Build It And They Will Come

The story of Noah and the ark has something for everyone: there are cute animals for the little ones, a lesson in architecture for older readers, and some bawdy details for adults …. as well as a couple of serious issues of respect for one’s elders and by way of midrash, respect for the earth.

However, it’s those cute animals or the rainbow that most often become the focus. Pass a preschool classroom and you might hear a chorus of bass and moos when Noah is introduced or children drawing brightly colored rainbows. Continue reading

The Season of Our Rejoicing

How time flies! It’s Sukkot again. And why should I be surprised? We just celebrated the High Holidays. Turn, Turn, Turn…the seasons come and go.

While Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur reading for both adults and kids has a decidedly solemn bent, there’s mostly pure joy in the Sukkot and Simhat Torah books.

We rejoice in the bounty of the land and the natural beauty of the land and sky; we revel in the holy words of the Torah.

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MESH Report Sept 24, 2024

 

Chef Aileen Grossberg planned an easy to prepare meal with minimum prep and cooking time. Sous chefs Alex Kent, Lynne Kurzweil , Carole Rothman and new volunteer Julie Weinstein were totally up to the tasks of cutting tomatoes and lettuce, roasting corn, doling out chili sauce and preparing the other parts of the meal until——the ovens wouldn’t work. No gas to the burners.

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Reflections on This Time of Year

The poet, T.S. Eliot, wrote that April is the cruelest month, a quote often taken out of context.

But I think that in the cycle of the year, September may be the cruelest month. Although it is a month of beginning for those who never seem to shake the shackles of a school schedule, it often coincides with Tishrei which marks the beginning of our religious year, and is beautiful with full greening of the trees and bursts of color from the dahlias, marigolds and mums, the month is the last gasp before the slow decline to winter. Continue reading

MESH Update

MESH volunteers will be happy to hear that Joe Tyson is back working at MESH at the Bloomfield Avenue site. Volunteers who drop off Shomrei’s prepared meals will undoubtedly be greeted by one of MESH’s Joes – Tyson or Granger.

Though it’s been summer and we have not been preparing meals in the Shomrei kitchen, MESH has been the beneficiary of our excess food at kiddushes. The need for food has not decreased. MESH feeds upwards of 75 people 6 nights a week. Continue reading

Not By Brains Alone

Through the ages, Jews have established a reputation as being brainy. Look at the Nobel Prize winners; Jews are overrepresented as a group.

BUT Jews have accomplished great feats in athletics, too. Just look at all the Jews involved in modern professional and amateur sports today – Jews who don’t feel the need to hide their Jewishness, be it religious or cultural. Continue reading

Kudos to the Lampert Library

At the 59th annual conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries held in San Diego this week, the Alan Lampert Memorial Library of Congregation Shomrei Emunah received accreditation from the SSCPL division of the Association. Accreditation means that the library has done a self-study and meets the Association’s standard for an effective library. Continue reading