A Jewel In Our Crown

 

Your sons and daughters will be prophets,

Your older persons shall dream dreams

And your youth shall know visions

Joel 3:1

 

When he was young, our son Max was ‘a regular’ at Holy Blossom Temple’s Family Shabbat Service.  My wife Deborah, Max and I – took joy in being guided through Jewish worship, an experience enriched by the energetic music and song accompaniment of David and Judy Gershon. Following the service, our pleasure was enhanced by way of a delicious nosh and rewarding socializing with other families in attendance.

For Deborah, Max and I, Family Shabbat Service was a gateway to involvement in other aspects of congregational life: family programming, adult learning, social justice activities and the Stagecraft Company.   In these ways and more – the emotional, spiritual and intellectual intangibles, so to speak – Family Shabbat Service was a portal through which Holy Blossom became our spiritual home.

From of their Family Shabbat Service experiences, our Temple youth establish enduring relationships with their peers, relationships that carry over into the Temple’s Religious and Hebrew Schools, the HABSTY Youth Group, summertime ventures at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Camp George, Confirmation Class and… beyond.

And just as important, Family Shabbat serves to strengthen Jewish identity and nurture Jewish pride.  Out of their mornings spent at Family Shabbat, our youth develop a Jewish view of the world, a vision imbued with middot – our Jewish values of love, caring, and compassion for all our others.

The long-term merits of Family Shabbat cannot be overstated.

Holy Blossom aspires to resume in-person Family Shabbat Service by early spring of 2022. Due diligence will be devoted to the health and safety – vis-a-vis COVID – of our members.   At the same time, the Temple leadership welcomes our families’ input as it pertains to regathering.    Included below is the link to a Survey focusing on the Family Shabbat Service, that we encourage Temple members to complete and return to us as soon as possible.  As well, please feel free to reach out to me – Rabbi Bill S. Tepper – and/or Principal of Youth Education and Family Engagement Lisa Isen Baumal.  Because for us at Holy Blossom, the comfort level of everyone – the young and the younger – is nothing less than vital.

I greatly look forward to the resumption of Family Shabbat Service, this ‘jewel’ in Holy Blossom Temple’s crown.   And I hope you do as well.

Link to Survey re: Holy Blossom Temple Family Shabbat Service

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8Z7BQ6Z