Blog
Zoom Music Shabbat - Hashkiveinu
This is an amazing video put together by our very own Andy Kaplan. Sing along!!
Kitty O'Meara Quote
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.
Some met their shadows.
And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
CBH Is Like a Zumba Class
As a Zumba Instructor for almost 12 years I often ask myself outside of the music and movement what the appeal is of a Zumba class. One of my students recently gave me some insight.
- It's a place where you can come as you are. Yes, you can wear the latest fashion from Lu Lu Lemon, but you can also come in sweatpants and a T-shirt. Come as you are is the rule.
- It's a place where everyone is welcome, no matter how well you dance, how fit your are, how old or young you are.
- It's a family. Its a place where you see many of the same people every class, they ask how you are doing when you when you walk in the door, and if its your first time, everyone greets you with a friendly smile.
But she also pointed out to me that the magic moments of a Zumba class are when all these people come together moving in unison to the same song. As an instructor, those are the moments that make me love my job.
Thinking more about this, I realize the same...
Belonging (Sermon from Rosh Hashanah, 2019)
When we ask someone “Do you belong to a synagogue?” we usually mean: Are you a member? Do you pay dues? But belonging is so much more than that. Over the summer when I asked congregants what “belonging” means to them, several people mentioned that belonging to a group is a primal human need. Thousands of years ago, people had to band together to survive and on some level we still do. A number of people also mentioned an epidemic of loneliness and isolation in our own time. A few pointed out that the British government has a Minister of Loneliness whose job is to address social isolation.
When the CBH board met this year to talk about our vision for the future, people agreed that a sense of isolation is often what draws people to a synagogue – it may be isolation from other Jews or it may be living far...
Why I Want to Be a Cheerleader (Sermon from Kol Nidre, 2019)
I imagine it will not come as a surprise to most of you to hear that I was not a cheerleader in high school. I am really not the cheerleading type. Waving pompoms and yelling “rah rah rah’ is not my thing. Yet, in my own way, I see myself as a cheerleader for Congregation Beth Hatikvah. I believe this is a very special place, and I consider myself fortunate to be part of this creative, collaborative, joyful, stimulating, and caring community.
And because I love this community so much, when I see the huge sign in the foyer that says “You belong at CBH” or the bracelets everyone is wearing that say #CBHBelong, I really want it to be true for everyone. I want us to live up to our advertising, which means that we must value every person who walks through our doors.
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