Shabbat Shalom GRJC

Weekly Emails to the Congregation

Parshat Metzora 2008

Shabbat Shalom to the GRJC family,

We light our Shabbat candles this week at 7:14 pm.  Friday night services will begin at 8 pm.  Saturday morning services will begin at 9 am.  The Rosenwald family welcomes the entire congregation to participate in Shabbat services this weekend, as Julia becomes a Bat Mitzvah.

TOT SHABBAT and SHABBAT SHELI will begin at 6:30 pm on Friday night.  Both will be meeting downstairs in the religious school wing this week.

Friday night we will recognize all APRIL BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARIES!  Please join us for a special blessing and songs.

Friday night we will also join many other houses of worship in New Jersey as we take a moment to reflect on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan.

We read this week from parshat Metzora.  The parasha this week focuses on the rituals of purification for the individual who was afflicted with the skin disease tza’ra’at.  This skin condition is often translated as  leprosy, but most commentaries suggest that the symptoms mentioned in the Torah do not conform to the diagnosis of Hansen’s disease, the condition that we understand as leprosy today.

This week’s parasha, though it deals with disease, is not an ancient medical guide.  Some would say that the “treatments” offered in this part of Leviticus are practical considering the environmental conditions in ancient Israel.  The medical lens that we bring to parshat Metzora is not within the Torah itself.  The Torah  does deal with the dis-ease that enters the life of the individual and the community when a person must separate himself/herself from the community when he/she has the condition.

The procedures for purification are religious and symbolic.  The curing of the skin condition happens on its own.  The Torah does not tell us how or why the condition happens in the first place, nor why the condition disappears.  There is no prescription for treatment in the Torah, but there is an elaborate set of rituals that help the person who has recovered re-enter society: rituals of cleansing and hair cutting, sacrifices, releasing a bird, and more.

This parasha can help us to think about how we can better welcome individuals who have been ill back into the community when they come out of treatment at the hospital or other health-care center.  What can we do today to make the person feel included again in the life of the community?  How can we both recognize the ordeal he/she has been through while also allowing them to be their “old selves”?


ANNOUNCEMENTS:

YASHER KOA’ACH/CONGRATULATIONS:
To Ornit Michael, for organizing the first women’s seder at the GRJC.  The program was wonderful, and we’re looking forward to continuing the tradition next year.

SEDER RESOURCES:
You can find some interesting Seder resources at www.ncjh.org, the National Center for Jewish Healing.  Also, there is a powerful Seder companion from the National Save Darfur Coalition that you can find at www.savedarfur.org/sederguide.

GRJC COMMUNITY 2nd SEDER – Sunday evening, April 20, 6:30 pm.  Our tables are filling quickly!  If you’re planning to join us, you must return the RSVP form from the Passover mailing with your payment to the GRJC office or to Judi Forer no later than this Sunday, April 13. Call Judi (201-445-1963) for details.

THE CHAMETZ SALE IS ON! – Please return the form for selling chametz (leavened products) that is included in the Passover mailing.  The deadline is Thursday, April 17th by 9 am.

PLEASE NOTE:  THE GRJC kitchen will be cleaned and koshered for Pesach on Monday and Tuesday, April 14 and 15.  Only unopened food that is Kosher for Passover will be allowed in the kitchen as of Monday, April 14.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
If you have the chance to read this before this evening, make sure to come by the GRJC tonight at 7 pm for an hour of Israeli songs and music, sung by our Religious School children, and the adult choir will also appear.  This Zimriya is part of our year-long celebration of Israel’s 60th Anniversary.  (There is no Hebrew School today, due to this event).

Bring your hankies (for tears of joy!) and good wishes to the annual Gimel Class Wedding this Sunday morning, April 13, at 9:30 am in our Sanctuary.  Everyone is invited to the ceremony and reception!

The Bet Class welcomes non-Jewish friends to its Interfaith Seder on Tuesday, April 15 at 4 pm.

The fourth Interfaith Bible Study Class with Rabbi Tow and Pastor Roger Spencer will be held at the Lutheran Church in Glen Rock on Tuesday, April 15, from 7:30-9:30 pm.  All are welcome, even for the first time!

The GRJC Nursery School will hold its Passover program on Wednesday morning, April 16, in our Social Hall.  Both Mommy & Me and the Senior Aerobics make up class have been rescheduled to other days for this special event.  (The Tuesday Mommy & Me will meet as scheduled.)

The Fast of the Firstborn siyum for GRJC and Temple Israel is scheduled for Thursday morning, April 17 at 7 am in the GRJC Sanctuary.  Following a Shacharit, morning service, a nosh will be served as is customary following a siyum (completion of a course of Jewish study).  Rabbi Tow will be presenting a siyum on completing study of Seder Tohorot, one of the 6 orders of the Mishnah.

Senior Aerobics in our Social Hall on Tuesday, April 15 at 9:30 am and Thursday, April 17 at 10:30 am.  No Hebrew School on Thursday, April 17 and no Nursery School on Friday, April 18 in preparation for Passover.

Shabbat Shalom!,

Rabbi Tow    

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