Tisha B'av

     "How lonely sits the city that once was filled with people. She has become a widow. She cries alone at night, and tears scar her cheeks. None of her beloved are left to comfort her...The lips of the nursing child are parched with thirst; children ask for bread, but there is none to give them... Our possessions have been claimed by strangers, our homes by foreigners... We are orphaned." (Book of Lamentations)

     For a thousand years, the Temple was our protection, our refuge. Until its final destruction in 70 CE, the Temple in Jerusalem was the heart and soul of the Jewish people. It was in the Temple that the Jewish people gathered, bringing their gifts of grain, fruits, animals and wine to thank God for the land's bounty. At the Temple they sought comfort tin their mourning and healing for their sick, celebrated the birth of a child and even went to search for an object they had lost. It was from the Temple that the leaders of Israel ruled; where Jews sought the presence of God and one another's company.

      Much like Congregation Micah. How fortunate we are to have our beautiful synagogue and the community that fills it. It is at Micah that we come together to celebrate and to mourn, to learn and to grow, to seek the presence of God and one another's company. The holy day of Tisha B'av, which formerly begins this Saturday at sundown and lasts a full day, commemorates the destruction of our Temple in Jerusalem. It is most appropriate that we honor this day of memory with gratitude for all that we have in Congregation Micah. We come together weekly to share in our traditions and to be together as a family

     This Friday at 6pm, we welcome our member and mayoral candidate Linda Eskind Rebrovick as she speaks to us from the bima. Please join us!

Reference: first paragraph - excerpt from the Book of Lamentations; second paragraph - excerpt from "The Tapestry of Jewish Time: A Spiritual Guide to Holidays and Life-cycle Events" by Nina Beth Cardin; third and fourth paragraph written by Rabbi Laurie.

Change in Leadership

Wandering for 40 years meant the children of Israel experienced many a change in leadership during their time in the desert. This week in the Torah, we read about the moment that Aaron passes the role of high priest on to his son, Eleazar. The two ascend with Moses to the top of Mount Hor, and it is there that Aaron clothes Eleazar in the vestments of the priesthood.

     Imagine the emotion the three must have felt on that mountain peak. Aaron, so beloved by the community, so wise in steering the people of Israel through many trials, handing the physical manifestation of his leadership role over to his son. Eleazar, receiving that mantle, excited and frightened by the possibilities of his future. And Moses, guiding them both, facilitating the sacred moment of transfer between the generations, aware, too, that one day even he would merit a replacement. 

     Sometimes a change in leadership can break a community apart. Not so for the Israelites, whose journey together would eventually culminate in arrival in the land of Israel. And not so, too, for our community here at Congregation Micah. This Shabbat we will offer our gratitude to President Marjean Coddon and her board for their incredible leadership. We will welcome a new board, led by President Jeff Landman to help guide us into the future. All the while, we recognize the sacredness of our community which, like that of our ancestors, maintains the same spirit, warmth, and values from generation to generation.

- Student Rabbi Emily Langowitz

We Are All Undone

"We are undone, we are all undone," we hear the children of Israel cry in this week's Torah reading.
Sometimes there is no other response to loss than this: the acknowledgement of tragedy's power to dismantle the fabric of our lives. These words ring true for us this week as we reflect on the loss of nine members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC to violence and hatred. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families. We pray that our fellow faith community find some measure of comfort and peace in the difficult weeks ahead.

When the Israelites cry out, they cry out with one voice. No individual is alone. The people of Charleston are not alone. We are all undone by the violence of our world, but we are also all partners in healing that world. It is here at Congregation Micah that we come together to build a caring community and to engage in that sacred work.


-Student Rabbi Emily Langowitz

Annual Meeting - June 26

FRIDAY, JUNE 26
6:00 p.m. Non-Dairy Potluck Dinner
6:30 p.m. Business Meeting
7:30 p.m. Shabbat Service and Installation

We will provide the main course and drinks.
Please bring a non-dairy side dish that serves 8-10 people.

RSVP to Micah at office@congregationmicah.org or 615-377-9799 

by June 22 and let us know what you are bringing.

Your RSVP is important as we need to be certain a quorum will be present.

PROPOSED SLATE FOR 2015-2016

Pursuant to Article X, Section 10.3 of our By-laws, the Nominating Committee reported the following Nominees to our Board at our meeting on May 20th. 

The Congregation is hereby notified of the following slate of nominations:

Executive Committee
President: Jeff Landman (no vote required)
Vice President: Marty Mulford
Secretary: Richard Morin
Treasurer: Richard Abelson (no vote required)
Immediate Past President: Marjean Coddon (no vote required)

Board of Trustees
3-Year Term: Wendy Kiepek, Bryan Benjamin, David Friedman
1-Year Term: Steve Rothenstein

Respectfully submitted by the Nominating Committee:
Chair - Jeff Landman, Marty Mulford, Rebecca Millman, Travis Curtis,
Melinda Hershkowitz, and Ron Heady.

Article X, Section 10.4: Nomination by Petition - Nomination for any elective office may be made by petition of thirty (30) members of the Congregation, with such nominations to be filed with the (current) Secretary at least fifteen (15) days before the election (June 11).

Article X, Section 10.5: Mailing of Petition - The Congregation shall be notified of said nominations by petition at least seven (07) days prior to the election (June 19).

We express our sincerest appreciation to our departing Officers and Board members:
Deborah McCormick, Karl Jahrling, Nick Ettinger, Michael Hershey, Melinda Hershkowitz, Josh Malkofsky-Berger, and Isabel Morin (MiTY President).

Shabbat Services for the Generations

Shabbat Services for the Generations

Kabbalat K'tan on Friday,

Nick Schaser on Saturday

     Join us this weekend for two exciting Shabbat Services! Tonight, beginning at 5:30 p.m., we will welcome our youngest members (and those young at heart) for a Kabbalat K'tan Shabbat Service. The service, created by Ms. Lisa Silver and Ms. Teri Simon (z'l), will feature the Kids' Choir as a vehicle used to capture the essence of our liturgy. The service will be simple enough for preschoolers to enjoy and sophisticated enough for thinking adults to experience with awe.  
     Micah member, Nick Schaser, will lead us for Bagels, Love, and Torah Study on Saturday morning. Schaser is a Ph.D. Candidate in History and Critical Theories of Religion and Jewish Studies Bibliographer at Vanderbilt University. He has taught several in-depth adult education classes at Micah and we are excited to welcome him back for Shabbat. We hope to see you on Saturday! 

Reform Jews For Israel

“If you will it, it is not a dream!’  -Theodore Herzl

There are many forms of Zionism: religious, political, etc.  At its core, Zionism is the belief, the movement that supports Jews and Jewish culture in the reestablished Jewish homeland called Israel. As part of the historical development of Zionism, an organization called the American Zionist Movement (AZM) was created.  Currently, it is holding elections to determine US Jewish representation to the World Zionist Congress (WZC), the highest legislative body of the World Zionist Organization (WZO). What this does is provides a forum for all the world’s Jews to come together and deliberate about issues affecting both Diaspora Jews and the state of affairs in Israel.

There are 145 seats in the Congress dedicated to the AZM. Its composition has both financial and policy implications in Israel, as resources are directed to recipients in Israel based on the power each party holds within the Congress, and the policy positions of those parties.

In short, these elections are the strongest way for American Reform Jews to promote and encourage the ideals of justice, equality and democracy in Israel itself and help build the kind of Jewish state we all know is possible.  What can you do? REGISTER & VOTE! RIGHT NOW!

It is in our power to create an Israel that values the Reform Jewish Movement as much as the Reform Jewish Movement values Israel.

This is the time. Tomorrow will be too late. Let’s make history.

http://www.reformjews4israel.org/vote

Modern State of Israel

"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither.  

May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, 

if I do not raise you above my highest joy. " (Psalm 137:5-6)

     The modern State of Israel, unlike the vision of peace we pray for, is subject to the grit and grime of reality: living in a hazardous neighborhood, at times subjected to questionable ethics by some of its political leaders, with a unique challenge of existing as a Jewish nation and a working democracy. These should not repel us from its heart and soul. The birth of any nation comes at a price, and Israel's birth was no different. Yesterday, on Yom HaZikaron, and as Israel mourned its losses, we too held a service here in the Micah sanctuary in honor of the soldiers who paid the ultimate price in giving their lives for the country. The mood in Israel quickly shifts, as now the country and our community celebrates Yom Ha-Atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. Please join Rabbi Laurie as we celebrate at the Gordon Jewish Community Center this evening marking the holiday with songs, speeches, torch lightings and more!!!

The Pursuit of Harmony

The Pursuit of Harmony 

Sermon & Song at Congregation Micah

6 p.m., Friday, May 8

Can a Jewish American and Palestinian Muslim find a common bond through music?

Join celebrated Jewish American songwriter/producer Michael Hunter Ochs and noted Palestinian songwriter/commentator Alaa Alshaham for an intimate evening of song and conversation at Congregation Micah for Shabbat Service at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 8. You will be inspired as these two improbable friends retrace their steps through the security checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank, across the Middle East – eventually finding themselves performing together at the United Nations.

Michael and Alaa will sing Michael’s liturgical music – in English, Hebrew, and Arabic - as well as songs with spiritual overtones that they wrote together. Using video and musical accompaniment, Michael and Alaa will share some of their songs and what they learned traveling together throughout the Middle East to Israel and the West Bank. They will discuss how their friendship endured through the recent conflict in Gaza.

The personal stories, stunning photographs and exclusive video accompanying the music will sweep you into this incredible experience. Hear the story, hear the songs...and feel the hope. For more information, visit: www.thepursuitofharmony.com

Thankful for our Metro Officers

“Regulations concerning danger to life are more stringent than ritual prohibitions.”

-Babylonian Talmud, Hul. 10a

 

     Rabbi Yannai of the Talmud once said, “One should not stand in a place of danger in the expectation that a miracle will be wrought on their behalf.” (B. Shab. 32a) We Jews live in a dangerous world, as was evidence by the shooting this week at West End Synagogue here in Nashville. Thank God no one was injured, but our need for diligence with regard to security in the Jewish community remains strong.
     Thanks to our security and building assessment fee, we were able to act immediately to secure more police for Micah and the Children's Academy. We want to thank all those individuals who have paid their Security and Building Assessment Fee. Please know that your funds (not miracles) are what help keep all of us safe and secure.
     We take the safety of our congregants very seriously, which is why these funds are earmarked directly for improving our campus. Finally, our community is blessed to have a wonderful relationship with the local police department; please say thank you to the officers when you see them on our campus.

Remembering Where We Come From...

In his autobiography, Billy Crystal offered a comic reflection on the Jewish holidays:

Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt. A fantastic tale. Moses frees the slaves who were building the pyramids, we're lost in the desert for forty years, cross the Red Sea, get to the Holy Land, and we celebrate by eating cardboard and a fish called gefilte that is so lacking in flavor that you have to cover it with horseradish and bitter herbs. Not one chocolate bunny. We do have eggs, except that they're hard-boiled and served in salted water. My mouth is watering as I type this. Every year at the lengthy Seder serve, we ask the four questions. Why is this night different from all other nights - And it's not: it's ten-thirty and we still haven't eaten! ...

Despite Billy Crystal's frustrations with the holiday, one of the most poignant moments in his memoir reminded me of the true meaning of Passover.

He recalled that when he was a boy in New York, he would watch the Oscars each year but would get sent to bed before the show was over. As he was getting into bed, he would brush his teeth, holding the toothbrush, pretending that it was an Oscar and thank people. Once Billy Crystal grew up and became a famous comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer, he hosted the Oscar nine times. He wrote that when hosting the Oscars he "kept a toothbrush in my breast pocket, just to remind myself where I'd come from."

What a powerful reminder that toothbrush must have been! This reminder must have heightened his joy at the moment of achievement, by viewing it through the eyes of the child he had been. Indeed, Crystal recounts watching his mom in the audience "smile and shake her head in proud wonder at me, her little Shredded Wheat eater, hosting the show it had once seemed I'd never be old enough to watch to completion." I suspect the toothbrush also kept his success from going to his head - allowing him to tap into the little boy's sense of awe and wonder.

What Crystal didn't mention in his explanation of Passover is that the "cardboard" - the Matzah - is our communal toothbrush, a reminder from where we've come. Whereas other cultures take pride in descending from great kings or mythic heroes, Jews are constantly told to recall our enslavement in Egypt. The Torah reading for the last day of Pesach from Deuteronomy concludes its description of Passover with the refrain - "Remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall observe and do these rules." This punch-line is also offered as the rationale for many practices in the Torah: from keeping Shabbat, freeing slaves, leaving food for strangers and orphans, and doing justice. These reminders of our slave roots intend to prompt us to become more generous and compassionate to those in need.

Both communally and individually, we need frequent reminders from where we've come. As for Billy Crystal, these reminders can come from childhood objects, from visiting places we went to earlier in life, or from gathering around the Seder table. Often when I get bogged down in daily frustrations, I try to see my day through the eyes of my younger self - who longed to reach this stage of life. This mental shift snaps the day back into perspective.

Both in times of frustration and in joy, God reminds us: Recall that you were slaves in Egypt, and Billy Crystal reminds us: Wherever you go, don't forget your toothbrush.

-Rabbi Ilana Grinblat

Passover is a time to End Slavery

"In every generation, each of us must see ourselves as if we personally went out from Egypt."

 –The Haggadah

     This Shabbos, the Jewish world embarks on a journey. Pack your stuff, we are leaving quickly! Take some wafers and prepare to be a wayfarer or willing to accept one in. For as we retell the story of our sacred passage from slavery to freedom, Micah prays that one day, all people who are still enslaved will be free. We celebrate Passover not simply to repeat the tale of our enslavement and liberation, but to find new and personal meaning in that narrative each year. The Seder - its rituals, narrative, prayers, and songs - helps us remember what slavery felt like - to fuel gratitude for our liberation and to remind us not to oppress the stranger, for we were once strangers in Egypt.

     Last year at this time Rabbi Flip traveled to Turkey and along the way made several contacts. One such friend is Wayne Barnard, Director of Church Mobilization in the Southwest for an organization called International Justice Mission https://www.ijm.org The Haggadah calls upon us to not avert our eyes from bondage in the form of human trafficking. Slavery remains very much alive in our world. There are people who are doing something about it.