Cantor Sheldon Merel z”l
Dear Holy Blossom Community,
It is with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Cantor Sheldon Merel Z”l. Cantor Merel served our beloved Holy Blossom Congregation with tremendous dignity and honour for 10 years from 1969-1979. While I did not have the pleasure of knowing Cantor Merel well, I did meet him earlier this year on a Zoom call. He was truly a sweet singer of Israel, he was known for his majestic voice and menschlichkeit personality. He elevated the music of our congregation for almost a decade and was succeeded by our Cantor Emeritus, Benjamin Maissner.
I want to share with you some words posted by the President of the American Conference of Cantors along with a reflection from Cantor Maissner.
The family has requested a private Funeral and Shiva and I have been informed that there will be a public memorial service in the near future. We will provide details as they become available.
May his memory forever be for a blessing.
Zichrono livracha,
Cantor David Rosen
President of the American Conference of Cantors:
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Reflection from Cantor Benjamin Maissner
Dear Friends and Congregants,
It is with great sadness that I have to bare the heartbreaking news that our former beloved Cantor Sheldon Merel passed away last night. I arrived at Holy Blossom Temple shortly after Shelley left to return to the west coast. I succeeded a giant in the field. Shelly was really a sweet singer of Israel. He embodied the highest level of our calling in the Art of the Shaliach Tzibur; the emissary of our people.
Cantor Merel served this congregation with love and devotion. He was a hard “act” to follow as his glorious voice, calming temper and sweet personality endeared him to the entire congregation. He was learned, musical and had excellent taste as he catered the sacred song of our people and elevated the prayer text to a very high level.
Shelley had an extremely busy and dignified career for over forty years since he left our congregation and returned to the west coast in San Diego. In his advanced age, well into his 90’s he still sang like a bird every High Holiday in his beloved home congregation. Many of our members still remember Shelly with great love and admiration. Shelly came back to our Temple for concerts. It was an honour for me to sing with him and stand beside him as I listened to his sweet Neshama shine through as he put his heart into our sacred song.
May his memory be for a blessing to all who knew him
Both Cantor Rosen and I sadly mourn his passing.
Yehi Zichcon Baruch,
Beny
In a recent article for Truah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, Canadian rabbi, Jesse Paikin, teaches about a moment in last week’s Torah portion when Balaam’s eyes are finally opened to see what was in front of him the whole time.
Bringing Rashi, Rabbi Paikin teaches that God’s spirit rested upon Bilaam to teach us that:
nobody anywhere might ever use the excuse: “If only I had known, I would have changed for the better.” When the unknown becomes known, can we have the courage to confront what we’d rather keep invisible? This moment in Torah provides an unambiguous example of how, once our eyes are open to the truth, it cannot be ignored. All the more so, it must be acted upon.
Rabbi Paikin continues:
We’re staring into a grave right now. Despite our understandable desire to protect ourselves emotionally by not grappling with the implications of the pain, the truth cannot be reburied. We have to keep looking into the still-open wounds.
Over the last eight years, I have gained a deeper and more complex view of Canada, and with it, a more nuanced appreciation of Canada Day.
Some years, Canada Day has felt like a firework and barbeque precursor to the 4th of July. Other years, it stood as a moment of proud celebration of a country welcoming of refugees and proud of its diversity. And this year it feels awkward. Like the churches planted on the land are foreign invaders. Like the flag should be orange.
This year I will still celebrate that which is good – we should be glad for the goodness which God has given us, and give thanks for it. And that celebration will be paired with donations to support First Nations causes in order to reinforce the fabric of our nation.
What makes the fabric of Canada so beautiful is that it is knit in so many bright and diverse colours. Multiple identities are highlighted and made more beautiful through how other strands reinforce their difference. There is dominance and dominion – yet there is also striving and through transitions and blends, as buried threads reach the surface and are restored. Violent rips and pain tears also are in this complex landscape, as hate pulls us asunder, and leaves us feeling unsupported as we seek to find our place back.
Many of us have felt unsupported as anti-Zionism mingled with Anti-Semitism, and a foreign war became a mini-domestic conflict. And our community has been able to cast that aside as domestic terrorism has created new feelings of physical insecurity for our Muslim neighbours.
Just as in Torah study, there is a pshat, drash, remes and sod to that sentence – layers and layers of interpretation.
In the coming days, (on a Sunday afternoon to be confirmed soon), I want to invite you for an internal, Holy Blossom Temple conversation on the news of the day. I have received many phone calls and emails from both parents of 20s and 30s and members in our community in their 20s/30s, about a gap in experience in our community. It is almost as if – and we know this is true – their social media and news universes are totally different. Rabbi Lea Mülstein, Chair of ARZENU (our Reform movement Zionist political party), and a community rabbi in the United Kingdom where she has been holding similar conversations will interview two of our members about their view of the world they see around them, as it relates to anti-Racism and their Jewish identities. One of the interviewees will be Dr. Karen Mock, CM and the other will be Emily Albert.
And, I want to invite you also to watch a series of videos produced by our partners in fighting hate at the Noor Cultural Centre: http://islamophobia-is.com/watch/
One of the early Reform Rabbis – Emil G Hirsch – taught that when Joseph went into slavery, his clothes of many colours were replaced by a single coloured garment and that this colour change represents different types of societies. The slave’s garment is singular, and a uniform for a society of oppression. The clothes of many colours are the opposite – representing the freedom and diversity which are God’s image for the world.
The fabric is complex, and that adds to its beauty.
July 9, 1936 – May 31, 2021
By “Happy” Iscove
“Establish for Yourself a Teacher and You Will Acquire a Friend.” (Pirke Avot 1:6)
Many times, as I neared her tiny office adjacent to the steps of the tower entrance, I heard Pearlie’s delicate, musical voice demonstrating a trope to a student or correcting the Hebrew pronunciation. As I passed by the door, she’d smile at me from behind her desk and wave. Then, she’d continue the lesson.
Pearlie was a passionate student of Judaism…all aspects of it. She loved to study Jewish texts and was active in a Tanach group, a Talmud group and a book club. Pearlie was a teacher because she cared about imparting Jewish knowledge, skills and culture to peers as well as to the next generations. It was what she did best.
It’s been said that great teachers have three loves: love of learning, love of learners, and the love of bringing the first two loves together. That describes my dear friend, Pearl Hermant, z”l, both a life-long learner and a life-long teacher of Judaism.
For more than four decades (through the end of 2007), Pearlie taught hundreds of Holy Blossom Temple bnei mitzvah their Torah and haftarah portions. She did more than teach them the mechanics of singing the tropes and merely chanting their portions. Pearlie combined her solid foundation of Jewish knowledge with her passion for sharing her insights. She was well organized and intelligent, making every moment of the lesson a teaching moment. For example, she often explained how a particular trope emphasized a word, and why that word was important in understanding the meaning of the text.
Teaching adolescents was not always easy, particularly when they showed up unprepared for their lessons. Pearlie was a no-nonsense person. She didn’t pull any punches and accepted few excuses. She was thorough and honest, fair and kind. She was determined that her students did well. Pearlie understood that chanting Torah on behalf of the congregation is a privilege that must be done accurately. She made sure that her students were “bima ready” and in so doing, she helped to foster their self-confidence and self-esteem.
Pearlie was also a teacher of teachers. She taught Dori Levine and me to recognize and chant the tropes so that we, too, could become bnei mitzvah tutors. I fondly remember my summer sessions in 2007 with Pearlie. I would leave her apartment with my study materials in hand, and head for my car with so much more than just trope signs and melodies in my head. I had new perceptions and ideas to consider.
I met Pearlie soon after arriving in Toronto fifty years ago, but it was during the past 25 years that we became particularly close friends. We spoke every week over the phone. I loved her sparkle when she entered a room, her warm “Hi” when we greeted each other, her curiosity about so many things from recipes to specific words in sacred texts, the stories of her family history that she was eager to tell, the lessons we learned from each other, her sense of humour and laughter, and her honesty whether critical or complimentary.
I will miss our friendship and the conversations left unfinished.
May Pearl Hermant’s memory always be for a blessing.
This Saturday night, the World Union of Progressive Judaism conference, which I co-chaired with Nitzan Barak (Israel) and Hannah Verhulst (the Netherlands) drew to a close.
It was a strange thing to be in my home, with over 1,000 participants in the event platform, and over 2,000 more watching on our livestream.
The big event was the installation of Rabbi Sergio Bergman as WUPJ President, as well as having moments to schmooze with and learn from him. His vision of the WUPJ is one that ties us all more closely with Israel and brings support to small Jewish communities all over the world.
Holy Blossom Temple played a major role in the event. Our member, Carole Sterling, delivered remarks at both the opening and closing ceremonies from our Bimah. Cantor Rosen contributed to the Saturday morning Shacharit from our Main Sanctuary. And Rabbi Splansky moderated a keynote address with some of the world’s most preeminent thinkers from her COVID office.
While I am not sure we’ll have any new wedding couples based on this year’s convention, the learning lingers longer.
The best-of list, of course, includes sessions organized and featuring many of our members:
All of these and more are present in the on-demand section of the WUPJ conference platform for those who registered and will be released on youtube slowly for those that did not.
Thank you to all who make your voluntary contributions, and the many who make time contributions as well to the WUPJ – including Executive Board Member Les Rothschild – and Denes Rothschild who provided a small film crew for one of our aliyot.
Under Rabbi Bergman’s leadership and Carole Sterling’s guidance, I know the WUPJ will continue to enrich our community through its connection to an international family.
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
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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.