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THIS WEEK IN TEMPLE
Wednesday, April 14th, 2021
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Friday, April 16th ~ KABBALAT SHABBAT
9:30 AM - YOFI SHABBAT CONNECTION
with Cantor Paula Baruch ONLINE LINK
7:00 PM - KABBALAT SHABBAT SERVICE
with Rabbi Cohen & Cantor Baruch ONLINE LINK
Candle Blessing with Matthew Sampson
Saturday, April 17th ~ SHABBAT TZARIA-METZORA
Temple Religious School resumes this Saturday!
10:30 AM - Morning Meditation & Shabbat Music
with Cantor Baruch ONLINE LINK
11:00 AM - TORAH TALK & STUDY
with Rabbi Cohen (same link as above)
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וְהִסְגִּ֧יר הַכֹּהֵ֛ן אֶת־הַנֶּ֖גַע שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים
...the priest shall isolate the affected person for seven days.
-Leviticus 13:4
It has been two years since our wonderful TAS congregational excursion to Morocco. Given what has taken place since then, it has come to feel more like a dream than an actual tour. I am still inspired, in particular, by our Shabbat experience in the Sahara Desert, having trekked in on camel-back, our Kabbalat Shabbat service under the most extraordinary display of stars I have ever seen, and then a fabulous Berber-style Shabbat dinner in the most elegant tent that one could imagine. That Shabbat will forever be embedded in my memory as a scene out of movie.
Part of the resonance of that Shabbat was the Torah portion we read, which described our ancestors' experience in the desert – albeit a different desert – as they prepared to leave their camp at Sinai and head out on their nomadic journey to the Promised Land. Life in the desert is different than life in an established settlement. I suspect that, in the desert, one’s relationship with the surrounding environment is more intimate because of the absence of fixed walls and fences. In the desert you need to be ready to move on at any given time. As such, life in tents affords little concept of “here” and “there” or of “indoors” and “outside.” These ideas come to be associated more with relationship and community than with geographic location and architectural division.
This idea is emphasized in this week’s double Torah portion, Parashat Tazria-Metzora. The primary topic of discussion is tzaraat, a flaky skin disease often translated as “leprosy.” Tazria explains how to identify those infected while Metzora is more about curing them. The Priestly concern with tzaraat is that it renders one ritually impure and unable to participate in the worship life of the community. It comes to symbolize all ritual impurities.
Of key importance in healing tzaraat is that, once the illness has been diagnosed, the afflicted one must be moved outside of the camp, separated from the community until they have recovered and gone through a process of ritual purification. While the Torah often associates physical illness with iniquity, our rabbinic sages are very clear that the removal of the metzora – the one with tzaraat - is not a banishment or punishment. Sickness is not a sin. Rather, the metzora is moved into quarantine; a given period of isolation outside the camp which not only protects the others in the camp from contracting the disease, but also allows the patient time away from communal and religious obligations to focus on their own healing, at which time they will be welcomed back into the camp.
After more than a year of quarantine and isolation due to the pandemic, we all understand the aching need to rejoin and fully participate with our community. And yet, we also understand, perhaps more than ever, the need to remain “outside the camp” until the safety of all can be assured. Inside and outside are just constructs. Often, we need to go “outside,” or remain inside, to extend our caring concern to all the members of our community.
L'Shalom,
Rabbi Jordan Cohen
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BREAKFAST CLUB SPRING 2021
this Sunday, April 18th at 11:00 AM
Why do people choose to become Jewish, what is involved and what does is mean to them? Join Cantor Paula Baruch for this informative session.
CHOOSING JUDAISM
Did you catch Ralph Benmergui's interview with Cantor Baruch on his 'Not That Kind of Rabbi' Podcast?
We just scratched the surface! Come and learn more
CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO REGISTER!
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In our Temple Family
- THANK YOU to Dora-Ann Ellison and Evie, Jim Davis and Lily, for their participation in last week's Kabbalat Shabbat service.
- THANK YOU to Laura Cattari for technical assistance for our ZOOM online service.
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ron Kaplan, Marnie Paikin, Ben Stone, Sam Berlin, Emmy Singer, Howard Eisenberg, Slava Apel, Shirley Wexler, Gerald Vertlieb, Ian McKirgan, Elizabeth Avetissian, Donald Rosenthal, Josh Rauchwerger
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YIZKOR 
יזכור
This week we are remembering:
Sheloshim
Allan Arnold
Harry Hotz
Pearl Viner
Samuel Sandler
Yahrzeit
Alex Shapiro, Avonne Richter, David Burman, Eda Strom, Frederick Benario, Ida Glass, Irma Loebel, Lloyd Taylor, Morris Levy, Norman Funger, Robert Elliot, Ruth Waxman, Sally Waldes, Samuel Smurlick, Toby Goldman, Walter Ingroff, Walter Reiss, William Agranov, William Brown
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