The Bulletin Riverdale Temple y:y} μve lL;hum] /abom] d[' vm,v, jræz]Mimi From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, the name of the Eternal One is to be praised. Worship Services (also see calendar on p. 2) Vol. 72 January 2019 (5779) No. 5 Fridays Jan. 4 5:00 p.m. Tot Shabbat Service THE RABBI’S COLUMN 7:00 p.m. Shabbat Evening Service Jan. 11 7:00 p.m. Ruach Shabbat Service Last month, my mother gave me a gift of two tickets to see Fidler Afn Dakh, Jan. 18 6:00 p.m. Service for A Sense of the Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof. It was a good production in Riverdale many ways. One of the great things about it was that, given how familiar I Jan. 25 7:00 p.m. Shabbat Evening Service am with the show, the random Yiddish words I know, and the supertitles in English, it made me feel that I really understood the language. Another great Saturdays thing was how the show immersed the viewer in Yiddishkeit, in Jewishness. Jan. 5 10:30 a.m. Shabbat Morning Service The authors of the show were afraid to put in anything with which the Jan. 12 10:30 a.m. Shabbat Morning Service majority, non-Jewish population might not be familiar. So a talis became Jan. 19 10:30 a.m. Shabbat Morning Service a “prayer shawl,” and a chuppah became a “wedding canopy.” In the Jan. 26 10:30 a.m. Shabbat Morning Service Yiddish production, of course, the real words were used. In just one of the many ways the show was filled with Jewishness, when an actor entered an (invisible) room on the setless stage, he or she would mime reaching up to touch and kiss a mezuzah. No explanation was given, and, for the almost exclusively Jewish audience, none was necessary. I love to see these very Jewish depictions of a vanished world. I think many of us do, although I don’t think any of us would want to live like Tevye and his family. We could approximate that life by joining the Chasidic world in Borough Park or New Square, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Some forms of Judaism take minhagim, Jewish customs and, well, tradition, and make them as important as halakhah, Jewish law. Take, for example, the kippah, or, as Tevye would have said, the yarmulke. There is evidence in the Talmud that some men covered their heads, although there is also evidence that it was not a universal custom. A thousand years later, in the great Jewish law code, the Shulchan Arukh, Joseph Caro states that it is a custom for men to cover their heads, but that he can find no biblical or rabbinic source for this tradition. Today, in some communities, men must not only wear a kippah, but they also must cover the kippah with a black fedora. They would no more go out without the black fedora than they would eat a ham and cheese sandwich. Custom has become law. On the other hand (as Tevye would say), there is something important about Jewish traditions. They add a Jewish flavor to the nutritious broth of our religion. One hundred years ago, many Reform synagogues tried to have the broth without the particular Jewish flavor. Rabbis were called ministers, synagogues were called temples, and nonessential customs such as the wearing of talis and yarmulke were discouraged, if not forbidden. Even Service begins at 6:00 p.m. See p. 11 for details. direct commandments from the Torah, like eating kosher, were rejected as being outdated and separate from the essential core of ethical monotheism. continued on p. 3 1 Riverdale Temple Bulletin Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 24th of Tevet 5779 25th of Tevet 5779 26th of Tevet 5779 27th of Tevet 5779 28th of Tevet 5779 New Year’s Day Noon Lunch and 5:00 pm Tot Shabbat Parashat Vaera Building closed Learn with Rabbi 7:00 pm Shabbat 10:30 am Shabbat No Hebrew School Gardner Evening Service Morning Service with Torah discussion Extended Kiddush after service 1 2 3 4 5 29th of Tevet 5779 1st of Sh’vat 5779 2nd of Sh’vat 5779 3rd of Sh’vat 5779 4th of Sh’vat 5779 5th of Sh’vat 5779 6th of Sh’vat 5779 9:00 am Jr. Choir 4:00 pm Simcha Noon Lunch and 7:30 pm Executive 7:00 pm Ruach Parashat Bo 9:30 am Simcha Learning Center Learn with Rabbi Committee Meeting Shabbat Service, with 10:30 am Shabbat Learning Center 7:00 pm Women’s Gardner Installation of New Morning Service with 10:30 am Social March Alliance session 7:00 pm WRJ Board Members and Torah discussion Action meeting 7:30 pm Liturgical meeting Officers Extended Kiddush Hebrew with Cantor after service Sharett-Singer January 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 7th of Sh’vat 5779 8th of Sh’vat 5779 9th of Sh’vat 5779 10th of Sh’vat 5779 11th of Sh’vat 5779 12th of Sh’vat 5779 13th of Sh’vat 5779 9:00 am Jr. Choir 4:00 pm Simcha Noon Lunch and 7:30 pm Board of 5:30 pm Special Parashat Beschalach 9:30 am Simcha Learning Center Learn with Rabbi Trustees Meeting Event: A Sense of 10:30 am Shabbat Learning Center 6:00 pm History and Gardner Riverdale Morning Service with Meaning of Reform 7:30 pm Introduction 6:00 pm Shabbat Torah discussion Judaism with Rabbi to the New Machzor Service Extended Kiddush after Gardner with Cantor Sharett- service, followed by Singer Chavurah study group 7:30 pm Liturgical Hebrew with Cantor Sharett-Singer 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 14th of Sh’vat 5779 15th of Sh’vat 5779 16th of Sh’vat 5779 17th of Sh’vat 5779 18th of Sh’vat 5779 19th of Sh’vat 5779 20th of Sh’vat 5779 9:00 am Jr. Choir Building closed for 4:00 pm Simcha Noon Lunch and 7:00 pm Shabbat Parashat Yitro 9:30 am Simcha Martin Luther King Learning Center Learn with Rabbi Evening Service 10:30 am Shabbat Learning Center Jr. Day 6:00 pm History and Gardner Morning Service with Meaning of Reform 7:30 pm Introduction Torah discussion Judaism with Rabbi to the New Machzor Extended Kiddush after Gardner with Cantor Sharett- service 7:30 pm Liturgical Singer Hebrew with Cantor 20 21 Sharett-Singer 22 23 24 25 26 21st of Sh’vat 5779 22nd of Sh’vat 5779 23rd of Sh’vat 5779 24th of Sh’vat 5779 25th of Sh’vat 5779 9:00 am Jr. Choir 4:00 pm Simcha Noon Lunch and 9:30 am Simcha Learning Center Learn with Rabbi Learning Center 6:00 pm History and Gardner 11:30 am KRMH Meaning of Reform 7:30 pm Introduction grocery delivery Judaism with Rabbi to the New Machzor Gardner with Cantor Sharett- 7:30 pm Liturgical Singer Hebrew with Cantor Sharett-Singer 27 28 29 30 31 These Reform Jews prided themselves on their rationality, on their and they also borrow from us. How great is it that you can hear modernity, and on their commitment to truth. But religion needs a Shlomo Carlebach tune in a Reform synagogue and a Debbie more than rationality. The soup was nutritious but bland. There Friedman tune in an Orthodox synagogue? was hardly a difference between ethical monotheism and theism. In Judaism does change over the years, although the central message the 1970s, Reform Judaism began to add a little more Yiddishkeit. remains much the same. But the flavor of Judaism changes with The talit and the kippah came back, at least in the synagogue. Even society, and that is a good thing. The flavor that makes Judaism Reform Jews have a mezuzah and a ketubah these days, and we delicious is what keeps us drinking that nutritious broth. As Reform sing and pray out loud in the synagogue. We have even let a little Jews we perhaps have a little more of the modern in our Jewish nonrationality creep back into our houses of worship, which we now flavor, but with Tevye and Golde and the rest of the cast, we can call temple, synagogue, or even shul interchangeably. sing “Tradition” without embarrassment. Our tradition may include Jewish flavor is important, even if there is not just one Jewish lighting candles in the synagogue, while theirs did not. Ours may flavor. We would be astonished to learn the customs of Jews in include driving to the synagogue, bat mitzvahs, and big Chanukah 9th-century Baghdad, or even 21st-century Baghdad. So would celebrations. These traditions are new(ish), but they are ours, and Tevye. Reform Judaism today has its own flavor, and it is a pretty they help us keep our balance, just as Tevye’s traditions did for him. good one. We borrow from our Eastern European traditions, from May 2019 be a good year for all of us! Chasidic Judaism, and from Orthodox and Conservative Judaism, —Rabbi Tom Gardner THE CANTOR’S COLUMN Reaching Our Mid-Point to Restarting There are so many opportunities to help strengthen our Riverdale Shalom Chaveirim, Temple community, whether it is joining a committee, helping with an event at the temple, joining the Women (or Men) of As we enter the new calendar year of 2019, it is important that Reform Judaism, or donating to the temple.