Sinai Temple Sisterhood

Disney’s First Jewish Princess Arrives in Time for Hanukkah. Princess Rebecca, of the Ladino kingdom of Galonia, appeared in an episode of Elena of Avalor that... aired on December 6. Elena is a Latinx princess who is the centerpiece of the Emmy-winning, Disney Junior Channel series which debuted in 2016. In the episode, entitled Festival of Lights, Rebecca and her family are shipwrecked off the coast of Avalor while returning home to observe Hanukkah. Elena welcomes them to her palace and invites them to celebrate the holiday and teach them about its traditions. The guitar-playing, olive-skinned Rebecca lights a Hanukkiah, the holiday candelabra, and she and her family (Tovah Feldush plays Rebecca’s grandmother, Miriam, also referred to as Bubbie) tell the story of her people’s strugglewithout being too explicitand the miracle of the oil lasting eight days in the neir tamid. There is also chocolate gelt, from a local shop, and a dreidel.https://momentmag.com/disneys-first-jewish-princess-arriv/

Today is giving Tuesday. If you want to create a charitable world, make sure your children and your friends know that you give. Model what you want the world to be. #givingtuesday

A Bisl Torah I reread the story about the three strangers visiting Abraham and Sarah. We know these are not three ordinary people. They are angels, emissaries of God. Abraham does not walk towards the angels; he rushes to help. But his hurrying doesn’t astonish me. Something else surprises me even more. ... There is very little hesitation from the angels. Abraham offers his service and the angels accept. They eat. They drink. They relax. Unlike many of us, there is no dramatic holding up of hands and protesting, No, no, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me. Rather, clearly in need, the angels accept the help that is offered. This may be one of most missed opportunities our Torah presents. The reason being, many of us can’t bear to accept help from others. Whether because it shows our vulnerability or that we’re just not perfect, accepting help admits to ourselves and others that we just can’t do it all. That under our seemingly flawless veneer, more than one weakness waits in hiding. Even if accepting kindness is exactly what we need to get through the day, we hesitate and reject for the sake of saving face. But here’s the catch: accepting help is often less about us and more about the one who offers. Dr. John Gottman, the eminent couples’ therapist explains that at the heart of every relationship is something called bids for connection. When a spouse, friend, child, parent, or someone close offers to help, they are offering more than a favor. The person is asking to be seen through the opening of their hands. They’re asking us to accept their bid. When we close our hands to someone that offers help, it is a sign of rejection. Rejection of the relationship and rejection of the connection. What happens immediately after the angels accept Abraham’s hospitality? The angels reveal that Abraham and Sarah will have a child. A connection was built. An opening offered. A pathway cleared for the angels to extend the most beautiful words of prophecy. Accepting help is permitting another child of God to further understand their purpose and reason for being. May we rush to help and eagerly, rush to receive. Amen.

My daughter talking about Spectrum Laboratory, which helps young adults with autism launch careers in the entertainment industry. Join us Nov. 24 @sinaitemplela https://www.eventbrite.com/e/spectrum-laboratory-concert-fu

This year, along with scholar Michael Berenbaum, I will be leading a young professional group on March of the Living. https://member.sinaitemple.org/motlyp

A Bisl Torah I was asked why this March of the Living was different than past trips to Poland. Each trip is special. This journey was unique because we traveled with the Steinberg family.... Stuart, Evie, Jake and Paige Steinberg joined our Sinai Temple delegation and shared with us, the story of Max, their beloved son and brother. And they shared themselves, adding their hearts to our Sinai Temple family. Years prior, Jake and Paige decided to go on Birthright and urged their brother, Max to join the trip. The three siblings were touched and transformed by Israel in different ways. But for Max, Israel became inextricably part of his soul. And so, he decided to make Aliyah and soon joined the IDF. Nothing was more important to Max than his fellow soldiers. He was the last one to go to sleep at night and the first to wake up, always putting 110 percent into his training and army responsibilities. Every soldier knew Max’s name. His energy, persistence, drive to succeed, positivity, and loyalty to others felt contagious. All this was Maxand so much more. In 2014, Max was called to fight in the Gaza War. He was injured, given permission to go home and recuperate. But as Max explained to his family, there was never going to be a time in which he left his fellow soldiers alone. He went back into Gaza and ultimately, died fighting for the Jewish state and the people of Israel. This year, in Poland, Max’s family carried a beautiful, small, delicate Sefer Torah. A Torah adorned in the colors of the Golani, Max’s unit: yellow and green. The Torah was written with the purposes of being a battlefield Torah, small enough to carry, but large enough to feel God’s presence and the limitless connection to the Jewish people. This Sefer Torah was marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau on Yom Hashoah, and then again through the streets of Jerusalem to the Kotel on Yom Haatzmaut. And as his family carried Max's Torah, the Sinai delegation wore duplicates of Max's dog tags. We held Max's story as we paid tribute to the victims of the Shoah, souls that never saw the existence and miracle of a state of Israel. Max is no longer physically with us. However, his legacy and story will endure for all time. He is a hero. A man who gave his life to protect our people. As future generations read his Torah, they will wonder how they too, will serve Israel, and how they too, will serve the Jewish people. On this Yom Haatzmaut, let us thank God for the land of Israel. Let us thank God for Max. Heroes that enable us to say the words, Am Yisrael Chai. Because of people like Max, the people of Israel will endure forever and ever. Shabbat Shalom

We stand with San Diego

A Bisl Torah Stop watching the show. As participatory as High Holy Day services may be, it sometimes feels like a show. The pristine nature of the adorned, white Torahs. Everyone dressed to their finest. The operatic, enchanting voice of the Cantor bellowing out Kol Nide. You can’t help but feel like you have entered a theater in which a dramatic story will unfold. But Passover doesn’t lend the same permission to sit back and watch the show. Quite the opposite. On Passover, ...you are the main actor. You are the show. Andre Neher, French Jewish scholar and philosopher wrote, No Jew can pass the Haggadah untouched. For its style is not narrative, but interrogative. Its story is not told like a legend, but like a problem. One initial question is asked, and all others follow from it: ‘What is the difference between this night and all other nights?’ It is for the Jew to answer if he can, and if he cannot, to feel that the question contains a challenge. Like an unfinished play, the night of the Exodus continues through the centuries, seeking actors to live it perpetually, and to grasp its essential meaning. We sit around the table and search our hearts for the meaning of the Passover festival. If each one of us is meant to feel as if we personally left Egypt, how do we foster conversations about modern enslavement and liberation? About historical and collective memory? In which ways do we feel as if this evening is truly different? Why is this year different from all others? What stands out on this very night? Our answers will surely vary. Perhaps this year is different because of who is missing from the table. Or conversely, who is sitting at the table. Perhaps this year we feel liberated from an addiction, obstacle, or challenge that always seems to push us away from success. Is this the year in which we still feel enslaved and will decide to seek help in releasing ourselves from whatever shackles pin us down? The story of Passover isn’t meant to be told. The story of Passover is meant to be lived. May this Passover night be different from all others. Different because you are in the center of its story. Shabbat Shalom

A Bisl Torah It's the little things... At morning minyan, it is a Sinai Temple tradition for a congregant to give a little singing solo into the concluding words of Aleinu. Every Shabbat, I watch another congregant touch her loved one’s yahrzeit plaque as if she is saying hello. On Pesach, it doesn’t feel like Pesach unless we eat my grandmother’s apricot jelly chicken. In other words, it’s the little things, small acts that often define the greatness of a moment. ... As Cher famously sang with Sonny, Cause it's the little things that mean a lot. Meaning, we notice when the wet towels have mysteriously been laundered and put away without asking; it pleases us when a loved one adds our favorite treat to the grocery list; we can’t help but sing along when the Cantor chants the melody that our grandparents used to hum; it feels nostalgic when the Haggadah comes out from the basement and still has wine stains from the Passover the year before. It’s the little things that trigger memories; it’s the little things that make us feel loved, reminding us of who we are and where we belong. For our familyit’s apricot chicken on Passover, singing the Kiddush with loved ones in mind, sitting in the back of the synagogue during Shabbat morning services, and choosing the same two restaurants for our family nights out. What are your little things? The little things that add up to the whole of who you are? May your little things always mean a lot. Shabbat Shalom

A Bisl Torah Fly Me to the Moon The main investor of Beresheet, the Israeli spacecraft that launched in February to land on the moon, addressed 18,000 people at the AIPAC conference. One day, I wasn’t feeling well, and paramedics checked my blood pressure. I told the paramedics, ‘I am putting a spaceship on the moon!’ The paramedics quizzically looked back at me (as if I was crazy) and said, We’d better get you to a hospital! And the investor smiled at the AIPAC attendee...s and said, And now the miracle of Beresheet is happening. How many of us dream to the point of wanting to land on the moon? How many of our dreams do we label as unattainable, unreachable, pointless or unrealistic? Yonatan Winetraub, a co-founder of SpaceIL, explains, Kids always ask us if the craft is coming back and we say ‘No, it stays there with the time capsule and all kinds of interesting things inside. It’s your job to reach the Moon and bring it back.’ What a beautiful, encouraging lesson: It is your job to reach the moon and bring it back. Meaning, it is your challenge, opportunity and gift to imagine the impossible and turn it into reality. At what point in life do we stop diminishing our self-worth and capabilities? Why is dreaming big a pursuit of the young and admonished as we mature? Israel is about to land a spacecraft on the moon. Who would have ever thought that to be a possibility? It is nothing short of miraculous. A miracle taking place because the moon to a few people, never seemed out of reach. Dream as if we have no bounds. Create as if the entire world is our canvass. Imagine what we can do when we refuse to let limitations hold us back. That is why the spacecraft is called Beresheet. When you dream the impossible, it is only the beginning. Shabbat Shalom

A Bisl Torah Did the fire go out? I am often asked the question: Why did you become a rabbi? Usually, I respond with a story about Jewish identity and what it was like to grow up Jewish in Orange County. But that isn’t actually a real answer. I may have initially chosen my life’s profession because of a triggering event or two. But I continue to be a rabbi because I believe the foundation of Torah and strength of one’s faith helps us navigate and exist within an unpredictable... world. And who knew? Within the litany of sacrifices mentioned in this week’s Torah portion, is the direct calling and mission of a faith leader. Leviticus 6:5 reads, The fire upon the altar shall be kept burning in itand the priest shall burn wood on it every morning. The Alshich, a 16th century rabbi, explains, There is a fire of love for God that burns within every soul. It is the task of the kohenthe spiritual leaders of the generationto feed and preserve this fire. If I am not actively tending the cinders of one’s faith, I am not doing my job. Faith in God and faith in our communitythere are clearly different ways to fan those flames. But they must be sought out. Never ignored. Faith leaders and those that despair a day in which the power of faith feels rarelet us reignite our own spark to search out the cold embers among us. It is time to relight that fire. Shabbat Shalom

A Bisl Torah Butterflies in Flight Who saw the butterflies?... This past week, almost a billion butterflies migrated through Southern California on their way up the coast. The Painted Ladies flew through the air, catching the eye of adults and children alike. Over and over again, I heard the phrase, It is so magical. What is so magical about butterflies canvasing the sky? What prompts us to pause in our busy lives and watch this natural wonder? Butterflies remind us of the possibility of transforming into something grander, bigger, filled with a beauty that is difficult to describe. Their bodies are like pieces of art, paintings left to be interpreted, masterpieces to be admired. And we watch these awesome creatures flexing their wings, ascending to heights far above and think, One day, I will fly too. May we find our way upwards, seeing the majesty in our own transformation. With a bit of tikkun halev, repair of the heart and tikkun henefesh, repair of the soul, who knows what kind of butterfly we will become? Shabbat Shalom

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