Cantor Vera's Corner
Cantor's Bi-Monthly Message
November/December 2019
Dear friends,
We’re fully in fall; shorter days, longer shadows, colder nights. When the cold and dark come in, sometimes it feels as if our world is tightening up around us, like our skin with a bad case of the shivers. In late December, light blazes back: we kindle our Chanukah candles, fry food in sizzling oil, and sing out loudly, warning the demons of the dark to leave us be. This year we celebrate the first night of Chanukah together on Sunday, December 22—come at 4:30 pm to sing, play dreidel, eat latkes, and make merry together. Music can be a fire at which we warm ourselves in every season. Thanks in part to a very generous gift by David and Mattie Paul, we have formed a brand-new Music Committee, chaired by Rachel Hanson. The Music Committee will help develop and run musical programming to enrich our shul’s offerings, including bringing wonderful Jewish musicians to us for services, workshops, and concerts. If you are interested in being a part of this creative endeavor, please talk to Rachel and me!
In late fall we buckle down to difficult topics, and work hard at tending our own inner flames so that we can create light for ourselves and others, in the darkest of times and places. Our Temple, especially our Social Action Committee under David Belsky’s leadership, has worked diligently to advocate for asylum seekers and refugees here in Massachusetts, and to support in particular our Togolese friend Marius through the Merrimack Valley Interfaith Sanctuary Network. If you are moved to get involved, and especially to help Marius get by until he’s allowed to work, while he fights for asylum, please let us know. This year, the plight of folks who need to come to our country, with our refugee quota set at a staggeringly low 18,000, is hard and cheerless indeed.
I feel extremely lucky and blessed to be counted in this year’s American Jewish World Service’s Rabbinic Fellowship cohort. AJWS has been a Jewish global force for good since its founding in 1985, right in Boston. The organization helps shape a Jewish response to international humanitarian crises: raising funds, advocating for policy and legislation, and creating meaningful Jewish ritual. Current AJWS initiatives include aiding Rohingya Muslims fleeing genocide in Myanmar, metal miners in El Salvador falling sick in their toxic work environment, and women in Guatemala suffering from a staggering rate of gender-based violence. On the first weekend in November, I’ll travel to New York for an initial fellowship retreat, to learn with my cohort; in January, the cohort will go for nine days to Guatemala, to learn and advocate with Guatemalans directly affected by oppressive conditions there. This will not be easy or comfortable learning. We never enjoy becoming aware, personally or communally, of pain that others experience. But I know that there’s a lot of good that allies such as ourselves can do, which AJWS helps to facilitate, and I will bring opportunities for help and healing back to our community.
Sometimes, when we consider the staggering injustices in this world—systemic (such as racism) and acute (such as the suffering of the Kurds)—we may wonder what our own local actions can accomplish, even those that take all of our energy and all of our hearts. But the enormity of these tasks calls up human gallantry as we struggle to meet them. As Rabbi Tarfon teaches us, even when we know that we aren’t able to complete a job, we still need to give it our best. (Mishnah Pirkei Avot 2:21) We can never forget that our actions can, at any time, create hope and make a critical difference in someone’s life.
“The real miracle of Hanukkah is that with only a small supply of oil, anticipating that it will burn out after only one day, realizing that the Temple would revert to its unholy state as before it was rededicated, coming so far to fall short in their ultimate goal—the real miracle of Hanukkah, is that they lit it anyway. They lit it anyway. That is the miracle of Hanukkah. Not knowing what would happen, they lit it anyway.”
—Rabbi Seth Goldstein, Temple Beth Hatfiloh (Olympia, Washington) Kol Nidrei 5780 sermon
One of the spots from which we derive the commandment to keep an eternal flame, burning always in our sacred spaces, is this statement in Vayikra (Leviticus) 6:6: “Eish tamid tukad al hamizbeiach; lo tichbeh.” (Spoiler: there’s a great tune to it.) “A flame shall always be kindled upon the altar; don’t put it out.” This winter, kindle your flame. Find a way you want to make this world a better place, and take action. Don’t let the heaviness of the dark put your flame out, or scare you off. Light it anyway—and let yourself be surprised by all the good you can do in this world.
L’shalom,
Cantor Vera
November/December 2019
Dear friends,
We’re fully in fall; shorter days, longer shadows, colder nights. When the cold and dark come in, sometimes it feels as if our world is tightening up around us, like our skin with a bad case of the shivers. In late December, light blazes back: we kindle our Chanukah candles, fry food in sizzling oil, and sing out loudly, warning the demons of the dark to leave us be. This year we celebrate the first night of Chanukah together on Sunday, December 22—come at 4:30 pm to sing, play dreidel, eat latkes, and make merry together. Music can be a fire at which we warm ourselves in every season. Thanks in part to a very generous gift by David and Mattie Paul, we have formed a brand-new Music Committee, chaired by Rachel Hanson. The Music Committee will help develop and run musical programming to enrich our shul’s offerings, including bringing wonderful Jewish musicians to us for services, workshops, and concerts. If you are interested in being a part of this creative endeavor, please talk to Rachel and me!
In late fall we buckle down to difficult topics, and work hard at tending our own inner flames so that we can create light for ourselves and others, in the darkest of times and places. Our Temple, especially our Social Action Committee under David Belsky’s leadership, has worked diligently to advocate for asylum seekers and refugees here in Massachusetts, and to support in particular our Togolese friend Marius through the Merrimack Valley Interfaith Sanctuary Network. If you are moved to get involved, and especially to help Marius get by until he’s allowed to work, while he fights for asylum, please let us know. This year, the plight of folks who need to come to our country, with our refugee quota set at a staggeringly low 18,000, is hard and cheerless indeed.
I feel extremely lucky and blessed to be counted in this year’s American Jewish World Service’s Rabbinic Fellowship cohort. AJWS has been a Jewish global force for good since its founding in 1985, right in Boston. The organization helps shape a Jewish response to international humanitarian crises: raising funds, advocating for policy and legislation, and creating meaningful Jewish ritual. Current AJWS initiatives include aiding Rohingya Muslims fleeing genocide in Myanmar, metal miners in El Salvador falling sick in their toxic work environment, and women in Guatemala suffering from a staggering rate of gender-based violence. On the first weekend in November, I’ll travel to New York for an initial fellowship retreat, to learn with my cohort; in January, the cohort will go for nine days to Guatemala, to learn and advocate with Guatemalans directly affected by oppressive conditions there. This will not be easy or comfortable learning. We never enjoy becoming aware, personally or communally, of pain that others experience. But I know that there’s a lot of good that allies such as ourselves can do, which AJWS helps to facilitate, and I will bring opportunities for help and healing back to our community.
Sometimes, when we consider the staggering injustices in this world—systemic (such as racism) and acute (such as the suffering of the Kurds)—we may wonder what our own local actions can accomplish, even those that take all of our energy and all of our hearts. But the enormity of these tasks calls up human gallantry as we struggle to meet them. As Rabbi Tarfon teaches us, even when we know that we aren’t able to complete a job, we still need to give it our best. (Mishnah Pirkei Avot 2:21) We can never forget that our actions can, at any time, create hope and make a critical difference in someone’s life.
“The real miracle of Hanukkah is that with only a small supply of oil, anticipating that it will burn out after only one day, realizing that the Temple would revert to its unholy state as before it was rededicated, coming so far to fall short in their ultimate goal—the real miracle of Hanukkah, is that they lit it anyway. They lit it anyway. That is the miracle of Hanukkah. Not knowing what would happen, they lit it anyway.”
—Rabbi Seth Goldstein, Temple Beth Hatfiloh (Olympia, Washington) Kol Nidrei 5780 sermon
One of the spots from which we derive the commandment to keep an eternal flame, burning always in our sacred spaces, is this statement in Vayikra (Leviticus) 6:6: “Eish tamid tukad al hamizbeiach; lo tichbeh.” (Spoiler: there’s a great tune to it.) “A flame shall always be kindled upon the altar; don’t put it out.” This winter, kindle your flame. Find a way you want to make this world a better place, and take action. Don’t let the heaviness of the dark put your flame out, or scare you off. Light it anyway—and let yourself be surprised by all the good you can do in this world.
L’shalom,
Cantor Vera
Cantor Vera's Writings
"Practicing Failure, Cultivating Resilience," d'var for Yom Kippur 5780/2019
D'var for Kol Nidrei 5780/2019
"Israeli and American Jewish Identity," d'var for 1st Day of Rosh Hashanah 5780/2019
"The Geir Without and Within," d'var for 1st Day of Rosh Hashanah 5779/2018
"Ki Hinei Kachomeir: Desiring our Yeitzer," for Kol Nidrei 5779/2018
Cantor Vera's Report on Trip to San Diego and Tijuana with T'ruah in July 2018
D'var for Kol Nidrei 5780/2019
"Israeli and American Jewish Identity," d'var for 1st Day of Rosh Hashanah 5780/2019
"The Geir Without and Within," d'var for 1st Day of Rosh Hashanah 5779/2018
"Ki Hinei Kachomeir: Desiring our Yeitzer," for Kol Nidrei 5779/2018
Cantor Vera's Report on Trip to San Diego and Tijuana with T'ruah in July 2018
Choir Rehearsals
Wednesday, July 10, 7:00pm
Wednesday, July 24, 7:00pm
Wednesday, July 31, 7:00pm
Wednesday, August 7, 7:00pm
Rehearsals with David Collins
Tuesday, August 20, 7:00pm
Sunday, August 25, 7:00pm
Tuesday, September 3, 7:00pm
Wednesday, September 11, 7:00pm
Wednesday, September 25, 7:00pm
Sunday, October 6, 4:00pm
Wednesday, July 10, 7:00pm
Wednesday, July 24, 7:00pm
Wednesday, July 31, 7:00pm
Wednesday, August 7, 7:00pm
Rehearsals with David Collins
Tuesday, August 20, 7:00pm
Sunday, August 25, 7:00pm
Tuesday, September 3, 7:00pm
Wednesday, September 11, 7:00pm
Wednesday, September 25, 7:00pm
Sunday, October 6, 4:00pm