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Looking Ahead
Here are a few upcoming events you might
consider
participating in:
Roy Shenberg's song "Moving to the Energy
of Love" will be featured at the Choir
Festival "Beyond Measure" on Saturday
evening, April 14 at Church of Our Savior,
651 N. Wayne Avenue, Wayne, PA. More
information is
available at phillysongwriters.com.
Leyv Ha-Ir's Annual Race for the Cure
May 13th, Sunday, at 8 AM at the Art Museum.
Susan Berger, Team Captain, will distribute
information.
Marking Life Cycle Events
Making a financial contribution to
Congregation Leyv
Ha-Ir is a great way to mark special life events,
simchas, yahrzeits, etc. We are happy to send an
acknowledgement of your contribution to a
designee
of your choice. Contributions can be sent to our
regular P.O. Box address, or contact Evy
Simon, at
215-561-7474 or evylhi@hotmail.com, if you'd
like to
have an acknowledgement card sent.
Thank you.
"Sacred Time " © 1995, Maria Mackey
I gather up
All the bits and pieces
Of my soul
From all the corners
Of the day
"The Little Pool " © 1989, Maria Mackey
There was a place
With a little pool
Where dolphins played
But I could not
Black metal rails
Guided me down
Grey stone stairs
To a castle-like door
My mother took me there
When I was little
And my feet couldn't reach
The marbled floor
"
February Wind " © 2007, John Mason
It runs
Howls
Screams
Shrieks
Past my window
Pushing the freezing air
Through people
In it
I have a home
That keeps me
Safe from the wind
Others are not so lucky
All they know is the wind
That hates them
The wind is a coat
That tears their skins
A stick
That beats them
All the time.
Newsletter Design:
Ilene
Hass
Creative Solutions
for Business
Marketing
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Dear Friends of Leyv Ha-Ir ~ Heart of the City,
During the Seder, we say, "this year we
are still slaves -- next year free people."
We are in a constant process of reliving this
exodus from slavery, repeatedly becoming
aware of what is holding us captive,
repeatedly making efforts to liberate
ourselves. Again and again, we look at the
story of our ancesters, in the expansive
desert, longing to return to the safety of
captivity. We might even judge them harshly
while we ourselves avoid the responsibility
of our freedom.
During the High Holidays, Rabbi Julie
quoted Marianne Williamson from Nelson
Mandela's inaugural speech:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are
inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not
our darkness that most frightens us. We ask
ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who
are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world."
This is the fear our ancestors felt in the
desert. Now that we no longer have the
crutch of Pharoah on which to lean our
shortcomings, we are now responsible to
direct our own future. It is so easy to
either remain captive (we prefer to be this
way) or to blame others for our captivity (
It is our President's fault or our Rabbi's
fault that we have not lived up to our
potential). The truth is that the future of
this community depends on each of us. Who
are we not to be fabulous?
Michael Meketon, President
Leyv Ha-Ir ~ Heart of the City
mmek723974@aol.com
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April 2007 Activities
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April 2 MONDAY
First Seder
April 3 TUESDAY
LHI Community Seder
Ethical Society
6:30 PM
J. Roemer
April 7 SATURDAY
Shabbat Services
Ethical Society
10:00 AM
Lay Led
April 13 Friday
Kabbalat Shabbat
Ethical Society
7:30 PM
Rabbi Julie
April 15 SUNDAY
Holocaust Remembrance Day
April 15 SUNDAY
Family Torah Group
Home
10:00 AM
J. Roemer
April 18 WEDNESDAY
Beginning Hebrew
Ethical Society
7:00 PM
April 21 SATURDAY
Shabbat Services
Ethical
Society
10:00 AM
Lay Led
April 22 SATURDAY
Israel Independence Day
April 28 SATURDAY
Shabbat Services
Home
10:00 AM
Lay Led
April 29 SUNDAY
Spirituality Group
3:45 PM
Karen
As part of the Kehillah of Center City we
are invited to attend all of the events that are
sponsored by the Kehillah and our larger
community:
To learn more about these events,
check
out the link to Center City Kehillah.
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Click here for a complete look at activities for the upcoming two months. |
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| Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah and Simchat Chochmah Class Forming |
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We are in the early stages of organizing a
serious program of learning for adults that
will culminate in Bar/Bat Mitzvah or Simchat
Chochmah celebration. Students will meet
twice a month, possibly starting as early as
this summer, for one or two years, depending
on your Hebrew background. This learning will
be in-depth, intimate, fun and exciting. Each
student will set individual goals, working
closely with me. Everyone will learn about
Torah and about living Judaism. The cost is
approximately $360 per year. A core group of
committed learners is rapidly
forming---please let me know NOW if you want
to be part of it.
Rabbi Julie
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Message from Rabbi
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Dear Chevre,
Happy spring! Happy Passover! The
Passover seder is a brilliant vehicle for
transmitting important Jewish values. For
thousands of years we have kept alive our
commitment to ethical living by teaching our
children, and each other, year after year
about the archetypal story of the Exodus from
Mitzrayim. When the Dalai Lama wanted advice
on how to save Tibetan Buddhism in the face
of Chinese imperialism, he turned to Jewish
elders whose heritage had been successfully
passed on from one generation to the next
through years of exile; one of the
suggestions given to His Holiness was to
create a seder because this ritual is such a
powerful way to keep a story alive. (The
story of the Dalai Lama’s meeting with the
Jewish leaders is documented in Rodger
Kamenetz’s book The Jew and the Lotus.)
The book we use at the seder is the
Haggadah, the Telling. The Haggadah guides us
into a night of questions starting with Why
is this night different from all other
nights? The Haggadah invites us to ask what
story do I want to tell? What is the story
that I want to pass on to the next
generation? What story am I part of? How does
the story of my personal life journey
converge with the story of the Jewish people?
How can we together create a world that is
whole and just?
This year I will not be conducting the
Leyv Ha-Ir~Heart of the City seder because my
niece’s Bat Mitzvah is taking place in St.
Louis and my family will stay afterwards to
be together for seder. The Leyv Ha-Ir seder
will be in good hands with the capable
leadership of Jessi Roemer, who also leads
our Family Torah Time program for young
children. For those of you attending, enjoy
the delight of good company, good food, good
ritual.
I’ll close this message with a quote from
the Haggadah, The Open Door , edited by Rabbi
Sue Levi Elwell. “Will you open the door
this year? Will you take a seat at the table?
Will you ask new questions?...Will you invite
those outside to join us, finding common
language to build a world of peace?...Come, let
us open the door.”
Hag Sameach,
Rabbi Julie
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| Chesed~Lovingkindness |
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Barbara Gesshel shall be moving to 314
Catherine St, #102, as of April 9th.
Barbara will be undergoing shoulder surgery
April 24th and will be immobilized for 2
months. Your calls, emails, cards, visit
will be most welcome. 215-592-1159; email Barbara.
Let's not forget Gloria Goldstein who
welcomes cards and an occasional kosher lunch
left off. Gloria's address can be found on
our membership list.
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| Your Cantor's Operatic Corner! |
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0ur Cantor Beatrice Beer's schedule for April
is as follows:
Sunday, April 1st, 7:30PM; Fountain Logan
Square East
Wednesday, April 4th, 12:30-1:30 PM,
Church of Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square
Sunday, April 15, 3 PM, Lead role of
Mimi in La Boheme at church of St. Nicholas
of Tolentine, 1718 S. 9th St., Tickets are
$22/20 senior.
Thursday, April 19, 6:30 PM, Katz Jewish
Commuinity Center, 1301 Springdale Road,
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003. Tickets $8.
Sunday, April 22, 7:30 PM, Andrea
Clearfield's Salon, 400 S. Sydenham Street,
Philadelphia. Suggested donation, $10.
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| Lucky Thirteen or Evolution of the Race by Susan Berger |
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According to the pile of Komen
Tee's in my possession, the first dates back
to 1995! First I walked in memory of my
mother, Ann, and then the "boys" started to
join me to honor their grandmother and visit
with me for Mother's Day. The rest is
history..........
It is always an amazingly
spiritual, glad to be alive feeling for me to
walk towards the rainbow of pink balloons
stretching across the Museum Steps each year;
a peaceful quietness pervades the early
mornings, with the promise of a warm and
beautiful day ahead.
Now I look forward to meeting
up with the familiar smiling and eager faces
of The Heart of the City Team finding me in
front of The Team Tent, with the Leyv Ha-Ir
signs held high! One TV broadcaster once
asked as we "raced" by him "What does Levee
Hair" represent?" This is our fourth year
and we even have our own tee shirts with our
lovely logo!
Yes it's a hassle to get up
early on a Sunday, but ask any of us what or
how we feel during and after being part of
this uplifting Community coming together.
Wanna join us?
To join us: click on the link below and
navigate as follows: The Race >
Join and Existing Team >
Heart of the City. Then fill in
the blanks
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Sign up here |
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| "Before Their Eyes" a poem by Joel Netsky |
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This poem was written by a special friend to
Leyv Ha-Ir. It is going to be published in
his book, coming out in the Spring. The
publisher is Poetic Matrix Press and the name
of the book is "The Unequivocality of a Rose"
Before their Eyes
i
Before their eyes lay a vista of country
and cottage; a
townlet sat at one side. That world to them
was in equipoise, a state of perfect
balance. It was of that same sublimely
dulcet weave of nature and human
intellect as the camaraderie among friends or
a beautifully cut gem.
ii
Like people in hiding,
all their senses devolving to the ear,
they attunded to his guitar.
As if their salvation were encompassed
in his dulcet sound,
the equipoise of all existence at balance
in his sublime weave,
their souls became quiet.
Time itself played tenderly;
indeed, the very air caressed.
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