Shalom from your Board of Directors

It’s hard to believe that we have gone through the whole cycle of Torah readings and Jewish holidays since Hebrew Congregation of Somers first closed our doors due to the escalating pandemic in March 2020. But here we are - Purim just behind us and Passover just ahead - weary but hopeful that continued adherence to preventive measures and increasing availability of the vaccine will have us back on the road to normalcy soon.

We are certainly looking toward a time when we can be with one another in person, hug our family and friends, and start the cycle of Torah and holiday celebrations together at the synagogue. Until then, HCS staff and lay leaders continue to plan a robust slate of programs, services, and learning opportunities via Zoom, a format once daunting that now allows us to flourish. And there’s truly something for everyone!

Film lovers can join us for upcoming screenings of Purple (sponsored by Sisterhood) and Shared Legacies (sponsored by the Tikkun Olam committee) both of which will be followed up with guided discussions. Or perhaps you’ll tune into Modern Jewish Voices: A Three-Part Speaker Series, which we are cosponsoring with other Northern Westchester synagogues. For those of you who want something a little more hands-on, how about the Pickling Workshop HCS is co-hosting with Eden Village Camp, Hudson Valley’s  farm-to-table Jewish organic sleepaway camp!  Congregant Les Prusnofsky will be facilitating another session of his powerful "Grieving and Loss During the Pandemic" discussion group in the coming weeks and Rabbi Shoshana’s popular Jewish Ethics adult education series will pick up again in April. Please check recent and upcoming “HCS Happenings”, published every Wednesday, for all the details.

In the school our students are busy learning and making a difference with the advent of “Tikkun Olam Clubs”. Please reach out to Education Director Jill Liflander at hcsprogramming@gmail.com if you’d like to discuss becoming a “repair the world” mentor for one of these groups, each of which is tackling a different issue close to the hearts of its student members. Rabbi Shoshana and Cantor Ruth are working with 5th-7th grade students in preparation for their participation in the April 17 Shabbat morning service. Schoolwide, every class is learning about the history, traditions, and liturgy of Passover in its own developmentally appropriate fashion. Save the date - Sunday, March 21 for our multigenerational Passover program. Be on the lookout for more detailed information about this and other ways our school and community at large will be celebrating chag. 

Thanks to the hard work of President Vicki Prusnofsky and the Bylaw Revision Committee, the Board of Directors recently approved an updated version of this foundational document. In the coming weeks it will be made available to the entire congregation for review. There will be a vote to formally adopt these new bylaws at our Annual Congregational Meeting happening later this Spring (date TBD). Another group hard at work is our Reopening Committee. Soon they will share their recommendations for piloting outdoor services at the end of April or beginning of May. They are also starting to discuss, along with the Ritual Committee, how we will handle High Holiday services this Fall, and are considering a “hybrid” format, with many safety precautions in place. Other exciting news on the High Holiday front - - this year Rabbi Shoshana will be joined on the bimah (virtual or otherwise) by Cantorial Soloist Raechel Rosen. Ms. Rosen is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and music teacher who is currently studying to become a Cantor at ALEPH Ordination. We are looking forward to all the musical support and spirituality she will bring to our High Holiday services.

It is clear that just like Spring which is beginning to unfurl around us, our “little shul in the woods” is teeming with life and potential energy. It’s a wonderful time to become more involved or introduce someone new to HCS!

Wishing everybody a happy Passover/Chag Sameach/Zissen Pesach. May you and your loved ones find joy and meaning in this festival of freedom and rebirth.

B'shalom,

Rachel Izes

Shalom from your Rabbi

3/11/20 Day 1 of staying home 

THANKS. PRAISE. HOPE. REFLECT. CENTER. 

Today, we give thanks and praise to the One who gives life, heals life, and animates all that lives. 

One year ago. A whole new world began the day we made the gut decision to keep the kids home even though schools were open.

We have each brushed up against death - even our kids- and we have survived, changed. Not all of us survived. Many died. And of course, we aren’t out of the woods yet. 

Tonight, we are having a small ceremony, and we will reflect around the bonfire on how we adapted, what we have learned, who and what we have lost. How are we walking in the world differently now? What needs to stay at the center? What needs to be changed? 

We have begun preparing for Passover, for returning to the building with precautions, for Spring, Summer, and even for Fall. But are we preparing for the Book of Leviticus? The book of Leviticus will be our backdrop for exploring the above questions in the coming months. 

Leviticus, Vayikra (and God called) is at the center of the Torah. Some resist it because of its black and white thinking, priests and animal sacrificing, seemingly totally irrelevant laws and rituals and of course, it’s blatant homophobia and sexism. Yet, Leviticus will provide the guidance we who have touched the liminal space between life and death most need. It will help us to keep centering what is most important and to keep healing. This is the spiritual function of the book. It’s all about life and death, what’s most important and how we change when it’s time to change. 

In his book, “Leviticus: You Have No Idea” (recommended for HCS Torah study regulars!) Reconstructionist Rabbi Maurice Harris writes:

“Don’t get me wrong: I’m the first to acknowledge that there are many things about Life, God, and Truth that we understand today, but that Leviticus doesn’t understand. We understand, for instance, that men and women are spiritual equals, and that physical disability does not equal disqualification from spiritual leadership. We also understand menstrual blood, semen, and skin diseases mainly through the lenses of biology and medical science, and these systems of knowledge were not part of Leviticus’ worldview. And we understand God quite differently than the Levitical deity who appreciates the pleasing odors of the roasting meats of the sacrificial altar. But I keep coming back to Leviticus because there are also many things about Life, God, and Truth that Leviticus understands that we don’t understand, and that’s what makes it worth the effort. Leviticus understands that there is a sacred dimension to existence, that this sacredness permeates reality, and that we can receive or displace that energy depending on our actions. Leviticus understands that animals and humans share the life force, and that the taking of animal life for food deserves awe and ritual. Leviticus understands that ecosystems and economies need to function in cycles that are in some sort of balance, ensuring health for the land and basic fairness and compassion for the weakest members of society. Perhaps most striking of all, Leviticus understands us as God’s partners in creating a space for the Divine Presence to dwell on earth, and it sees us as having the free will to act in ways that support or hinder God’s ability to take root within us and among us.

See you around the bonfire/Torah study table! Much love, health and healing and a zissen Pesach!

L'chayyim, towards life, always,

Rabbi Shosh 

Shalom from your Education Director

1)  Memories of Shabbat- Saturday March 7, 2020

I was standing over the grey metal sink washing out a lunch dish when the phone rang. I remember the afternoon light illuminating the vine-like hanging plants in the kitchen window, and how my still-sweaty capoeira t-shirt clung to my sternum.

A call like this only came in on Shabbat when it was an emergency. I picked up the phone-it was Rabbi Shosh, and our co-presidents, Bob, and Vicki.

The Covid-19 super-spreader event in New Rochelle, NY had been unfolding around us all week and we had all been glued to the news. Our Hebrew School Purim Carnival was scheduled for the next day and our community Megillah reading in the sanctuary was scheduled for Tuesday night.  So much work had gone into Purim planning; meetings and phone calls and emails and hamantashen orders and raffle baskets and carnival games and costumes and fundraisers and decorations and rehearsals….

Should we close the building? Should we go forward with Purim? I felt unsure about how to contribute to such a weighty decision. “I’m not an epidemiologist!” I sputtered. Synagogues in the region were split in their decisions to either go forward with Purim celebrations, or cancel.

We discussed this predicament for hours, but what we kept circling back to, over and over again, was the mitzvah of Pikuach nefesh, to save a life. “If one person gets sick from Purim--ONE PERSON--that’s one person too many,” we agreed.

Pikuach nefesh.  

We closed the building.

2)    Shabbat- Saturday March 6, 2021 (364 days later)

I had been on edge for days, cleaning the house, writing emotional postcards to Hebrew School students and families, cooking chicken soup, and gathering fancy ginger-ales and popsicles for the potentially rocky recovery symptoms of the second Covid vaccine.

I ceremoniously adorned myself in blue clothing from head to toe, summoning the protective power of King David’s shield. I assembled: a blue tie-dyed flannel shirt from a friend that unbuttoned so that I could expose my left shoulder for the needle, a delicate ocean blue shawl knitted by another dear friend to wrap around my neck, the softest blue jeans that I owned-frayed at the knees, light-blue earrings, turquoise wool socks, an electric blue fuzzy hat.

Even with powerful blue ‘Magen David’ imagery to bolster my spirits, I sat nervously on the edge of my chair in the crowded interior room of St. Barnabus Hospital, waiting for the vaccine. I remembered that Ruth and Harold were planning to be at the hospital at around the same time (after Ruth concluded Shabbat morning services), so I asked a receptionist if I could poke my head around to the recovery area to look for them.

Dear Hebrew Congregation of Somers, 

I am writing to you on a day which feels both ominous and illuminating, a day in which we have witnessed the best and the worst of humanity. In the past 10 months, we have had no choice but to adapt, adjust and await redemption from the scourge of pandemic. Teachers, health care providers and so many others have navigated a new normal and overcome daily fear in order to provide a day to day life that feels as normal as possible, risking infection, witnessing fear, pain and loss, every day. They have done so with the hope that this situation would be temporary, and that we could eventually return to the days when the sacred work of health care, education and other forms of work did not feel like a high-risk occupation. “These past few weeks mark the first flowering of the realization of that hope. Hope and optimism during challenging periods have been cornerstones of the Jewish experience throughout history.” (Rabbi Michael Kaye) 

Meanwhile, an average of 3,000 Americans have died in recent days. The numbers are impossible to grasp.  Each one a sacred story, with countless beloveds left grieving a terrible loss of life. We live day to day on fragile ground, the tectonic plates of our reality shift with every passing hour and news flash. It can be exhausting, and also exhilarating to maintain constant contact with the news cycles.  Please take some time in the next winter weeks to enjoy the quiet, visit the gorgeous natural areas with beautiful wildlife (Jill and I saw a coyote today!) set up limits on your news intake, and experience the incredible strength and quiet  solidity of the earth. The promise of springtime can be felt with every day of increasing light, and with it, the hope for our shared future on this planet and in our country. 

Doing acts of hesed/lovingkindness for another member of our community gives us purpose and meaning in a time of shift and change. Let’s continue to show up for one another whether it be at a shiva minyan, a life cycle moment or just a regular Shabbat. Make a call to someone from the new directory, even a new family you don’t yet know. Your presence makes a huge difference. You matter. We need you. Our storytelling program led by Jill is such a gem that has evolved during the pandemic. Join us and take a seat for a good listening experience that will no doubt move you to laughter and tears. There are some other lovely programs coming up including a Grief program on the 24th, Adult Education on the 17th and the 31st, and shared Tu b’Shvat seder on the 31st. Save the date for a Havdalah + screening of the movie Purple* with Sisterhood on Saturday, March 13. 

Martin Luther King Day

Please join us for this lecture by a dear friend, Tamara Fish, who will be speaking on the topic “Counting Jews of Color” and will address racism and white privilege. Tamara is one of the leading voices on Jews of Color and the immediate past president of the Jewish Multiracial Network (JMN). She joined us at HCS at my installation last year. You need to register to get a link. 

Second, join us at the Shames JCC MLK Day of Service on Monday at 1:00-2:00 pm. If you want to pick up a Blizzard Box at the JCC, you can, or you can make your own Blizzard Box. More information is at the link above. 

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, whose yahrzeit is observed this month, was a friend and colleague of  Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. He wrote that “the opposite of good is not evil, the opposite of good is indifference. In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” 

We are all called to work to create a more equitable society. Heschel also famously said that when he was marching for civil rights he felt like his “feet were praying.” I am proud of our nascent tikkun olam committee which has begun meeting and exploring together our path forward through study and dialogue. 

Blessings on this sacred journey, this auspicious and redemptive time, and on the holy day in which we continue the legacy of a great prophet and leader, Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Be well, and stay safe. You are a blessing, and I miss you!!! 

  
Rabbi Shosh

*PURPLE is a 21-min documentary* created by Resetting the Table. 

FILM SYNOPSIS 

PURPLE tells the story of everyday Americans with opposing viewpoints addressing their differences head-on and discovering the concerns and humanity that lie behind each other’s positions. Designed to build greater empathy and recognition in the face of deepening U.S. divides, PURPLE models a rare conversation that uplifts and inspires even while going toward the heat of passionate political differences.

The film takes place in rural Wisconsin and Iowa, two swing states where “red” and “blue” still live in the same neighborhoods and where many people feel unrepresented by the two-party system. This politically pivotal region was home to the greatest concentration of counties that flipped Obama-to-Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

PURPLE is produced by Resetting the Table (RTT) – a non-profit organization that strengthens democracy through building collaborative deliberation across political silos in America today – in partnership with Transient Pictures, an Emmy-award winning production firm. RTT equips community leaders with the tools and skills to open courageous and constructive dialogue on political fault-lines issues within and across their communities. RTT’s programs include facilitation training, communication skill-building workshops, multi-perspective educational classes, and decision-making forums across the country. 

As we enter one of the most weighty and charged election seasons in our history, thank you for helping to deescalate our country’s divisions and to foster greater recognition, empathy, and insight in the face of them.

Listen

Miikhail Baryshnikov, world acclaimed ballet dancer and choreographer, reportedly used to go back and take beginning ballet classes throughout his career. His rationale being (I presume) that we can always go back and focus on the basics, to refine our foundations and re-orient ourselves.

Last Sunday at Hebrew School on Zoom, we had a tech glitch, and I had to quickly cover for a class. I sat still for a minute or so, my mind racing, and then typed to Rabbi Shosh and Cantor Ruth: 'Shema.'

No matter how many times the kids have gone over the 'Shema', there will always be more to learn and explore. No matter how many times I have said the 'Shema', I know that it will take a lifetime to comprehend. I can say it by rote or say it with all my heart, and it still contains more. We can always go back to the basics and marvel at mysteries.

We started off Sunday's quickly constructed Zoom class by listening. Listen. We closed our eyes. We heard cars driving by. Birds outside of the window. The hum of the refrigerator. Listen. We listened to the air floating up through our nostrils and into our faces. Breath pushing back out of our nostrils and into the world.
Shema yisrael....
Listen.

This morning in the woods while walking my dogs, my mind clattering with logistics for Ruby's Bat Mitzvah, I couldn't connect with God. I couldn't hear anything. Tears welled up behind my eyes; I felt lost and overwhelmed. A voice inside me cried out, "STOP!"
Listen....

Listen...

I stood still for a moment at the crossroads of two trails, looking up at an evergreen tree. The dogs sniffed around, and then, they too, paused. Suddenly, I could hear the birds chirping. A glowing fire of orange sun peaked over the horizon. I heard my breath, a whorl of wind, spacious silence, and the rustle of trees shaking off night-time. Listen. A quiet entered my mind and held space.
Shema yisrael....
Listen.

Shalom HCS,

Let’s start with a brief lesson in Jewish calendaring to explain why Hanukkah is sometimes “early”. 

Since the time unit “year” is measured by the cycle of the sun, and the time unit “month” is measured by the moon’s cycles, the ancient rabbis reconciled these two units in order to fulfill the commandment to sanctify both the months as well as holidays in their season.  The result was the creation of a solar-lunar calendar.  In some years, there are 13 lunar months instead of 12.  The leap year (or in Hebrew, sha'na meu'beret, pregnant year) is the mechanism which reconciles the difference of days between a solar year and 12 lunar months allowing the Jewish seasonal holidays to occur in their season, albeit within some amount of range.  This year, Hanukkah falls on the early end of that range. Do you remember the year when we lit our menorahs before blessing our Thanksgiving feast?

On Hanukkah, we celebrate the miracle of the oil of the Menorah lamp in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem lasting for eight days even when there only had been enough oil for the first night.  It was an act of great faith to dedicate the Menorah without knowing how the oil would last.

Taking the first step, lighting that first light, can be many things today:

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