October 19, 2009

Dear Friends,

 

Shavua Tov! The holidays are now gone, but at Or Hadash we are still busy with lots of visitors and activities. Ami and Anat Perelman came back from their two week Or Hadash mission to America, during which they visited many sister congregations, also my assistant Jessica and her husband Eli just returned from their honeymoon vacation. Also, as many of you know, next week I will leaving for an 11 day trip to the States with another youth delegation from Or Hadash (The ninth since the year 2000!). Needless to say, we are all very excited, since we will be able to visit many of our sister congregations and friends in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.

 

Yesterday we read Parashat Bereshit, which is as you all know the first portion of our Torah. With this fresh new start, comes a whole new year of social action, life cycle ceremonies, friendly meetings, educational learning, cultural activities, and spiritual prayers. Here I will describe those visitors and activities that have already occurred in the last few weeks at Or Hadash.

 

On September 30^th, I had the great pleasure of officiating the wedding ceremony of my assistant Jessica, to her now husband Eli Halfin. The couple was very happy to welcome Jessica’s parents from the States for the special occasion that was held at Lauren’s Gallery in Old Jaffa. The wedding was a beautiful event of close family and friends, and preceded a second wedding which took place in Atkinson, NH. Their second wedding, which I heard was also very beautiful, was officiated by the rabbi of Jessica’s home congregation, my colleague Rabbi Ira Korinow of Temple Emanu-El, in Haverhill, MA.

 

Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot were all successful, relatively peaceful, and exciting holidays at Or Hadash, filled with several hundreds of congregants, friends, and many hundreds of children. As a special treat a few hundred participants got to experience Sukkot activities October 2^nd-8^th, in the very large Sukkah that we built this year at Or Hadash. 

 

Following this, on October 9^th, Simchat Torah was a wonderful gathering of more than 400 participants and at least 200 children who all sang and danced with the Torah, to commemorate the return to the beginning of another year of readings.

 

 During the holiday service Joyce Pastor and a group of visitors from our sister congregation Temple Shir Tikvah in Wayland, MA were also able to join us for the Hakafot, and lovely Shabbat dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

On October 15^th , Deborah Bacol, the Sisterhood president of our sister congregation-Congregation Etz Chaim, in Chicago, IL visited us at Or Hadash. Deborah and her mother were lovely guests who represented their congregation very well. Also present were of course both Or Hadash and Etz Chaim members, Bobi and Gershom Lichtenberg, who often act as liaisons between the two congregations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This past Shabbat, October 16^th, Or Hadash warmly welcomed Hans and Renate Benjamin, from our sister congregation Or Chadasch in Zurich, Switzerland. Hans and Renate are long time friends of Or Hadash, and we were very happy to have them in our community. While they were here, our President, Yuri Kligerman, the Or Hadash Executive Board, and the Or Hadash Sisterhood presented the couple with a special gift to thank them for their help with Wards of State Bnei Mitzvah Project, which helps children at risk who are without the care of parents, to celebrate their Bnei Mitzvah each year at Or Hadash.

 

Another visitor was our friend Moshe Zurich, head of the tourism board in Haifa and Northern Israel, who brought a group of Evangelical Christians tourists on October 12^th to visit Or Hadash. On October 13^th, we also welcomed with open arms a group of twenty young students from Germany.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                  

                                                

                                                                                   

 

 

This year, like every year, I was invited by many schools in Haifa to teach about the message of the Jewish High holidays to students. This year I had the chance to talk to many hundreds of Junior High school students (Many of whom were Bar and Bat Mitzvah students at Or Hadash). I also had the honor to speak about Sukkot and Simchat Torah on air at the Haifa radio station 107.5, at the courtesy of Danny Nishlis, who is CEO of the station. Haifa radio 107.5 featured me in two different interviews, following the previous message that I gave just before Rosh HaShana. Both of these experiences were very good for the Reform movement in Israel, as they allow the idea of pluralism to be heard by the general public, in a society where Reform Judaism-despite it’s growing popularity, still sometimes has to struggle against prejudice.

 

On October 18th, the Or Hadash Preschool children gathered in the sanctuary to celebrate a special Rosh Hodesh Havdallah for the fall season. Following the traditional weekly prayers, the children sang songs for the new season in Israel, which has officially arrived despite the lingering heat.