April 20, 2009

 

Dear Friends,

I am sorry that I didn’t have the chance to write last week. Holidays seem to come in all at once in Israel, and between the Pesach rush, ceremonies and activities for Holocaust Remembrance Day, and preparations for upcoming Yom HaZikaron, and Israeli Independence Day, I have not had many quiet days to sit and write about our activities and experiences. Still, since we at Or Hadash feel that our connection with all of your overseas is so important, I made sure to find a few quiet moments to share with you the activities of the past few weeks. Doing so much may be tiring, but to me, it is definitely worth the effort. As you will read below, we did our best to reach out to as many people as possible during this time, and I hope that we succeeded in making a different in at least one person’s life.

 

Shabbat Shalom to you and yours,

Edgar

 

This year was a good one for Passover at Or Hadash. Here we followed the Israeli tradition by holding two seders, one of which was held on the first night of Passover, and second which was held on the 7^th night of the holiday. Both seders this year were full of life, and were packed with many different types of people. As mentioned in our previous newsletter, we also enjoyed three additional seders that were very successful: One for holocaust survivors that was held on April 2^nd, one on April 5^th that was held for our preschool aged children, and one on April 4^th for past and present Or Hadash Bar Mitzvah students and their families. Following these seders on April 6^th, the preschools also participated along side me in the shtifat Kelim (Cleaning of dishes before Passover) ritual at the temple.

 

Aside from these populations, our first night Seder, held in the synagogueon April 8th included many singles, lonely soldiers, Darfurian refugees, Holocaust survivors, community members, and those in need of a place to celebrate, all of whom gathered at Or Hadash to celebrate the holiday with me and my family (Deborah, Yael, Elior, Ariel, and Talia).

On the seventh day of Passover, April 14^th, Or Hadash held the seder together with Reform congregation Yedid Nefish from Karmiel, for the 20^th consecutive year. The seder had 60 Karmiel participants coming together to celebrate alongside 70 Or Hadash participants at beautiful tables that were set up in the synagogue on the main floor. There, members of both congregations, took turns participating in the reading of the HaGaddah, and the singing of the evening prayers, before enjoyed a lovely Passover meal together. Afterwards our two communities sang popular Passover songs together and talked about the importance of Tikkun Olam in our world.

 

 

 

On the Eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 20^th, Or Hadash was fortunate to welcome a group of German Christian from Germany who are participants of the German Diaogue Institute. The group came to learn about Reform Judaism in the modern State of Israel, and to show their solidarity in building a strong bond between modern German, and Jewish populations. This connection is one that is treasured by Or Hadash, and one that has been an important part of our community for nearly 10 years. Their visit on this day, only showed their dedication in maintaining a strong relationship between our two peoples, and continuing on with this wonderful program in the future.

 

On the evening of Monday, April 20^th, Or Hadash and our TELEM youth held a special ceremony for the community in memory of the six million Jewish souls who perished in the Holocaust. One highlight of the very moving ceremony, was a talk by Moshe Perelman, Ami Perelman’s brother, who shared his powerful experiences of touring the Nazi death camps in Poland as a Reform Jew. Another highlight was the lighting of 6 yahrzeit candles, each in memorial of one million Jewish victims. The beautiful ceremony concluded with the Or Hadash choir-“Shir Hadash” and their beautiful singing, as well as poems that captured the painful impact of the Holocaust on the Jewish people.

 

On April 21^st, Or Hadash members, including Holocaust survivors, youth, and staff traveled to a Kibbutz outside of Haifa for a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony that commemorated the importance of those Jews who fought against the Nazi regime from within the ghetto of Warsaw. The trip was organized by Temple Administrator, Ami Perelman, and saw the great representation of Or Hadash  and the Israeli Movement for Progressive Judaism through our youth, amongst the 10,000 person crowd. 

 

The ceremony, which lasted for many hours, focused on the strength, determination, and will to live, that was exhibited in the Warsaw ghetto fighters. From their stories we derive strength as a Jewish people to go on, and to fight to protect and defend ourselves, and the lives of the innocent. The main speaker was Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who spoke to the crowd from the heart. To me, it is just as important to remember these souls, as it is the other innocent victims were not able to stand up and fight for freedom and life.

 

On Wednesday, April 22^nd, members and friends from Temple B’rith Kodesh Rochester NY, lead by Rabbi Larry Kotok, his wife Merrill, and Executive temple director Joel Elliot, came to spend the evening with us at Or Hadash. The group included: The Braverman; Burg; Caplan; Goldstein; Gurell; Lipman; Lococo; Rayburn; Sciolino; and Weinstein families, along side other friends and members. Together we enjoyed as always a wonderful meal, and interesting conversation exploring our connection as a world community Reform Jews. This is just one more connection that I sincerely hope will grow into a longstanding friendship between the Reform Jews of Rochester, and our congregation in Haifa. As with all of our guests, we hope to see them back here very soon!