Welcome back to school, Holy Blossom parents, grandparents, and any teachers or carers of children among our congregation!

Whether summer felt long or short to you, we hope it has been fun and full of meaning, whether at camp, up at the cottage, here at home in Toronto, on vacation to somewhere exotic, or any combination of all of the above.

We know that this time of transition, is not easy, as our children start their new routines (new teachers, new schedule, new friends, new grade level), with so much to process and consider and adapt to.

It’s a good thing, then, that our tradition has wisdom for exactly this moment, teaching us in Proverbs 22:6:

Chanoch la’na’ar al pi darko, gam ki yazkin lo yasur mimenah

“Teach your child according to the way they ought to go, and even as they age they will not turn away from it”.

It’s an even better thing, then, that is also precisely the right time of year on the Jewish calendar, with Rosh Hashana on the horizon, to learn and create good Jewish values, habits, and memories, that will stay with them for a lifetime.

This Shabbat morning, September 9, at 10:30 am is our first Family Service for the season. Our Head Songleader Avishai Sol and I can’t wait to be with our youngest friends in the Youth Chapel

We are delighted to be welcoming back our YEC students on Sunday, September 9 and Monday, September 10. Come by on Sunday from 9:30 am for our Open House, where current students will have their Orientation, parents and prospective families can check out our incredible YEC, and all are invited to join in some Rosh Hashanah fun and games.

As we begin this new school year, at Holy Blossom, we know it takes a village to raise a Jewish child, and we are here to be your village.

We wish courage, success, happiness, strength and joy to our children and their families, and know they are in for a fantastic 5784. May their learning always be sweet as honey, and may they know that their Holy Blossom village always has their back.

We look forward to seeing you at any or all of these amazing upcoming opportunities for community connection, as we navigate the New Year together!

L’shalom and an early Shanah Tovah,

Rabbi Eliza McCarroll

We are so fortunate to be part of a tradition which places emphasis on the value of wisdom.

As our Psalmist teaches, “from all who have taught me, I have gained understanding” (Psalm 119:99), which indicates to us that that wisdom is both a teaching and a learning process.

We embody this philosophy at Holy Blossom, through our honouring of our Wisdom Generation, as we believe that, particularly in later life stages, we acknowledge all that we have to learn from them, but also recognize that we are each active, thriving, creative lifelong learners at the same time, with much to discover and explore.

Our Rabbis, in Mishna Chagigah, outline their own unique way of discovering and exploring the wisdom of our texts, through their “PaRDeS” method of studying the Pardes, the rich and fruitful orchard, that is Torah.

פ (pey) stands for pshat, the simple interpretation, which indicates the literal meaning of the scriptural text. ר (reish) stands for remez, or hint, connoting that which is gleaned from allusions within the text. ד (daled) equals drash, the exposition, or the homiletic meaning of the text. Finally, ס (samech) is translated to sod, or secret, in which the mystical meaning of the text that leads us to God is illuminated.

In our valuing of wisdom, and of our Wisdom Generation, we hope that you will join us this Shabbat morning, 15 July, from 10:30 am, as Dorot presents their annual Summer Gathering It is an opportunity for all of us to gather for a special service and enhanced kiddush luncheon, with good food, good music, and, most of all, good company spanning all generations to learn from and be taught in turn. We look forward to welcoming you there!

L’chol z’man va’eit, l’chol chefetz tachat hashamayim …

“To everything there is a season, a time for every matter under the sun …”

 

These words from Kohelet have been on my mind in a different way lately, as the sun shines through and spring slowly but surely settles itself upon us, and this coming week leaves me filled with anticipation and emotion in thinking about the passage of time and all that comes with it.

It’s admittedly hitting me quite powerfully, for this Sunday, May 21, is the one-year anniversary of my rabbinic ordination. It is a day that will be forever cherished, in part because of the ceremony but mostly because of how I felt that morning: an overwhelming sense of joy and relief at finally reaching that milestone and at having my family there to celebrate.

Just a few days later, on June 4, I moved to Canada, which was Erev Shavuot. This festival always had a fond place in my heart because of the connection to Torah and learning, but even more so now that Shavuot was the first chag that Rabbi Kaye and I were lucky enough to join our sacred congregation as rabbis of Holy Blossom.

In other words, this festival of revelation is revealing to me the level and depth of change that has occurred since this time last year, when I went up to the bimah at Plum Street Temple as one person and came down the other side, then moved north of the border, as another.

Put differently, it is a season of renewal and reflection, and we have much to celebrate as a congregation, as look ahead to Shavuot next week, and shortly thereafter turn our minds to the summer, and to the next happy year.

We can reflect on all we’ve achieved. We can reflect on all we’ve learned. We can reflect on all we’ve become. We can reflect, in Rabbi Splansky’s words, to all we are becoming.

One of these elements is the ordination of another rabbi of Holy Blossom, Rabbi Taylor Baruchel, who just this past weekend was ordained in LA, and who we are so lucky to welcome to our professional staff as our new Director of Outreach and Next Generation Engagement. Mazal tov to her, and to all of us, and we know you will treat her kindly.

The second is to join our community for all of our wonderful Shavuot offerings, from Confirmation to a congregational dinner to Yom Tov services, which will include children’s breakout activities. Details can be found here.

May we always have milestones to celebrate together, and an early Chag Shavuot Sameach!

Simcha Rabah, simcha rabah, aviv higiyah, Pesach ba …

“With great joy, with great joy, Spring is arriving, and Pesach is coming!”

This well-known verse might be a familiar tune as we mercifully herald in the new season, watch the snow begin to melt, and feel the cold begin to lift.

With the entry of spring, we also turn our hearts and minds to the Pesach festival, in which we ultimately celebrate the opportunity for our renewal.

This is especially in light of the fact that the month of Nissan, in which Pesach falls, was the original first month of the Hebrew calendar.

Although we as Torontonians and Canadians might look to the blossoming of the trees and the blooming of flowers as our signal that Spring is here, as Jews we also have another symbol of the promise of the season’s cycle: the karpas (parsley or similar green vegetable) on our Seder plate.

The first ritual food we eat during the Seder, we recite the blessing “borei p’ri ha’adamah” (praising God as the Creator of the fruits of the earth) over it. This is unusual because we would normally recite this blessing only over foods – specifically, vegetables – that have been cooked, but of course, we eat the karpas raw.

Rabbi Naftali ben Shimon Hertz Ginzburg provides his interpretation of this question, writing his commentary on the Haggadah in Poland at the end of the 17th Century.

He teaches that instead, it is an allusion to the Midrash about the Israelite women giving birth in the fields, and the ground swallowing up these precious bundles to protect them from the Egyptians when they came to look. As such, “borei p’ri ha’adamah” is a reminder of this miracle, and the miracle of freedom we recall at this time in our Jewish calendar.

As the heavy grey of winter recedes to become less gloomy, there is a sense that our sacred congregation itself is feeling a weight lift from its shoulders, and feeling much freer as we face Pesach 5783.

We can feel our sacred congregation breaking through the (frozen) grounds and blossoming once more, with much to look forward to on the horizon, whether that is volunteer opportunities for our YAD 20s/30s, our meaningful Pesach services, including Yizkor, and our commemorations for the Israeli holidays. You should particularly take note of all our Pesach events HERE.

With so much happening during this season of our renewal, we encourage you to come along and participate. Check out the website. Join us on Shabbat. Ask your rabbis and cantors.

We look forward to welcoming you and keeping you up-to-date with all the latest details.

Subsequently, may all of your labour’s efforts to be involved be fruitful, full of blessing, and full of spring joy.

May it be a season of “simcha rabah”, and an early Chag Pesach Sameach!

Our Shabbat liturgy is filled with the language of welcome.

During Lecha Dodi, we stand and face the entrance, and bow as we sing:

Boi b’shalom, ateret ba’alah, gam b’simcha u’v’tzahola, toch emunei am segulah, boi kala, boi kalah.
“Come O bride, crown of her betrothed, enter in joy and in peace, into the people that keeps its faith, enter, O bride!”

It is perhaps no surprise then that this Shabbat was full of special moments of welcoming. On Friday night, it was members of our YAD (Young Adult Division), who joined for Kabbalat Shabbat before enjoying their first proper dinner back at HBT since the pandemic. Then, on Shabbat morning, new members attended either the Mishkan or the Family Service and were hosted at a reception in the Garson/Baskin Gallery.

The scene was palpable, as both our sacred spaces and our communal areas became animated with life, with prayer, music, children happily running around, glasses clinking l’chayim, and the sounds of laughter and conversation as members of our congregation took the opportunity to get to know one another. Shabbat itself became a simcha as we welcomed these newcomers into our midst. We hope that those who joined this past Shabbat felt truly embraced by their Holy Blossom family, our holy congregation that they have now chosen to call their spiritual home. With approximately 160 new member households in our community, we stand at a transformative moment in our rich history.

On that note, one more newcomer we are to shortly welcome into our midst is Yoel Sykes, co-founder of the infamous Jewish Music group, Nava Tehila. A student rabbi, he also travels around the U.S. and the world to lead transformative and healing prayer experiences. We are blessed that he will be joining us for Shabbat Shira, on February 3 and 4.

Details for our Shabbat Shira services, at which he will be our spiritual facilitator, as well as the registration for the Friday night dinner, can be found HERE.

The wooden doors to our beautiful building have carved into them the words of another well-known piece of Shabbat liturgy, from the Shalom Aleichem: Boachem L’shalom – “Come in Peace”.

May all who walk through our doors – whether this Shabbat or into the future – come in joy and in peace, with that warm HBT welcome being a sign of our own faith brought to life, in all its transformative power.