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Shabbat Shalom from Rabbi Shafrin 6/24/2022

 
Dear Kol Rinah Family,

Throughout the nation, June is Pride Month. As a synagogue community, we were able to come together and honor our LGBTQ+ siblings at our Pride Shabbat on June 3, and this coming Sunday, St. Louis wil have its annual Pride March. It is an amazing way to celebrate the lives and uniqueness of every member of our broader community, and to create and sustain a space where all are welcomed and joyously celebrated for exactly who they are.

I have been thinking about that idea of how we joyously celebrate each of us becoming our fullest selves. As I have been looking at this week's parashah, Shelach Lecha, I encountered the famous story of the twelve spies sent to assess the Land of Canaan, to look at the richness and beauty of the land and to suss out the potential obstacles in the way of entering. Famously, ten of the spies say that though the land is indeed wonderful, the inhabitants are to big and powerful and spread fear, confusion, anxiety, and dischord within the community.

When Joshua and Caleb, the other two spies, see this, they first tell Moses and Aaron that it is not so and that the Land is good and the people should continue into the Land. Then, they stand before the entire community and rend their clothing, a traditional symbol of mourning. 

In context, this is very confusing. For whom, or what, are Joshua and Caleb mourning? No one has died. But the Or HaChayim, an 18th Century mystical commentary from Morocco, says that Joshua and Caleb were mourning the loss of their opportunity, as individuals and as a community, to truly become the versions of themselves that they were destined to be:

"They had experienced the beauty of the land of Canaan, something even Moses had not seen with his own eyes. They had greater reason to mourn what they stood to lose than anybody else. They also hoped to lend emphasis to their feeling of disgust that their colleagues had despised the land of Canaan by publicly rending their garments in the sight of all the Israelites. This was the most potent protest against what the ten spies had said that they could think of."

In essence, Joshua and Caleb were protesting not only the spreading of falsehoods and the sowing of dischord among the Jewish people, but also that people they knew and trusted were putting up roadblocks stopping the Jewish People from achieving their own peoplehood. Think about the alternative: if the Jewish People had not entered the Land of Canaan, where would they have gone? Other nations had openly said they did not want the Jewish People crossing into their lands, let alone settling there. The alternative to entering the land would be to wander eternally, never finding their place or establishing their peoplehood in the world.

This is what Joshua and Caleb were fighting for, the right to be one's full self and to find a safe home where each of us is able to build a life as our truest self. In our own world, we see to many people who fear and hate other people who they don't understand, who they perceive as other, but Caleb and Joshua remind us that it is incumbent on each of us to be able to stand up and say, "NO! We must move forward and create a world where each person can live out their lives as their truest selves."

This is, for so many of us, the heart of Pride, that we are allowed to be proud of who we are, the identities we inhabit, the people we love, and the ways we walk in the world each and every day. Be proud of who you are, and spread that love past yourself to create a compassionate space for everyone around you to be their fullest selves as well. Fight just as hard for your neighbor's or stranger's right to be loved and welcomed and cherished for who they are as you would for your own right to be yourself.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Scott Shafrin

--
We have a lot of exciting programs, experiences, and opportunities coming up, and we would love to see you at all of them!

This Shabbat is our Sisterhood Shabbat! We are so excited to have some of our Sisterhood leaders helping us thoughout the service on Shabbat morning. The Sisterhood will also be honoring members of our Verein learning cohort for their outstanding efforts and monthly learning programs. Mazal tov to you all!

Our Brotherhood will also be honoring annual Men of the Year, as well as Youths of the Year, for 2020-22 and we are thrilled to have this wonderful celebration back in our community after a brief hiatus. 


Register HERE for the Men and Youth of the Year Gala



We need YOUR help to do a mitzvah! We still have slots available so please
register here for our blood drive.

We will be having Torah Talk today on Zoom at noon! Rabbi Arnow will be leading Torah Talk focusing on some interesting pieces found in Parashat Shelach Lecha. 

Kabbalat Shabbat will be live in the sanctuary this evening at 6:00 pm, as well as livestreamed through the link below (same link as Shabbat morning). We are thrilled to be back together and singing joyously to start Shabbat in the sanctuary.

Tomorrow morning, our service for Shabbat will begin in our sanctuary at 9:30 am. 

Mincha/Ma'ariv services for Shabbat will begin in the sanctuary at 8
:00 pm on Saturday evening.

Candle Lighting Friday night is at 8:12 pm 

Parshat:Sh'lach
Sisterhood Shabbat & Torah Fund Shabbat
Shabbat Mevarchim

Torah Reading: Numbers 13:1-15:41
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24
Mincha/Maariv- 8:00 pm
Havdalah- 9:15 pm


Shabbat Shalom,  
Rabbi Scott Shafrin
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ZOOM AND STREAMING LINKS
To join our Zoom Minyanim or classes, click on the desired meeting link, or call into either of the following numbers: 
 
+1 312 626 6799
+1 646 558 8656
Then, when prompted, enter the Meeting ID of the desired minyan/class then press #.  Then, when prompted, enter the password then press #.  
 
Services (all times Central)

Evening Minyan on Zoom ( tinyurl.com/KR-EveningMinyan )
Sunday-Friday evenings at 6pm

Morning Minyan on Zoom ( tinyurl.com/KR-MorningMinyan )
Monday-Friday mornings at 7am; Sunday mornings and national holidays at 8am (not including Jewish holidays)

Learning Opportunities

Torah Talk with Rabbi Arnow or Rabbi Shafrin ( tinyurl.com/KR-TorahTalk )
Every Friday at 12pm
Join us for study and discussion of the week's Torah portion.  

Kabbalat Shabbat/Shabbat morning ( tinyurl.com/KR-Streaming )
Fridays at 6:00pm, Saturdays at 9:30am, as well as the first day, seventh and eighth days of Passover
Click the link below, then click the triangular "play" buttom:


https://player2.streamspot.com/?playerId=3506a4c8

Until shortly before the service officially begins, there will a filler screen, but livestreamed video and sound will both start before the start of the service.  

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.”

 

 

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784