Dear Kol Rinah Family,
My sermon from Sages Shabbat/Parashat Pinchas, two weeks ago, is on the website here.
Much of the Jewish news of the last two weeks has been focused on Gaza, the war, and especially the hunger there. As my heart has been heavy with the suffering I've seen reported, I've been struggling myself with what to trust, what to think, and how to respond.
I want to share several pieces that spoke to me this week.
The first was published in the Jerusalem Post by Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem (Israel's Holocaust museum). He pushes back hard against the use of Holocaust language and comparisons while emphasizing that "our struggle is not only to defeat [our enemies] – it is to emerge with our moral compass intact."
The second is by Israeli journalist Matti Friedman, published in the Free Press, explaining how and why it's so hard to know what exactly the facts are in Gaza. Part of what's so hard is that not only are the solutions unclear, but the facts and situation themselves are unclear.
Rabbi Donniel Hartman and Yossi Klein Halevi's most recent podcast wrestles with famine in Gaza, and how Israelis have learned and thought about this. It's well-worth the listen (as is the previous episode, looking at how Israel considers the 20% of citizens who are not Jewish--a great episode that will not become outdated, like some other podcast topics).
I also appreciated the Rabbinical Assembly's statement this week.
Tisha b'Av, the 9th of Av begins Saturday night. This fast day commemorates the destruction of the first and second temples. It's a day on which we mourn that which was lost, and liturgically look more within than out for explanations for our grief, our loss, for the destructions that we have endured.
I found Rabbi Professor Shaul Magid's substack post asking whether the prophet Jeremiah was a self-hating Jew powerful and thought-provoking. Jeremiah prophesied in the decades before the first temple's destruction, and then according to Jewish tradition, wrote Lamentations, after the temple's destruction. Suffice to say he was not always appreciated in his time. There is much Magid has written and said over the last years with which I disagree, but as a preparation for Tisha b'Av, this piece feels right.
Tonight, we'll gather at 6pm at Shaw Park's South Shelter. It will not rain. It will not be too hot. We will have (at least) one Shabbat at the Park this summer!!! We'll have an abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat and ma'ariv, with no instruments, in the spirit of a somewhat somber Shabbat leading up to Tisha b'Av. Bring a picnic dinner--we'll have challah and grapejuice.
Candle lighting is at 7:52pm.
Tomorrow morning, services are at 9am. Tot Shabbat with Karen Kern will be at 10:45am.
We'll also be bidding farewell to Rabbi Jordan and Becky Gerson, along with Daliya, Ashira, Nessa and Ishai, as they prepare to move to Orlando, where Rabbi Jordan, who has been for eleven years the campus rabbi at Wash U Hillel, has become the Executive Director of the University of Central Florida Hillel.
Rabbi Jordan will be giving the sermon tomorrow as well.
Kiddush will follow services.
Saturday night begins Tisha b'Av.
The fast begins at 8:11pm, and Shabbat ends at 8:53pm.
We'll gather at 9:15pm in the sanctuary (also livestreamd) for ma'ariv and the reading of Eicha (Lamentations). As a reminder, it is customary not to wear leather or makeup, and not to great people, so if I don't say hello, no disrespect.
Sunday morning we'll have shacharit and a little learning in person at 8am in the chapel.
At 6pm, we'll have mincha and ma'ariv on Zoom, and then the fast ends at 8:42pm.
Our next Short Stories discussion on Zoom, on Bernard Malamud's The Magic Barrel, will be on Tuesday evening at 7pm. Details here.
And Summerfest, with Neshama Carlebach, is coming! Sign up for Shabbat dinner, reserve at spot at Havdalah, and buy tickets to Sunday's concert now, on the website! It's going to be a very special weekend, and I'm so excited for it! Come to everything, miss nothing!!!
Let us not forget about the hostages, who have been in captivity now 665 days, amidst the ongoing war in Gaza, where civilians continue to suffer.
May the one who makes peace in the heavens make peace over us, and over all Israel, and over all who dwell in the world.
Shabbat shalom and see you at the park and in shul,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
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
Sunday-Thursday evenings at 6pm (but not on Jewish holidays)
Morning Minyan on Zoom
Monday-Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7am; Sunday mornings and national holidays at 8am (not including Jewish holidays)
(Please note that Thursday morning minyan is now being held in-person at 7am (8am on national holidays) and is not on Zoom)
Friday nights and Shabbat mornings
Fridays, 6pm in the chapel (no streaming)
Saturdays, 9:00am (9:30am when we are doing our musical Kol Chadash service)
Click the link below, for the stream, as well as for additional instructions:
https://www.kolrinahstl.org/kr-streaming
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Phone: 314-727-1747