Dear Friends,

 

Shavua Tov! Yesterday we read Parashat Beshalach, which included the song of Israel as the Israelites are coming out of Egypt. Also, tomorrow is Tu B’Shvat, the new year of the trees. Therefore, we will start this week at Or Hadash also with a song in our hearts, as we reflect on a beautiful weekend, and excitedly anticipate the coming month’s exciting events and visitors.

 

 

Student Rabbi Gadi Raviv led services this past weekend as part of his internship at Or Hadash. In the past five years we have been blessed with the partnership of three very gifted rabbinical students such as Gadi, two of whom; Rabbi Ilana Bird, and Rabbi Silvina Kandel, have already become rabbis in recent years. I would also like to commend Gadi and the other HUC students on his important work with the people of Sderot, who have been under rocket fire from Gaza militants in the past years and months. Yashar Koach Gadi!

 

 

This past Saturday, February 7^th, we had the pleasure of hosting a group of Reform and conservative Jewish temple educators, organized by student rabbi Dalia Tivon from our sister congregation, Zulam Yaakov, in Zichron Yaakov. The group joined our Shabbat services along with Julie Vanek, Temple Shalom of Newton’s Jewish educator, who is on her sabbatical in Haifa until late February. (See picture below).

 

 Also in attendance for Kabbalat Shabbat services was our new community events coordinator, Nurit Amir Bohrer, who will lend a hand in organizing congregational activities. Or Hadash welcomes our new staff member with open arms and we all wish her success in her new role!

 

 

Last Thursday February 5, we had our first meeting with staff members of the Ahuzat Yeladim boarding school, with whom we are coordinating our 10^th  consecutiveyear of the Bnei Mitzvah program for underprivileged children who are wards of states. This year, we have a very exciting program that will feature a very special Bnei Mitzvah ceremony for 12 participants, several of which are Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. 

 

Through the program, the children will attend 10 pre-ceremony meetings, during which they will meet with myself and several volunteers individually, and connect with other teens through Jewish song. In addition to the preparation, each participant will receive as a present, their own talit, sidur, tefillin, picture album and video tape. All of this will be provided in addition to their own personalized reception cake.  Following the ceremony in late spring, the program will be concluded with a collective trip for Or Hadash and Ahuzat Yeladim program volunteers and workers, participants, and their parents, to the beautiful biblical site of Tzipori. The trip will include a ceremony in the 5^th century synagogue at the site to bring a special close to this year’s project. We have very high hopes for this year’s program, as it was an especially great success last year. I want to commend Or Hadash board member Shlomit Beker for her excellent leadership in this project.

 

The program has been supported for many years with the generous help of Neil and Diane Exter, and this year also be funded with the help of our new European sister congregation, Or Chadasch in Zurich Switzerland, led by Rabbi Bar Ephraim. Thank you so much!

 

 

On Friday, February 6, Or Hadash held a Tu B’Shvat celebration for our preschool children and their parents (Please see pictures below). Everyone first gathered in the synagogue, for a special Tu B’Shvat themed Kabbalat Shabbat service where we sang traditional songs and ate dried fruits. Then, everyone (More than 150 children, parents, and grandparents) made the short trip to the beautiful Gan Menchel park down the street from the temple, where the children planted 80 little rosemary and violet plants. Gan Menchel is a park that was created in memory of Danielle, an Or Hadash member who was killed in a terrorist attack in March 2003.

 

Tu B’Shvat is a holiday that celebrates the many beautiful fruits that our trees bear each year, especially towards the end of Israel’s rainy green season. On Friday, in the spring-like weather we celebrated this holiday, while giving a beautiful present to our community and to the environment in loving memory of our great friend. Later that evening, over 120 Or Hadash members gathered for a beautiful Tu B’Shvat seder (See picture). Our thanks to Vered Ibtsan and Russlau for beautiful performance singing at the piano, and Pnina Sohetzky for organizing the wonderful dancing.

 

 

 

This month, on February 11^th and 12^th, myself and a group of Maram Israeli Reform Rabbis will be traveling to the southern city of Ashkelon to our annual rabbinical seminar, to lend a much needed helping hand. The city and its people, who were terrorized by daily rocket attacks during the war with Hamas, is now in need of our special attention and care.

 

 

In case you missed our most recent newsletters, here is an updated short list of February visitors:

-Arthur and Judy Sharenow, members and past president of Temple Isaiah in Lexington, MA on February 10^th

 

-Rabbi David Freelund and members of the Cape Cod Synagogue in Hyannis, MA, February 14^h,

 

-Rabbi Howard Jaffe, his wife Irene and their children Nathaniel and Talia, of Temple Isiaiah in Lexington on February 16^th

 

-Jeanne Traxler, Brookline, MA teacher, the week of February 14^th

 

- Rabbi Linda Joseph leading a group of Southeast Congregations, on February 15^th

- Rabbi Eric Gurvis, his wife Laura, and their son Jacob, of Temple Shalom in Newton, MA February 15^th-17^th

 

-Rabbi Morris Barzilai and members of The Sinai Free Synagoge of Mt. Vernon, NY on Wednesday February 18th

 

-Howard and Nancy Wolk of Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley, MA on February 19^th

 

-And all of our friends who are visiting us during the 2009 CCAR convention, February 27-29^th.

 

-Rabbi Seth Limmer and members of Congregation B'nai Yisrael of Armonk New York, our newest sister congregation for morning Kabbalat Shabbat services in the Preschools on February 20th

 

- And Rabbi Alice Dubinsky and members of Congregation Bet Ha'am, South Portland, ME, and Rabbi Fred and Fred and Sherry Lev-Reiner of Temple Sinai, Washington  D.C., for evening Kabbalat Shabbat services on February 20th