew wet nurse (eventually, Moses’ mother). (Exodus 2:7-9). What would Moses have known about his people and ancestry without her intervention?
Despite this critical importance, Miriam is rarely hardly seen or heard or in the Torah. In the incident with Pharaoh’s daughter, she is not mentioned by name. In her second Biblical appearance, in this week’s Portion, after the sea miraculously parts, she leads the Israelite women in dance, music and a very short song after Moses leads the men in a song twenty times as long. In the book of Numbers (Chapter 12) she slanders her brother Moses and is punished gruesomely with leprosy. We are never given information about her marriage, children or descendants. Her death and burial are described in five words (Numbers 20:1), and there is no record of any mourning for her.
Commentators, from the Talmudic Rabbis to modern feminists, have tried to fill in the gap between Miriam’s singular importance and this tiny textual attention.
The Talmud especially stresses Miriam’s foresight and fearlessness. One poignant Midrash (Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 12a) relates that Amram, Miriam’s father, after hearing of Pharaoh’s infanticidal decree, divorced Yocheved, his wife, and urged other men to do the same, so that they not bring into the world children doomed to death. Miriam rebuked her father, convinced him to remarry Yocheved, and sang and danced at their re-marriage. Later, as she oversees the rearing of Moses in the palace, she bawls out Pharaoh, and is only saved from death by her mother’s plea (Midrash Exodus Rabbah 1:13). Even her later criticism of Moses (Numbers 12) is defended in the Midrash as an understandable protest of Moses’ neglect of Tziporah, his wife (Sifre Numbers 99).
It is comforting to read these accolades, for this great woman of Israel is at least later granted honor. But why does this tribute wait until later generations? Why is the Torah mostly silent?
Perhaps Miriam was, during her time, too big a threat to the patriarchal Israelite society. Perhaps to have celebrated her –with verses of admiration, public acclaim, a family and genealogy – would have been to endorse her rebelliousness. Perhaps, as some modern scholars posit, she was too reminiscent of the priestesses of pagan nations, who sang and danced before their gods.
Perhaps, Miriam was simply taken for granted. Quietly, she watched, protected, organized, nurtured and inspired. She cradled infants, shared old stories, united families and modeled confidence when most were fearful. While there is no record of mourning for Miriam, the Torah does tell us, immediately after those five words describing her death, “There was no water for the people” (Numbers 20:2). Miriam is associated elsewhere with wells and in Hebrew, Miriam, minus one consonant, is “mayim” or water. Perhaps, like water, although she sustained life, she was also taken for granted until she was no longer.
As much great literature, the Torah teaches us not just for what it affirms but also for what, “in between the lines”, by indirection, it reminds us to cherish.
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Weintraub
Services Shabbat Evening Services: 6:00 PM Shabbat Morning Services: 9:30 AM Sanctuary Singing Service: 9:30 A.M. - Chapel Camp Shabbat: 10:00 – 11:15 AM, 12:15 – 1:00 PM Family Services: 11:15 AM
Shacharit, Sunday: 9 AM
Mazal Tov and Todah Rabbah! We thank the Schklowsky family for sponsoring Kiddush this Shabbat in honor of the anniversary of Rena’s Bat Mitzvah. Rena recalls that the first time she recited this Haftarah as an adult was at Kane Street, 25 years ago; it was the first time she led an adult service. Todah Rabbah to Rena, Andre, Pablo and Raphael. This Shabbat! The Singing Service The popular, informal service uses the power of singing to build group spirit and to explore the deeper meaning of our prayers. This service meets in the Chapel this Shabbat and is led by our Musical Enrichment Director, Joey Weisenberg. For questions or comments, please contact Joey at [email protected]
Monthly Torah Study Sessions—This Shabbat Our Torah study group continues this Shabbat, led by Rabbi Josh Gutoff. Sessions will generally be held on the first Shabbat of each month, at 11 AM. Each session will take an in-depth look at a particular issue raised in each week’s parsha. We will both engage in close reading and use additional texts to understand the issue in its textual and historical context and/or its development in later Jewish thought.
Lunch and Learn "Jewish Music, a Printed History”-- with Joey Weisenberg, Kane Street Synagogue Music Enrichment Director, Following Service (about 1 PM)
Tracing the written history of Jewish music over the last 150 years, we will explore important books ranging from Baer's Nusach Hat'filah (Germany 1882) and Levandowski's collections (1876), to A. Bernstein's Musikalisher Pinkus (Vilna 1927), and Nechemya Vinaver's Anthology of Jewish Music (New York 1953), to works from the present era. In addition to hearing some of the music that's written, we'll discuss the authors' motivations for writing the books, and learn about what they considered important about Jewish music. Through this exhibit/discussion, we'll also arrive at some ideas about what we consider to be the essence of Jewish music, and whether it can effectively be captured on the written page at all.
News and Events
Brooklyn Israel Film Festival at Kane Street
KANE STREET’S 6TH ANNUAL BROOKLYN ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL PROGRAM AND ADVANCE TICKET SALES
We are very pleased to announce the movies and speakers for our 6th Annual Brooklyn Israel Film Festival on 1/28th, 1/30th and 1/31st:
Lady Kul el-Arab/Thursday Jan. 28th at 8:00PM: A moving documentary about a young Druze woman who enters an Israeli beauty pageant and is caught between two cultures. It is directed by the noted Arab-Israeli director, Ibtisam Mara'ana. Followed by discussion about “The Arab Woman in Israel as Seen Through Israeli Cinema” with Amy Kronish, former curator for the Jerusalem Cinematheque.
A Matter of Size/Saturday night, January 30 at 8:00PM: Winner of three 2009 Ophir Awards (Israel’s Oscars), this delightful comedy, about four overweight friends from Ramle who are fed up with dieting and take up Sumo wrestling, also takes a serious look at the issue of being overweight in Israel.
Eli & Ben/Sunday, January 31 at 7pm: A 12-year-old boy's comfortable world is turned upside down when his father, the city architect of Herzliya, is charged with taking bribes. “A coming of age drama with a social message, brilliantly made,” writes Matan Shiram, Globes daily newspaper. After-film discussion with Stephen Schaefer, Boston Herald film critic.
$12 per film; $30 for entire series at the door. For advance ticket sales through January 25th, trailers and for more details about the films and speakers, go to www.kanestreet.org.
Tikkun Olam / Social Justice Mitzvah of the Month (MOM) January-February Art Supplies Drive for Shutaf
Shutaf is a unique, inclusion camp and year-round, informal-education program in Jerusalem serving 60 children (75% special needs and 25% typical), 25 teens, dedicated staffers and volunteers of all ages. Shutaf is for kids from all backgrounds - we educate and show by example that everyone can live, work and enjoy together regardless of their differences. Jewish and social values in real time.
Needed items: crayola washable markers, colored felt (can be synthetic), different colored yarns, fabric dyes (for tie dye), fabric paints, white t-shirts in a variety of sizes, permanent markers in gold and silver, transparencies (come in a pack of letter size paper), brightly colored construction paper, colored scrap book paper, food coloring, larger brushes, big googly eyes, stockings/socks (for puppets), non-bleed tissue paper, rolling pins, quick drying clay (daas), cookie cutter shapes, tools for ceramics - wooden and metal tools
The Social Justice Committee is also looking for community members that are planning trips to Israel and might be willing to transport some of these items directly to Shutaf. Please contact [email protected] if you're interested.
Job Postings www.jewishjustice.org
We seek to hire individuals who share our values and enjoy a fast-paced, friendly, collaborative, and ambitious work environment.
Hebrew School If you have any questions or would like a registration form for your child, please contact Rabbi Valerie Lieber at 718-875-1550 x123 or [email protected]
Kane Street Kids We have a wonderful Preschool/Daycare Center called Kane Street Kids. For more information, call Joyce Heller at 718.875.1550, or email [email protected] Website To find out all that Kane Street Synagogue has to offer, please visit our new website at www.kanestreet.org. Features include the KSS calendar, listing of weekly services and leaders, upcoming events, contact information, educational programs, application forms for new members and school enrolment, directions to our facilities and cemeteries, donation forms for giving online or by fax, a link to Amazon.com that supports the synagogue, access to our publications and so much more. Add www.kanestreet.org to your Favorite's List today. Visit us often.
DISCOVER KSS at www.kanestreet.org SUPPORT KSS - Buy Amazon products through Kane Street. The synagogue benefits when you connect through our homepage.
Submissions to the Kane Yirbu should be emailed to Kane Yirbu editor Barbara Speregen at [email protected] by the Monday preceding publication.
Kane Street Synagogue Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes Samuel H. Weintraub, Rabbi 236 Kane Street [email protected] Brooklyn, NY 11231 Phone 718.875.1550 Jay Brodsky Fax: 718-797-1152 [email protected] Email: [email protected] www.kanestreet.org