Dear Kol Rinah Family,
First, stop what you’re doing right now and vote in the World Zionist Congress elections. Click HERE to cast your vote now. You can vote for any slate you want, but I’m supporting Mercaz USA, the voice of Conservative/Masorti Judaism. About 25 or so people from Kol Rinah who have voted, and we would like to make it many times that before voting ends in a few weeks. It does cost $7.50 ($5.00 for those under age 25). If the cost is an issue, let me know and I’m happy to reimburse you.
Why does this matter? The World Zionist Congress will make decisions regarding key institutions which allocate nearly $1 billion annually to support Israel and World Jewry (including the World Zionist Organization, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael – Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency for Israel). Your vote matters, and matters to Conservative Judaism around the world.
If you have voted already, reply to this e-mail and let me know!
So, stop, and don’t read any further until you’re finished voting.
Ok, now that you’ve voted, and told me you have….
I wanted to say thank you again to Rabbi Lizzie Heydemann, who came to us last week from Mishkan Chicago and led amazing experiences for Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning, as well as incredible learning session and thoughtful and insightful processing of all of the different prayer experiences we shared last week. I also want to give special mention and thanks to the Irvin and Dolores Rubin Music Fund and Leo and Sara Wolf Adult Education Fund who enabled us to bring Rabbi Heydemann last week.
Many of you have been asking about following up on the exciting, soulful, and extremely participitory davening we had last Shabbat. Myself and Rabbi Arnow, along with our leadership team, Ritual Committee, and the Kol Rinah Board are assembling short- and long-term plans to look at our worship services. For Shabbatot moving forward, you may notice some new tunes, new wording, and a few new elements that worked well for our community.
In the longer term, we are looking closely at every piece of our worship experience (melodies, room setup, timing, Torah service, instrumentation, etc.) in order to craft together the most meaningful spiritual experiences for the entire Kol Rinah community. And for that, we need your help. PLEASE give us your feedback, both on last Shabbat's experience and on your thoughts about your general experiences of prayer life at Kol Rinah. What works for you and your family? What is important to your spiritual life? What can we work on, change, innovate, or alter to enhance your experience? Both your rabbis and your entire leadership team desperately want your input so that the moments we share together in communal prayer can do exactly what they are supposed to: lift up your heart and your voice, connect you to God and to one another, and creating meaningful and joyous moments of spiritual engagement throughout every week of the year.
In other exciting news, I wanted to wish a hearty mazal tov to our own brilliant Professor Nancy Berg, who was recently awarded a National Jewish Book Award for her latest book,What We Talk About When We Talk About Hebrew (And What It Means to Americans). We are so proud of all the work you do and your many accomplishments. To read more about her exciting new work, click here to read the story in this week's St. Louis Jewish Light.
This past week, we also sent a large group of our clergy, leaders, teachers, and Board members to Song Leader Boot Camp, an annual gathering of brilliant clergy, musicians, educators, leaders, and innovators right here in St. Louis. We had some wonderful and eye-opening experiences, and we are thrilled to be bringing in a lot of new ideas for how to make Kol Rinah even more fantastic than it already is!
Tonight, we will have our Kol HaNefesh service, a Comtemplateive, A Capella Kabbalat Shabbat experience, led by Rabbi Noah Arnow and Karen Kern and beginning upstairs in the chapel at 6:00 pm. Candle lighting is at 5:28 pm.
Note that the Saturday morning service will begin back at 9:00 am this week, downstairs in the Mirowitz Auditorium.
Mincha Saturday afternoon will be at 4:30 pm, and Shabbat ends at 6:32 pm.
There’s a lot of other stuff going on, but vote now (if you haven’t already), and come this Shabbat, if you’re around.
And now for a little Torah…
Mishpatim, translated as "rules" or "laws" are the name of the game this week; literally, our Torah portion is titled Parashat Mishpatim. And it begins saying (Exodus 21:1):
וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר תָּשִׂ֖ים לִפְנֵיהֶֽם
(Eleh hamishpatim asher tasim lif'neichem)
These are the laws that you (Moses) will set before them (the Israelites):
And so, the Torah portion sets out a number of precedents, rules, norms, and expectations about how we are to live following that introductory verse.
Well, that is a bit confusing. These are the laws?! What about last week in Parashat Yitro when we read the Ten Commandments? Were those NOT part of the laws? Were they merely suggestions?
The 13th Century French commentator, Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoach, better known as Chizkuni, made the observation that the laws appearing in last week's parashah serve as dire warnings (e.g.: "Thou shalt not steal"), whereas those that follow the list have rationales and punishments (Exodus 22:20-23):
וְגֵ֥ר לֹא־תוֹנֶ֖ה וְלֹ֣א תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
כָּל־אַלְמָנָ֥ה וְיָת֖וֹם לֹ֥א תְעַנּֽוּן׃
אִם־עַנֵּ֥ה תְעַנֶּ֖ה אֹת֑וֹ כִּ֣י אִם־צָעֹ֤ק יִצְעַק֙ אֵלַ֔י שָׁמֹ֥עַ אֶשְׁמַ֖ע צַעֲקָתֽוֹ׃ וְחָרָ֣ה אַפִּ֔י
You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan.
If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me,
and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword.
The idea is not that these laws are more important than previous laws and mitzvot, but rather that these are the kind of rules that can make up a legal system. In order to have system of justice, it cannot just have grand principles and strong ethical foundations. It needs specific examples, different ways to handle different situations, forethought to deal with consequences of different violations of justice, and the flexible framework to handle situations that could never have been imagined by the Israelites at the time we first received the Torah.
THAT is what this Torah portion lays out. It defines a system by which people are not only held accountable for there actions, but where justice applies evenly to all people. It is a system in which the case is considered based on the factual details and analyzed according to the rules of justice that apply evenly to us all. In that way, this system is about building a community in which all people, equally, have both a stake in, and a responsibility for, carrying out justice.
These are the laws that our ethical and moral faith our built on, the framework for being a holy people in the world. We are only a community of faith as much as we are a community that acts for justice, that works to make the vision of Torah, one in which all people are united in equality and communal virtue to work for the common good.
Shabbat shalom and see you in shul,
Rabbi Scott Shafrin |
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