Dear Friends,
This week we read Parashat "Behukotay" that teaches us about the blessings (and curses) for keeping (or not) our covenant with God. Here at Or Hadash we believe that we are doing God's work, and we are so thankful to be blessed in so many ways this past week, including performing bar/bat mitzvah ceremonies for 42 children- 15 boys and 27 girls.
On May 16th, it was an honor for us to have Abby Joseph Cohen at our Kabalat Shabbat. Abby has been a good friend and supporter of Or Hadash for many years and she is renowned for being the senior stock market analyst at Goldman Sachs. She came to Israel, invited by Shimon Peres to the President Conference, to speak about the importance of education for the Jewish People and for the economy of the State of Israel. We also celebrated the 70th birthday of our good friend from Temple Micah, Washington DC, Bob Dorfman, a physics professor both at the University of Maryland and at the Technion here in Haifa. Mazel Tov!
On Shabbat May 17th we celebrated five bar mitzvah ceremonies and yesterday, May 24th we had three more bar mitzvah boys, including the grandchild of Prof. David Pessen, a founder of Or Hadash and a former President.
On Monday, May 18th, we had a double bar/bat mitzvah service for two children from the Hod School (children with severe physical and mental disabilities). Unfortunately, many of these teenagers do not live to adulthood because of their medical problems. It is always emotionally very difficult to perform these services, seeing so many teenagers in wheelchairs hardly able to participate in the service. Yet I strongly believe in the importance of including these children into the Jewish world.
On Thursday afternoon, May 22nd, we had 26 girls from the Reali School celebrate their bat mitzvah. Following the "comments" of the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi in Haifa who said last month on the radio that a bat mitzvah service is against the Torah and even "nature", it is good to know that many people in Haifa still believe in Judaism's message of equality.
I had the honor to teach each girl individually. Each "bat" read from the Torah and chanted the blessings. The bat mitzvah service lasted for almost 4 hours, but it was memorable.
On Thursday morning, May 22nd, we had a very special service for six teenagers from the Ahuzat Yeladim Boarding School who are wards of state and have been taken out of their homes by the State of Israel. The service was also very moving, especially since with the help of our sisterhood, most of the families of these children attended the ceremony.  We want to thank from the bottom of our hearts our dear friends from abroad who sponsored a child from these many celebrations during the past eight days. Thank you so much! We are partners in Tikun Olam!
Our children had two bonfires this week to celebrate Lag Baomer, one was for children in our preschools, and the other for children in our Moadonit (after school program). They had fun and came back a little bit dirty but very happy after eating potatoes and marshmallows and singing songs.
This Shabbat, May 30th, a group led by Rabbi Alan Greenbaum will be joining us for Kabalat Shabbat. The visitors are from Congregation B'nai Harim in Grass Valley, CA, and Sonoma, CA. Also, a group of youngsters participating in Haifa's Leo Baeck High School's Young Ambassadors program will be joining us for Kabalat Shabbat next week and an additional class of students from the Chugim junior high school will attend services, as part of a class that teaches them more about Reform Judaism.
On top of everything, this Friday night we will celebrate the birthday of our Temple Administrator, Ami Perelman, a good friend of many of our overseas friends.
Mazal Tov Ami!
Wishing you all a good week from Haifa.
Edgar