Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Noah Arnow - 10/30/2020
Dear Kol Rinah Family,
My sermon from last week is at the very end of this email.
Mazal tov to Jean and Stan Margul on the wedding of their son Elliot to Lina Xia this past Sunday. It was such a joy and pleasure for me to officiate and to celebrate a beautiful simcha at a challenging time in our world.
The next week will be a momentous time for our nation. By next Shabbat, we may know, or not know, who won the election. I know that many people are feeling anxious, distracted, nervous, and so much more.
If at any point over the coming days, you would like to talk or process, please reach out to Rabbi Shafrin or me. This is what we are here for.
To make voting and watching election returns a more spiritual and grounded experience, I really recommend checking out the resources the Institute for Jewish Spirituality have put together here.
Last week, I taught the first of our four sessions on The Torah of Resilience. I'll be teaching again this coming Wednesday night at 7:30pm, and I invite you to join me for that. We'll process some of our own needs for resilience, and look at some examples of resilience in our Jewish legal tradition.
Here is a statement of the JCRC that Kol Rinah joined, along with many other St. Louis synagogues and Jewish organizations on "Elections and Democratic Principles."
As a reminder, I meet periodically with my "Rabbi's Kitchen Cabinet," whose purpose is to offer feedback, advice and support to me. The current members of the kitchen cabinet are Jaron Asher (jaron.asher@gmail.com), Benita Boxerman (bwbox@mindspring.com), Marty Israel
My sermon from last week is at the very end of this email.
Mazal tov to Jean and Stan Margul on the wedding of their son Elliot to Lina Xia this past Sunday. It was such a joy and pleasure for me to officiate and to celebrate a beautiful simcha at a challenging time in our world.
The next week will be a momentous time for our nation. By next Shabbat, we may know, or not know, who won the election. I know that many people are feeling anxious, distracted, nervous, and so much more.
If at any point over the coming days, you would like to talk or process, please reach out to Rabbi Shafrin or me. This is what we are here for.
To make voting and watching election returns a more spiritual and grounded experience, I really recommend checking out the resources the Institute for Jewish Spirituality have put together here.
Last week, I taught the first of our four sessions on The Torah of Resilience. I'll be teaching again this coming Wednesday night at 7:30pm, and I invite you to join me for that. We'll process some of our own needs for resilience, and look at some examples of resilience in our Jewish legal tradition.
Here is a statement of the JCRC that Kol Rinah joined, along with many other St. Louis synagogues and Jewish organizations on "Elections and Democratic Principles."
As a reminder, I meet periodically with my "Rabbi's Kitchen Cabinet," whose purpose is to offer feedback, advice and support to me. The current members of the kitchen cabinet are Jaron Asher (jaron.asher@gmail.com), Benita Boxerman (bwbox@mindspring.com), Marty Israel
(mhi@wustl.edu), Zach Leeds (zacharyleeds@gmail.com) and Karen Rader
(karenjoyrader@gmail.com).
I'm always looking for feedback on how to better serve Kol Rinah. My preference is for you to share feedback about me directly with me. Additionally, I encourage members to give feedback to, and I always welcome feedback from, Kol Rinah's leadership, including our president, Randi Mozenter (president@kolrinahstl.org), our board chair, Sherri Sadon (boardchair@kolrinahstl.org), our vice president for personnel and our personnel committee chair, as well as our officers and board members (complete lists are here).
I invite you to share feedback you have about me with any members of the "Rabbi's Kitchen Cabinet" if for any reason you would prefer not to share it with me directly or with a member of Kol Rinah's leadership. The feedback will be conveyed without names attached (unless you give explicit permission to share your name) and confidentially discussed.
And now, for this Shabbat and weekend...
Today at noon I'll be leading Torah Talk on Zoom, where we'll look at some midrashic and other possibilities about the identity of the survivor/refugee who informed Avram that his nephew Lot had been captured. The midrashim are kind of wild, and in conflict with each other. It'll be fun.
At 4:30pm on Zoom, we'll have mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat. And yes, services are getting earlier, and they'll get much earlier as the time changes.
Candle lighting is at 5:45pm.
Tomorrow, we'll be streaming services for Shabbat Bereisheet starting at 9:30am.
Shabbat ends at 6:42pm.
Sunday morning at 11:30am, Burton Boxerman will be teaching about Nathan Frank, St. Louis's first Jewish member of Congress.
Shabbat shalom, and see you on Zoom,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
Learning Opportunities
Torah Talk with Rabbi Arnow or Rabbi Shafrin
Every Friday at 12pm
Join us for study and discussion of the week's Torah portion.
The Torah of Resilience
7:30pm on:
Wednesday, November 4
Tuesday, November 10
Tuesday November 17
Zoom & Learn Series
Sundays at 11:30am, this week Burton Boxerman on St. Louis's first Jewish member of Congress, Nathan Frank.
Shabbat morning!!!
Saturdays, 9:30am
Click the link below, then click the triangular "play" buttom:
https://player2.streamspot.com/?playerId=3506a4c8
Until shortly before 9:30am, there will a filler screen, but livestreamed video and sound will both start around 9:30am.
You can also set your computer or device in advance so that this link will continue streaming continuously and you will not have to press any buttons on Shabbat. To make sure that your device will not shut itself down or do into sleep mode, follow the directions below to disable sleep mode:
For PC:
To disable automatic Sleep:
1. Open up Power Options in the Control Panel. In Windows 10 you can get there from right clicking on the start menu and going to Power Options
2. Click "change plan settings" next to your current power plan
3. Change "Put the computer to sleep" to never
4. Click "Save Changes"
For Apple Products:
1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click "Energy Saver."
2. Do either of the following:
a. Set the amount of time your computer or display should wait before going to sleep: Drag the “Computer sleep” and “Display sleep” sliders, or the “Turn display off after” slider.
b. Keep your Mac from going to sleep automatically: Select “Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off.”
Rabbi Noah Arnow
Kol Rinah
Parashat Noach 5781 - 10/24/20
When Will We Be Noach?
When will it be safe to go out again? Is it time? Who decides? I have to get out my house. Or maybe, I’m pretty ok staying in house. What if I go out and it happens again?
These are the questions the Noah of our Torah portion is asking when the flood waters recede. And these are the questions we are asking, too.
For seven months, we have been on our arks, isolating ourselves, saving ourselves, and saving others with us. We are all, Noah.
And the question is, when do we come out?
Noah really wants to know. He sends out a raven, and it comes back. Then a dove, and it comes back. Then the dove again, and it returns with an olive branch in its beak. Life is returning. Then Noah sends out the dove again and it doesn’t return—it’s found a place to nest.
This all suggests that Noah is intensely curious as to when he’ll be able to get off that ark.
Then the waters recede, Noah removes the ark’s cover, and sees the dry land.
But he still doesn’t come out.
It’s only when God says, “Come out of the ark” (Genesis 8:16) that Noah finally leaves.
I’m also intensely interested in knowing when it’s time to come out, to be around people more, to have our sanctuary even half-way full, to eat in—in!—a restaurant, to go to a movie, or a show. For my kids to have playdates, for schools to be back in person, for us to come out of our boxes, our homes, our arks, our shut-in safe places. We’ve been wearing our masks since Purim. When can we take them off?
I understand Noah’s sending out bird after bird after bird. Don’t you? Noah didn’t sleep, couldn’t sleep, the entire time on the ark, because he was so darn busy taking care of all those animals, worrying about them, about the world. He had no personal time, no personal space, no quiet, nothing but responsibility.
The midrash sums up this exhausting claustrophobia with the words of Psalm 142:8, הוציאה ממסגר נפשי, “Release my soul from confinement.” “To be totally present to the needs of the animals—this is the very meaning of the ark experience,” writes Aviva Zornberg in her psycho-midrashic reading of Genesis. She continues, “It is not simply a physical weariness that afflicts him, the unremitting rigor of a feeding schedule that never allows him a ‘taste of sleep.’ The smell of the animals, in the final analysis, unnerves him” (The Beginnings of Desire, 63).
We too are feeling cooped up, and tired of caring for the same people, and animals, endlessly.
But there are some other conflicting feelings too. I don’t want to come out until I know it’s safe. What if there’s another wave—of Covid, of water? Noah too wonders if it will be safe—what if I go out and we all start having children and God brings another flood (Genesis Rabbah 34:6)? Noah is scared of that second wave, and staying inside is safer.
Who decides if it’s safe to go out? God told Noah to go into the ark, and Noah doesn’t come out, won’t come out, even though the land is dry, until God tells him to come out. When the same scientists, doctors, and epidemiologists who told us to wear masks and stay home as much as possible tell us to come out and take off our masks, I’ll feel a little more comfortable. Like Noah. Noah in Hebrew, Noach, after all, means comfortable. When will we be Noach?
And despite the cooped up feeling, I’ve discovered I really like being home. Life is simpler, fewer choices, close, familiar. I could imagine Noah realizing, after a while, that he doesn’t want to leave.
The writer Ann Patchett’s 2001 novel Bel Canto tells the story of dozens of people who are held hostage for weeks and weeks. And strangely, the hostages and their captors find that time the happiest of their entire lives because of new relationships and a return to a simpler life, when they are existing, like Noah, in a closed system.
One can’t speak these days about coming out without the overlay of LGBTQ people “coming out of the closet.” I’ll only suggest that so many of the same dynamics, of testing, testing the waters, of needing to come out, of being afraid, of being told to stay in, of being outed, or made to come out perhaps unwillingly, are part of queer experiences too.
The world is a commentary on the Torah and the Torah is a commentary on the world.
It’s comforting to me to see the same dynamics I, and we, are experiencing reflected in our traditions. What we are experiencing is not quite as unprecedented as we might think.
But I’m also nervous, because when Noah does come out, after some immediate piety, debauchery ensues. Despite good intentions, it’s not clear the world is dramatically better after the flood.
What will our world look like when we emerge?
How will we respond to the new world we find?
And when, oh when, like it or not, will it be time to come out?
But when will we be comfortable again? When will we be Noach?
Shabbat shalom.
I'm always looking for feedback on how to better serve Kol Rinah. My preference is for you to share feedback about me directly with me. Additionally, I encourage members to give feedback to, and I always welcome feedback from, Kol Rinah's leadership, including our president, Randi Mozenter (president@kolrinahstl.org), our board chair, Sherri Sadon (boardchair@kolrinahstl.org), our vice president for personnel and our personnel committee chair, as well as our officers and board members (complete lists are here).
I invite you to share feedback you have about me with any members of the "Rabbi's Kitchen Cabinet" if for any reason you would prefer not to share it with me directly or with a member of Kol Rinah's leadership. The feedback will be conveyed without names attached (unless you give explicit permission to share your name) and confidentially discussed.
And now, for this Shabbat and weekend...
Today at noon I'll be leading Torah Talk on Zoom, where we'll look at some midrashic and other possibilities about the identity of the survivor/refugee who informed Avram that his nephew Lot had been captured. The midrashim are kind of wild, and in conflict with each other. It'll be fun.
At 4:30pm on Zoom, we'll have mincha and Kabbalat Shabbat. And yes, services are getting earlier, and they'll get much earlier as the time changes.
Candle lighting is at 5:45pm.
Tomorrow, we'll be streaming services for Shabbat Bereisheet starting at 9:30am.
Shabbat ends at 6:42pm.
Sunday morning at 11:30am, Burton Boxerman will be teaching about Nathan Frank, St. Louis's first Jewish member of Congress.
Shabbat shalom, and see you on Zoom,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
Learning Opportunities
Torah Talk with Rabbi Arnow or Rabbi Shafrin
Every Friday at 12pm
Join us for study and discussion of the week's Torah portion.
The Torah of Resilience
7:30pm on:
Wednesday, November 4
Tuesday, November 10
Tuesday November 17
Zoom & Learn Series
Sundays at 11:30am, this week Burton Boxerman on St. Louis's first Jewish member of Congress, Nathan Frank.
Shabbat morning!!!
Saturdays, 9:30am
Click the link below, then click the triangular "play" buttom:
https://player2.streamspot.
Until shortly before 9:30am, there will a filler screen, but livestreamed video and sound will both start around 9:30am.
You can also set your computer or device in advance so that this link will continue streaming continuously and you will not have to press any buttons on Shabbat. To make sure that your device will not shut itself down or do into sleep mode, follow the directions below to disable sleep mode:
For PC:
To disable automatic Sleep:
1. Open up Power Options in the Control Panel. In Windows 10 you can get there from right clicking on the start menu and going to Power Options
2. Click "change plan settings" next to your current power plan
3. Change "Put the computer to sleep" to never
4. Click "Save Changes"
For Apple Products:
1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click "Energy Saver."
2. Do either of the following:
a. Set the amount of time your computer or display should wait before going to sleep: Drag the “Computer sleep” and “Display sleep” sliders, or the “Turn display off after” slider.
b. Keep your Mac from going to sleep automatically: Select “Prevent computer from sleeping automatically when the display is off.”
Rabbi Noah Arnow
Kol Rinah
Parashat Noach 5781 - 10/24/20
When Will We Be Noach?
When will it be safe to go out again? Is it time? Who decides? I have to get out my house. Or maybe, I’m pretty ok staying in house. What if I go out and it happens again?
These are the questions the Noah of our Torah portion is asking when the flood waters recede. And these are the questions we are asking, too.
For seven months, we have been on our arks, isolating ourselves, saving ourselves, and saving others with us. We are all, Noah.
And the question is, when do we come out?
Noah really wants to know. He sends out a raven, and it comes back. Then a dove, and it comes back. Then the dove again, and it returns with an olive branch in its beak. Life is returning. Then Noah sends out the dove again and it doesn’t return—it’s found a place to nest.
This all suggests that Noah is intensely curious as to when he’ll be able to get off that ark.
Then the waters recede, Noah removes the ark’s cover, and sees the dry land.
But he still doesn’t come out.
It’s only when God says, “Come out of the ark” (Genesis 8:16) that Noah finally leaves.
I’m also intensely interested in knowing when it’s time to come out, to be around people more, to have our sanctuary even half-way full, to eat in—in!—a restaurant, to go to a movie, or a show. For my kids to have playdates, for schools to be back in person, for us to come out of our boxes, our homes, our arks, our shut-in safe places. We’ve been wearing our masks since Purim. When can we take them off?
I understand Noah’s sending out bird after bird after bird. Don’t you? Noah didn’t sleep, couldn’t sleep, the entire time on the ark, because he was so darn busy taking care of all those animals, worrying about them, about the world. He had no personal time, no personal space, no quiet, nothing but responsibility.
The midrash sums up this exhausting claustrophobia with the words of Psalm 142:8, הוציאה ממסגר נפשי, “Release my soul from confinement.” “To be totally present to the needs of the animals—this is the very meaning of the ark experience,” writes Aviva Zornberg in her psycho-midrashic reading of Genesis. She continues, “It is not simply a physical weariness that afflicts him, the unremitting rigor of a feeding schedule that never allows him a ‘taste of sleep.’ The smell of the animals, in the final analysis, unnerves him” (The Beginnings of Desire, 63).
We too are feeling cooped up, and tired of caring for the same people, and animals, endlessly.
But there are some other conflicting feelings too. I don’t want to come out until I know it’s safe. What if there’s another wave—of Covid, of water? Noah too wonders if it will be safe—what if I go out and we all start having children and God brings another flood (Genesis Rabbah 34:6)? Noah is scared of that second wave, and staying inside is safer.
Who decides if it’s safe to go out? God told Noah to go into the ark, and Noah doesn’t come out, won’t come out, even though the land is dry, until God tells him to come out. When the same scientists, doctors, and epidemiologists who told us to wear masks and stay home as much as possible tell us to come out and take off our masks, I’ll feel a little more comfortable. Like Noah. Noah in Hebrew, Noach, after all, means comfortable. When will we be Noach?
And despite the cooped up feeling, I’ve discovered I really like being home. Life is simpler, fewer choices, close, familiar. I could imagine Noah realizing, after a while, that he doesn’t want to leave.
The writer Ann Patchett’s 2001 novel Bel Canto tells the story of dozens of people who are held hostage for weeks and weeks. And strangely, the hostages and their captors find that time the happiest of their entire lives because of new relationships and a return to a simpler life, when they are existing, like Noah, in a closed system.
One can’t speak these days about coming out without the overlay of LGBTQ people “coming out of the closet.” I’ll only suggest that so many of the same dynamics, of testing, testing the waters, of needing to come out, of being afraid, of being told to stay in, of being outed, or made to come out perhaps unwillingly, are part of queer experiences too.
The world is a commentary on the Torah and the Torah is a commentary on the world.
It’s comforting to me to see the same dynamics I, and we, are experiencing reflected in our traditions. What we are experiencing is not quite as unprecedented as we might think.
But I’m also nervous, because when Noah does come out, after some immediate piety, debauchery ensues. Despite good intentions, it’s not clear the world is dramatically better after the flood.
What will our world look like when we emerge?
How will we respond to the new world we find?
And when, oh when, like it or not, will it be time to come out?
But when will we be comfortable again? When will we be Noach?
Shabbat shalom.
Sat, April 20 2024
12 Nisan 5784
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Mornings- M, T, W, F 7am & Sun 8am.
Evenings- Sun-Th 6pm.
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Thursday mornings 7am are in-person only.
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Friday 9am – 3pm
Phone: 314-727-1747
Friday 9am – 3pm
Phone: 314-727-1747
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Sat, April 20 2024 12 Nisan 5784