Greater Washington Coalition for Jewish Life
Celebrating Jewish Life in Connecticut
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My dear friend and colleague, Rabbi Darby Leigh, serves as the Rabbi in Concord, MA. He is Deaf and was the first Deaf rabbi to graduate from a major Jewish seminary when we were ordained in 2008. During our time at RRC he was my study partner, and we spent hundreds of hours together learning and exploring Jewish texts and traditions.
At one point early in our time at RRC, Darby asked me to make a recording for him of Psalm 27 – traditionally recited during the month of Elul and throughout the High Holy Days. There is a traditional melody for one of the middle verses (verse 4) that I have always found meaningful and centering. I shared the recording and did not think much of it. However, years later Darby and I were sitting together at a rabbinic conference when he mentioned to me that his family still listens to that recording! It was a reminder of the connection we share, and also a reminder of the powerful message within the Psalm. “One thing I ask of you God, to let me dwell in your house for the length of my days.”
The Psalmist writes this piece as an invitation to seek God not just in easy moments, but especially in challenging ones. Because the author knows that is when we most need to experience God’s presence alongside us. I love this text and studying it during Elul is one of my favorite Jewish rituals.
This month, I am writing with an invitation to explore this ritual of reading Psalm 27 each day during the month of Elul – the month leading into the High Holy Days. Although we will come back to the same traditional melody during our services, I would like to offer several alternatives for you to explore in addition. And so, I invite you to find a time, each day, morning or night, when you can take two or three minutes to sit quietly, silencing the mind, and opening your heart to the message of the Psalm.
https://www.sefaria.org/
https://ritualwell.org/ritual/
https://ritualwell.org/ritual/
https://ritualwell.org/ritual/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://ravblog.ccarnet.org/
I hope that the holiday season is a meaningful one for each of us, and that we all find ourselves dwelling in the House of the Divine throughout this month and beyond.
Kol Tuv (Be Well),
Rabbi James
AJC AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE – PODCAST
AJC produces award-winning, chart-topping Jewish podcasts. Their vivid, powerful stories bridge past and present, sadly underscoring the antisemitism still in today’s world. Check them out!
https://www.ajc.org/peopleofthepod
TZEDAKAH APPEAL:
During this desperate time for many, we think of and reach out to the many who are struggling.
HIAS : “Welcome the Stranger. Protect the Refugee” The oldest refugee agency in the world, established in 1902 as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. http://hias.org
JDC: JDC uses impact measurement to reflects the diversity and scope of their diverse, long-standing global work, applies a unified philosophy to decentralized and program-driven systems that are customized to each area of their work. https://www.jdc.org/our-impact/
American Jewish Committee: addressing challenges Jews are facing worldwide, defending Democratic values for all. ajc.org
JEWISH News and Culture:
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org
https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/the-shmooze
ENLIGHTENMENT and ENTERTAINMENT FROM YOUR SITE LIBRARY…
Go to“Learn” tab, scroll down to “Jewish Resources” and click “MY JEWISH LEARNING” (or go directly to MyJewishLearning.com).
Here you’ll find an aggregator that is regularly updated with a huge breadth of content and all sorts of goodies and surprises!
For example, the“Daily Guide to Zoom Events, Livestream and Other Online Resources.” Among the wide range of subjects, programs and activities you’ll see here are: “The Only Jewish Miss America” (Museum of Jewish Heritage), “Mindfulness Melodies” (Jewish Life in Maine), “Art as a Spiritual Practice,” A Midwives, Musicians, Soldiers and Rabbis: Whose Stories will Become History?,” “Bioethics During a Pandemic,” etc., etc.
And other treats too! Recipes for the holidays and everyday: “Potato Chip Schnitzel, Shwarma Chicken Kabobs, Roasted Butternut Squash with Orange Tahini, Briskett Tacos, Ethiopian Red Lentil Soup,” etc., etc…
Come visit and linger, you’ll be glad you did!
https://marketplace.jewishtogether.org
OTHER RECOMMENDED MEDIA
“The Swimmers,” on NETFLIX.
MEMBER PICKS…
FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
“A Pigeon and a Boy,” by Meir Shalev
Review: “A powerful novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion — of how deeply we love, of what home is, and why we, like pigeons trained to fly in one direction only, must eventually return to it…”
“My Russian Grandmother and her American Vacuum Cleaner,” also by Meir Shalev
Review: “A charming tale of family ties, over-the-top housekeeping, and the sport of storytelling in the small village of Nahalal…”
“The Baron,“ TYCOON Baron Maurice de Hirsch (1831-1896) by Matthias b. Lehmann
Review: “Philanthropy combines genuine compassion with the display of power”
In his lifetime, Hirsch was a giant of the “gilded age of Jewish philanthropy.” He was a German-born Jew who lived in a palace in Paris and kept his office in Vienna. He cut his biggest deal, a railway, with the Ottoman sultan. (When Hercule Poirot took the Orient Express, his train ran on Hirsch’s tracks!)
Hirsch funded schools and vocational training for Jewish communities not only in the Ottoman cities, but the Russian Pale, the French colonies of North Africa and in large areas of Argentina. The Jewish Colonization Association, the vehicle for his Argentine settlements, was the largest charitable organization in the world at a time when philanthropy was the principal form of Jewish political action…”
Visit LINKS OF INTEREST (on this site under “For Members” tab) to read an excerpt of an essay on Baron de Hirsch, his vision and involvement with Jewish farming in Connecticut.
ACTIVITIES TO CONSIDER
The Great Courses, learn a language, instrument or subject; create something new or master a skill… and more. www.TheGreatCourses.com
jigsawplanet.com — Jigsaw puzzles. Be forewarned, (mildly) addictive!