Rabbi Rick Jacobs, President of the Union For Reform Judaism wrote the following article:
https://urj.org/press-room/reform-jewish-leader-addresses-situation-israel?fbclid=IwAR1pT9fNq7afG2ZvfRiCGpcztyTvhjk5qtrxUnxNR5psAKbQvVPKASXpp-s
The American Jewish Committee published a concise article about “Myths and Facts” regarding the current crisis: https://www.ajc.org/news/4-myths-and-facts-about-the-violence-in-jerusalem
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also has an important perspective. https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-statement-regarding-recent-violence-and-rocket-attacks-in-jerusalem
If you’d like to read the Israeli press, here are three English language sources with differing perspectives:
Holy Blossom Temple is hiring for the following positions, funded by the Canada Summer Jobs program. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until positions are filled. These positions will be primarily remote but may require occasional work on-site at 1950 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON in accordance with COVID safety restrictions and government guidance.
Membership and Community Engagement Assistant
Two roles are available
18$/hour, 35 hours/week for 8 weeks
Responsibilities:
Communications and Marketing Assistant
Two roles are available
18$/hour, 35 hours/week for 8 weeks
Responsibilities:
Questions? Please email Abigail Carpenter-Winch, Director of Membership and Community Engagement at [email protected]
These summer jobs are funded by the Canada Summer Jobs program, and as such, applicants must:
*The youth must be 15 years of age at the beginning of the employment period. The youth may be more than 30 years of age at the end of the employment period as long as the youth was 30 at the beginning of the employment period.
**International students are not eligible participants. International students include anyone who is temporarily in Canada for studies and who is not a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person who has been granted refugee status in Canada. Youth awaiting a refugee status ruling, as well as those who hold a temporary visitor visa, youth visa or work visa are ineligible. As the objective of the Canada Summer Jobs program is to support youth entering the Canadian labour market, the temporary nature of an international student’s time in Canada does not allow for a long-term connection to the labour market.
Olam Chesed Yibaneh –
We must build our world from loving-kindness.
The world is a big place – and there are gaps between what is right and what is. Sometimes, those gaps feel closer together – such as in the news that George Floyd’s murderer will be behind bars, and the pressure on Queens Park to introduce sick-leave. Sometimes those gaps feel wider and unbridgeable – in conversations around the vaccine rollout in the Global South, where new variants are bringing hardship and devastation, we feel the need to try to do something to lessen the suffering.
One of my honours is to serve as a co-chair for the World Union of Progressive Judaism’s conference, which launches in mid-May, just after Shavuot. It is the first World Union Connections gathering in four years – and the first online conference.
When our member, and the chair of the World Union – Carole Sterling – asked me to help with the conference – I was excited for the opportunity to travel to Jerusalem – to Beit Shmuel once again. But instead, I’ll be taking a trip like Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlov taught about – creating a virtual Jerusalem.
There, I will see friends and members of our global Jewish family from around the world – I’ll have a chance to preserve tradition through pickle-making with Rabbi Whats the Dill…. And to learn how to make Kosher Chilli Crab with Rosita from Singapore. I’ll be able to schmooze at the ‘bar’ area, and hear some of the freshest new Jewish music in our movement.
In addition I am honoured to be able to learn from dynamic speakers and teacher – like Rabbi Splansky, who is moderating one of our keynote events with Professor Stephen Pinker and Adam Azari – a National Geographic level video on the environment with Rabbi Sergio Bergman, the new WUPJ President, and the former minister of the environment for the government of Argentina – and the first Reform Rabbi in the Knesset- Gilad Kariv.
I recently learned that one of the keynotes will be announcing a new initiative to bring healing to parts of our world greatly in need of support and care, and I look forward to learning more at the conference!
Our huge and interconnected Jewish world is built on Love- come, learn, and study the diversity of our movement and see how that diversity builds a more caring world together.
(And thank you to Rabbi Splansky, Tema Smith, Carole Sterling, Cantor Rosen, Kalman Green, Daniel Abramson, Les Rothschild, Rabbi Glickman, Abigail Carpenter-Winch, Rabbi Tepper, Ann Rosenfield and so many more members of our community for your help!)
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/connections-2021-facing-our-jewish-future-together-tickets-137432974727
Planning a Seder can take a lot of work and creativity in a typical year.
Holy Blossom is here to help! We will be hosting a Virtual Passover Seder that you are warmly invited to. We are also pleased to be able to offer our members the opportunity to have their Passover Seders catered by local Caterers! Click the links below for delicious options for your Seder!
Please turn to the below resources for inspiration and to renew your Seder ritual. From sharing videos on zoom, to new family haggadot like this CCAR Haggadah, we at Holy Blossom are happy to provide resources to help us all move mentally from slavery to liberation.
JIAS Passover Supplement: Connect Passover with Refugees Today
This year as we recall the story of the Israelites fleeing Egypt in search of freedom, we will be thinking of the millions of Ukrainians who are enslaved by war and violence – including the 200,000 Jewish Ukrainians who are either in danger or displaced. The crisis in Ukraine compounds an ongoing and fast-growing world refugee crisis of catastrophic proportions. Almost 30 million people around the world have been forced to flee their country of origin in pursuit of safety and basic human rights. The JIAS Toronto Passover Supplement provides stories of 21st-century refugees, reminds us that we too were once strangers in a strange land, and challenges us to think about how we can help “welcome the stranger”.
JIAS is at the forefront of providing services that help immigrants and refugees on their own journey to freedom today. Click here to download the JIAS Passover Supplement and be part of this effort.
“Dayeinu”
by Rabbi Yael Splansky
The Toronto Star https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/04/08/passover-during-a-pandemic-from-degradation-to-exultation.html
“Expressions of Gratitude, even now”
By Rabbi Yael Splansky
If only my loved ones and I were healthy,
Dayeinu.
If only my government were good and trustworthy and proactive,
Dayeinu.
If only the medical professionals were showing up to work every day, despite the risks,
Dayeinu.
If only the grocery stores and pharmacies were still open to provide for the essentials of life,
Dayeinu.
If only I had a phone line to hear the voices of those I love,
Dayeinu.
If only I had internet access to connect with my congregation for prayer and sacred learning,
Dayeinu.
If only I had books on my shelf to read,
Dayeinu.
If only I could listen to the music that I love,
Dayeinu.
If only I could go outside or open a window for fresh air,
Dayeinu.
If only the sun came up each morning and set each evening, come what may,
Dayeinu.
If only I had good neighbours who are there for me if I ever need help,
Dayeinu.
If only I had a tablecloth and candlesticks to make “this night different from all other nights.”
If only I had the Jewish story to transport me from the narrow places of Egypt to the wide, open expanses of the wilderness, where God is near and the Promised Land is on the horizon,
Dayeinu.
May this Passover bring us from “degradation to exultation,” from the low places of captivity to the higher ground of health and hope for the future.
“A Passover”
after Rabbi Yael Splansky
By Gary Barwin
If my dove is good
If your coat and phone are open
If you were the only lioness or were paralyzed
If only I were a boomerang
If I could go outside or open the kissing cabinet
If the sun shines on each motel
If you had a door so you could sing
Hope which brings you from the cloak of the world to the scorching heat and soup to the galaxy
For now, my only friend is health.
This year of harsh separation has given us a taste of the bitterness and tear-filled sorrow our ancestors faced in Egypt. Instead of glossing over the feelings of pain and pretending they don’t exist, we bless the bitter, respecting and acknowledging it, before mixing it with the sweet.
1950 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON, M5P 3K9
(416) 789-3291
[email protected]
Emergency Funeral Contact
Cell: 416-565-7561
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.