Rabbi's Week in Review Blog

This past week, we entered into the month of Heshvan, also known as Mar Heshvan, or Bitter Heshvan. I have joked (albeit not a great joke) that for rabbis, after a long stretch of holidays, it is not so bitter. 

All kidding aside, it does create for all of us (not just rabbis) an opportunity not just to catch our breath but to reboot and re-engage in the important tasks of the everyday. After all, the 39 acts of labor prohibited on Shabbat were all associated with building the Mishkan, the Holy Tabernacle, that accompanied B’nai Yisrael, the Children of Israel, in the wilderness.

Last Sunday, Kol Ami, through the Caring Committee, hosted a social event. Thanks to the Caring Committee's Brad Ordo, Pat Clinton and Mark Kover for all their hard work, and to our president, Wynne Begun, for offering her place for the event. There was no specific celebration that motivated the gathering, no agenda other than the opportunity to just be together.

My casual observation over a decent number of years now is that our Kol Ami family likes being together. It has always been a delightful challenge to get everyone to stop socializing in order to start a service.

We look forward to other opportunities to be together. (There may be a jazz-night program in the offing in the next few months.) As a synagogue, we certainly have much work to do in our obligation to create a more just community and just world. As we do, let us also celebrate the moments for just being, for appreciating what each one of us brings to our Kol Ami community — our stories and the joys and challenges of our lives.