August 1, 2018 20 Av 5778 Working to Improve Yom Kippur Yizkor Experience
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TheAaronion 616 S. Mississippi River Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55116-1099 • (651) 698-8874 • www.TempleofAaron.org Vol. 93 • No. 12 August 1, 2018 20 Av 5778 Working to Improve Yom Kippur Yizkor Experience Remembering a loved one is Defining Moments personal, emotional I can pinpoint the moment that I knew I believed in and powerful. For God. I was a freshman in High School. My Uncle Mort the first 60 years in was sick and my mother took me to visit him in the our Highland Park hospital. When I walked into his room, I saw my great location, we heard uncle hooked up to tubes and machines and this was the Rabbi read a the first time I had confronted someone in that state. I list of yahrzeit ran out of the room emotional, huddled in the corner names on Yom Kippur Day. Several years ago, in addition and began to use my Jewish education to pray, to the yahrzeit names, clergy elected to accessing the words I knew from Tefillah but also the experiment by reading the names of all prayers in my heart. I cried, certain that I had seen my members who had died in the past Jewish Uncle Mort for the last time. My father, a year. Numerous other synagogues follow gastroenterologist, came into Mort’s hospital room this model. The reading of added names (albeit not his hospital or specialty), looked at his was received very positively in helping Rabbi Jeremy Fine medical charts on a whim and suggested something to both the family impacted and the entire 651-252-6412 the attending physician. A few days later my Uncle Mort Email: synagogue community. The communal [email protected] had snapped out of his near-death condition. I cannot reading provided an added touch of Twitter: fully explain to you the totality of the situation, but I felt personal reflection. @RabbiJeremyFine God so strongly that day, possibly the most I have ever For Yom Kippur 2018, we will create this felt God. I truly believe that my prayer and my father’s important list with two categories: timing kept my Uncle from passing. This was my first 1. Members and 2. Members’ close God moment. relatives who did not have their own current membership at Temple of Aaron. We are about to embark on another High Holiday season together. This year’s theme is “Moments.” Our goal this year is not only to create memorable moments for you, but to To accurately prepare this new list for recognize that we often remember life in moments; moments of happiness, moments of Yom Kippur 2018, please supply the sadness, and moments of the unexpected. name in your family that has died in the The Talmud in Taanit teaches: “Rabbi Yitzchak said: Blessing is bestowed only on things past Jewish year of 5778. Please c a l l t h e o f f i c e o r e m a i l hidden from sight [i.e. things that have not been counted, weighed or measured].” Far too [email protected] with often, today, we live in a world that believes moments need to be measured. Significant the important name. There is no fee. moments are the very opposite, they are times of the least expected that have nothing to do with weighed decisions or measured results, rather by emotions, excitement, and blessings. It is my hope for this community that we begin thinking about those moments of blessing that will increase our happiness and holiness; not mere decisions of calculations or desires, but the moments that will define and engage us. There are two moments — a cross-section of holy and happy — that I would like to highlight for all ages and backgrounds: 1. Second Day of Rosh Hashanah, this year, will be the first time that it coincides with the tragedy of 9/11. Together, we will recall a moment that impacted all of us and how it defines our world today. We will use the following format in 2018: 2. On a happier note, on October 7, 2018 we will welcome Marvel’s Ant-Man, Paul Rudd, Remembered by: In Memory of. to our community to entertain us with fascinating stories from moments in his life. This Ken & Tracey Agranoff Harry & Betty Agranoff will be another fabulous moment with our synagogue. [This line is $36] This year, together, Temple of Aaron will be a place where Moments are created. Sidney Cass [This line is $36] See you in Shul! Phil Ravitzky Rabbi Fine [This line is $36] Maxine Levenson [This line is $5] Rabbi Jeremy Fine Teaching Monthly Ben & Grace Agranoff Lunch & Learn in Downtown [This line is $5] Hymen & Selma Ravitzky Minneapolis on Modern Jewish Law. [This line is $5] If interested in learning, please email Frank & Rachel Cass [email protected]. [This line is $5] Louis & Toby Reznick [This line is $5] These eight listings will cost $133. Please submit your listing(s) and check to the synagogue office by August 28, 2018. Questions to Executive Director 2 Ken Agranoff at 651-252-6406. FREE FOOD: Vegan Tour of the State Fair I Was Lost When I moved back to Saint Louis after college I was extremely lost. When I talked with my friends they shared that they, too, were having that sense Join blogger Laura Van Zandt (and of being lost or sometimes even alone. They were Rabbi Fine) for her vegan tour of the in a new town and did not know the area, they did Minnesota State Fair. not know a lot of people except for a few On Wednesday, August 29 from co-workers or classmates, or they were searching 11am-2pm Laura will take 20 ToA for that right fit for a religious and spiritual home. members on her exclusive These and so many other reasons are why any of walking journey. us can feel uneasy or anxious when getting started in a new place. Tickets into the fair are purchased by individuals but the FOOD is FREE! Now in my mind, this all made sense for my First 20 people to sign up with friends, but for me, it was weird to feel this lost Rabbi Micah Miller because I had moved back to my hometown! I Assistant Rabbi [email protected]. 651-252-6411 Happy Eating and State-Fairing! knew the area, knew people, and my family was a Email: four minute drive from my apartment. To be [email protected] honest, I thought I was the only one feeling this way until I encountered two people who were just Summer Speaker Series: like me; locals who had boomeranged back to our hometown, yet still feeling isolated. Judaism Around the World One of these people introduced me to an organization geared towards young During the Summer, we like to turn to professionals and it changed my life. It allowed me to connect with people going our favorite speakers, you! We’ve got through the same struggles that I was: new jobs, balancing career and dating, finding congregants in our midst from all over a support system. In essence, we were seeking a sense of belonging. I will be grateful the world with a unique set of for this group forever, because it allowed me to grow, but something was still missing experiences, from Morocco to Israel, for me. I wanted this group to be intertwined with my synagogue life, it was great that South Africa to the Former Soviet I had both separately, but I needed and wanted more. Union, and even Panama. Join us for Lucky for me, I had a really great connection with my home synagogue (doesn’t hurt five Shabbatot in July and August as when your father is the Rabbi) and started to shop around with the idea of creating a they share a bit about what Judaism is young professional group supported by the shul but driven by its members. My basis like in their home country and how it’s for this idea is that Judaism needs to be presented to people where they are at. This similar to and different from to Jewish is not in terms of their Jewish knowledge but rather presenting a Judaism and life here. tradition that is relevant to their everyday lives and the experiences they are having. August 4: Adi Leviatan — With this idea and the help of many people the Brith Shalom Knesseth Israel Mid-Yids Jewish Life in Israel group was formed. August 11: Gedaly Meerovich — I share this story now because as a new Rabbi it is one of my jobs to search out those Jewish life in Odessa who are looking for something more, searching for belonging, searching for their chavruta, or “friends,” or searching for a home. Given that, one of the aspects that I’m excited about in my role here is the ability to work closely with our young professional group, TAXY, because I know first-hand how impactful a group like this ToA Meets Rabbi can be. Micah Miller A group like this, or any affinity group, can only thrive when it is based on the deep and genuine relationships of its members. In society these days many of us, (myself included), feel that we can connect genuinely via Facebook, Instagram, text messaging or over a phone call. However, there is no substitute for sitting down and talking in person. This type of interaction with one another is critical in our lives and too many of us have gotten away from it.