In-Person Shabbat Morning Services now with Torah Aliyot for Attendees! Starting this Shabbat, attendees will be able to participate in a Torah Aliyah, safely just off to the side of the Torah reading table. Please contact Faye Major or Michael Rubin if you would like an aliyah. Pre-registrationIS REQUIRED for all in-person attendees. Maximum 20 people. Registration opens Wed at 8AM and closes Fri @noon prior to each Shabbat. Click here to register for this Shabbat Click here to register for July 31st
The Sunday, July 25th afternoon/evening minyan is sponsored by Trudy Bleier and Rita & Carey Drutz in memory of Trudy and Rita's grandfather Morris Shinezinger and their uncle Max Singer and in honour of Trudy's special birthday. ✺ The Monday, July 26th morning minyan is sponsored by Sam Cohen, Mike Cohen and David Cohen in memory of their father Daniel Cohen & Brenda Cooper-Geffen and Jeff Cooper in memory of their father Albert Cooper and his parents Ya'acov David and Basha Kuperberg. ✺ The Tuesday, July 27th morning minyan is sponsored by Rosalie & Avram Selick in loving memory of Rosalie's father Sol Daniels & Ronnie & Marsha Klein in loving memory of Ronnie's mother Phyllis Klein. ✺
Morning Minyan: Sun, July 25 at 8:30 am Morning Minyan: Mon, July 26 to Fri, July 30 at 8:00 am
Evening Minyan: Sun, July 25to Thurs, July 29 at 7:00 pm
One thing I love doing (and am excited to resume) is going on to Airbnb, a website to find vacation rentals, and finding the best place to stay for whatever location I might be travelling to. I look at all the pictures of the property and the location and read the reviews other people have left about each place. One of the things high on my priority list is a comfortable bed- I love the feeling of getting into a cozy bed after a day of travel, it really can’t be beat. I still remember from almost 3 years ago the amazing bed I slept on in Colorado at an Airbnb that was full of reviews about the comfortable bed.
Why am I going on about this? If you didn’t guess, it is because this week is called Shabbat Nachamu, which means a Shabbat of comfort and consolation. It is taken from the beginning line of the Haftarah: נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י nachamu nachamu ami, “Comfort, comfort my people.”
This verse is not talking about having all the Israelites find a comfortable mattress; we are going for a more emotional sense of comfort. However, I do often find that emotional comfort and physical comfort are connected. Even in the Jewish texts, we use physical descriptions to evoke a sense of emotional comfort. For example, in this haftarah we describe God as a shepherd, “Like a shepherd God pastures God’s flock: God gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in God’s bosom; Gently God drives the mother sheep.” (Isaiah 40:11), Isaiah is giving us an image of a hug. God is bringing the sheep in close and holding them in an embrace, a nice warm soft hug. We also have the image of being wrapped in the wings of the shechinah, another type of divine hug, or divine blanket type of feeling.
So this Shabbat my ask of you is to try to do something that brings you a bit of comfort, physical and/or emotional since they are so connected. Maybe that is taking a nice moment to stretch or do some deep breathing, maybe it is curling up on your favourite couch with a well-loved book, giving or receiving a hug, taking some moments for gratitude, or whatever else feels right in this moment. I hope we can all feel a sense of comfort this Shabbat, and help one another feel it as well.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Walker rabbiwalker@bethdavid.com
p.s. The week of this Shabbat every year I get the same song stuck in my head so I wanted to share it with you the way I hear it. The words are the beginning of the haftarah for this week and the music is by Safam, a Jewish acapella group from my university. Listen to it here.
We remember with reverence and love those for whom Yahrzeit will be observed this week.
Ira Abraham Morris Agulnik Frances Arzem Adolph Bain Alta Esther Banker Michael Banks Jack Besserman Belle Birken Louis Bloom Moses Borsuk Irving Buchman David Charney Daniel Cohen Albert Cooper Sol Daniels Matilda Feuerstein Rebecca Fruchtman Pearl Gelkopf Mario Ger Jean Gerstein Abe Gertler Jack Gertzbein Joseph Glass Sophie Goldenberg Mordechai Goldfluss Hyman Goldhar Moshe Goldshmid Sonja Goldstein Doreen Goodman Shirley Goretsky Zysla Leah Granek Girda Halperin Sheldon Halpern Sophie Hoffman Elimelech Jacobson Bert Kahn
Max Katchky Bruce Louis Klein Phyllis Klein Rose Klimitz Edith Kogon Elsie Kosower Sarah Kruger Jacob Kuperberg Basia Kuperberg Faye Kushnir James Larventz Helen Levinson Gertrude Liff Luis Liss Joe Lubek Prosper Mastey Natan Moses Ruby Orlan Anne Page Anne Porretta Henry Ritchie Rebetzin Shoshana Leah Rizenman Rose Robinson Gedalyah Rosenfeld Joachim Schoenfeld Gertrude Shacter Al Sherman Rebecca Shreiber Rachel Soussan Clara Steinberg Fred Stoll Hyman Title Sarah Vigodny Ann Wagman Aishie (Rosalind) Wagman Faye Zionce
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