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TES Weekly
June 3 - 10, 2014    

Rabbi's Message

6/3/2014  - 5 Sivan 5774   

 

Rabbi Yochanan said: When God's voice came forth at Mount Sinai, it divided itself into 70 human languages, so that the whole world might understand it. All at Mount Sinai, young [men] and old, women, children, and infants heard the voice of God according to their ability to understand. Moses, too, understood only according to his capacity, as it is said (Ex. 19:19), "Moses spoke, and God answered him with a voice." With a voice that Moses could hear. - Shemot Rabbah 5:9

 

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, a friend and colleague from my New England days, commented on this famous midrash in a recent Zeek article. She says the teaching that G-d spoke in every different language at once at Sinai, should give us pause whenever we think we are in absolute possession of the truth.

 

We had imagined, perhaps naively, that as modernity continued to dawn on us, that there would be less fundamentalisms of all kinds. Instead - from Congress to discussions on every hot button issue from GMOs to drone strikes, we have trouble remembering that we are each only looking at one part of the proverbial elephant.

 

Rabbi Barenblat writes, "All of us were there.  All of us heard. And what we heard, we heard according to our ability to understand. Torah comes to meet us wherever we are...And because each of us hears according to her or his own temperament and inclinations, we don't always understand Torah in the same ways. But Torah doesn't belong only to those who read it this way, or those who read it that way. Torah does not belong to religious liberals any more than it belongs to religious conservatives. Torah trumps those categories. According to our midrashic tradition, God gives Torah to all of us - regardless of gender expression, sexual orientation, age, race, creed, color, class, political party - and it belongs to all of us, wherever we are."

 

On Shavuot, we remember Sinai; we remember this phenomenon of multi-lingual revelation. When we gather tonight to learn Torah for our tikkun, we'll approach our learning the same way. Everyone around the table will hear differently. And we'll all be the wiser for it.

 

L'shalom,  

 

 



Rabbi Joshua Boettiger
Upcoming Services
Shacharit Yizkor
Thursday, June 5, 10:00am

Torah Study
Saturday, June 7, 9:00am

Shabbat Simcha
Saturday, June 7, 10:00am
followed by vegetarian/dairy potluck lunch
This Week at TES
Song Circle Voice Class will resume in the fall
Torah Study
resumes next Tuesday at 6:30pm
Jewish Meditation
resumes next Wednesday at 8:00am
Announcements

The History of Jewish Poetry continues Thursday, June 5, 6:30 - 7:45pm

Please see details below under "Adult Education." Childcare will be available for this series of four classes. Please contact the TES office at (541) 488-2909 if you know for sure that you would like childcare so we can plan accordingly.     

 

Tikkun Leyl Shavuot, Tuesday, June 3

Join Rabbi Joshua Boettiger and Chazzan Bella Feldman for a Night of Learning in Honor of the Revelation on Mount Sinai.
 
6:30-7:30pm   Potluck Dairy Dinner (it's traditional on Shavuot to eat dairy dishes like blintzes). Please bring a dish to share and RSVP to Kathy at the TES office at (541) 488-2909 or by e-mail to [email protected], so we know how many people to expect.
 
7:30-8:00pm  The History of Shavuot: How the holiday transformed from a spring agricultural festival to a celebration of the giving of Torah.

8:00-8:45pm   Hallel are poems of praise, six Psalms (113-118) that we sing on almost every special holiday occasion in Judaism. Learn the history and politics (why almost every?) of this service, as well as singing hallel melodies from Shlomo Carlebach to Pete Seeger.

 

8:45pm - Espresso milkshake break
 
9:00-9:45pm  Weaving the Organic Patterns of Torah
Delve into the study of Torah text to re-create new insights and understanding, through creatively combining verses of Torah to tell new tales.
 
9:45-10:30pm   Kabbalah Kirtan
Join us for a powerful and spiritually transformative musical experience through call and response repetition of sacred Hebrew and Aramaic phrases and names of God.
 
10:30pm - Midnight and Possibly Beyond
Zohar: The Book of Splendor (with members of the Havurah, who will join us at 10:30pm here at TES, as we joined them last year!).   
        

Lauren Croyle Bat Mitzvah, June 14, 10:00am 

All are invited to come celebrate! Please RSVP as soon as possible.  Please see invitation below for details. 

 

 

 

  

  

Mikvah Mitzvah at Jackson Wellsprings, June 13 3:00-5:00pm (RSVPs required, please see below) 
Join us for a Mikvah educational experience.
Our local community is blessed to have a kosher Mikvah available to us. Rabbi Jackie Brodsky will be guiding the group through the Mikvah. Learn prayers, history and the purpose of a traditional Mikvah. 

The Mikvah represents spiritual cleansing and renewal. The word Mikvah means 'gathering'-it is a gathering of time; of past and future into present, making them both accessible. In his book "Waters of Eden, The Mystery of the Mikvah," Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan teaches that mikvah enables us to transcend the bonds of time for "ultimate freedom." He says, (we are) "No longer bound by either past or future but exist in absolute present which IS the one instant of time one has control over."
This opportunity is open to all generations.

Please bring modest body covering for your time in the spring. There is a suggested donation of $20 ($30 for mother-daughter pairing) to participate but all interested in attending are welcome regardless of means. All proceeds will go to the TES Israel Tour Scholarship Fund.

More information about the Mikvah is available on the Jackson Wellsprings site:
http://www.jacksonwellsprings.com/mikvah/ .

For questions and to RSVP, please contact Miranda Briggs-Graumann at [email protected].


Yoshe Zohar Bar Mitzvah, June 21, 4:00pm
All are invited to come celebrate! Please RSVP by June 6.  Please see invitation below for details and please note 4:00pm start time.
 
 


Elijah Krayna Bar Mitzvah, June 28, 10:00am

All are invited to come celebrate Elijah's Bar Mitzvah! Luncheon to follow immediately after the service. Please RSVP by June 10 to Jacqueline Neuwirth at [email protected].  

 
 

Discount Tickets Available for Roy Zimmerman, Sunday, June 8
On Sunday, June 8th at 7:00 pm, satirical folk singer Roy Zimmerman will be appearing in
concert at Temple Emek Shalom. The
Marin Independent Journal says Roy's performance is "Bobby Kennedy meets Bobby Dylan."
If you enjoy laughter, then you'll love
Zimmerman's jabs at contemporary society. Regular priced tickets are $18 in advance and $20
at the door.

Special discounted ticket offer to all Temple Emek Shalom members and those individuals who receive the TES Weekly e-mail newsletter: $5.00 off regular ticket price. To receive this
discounted ticket price, either print out the first page of this TES Weekly and take it to the Music Coop (268 East Main in downtown Ashland) or call Ben DeBaldo, the promoter, directly at 541-708-0715 and leave your name, how many tickets you'd like, and your phone number. He will return your call to confirm your reservation.

Please join us for a musical evening of laughter and love of social justice!

TES Coffee Bar Ready for Service! 

Our new Coffee Bar is stocked with Noble Coffee and ready for you to come hang out with friends or go online while you enjoy a cup of coffee or tea. It is located in the lobby by the bulletin board.  

          

Member News
TES members, don't be shy. Please send us your news, accomplishments, joyous events, etc. for us to put in the monthly newsletter to share with the congregation. Please contact Kathy at the office at 541-488-2909 or [email protected].              
      
Honor Family and Friends with a Gift to TES
You can easily and quickly make donations to all funds, to remember and honor family, friends and loved ones. Visit the donation page and see the possibilities. Click here  
Adult Education
The History of Jewish Poetry

According to Stephen Paul Miller, "all poetry is Jewish." Join Rabbi Boettiger for this four session class where we'll trace Jewish poetry from the psalms of King David, to the ribald medieval wine/women/death poems of Andalusian Spain, to the heyday of Yiddish poetry, to Yehuda Amichai and modern/contemporary poetry in Israel and the U.S. We'll not only work with particular poems and poets, but also explore poetry as a phenomenon in Judaism and Jewish life and history. Thursday evenings (May 22nd and 29th; June 5th and June 12th) from 6:30-7:45pm (child care available on site - please advise the TES office if you would like childcare). All are welcome. Non-member fee of $10 per session.

  

Social Action Opportunities

Evie Strauss, co-chair of our Social Action Committee, would like to share the following with our community:

Thank you for your donations of books to the Bookwagon. Through credits accumulated from the donations and Evie's efforts, she was able to provide $100 worth of books to Mary Curtis, Director of the Family Nurturing Center (FNC). The books will be shared with client families and children. Mary was ecstatic to get so many books to share. A thank you from one of the teachers:  "Thank you for the amazing books!! I have a family with three boys under age 5 who were SO happy to get a book each, and mom was very pleased too!! Yay!"

Evie would like to start accumulating credits again to give another load of books to FNC. Please take your extra books to the Bookwagon in Ashland, and please have them put the credit in Evie's name. Your kindness will be much appreciated by everyone at the FNC. Thank you!

Sponsor
Allen G. Drescher, PC
Attorney at Law
21 S 2nd Street
Ashland, OR 97520
(541) 482-4935
Quick Links

Services This Week

Shacharit Yizkor
Thursday, June 5
10:00AM

Torah Study
Saturday, June 7
9:00AM

Shabbat Simcha
Saturday, June 7, 10:00AM
followed by potluck lunch
 

 
Temple Emek Shalom | 541-488-2909 | http://emekshalom.org


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