Narayever News רביירנ תושדח
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
NARAYEVER NEWS February, March, April 2020 חדשות נרייבר Shevat, Adar, Nisan, Iyar 5780 Editing Team Michael Boyd Rabbi Ed Elkin Marsha Frydenberg Tama Soble Graphic Designer Rebecca Wilkinson Send comments and content proposals to: [email protected] First Narayever Congregation 187 Brunswick Ave. Toronto, ON M5S 2M4 Tel: 416.927.0546 Email: [email protected] www.narayever.ca TABLE OF CONTENTS President’s Message 1 Rabbi’s Message 3 Tefillah Coach’s Message 5 Tu B’Shvat, Purim, Pesach 6 Building Renewal Project 8 Adult Education Programs 10 Celebrations 14 Youth & Families 15 Shinshiniot 17 Environment Committee 18 Hesed 19 Shul Matters 20 Kiddush Sponsors & Donations 23 Other Donations 24 Living Our Vision Capital Campaign Pledges 28 Yom Kippur Tzedakah Appeal 30 Yahrzeit Anniversaries 32 Calendar of Events 35 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE At the time of writing we are coming to the end of a very busy period. Chanukah, the Festival of Light, which literally lit up an otherwise rather dreary December, has just ended. I had the absolute pleasure of enjoying the wonderful Chanukah party at the shul. With all the kids, the great music (a ten-piece band!), the latkes (thank you Rachel), all the dancing, and the feeling of community - it was fabulous! Around the same time we had the honour of welcoming Iman Dr. Wael Shehab and several other members of the Masjid Toronto mosque to a Shabbat service. It was a wonderful opportunity for our communities to come together; a time to enjoy and celebrate with our community and with others. But, it was with great sadness and anger that we heard about the attacks in Monsey, New York and Jersey City. These attacks are the latest in what has been a year of increased anti-Semitism, seemingly unorganized, spontaneous, and aggressive acts of violence and hatred, across New York and in fact the world. Where do we go with this? The UJA has stepped up and is providing leadership in the Toronto area for Jewish institutions and developing recommended measures for security. For our shul, it is important to ensure that our renovated building includes more security than we have ever had before. Fortunately, we have more police patrols paying attention to our building especially during times when we have services. We have established a Security Committee to liaise with the UJA and advise our Board on our procedures. Paul Cohen and Michael Stern have agreed to be co-chairs of the Security Committee; I would like to take the opportunity to thank both of them for taking on this very important role for our community. When we move into Leo Baeck School for services, beginning March 14, we will benefit from the security already established in that building and we will have security personnel. We have always seen ourselves as a part of the lively Annex Neighbourhood. Through our Wider Community Committee, under the tireless leadership of Micky Fraterman, we reach out to other faith communities and maintain a strong presence as one of the oldest institutions in the area. We will continue to be an active, positive force in this wonderful city. We will also be increasing necessary measures to protect ourselves. 1 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE By the time you read this, the Building Renewal Project will be advancing to construction start in April. A big thank you to all the families and individuals that have pledged financial commitments to the project. We are meeting our ambitious fundraising goals. The Building Project is an opportunity to incorporate other improvements, including increased security, that the shul would and should be making even if we were not undertaking a renovation. As you read this a number of shul members, including myself and my husband along with Rabbi Ed and Linda, are preparing for our trip to Israel. This dual narrative tour promises to be very interesting and as with many worthwhile efforts may raise more questions. We expect to have opportunities to share our experiences with the members of the shul. Let’s work and pray for a peaceful, fulfilling and healthy 2020! Anna Pace President [email protected] 2 RABBI’S MESSAGE Dear Friends, Among the most famous teachings from all of Rabbinic Judaism is the message of Hillel, expressed as a series of three short rhetorical questions: If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when? People tend to draw on one or another of these questions as needed for whatever challenge they’re dealing with, but the power of the teaching resides in keeping them all together as one complex whole. As Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz writes in his new commentary on Pirke Avot, “Hillel reminds us that it is challenging to find the proper balance between religious self-preservation and self-sacrifice.” We are all on a quest to find this balance, and that quest involves a great deal of introspec- tion, some of which may be very painful. In our spiritual journeys, we must be gentle with ourselves, but we must also realize that we will experience more pain by avoiding introspection than we will by engaging in difficult spiritual work. Our inner struggles, once engaged forthrightly, can help us realize our moral responsibility and spiritual potential. They can help us find the holy balance that Hillel is holding out for us as an aspiration to reach for. If not now, when? When we have achieved some insight, however imperfect, into the proper balance between self-interest and concern for others, we are ready to act – imme- diately, impatiently -- on behalf of what is just and good. As Rabbi Yitz Greenberg writes, “starting with one’s own interest and then reaching outward often leads to greater good than ‘idealistic’ approaches that dismiss loyalty to oneself as selfish.” We are living at a time of increased anti-Semitism in our country and around the world. There is no one formula for how to respond to this scourge, but it merits vigorous atten- tion by our community on many levels – education, political advocacy, security and law enforcement, interfaith cooperation, and others. None of this effort to safeguard the Jewish community as best we can should detract from our work on behalf of other vulnerable individuals and groups in society. God sets the bar high for us, and the mitzvot of the Torah demand action, now. It’s not easy living with these demands, or with the complexity reflected in Hillel’s teaching. We may sometimes 43 RABBI’S MESSAGE succumb to despair that we’ll ever get it right, and indeed sometimes after introspection we realize that we need to rejig and rebalance. That’s okay. As Rabbi Yanklowitz writes, “When we open our hearts, and truly feel our inner pain and vulnerability, we are closer to the heavens than we can ever otherwise be. To keep our inner fire lit, we must keep adding fuel to it. We must learn to keep our soul alive and growing, because there is no task more holy than cultivating our inner light. It inevitably shines on others.” Shalom, Rabbi Ed Elkin [email protected] 4 RITUAL TEFILLAH COACH’S MESSAGE As I write, I am reflecting on three Shabbatot I just spent volunteers to leyn every few weeks. When young mem- in Israel at three different shuls. The first was a small egal- bers celebrate becoming bar or bat mitzvah they usually itarian minyan on Moshav Neve Ilan, founded by former learn to leyn the maftir aliya, commonly consisting of a North American Jews; the second was at Shira Hadasha few verses, and sometimes they or perhaps their family — a modern orthodox partnership minyan in Jerusalem members, learn to chant a longer aliya as well. Recently, — where opportunities for women’s leadership and par- we have seen some shul members dust off and leyn their ticipation in tefillah are expanded within the limits of bar or bat mitzvah Torah readings to mark a significant Halakha; the third, also in Jerusalem, was Kehilat Tzion anniversary of this milestone. Talk about inspiring! — a self-described “Israeli-style” egalitarian community whose liturgy and practice draw from both Ashkenazi and As someone who leyns Torah from time to time, I can Sephardi traditions. Despite the differences among them, vouch for how time-consuming the preparation is. But I what stood out for me was that in each of these three can also attest to how personally meaningful it is. Engag- shul communities, all seven aliyot of the weekly parasha ing in intensive study and preparation for leyning Torah were chanted by community members. How lovely it was creates a feeling of intimacy with the text, as if holding to hear their different voices and chanting styles; and, I the words close and internalizing them. There is some- might add, how inspiring. thing about having learned verses well enough to leyn them that can make you feel as though they have become Of all the roles involved in carrying out the rituals of yours. For me this is one way to carry out what the Shema the Shabbat morning service, leyning (chanting) Torah enjoins us to do: to take the Torah’s words and teachings requires the most skill and preparation. The leyner is to heart. It would be wonderful if more of us could par- charged with articulating the words of the text clearly take in this kind of experience. and accurately, as well as chanting them according to the proper trop (musical notation). It might surprise you to Our shul has a roster of regular Torah readers who leyn know that this is something we all do when we sing the on roughly three out of every four of our Shabbat and first paragraph of the Shema during the Shacharit service.