10:00am Shavuot Services on Zoom; 6:00pmShavuot and Shabbat Evening Services on Zoom
Sat.
May 30
9:00am Spanish Services on Zoom; 10:00am Shavuot and Shabbat Services, Yizkor on Zoom
Sun.
May 31
9:00am Davening on Zoom; 9:30am Maimonides Class on Zoom
Mon.
Jun 1
11:30am*A Little Mishnah on Zoom (*new time)
Wed.
Jun 3
11:30am*A Little Mishnah on Zoom (*new time)
Fri.
Jun 5
11:30am*Tefillah Class on Zoom(*new time);6:00pm Kabbalat Shabbat Services on Zoom
Sat.
Jun 6
9:00am Spanish Services on Zoom; 10:00amShabbat Services on Zoom
Sun.
Jun 7
9:00am Davening on Zoom; 9:30am Maimonides Class on Zoom
Message From the Rabbi
I often find myself running into assumptions about how Judaism exists in relation to Tanakh. It seems reasonable to think that all we do is explicitly detailed in the text of the Hebrew Bible, and that there is a one for one correlation between Judaism today and the Israelite practices recounted in the text. Yet the truth is that our tradition is not one of literal reading, but one that embraces creative and multi-vocal readings and expansions on our sources to build vibrant, life-affirming, and constantly adapting communities.
The holiday of Shavuot is a holiday that embodies this approach to text and tradition. Shavuot- the “Festival of Weeks” in our Tanakh, is barely a sketch of the festival of learning and life that we celebrate today. In the plain text, it is another harvest festival like Passover and Sukkot. But where Passover has a powerful story built into it recalling our liberation from Egypt, and Sukkot is flush with symbols and objects of significance, Shavuot is just… a barley harvest and first fruits event at the end of a mandated period of counting (the Omer). There is no explicit symbolism or grand narrative bound into this holiday. It just exists on our calendar, nondescript as far as holy times go.
These are the times, though, where the Rabbinic Judaism we practice thrives. From a lack of detail, the rabbis of our tradition found the freedom to fill in details between the spaces in the letters.
If Shavuot was a holiday celebrating a harvest, we should eat the foods and enjoy the produce of that season in celebration! And so diary products and fresh seasonal fruit are enjoyed as part of our celebrations.
With the counting of the Omer mandated in Torah, we know Shavuot follows 50 days after Passover. If Passover marks the moment of the Israelite liberation from Egypt, they wondered, where were the Israelites 50 days later? At Sinai! And so Shavuot becomes a holiday of Matan Torah, the giving of Torah.
And if giving of Torah is the focus of our observances, then why should we not make the holy task of text study the heart of our practices on the holiday itself? And so, the custom of Tikkun Leil Shavuot- staying up all night on Shavuot to learn with one another until dawn- began.
As we prepare for the coming Festival, let each of us embrace the creative energy that this holiday embodies. Let the unique challenges we each face in celebrating Shavuot together and apart be opportunities to engage our Judaism in new ways. Be willing to experiment, to commit to something different, to fill in new spaces that exist between what we know and what we have never seen.
May we each learn to embrace the Rabbinic habit of finding meaning in the gaps and make new joys from our creative efforts.
Please help generate donations for TBS-EV by purchasing items on AmazonSmile.The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to TBS-EV once you sign up.
Aluminum can donations will help support our General Fund. Please place your CRUSHED aluminum cans (beverage cans only please) in the administration office mail room.
Please donate your used printer cartridges. Place your used cartridges in the box located on the counter in the Administration Office. We have been paying for most of our office supplies for several years through the money we get from recycling printer cartridges. Please help us keep this worthwhile endeavor going.
The Sisterhood of TBS-EV is collecting old eyeglasses and lenses to be donated to the Lions Club. There are donation containers waiting to be filled in the Sanctuary, Social Hall and Administration Office.
Save the Family has asked for help to transition families into homes. Current household product needs include: toilet paper, paper towels/napkins, shampoo & conditioner, toothpaste & brushes, deodorant, mouthwash, body lotion, body wash, diapers--particularly size 4, baby wipes, feminine hygiene products, all-purpose cleanser/comet/etc., laundry detergent/bleach/dryer sheets/fabric softener. There is a bin in the Office. Please help this worthy community service.
Prayers are needed for Chaim Laib ben Esther, brother of Walter Berkey; Alexander Moshe HaLevi ben Rivkah, father of Regina Fischer; Rivkah bat Rachel, grandmother of Regina Fischer; Brenda Carson, sister of Rebecca Toledo;Bruce Steffens (Avram ben Shlomo), nephew of Helen Cherner;Philip Logan Cherner, grandson of Helen Cherner;Helen Cherner; Donnie Carson, brother-in-law of Rebecca Toledo; Sandy Dunell, friend of Helen Cherner; Laramie Gilberts, friend of Helen Cherner; Roberta Rosenberg (Rivkah Fradel bat Sara);Shimson ben Etel, father of Florence Wibel; Irene Simpkins (Yocheved bat Miriam); Barbara Tricoci (Baila bat Rifka); Elazear ben Dreisyl; Eric Taylor; Sid Brodsky (Zundel Be'er ben Esther); Linda Heartquist;Allen Simon (Aaron Hirsch ben Ceil); Charles Collins; Larry Steffens; Megan Steffens;Brittany Steffens; Carol Osman Brown, friend of Linda Radke; Rijon Erickson; Chano Ruven ben Shaina Chaya; Matthew Werdean, friend of Regina Fischer; David ben Sarah, father of Rabbi Aberson; Jack Heller; Liba Yetta bat Tova; Ilana bat Bella, sister of Ruti Keren; David Ramirez, brother of Louis Ramirez; Pasha bat Fayge, friend of Gloria Windmiller; Moshe ben Hana, brother-in-law of Ruti Keren; HaRav Haim Baruch ben Chana; Lyle Cherner, son of Helen Cherner; Raphael ben Rebekah, friend of Alan Sapakie; Jack Rosenberg (Ya'acov Avram ben Sarah Ruchel); Walter Berkey (Yossel Velvel ben Esther); Warren Stern (Binyamin ben Meyer Rav); Jennifer Dally, partner of Maggie Diamond; Rose Tufarelli; Sarah Caliandro (Sarah Nechama bat Leah); Ingrid Gallegos; Chaim Shneur Zalman Yehuda ben Hinda Yocheved. .
Muriel Krampf, mother of Louise Heeman – Saturday, May 30 Beverly Slatin, wife of Arnold Slatin Harry Slavsky, grandfather of Edward Slavsky Isidore Wax, father of Helen Cherner
HaMakom yenakhem etkhem b'tokh she'ar avelei Tzion Virushalayim.
May God comfort you together with all the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem