From the Rabbi’s Desk

We had a wonderful Shabbat morning service this week. Two people were called to Torah – one for the first time, and one for the first time since her daughter’s Bat Mitzvah in 1997! Kol haKavod to George Haniotis, moved here (we hope to stay) from Quebec, and to Cathy Basskin, visiting from Calgary.More

Shabbat HaGadol is traditionally a morning when the rabbi addresses the congregation with an often lengthy discourse about the mitzvoth applying to preparation for Pesach – how to rid one’s home of Chametz, preparation and koshering of kitchen, stove, fridge, counters, burning of Chametz and planning of Seder.More

The weeks before Purim and Pesach are weeks of planning and dedicated eating – eating as much of the chametz in our homes as we can, prior to Pesach. The pasta, the bulghur, the cookies, (so much baking as we use up the flour), checking our pantries for what must be eaten or sold before that first night.More

So much going on at this time of year – Purim/Pesach/Shavuot – we do love celebrating springtime, don’t we?

And now we are also celebrating our return twice a month to being in a room with each other for services. We hope to see you soon – April 1^st is our first Kabbalat Shabbat service and then April 9^th our first Shabbat morning service.

And our Seder will also be in person – but  with a twist. We are honouring our own heritage of our families having to flee our homes – not just from Mitzrayim, but often much more recently with pogroms decimating Jewish villages throughout the Pale of Settlement, in the Ukraine and Russia. And we can never forget the massive uprooting and decimation of our families homes during the Shoah. 

Mah nishtana ha Laila hazeh? Why is this night different from all other nights?

This year we are not serving a festive meal. We are asking you to join us, to be together, in person. But instead of a four-course dinner, we will eat matzah, dry as fear in our throats. We will eat chrain, the bitterness of horseradish bringing tears to our eyes. And we will eat charoset, a reminder of that mortar that binds us to our past, but that also brings the sweetness of memories forward on our tongues.

We will have our four cups of wine, and we will dip a little parsley in salted water. This will be our Seder: a Seder where we reflect on what it might mean to flee in the night, to not be able to feed our children, to not know where we might sleep. Come and join us on First Night, April 15^th, at the JCC.

With love, with hope,
Rabbi Lynn

It has been quite a week. Meeting new members, hearing of a young boy needing emergency surgery and then put on life support, another boy needing surgery, a dear friends daughter died, another friend’s mother died, I met with two young couples getting married this summer, some people needed an ear as they contemplated life changes.  And, as you do, our members have stepped up with food, and most importantly with compassion and offers of help. Thank you all.

This week as we open up the Book of Vayikra, we notice one of those anomalies in Torah that fascinate us. The aleph katan, the little aleph.

The word aleph means “to teach” implying we should all allow ourselves to be humble in our learning, throughout our lives. The greatest teacher in our midst, Moshe Rabbeinu, was known to be the most humble of men that ever lived. Any of us that have taken on learning as adults know how challenging – and humbling – it is to learn new and difficult material. Wrapping our tongues around new sounds, learning to lead prayers in Hebrew, struggling with new concepts is humbling to the core. Perhaps this is why Judaism demands we always be learning, always challenging ourselves; we should know to be humble in the face of all there is to learn and know. May this little aleph sustain us all as we help each other learn and grow in our wonderful Kolot Mayim community, no matter what challenges we face.

With great love,

Rabbi Lynn