Spiritual Life

This Hebrew month is a time for exploring the themes of the high holiday season and preparing ourselves for their impact on us.  We begin to recite the poetry of the holy days. We hear the shofar at dawn each day. We soften the ground so the work of the season can penetrate us.

We are facing the equinox – when day and night are even and the scale tips towards the darkness of the planetary night, winter. We are older. The light is fading and the plants are withdrawing into dormancy.

It’s been a hard year.  We’ve adapted and we have felt depleted.  We’ve protested, we’ve learned, we’ve voted. And the justice we seek is still arriving, still shy of the horizon. The T-shirt that says it all for my age group claims: “I can’t believe I’m still protesting this stuff!” Our young families are trying to help their children thrive in an incredibly challenging environment. Most of the social supports (schools, in-house helpers, family) are constrained or unavailable. God bless them! And all of us in between are trying to thrive, to connect, to make a meaningful life amidst layer after layer of challenge. It’s been a hard year.

In our tradition, one answer to the question “How are you doing?” is: “Baruch HaShem Yom Yom;” roughly “The blessing comes day by day.” And this is true! Each day, I look for partnership in doing good works. Each day, I work in my garden and tend my hens. Each day, I look for the sparks of joy that arise from a task completed or a new appreciation or a renewed connection with a friend. This is always how it us – whatever our age and stage. Whatever kind of year it’s been.  If we are healthy or ill: Baruch HaShem Yom Yom.

Even the hard moments. Baruch HaShem that we care enough about creation to be stunned by climate change and ready to work for healing.  Baruch HaShem that we have a human heart that beats with empathy for the injustices we know so much about and have so limited a capacity to relieve. Baruch HaShem that we are not alone.

I look forward to being with you during the Yamim HaNorah-eem, as we say, The Days of Awe, The Days of Being Awestruck. Shana tova to you and yours. A good year. May we find comfort, joy and meaning in the sparks of each day.

Hi Friends. We all affiliate with different aspects of our Jewish community life. I want to describe a week in the life of the temple so you can see what our various teams are up to.Marsha and Norm are busy getting ready for our annual tag sale – with their wonderful team: Jean C, Ellen & Marc K, Wendy Iseman, Barbara Levy, Liz Kelner, Lenore Styler. Lots of great items were donated and proceeds will be shared between the temple and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. HIAS has been in support of refugees and immigrants for 100 years.Terry Plotkin worked with Buckley Health Center to get our services broadcast to Jewish and any other interested residents there. Denise Vassar, who brings a variety of social services and activities to residents, has been very devoted about this. Residents currently attend our Tuesday AM shacharit service and our Shabbat morning services as well. Thank you, Terry, for this good mitzvah.We are happy for all the grandparents and families that have been able to visit each other now that more of us are vaccinated. What a joy and a relief.A wonderful team comes together to beautify our home throughout the growing season. Last week, Nancee Bershof convened Paul Bloomberg (aptly named!), Marc Kaufmann, and yours truly. We trimmed bushes, weeded, worked up the materials into a compost area, etc. Nancee donated tons of beautiful marigolds and a small team waters the plants as needed. Eight new families have joined Temple Israel this past year. We are so excited to be creating outdoor events, zoom presentations and shabbat gatherings with them. Due to the generosity of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, we were able to add Alyssa Bauer to our Roots & Branches team. Alyssa is a young mom herself and is a great barometer for what will engage, serve and excite these new families. Stay tuned for future announcements about summer gatherings for this group.We are continuing to strengthen our musical and audio-video broadcast capacity. A few musicians, singers and tech trainees are planning to meet starting this spring to work with our equipment and sanctuary space to create and broadcast harmonious services in a covid safe way. Three of our teens are in the tech training group!Speaking of covid, we are activating an advisory group to plan for hybrid – including some face to face gatherings – for the summer and fall. Thanks in advance to those who will dedicate their time and skills to this assessment.A group dedicated to poetry has started to meet and we have some very talented writers and readers in our community. Look for announcements in your weekly emails to join us approximately quarterly.It is a privilege to co-create this life affirming work with you all.

Dear Ones,We continue to totter between hope and concern, weariness and resolve. Hope and spring come closer every day. More and more of us are relieved to be facing our covid vaccinations. The moment calls for an intention of gratrefulness. In gratitude for the human curiosity and creativity that brought us this medicine and in awe of the vast, complex and elegant creation itself, humbled by our capacity to effect global impacts and mindful of our responsibility to guard creation, you may wish to recite the following (or intend your own grateful words)b’Baruch Atah Yah, rofay chol basar oo-maMee la-asot. Blessed are You GREAT HEALER, who heals all Flesh and performs wonders.

We have faced 4 hard years. I try to stay in my boat of activism, connection and hope. But sometimes I find myself tipped over into the stormy waters of despair, fear and loneliness. Our tradition offers us powerful tools for resilience. Our daily prayer practices center love, hope and unity. Our calendar posts times to celebrate together and literally practice the simple skill of resting, disengaging from worldly concerns. At Temple Israel Greenfield, we have continued to gather to play and pray and study and learn and create. For myself and I hope for you, our programs have helped me stay in my boat and strengthen my keel.Six and a half years ago, when I came to Greenfield, there were myriad opportunities. “Opportunities” is a nice way of saying “we were in need of a fresh start.” Some relationships and trust had been broken. There was a need to focus on our core mission and a transparent process. The folks who helped TIG bridge from those challenging times to some new starts did so out of love of community, love of tradition and a commitment to Jewish life in Franklin. They were foresighted and stalwart. This team uncovered the problems, recovered a right orientation and helped us begin to discover a path forward.The members who weathered that transition have all my respect and most continue to contribute to vibrant temple life in many ways. Since then, some of you reading this now tip-toed into my office saying:’I want to know more about my Judaism.””I want to help build something here””It’s time for me to find out what Judaism means to me””It’s time for me to learn more.”Some of the folks who tiptoed in were facing personal barriers to come and explore. Perhaps they had felt left out in the past or too uneducated. Perhaps they had (or have!) deep doubts about God. But something compelled them forward. And many of those who tiptoed in are now learning, playing and creating with TIG. Some of them/you are leading programs. For this I am so grateful. The newcomers are of all ages and diverse identities. Welcome, welcome all.I am proud to say at this calendar turn of Tu B’shevat, the Birthday of Trees, we are adding a new layer of growth to our Temple Israel tree, a new link in the chain from past to future. Thank you for bringing your gifts and concerns to TIG.

Thank You- Rabbi Hillel November 28, 2020Guest Blogger Shirin Morris”If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?” Rabbi Hillel (circ. 110 BCE)These words have been rumbling around in my mind recently. Ancient words but their wisdom is as important today as they ever were. How can we not see that we are all connected? This pandemic seems the gift that keeps on giving. It refuses to be ignored even if we try hard to deny it, to pretend that it doesn’t exist and doesn’t matter. We are like the little boy deep in the forest who closes his eyes to escape a tiger only to find that when he opens his eyes, yikes!, it’s still there. I hear the wind whistling in the trees as I often do. It’s the season for listening. Where are we heading and is that where we want to go? Or are we just going, going, going to avoid standing still because when we stop and listen we don’t like what we hear? I only have questions and no answers. It seems that the only thing to do is to stay still and just listen. This show has been cancelled. Our favorite one, the one where we all get together and cook and eat a feast and then wash the dishes for days after. I forgot the part where we clean the house, even under the beds and set the table and play charades or dictionary and laugh until our stomachs hurt especially at Uncle Vic who doesn’t quite seem to get it. But the years go by, Uncle Vic is long gone and this year the dust will continue to collect under the beds because this show has been cancelled. This show has been cancelled and instead we dream of dystopia. I wish it was a dream. I have been pinching myself but I can’t seem to wake up. Where is everyone? Now they appear on a screen in little boxes and we can only imagine the feeling of touch. If I am not for myself, who will be for me? Don’t be so selfish, my mother used to say. But why not? I am you and you are me and we are all together. Is it a mirage or a vision? If I am only for myself, what am I? What am I? Something solid and yet not, more space than matter, blood and bones and skin, air, fire, water and earth. That’s the ground beneath our feet. If I am only for myself; the oceans rise, fill with plastic and wash away cities, the fire burns trees, flowers, buildings, cars and everything in its path as it rushes towards the sea. The earth quakes and the wind blows over ancient forests and shouts – Wake up, Wake up, Wake up! If not now, when? Shirin Morris, November 2020