Join us at CBI for Tu BiShvat, the New Year of the Trees!

סדר ט‫”‬ו בשבט

Tu BiShvat Seder

Join us at CBI for one of our three seders
celebrating the New Year of the Trees!

Hand in Hand seder: 10am, 2/5/12

Seder for adults & teens: 6pm, 2/8/12
(bring a veg/dairy dish to share)

Avodah seder: 10am, 2/11/12

Come celebrate the Four Worlds, four seasons, delicious fruits & nuts, and the beauty of the trees.

(If you want this information in a format you can easily print and hang on your fridge, feel free to download this year’s Tu BiShvat flyer. Hope to see you at CBI!)

Save the Date: Chevra Kadisha supper on March 1

Dear Congregation Beth Israel members and friends,

I’m writing to invite those who have participated in our Chevra Kadisha — our volunteer burial society — to save the date of March 1 for a 6pm supper in your honor.

It’s customary in many communities to hold a dinner in honor of the members of the chevra kadisha on the 7th of Adar, which this year falls on March 1. If you have ever lent a hand on the chevra kadisha — whether with the task of taharah (preparing someone’s body for burial) or shmira (keeping the deceased company in the funeral home until the funeral) — you are cordially invited to join me at 6pm on March 1 for dinner, companionship, and conversation.

We will have a light supper at CBI (we will order a bunch of vegetarian Thai or Chinese food) and savor having the chance to break bread together and to celebrate the joy we find in performing this service together for our community.

Why the 7th of Adar? That date is Moses’ yahrzeit, the anniversay of his death, and it is traditionally associated with the chevra kadisha for two reasons. When Moses led the Exodus from Egypt, he carefully tended Joseph’s bones and brought them out of Mitzrayim. And in return for that kindness, tradition says that when Moshe died at 120, God Him/Herself served as the chevra kadisha for Moshe, preparing his body for burial with loving care.

When we do this holy work, we walk in divine footsteps. Please come together and enjoy a meal together with your chevra kadisha colleagues.

(Please RSVP to the synagogue office so I know how many people are coming and how much food to order. Thanks!)

And, of course, if you’ve never been a part of the chevra kadisha but would like to join, you are always welcome. Reach out to Darlene and Len Radin and they will welcome you and orient you to this mysterious and beautiful work.

Blessings,

Reb Rachel

Song of the Month: Shvat 5772 / February 2012

This month on the lunar calendar — the month of Shvat — contains Tu BiShvat, the new year of the trees. In honor of that, our Song of the Month for this month is a song which invites us to connect with the divine in the earth, in the heavens, in the heat of fire and the rush of water: in short, in the natural world around us.

The original chant was written by Tony Wrench, and was translated into Hebrew by Shimon Lev Tahor.

Adamah v’Shamayim (Earth and Heavens)

Adamah v’shamayim
Chom ha-esh
Tzlil ha-mayim

Ani margish zot b’gufi.
beruchi, b’nishmati.

Heya, heya, heya, heya
Heya, heya, heya ho (2x)

Ani margish zot b’gufi.
beruchi, b’nishmati.

Love the earth, love the sky
Heat of fire,
Drop of water

I can feel it in my body
in my spirit, and in my soul

Heya, heya, heya, heya
Heya, heya, heya ho (2x)

I can feel it in my body
in my spirit, and in my soul

Listen online, or download the file to listen to at home:
Adamah V’Shamayim

We’ll use this song in our Shabbat morning worship this month, and also at our various Tu BiShvat seders. Enjoy, and chodesh tov — a good month to you!

Announcing the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Youth Group

Dear friends,

I’m writing to let you know about a new initiative which is happening in northern Berkshire county — the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Youth Group.

We are a small community and it can be difficult to muster enough critical mass to have a really active youth group. It turns out that many area churches are in a similar position. A group of local clergy (including me) has been meeting for a few months to brainstorm ideas for a joint youth group which we could do together.

This group is explicitly inter-faith and is open to kids of all faiths (and none.) There will be no proselytizing, period. The group is designed to be a safe space where kids in grades 7-12 can come together, discuss issues of faith and doubt, learn about one anothers’ traditions, do meaningful community service work, form friendships, and generally be part of a supportive community.

The launch party will be held at St. Elizabeth’s of Hungary in North Adams at 6pm on Sunday, February 12. There will be some icebreakers and then a chance for kids to brainstorm together about what they want this youth group to be and do — while parents are hanging out together in a different room, doing their own learning and talking about what they hope this group might provide. We’re hoping to have an interfaith seder at CBI in April as the youth group’s second event.  A flyer is attached.

I hope that some CBI kids will choose to participate! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me. And if your child is interested in attending, please call Pat Kriss at 413-664-0386 to let her know.

If you’d like to learn more, you can download the flyer for the launch party: InterfaithYouthGroupFlyer

Thanks and take care,

Reb Rachel

Thanks, CBI!

Dear everyone at CBI,

Thank you so much for the lovely oneg on Shabbat in celebration of my second ordination, as a mashpi’ah ruchanit / Jewish spiritual director!

The flowers are beautiful:

and the cake which Grace made (and decorated!) was lovely to the eye — and even lovelier to eat:

It was a joy to celebrate with y’all, and I look forward to many more moments of simcha to come.

Shavua tov / a good week to all!

Take care,
Reb Rachel

Avodah: V’Ahavta

Dear Avodah families! We had a ton of fun this morning learning about how houses are built in Chelm (thanks, Jane), learning the story of how the Israelites built the mishkan (portable Tabernacle / house for God) in the desert, and then making our own mishkan and drape out of legos and painted cloth.

The song for the month this month is a setting of the V’Ahavta in English. The mp3 is enclosed below; enjoy!

V’Ahavta

D’var Torah for parashat Vaera: on plagues and hardened hearts

Here’s the d’var Torah I’ll be offering during services this morning.

This week we read one of the most dramatic narratives in Torah: the story of the ten plagues. (Or, at least, the first eight plagues; the final two will come next week.) Intriguingly, the idea of calling these “plagues” is rabbinic; in the Torah they are called “signs,” demonstrations of divine power and might.

Moshe and Aharon ask for the Israelites to be released, but Pharaoh’s heart stiffens and he says no. The Nile turns to blood, and all the fish die; Pharaoh’s heart stiffens and he says no.

Frogs die in heaps in the fields, and Pharaoh is stubborn and says no. When the dust of the earth is transformed into lice, Pharaoh’s heart stiffens and he says no once again.

After the swarms of insects, Pharaoh gives the Israelites permission to go a short distance away in order to make offerings to God, and the plague is lifted…whereupon, you guessed it, Pharaoh’s heart becomes hard and he says no again.

The Egyptians’ cattle die, but Pharaoh remains stubborn. Then God tells Moshe and Aaron to cast soot from the kiln toward the Egyptians, and the soot turns into boils. This time, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh again says no.

When hail levels the crops, Pharaoh apologizes for his misdeeds. But when Moshe raises his hands and the hail ceases, Pharaoh’s heart once again stiffens, and he says no yet again. That’s where this week’s portion ends.

Every time I read this, the vindictiveness troubles me. On the Egyptian end of things, Pharaoh will not let himself see the Israelites’ anguish. Even when his own people are suffering in retribution, Pharaoh refuses to relent.

And on our end, we see a vision of God Who is pretty vindictive, too. God punishes the Egyptians not only for their misdeeds, but also for their leader’s unwillingness to hear the call of justice. And the one time in this parsha when Pharaoh does not harden his heart, God hardens his heart for him. What can we make of that?

The interpretation which works best for me is that Pharaoh accustomed his own heart to being hard. He made a habit of acting without regard for justice or for the needs of the oppressed. You know how, when children make ugly faces, parents sometimes say “be careful, your face might get stuck that way”? Pharaoh made his heart ugly, and it got stuck that way. He wore grooves of injustice and lack of compassion into his heart, and was then unable to change; God “hardened his heart.”

We might even replace the word “God” here with the notion of karma: because of all of Pharaoh’s prior actions, his own karma predisposed his heart to harden even when he didn’t take pains to harden it himself.

Reading this, we may justifiably feel a bit smug. The Israelites in this story are slavery’s innocent victims; nothing here is our fault.

And yet. Let me shift our focus.

Every year, from September until May, millions of tomatoes are harvested in Florida and shipped around the country. The workers who pick the tomatoes come from all over the world. But because of exemptions related to farmworkers in American labor law, farmworkers are paid by the pound, not by the hour. They are paid $0.50 for every 32 pound bucket of tomatoes they pick. (For the same quantity of tomatoes, we would pay almost $80 at Stop n’Shop.).

At those rates, many workers make well below the minimum wage, earning an average annual salary of about $10,000. This holds true regardless of whether workers are here legally or illegally. They face extreme pesticide exposure and unsafe working conditions. Meanwhile, cases of human trafficking and slavery are rampant.

I learned these things from Rabbis for Human Rights. Now, I don’t generally eat tomatoes between September and May. Living in northern Berkshire where fresh farm-grown tomatoes are so spectacular in season, I avoid them in winter because they don’t taste very good! But that doesn’t change the fact that these workers are laboring under terrible conditions, and I am sitting idly by.

We are not Pharaoh. We do not directly oppress. But in our country the least desirable jobs are done by those who have the most to lose. Often the poorest among us live in housing which is the most vulnerable — witness the devastation wrought on the Spruces trailer park and elder community last August when Irene blew through town, leaving most of our homes unscathed.

When Pharaoh and his people bitterly oppress the Israelites, they reap plagues — the equation is clear. The connection between wickness and punishment may not be so manifest in our world…but surely our indifference to the environment leads to storms of increasing ferocity, and to climate change which we will not be able to control. We may not believe in a God Who directly punishes the wicked, but it seems to me that we co-create our reality, and our choices are not always compassionate or just.

Twice a year we read the story of how God lifted the Israelites out of slavery and into freedom and covenant: first during these weeks of Torah readings, and later at Pesach. We learn that each of us must see herelf as though God had lifted her out of slavery. The children of Israel in this story are our ancestors — spiritually, if not in genetic terms.

But there’s nothing keeping us from being like Pharaoh, too. This week’s Torah portion calls us to take a hard look at our choices, at the ways in which we habitually harden our hearts against people who are not like us. Do our hearts begin to harden themselves against the poor, against people who practice a different religion than we do, against those who pick our tomatoes or scrub our floors? This parsha holds a warning.

This Shabbat, may we soften our hearts toward everyone we meet. May our actions, our emotions, our thoughts, and our spirits lead us not toward the inevitability of suffering, but into freedom and into relationship with the Most High.

I’ll close this d’var by reading the Torah poem for this portion which appears in 70 faces.

CHARGE (VA-ERA)

And God said to Moses: speak
to Pharaoh and tell him to send
the Israelites away. I will harden
the chambers of his heart
and he will not see the sign
of holiness upon your hand.

For him power is close at hand:
all he has to do is speak
and his people obey. By design
no one questions. To send
his workers away would take heart
he doesn’t have to spare. Harden

yourself against them; harden
your compassion. You are my hand
in the world; I’ll hold your heart
in safekeeping as you speak
truth to power, as you send
this nation into turmoil, a sign

of my disfavor. Bind me as a sign
upon your arm, learn to harden
your eyes, your speech. Send
locusts and lice, every hand
scratching in agony! Speak
to Pharaoh of freedom, your heart

bursting to serve. Brave heart,
take courage: I will be your sign.
My voice emerges when you speak.
For history’s sake I will harden
his hearing and stay his hand.
The world must know it is I who send

you on this errand, I who send
Israel out from here, every heart
yearning to be free. Hand by hand
you’ll build new signs
of my mercy, but first: harden
your tremulous voice, and speak.

Tell Pharaoh I send you as my sign.
His heart cannot help but harden.
My hand pulls your strings: now speak!

A friend’s synagogue was vandalized; here’s how we can help

Dear CBI members and friends,

Many of you may remember my friend rabbinic student David Markus, who has co-led services with me here before (last spring; this past November) and will do so again (February 25 and March 17 this spring.)

Along with Rabbi Shohama Wiener, David serves as associate spiritual leader of Temple Beth-El of City Island, “your shul by the sea” — which was vandalized last weekend just before Shabbat. The windows were smashed; precious silver (Torah crowns and kiddush cups) was stolen. I mentioned this on Facebook recently, and Pattie Lipman suggested that perhaps our community might be able to help their community — hence this message now.

Reb David and Reb Shohama offer some reflections on the burglary and its meaning. Here’s how their reflections begin:

At a recent gathering of rabbinical, cantorial and rabbinic pastor students, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi reminded that it’s okay to view a synagogue as a business — so long as we know what kind of business we’re in. Our business always must be to inspire, empower, comfort, heal, teach and serve in holy community — to uplift the world’s shards of brokenness into the light.

We returned from that gathering to shards of broken glass in our synagogue.

(Read the whole essay on David’s blog — it is powerful and meaningful.)

I am collecting donations, which I will send on to Temple Beth-El of City Island at the end of this week. (Here’s my post about that on my own blog: Passing the virtual hat for a vandalized shul.) If you would like to contribute even a few dollars toward the restoration of what was lost, and to lift the spirits of a community which is feeling battered and hurt, there are two ways you can do so. One is, you can send the money to me using PayPal — please send it to my “home” email address, rbarenblat (at) gmail (dot) com. Alternatively, you can make out a check to the CBI Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, and I will collect those donations and write a check to Temple Beth-El from that discretionary fund.

Our sages teach us that it is a mitzvah to give tzedakah just before Shabbat. One reason for this, of course, is that traditionally one would not carry money on Shabbat, and so there can be no financial support given on Shabbat itself; giving money before Shabbat is therefore a way of ensuring that one is not derelict in one’s obligation to help those in need. But another reason is that giving tzedakah primes one’s spiritual pump, as it were. When we give to those in need, we open our own spiritual channels through which blessing can flow, both into us and through us.

I know that these are tough financial times for many of us. But if you can spare a few bucks for TBE, I know they would appreciate the help — and the blessings which come with it. Thank you.

Take care,

Reb Rachel

An opportunity for holiness: driving for “Take and Eat”

Dear friends and members of Congregation Beth Israel,

The commandment most often-repeated in Torah is “love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Torah tells us repeatedly to care for the stranger, for the widow, and for the orphan — in other words those who have few resources of their own.

One of the ways in which our community engages in this mitzvah is through Take and Eat. One Sunday in each month, CBI members prepare and package meals for more than a hundred homebound seniors who would otherwise not have a hot meal that day — some of whom might not otherwise have a meal that day at all.

This is holy work. And equally holy is the task of serving as a driver, helping these meals reach their intended recipients.

Several of our Take and Eat drivers have recently stepped down from this work. We are short on drivers.

Please consider offering to serve as a driver for Take and Eat: either on a one-time basis, or periodically (twice a year? four times a year?), or monthly. The seniors who receive these meals are incredibly grateful for them, and often strike up happy conversations with those who deliver the food; this is a chance to bring sustenance both spiritual and material into the lives of those in need.

It’s a mitzvah, in the deepest sense of the word — not only a good deed which makes you feel nice, but also a commandment which connects us with Torah and with the Source of All. If you are willing to step up and take this on, please reach out to Ed Oshinsky who is coordinating the drivers from his winter residence in Maryland. (His contact information is in the synagogue directory; I don’t want to publish it online, but if you need it, drop me an email or give me a call at CBI.)

Thanks, and blessings to all,

Reb Rachel

Torah Study text for Shabbat Shemot January 14, 2012 / 19 Tevet, 5772

For Torah Study: The Sfat Emet on Shemot

Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger, known as the Sfat Emet (“Language of Truth”), was a Hasidic rabbi in the late 1800s. He served the community of Ger. He was one of the great lights of his generation. Here is a piece of his commentary on this week’s Torah portion, translated by R’ Arthur Green.

“In a flame of fire from the midst of that bush.” (Ex. 3:2) The Midrash says that this is to show [that] “there is no place devoid of the divine presence—not even a thornbush.” This is the purpose of exile: that Israel make visible His kingdom, which is indeed everywhere. The true meaning of the word galut (exile) is hitgalut (revelation), that the glory of God’s kingdom be revealed in every place. This task is completed by the souls of Israel in this world, as the Midrash says in the verse “I am asleep but my heart wakes. The sound of my beloved knocking: ‘Open for me!’” (Song of Songs 5:2)

The Blessed Holy One has chosen us and given us the Torah. Torah is beyond time; just as for the Holy one, past and future are all one. In that case, the choosing of Israel and their attachment to God that happened when Torah was given were already revealed to God “beforehand” as well. This powerful attachment to Torah—even though it was still hidden and unrealized by Israel—was still “the sound of my beloved knocking: ‘Open for me!’” calling them to make this attachment real by opening “as wide as the eye of a needle.”

Holiness can be revealed in this world only through the opening that Israel make. When we said: “We shall do and we shall listen” (Ex. 24:7), we were making real the light of Torah, to which we were already attached somewhere deep within ourselves. Now that we have accepted the Torah, this is even clearer. The sound of Torah pounds in Israel’s hearts. Even though exile hides it, we need only long that it be revealed. Thus it was in the galut (exile) of Egypt that “the Holy One nigleh (was revealed) upon them and redeemed them.” [—Haggadah.]

It is out of this that Scripture says: “As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show you wonders.” (Micah 7:15)

The pounding of my own heart,
the sound of Torah
the voice of my Beloved –
Help me to learn again that they are all one voice! –Rabbi Arthur Green

Questions for consideration:
What is the Sfat Emet saying about the true purpose of exile?

What do you make of the idea that the souls of Israel are able to reveal God’s presence in the world? Is this our ability alone?

Who is the beloved knocking?

The Sfat Emet is making a pun on galut (exile) and galui (revealed.)  What might be revealed to us in our exile?

How are we in exile now? And how does the Sfat Emet think we can end that exile? (Hint: it has to do with yearning.)

What does this teaching from the Sfat Emet offer us, as a way of relating anew to the story of the bush which burned but was not consumed?

D’var Torah for parashat Shemot

In this week’s Torah portion we re-enter one of my favorite stories, and one of the deepest stories, about Moshe Rabbenu, our teacher Moses. It is also, I believe, a story about each of us.

Moshe is tending sheep in the wilderness when something remarkable happens. An angel of God appears to Moshe in the midst of a burning bush.

According to the late 13th century Kabbalist Bachya ben Asher, there’s a process here of opening of awareness. Moses first sees a bush, then he sees that it’s on fire, then he sees that it’s not consumed. He’s really looking at what’s there — not just filling in the blanks of what he expects to see, which is the way most of us see things most of the time. Moshe, though: he looks deeper into the bush which burns, and then he’s able to hear the voice of God.

Take off your shoes, God tells Moshe — the Torah tells us — for you stand on holy ground. In the Hasidic understanding, this isn’t a literal instruction about footwear so much as an instruction about removing whatever impediments are keeping us from encountering holiness. Remove your habitual ways of seeing so that you can witness the miracle before your eyes. Remove whatever is keeping you distant from God.

This is going to sound like a digression, but I promise you it isn’t. Every morning, in the blessings for the miracles of each day, we say the blessing Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha’olam, poke’ach ivrim — Blessed are You, Adonai, who opens the eyes of the blind. And then later, we say Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha’olam, ha-mevir shena m’einai u’tnumah me-afapai — who removes sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids.

Why, the sages ask, do we bless God Who opens our eyes and only afterward bless God Who removes sleep from our eyes and slumber from our eyelids? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? And our sages answer: it’s because falling asleep can always happen. And waking, too. The film that covers our eyes — sometimes we’re not even aware that it’s there. This isn’t, in other words, about literal sleep or literal blindness.

Moshe looks at the burning bush and he sees that it’s a miracle because his eyes are truly open. We, too, stand in front of the burning bush. It still burns. It’s up to us to practice opening our eyes, on every level, so that we can see all of the miracles which are right in front of us. So often, we go through our days spiritually asleep: our eyes may be open, but we’re so caught up in our anxieties or frustrations or distractions that we don’t notice God’s fire right in front of us.

At the bush, Moshe says: You’re giving me a mission, but who shall I say sent me? And God says, tell them that you were sent by the God of your ancestors; tell them that Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh sent you.

Many of you know that the Tetragrammaton, the Name of God which we can spell but not pronounce — Yud / Heh / Vav / Heh — is often understood as a mysterious form of the Hebrew verb “to be.” It seems to mean something like Was and Is and Will Be, all at the same time. And sure enough, God’s name here is given as Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, I Am Becoming What I Am Becoming. God says, tell them that I Who Am Becoming sent you.

We are made in the divine image. Like God, we are always becoming. And we don’t know who we will become. In Stanley Kunitz’s words, in his beautiful poem The Layers:

Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.

The fact that we are always changing is part of what makes us like God. God isn’t static, unchanging, always the same. On the contrary — God is constant transformation. God is the force for transformation in our lives.

An invitation. To notice the miracles around you. To notice the bush as it still burns on. To remove whatever stands in the way of your encounter with God. To remember that, like God, we are always becoming — and like Moshe, we are always confronted with radical new possibilities, if only we will open our eyes.

Save the Date: the New Year of the Trees is coming!

Birch tree in autumn.

Dear friends and members of CBI,

The moon of Tevet is waning now. When next we see the full moon, it will be the full moon of Shvat, which rises on Tu BiShvat, the New Year of the Trees. Tu BiShvat is 3 weeks (and a few days) away — hence this Save the Date notice.

Tu BiShvat is the (observed) birthday of every tree; it’s the date when our tradition says the sap begins to rise again for the coming year. (Perhaps the sages of old had some mystical insight into the New England pastime of sugaring?) This year we’ll celebrate Tu BiShvat at CBI at three different events, each geared toward a different age group.

On Sunday February 5, the Hand in Hand families will celebrate Tu BiShvat with an age-appropriate simple seder of fruits, nuts, juices, and songs.

On Wednesday February 8 (Tu BiShvat itself), we’ll hold a potluck Tu BiShvat seder for adults and teens which will feature the aforementioned symbolic fruits and juices as well as some teachings from kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), some teachings from the Jewish environmental tradition, some contemporary poetry, and some wonderful conversation. Bring a vegetarian/dairy potluck dish to share, as after we’ve eaten the fruits and nuts which are part of the symbolic journey of Tu BiShvat, we’ll enjoy a festive meal.

And on Sunday February 12, the Avodah kids (grades 1-4) and their parents will join Reb Rachel for their own age-appropriate seder and celebration.

This is a wonderful and sweet festival which connects us not only with Jewish mystical teachings about trees and God, but also with the progression of the seasons. (Tu BiShvat is exactly one month before Purim and two months before Pesach — in some ways, despite the snow and ice, this is our first hint that spring will someday come.)

Please save the date for our Tu BiShvat seder — whichever one seems most appropriate to you and your family. And if you’re coming to the Wednesday evening adult/teen seder, please RSVP so we have some idea of how many people to expect.

Wishing you every blessing as we move through winter and toward the promise of spring!

(And Shabbat shalom! I hope to see you at CBI tomorrow morning for prayer, song, and joy.)

Take care,

Reb Rachel

Five upcoming “special services” at CBI

Dear members and friends of CBI,

Many of you have spoken with me about the things you do and don’t enjoy about our “usual” Shabbat morning service, and also about the desire to do something a bit different from time to time.

I’m writing to let you know that I am planning one “special service” — one service which does something a little bit different from our usual mode of prayer — during each month of this winter and spring.

On January 21, I will lead a service which leavens the words of our siddur with contemporary poetry — not the poems which appear in Mishkan T’filah, but diverse beloved poems from my own deep bookshelves.

On February 25, we’ll have a special guest; I will once again be leading davenen (prayer / services) with my friend rabbinic student David Markus. Edited to add: Alas, David can’t join us this month — but we’ll see him in March! David will me also on March 17. We’ll bring new music, harmonies, Torah teachings, and joy to both of these services. (He’s led with me at CBI before — most recently in mid-November.)

On April 28, I will lead a contemplative service, a chant-based service featuring a stripped-down liturgy of short chants interspersed with meditative silence which will allow the meanings of the prayers to settle deeply in our hearts. (This will be similar, though not identical, to the contemplative chant-based service I led in early November; we will pray with many of the same melodies we used then.)

On May 5, I will lead our first ever Rumi Shabbat — a morning service in which each prayer of the morning service is paired with a poem by Persian mystic poet Rumi, so that the Rumi poems illuminate our prayers in new ways.

I always look forward to seeing you at CBI (and I know that the same is true of R’ Howard Cohen and R’ Pam Wax, our other usual shlichei tzibbur / prayer-leaders) — and I especially hope that one or more of these special services will appeal to you.

Your thoughts, questions, and comments are always welcome!

Reb Rachel to be ordained as a Spiritual Director

On Saturday, January 7, Rabbi Rachel will receive a second smicha / ordination, as a Mashpi’ah Ruchanit, or Jewish Spiritual Director.

A spiritual director or mashpi’ah is someone who offers guidance and teaching on matters of Jewish faith and practice, and on a personal relationship with the Divine. Reb Rachel’s ordination as a Mashpi’ah / Spiritual Director is the culmination of three years of study in the ALEPH Hashpa’ah Program, the first and only ordination program for Jewish spiritual directors.

The requirements of the training program include four intensive classes (learning done in-person on retreat), three semesters of teleconference coursework, four semesters of supervised practice with individuals and groups, and supplemental learning in related areas. Participants train individually and in group settings with mashpi’im (ordained spiritual directors) who support their spiritual growth in relationship to God and sacred service, and who model for them diverse modalities of spiritual counseling and spiritual direction.

The curriculum integrates the sacred arts of spiritual and pastoral counseling; personal, intercessory and communal prayer and ritual; the art of the maggid (story teller); spiritual approaches to Torah and mitzvot; personal and communal ethical development/mussar; working with elders on their journey of “sage-ing;” and other areas of learning.

As part of her training, Reb Rachel has offered individual and group spiritual direction within the CBI community; this fall she led a Sage-ing group, which was wildly successful and which she hopes will reconvene in the spring.

Reb Rachel will be ordained as a Mashpi’ah / Spiritual Director along with sixteen of her ALEPH colleagues. The ordination ceremony will take place on Saturday evening after havdalah at the OMNI hotel in Broomfield, Colorado; the following day will be the annual ALEPH ordination ceremony for new rabbis, rabbinic pastors, and cantors.

After this ordination, Reb Rachel will stay in Colorado for three more days for the annual conference of OHALAH, the alliance of clergy affiliated with Jewish Renewal; this year she was honored to be part of the planning committee for the OHALAH conference, and will also have the pleasure of co-leading prayer there on the final morning of the conference, preparing her teachers and colleagues for their journey home with spirit and joy.

If you’re interested in learning more about spiritual direction, and perhaps entering into a hashpa’ah experience for yourself, let Reb Rachel know.

Collecting food, personal items, and donations before MLK Day

Our community is joining together with other faith-communities in Northern Berkshire in gathering canned goods, personal items (shampoo etc), and donations of money to benefit the local food pantries and to help those in need with the costs of fuel this winter. Here is some information about the drive:

The Martin Luther King Committee is seeking donations to benefit the local Northern Berkshire food pantries and/or fuel assistance for Northern Berkshire families through Community Action (BCAC). We are asking you to bring into your church/Synagogue any of the following items:

• Cans (redeemable – soda, etc.), which we will redeem and donate the cash to the food pantries and BCAC for fuel assistance.
• Canned goods (food)
• Personal items (shampoo, toilet paper, deodorant, etc.).

We will also accept checks written out to the Martin Luther King Committee, C/O The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, 61 Main Street, Suite 218, North Adams, MA  01247. Please specify food pantry or fuel assistance if you have a preference for the funds. 

When you enter CBI, you’ll see that there is a box in our entry foyer which is designated for these donations. Please donate canned goods, personal items, and/or funds as you are able.

On January 16th, Martin Luther King Day, there will be a “Day of Service” which will take place at St. Elizabeth’s of Hungary.  Beginning at 9am, community members will join in working on one of a dozen or more service projects, followed by a free community meal and celebration. If you are interested in lending your time and energy on that day, I know the MLK Committee would be delighted to have you — and I feel certain that this will be a meaningful way to give back to the community and to honor the memory of a great civil rights leader.

When Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, of blessed memory, marched for civil rights in Selma with Dr. Martin Luther King, he wrote that his “feet were praying.” May we all find opportunities to pray with our feet, our hands, and our work in the world.