by Bev Schwartz

When I get too much on my plate, I usually end up overwhelmed, in front of the tv, binge watching something I've seen many times before, hoping the whole mess will magically disappear.

I had three big things on my plate:

• A very high stakes work demo and deadline.  The customer demo was scheduled on Yom Kippur.  I said absolutely not.  It got moved to the next week.
  
• Being part of the Hav community and living up to my commitments for the chaggim, which included preparing and leading a service and running and reporting on the Reverse Tashlich.
  
• The proposed Somerville City Charter was signed by the Governor on September 19th and would be on the November 4th ballot. Those of us who were involved with creating the charter now had to put together a campaign for the charter and get the word out to tens of thousands of voters in a month and a half.
  

Please, can I just turn on the tv, sink into the couch and not have to do any of this?

The work situation explained: The previous demo went well, and the government customer was pleased.  Great!  Until the next day, when the larger program that my project was a part of was cancelled.  Now the priority was documentation so that the customer could reproduce the demo without us, so they could find another funder.  I hate documentation.  And they wanted all the scripts we used for the demo, scripts that were never meant to be delivered, and were kind of, well, ugly.

Hop over to the High Holidays:  Time is running out to get the word out about Reverse Tashlich.  And time is running out for preparing my leading for 2nd night Rosh HaShannah.  Both involved writing, not my strong suit.

Hop over to the City Charter:  We had to create a campaign organization, create a mailer, write up documents explaining it, etc.  So much stuff out of my comfort zone.  And I was the one with the most intricate knowledge of the charter, so guess who had to write up materials to explain it.  Uggh, not my favorite thing.

Um, the tv is over there, calling my name...

A number of us were working on the documentation at work.  And I had people to read things over and help me.  I was not alone.

The volunteers for the charter campaign had a variety of skills, some of whom were experts in the things I didn't know how to do.  And 3 of us got together to discuss the mailer and literature.  I was not alone.

I came up with the idea of writing up the Reverse Tashlich description as if I was writing a cruise advertisement.  My wife thought that was hysterical and was happy to help.  I was not alone.

So with a stack of cruise line catalogs and the help of my wife, we came up with zingers like:

• In these Days of Awe, rather than throwing your nutritionally-deficient sins into a body of water, pick up your sins from the banks of the glorious Mystic River.
  
• Come see the natural beauty of the Mystic River teeming with human-corrupted waterfowl relaxing on trash-filled shores.
  
• We will gather at the sunlit river outlook opposite the rotary where the majestic Grand Union Boulevard meets the labyrinthine Great River Road.
  
• Our group will take a leisurely stroll westward to turn off on a scrub-lined trail across the street from Raymour & Flanigan, the crown jewel in our enviable collection of discount furniture stores in the glamorous Assembly district.
  
• Participate in the time-honored collection of colorful debris either on dry land where ancient peoples once walked, or along the inviting shore.
  
• After disposing of the river's timeless  treasures, we can tour charming streets to discover a tucked away quaint public restroom to restore ourselves to culturally-accepted cleanliness.
  

We were laughing so hard, the task became fun.  

And while I was still fretting about what to do with my service, I realized that I had been completely absorbed in humor, and that humor was what was helping me get through my challenges. And so humor became the theme of my service, not just reading my "ad" for Reverse Tashlich, but sharing fun pictures and stories from the times I've picked trash.  A reminder of how important humor is to endure challenging times.  The service was well-received.

And Reverse Tashlich?  We had 10 people show up, collected 7 bags of trash, and had a good time. And one of the younger members of the group landed a shark.

And so back to work and endless documentation. And what to say about those ugly scripts?  I wrote in the official documentation, "You may be looking at this and saying, there's got to be a better way... You're right, there is.  These scripts were written for a different program with different needs.  It was easier to adapt the old scripts than write new scripts.  Don't tell me you've never done the same. ;)"  When the customers came, they commented on how much they liked my snarky documentation.  Humor helped me, but it also helped them read through the reams of documentation before they arrived.

And finally the charter.  One member of the group was great at coming up with some good lines and created a Golden Girls meme:

• Govern like it's no longer 1899!
  
• Sophia: "Picture it, Somerville. 1899. A city charter is written and no one knows it will remain the same document (with some revisions) until 2025."
  
• Dorothy: "Ma, tell them why they should vote yes."
  
• Rose: "As we say in St. Olaf, vote yes on Question 1!"
  

And I created a website.  Writing thousands of lines of html, css, and javascript... no problem.  Figuring out how to launch a website.  Uggh.  Quick google search and I'm at godaddy.com.  Find a domain name... yes-on-charter.info.  Someone commented that they couldn't believe that domain name was available.  "Hey," I said, "not only was it available, it was only $4."

Okay, I've got to share it.  https://yes-on-charter.info

And then I signed up to write this blog post. Writing, not my favorite thing.  Remember, keep it funny!

Keeping fingers crossed for November 4th...

by Shifra Lilith Freewoman

Take a trip with me down Memory Lane of history/herstory of my years at the Havurah, always a safe, open, freeing sacred place to be myself in a Jewish community. So many of us who did not feel included or welcome elsewhere, like women, LGBTQ people or interfaith couples were and are welcome here. 
 
I first heard of Havurat Shalom from Sharon Strassfeld, in 1978. She was one of the very early and important members. She and her husband at the time, Michael, along with Danny Seigel, wrote the 3 volume Jewish Catalogue featuring the picture of our macrame Torah cover that is still at the Havurah to this day. Sharon taught at my day school, the New England Hebrew Academy, a Lubavitch Yeshiva, and mentioned the Havurah. At that time, though I was nominally Orthodox, I chafed at the restrictions on women. I hated the mehitzah, wanted to be called up to the Torah and be a part of the minyan. I wanted to be a Rabbi.  And when I said women should be counted in a minyan, I got ridicule, disgust and shaming; it was quite scary to speak up. I also was gay and there was ZERO acceptance.
 
So, when I heard about Havurat Shalom, I came and stayed over for Shabbes in the back room, the same guest room I sleep in when I come to Havurah now. I spent many happy Shabbats at the Hav. I was hooked.  It was my safe space, because I was not safe at home. There was acceptance, and it was a thrill to lift the Torah and be a part of the minyan. I loved the kavanah, the singing. There was the same devout spirit of the Orthodox community, but with equality for women and acceptance of gay people. Since I was used to Hebrew, I liked the services. I could have Yiddishkeit without exclusion and intolerance. Had it not been for the Havurah, I might just have abandoned Judaism. That was true for many of us. In the 1970s the only other shul that accepted gay people was Am Tikvah, the Boston area gay synagogue.  
 
Younger people may not understand how difficult it was to be gay in the Jewish community at that time. The Havurah and Am Tikva, for a long time, were the only places with full acceptance.  Now it is very different and most non-Orthodox shuls are pretty accepting.  The movement succeeded, but back in the day the Hav was one of the only spaces that welcomed us whole heartedly.
 
There was an openness to non-Jews and interfaith couples. I have never been one to like insularity. I often felt that I could not breathe in the Orthodox community, because of so many rules and walls between men and women and Jews and non-Jews. At the Hav I could relax, breathe free, feel accepted and see others accepted and extend this acceptance. I loved being part of the davening, not apart from it. It's very different to pray from behind a mehitzah/divider than to pray with a group of people. I was no longer an outsider. I liked seeing women lead, be called to the Torah and be part of the minyan. I could sing and be a part of the community, not seen as a distraction for men.
 
At Havurat Shalom, it was wonderful to be with women and men, welcomed, to be with powerful women and men who liked having women included. Now that I have been at the Havurah for decades, and now that so many shuls include women and welcome gay people, it has become a part of my normal rhythm. But then it was extraordinary.  It is easy 46 years later to take equality for granted, but at the time, it was pathbreaking, quite radical. I remember when group of women who were not bat mitzvahed as youngsters, got Bat Mitzvahed as grown women at the Havurah. It was very moving.
 
Earlier, people lived at the Havurah. The house was often full with as many as 7 people. I lived at the Havurah many times. When we prayed Shivtee Bi Bayt Hashem, I dwell in the house of God, it had a special meaning, because I literally was dwelling in the House of God.
 
A highlight of my time at the Havurah was when we decided to become a sanctuary synagogue in the 1980s. New Jewish Agenda became involved in the larger Sanctuary Movement, where churches took in refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala. Thousands of Salvadorans and Guatemalans were jailed and murdered for asking for basic services. Liberation Theology was espousing a gospel of justice for the poor, with many churches, some with no priests, standing up for the campesinos/peasants and building a just society.  Hundreds of thousands fled, and it was very hard for these refugees to get asylum, because the US supported their oppressive governments.
 
The impetus for Jewish involvement in Sanctuary was that Jews were angry that during the holocaust so relatively few non-Jews saved Jews.  Therefore, we felt it important that we Jews were willing to do what we wanted Christians to do, save lives of people of a different background. So we did. 
 
After many meetings and much planning, the Havurah took in a young man who had fled El Salvador and was in detention in San Francisco. We bailed him out and he came to live at the Havurah.  I lived there at the time, along with Sarah Lisniansky, a key worker for Sanctuary. The Havurah got him work, and speaking engagements.  He spoke of how he fled when some of his family were murdered for asking for electricity and running water, and how he had to go through Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico before getting into the States.
 
I felt grateful and proud to be part of a community that helped save someone's life and worked for justice for a country facing much oppression. The Havurah's early stance as a Sanctuary Synagogue set the stage for larger, more mainstream Jewish communities to join and become sanctuaries as well. 
 
During the 1980s the Havurah decided to write an adapted version of the prayer book, Birkat Shalom, Blessings of Peace. It was important to have a Siddur that saw God as female as well as male. Because Hebrew is gendered, this takes work. We were never just interested in changing grammar. This was a soul project, not a mechanical one; some people wrote their own beautiful prayers and new translations. We changed to language to be respectful to other religions, and took the focus off of hierarchy. Rather than calling for the destruction of wicked people, we called for wickedness to be destroyed and for evil doers to change. 
 
More recently, the Siddur included adaptations to be inclusive of transgender, intersex and non-binary people, so that trans and non-binary people feel included and welcome. It is challenging to use non gendered language in Hebrew because almost all of Hebrew words have a gender, so we do what we can.
 
The Havurah has been and continues to be involved in social justice on many fronts, from feeding the neighborhood with our little free pantry, to providing free books to people through our little free library - thus feeding both body and soul - to helping with the local community fridges, to working with local churches to help Haitians coming into Somerville, to standing up for immigrants and with many members standing up to ICE, to working to  stop unscrupulous developers, to supporting the Black community, to providing space for local groups working to end the killing and the blockade in Gaza, to help hostages get their freedom and to stop the violence in the West Bank, to standing up for the rights of LGBTQ people, to working for a sustainable environment and other issues. The Havurah has always stood for peace, justice and love.  
 
Recently, I derive great naches-pleasure from helping Merit with filling the little free food pantry, especially when I get to interact with the people who come for food. I am proud to know that we are feeding people who otherwise would go hungry or not be able to eat enough. I feel a great love for the Havurah, to still be able to come and stay in my old safe space that welcomed me as a very young woman 47 years ago.
 
From the sixties, when men were trying to find a meaningful Judaism that was not about the car you drove or your clothes, to their commitment to civil rights and ending the Vietnam war, to efforts to get out of the draft and start an alternative rabbinical school, to the 70s and the burgeoning women's and lgbt movements, to the days of the Havurah being a literal sanctuary in addition to being a sanctuary for me and others, to our work for inclusion of trans people and non-binary people, to our efforts to be a welcoming, inclusive community of peace during these heartbreaking times, we hope you join us and continue to live the vision of justice, mercy and peace in this new century. Welcome to Havurat Shalom, Welcome Home.

by Meryl Becker

Puerto Rico

My connection to Puerto Rico is that I lived there for a year many, many years ago as a VISTA volunteer, and I've been there many times since.
At the time I lived there, I went to services in San Juan on a Friday night and everyone was either American or from another Latin American country, so I assumed there were no Puerto Rican Jews. However, when I was there in 2019, I stayed walking distance from one of the synagogues. Since I wasn't going to be there on Shabbat, I walked over to talk to them. The president there told me that there have been Jews in Puerto Rico since Columbus.  Most of them lived in the more remote mountains in the center of the Island, where they could hide more easily from the Inquisition, so their descendants go to services on Saturday morning, when it is not so hard to drive the distance after work. On a side note, the indigenous people, the Tanios, also went to the mountains to hide from their Spanish conquerors. 

I went to Puerto Rico again this past January and made sure I would be there on a Shabbat morning.  There is a Conservative, a Reform and a Chabad synagogue in San Juan. (There are about 2,000 Jews in Puerto Rico) I went to the Feform one, Temple Beth Shalom. Most of their members are Puerto Rican, but there are some Americans, so the prayer book is in Hebrew, Spanish and English and the service on Friday night is in English and Hebrew and Saturday in Spanish and Hebrew. Luckily, I speak Spanish. 

The morning service was very nice, with lunch, and the people were very friendly, including a family who offered to drive me to my hotel. Even though I'd since read that nowadays most of the Puerto Ricans Jews live in the San Juan area, I really wanted to find Jews who had been there for generations.  I did not find anyone who'd been there for generations, but it was very interesting anyway because it turned out that most of the congregation are converts! I talked to 7 people about their backgrounds. One was American, one grew up in Cuba where he didn't know why his father lit candles on Friday nights, and the rest were converts. When I asked them why they converted they all said the same thing: “It felt like home."

Costa Rica

I've also been to Costa Rica many times. My ex-husband and ex- son-in-law are Costa Rican, but we are still friendly, and I visit their families when I go there. Jews in Costa Rica also came there from the time of the Inquisition, but mostly were absorbed into the population. Then there were later waves after World war I and World War II, and more recently Americans and Israelis retiring there. Today there are about 2500-3000 Jews, mostly in San Jose.  

The largest synagogue that also has a community center and museum is Orthodox, but I went to the Reform one a few years ago mostly because they didn't ask for me to email a copy of my passport, and later because I liked it, since the Reform one also started requiring a passport copy. My experience with services in other countries is that they have a lot more security than we do in the US, even in Costa Rica where they tell me there is a little antisemitism. 

When I was there this past July, the beginning of the service at Congregation Bnei Israel was typical for a Reform service, but then they had eight aliyot, the haftorah and mincha. No sermon. So, it was interesting. The prayer book was also in Spanish, English and Hebrew, although the service was in Hebrew and Spanish. People were very friendly and welcoming and had me stand up and introduce myself. Afterwards there was also a lunch - delicious parve tamales! As far as I know, there was also only one other American. People heard I needed a taxi to get back to my hotel. I could hear people talking and brainstorming and figuring out who could help me with that, until a family going my way offered to drive me, which turned out to be very interesting. In a parallel to my experience in Puerto Rico, they were converts. They had been Evangelical Christians who got interested in Judaism and converted, but because they said  the Orthodox shul wouldn't accept them (I forgot to ask them if they had an Orthodox conversion so I don't know if that was the problem), they were practicing Judaism by themselves at home for quite a while until they finally found this synagogue. When I told them they were now part of the tribe, so if they traveled, they could expect the same warm welcome I received, they actually cheered! As they dropped me off, they asked me to pray for their teenage daughter to find a Jewish husband, since the Jewish community is small and it's not easy.

So, different countries, different language, but same service, and same warm Jewish welcome and connection!

by Laura Tennenhouse 

by Crystal Huff

Sometimes the Havurat Shalom blog features interesting things members have done.  So I shall write about my recent trip to Antarctica!  I am not the only current or former member who has spent time in Antarctica; one current member was at McMurdo Station on Ross Island for 3 months, a former member was at the South Pole for 3 months.

First, a bit about Antarctica.  Antarctica is the southernmost continent with no permanent residents. Antarctica is BIG. No country controls Antarctica - there is a cooperation treaty signed in 1959 and went into effect in 1961 which establishes Antarctica as a zone for peaceful scientific research, prohibits military activity, and holds territorial claims in abeyance. It has been signed by 58 parties, promoting international cooperation and environmental protection in the region. See: Antarctic Treaty.

95% of tourism in Antartica are cruises that leave from Tierra del Fuego (southernmost point in South America), go through the Drake Passage to arrive at the Antarctic peninsula, spend several days on excursions on or near the peninsula, then back through Drake passage and return to Tierra del Fuego.  There are a small number of cruises that go to different parts of Antarctica.  Reputable cruise lines are part of IAATO and are expected to follow their guidelines.

To get to McMurdo Station or the South Pole, that requires getting a work contract to go there, either with a science expedition, or a job with whatever company has the contract to do polar support services. See: Antarctic Support Contract

There are also people who do private expeditions of various types; this is allowed by the Antarctic Treaty. At the end of the blog, I have a reference to someone who has done numerous polar expeditions.

I initially became interested in going to Antarctica back in 1991. A colleague's wife was spending a year wintering over at the South Pole, and I thought this was awesome.  I didn't know if I wanted McMurdo (bigger station, on coast, wildlife) or South Pole (extreme cold, small community, no wildlife), or if I wanted to summer over or do an entire year.  I applied for a job at Antarctic Support Associates.  It didn't happen.  I got to live vicariously through other people's experiences.

About five years ago, I found out that someone I knew in elementary school, Dyan deNapoli, is now a world renowned penguin expert!  I hadn't seen this person in over 40 years.  She periodically gets tapped to be the subject matter expert on these cruises, and when Dyan announced her next cruise, I signed up.  This cruise was with Smithsonian Journeys / Ponant  and was the typical format described above. Dyan warned me about rough seas in the Drake Passage, and since I get motion sickness on a hammock, I decided to get the scopolamine patch.  I saw lots of people with a little patch behind an ear.  I can say, it was very effective.  I didn't get sick at all.  But it is very tiring just walking and staying erect when the ship is being tossed about.

I also chose to do the 4-day pre-cruise extension, hiking in the Patagonia. That was well worth my time, as the trip was wonderful (when would I have another chance to hike in the Patagonia?), and it gave me time to bond with the 13 other people participating.

The trip was pure joy.  How can one not be amused when seeing penguins waddling about, particularly juvenile penguins trying to get the attention of their parents?  And when a seal jumped up on our zodiac, we tourists were in our ignorant bliss reacting to just how close the leopard seal came to us thinking it was so cute. The naturalists said, "Definately not cute," and made sure we were all kneeling on the floor of the zodiac with our hands inside.

We had three subject matter experts on our cruise: The Penguin Lady Dyan deNapoli, Polar Explorer Ben Saunders, and Professional Photographer Jim Preston.  Each gave 3 lectures in their area of expertise, hosted a table at dinner every night, and were generally available to the guests to answer questions.  These folks were all very approachable and a pleasure to spend time with.

Temperatures on the peninsula were pretty mild, generally a bit above freezing.  Unfortunately, this is the area of the world with the most rapid temperature rise. This is a significant problem for the penguins, as the babies hatch with fuzz, and don't go in the water until they have a full set of watertight feathers.  But now it sometimes rains on the peninsula, the babies get waterlogged, and if the temperatures drop, they freeze.

There are four types of penguins on Antarctica - emperor, adele, gentoo and chinstrap.  I saw a LOT of gentoo penguins, and one colony of chinstraps.  Emperor penguins are in a different part of Antartica, and it was late in the season for the adeles, so they had already departed from the peninsula.  I guess their chicks get their waterproof feathers sooner than the others.

My cruise was late in the season, so we saw larger juveniles rather than little chicks.  This time of year also gives us molting elephant seals and lots of whales traversing the water.

To see lots of my trip pictures, go to my travel blog at https://bev2antarctica.blogspot.com. It is better to view on a computer than a phone - some of the pictures will have the wrong aspect ratio on a phone. The blog is a little klunky to navigate.  On both a computer and a phone, you will see the most recent post first.  Although I set my preferences to put all of my posts on one page, it didn't do that.  So on the computer, when you scroll down, you will see a link for "Older Posts". It's not at the bottom of the page; it's before a summary of weirdly selected posts at the bottom.  Keeping clicking on "Older Posts" to work your way back.  On a phone, it's a little easier to see where the navigation buttons are. Click on the right ">" to the right of the "Home" button.  It's got a burnt orange background.

Jim Preston's pictures are spectacular and worth a look at https://www.prespix.com/antartica-the-white-continent.

Dyan's done a number of talks and has written books.  Check it out here: https://thepenguinlady.com.

Find out more about Ben's polar expeditions here: https://bensaunders.com/polar-expeditions.

Antarctica: A Year on Ice is a documentary that shows what it's like to be at McMurdo Station for a year.  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361700/

Since this is a Judaic blog, I should at least mention a couple of Judaic things.  When I was looking into wintering over at the South Pole, I posted a question about how one celebrated Shabbat in a place with one long sunrise in the spring and one long sunset in the fall.  There were six basic answers:

1. Use Jerusalem time.
2. Use the time of the closest Jewish community with regular sunrise/sunset.
3. Pick a time on the clock, use it consistently, end Shabbat 25 hours later.
4. Use candle lighting time of the city most closely associated to.
5. Use the time you would use at home.
6. Religious Jews should not go to the South Pole because of the difficult halachic issues.

And when I was in Bariloche, there weren't many English speakers, but we did run into Israelis. And the local laundromat even markets to Hebrew speakers.

by Aaron Brandes, Aliza Arzt, Larry Rosenwald, Miriam Schwartz and Cindy Blank-Edelman

Why was this Hav Purimspiel different from all other Hav Purimspiels?

It wasn’t the mixed in-person and Zoom attendance (we did that last year).

It wasn’t the script-writers (mostly the “usual suspects”).

It wasn’t the extensive rehearsals (there were none).

It was how to respond to the on-going violence by Jews initiated in response to violence against Jews.

This year Aliza Arzt began the spiel by quoting from the Book of Esther Chapter 9 about the violence we executed on the day the King had given his irrevocable permission for his people to kill the Jewish citizens of his empire. The second section set a new tone.

Speaker 1: And so it goes throughout history. Jewish communities have been threatened many times. And sometimes they are able to save themselves. And sometimes that saving is carried out effectively with dignity. And sometimes that saving reduces them to the level of their immoral enemies.
 
Speaker 2: We declare an end to the Purim of revenge and destruction! We dedicate this Purim to the hope of redemption, of creative negotiation and reconciliation.
 
Speaker 1: And if that’s not possible?
 
Speaker 2: Then we dedicate this Purim to one of appropriate defense, protection of innocent civilians and the ultimate triumph of hope and mercy.
 
Speaker 1: Ken y’hi ratzon! So may it be!
 
Every year Larry Rosenwald introduces the dramatis personae in dazzling rhyme beginning “Come in, come in you’re welcome here, may (character) please appear.” This year he had something to say about our moral circumstances.
 
MARSHELIK:
(comes in first, and alone)

            Let’s keep in mind what Aliza’s said,
and with no further ado, go ahead.
            Zayt zhe yidn sha un shtil,
mir fangen on dem purimshpil!! –
which is, in Yiddish words, to say
we’ll now begin the Purim play! - 
Bid us now enter, to relate
a tale of strife between courage and hate:
of how a monarch chose a bride,
of how a scheming villain tried
to kill our folk, for malice alone;
of how the bride approached the throne,
proclaimed her tribe, pleaded her case,
and moved the king to amazing grace;
how deadly plots turned cause of laughter,
and  - some – lived happily ever after.
(Among the people not alive,
when the tale is done, are seventy-five
thousand Persians, young and old,
of every gender, stiff and cold
in death. And we the Jews are those
who’ve murdered all we think our foes.
It makes you wonder, who’s the true
villain  in our story, and who
the victim . . . well – I’ll leave that to you.)
            Enough!  It’s time to meet our cast,
from regal first to rebel last. 
Come in, come in, you’re wanted here;
let Shushan’s mighty king appear!
 
Of course, the usual political satire continued, as in this excerpt from Miriam Kadima’s skit.

Queen Vashi:  As you all know, the Monarchy is causing great pain to 99% of the People. Kushites are losing their cushy positions and being forcibly relocated to Kush, one can no longer get a shoeshine in Shushan, peasants are being charged for water they gather from the river, and half the Palace staff has been sacked!  King Trumpēlonōsh is issuing Royal Decrees faster than a sparrow flies!

Archivist:  African, or European sparrow?

For the chapter where the King can't sleep, Aaron Brandes replaced the servants reading from the Royal Chronicles with an AI chatbot. The chatbot may be more truthful than the King, but it lacks a sense of context.

King: So my new Gold card give foreigners a path to citizenship for only 5 million. Another 5 million gives you premium access to me. What do you think?

Chatbot : Well as long as they aren’t representatives of another government, you won’t be violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution.

King:  That clause didn’t bother me before. I say
Emoluments Clause, Santa Clause, I’m a rebel with just
one cause – me.
 
Chatbot : Did you know that Rebel Without a Cause is a 1955 American coming-of-age movie starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo. Directed by …

King:    Hey I’ve been thinking, my kingdom may go from the Redwood Forests of Hodu to the Gulf Stream Waters of Cush - but I’d like to add some place with a nice view of Russia. I’m thinking Alaska.

Chatbot :  Alaska, purchased from Russia in 1867, is the biggest state in Shushan. It is 663,267 square miles of rich broad land that has produced billions of dollars of gold and oil as well as fish, furs, and timber. 

And it wouldn’t be a Havurah Purimspiel without a musical finale, courtesy of Cindy Blank-Edelman

[Sung to the tune of “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie]
 
The sun’ll come out tomorrow.
Bet your last tzedakah that tomorrow
There’ll be sun.
 
Just thinking about tomorrow
Helps us to go on despite the sorrow.
We’ve begun.
 
When we’re stuck with a year of fear and hatred
That’s the time when we need to read Torah. Ohhhh….
 
The sun’ll come out tomorrow
And we’ve gotta work for that tomorrow
With bracha…
 
Tomorrow, tomorrow, we’ll be here tomorrow
Right here at the Havurah.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, come join us tomorrow
Right here at the Ha—vu—rah!

by R Feynman

By Ralph Chadis

It was 1980-ish, and I, having grown up in a Reform Congregation, wanted to see what a more Jewish way of Jewish was like. I didn’t have a clue what that meant. I knew I didn’t want that wall thing between men and women; I did want more of the traditional stuff (whatever that means); I didn’t want a choir loft with an organ; and I was terrified there would be Hebrew.

Someone suggested Havurat Shalom – in a house? Oye! Some folks sat on the floor? Oye gevalt! But I was greeted with a big smiling hug from Reena Kling. I stayed for the service. A few weeks later I returned, then again. I figured out that after the Torah thingy there was a discussion (“Dee-Vah”?). Eventually I said something, and no one laughed. One day I heard someone say, “What does that Rabbi know about meat? He’s a vegetarian.” That was in present tense about some Rabbi a few centuries back.

I was hooked. I was greeted by the folks as one of them! I decided that when I wanted to do whatever it is they do there I would go there to do it. The High Holidays were crazy – such crowds, and all day. What were they doing? Oye vey!
I felt like I was marinating in this Jewish stuff. I was learning; learning that this stuff can be learned. It was interesting, and getting more  so; eventually I became curious. One day I went to Israel Book Shop and asked for Etz Hayim and they knew what I meant! I mean I knew what I meant.

So, I continued to marinate – trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.

These days I’ve learned to follow the traditions and think I know enough to say intelligent things; I listen to the congregation sing together; I still don’t sit on the floor. I give D’vrei Torah; I’m learning Hebrew and studying Talmud - it’s not so hard: confusing, annoying, edifying, interesting, and it makes me think one teaspoon at a time.

That’s all I have to say. I need to go and marinate – while standing on one foot.

Thank you all for the patient teaching.

by Aliza Arzt

And the Word of the Week is . . .
 
Knowing Hebrew is an essential skill at the Havurah for getting the most out of davenning and it can feel like an insurmountable challenge for some people.  “Knowing Hebrew” includes being able to read, having an essential vocabulary and having enough knowledge of the grammar to understand the prayers.  The first two, reading and having a prayer vocabulary, are the easiest to learn and can substantially increase the understanding of prayers.
 
Enter “Word of the Week.”  In 2020, we began this task with “Letter of the Week,” when we began our weekly Zoom “Not Just for Kids Service.”  Once we finished the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, we began to introduce a new word each week.  The “Word of the Week” goes out to Havurah members and associate members every Wednesday evening.  If you don’t get these emails, consider becoming an associate member, or, if you already are one, check your email on Thursday mornings! Words are chosen for their usefulness in connecting to davenning and, if possible, to correspond to upcoming holidays.  Each word is accompanied by a translation of the word, some information about how it relates to similar words and some “thought questions” about the word. The words are never transliterated; recipients are encouraged to figure out how to read it or to come to the Friday evening Zoom service (6:00 at this time of year) to talk about it.  Also included in the email is the word written in large, outlined letters.  Recipients are encouraged to color the words.  I do it every week.  I find that it’s quick, and very restful.  We have been through about 5 “Word of the Week” cycles, so there are 4-6 words for each letter of the alphabet.  At the 30-minute service, we discuss the word and the questions that I’ve raised in the email, and also sing or learn a familiar prayer containing a form of the word.
 
Here’s an example of a “Word of the Week” email:
 
The word for this week begins with the letter “Alef” (א). Here it is: אוֹר, which means "light".  In the Torah, God creates light on the first day (chapter 1 verse 3) but doesn't create the sun, moon and stars until the fourth day.  How do we have light without the sun, moon and stars?  Light is also one of the "big three" themes of the morning service.  The other two are "love" (which also starts with an א) and "redemption" (this was our word of the week for ג).   The "light" of the morning service is more than daylight.  Think about some other ways that "light" is used and you'll be able to figure out how light is described in the service.
 
I understand how learning a new language, especially one with a different alphabet, can be very difficult.  Currently I’m working on learning (some) Arabic and Cantonese.  Although I’m already literate in Arabic, I’m not nearly literate in Cantonese, but every day I spend about 15 minutes with my phone app (“Drops”) doing a lesson.  Repeated brief exposure to a new language and/or new alphabet helps to reinforce learning.  It doesn’t take much time, just willingness to spend these brief periods.
 
During the past few months, we’ve been doing a “review of Words of the Week” and we’re halfway through the alphabet.  I’ve chosen 1-2 words that we’ve already done for each letter, focusing on the most relevant and important words from the davenning.  I’ve also been creating flashcards (Hebrew only) for each letter.  They can be found here:
 
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGJ8nqliq0/D7My9JTciWG1KhPpKaD_0g/edit
 
If you have any interest in improving your Hebrew skills, even moderately, consider the following: desiring to do this is a good start, but if that’s where it ends, there will be no progress.  Spending as little as 5 minutes a day looking at and reading essential words results in progress.  If you’d like to have a community to do this with, consider joining us at the weekly Friday night “Not Just for Kids Service”.