From the Rabbi’s Desk

This is a very particular and special week in our calendar. The Yamim – or more colloquially, the Yoms. Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut. Days of memory, memorializing and a day of celebration with Israel on Yom HaAtzmaut.

And then this coming Shabbat will also be special as we have two young women coming to spend both Friday evening and Shabbat morning with us – please bring your questions, your thoughtfulness, your gratitude and join with us as we welcome Yuval and Lihi to Victoria.More

Pesach is over, but is it? We have another opportunity in our tradition, Pesach Sheini, for those who could not sit with family and friends at Seder. May this be the year that the hostages are finally home, and can say with their loved ones, Vehi sheamda.

This year Pesach Sheini will be observed on May 12, 14 Iyar. Even if we observed Pesach, we try to eat matzah on this day. This day is our ‘second chance’ – that foundational second chance that teshuvah is built upon, that our relationships with each other depend upon. So please save some of your matzah for May 12. To read more see: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-is-second-passover-pesach-sheni/More

Chag Pesach sameach, everyone – we had just a wonderful Seder. Thank you to all the souls who helped set up, put away, sweep the floor, sing, play music, prepare charoset – so much help, but best of all was being together, meeting new people, sharing and renewing friendships, and food.

Marilyn sent me a very funny video – a faith-off, with Jon Stewart. https://youtu.be/VoRmd6lMREE?si=qRZxBcgSBHDUl6C6 It was very funny and also got me thinking. Much of the symbolism throughout our Seder does focus on the travails of being in Mitzrayim, in those places of narrow confinement. Matzah is the bread of affliction as well as the bread of redemption, our freedom.

I want us to each also focus on that aspect of redemption over these coming few days of Pesach. What are we seeking, what are we working towards that will enable us to recognize the open doors, those windows of opportunity? When we meet someone how might we bring them in, include them, even in conversation? Our little kehillah holds a special place in Victoria. I am proud to be part of Kolot Mayim, may all our voices come together in harmony, and in health.

Wishing all long life, healthy life, a good life,
With deep love,
Rabbi Lynn

Over these past weeks several members of Kolot Mayim have died. I want to make mention of both Caroline Hergt and Sheila Greenberg.

Caroline and her family were founding members of Kolot Mayim – her three children – Quintin, Gabby and Sheldon grew up in our kehillah. The Hergt family donated the breastplate of our Torah – something I only discovered a few years back. We may remember Martin bringing his accordion to a service, or Caroline’s ‘lettuce’ hat, or her walking with Gabby straight into the waters during taschlich last fall – we have our own memories of a woman who personified love of family and love of Judaism.

Sheila is less well-known to many members as she had physical incapacities that precluded her attendance at services. Originally from Edmonton, Sheila moved to Victoria, and shared her home here with Todd. In speaking with her daughter Natalie and Todd, I discovered Sheila read my “From the Rabbi’s Desk’ religiously as it were. (I often wonder if anyone reads my words so that was most gratifying to hear)! Sheila was a wonderfully bright, engaged and extremely well-organized woman, who looked at her life with a straightforward and direct eye. Even in hospital, as we spoke about how to best plan for that death that will come to us all, she told me “Be blunt, be honest”, with a genuine and open smile.

It has been my honour to know both women. We send our condolences to both families.

Wishing all long life, healthy life, a good life,

With deep love,
Rabbi Lynn

Ki Tissa is such a monumental parashah. We read about the stone Tablets inscribed by the finger of God, the Golden Calf, the shattering of those tablets, and then God instructs Moses – “Carve for yourself two stone Tablets like the first ones, and I shall inscribe on the Tablets the words that were on the first Tablets, which you shattered.” And there is more…

As I read these words, I think about how Judaism asks much of each of us. We make our decisions. Here in one monumental sentence, God is asking not just Moses, but, in my interpretation, each of us to carve these words, on the Tablets of our hearts. God knows we will shatter those words. But in that shattering comes that most important aspect of who we are as Jews – agency, ownership, obligation. We carve our relationships with God and with each other on our hearts through our intentions and our actions.  

One sentence, packed with so much meaning.

Wishing all long life, healthy life, a good life,

With deep love,
Rabbi Lynn

This week we read Tetzaveh, command. We read, again in great deal, the garments commanded to be worn by the Kohanim, the Priests. These garments resonate particularly with members of the Chevrah Kadisha, as the garments worn by the dead are called by the same names as these priestly garments.  More

Shavua tov, a good week, everyone. This past Sunday evening many people, Jews and allies, stood together downtown in a light-filled vigil to honour the Bibas family and all hostages who are coming home to Israel, alive and dead. These are very challenging days as unimaginable horrors are visited upon Israel. We stand not just in vigil, but I hope, in the purpose of our covenant – to bring light into this world.More

I have such an interesting life; I spent Sunday morning learning with three women who want to learn how to leyn (chant) Torah, so we discussed conjunctives and disjunctives, the role of the meteg, and punctuation. This was followed by meeting with a new family and their daughter who is considering learning for her Bat Mitzvah. As I type these words, I am listening to a rehearsal of a play that involves mention of a rabbi, and every time I hear the word rabbi stated so vociferously, I jump! Meanwhile texts arrive about funerals and sadness, about minyan and banana bread, about the stuff of life and death.More

As I write this, I have the blessing of knowing Jack Shalinsky in my heart. A long-time member of Kolot Mayim, Jack and Sharon both were so committed to our shul, to the larger Victoria Jewish community and especially, with great heart, to Israel. As you will know by now, Jack died in the early morning of Shabbat, February 1^st. We will bury him Tuesday. His memory is truly a blessing for us all.

Wishing all long life, healthy life, a good life,

With deep love,
Rabbi Lynn

The entrance to the JCC along Shelbourne will be blocked for some time to come. Somehow it seems fitting that the planners for Saanich decided that Shabbat Bo was the week the entrance to our kehillah would be blocked.

In Bo we continue to encounter the hard heart of Pharaoh, his blocking the departure of the Israelites, his arrogance, his intransigence affronted by this demand from Moses to “Let my people go.” As the hostages in Gaza continue to trickle back to Israel we continue this refrain, “Let my people go.”More