A Congregation of Friends
Caring for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan
Temple Reyim congregants do amazing things! Here’s just one moving example: Traveling through Haiti in 2003, our member Miriam Tuchman stumbled upon a disturbing and unaddressed public health crisis – children without shoes were being infected with worms. Miriam responded by collecting shoes here in Boston and then delivering them to needy Haitian children by the suitcase-full. Others soon joined her efforts, leading to the founding of Sustainable Healthcare for Haiti, a non-profit that has now taken on the goal of building a children’s hospital and medical clinic in (I love the name!) Jerusalem, Haiti.
Miriam Tuchman’s work is an example of Torah in action. We are taught in Parshat Mishpatim to be concerned for the plight of the stranger, the widow, and the orphan. To live an engaged Jewish life is to look out for the disenfranchised and powerless, whether they be the stranger in our midst or the shoeless child in Haiti. May we all bring Torah to life by opening our eyes to the needy and, like Miriam, answering calls for help with compassionate service.
To read more about Miriam Tuchman’s incredible work in Haiti, check out the Newton TAB’s recent article here.
Our 2nd Annual Shabbatune is Around the Corner!
Ladies and gentleman, start your vocal cords! Temple Reyim's 2nd Annual Shabbatune is coming up in just a few weeks - February 10th-11th! Cantor Ackerman will be joining us again, leading us in spirited davenning on Friday night and Shabbat morning. She'll also be teaching a class on Shabbat afternoon on how to create harmonies in Jewish music. At the same time, I'll be leading a fun music program Shabbat afternoon for our young families called "JEWISH STOMP!" Then, Saturday night, five a cappella groups descend upon our Ordis Hall for a rocking a cappella concert. The concert features BU's Kol Echad, Brandeis' Manginah, Harvard's Shani, Gann Academy's Shenaniganns, and the semi-pro vocal group Similar Jones (I'll be singing some of my original Torah-based folk songs, as well).
In anticipation of the event, I am thrilled that we are again gathering for a pre-Shabbatune song session. On Monday night January 30th at 7:30pm, all are welcome to join me as we learn some of the new tunes Cantor Ackerman will be introducing at the Shabbatune. Last year, this "rehearsal" proved to be a beautiful event of its own. The singing was soulful; a wonderful time to enjoy the blessing of shir chadash - singing a new song. We will also provide participants of this pre-Shabbatune song session with a CD of the tunes to take home and enjoy.
We are a community that loves music and a congregation that comes together around joyful song. I look forward to joining you in this celebration!
Is “Spirituality” a Bad Word?
One of my favorite lines from the movie The Princess Bride comes when the hero Wesley, having been told by his enemy that if Wesley surrenders no harm will come to him, responds: “We are men of action. Lies do not become us.” A Jew could have written that line. Oh, wait, a Jew by the name of William Goldman did write that line!
Jews focus their faith in action. We do mitzvoth, holy activities, in order to actualize our faith in the physical, tangible world. So it is not surprising that many Jews view the idea of “Jewish spirituality” with confusion, skepticism, and even hostility. We are men and women of action, after all, and spirituality sounds to many of us like a self-involved excuse for inactivity.
Spiritual practice that is undertaken with a combination of sincerity and joy, however, is neither self-involved nor inactive. Spiritual practices, such as meditation, contemplative prayer, chant, and yoga, invite us to look deeply at ourselves; they do so in order that we get to know our neshama, our soul’s divine nature. This witness of the divinity within cracks the very shell of our separateness; we become not self-involved but compassionately and actively other-involved. The path of Jewish spirituality may appear different and fearfully foreign. Its aim, however, is the very heart of who we are and why we have been placed by God on this beautiful earth.
Proud of Matisyahu
The famed Chassidic-Reggae superstar Matisyahu, aka. Matthew Miller, has shaved his beard. This came in conjunction with the following statement from Miller:
"No more Chassidic reggae superstar. Sorry folks, all you get is me…no alias. When I started becoming religious 10 years ago it was a very natural and organic process. It was my choice. My journey to discover my roots and explore Jewish spirituality—not through books but through real life. At a certain point I felt the need to submit to a higher level of religiosity…to move away from my intuition and to accept an ultimate truth. I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules—lots of them—or else I would somehow fall apart. I am reclaiming myself. Trusting my goodness and my divine mission."
I am so proud of Miller for his courageous declaration. A person is loved by God from before his birth to after her death. Yet, we often forget this and imagine that if we walk the walk, talk the talk, and grow the beard of, say, Chasidic Judaism, we are becoming better, more pure, and more deserving of love. As Miller writes, "I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules—lots of them—or else I would somehow fall apart."
What we sometimes forget in the reinvention, but what Miller has realized, is that "falling apart" is not a problem. The core of who we are, before we add any artifice, is goodness. That is why humans began in Eden - we belong in God's garden. When we let ourselves fall apart, when we let the costumes and caricatures go, we are left with being good old Matthew Miller, or Ben Shalva, or whomever. And that person, beard or no beard, is a wonderful person to be.
Limmud Boston - Why Being Jewish Rocks!
This past Sunday, I attended the second annual Limmud Boston Conference, hosted by our neighbor congregation Mishkan Tefila. The conference was a wonderful and exciting celebration of Jewish life and learning. Walking into the lobby, one had the feeling of entering a bazaar. Vendors of Judaica and representatives of different Jewish organizations sat behind tables covered with fun Jewish goodies, brochures, books, and artwork. My children particularly enjoyed visiting AFMDA's table (American Friends of Magen David Adom), with volunteers handing out ambulance-shaped tzedakah boxes and squeeze toys.
Every hour at Limmud Boston offered sessions covering topics as varied as Jewish history, text study, Israeli politics, spirituality, food and farming, body work and movement, parenting, music, and more. I piloted a session I've been developing called "Loosening Our Stiff Necks," which involved Torah study followed by neck stretches, meditation, and chanting. Sara Shalva (aka. my better half) taught a packed-to-capacity session titled "Shalva Yoga," which also combined traditional Torah study with hatha yoga poses and meditation. Together we also attended a fascinating discussion on Israel-Diaspora relations led by Leibel Fein, founder of MAZON and Moment Magazine.
Our children spent the day at Limmud Boston's fantastic Camp Limmud, where they were visited throughout the day by session presenters who led them in exercise classes, art sessions, storytelling, and more. We picked them up for lunch which we ate while enjoying a live music concert which included spirited chanting from Shoshana Jedwab and The Levins' amazing song "Sephardic Rubber Chicken".
Limmud Boston reminded me of what a blessing it is to be part of such a diverse, energetic, intelligent, artistic, soulful people. When we Jews come together to learn and grow from one another, the results can be transformative. I left Limmud Boston inspired. Todah rabbah - a huge thank you - to the Limmud Boston team for making this possible.
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