Looking Ahead and Staying Connected

Rabbi’s Message – August 25, 2020

Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz

When Ohio’s “Stay at Home” order began, none of us knew how long it would last or what impact it would have on our congregation and community. What we did know was that our community needed to recite Kaddish and hear the names of loved ones recited aloud for Yartzheit and Mi Shebeirach healing prayers. Out of our commitment to meeting that urgent need, we immediately increased the frequency of our email communication. We began sending TIDBITS on Fridays as well as Tuesdays. This enabled us to provide information and videos specific to Shabbat. We have continued this for the past five months, but the situation is changing and evolving. For instance, many of us are no longer in quarantine, we have several ongoing Zoom activities, and we are streaming weekly Shabbat services via YouTube. I am proud of the rich content and unique opportunities Temple provided during this challenging time. Though we are still very much in the thick of this Covid-19 pandemic, Temple will return to our pre-pandemic level of communications beginning in September. The TIDBITS you receive on Tuesdays will contain all of the information you will need to access Shabbat services and study, as well as the regular content you have become accustomed to. We will no longer send out a Shabbat Edition TIDBITS after this week.

As we look to the fall Holidays, we promise to keep you informed on all that is happening. Returning to a once-a-week TIDBITS will not make it any more difficult to tune in for the High Holidays. The September Temple Tablet and Dayton Jewish Observer will include many details and our website will be kept up to date. The most important thing for you to know at this point is that all of the High Holy Day services and resources will be available through our www.tidayton.org website. You will not need to learn any new technology to participate, unless you choose to “cast” or “present” the service onto a larger screen. Our goal is to keep everything as simple and user-friendly as possible. You can expect to see content about holidays on the website and on our Facebook page in the next week or two.

Thank you for supporting and living the Jewish value of pikuach nefesh (saving a life) during these last five months. May we all go from strength to strength.

Craving some additional content from our Rabbis and Rabbinic Intern? Sign up to receive Thoughts for Elul.

How Do We Choose?

Rabbi’s Message – July 21, 2020

Rabbi Tina Sobo

Right now we are all grappling with so many decisions about our future. Sometimes that future is only the next 5 minutes and sometimes that future spans the next several months. As we look to the fall and the complexity of choices regarding back-to-school options, I am reminded of a story from our tradition:

A well-known Rabbi discovers that a bag of coins have gone missing. Even though the coins were not his, the Rabbi seeks to solve the mystery. He goes to see one of his former messengers who had an opportunity to steal the money. The Rabbi hopes it isn’t true. Upon the Rabbi’s questions, the young man offers to repay the Rabbi the sum of the money in installments. The Rabbi agrees. Years later, the original bag of money is found in someone else’s possession. With this new information, the Rabbi goes to return all of the messenger’s money, and he questions why the messenger took the blame. The messenger responds that he made a small sacrifice with the payments over time, in order to protect the less fortunate individual from accusation, who likely needed the money. And as all rabbinic stories go, the messenger is then greatly rewarded for his actions and his family is blessed for generations.

Why this story? It teaches us that sometimes we have to make sacrifices – big or small – in order to serve those that are more in need. As we continue to navigate the pandemic as a community, and as we learn more about the virus, there are things that we can do to protect those around us. These things might be a slight imposition on us – for example, wearing a mask – but there is a greater good to consider. As a younger, otherwise healthy adult, a bout of COVID-19 likely would not kill me – but I wear a mask to protect those who are higher risk.

As a parent and educator, I know full well that back-to-school decisions are hard right now. The question of whether students and everyone else in the school community, will be in-person has become quite a loaded one. While to some extent, each individual, family, and school has to make their own choices, we must also remember the potential consequences to others. Recently, I saw a parent suggest and recommend full virtual learning to all those who are able to make that choice in order to create a safer learning space for those who cannot opt out of in-person learning. This reminded me of our messenger. As a parent, I don’t envy the prospect of a large portion of the upcoming year being virtual. I also don’t look forward to the continued physical distancing measures, but I know that the choices I make may save another life.

We are all making tough decisions as we navigate how much and when to “re-open” our lives. There are no clear-cut “right” answers to what risks are “acceptable.” My hope is that we can weigh our options not by what is easiest, cheapest, or most beneficial to us individually, but by the best of our Jewish values of communal responsibility and protection of one another. My hope is also that as we make these decisions – and recognize that they will be different for different people – that we can be supportive of each other rather than judgmental. We do not walk in another’s shoes or know exactly what they are experiencing in this challenging time.

Our Covenant with the World

Rabbi’s Message – June 16, 2020

Our Covenant with the World

Last fall, with the support of our Board of Directors, Temple Israel signed on as a “Brit Olam” congregation of the Religious Action Center. Brit Olam translates to “covenant with our world” and is a promise to create a world in which all people experience wholeness, justice, and compassion. In Pirkei  Avot we are taught: “Study alone is not enough, our tradition demands action.”  Brit Olam is our commitment to actively work for social justice. By signing this covenant, we promised to foster a culture of sacred and civil dialogue in our community where all opinions are heard, act in solidarity with vulnerable communities, build relationships across lines of difference in our local community, act at the local, state/provincial, and/or federal levels to address the root causes of injustice, advocate for systemic change, mobilize around issues that resonate with our community, and participate in state-specific social justice work with RAC-Ohio.

We hear the voices all over the world proclaiming the urgency of this work. We must continue to fight against racism and other forms of injustice, even if we are unable to physically do it together. We need to begin conversations about what this might look like. Join me in this effort. If you are interested in these conversations and becoming more meaningfully involved in social justice, contact me. You may email me at rabbi@tidayton.org or leave me a voice message at the Temple. And if you want to dive in now, I strongly urge you to participate in the YWCA’s 21 day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge, which begins on Friday. This is a great step toward deepening your understanding of systemic racism in America. May every step we take bring us closer to fulfilling the work of Brit Olam. To learn more about the Union for Reform Judaism’s Brit Olam communities, visit www.rac.org/britolam. 

Rabbi’s Message 6-9-20

Evolving Together

A Message from Rabbi Bodney-Halasz

June 9, 2020

Change is always hard. It’s even harder when it happens quickly, without warning, and without even a glimpse of what a new normal might look like. This was March 2020, from a year that practically promised us clarity of vision.

When this began, our focus was on meeting the most pressing of our needs: reciting Mi Shebeirach and Kaddish “together,” providing pastoral care, celebrating Passover as a community, and continuing ongoing education classes.

As the situation evolved, we, too, have evolved. We brought new opportunities for learning, spotlights of hope, resources for support, and original prayers for new experiences. We used Zoom to boost virtual gatherings and one-on-one conversations and began researching new technology to move us forward.

This has been a hard road to navigate, but we finally have a clearer view of what the immediate future might look like. We have learned about Covid-19 in religious institutions and the impact it has on worship experiences. There is a lot happening in the world to process and we process it better together. It is clear that increased virtual interactions will be key to moving forward as a community in isolation.

Many of you have told us you miss praying together on Shabbat. We have missed you too and are anxious to see your faces and be together again. This Friday, we will finally go live for our evening Shabbat worship services. I hope you will join us, as your presence will allow Shabbat to be even more meaningful for us all.

Embracing Each Other and Teaching Our Children

Rabbi’s Message – Friday, June 5, 2020

Embracing Each Other and Teaching Our Children

by Rabbi Tina Sobo

Tough conversations are just that, tough. As parents, we have them with our children all the time. We are trying to mold them into young adults with the right moral values, and explain difficult concepts to them. Sometimes they go well and other times they don’t. Right now, we have a great opportunity to teach our children about the history of systemic racism and the prevalence of prejudice in our country. And more importantly, what it is that we can do to change things for the better, even if it feels overwhelming.

In that spirit, here are a few tips for you from Embrace Race:

Your child is not too young – by 6 months most children are capable of recognizing people that look like them and people who don’t. Which means, they also react to the differences they see in various ways.
Encourage questions & normalize differences – You don’t have to look for specific “racism” books (though PJ Library has many great resources here) – simply books, media, playgrounds, your circle of friends that represent diversity help normalize diversity. If your child is seeing faces that represent diversity throughout their day, their circle of what is familiar and normal will be expanded.
You don’t have to do it all at once – Yes, you can have ‘the talk’ with children, especially if they understand or know about a current event, or a specific incident in their lives; but more importantly, understanding differences and valuing each human life as uniquely and equally holy is a life-long process. Come back to it often and be a role model along the way.

June is also Pride Month, and this same advice essentially applies. How we speak, how we act, and the experiences we create instill the values of equality and acceptance from a young age. Start young and keep the conversation going. And ask for help or support if you need it along the way!

Additional Resources on Racism:

https://pjlibrary.org/beyond-books/pjblog/june-2020/resources-for-talking-to-kids-about-racism

https://www.embracerace.org/resources/26-childrens-books-to-support-conversations-on-race-racism-resistance

Resources on LBGTQ+:

https://www.keshetonline.org/resources/topic/families-parenting/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/06/14/how-straight-parents-can-raise-kids-be-allies-during-pride-month-beyond/

We are all accountable

A Message from Rabbi Bodney-Halasz

June 2, 2020

Alden Solovy offers a new “Psalm of Protest” in memory of George Floyd:

Strangled by Police: Psalm of Protest 17

A psalm of protest,
In memory of George Floyd,
Sung at the gates of justice,
When black men are strangled in the streets,
When power is abused and jails overflow,
When the voiceless are forgotten and minorities misused.
Open, you gates!
Open to the cries of those murdered, jailed or harassed
For being black,
For being a person of color,
For being homeless, indigent, destitute or unwanted,
The detained, the hounded,
The pursued and the persecuted,
Those who are killed while being restrained.
Open, you gates!
Let righteousness flow forth as living waters,
And truth flow forth as healing balm,
To still the hand of violence and hatred,
To cure the heart of bigotry and racism,
To herald fairness and equality,
And bring justice to this land.

-Alden Solovy, 2020

Solovy’s words express our angst that deeply rooted racism still plagues our nation. Though the title of his poem is “Strangled by Police,” he, and we, acknowledge that there are many dedicated officers who are fighting racism alongside us. Together, may we ensure that all who are in positions of power carry out their responsibilities with justice and compassion. We are all accountable if we want to see change.

Many of us are looking for ways to help. To start, here is a list of 75 ideas about how to respond to racism. Research these ideas, determine what aligns with your values, and, if able, take action. We cannot sit idly by any longer.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

A Message from Rabbi Bodney-Halasz-Halasz
May 12, 2020

As the weather warms up and the chance of frost has supposedly passed, it is a great time to start a vegetable garden.

Watching something grow and thrive during this quarantine has helped me find joy and hope. The smell of something earthy and alive rejuvenates me. It is an easy way to enjoy the fresh air, avoid supermarkets, and appreciate God’s gift of creation. You can start small and you don’t need to have a yard. Consider a container garden or an herb garden!

Working in the garden also reminds us we are approaching Shavuot. Agriculturally rooted, Shavuot marks the harvest of first fruits in Israel, such as wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. These were then delivered to the Temple in Jerusalem to give thanks to God.

It has been a long 8 weeks or so and we are all ready to fly the coop. However, even as quarantine restrictions are gradually lifted the threat of this coronavirus is still very real and none of us should unnecessarily put ourselves as risk.

Instead, let’s continue to find creative ways to enjoy our time. Perhaps, like in ancient times, it is the perfect time to prepare for a harvest. Wishing you may sunny days ahead.

Counting the Days

Rabbi’s Message – April 14, 2020

We were instructed in the book of Leviticus to count forty-nine days between Passover and Shavuot, beginning on the second night of Passover. Each night we are to bring an omer of elevation to the Temple as an offering. This ancient tradition has taken on new meaning for us, especially this year. It is understood as an opportunity to express gratitude, refocus our priorities, and look more deeply at the responsibility that comes with freedom. It helps inspire us to to do the hard work of spiritual purification.

I have found that a meaningful way for me to incorporate this practice is to reflect on each day of the Omer with the poetry and prose found in Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar’s book Omer: A Counting.

As we prepare to move beyond our festival of freedom, I invite you to take a deep breath and consider the following reading for the Sixth Day of the Omer.

“When we are young we are led to believe that our legacy lies in our successes and our failures. Our most abiding legacy lies within our strength of character. How we react, respond, rebound is a measure of our inner strength, our inner vision of what is possible…”