Check out our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/RodefShalomPgh Nissan– Tammuz 5779 | May - July 2019 Issue No. 110 the connection Imagining the Congregation of the 21st Century Musings from my trip back to school… By Rabbi Aaron Bisno, p.4 also in this issue Rabbi Aaron Bisno and Rabbi Dr. Walter Jacob attended the 150 th annual gathering of the Central Conference of American Rabbis at Hebrew Union College in Cincinatti. Rodef Shalom Cares: Make an Impact, Volunteer with Our Caring Committee Karen Brean, President, p.3 Celebrate Summer A Guatemalan Sojourn for Human Rights in the Biblical Rabbi Sharyn Henry, p.5 Building a Stronger Rodef Shalom Community Botanical Garden barry weisband, Murray Klein Executive Director. p.6 P. 14 109 Shevat- Nissan 5779 | May-July 2019 Contents Issue No. 110 3 Rodef Shalom Cares: Volunteer with Our Caring Committee We are a Reform Jewish congregation karen brean 11 “Doing Congregation” in the dedicated to melding the traditions of Early 20th Century: The Seekers our faith with contemporary life. Our 4 Imagining the Congregation congregation was chartered in 1856 and martha l. berg is one of five synagogues on the National of the 21st Century Register of Historic Landmarks. We are rabbi aaron bisno 12 Growing Prayer, Practice a diverse congregation engaged in social & Learning Opportunities issues, culture, and learning—made up 5 A Guatemalan Sojourn at Rodef Shalom of multigenerational, multicultural, and for Human Rights bill klingensmith & Salem Leaman interfaith families and individuals; our rabbi sharyn h. henry doors are open to everyone. 13 Social Justice and Action Staff Phone Extensions 6 Building a Stronger Committee Works to Empower 412.621.6566 Rodef Shalom Community Immigrants, Support Gun Safety barry weisband david manchester & sarah rosenson Sherry Bell 137 Martha Berg 131 14 Biblical Garden Summer Events Rabbi Aaron Bisno 123 7 Teach Your Children Well: Yael Eads 130 Judaism Through Generations Dan Eisner 116 mayda roth 15 Member Connections Rabbi Sharyn Henry 126 Dr. Walter Jacob 125 8 Preschool & Family Center 16 B’nai Mitzvah Kristin Karsh 120 mimsie leyton Bob Kelly 148 17 Delve into Biblical Archaeology Kate Kim 111 9 Reflections On a Amy Langham 117 with Dr. Ron Tappy Successful Year: J-JEP, teri cowan Brian Larson 121 Collaboration, and Learning Mimsie Leyton 127 Marlee Lyons 112 dan eisner 18 A Year of Brotherhood’s Don Megahan 190 Accomplishments: 2018-2019 Michael McHugh 144 10 Building Jewish Connections tim litman Hope Nearhood 143 at NFTY and Beyond 19 Contributions Helena Nichols 132 abby adelman Christine Ranasinghe 182 Stephanie Rex 124 Mayda Roth 140 Rodef Shalom Congregation is a member of the Rabbi Aaron B. Bisno Barry D. Weisband Union for Reform Judaism. JoAnn Ruffing 110 Frances F. & David R. Levin Murray Klein Dave Seskey 128 Senior Rabbinic Pulpit Executive Director Sam Siskind 179 Rabbi Sharyn H. Henry Miriam Leyton Melanie Solomon 122 Sidney & Shirley C. Rapport Walter Jacob, DHL Family Center Director Olivia Tucker 133 Rabbi Emeritus/Senior Barry Weisband 119 Scholar Don Megahan Music Director & Organist The bulletin of Rodef Shalom Congregation, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, is published four times annually. The Gift Corner 115 Periodical postage paid at Pittsburgh, Pa. Lippman Library 180 Postmaster: Send address changes to: Hakesher, 4905 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. USPS 537–660 Rodef Shalom Congregation The mission of Rodef Shalom Congregation is to build and sustain a vibrant Reform Jewish community. We guide and support our members in living full Jewish lives throughout the life cycle, based on Torah (study), avodah (worship), and gemilut hasadim (acts of loving kindness). We strive to be a national and international leader in Jewish thought and practice. Rodef Shalom Cares: Make an Impact, Volunteer with Our Caring Committee Karen Brean, President [email protected] ∧ (412) 621–6566 he Board of Trustees and staff of Rodef Shalom have been working hard this year to reinvigorate our committees. One by one, committee chairs are shoring up existing committees, reinvigorating dormant ones, collaborating Twith each other, and reaching out to congregants to help us do our sacred work. One of the Congregation’s strategic goals for volunteer, please contact Caring Committee 2018-2019 is the greater engagement of the Caring Congregational Vice Chair, Marian Allen, at 412-980- Committee. To that end, the Caring Committee has 9214, or email us at [email protected]. launched the RodefShalomCares initiative, the mission of which is: “To provide support to our members at times of hardship, illness, loss, and celebration.” Our goal is to have our volunteers partner with our Rabbis in the sacred work of performing acts of loving kindness (gemilut chasadim), visiting the sick (bikur cholim), honoring the elderly (hiddur p’nai zaken) and comforting the mourner (nichum aveilim). This initiative seeks to build on the caring work that Women of Rodef Shalom and Brotherhood have been doing for many years. All of us have been touched in some way by that caring work. In order to shore up the ways in which we give support, to reinstate some past initiatives and fill in any gaps, RodefShalomCares will support our members in a variety of ways. This year, these first steps will be taken: • Trained volunteers will visit or make caring calls to members who have been ill, experienced a loss, or just need some extra support. • Volunteers will deliver challah (and soup) for Shabbat during the first 30 days of mourning. • The Committee will bring opportunities to learn about support strategies for ourselves, our children, and our elderly loved ones. With these and other efforts,RodefShalomCares will respond to the needs of our members. Many volunteers are needed for this important effort. If you are interested in being a RodefShalomCares Issue No. 110 Nissan–Tammuz 5779 | May - July 2019 HaK ESHEr the connection 3 Imagining the Congregation of the 21st Century Rabbi Aaron B. Bisno, Frances F. & David R. Levin Senior Rabbinic Pulpit [email protected] ∧ (412) 621–6566 x122 ∧ @rabbibisno n the first days of April, 600 Reform rabbis gathered in Cincinnati for the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ annual gathering. Reform rabbis from across the world came together to mark the 200th birthday of IRabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, the architect of Reform Judaism in America. And, too, meeting in Cincinnati allowed us to return to the original campus of the Hebrew Union College, the first seminary in the United States devoted to the training of rabbis - and the place where I first One truth was confirmed again and again: The realities learned the significance of asking questions and we are confronting in Pittsburgh are not unique, save questioning answers. In essence, it is where I learned that in Pittsburgh (1) many Jewish institutions have to think and to act like a rabbi. been preparing for the coming paradigm shift for years, ------ and (2) there exists within our community an espirit So it was, that HUC’s historic home hosted a three- de corps that, simply, isn’t evidenced everywhere. It’s day conversation about what it means to be a Jew in a not creativity for which we lack; ideas we have among free society today, how synagogue life will be defined us in abundance. (Two Jews, three opinions.) in the next decade, and what will be required of all of us as we fully embrace the opportunity we have to However, only in sharing our ideas candidly, sans shape our people’s experience for the next century. concern for which actor gets credit for a communal Many were colleagues’ conversations concerning success, will unconventional solutions present sociology, anti-Semitism, the synagogue, the next themselves. And thus, to successfully think and act generation of the rabbinate, and what will be required in ways both strategic and wise, which is to say: in of our communities as we grapple with the emerging order to meet the needs of our community going realities of an interconnected, everything-accessible, forward, it will be necessary for us to partner across 24-seven, 21st century world. congregational boundaries so as to co-innovate the next iteration of congregational Judaism. In Pittsburgh, I believe this to be possible; and, after October 27th especially, as is clear to all: Every member of our Jewish community is in this together. ------ As I strolled across the campus of the Hebrew Union College, at the conference’s end, I was reminded of my earliest days as a seminarian (25+ years ago) and of all I then looked forward to experiencing in the active rabbinate. But even more, I was filled with a sense of gratitude for all I learned as a student, for all I have experienced in the years since, and for all, I am certain, we will yet accomplish as we reimagine and The 150th annual gathering of the Central Conference of redesign the Reform congregational community of the American Rabbis took place in Cincinnati this past April. future - together! The rabbis are photographed in front of the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives at the historic Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College. Rabbi Bisno is located under the arrow! 4 rodefshalom.org A Guatemalan Sojourn for Human Rights Rabbi Sharyn H. Henry, Rabbi [email protected] ∧ (412) 621-6566 x126 I bought an apron in a Guatemalan market. It is purple and blue, and it has some sparkly bits on it. I am neither an apron person, nor someone who favors sparkly bits on my clothing, but I needed this apron. The apron reminds me of the midwives who hosted a group of rabbis in their collective near Quetzaltenango. These women, poor midwives, some of them illiterate, all of them beautiful, formidable, and gentle, looked like royalty in their aprons.