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The Rabbi's Study MAY/JUNE 2021 Hadashot The Newsletter of Congregation B’nai Shalom IYYAR-TAMUZ 5781 VOLUME 78, ISSUE 3 Welcome to Congregation B’nai Shalom, a Conservative synagogue offering a warm, Inside This Issue supportive, dynamic community joined together by prayer, learning and celebration! The Rabbi’s Study ................ pages 1-3 Directory ....................................... page 2 President’s Pen ........................... page 3 THE RABBI’S STUDY by Rabbi Daniel Stein Education ................................pages 4-6 Congregation News ..................pages 7 Among the more well-known the most important early modern Jewish customs is the consumption code of Jewish law, lists several of B’nai Mitzvah ..............................page 8 of eating dairy on Shavuot. Most the rituals that have come to define Tikun Olam ................................... page 9 Jewish customs have their origins in the holiday: the Bible. Shavuot is unique. While Women of the Torah views it as the spring It is customary to fill synagogues and B’nai Shalom .............................page 10 harvest festival, when the Israelites homes with greens in order to recall Men’s Club ...................................page 11 would bring their first fruits to the the joy of receiving the Torah. It is also temple in Jerusalem, the Talmud customary to eat dairy foods on the Contra Costa Midrasha ..........page 12 gives an entirely different rationale first day of the holiday. It appears to Tzedakah .............................pages 13-15 for its celebration. It is the literature me that the reason for this practice is of the rabbis that sees Shavuot as to recall the two sacrifices that were Schedule of Services ..........back page the time when Torah was revealed. offered on Passover -- a general While the other pilgrimage festival offering, and a special offering festivals—Passover and Sukkot— for Passover. have clearly defined rituals in the Torah which persist until this day, Many later sages were baffled by the celebration of the first fruits has this comment. Why would the been set aside in absence of the practice of eating to cook dishes Temple. Instead, we observe a on Passover transfer to Shavuot? variety of customs that link the Written by this question, they were 74 Eckley Lane holiday of Shavuot with the giving moved to offer their own Walnut Creek, CA 94596 of the Torah. explanations for this ritual. Here are 925-934-9446 just a few: [email protected] Rabbi Moshe Isserless’s bshalom.org commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, (continued on page 2) IYYAR-TAMUZ 5781 PAGE 1 THE RABBI’S STUDY Directory (continued from page 1) Hadashot is published bi-monthly by Congregation Yekhiel Michael Epstein (1865-1905) finds the custom B’nai Shalom, 74 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek, CA 94596 hinted at in Numbers 28:26, which describes the holiday of Shavuot. ‘On the day of first fruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain Clergy and Professional Staff during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly Rabbi ................................................. Daniel Stein and do no regular work. Rabbi Emeritus ................................ Gordon Freeman Cantor Emeritus .............................. Marc A. Dinkin He draws our attention to the letters I’ve put in bold in Executive Director ........................... Alyssa Faulkenberg the text below; together, the first letters spell the word Preschool Director .......................... Marla Medwin -- milk: Religious School Director ............... Elaine Manno Office Staff Epstein also adds another custom—apparently, in Office Manager ................................ Debbie Stephens Bookkeeper ..................................... Kathy Goehring Europe it was customary to use saffron on Shavuot Custodian ......................................... Luther Hurtt preparations in recollection of the “sweet scent” of Torah. Hadashot Staff Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer (1870-1939) writes, “It is the Editor ................................................ Alyssa Faulkenberg custom to eat dairy on Shavuot because it is Designer ........................................... Danielle Gallagher compared to milk and honey, as it says in the Song of Proofreader ..................................... Sue Agron Songs, ‘Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: Proofreader ..................................... Anita Korenstein Proofreader ..................................... Sandra Sternberg honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of Proofreader ..................................... Eva Vogel thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.’” Contacts The explanation I heard for this custom as a child is shared by Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-1933). He writes Office Phone .................................... 925-934-9446 that when the Jews received the Torah at Mount Sinai, Preschool Phone direct line ........... 925-933-7633 they discovered how many laws were required to Religious School direct line ............ 925-934-9510 prepare kosher meat. Rather than burden themselves Fax ..................................................... 925-934-9450 before the holiday, it was easier for them to prepare a E-Mail ................................................ [email protected] dairy meal that would fulfill the requirements given by their new legal code. Officers President .......................................... Michael Bloom A final, fascinating explanation for the custom of Vice President .................................. Earl Agron eating dairy on Shavuot comes from Rabbi Elimelech Vice President .................................. Steve Goodman of Lizhensk, an 18th-centry Hassidic master. He recalls Treasurer ......................................... Jim Liston the story of the Angels dining at Abraham and Secretary .......................................... Sarah Vital Sarah’s house before sharing the promise Isaac’s birth. Immediate Past President.............. Tim Plattner During that meal, Abraham serves the Angels dairy followed by meat. It is well known that the tour will go At-Large Directors on to prohibit the mixing of dairy and meat with the Michael Fischer Karla Smith commandment to “not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.” Stan Goldman Jenn Stripe Noam Elimelech wonders why the Torah would Rachel Holloway Rebecca Teutle prohibit something to humans that it permits to Mike Korenstein Joel White angels. He argues that milk and meat symbolize David Marshak different spiritual realms and different human needs. (continued on page 3) PAGE 2 MAY/JUNE 2021 THE RABBI’S STUDY President’s Pen by Michael Bloom Bernstein is equally at home in the Chaverim, worlds of Jewish music, opera, and popular song. She has collaborated I am very pleased to share with you with artists including Craig Taubman that B’nai Shalom has concluded an and Neshama Carlebach, and has employment contract with Hazzan served as a regional officer of the Sandra (Sandy) Steiner Bernstein. Her Cantor’s Assembly, the international tenure will commence on July 1, 2021. association of cantors affiliated with the Conservative movement. Cantor We are so very delighted that Cantor Bernstein is also an accomplished Bernstein will be joining our Jewish educator who has Hazzan Sandra (Sandy) Steiner Bernstein community. Her warmth, musicality, demonstrated success working with and ability to connect with people of young people in a wide range of all ages and backgrounds truly set her settings. When I saw her one morning and to Jewish prayer will elevate our apart from a very qualified pool of after visiting our preschool students, already-robust offerings. Beyond her applicants. one little boy, maybe 3 or 4 years old, musical talents, Cantor Bernstein’s looked up at me with a smile and experience as a Jewish educator and “I am honored to serve as the new exclaimed “she’s the BEST TEACHER!” her commitment to young people Hazzan at Congregation B’nai Shalom,” I think our new Hazzan has found her make her an especially great match for Bernstein said. “I am excited to join element. our growing community.” such a dynamic community and look forward to building deep and enduring At Congregation B’nai Shalom, Cantor In 2013, Cantor Bernstein received her relationships in the months and years Bernstein’s role will include leading cantorial ordination from the Academy to come. I am so happy to be joining Shabbat and festival services, planning for Jewish Religion - California (AJRCA). the dedicated team of volunteers and special musical events, training B’nai She also received a master’s degree staff bringing meaningful and engaging Mitzvah students, and serving as a from AJR in Jewish Sacred Music with a programming to the East Bay Jewish pastoral presence alongside the specialization in Jewish Education. In Community.” congregation’s rabbi, Rabbi Daniel Z. her free time, Cantor Bernstein enjoys Stein. painting, crafting, dancing, and kosher Cantor Bernstein is a Southern healthy cooking. She and her husband, California native and a versatile “We very much look forward to Gaston Bernstein -- a well-known Latin performer: she most recently held the welcoming Cantor Bernstein to our percussionist -- are the proud parents cantorial pulpit at Temple Sholom in community,” Stein said. “We know that of two daughters, Gabi and Naomi, and Greenwich, Connecticut. Cantor her enthusiastic approach to Judaism two sons, Daniel and Matt. THE RABBI’S STUDY (continued from page 2) Meat, he suggests, is symbolic of our physical needs When I was a student at the
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