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Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Bill S. Tepper

Open Hands, Open Hearts:  The Coldest Night of the Year

 

...there will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I command you: open your hand to the poor and needy… [Deuteronomy 15:11]

During my years serving a congregation in Tennessee, a woman came to our Temple door almost every day asking for a meal.  She was homeless and experiencing severe deprivation.  It was understood among our Temple staff and me that irrespective of how busy we might be, one of us would always pause in our task, head to our Temple’s kitchen, and put together a food package for her.   Her visits became frequent to the point that we often prepared her meal in advance.  No matter what else was occurring at the Temple, she was never turned away.

Homeless persons are everywhere: on our city of Toronto streets, highway off-ramps, in parks and beneath underpasses.  Despairingly, they are woven into the fabric of our community.  They are men and women, and those whom I’ve observed to be adolescents.

On Saturday, February 26 at 7:00 pm, Holy Blossom members have the opportunity of responding to the anguish of homelessness.  We will not eradicate it, but we will help to make a difference.    On that evening, we will gather – at the Loblaws store at St Clair Avenue West and Bathurst Street with Ve’ahavta – meaning ‘and you shall love’ in Hebrew – the Toronto organization devoted to providing a Jewish Response to Homelessness, for an event known as the Coldest Night of the Year.  We will listen to a Ve’ahavta speaker and see the Ve’ahavta mobile unit – a van that journeys through the city on winter nights distributing meals, clothing, and toiletries. We will then engage in a 2KM or 5KM walk together north on Bathurst Street.

The event is a fundraiser for Ve’ahavta; all that is donated shall be put towards alleviating the conditions of those who are homeless.   Just as importantly, the event is an expression of our compassion; it is our response to the words from Torah with which this Rabbinic Reflection opens, and what is incumbent on us as it pertains to the eternal issue of those in need: opening our hands and our hearts.

I will be there on February 26.  It’s my sincere hope that you will, too.

Please see the attached links about Ve’ahavta and Coldest Night of the Year, and/or reach out to me, Rabbi Bill S. Tepper, for additional information.

Ve’ahavta A Jewish Humanitarian Organization – Ve’ahavta (veahavta.org)
Coldest Night of the Year 2022 – Toronto North York (cnoy.org)

 

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A Month of Trailblazers and Change-Makers

Adult Ed Department, Sharoni Sibony

“[What] does this 5,000-year-old book do for my life in 2018?… It’s hard being a Jew, but you have a whole lifetime to figure it out. That is the prismatic effect of Torah. Every year, it means something different. Every year, it magnifies something that it didn’t last year.”

These are the words of Rabbi Tamar Menasseh, the subject of a powerful film that we’re partnering to present this weekend with the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation and the Toronto Jewish Film Society. I was struck by her phrasing, “the prismatic effect of Torah,” as I follow the 929 Torah learning project and it just concluded one cycle this week and will begin the entire Torah again next week with Bereishit, the book of Genesis. (This is a perfect time to check it out if you haven’t yet.) What are the books or songs that you return to again and again in your life? Do you have a favourite winter read that offers you something new each year? The magic of the Torah reading cycle is in its patience with us: we return to the same place in the scroll, but we are changed by the year that’s passed, and we can find new insight in the familiar verses. Like marking our growth on the kitchen doorpost, we can mark our internal growth by that process of return and changed understanding.

And what do we do with that learning and growth? Perhaps you’re familiar with the Talmudic teaching that “Study is greater [than practice], for it leads to action.” Rabbi Menasseh asks: What cracks does your Judaism motivate you to repair in the world? The film, They Ain’t Ready For Me, focuses on her fight against senseless killings on the south side of Chicago and the role of her Judaism in her activism. As a Holy Blossom member, you get discounted access to view this film now through Sunday, and can attend a talk-back session hosted by our own Tema Smith with Rabbi Menasseh and the filmmaker, Brad Rothschild, this Sunday at 4 PM.

We’re featuring this film, alongside Rabbi Bill Tepper’s 2-part workshop on Rabbis and the Civil Rights Movement, as February is Black History Month. If you haven’t learned with Rabbi Tepper yet, don’t miss this opportunity!

This month, we’re excited to co-present another historical change-maker, as Rabbi Sally Priesand returns to Toronto (via Zoom). As many of you know, Rabbi Priesand is the first woman to have been ordained by the Reform movement, in 1973, and she’s going to share the story of Rabbi Regina Jonas, the world’s first female rabbi, who perished in Auschwitz in 1944.

Finally, I invite you to save the date for a wonderful, animated discussion with Professor Michael Meyer, Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Jewish History Emeritus, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati. Professor Meyer has been a teacher to Rabbis Splansky, Helfman, and Goodman, and we’re delighted to bring him to the whole congregation to speak about his biography of Rabbi Leo Baeck, one of the most important Jewish figures of prewar Germany. He’ll be Zooming in to speak with Eric Petersiel, Head of School at The Leo Baeck Day School on Tuesday, March 1 at 7 PM EST.

 

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Life is Blossoming at the ECC

Thank you!

Kita Gimel was privileged to have Adrienne Dubb as a classroom volunteer, lovingly referred to as Nonni.  We first met Adrienne as a grandmother of a student.  We at the ECC are so grateful for her hard work! We thank Adrienne for her time, patience, expertise, amazing generosity and dedication. Adrienne will be fulfilling her grandmother’s duties as she awaits the arrival of a grandchild.  We wish her and her family well and we will miss her very much.  We look forward to welcoming her back to the ECC in the future.

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Welcoming Shira Lester to Holy Blossom

We are thrilled to welcome Shira Lester to the Holy Blossom professional team as Director of Development & Donor Engagement. Shira started in her new role at HBT on January 24.

Shira brings a wealth of knowledge and experience having served in various fundraising roles in Jewish organizations over the course of her career including, UJA Federation Toronto, Canadian Friends of Tel-Aviv University, and most recently as the Director of Development (Toronto) for Weizmann Canada. She also brings with her former experience as Executive Director of Mazon Canada and the National Council of Jewish Women of Canada (Toronto). On a personal level, Shira deeply understands the importance of synagogue life and is excited to be part of securing the future for Holy Blossom Temple.

We are delighted to have Shira as part of our HBT family!

Shira Lester can be reached at [email protected] and extension 261. If you’d like to introduce yourself and get to know Shira (and her adorable poodle, Turner – pictured here) she will be holding “get to know you” office hours over the month of February as below. Simply click on the Zoom link during one of those times, no appointment is necessary. If you would prefer to schedule a time to meet with Shira one on one, please email or call her directly.

Times for “get to know you” office hours:

Tuesday, February 8 from 1-2 pm

Monday, February 14 from 3-4 pm

Wednesday, February 23 from11 am-12 pm

 

Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83910115125?pwd=d1I4cmJQb2ZFNm03VVg3TEhjNm9BQT09

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Navigation Skills: [Cyber] Learning at our YEC

Rabbi Bill S. Tepper

While pursuing my education degree in the late 1980s I spent several two-week sessions as a student teacher in various Greater Toronto Area high schools.  Among my challenges, during the first few days in particular, was locating the classrooms where I was to teach.  I always gave myself a head start.  Alas…my two-week term of service ended just when I had successfully learned to navigate my way through the building!

As a rabbi, resource person and participant in Holy Blossom’s Youth Education Center [YEC] classes, I am again being called on to apply navigational skills, though in a quite different manner than if I were in a brick-and-mortar institution. As I write these words, the YEC is – out of concern for student and teacher health – taking place via ZOOM.  Prior to the start of our Sunday morning and Monday evening classes, I receive by email the ZOOM links for each grade level.  Over the next two hours, I travel through cyberspace from one class to the next, greeting students and teachers, sharing ideas, teaching our traditions, and reading stories. Together, we endeavour to experience our learning in as interactive and dynamic as possible, students being encouraged to employ the virtual ‘raised hand’ signal to speak or contribute their thoughts by way of the Chat Box. On Sundays, during the final thirty minutes of learning, all students and teachers ‘assemble’ in one [cyber] location to enjoy and lend their spirits to an upbeat t’fillah that incorporates music, song, prayer, blessing and more stories.

At YEC, our gifted teachers and enthusiastic students of Jewish learning persevere in navigating the challenges posed by the pandemic.  And as Jews, for whom ongoing learning – of both the young and younger – is imperative, all are to be praised for their enthusiasm and ingenuity.  It may not be the in-person nor brick-and-mortar mode of learning we once took for granted.  But when it comes to navigating our cyber classrooms there’s a good deal to be proud of, all the same.

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