This will be my last Oasis Songs before the New Year. The following several weeks, our holiday cycle also means that I’ll be communicating with you primarily in services, and will look forward to returning to our shared space here after Simchat Torah.
Oasis Songs: Musings from Rav D Tuesday, September 8, 2017 / 17 Elul 5777 As part of our ongoing commitment to being good neighbors, here is a link to the flyer about an interfaith potluck that Neveh Shalom is participating in this Sunday from 3-5. Our friends at the Bilal Mosque and the West Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship will be there. I unfortunately have another synagogue commitment. If you’d like to attend, please rsvp here. Summary: ... Read More
Over this past week, our eyes and hearts have been fixated on the continuing disaster that is Houston. The scale of this storm is the largest in our nation’s collective memory, and the financial burden to rebuild will be immense. While the death toll will undoubtedly increase as days go by, it seems that the one bright light in all of this is that Hurricane Harvey did not claim nearly the lives that were lost when Katrina ravaged.
Two days ago, we welcomed in the holy month of Elul. Our daily minyan rejoiced in the songs of Hallel, and then we listened as the shofar was sounded for the first time, as it will be each morning leading up to the Days of Awe. Less noted, that day also corresponded with Rosh Hashanah Lama’asar Behemah, the New Year for Animal Tithes.
Our eyes and hearts have been transfixed on Charlottesville. Our minds have reeled at the government response, at our president’s flip flopping from silence, to condemnation to equivocation. Watching the candlelight vigil held in Charlottesville, one couldn’t help but be shocked by the many forms fire takes.
Last night, Dr. Uri Shanas presented at this month’s Israel360 event. He’s a renowned Israeli zoologist whose focus is on how humans impact and change the natural world (anthropogenics). He spoke primarily of his work with Jordanians in the Arava valley.
Last night, I met one of our oldest congregants. It seemed appropriate since this evening we are celebrating folks who have been part of the Neveh Shalom family for more than twenty five years. And Jack Lakefish won’t be able to attend. So I visited at his home in southeast. Jack is 99. As it turns out, he’ll turn a hundred on Yom Kippur.
