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A Love Letter to Holy Blossom Temple

From your friend in Los Angeles, Jennifer Malvin

I wish I could say that I had climbed mountains and crossed deserts to arrive at the oasis called Holy Blossom Temple. In truth, there was no weather event and no revelation. There was only inspiration. The COVID pandemic had closed the doors of my local synagogue. So, I began looking for an online portal. Tapping my mouse, like Dorothy clicking her heels, Google instantly transported me to Toronto’s very own Jewish Land of Oz, called Holy Blossom Temple. There, I found friends, teachers, tzadiks (Jewish wizards), and mensches. Most significantly, I found a group of individuals whose communal heart overflows with chesed and rachamim.  For me, the “holy” in Holy Blossom was the divine hand that led me there.

A single Zoom square measures no more than a few inches, and yet, the friendships I’ve made at Holy Blossom span continents. Not only do we share services together, but we participate in the expansive number of programs that Holy Blossom offers through a cadre of dedicated hosts, all volunteers by the way. Jack Kugelmass’s daily social hour, L’Chaim; Marty Steinhouse’s weekly program on Jewish music; Cynthia Good’s frequent book review, Good Books; Gillian Helfield’s film review, What I am Watching; the brilliant Israel Dialogues; Barbara Glazer’s Dorot; Rabbi Yael Splansky’s Shabbat Morning Torah Study; Harriet Wolman’s Poetry and Writing Group; and Mark Goodman’s classes on the Torah nourish and delight, always. Rabbi Kaye and Rabbi McCarrol recently arrived at Holy Blossom, and have already contributed in their own unique ways to my understanding of Judaic texts and values.

I am also indebted to Women of Holy Blossom and their programming partner, Women’s Advocacy Group. They continue to produce and sponsor a cascade of programs and events that have given me the opportunity to practice an active Judaism based on social values of inclusiveness, allyship, chesed, and mitzvot, to name a few. Their monthly newsletter not only inspires me but is a portal to this 100-year-old community of dedicated and dynamic women.

Rabbi Splansky is a captain worthy of every responsibility and pleasure her position holds. At big moments and small, milestones and minutes she is there with a kind word and an embrace, and most of all, her time. She is also at the forefront of the Reform movement, as it constantly seeks how best to serve the needs of its members.

Cantor Rosen, first introduced to Holy Blossom by Cantor Emeritus, Beny Maissner, is an artist who already thrills, and yet, whose potential I cannot begin to imagine. He is joined by Cantorial Soloist, Lindi Rivers, a songbird in her own right. They lift prayers from the page and drop them into pockets of my heart I didn’t know were there.

So, now you know just a few of the reasons why I love Holy Blossom, what makes the miles between us disappear, and why Zoom has become the lifeline to the community I have come to cherish.

With love and gratitude,

Jennifer

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I hadn’t stepped foot into a synagogue in over 50 years

By: Audrey Birenbaum

Other than for weddings, bar mitzvahs and the occasional Rosh Hashanah service I hadn’t stepped foot into a synagogue in over 50 years. That was until my friend Anne Freeman invited me to a Simchat Torah service at Holy Blossom Temple. I didn’t realize, until that evening, what I had been missing from my life.

I had grown up in Montreal and attended an orthodox synagogue.  I went to Hebrew school 3 times a week which involved a lot of kicking and screaming. Finally, in grade 3 my parents relented and pulled me out.

Each of my brothers found their own way back to shul as adults but I purposefully stayed away. As I am not raising a family of my own, there was no reason for me to become affiliated with any part of the Jewish community.  I had no wedding ceremony and no children to educate. It wasn’t until I retired 3 years ago and joined the JCC that I even had a connection with a Jewish institution and that is where I met Anne.

Anne’s invitation to join the Simchat Torah celebration last October made a difference in my life.  I found a familiarity with the shul I knew from childhood, but this one felt better. It felt comforting and welcoming. There were women on the Bima, there was participation among the congregants and understood why people were given aliyot. In short, I felt a kinship with those around me. It wasn’t long before I joined.

I now attend Torah study and weekly Shabbat services. I enjoy bagels and lox at kiddush with new friends. I have participated in the Dorot program and have taken on the co-chair role of the Kugel Kindness project, of the Bikkur Cholim Committee.  I am getting great satisfaction from my new membership.

As Anne said to me recently, you never know when your life is going to change. In this case, I do know, it was on Simchat Torah 5783 and it was Anne’s kindness and caring that brought me here and I am thankful. Todah Rabbah.

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Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Eliza McCarroll

There is an extraordinary exhibit in the Israel Museum called “The Synagogue Route”, which is a collection of synagogue sanctuaries from all around the world which has now been relocated to their permanent home in Jerusalem.

It is my favourite place on the entire planet, and some of my fondest memories involve wandering the little corridors between each structure and exploring their elaborate designs, from the gilded rooves of the Italian interior to the sand floors from Suriname to the heavy German wooden Ark doors.

This exhibit is a beautiful reminder of the commonalities that unite us as Jews across the world, and the unique twists that each community brings to their Judaism, which millions of Jews brought with them as they immigrated to the modern state of Israel over the last seven and a half decades. It is also symbolic of where we as Jews have come from, and what we have achieved in the face of adversity. Who would have thought 75 years ago that there would be a dedicated space, in Jerusalem, to keep these synagogues safe and preserve them, and that this small country would have developed into the “Start-up Nation”, with its own thriving culture, economy, and people?

The fond memories of this exhibit also ground me in our Holy Blossom Temple pillar of Ahavat Yisrael, love of Israel, reminding me that:

  • Israel was the place I spent my childhood years working towards as part of a Reform Zionist youth movement.
  • It was where I decided to become a rabbi, after spending a year at the Hebrew University.
  • I would return there for another year to begin rabbinical school, living and breathing the Jewish calendar, from the sacredly quiet streets on Yom Kippur to joyful Kabbalat Shabbat music at the First Station to eating matzah by the beach at Pesach.
  • That the last trip my family and I took before the pandemic was to Israel, to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday
  • There is no place more magical to be at 4 pm on a Friday afternoon than Jerusalem, as the shops begin to close and the sun begins to set on the golden sandstone, signalling: “Shabbat is here”.

Yet, that exhibit – that meeting space between Diaspora and Promised Land – is also the exemplar of the question that Israeli-American journalist Yossi Klein HaLevi so eloquently articulates: is Israel a Jewish state, or a state for the Jewish people?

As literally hundreds of thousands of our Israeli brothers and sisters take to the streets to protest the government and the judicial reforms and other policies it is trying to introduce, there is no denying that this entity we love is indeed in pain, as these questions rise to the fore.

It is why the organizations which represent our values as Reform Jews on the ground, such as the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism (IMPJ – Israel’s Reform Movement) and the Israel Religious Advocacy Centre (IRAC – the legal advocacy arm) are so worthy of our support at this critical time, through the IMPJ Emergency Fund: https://holyblossom.org/impj-irac-emergency-campaign/.

The Israeli anthem is called HaTikvah (“The Hope”) for a reason; when I stand in those synagogues in the Israel Museum, and when I think of the IMPJ and IRAC, they represent the fervent hope of a future that we as Jews can build, in a home we can be proud to call a home for all Jews, and a country for all it’s citizens.

May we see a day in which this state we love is truly “reshit tzmichat geu’latenu” – the first flowering of our redemption – of our ultimate hope.

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Mystery Mordechai Mishloach Manot

Mystery Mordechai Mishloach Manot

March 6 (in time for Purim!)

One of the mitzvot of Purim is Michloach Manot – a basket of goodies exchanged amongst friends, families and neighbours. The book of Esther, instructs us to send gifts to each other at the time of Purim. These baskets contain at least 2 types of food, including hamantaschen, and other sweet treats, fruit, candy, etc.

 

Register here

 

Once you register, you will receive an email with guidelines on what should be included in your Michloach Manot basket. This is an excellent opportunity to be creative – everyone in the house can add something! In addition to the food items, pictures, jokes, or other craft items are a great addition.

Families must register to participate by TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21st. You will receive the name of your ‘Mystery Mordechai’ recipient by February 23rd.
It is traditional to deliver Mishloach Manot on the day of Purim, which is Monday, March 6th this year. Please plan to deliver your Michloach Manot between March 1-6 so that it can be enjoyed as part of Purim festivities.

Have questions? Contact Lisa at [email protected]

Chag Purim Sameach!!!!

 

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Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Samuel Kaye

You Can’t Be Late to Sinai

During our Torah service this Shabbat, we will read the Decalogue, the 10 commandments, and as a community, we will stand to reenact that pivotal moment. This act of physically rising is an echo through time and space of our ancestors who, themselves, physically stood at Sinai to receive this great and sacred obligation. It is also a nod towards the rabbinic teaching that every Jewish soul, created and yet to be, Jew by birth and Jew by choice, all of us stood at Sinai to receive the Torah together.

This ‘timelessness’ and also the bending and breaking of time is known in the Talmud as “אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה /Ain Mukdam oh Mei’uchar bah Torah.” or “In the Torah that is no early or later.” Many of our great rabbinic sages argue that one should not understand the Torah in chronological order; that there is a natural fluidity that comes from this being a text infused with divine wisdom. It can exist within, and outside, of our understanding of time. For instance, according to the Midrash, at the very beginning of time, God looks in the Torah for guidance on creating the universe. Similarly, the rabbis argue that when Moses received the entire Torah on Mount Sinai that revelation included his eventual tragic fate; destined to never enter into the land of Israel. And what was Moses’s response? To scribe those words with his own tears.

A far less dramatic example can be found in this week’s Torah portion, away from the hustle and bustle of the Decalogue- when Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, arrives and reunites Moses with his family. Moses, as we know, was a workaholic trying to treat every element of Israelite society as his own responsibility. Jethro tells him “It is not good! לא־טוב. Lo Tov! This thing you have done!” And this phrase “It is not good!” is found only one other time in the Torah; at the beginning of creation when God looks at the lonely, singular, human and declares “It is not good for people to be alone.” And the Rabbis understand that this is Jethro giving his son-in-law Moses not only a bit of warm fatherly advice but also using the very words of the Torah to try and break through to our weary prophet.

But here comes the anachronism. Torah has not yet arrived in the world, Moses is still days away from receiving it! And furthermore, Jethro has not yet chosen to join the Jewish people! How would he know this quote? So, we return to that first idea that “There is no early or late in the Torah.” Torah is, inside itself and in every generation that follows, timeless. Not all of its wisdom needs to be understood with the hard logic of our minds, sometimes we understand it best with our hearts.

While every Shabbat is special, this week is an especially good time to come and be part of our Holy Blossom Temple Community as we read from our Torah and celebrate our ancient heritage, responsibility, and gift. I hope to see you there!

 

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Lady Justice: Women’s Fight for Democracy and the Work of Tikkun Olam

Lady Justice: and a Conversation about Women’s Fight for Democracy and the Work of Tikkun Olam

By Shelley Birenbaum

On Wednesday, January 18, the Women’s Advocacy Group was honoured to welcome Dahlia Lithwick, in conversation with Rabbi Yael Splansky and the Honourable Justice Rosalie Abella. The Mishkan was full and the event was livestreamed to more than one hundred others.

Dahlia Lithwick, a Canadian-American lawyer, award-winning journalist, author, and podcast host, discussed her 2022 New York Times bestseller, Lady Justice – Women, The Law, and the Battle to Save America.  Lady Justice celebrates the tireless efforts, legal ingenuity, and indefatigable spirit of women lawyers fighting injustices across the US and seeking social justice.

In the wake of a barrage of assaults on the fundamental tenets of democracy in the United States, from the ban on immigrants from Muslim countries to the reversal of Roe v. Wade and abortion rights for women to interfering with the voting rights of U.S. citizens, Dahlia highlighted the depth of commitment and courage of women lawyers to protect equality and democratic rights for all.  Dahlia highlighted the work of Sally Yates, the acting attorney general of the United States, who refused to sign off on the Muslim travel ban, Roberta Kaplan, who sued the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville and Stacey Abrams, whose efforts protected the voting rights of millions of Georgians.  Her message was clear – it is up to each of us to ensure that democratic rights are protected – we cannot rely on the other – it is an obligation that each of us carries, to repair the world. She believes that women have a special approach that fosters the protections of the law.

The Honourable Justice Rosalie Abella, who was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004 and recently retired in 2021, reminded the audience of some of the key differences between Canada and the US legal systems, including the independence of the judiciary in Canada as opposed to the election of judges in the United States. She spoke to the need for an ethos of democracy.  For example, what Hitler did was permissible at law (he changed the law to permit discrimination against Jews and other groups). It is not a question of merely respecting the rule of law, but rather ensuring that the law continues to reflect and protect democratic principles and the progress made to date in recognizing and respecting the equality, autonomy, and diversity of all people.

Rabbi Yael Splansky hosted the conversation with insightful questions, and her teaching and words from Rabbi Joshua Heschel encouraged the panel and audience to think about the balance of justice with love, and love with justice.  The panellists noted that law is both the cause of and potential solution to, many problems.  The law must reflect a commitment to democracy, moral behaviour and respect for the autonomy and diversity of all individuals.  Each of us must do what we can to protect the rights and freedoms of others – to participate in tikkun olam.

This event was generously sponsored by The Women of Holy Blossom. If you would like to view the event, the recording can be found here.

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Founded in 1856, Holy Blossom Temple is Toronto’s first synagogue with a rich history of tradition and modernity in our religious and spiritual expression.

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