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Dear Kol Rinah Family,
It’s a busy Shabbat coming here at Kol Rinah, as we begin readin the Torah from the very beginning.
Looking back for just a moment though to Simchat Torah, I’m so glad we were able to honor Marian Katz as Kallat Torah (the honor of having the aliya for the reading of the very end of the Torah). Marian is among the kindest, appreciative, and regular of our members, and is a wonderful, lovely, presence wherever she is. We were also so lucky to be able to honor Tovah Enger as Kallat Bereshit (having the aliya for the reading of the very beginning of the Torah). Tovah edits and organizes and supervises the production of The Voice, Kol Rinah’s newsletter, and she’s done it carefully, kindly, and firmly for many years, keeping the editing standards high, while getting it out on time. We owe her a tremendous thanks.
Tonight, we’ll have our Shir Chadash (new melodies) Kabbalat Shabbat with Rabbi Shafrin and Karen Kern at 6pm in the chapel. Candle lighting is at 5:51pm.
Tomorrow morning KoREH will be having a Yom Iyyun, a day of study, where students will be at Kol Rinah on Saturday instead of Sunday. We’ll also be honoring our newest students at KoREH with a consecration ceremony at the end of services.
I’ll be leading Torah Talk at 10:10am in the Social Hall. We’ll also bless the upcoming new month this Shabbat.
Tomorrow is also the first anniversary of the murders that took place at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. It’ll be a piece of what I speak about in my sermon, and we’ll include the names of the victims in our Kaddish prayers at the end of services as well. We are participating in the American Jewish Committee’s #ShowUpForShabbat initiative, and we may have some extra guests with us for this occasion.
Mincha tomorrow afternoon will be 4:50pm, and Shabbat ends at 6:48pm.
Sunday afternoon at 3pm I’ll be one of many clergy of different faiths speaking and praying at an Interfaith Prayer Service to End Gun Violence in St. Louis. It will be at the football field at Cardinal Ritter High School, 701 N. Spring Ave.
Next Shabbat we’ll celebrate our newest Kol Rinahniks with New Member Shabbat.
And now for a little Torah…
There’s a wonderful series of children’s books called The Great Brain, about a family living in a small town in Utah in the 1890s. The way the parents punish their sons when they do something really bad is by giving them “the silent treatment,” whether for a day, a week, or more. And as the narrator explains, any kind of punishment, whether losing allowance, or a spanking, was better than the silent treatment.
I’ve been looking the last few days at the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. You might remember that Cain killed Abel, it seems from jealousy because God paid heed to Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s. The most precious thing that God had to offer was God’s attention, and the absence of God’s attention causes Cain incredible emotional pain.
In this era of multitasking, and divided and distracted attention, perhaps the most precious gift we have to give is our undivided attention. And conversely, refusing to give our attention can be among the most hurtful, painful thing we can do.
Who gets your full attention? How often is your attention divided? Who or what in your life is needing a little more undivided attention this Shabbat?
Shabbat shalom and see you in shul,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
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Phone: 314-727-1747