It's happening! Beineinu - "between us" - we created High Holy Days that were energizing, filled with meaning and joy. Thank you for putting your whole self in! That was the beginning. We have an exciting calendar filled with Shabbat and holiday celebrations, justice work and simply social opportunities for everyone.
Be part of building your community. Most importantly, come! Join us often. Tell your friends and bring them with you. Share your questions and ideas. Volunteer to host a gathering in your home. Underwrite a program or support our general operations. Contact Rabbi Laurie for details. Contributions can be made on our website via paypal or by check.
We look forward to an amazing year ahead "Beineinu".
B'vracha (in blessing),
Laurie and Daphna
Torah! Torah! Torah!
I woke up on Wednesday morning at my usual time. That's whenever Daisy decides she needs to go outside. (Are you practicing vulnerability? Daisy wants to know). We start making our way through the kitchen towards the backyard. One of the perks of living in Harlem. I am not paying attention. I have done this morning ritual over 300 times (October 26th will be a year). The outside light turns on and it catches me by surprise. It's motion sensitive and turns on when we step outside. I look up and I cannot believe what I am seeing. I cannot believe what has happened, has actually happened. Apparently the winds and rains from Tuesday night were so harsh that our entire Sukkah had fallen down. The entire structure collapsed.
The only other time this happened was when I was four years old. We had just moved into our new home, in Michigan, and my dad built our Sukkah on the driveway. It didn't take much to topple this structure. No rain or wind. I think we might have been breathing nearby. My abba, and our whole family built many amazing, beautiful and strong Sukkot over the next two decades.
Back to now. I am staring out the window and I don't know how to react. I have never seen anything like this. The Sukkah is down. We walk outside and I still cannot fully absorb what has happened. The Sukkah seems to have fallen as tenderly as a standing deck of cards. The sides must have fallen first and then the roof somehow made its way to the ground slowly and gently, still fully in tact. The corn stalks we used for the "schach"/roof (say that 10 times fast) didn't budge. It almost looked like it was taking a nap.
I start to panic. "Tonight is the 'Sukkah Stop'. People are coming over to sit in the Sukkah, to bless/shake the lulav/etrog." My panic level rises. "What am I going to do?" I would like to say that my initial reaction was as graceful as the Sukkah's falling. But, I must be honest. It wasn't. After a few minutes thought I realized that I was not staring at a collapsed Sukkah (Ok. I was staring at a collapsed Sukkah.) I was face to face with the true teaching of Sukkot; it's all fragile. The Sukkah, lying there, unable to fulfill it's responsibilities, embodied the deepest layer of the holiday. Life, love, relationships, faith, they are all fragile.
We must nurture and nourish these pieces in our lives and honor the moments when they feel fully realized. We must express gratitude, demonstrating our understanding that these are not "givens" but rather precious gifts. It's all fragile.
5:00 o'clock came and so did people. We sat indoors with a grand view of the fallen Sukkah. We blessed the lulav and etrog. We felt grateful.
On Yom Kippur, I spoke about the need for a global response to kindness. This was in response to a sports commentator I heard a few nights before while watching a Mets Yankees game. There was a lot of discussion around how many innings the Mets pitcher, Matt Harvey could play, having had the surgery several months before. The commentator was promoting the need for a "global response" to research around the effects and aftermath of the Dr. Frank Jobe surgery, known to all as the Tommy John surgery.
Really? Really? A global response? Really? The entire world should put effort, energy and resources into studying the long term effects of this surgery? Really?
I would support advocating for, even demanding a global response to hunger, to poverty, to the refugee crisis, to violence. There are too many to list.
In an effort to focus my energy on what I can control, I am calling for a global response to kindness. In the face of all that is fragile and all that is out of our control, let's take charge of kindness. Let's commit to (at least) one intentional act of kindness a day towards those we know and at least one intentional act of kindness towards the "other", the stranger, the one we don't know and/or might not want to know.
Mekor Ha'Chayiim, as we make our way into Shabbat Sukkot, may we be mindful of the fragile pieces in our lives. May we use this knowledge to nurture ourselves, our relationships and our faith. May all of this lead to greater kindness.
Check in with yourself. Which "kivuun"(direction) are you heading towards? Are you steering towards not needing to be right? Are you steering towards compassion? Are you steering towards peace?
Shabbat shalom u'mevorach - May Shabbat be blessed with wholeness and peace,
Laurie
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