Rabbis' Weekly Message

Dear Kol Rinah Family,

Purim begins tomorrow night! I'm sending out my weekly email early to include all the Purim details and some Purim thoughts.  (Scroll down for the schedule.)  

One theme of Purim is encapsulated by the Hebrew phrase, v'nahafoch hu, meaning, "it was reversed," or "the opposite happened."  You can read a bit more about the expression here.  Perhaps more literally, it means that things were upturned, or flipped.  

It's often said with a fair amount of Jewish glee, and/or relief--Haman had us in his sights, but we won--v'nahafoch hu! 

I am having the feeling now of much being reversed, or turned upside down, in our country.  Our foreign policy, the way civil rights are understood, the nature of the federal workforce, the entire way government operates, expectations in higher education--it's all being turned upside down.  

How Jews and Israel are feeling about antisemitism, about the support they and Israel have from the current adminstration--these feel rather topsy-turvy too.  

Who we find ourselves agreeing with, defending, and on opposite sides from may also feel reversed from what we're used to, or at the very least, in flux.  

There are ways in which I'm not looking in our observance of Purim for more reversals--the real world is providing quite enough "upsidedownedness."  

On the other hand, a reversal from the seriousness of our world towards the silliness of Purim may be just what we, just what I, need.  

It's worth noting though the context of this phrase, "it was reversed."  

It comes from Esther 9:1:  "And so, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—when the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to gain control over their them, the opposite happened, and the Jews themselves gained control over their enemies."

With that control they gained, the Jews killed 75,800 Persians.  Were they needlessly slaughtering innocents or was it a kill-or-be-killed situation?  We don't really know.  And maybe it wasn't obvious to them.  

A significant shift in power--a reversal, a v'nahafoch hu, can unleash some pretty ugly stuff, in others, and yes, in us too, along with lots of arguments about how necessary it may be.  

May our Purim together be sweet, silly, and light--a "v'nahafoch hu" indeed!  

If you're a member of Kol Rinah, you have or should soon receive mishloach manot (gifts of food) delivered from Kol Rinah, by Kol Rinah members.  Thank you to all who organized, packed and delivered.  I love that we deliver mishloach manot to every single member household!  

As a reminder, there are four (or five) mitzvot of Purim: 
1. Give matanot l'evyonim, gifts of money to the poor.  The ideal is to give on the day of Purim, itself (i.e. Friday), to at least two people.  You should ideally give more than you're spending on your mishloach manot or your Purim seudah (meal).  You can give directly to people that day, give to the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry or something similar, or to my discretionary fund by 8am on Friday, and I'll give out the money to those in need.  We'll also be collecting cash both Thursday night and Friday morning, which I'll distribute.  

2. Give mishloach manot--at least two portions of food to at least one friend.  This ideally should be done on the day of Purim as well. 

3.  Have a Purim meal on the day of Purim. 

4 (or 4 and 5). Hear the Megillah--some say at least once, others say twice.  

Here's the schedule: 
Tomorrow (Thursday) is Taanit Esther, the fast of Esther.  The fast begins at 5:39am, and ends at 7:42pm.  Services will be at 7am in person. 

Please note that we will not have mincha tomorrow (Thursday), and there will be no services on Zoom tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon or evening or Friday morning. 

Here's the rest of the Purim schedule for Thursday:
5:00-6:15pm  Activities for kids
5:30-6:15pm Dinner (for those not fasting who RSVP'd) 
6:15pm Maariv and Megillah reading featuring costume parade and shpiel! (in-person and livestreamed)
 
Friday, March 14
7:00am Shacharit and Megillah reading in-person and livestreamed.  
6:00pm - Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma'ariv (no instruments) in-person, not live streamed

Candle lighting will be at 6:51pm.  

Services Saturday morning will begin at 9am. It'll be Brotherhood Shabbat, with Torah Talk with Cyndee Levy at 10:10am.  Kiddush will follow services, sponsored by Brotherhood. 

Looking back for a moment at last Shabbat, KoREH Shabbat was fantastic.  It was great to have so many kids, parents, and teachers here.  A special thank you to Cindy Kalachek and Karen Kern for all their organization and coordination!  

We don't know what the future will hold for the remaining hostages, who have been in captivity in Gaza now for 523 days.  May they all come home soon.  

Kol Rinah now has an Instagram feed 
as well as Facebook  account!