Letter from Rabbi Ross Dear TBS Friends and Family,
This Friday, I am encouraging everyone to make a special effort to attend our annual BBQ at Hudson Springs Park where we will formally welcome Deb Rogers and Kate Palleschi to our community. Deb is our new cantorial soloist and Kate is our new education director.
Blessings of peace and wholeness as we enter Shabbat.
Here is my weekend column for the Record-Courier:
This Monday evening, as we conclude our Labor Day festivities, the Jewish calendar will mark the new moon. The new moon will commemorate the new month of Elul, which falls one month before the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
Reflecting on the deeds we are accountable for can be a huge undertaking. Let me encourage you to use this month of Elul to prepare for this High Holiday season.
If we engage our spiritual practices over the next month, we will likely begin to process our reflections and our deeds with a sense of intentionality and curiosity.
This has been a hard, heavy year for the Jewish community. Our experience of traumas from both the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, and the Hamas capture of hundreds of hostages weighs heavy on our hearts daily. The Palestinian civilian deaths and the utter devastations in Gaza are a second trauma we must face and hold with empathy and tears. The emotional burden of holding these traumas can feel overwhelming.
This year, I am encouraging myself, my Hudson congregants at Temple Beth Shalom, and my Hillel students at Kent State to enter this season and this spiritual realm with great gentleness and deep kindness. Acknowledging our profound brokenness this year is a start.
During Elul, we have five spiritual practices that can deeply nourish our souls:
• The ram’s horn, the shofar is sounded: The blast serves as a wake up call to our desire to sleepwalk through our lives. May we wake up to the full presence of our lives when we hear it’s blast
• Writing out our Cheshbon Hanefesh or “Soul Accounting”: Journaling about our lives over the past year allows us to integrate some of our stories, and begin to notice their role in our lives. May we find time to journal about our successes and our missteps.
• Attend a Selichot Service or “Seeking forgiveness Service”: In the Sephardi, or North African, communities and Mizrachi, or Middle Eastern, communities, the month of Elul is a month of early pre-dawn prayer services where we pray stretched out on the floor, in a posture of profound submission. In Ashkenazi communities, it’s commemorated on the Saturday evening before Rosh Hashanah, Sat. 9/26 at 7:30pm. May we find comfort in our community prayers and songs.
• Celebrate Shabbat in communal gatherings: I have found being in community this past year to be deeply grounding and healing, allowing me to get out of my own head and my social media feeds. May our celebrations of Shabbat ground our period of reflection with depth and honesty.
• Recitation of Psalm 27: One of the verses states, “one thing I ask, is to dwell in God’s House all the days of my life. May we notice the desire to return to God’s house, or a sense of holiness inside us and inside our communities.
One thing I notice as I begin my preparations this year, is how distant I feel from my best self, from God, from my community. Summer vacation was wonderful and nourishing, but now it’s time to refocus my energies as I return to community and begin to do teshuvah.
During this Elul reflection the focus on our preparation should be an internal exploration, bein Adam le’atzmi, or between a person and his or her inner sense of self. Where is my soul today?
Spend time in nature during this month. Slow down. Breathe. Meditate. Journal. Wake up to the fullness of life. A new year, a new beginning is coming. What do we need to do to greet the potential transformation of the new year? Take some time this month to reflect, refocus, and begin again.
Torah For Our Times Returns Saturday, 9/7
We are returning to our popular Torah study class, “Torah For Our Times.” In September, we will focus on High Holiday themes.
Each session will be from 9:30 am – 11:15 am. We will study Torah for about an hour or so, and then have a brief morning prayer service.
Bagels and cream cheese will be served!
Each session is hybrid – both on zoom and in-person!
Zoom link for Torah Study Classes:
This is the same link for each class. TORAH STUDYLINK
Meeting ID: 844 3145 6155, Passcode: tbstorah
Religious School News
We will all gather in Akron for First Serve on Sunday, 9/8. The formal opening day of Religious School will be Sunday, 9/15.
Donations to support Israel can be made at
Cleveland Federation:
TBS ANNUAL FAMILY COOKOUT & SERVICE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 5:30 pm-DUSK • HUDSON SPRINGS PARK
MAY PAVILION ON THE LAKE
One of our most popular events of the year is the Family Cookout & Inspirational Shabbat Service at the close of the summer season.
Please join service leader Rabbi Michael with music by our new
Cantorial Soloist, Deb Rogers.
Buffet dinner begins at 6:00 pm. TBS will supply hamburgers, veggie burgers,
beef hot dogs, veggie hot dogs & buns.
The chefs from TBS Brotherhood will handle the grilling.
The Shabbat Service begins at 7:00 pm. It is an inspirational family service with special music and readings under the stars.
If you can, please bring a dessert to share for our oneg.
This year marks our thirteenth annual day of service. Hudson Temple Beth Shalom joints with First Congregational Church of Hudson, the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent and many other Akron area organizations to lead this event organizing hundreds of volunteers to work on projects located at its community partners in North Hill. Projects include painting, gardening, deck building, window washing, storage organization, bike rodeo, soccer clinic, meal preparation, staining, mural painting, rock painting, kit making, along with so many other projects.
Schedule:
– 8:00 AM Coffee, Donuts and T-Shirt Pick Up @ Trinity UCC 915 North Main Street, Akron, Ohio
– 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM Sending Service @ 915 N. Main
– 9:30 AM Morning Projects Begin @ Project Sites
– 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Lunch @ 915 N. Main
– 1:00 PM Afternoon Projects Begin
– 4:00 PM All Projects End
Links:
Questions? Please go to: joinfirstserve.org for complete event information
• Brotherhood Membership
Please contact treasurer Art Busch, ascyb34@yahoo.com with any questions. Your financial support is much appreciated.
The Brotherhood performs much needed projects for TBS. Even if you cannot participate in Brotherhood, PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION. This will help to complete the many projects planned for 2024 for TBS.
We meet throughout the year in the spirit of friendship and good humor. We sponsor social events, fundraisers and building beautification projects to support and enhance the TBS community. Contact: Mike Miller at: mikemillercsi@roadrunner.com TBSSisterhoodmeetings/events
Pop-up visit to the comedy film
“Between the Temples”
Sunday August 25
• Join the Sisterhood and support us with a dues donation. Please email me, Robin Rosen-Sharp (rrsdvm2@gmail.com) if you need a membership form and would like to mail your payment. Otherwise you can use this PayPal link: PAYPAL
Please Do Notpay along with your Temple dues.
• Next meeting to plan events for next year will be Sunday, Sept 15th at 1:00 pm at the Temple.
• Upcoming meetings and events are currently being planned and scheduled by the Sisterhood. Announcements will be posted as soon as they are available! Thank you for your support!
Temple Beth Shalom Website Notes
• Past e-Megillahs can be found on Media/e-Megillah Newsletters page: E-MEGILLAH NEWSLETTERS
You will need to use the password TBSHudson
You can view upcoming services and events on the Calendar page: CALENDAR PAGE
We are looking for VOLUNTEERS to help our Temple!
Activities to match your interests and abilities are still available!
Welove to share news & announcements at TBS
Please send us your announcements, engagements, weddings, graduations, sports news, kid news, etc. to: e-megillah editor, hberman44236@yahoo.com no later than ONE WEEK PRIOR to the next issue. Please include ‘e-megillah news‘ in the subject field.
D E A T H S I N T H E L A S T Y E A R
John Andro • Norman Taer • Mark VarneyA monthly yahrzeit list of TBS family loved ones will now be published in the e-megillah
as well as read during Shabbat services.
A U G U S T Y A H R Z E I T S
Evelyn Babich • Eugene Borstein • Harry Butensky
Anna Burstein Chadoff • Cynthia Leight Cremer
Genny Rasquinha DeCarvalho • Charles Eisen • Yetta Ezring
Julia Frankino • Sonia Glass • Dorothy Goorin Benny Kaiser • Millie W Koller • Alon Lee Margalit Eugene Ramras • Clifford Rogers • Fanny Singer
If you have names to add, please send them with their yahrzeit date to:
Laurie Frankino, Ritual Chair, at lfrankino@gmail.com.
T B S
Fri., 8/30, 5:30 pm: TBSAnnual Family Cookout & Service – at Hudson Springs Park – with Deb Rogers
Sat., 9/7, 9:30 am: Torah For Our Times & Bagel Brunch –hybrid on zoom and in-person
Sun., 9/8, First ServeSend-off Service and projects
Sun. 9/8, 12:00 noon – 4:00 pm: Super Sunday at Federation
Fri., 9/13, 7:30 pm: Shabbat Service – with Robin Selinger
Sun., 9/15, 1:00 pm: Sisterhood Meeting at the Temple.
Sat., 9/21, 9:30 am: Torah For Our Times & Bagel Brunch – hybrid on zoom and in-person
Fri. 9/27, 7:30 pm: Shabbat Service – with Deb Rogers
Sat. 9/28, 9:30 am: Special Torah Study & Bagel Brunch at Hillel –hybrid on zoom and in-person
• Upcoming meetings and events are currently being planned and scheduled by the Sisterhood. Announcements will be posted as soon as they are available!
Temple Beth Shalom