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Or Olam in the Loop – Our Weekly Bulletin on All Things TOO

LoopTalking Genesis: TOO’s Weekly Torah Study Group

Each week, on Shabbat morning at 10 a.m., an intrepid group of TOO members gets on the phone to talk Torah. It’s easy, convenient, and you don’t even have to get out of your pajamas to join in the conversation.

This week, we will be studying Parshat Vayera (Genesis 18:1 – 22:24), which includes the destruction (despite Abraham’s attempted negotiations with God) of Sodom and Gomorrah, the birth of Isaac (and his near death as a sacrifice), and the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael.

It’s a challenging parsha, filled with questions about the nature of God and the responsibilities of humanity. TOO members, feel free to join Torah study at any time you like (any week you like). If you want to be added to the list, please send a note to religious-services@or-olam.org and we will send you the call-in number.

This week’s parsha can be found here: http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/vayera.shtml

Our haftorah this week is II Kings 4:1-37

and can be found here: http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/vayera_haft.shtml

Havdalah Service on Halloween

Join us this Saturday night at McGill Baptist for a lay-led havdalah service. We will come together to explore the magical associations of havdalah, perform the havdalah ceremony, and shmooze over dessert. Optional storytelling to follow.

Date: October 31
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC

Or Olam in the Loop – Our Weekly Bulletin on All Things TOO

LoopConsider Joining us for Torah Study…

(You can come in your pajamas…)

Each week, an intrepid group of TOO members gets on the phone to talk Torah. It’s easy, convenient, and you don’t even have to get out of your pajamas to join in the conversation.

This week, we will be studying Parshat Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27) in which Abraham is told to get on the get-go to Canaan, promptly appears to sell his wife’s honor to the Egyptian pharaoh, divides territory with Lot (then has to rescue his nephew from a bunch of area kings), wanders through time (is it day or night in Genesis 15, and why does God show up as a fiery oven?), and then finds himself in bed with his wife’s servant, Hagar at Sarah’s request. Oy! (Or maybe not…).  Lego - She is my sister

Genesis is a wild ride through our ancestral narratives. TOO members, feel free to join Torah study at any time you like (any week you like). If you want to be added to the list, please send a note to info@or-olam.org and we will send you the call-in number.

This week’s parsha can be found here: http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/lekhlekha.shtml

Our haftorah this week is Isaiah 40:27-41:16 and can be found here: http://www.jtsa.edu/PreBuilt/ParashahArchives/jpstext/lekhlekha_haft.shtml

Up Ahead at TOO

Havdalah service on Halloween (want to come in costume?) More information to come next week, so please, stay tuned.

Or Olam in the Loop – Our Weekly Bulletin on All Things TOO

LoopKabbalat Shabbat, and the Man Who Didn’t Know How to Pray

This Friday’s service will be relaxed, gentle, and provide food for the soul. We’ll share plenty of beautiful music and moments for prayerful reflection. Rabbi Barbara will tell a Chassidic story of a meeting between the Baal Shem Tov and the innkeeper who didn’t know how to pray. Feel free to join us, and if you do, please bring something to share at our oneg!

Date: October 16
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC

Crop WalkTOO’s Tikkun Olam Project This Month: Featuring Crop Walk

Nice, isn’t it?  Temple Or Olam is currently in the lead in fundraising in our local Crop Walk.

If you haven’t already made a donation to Temple Or Olam’s Team for this Sunday’s Crop Walk (or want to join the team at the last minute), please think about supporting the cause.

Temple Or Olam members Will King and Linda VanArsdale are leading our team this year. CROP Hunger Walks help feed children and families around the world. Last year more than 116,000 CROP Walkers, volunteers and sponsors raised money for this important cause.

Click here to view the team page for Temple Or Olam:

http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/site/TR?team_id=121587&pg=team&fr_id=20852&et=eQznU09oKHCbLHFm54ib_w&s_tafId=139733

If you want to join our walkers, here’s what you need to know:

Date: October 18
Time: Registration at 1 p.m.; step off at 2 p.m.
Location: Forest Hills United Methodist Church, 265 Union St N, Concord, NC 28025

 

Please Note: Important Changes to Tomorrow’s Standing at the Threshold Event!

Due to weather-related issues, we will be meeting on the phone in a conference call for this adult education session. Please email Rabbi Barbara for the conference call information at
Rabbi.Thiede@or-olam.org and, if you like, keep the coffee pot handy when you dial in!

Sh’mini Atzeret is, according to the rabbis,  the true completion of the High Holy Day season.  Our study session with Rabbi Barbara will explore the threshold between Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret, a last time to ask for God’s forgiveness before the New Year well and truly begins.

Or Olam in the Loop – Our Weekly Bulletin on All Things TOO

LoopOn Sukkot, Sh’mini Atzeret, and Thresholds and Liminal Moments in Jewish Time – Adult Education with Rabbi Barbara This Shabbat

Sh’mini Atzeret is, according to the rabbis, the true completion of the High Holy Day season. On Shabbat, October 3, Temple Or Olam members will meet at McGill Baptist Church at 10 a.m. and explore the threshold between Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret, a last time to ask for God’s forgiveness.

One of our themes during High Holy Days explored our Torah as a tree of life and wisdom; torah mantleswe will continue this exploration on Shabbat by celebrating our Torah with spontaneous discoveries about where we stand in the Book of Genesis (literally!).  Three congregants (chosen, as in ancient tradition, by lot…) will choose the column that calls to them and Rabbi Barbara will look for the verse that clearly belongs to them in this New Year.

Pot-luck lunch afterwards, too, so please bring something to share!

Or Olam in the Loop…. P.S.

LoopInterfaith Outreach During Succot

The rabbis say that one mitzvah is to lead directly to the next. In that spirit, after concluding the mitzvah of completing the soul-work of the Days of Awe, Temple Or Olam members are engaging in outreach with our wonderful hosts at McGill Baptist Church.

How? By building our congregational succah and inviting McGill Baptist Church members to join us there for an interfaith celebration and exploration of what the succah stands for. Why do we enter a place of such fragility right after the Days of Awe? SuccahWhat do we ask of ourselves as we stand in the succah and look to the sky above? Why is inviting guests into that tender space so important to our tradition?

This is a happening thing this Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at McGill Baptist Church at 5300 Poplar Tent Road, so if you would like to join us, please feel free!

On Sukkot, Sh’mini Atzeret, and Thresholds and Liminal Moments in Jewish Time – Adult Education with Rabbi Barbara

Sh’mini Atzeret is, according to the rabbis, the true completion of the High Holy Day season. On Shabbat, October 3, Temple Or Olam members will meet at McGill Baptist Church at 10 a.m. and explore the threshold between Sukkot and Sh’mini Atzeret, a last time to ask for God’s forgiveness. There will be learning, discussion, and celebration of our Torah with readings and song.

Pot-luck lunch afterwards, too, so please bring something to share!

Or Olam in the Loop – Our Weekly Bulletin on All Things TOO

LoopOn Wearing White And Other Yom Kippur Traditions… A Note from Rabbi Barbara

Dear Congregants and Guests,

As we enter the Day of At-One-Ment, feel free to…

  • wear white during Yom Kippur. We dress in the clarity white brings to our spirits as we do the good work of clearing away the dross our souls have collected this past year.
  • bring and wear your tallitot. Though prayer shawls are mandated for morning services only, Kol Nidre is a single exception to that rule. We wear our prayer shawls for this service to emphasize Yom Kippur’s special holiness.
  • bring something to write with! There may be journaling opportunities during services.

I look forward to a deeply meaningful Day of Awe with you all.

Rabbi Barbara

Kol Nidre and Yom Kippur Service Schedule

All services will be held at McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC

Note: TOO is also offering the chance to engage in peaceful reflection on the afternoon of Yom Kippur; Two programs will be available during that time (see below!)

  • September 22: Kol Nidre Service, 7 p.m.
  • September 23: Yom Kippur Morning Service, 10 a.m. – 12 a.m.
  • September 23: Afternoon Community Reflections, 4:30

pomegranate tree During this time we will consider what it means to nourish our community’s tree of life and wisdom.  We’ll reflect on the ways we may have deprived the tree over the past year. We will also explore what our inner Torah/tree of wisdom tells us about how we want to nourish and sustain ourselves and our community in the coming year.  Activities will include a a time of quiet contemplation – we’ll begin by dimming the lights and playing background music to foster active meditation. To this end we encourage you to bring a sleeping bag so that you can meditate and reflect comfortably.  Afterward, we will (literally!) hang the fruit of our reflections on the limbs of our TOO tree in the sanctuary.

Please join us with open hearts and minds.

  • September 23: Neilah Service: 6:30 p.m., Havdalah, and break fast

Temple Or Olam does not require tickets for attendance at our services. Suggested donations for guests to defray our rental costs are below:

Suggested donations for non-members:

  • Families: $216
  • Individuals: $108
  • Students: gratis

Please visit www.or-olam.org for more information.

On Modeh Ani and Breathing Space

Today at services, I read from the passage in Genesis in which God breathes life into the human. But before I chanted, I asked if those in the community who felt, acutely, the need for more breathing space to come forward. After the Torah blessing and the passage were chanted, I spoke to them about a gift of our liturgy, the first prayer to be said upon awaking: Modeh Ani (Modah Ani is the female form).

This brief prayer provides each of us the opportunity to pause before we begin the day, to acknowledge our gratitude for life.

Each morning, we recognize that the day before us will never come again. It is, therefore, both sacred and precious. To take a moment to give thanks for life each morning can also act as a reminder. During this day, allow yourself to breath. Breathe gratitude, breathe love. Breathe your thanks for the smile of your beloved, for the laughter of your friend, for the innocence of a child.

The entire prayer is found below, for those who might be in need of more breathing space. And even if all you do is say the first two words (I give thanks) each morning when you awake, you will find you have a great deal more breathing space than you knew.

L’shana tova!

Rabbi Barbara

Modeh ani (Modah ani)          I give thanks
Lefanecha                                   before You
melech chai v’kayam               eternal and living King
she’he’chezarta bi nishmati    who returns my soul within me
b’chemla.                                   
With mercy.
Raba emunatecha.                   Great is Your faithfulness

Rosh Hashanah’s Potluck Lunch, Walk in the Park and Tashlich

Purim costume appleIf you are joining Temple Or Olam for Rosh Hashanah Shacharit services on Monday morning, please bring something to share at our potluck lunch after services.

Feel free to join us for a meditative walk after services in nearby Dorton Park where we will also perform tashlich at the little stream and the bridge above it.

A last Shabbat Shalom for  3775 from Temple Or Olam!

 

 

Or Olam in the Loop – Our Weekly Bulletin on All Things TOO

LoopHigh Holy Days: A Note from Rabbi Barbara

On meditation, gardens, and journaling for wisdom’s sake…

During these High Holy Days I would like to visit four gardens with you. Erev Rosh Hashanah, we will visit Gan Eden, the Garden 1garden of creation, the garden of pleasure. During Rosh Hashanah Shacharit services, we will follow Enoch into the Garden of Righteousness. On Kol Nidre we will accompany the rabbis and enter the Garden of Discernment. On Yom Kippur, our tradition will take us to the Garden of Compassion and Understanding. In each garden, I hope, we will find that our Torah is as we say she is: Our one tree, the tree of life and wisdom.

journalsWe will be doing some journaling during several of our services, so please consider bringing a small diary or notebook with you!

Please join us for a musical, rich, and reflective experience of the Days of Awe.

 

Temple Or Olam High Holy Day Service Schedule

  • September 13: Erev Rosh Hashanah Service, 7 p.m. McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC
  • September 14: Rosh Hashanah Morning Services, 10 a.m. – 12 a.m. followed by brunch and Tashlich at Dorton Park: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC
  • September 22: Kol Nidre Service, 7 p.m.: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC
  • September 23: Yom Kippur Morning Service, 10 a.m. – 12 a.m.: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC
  • September 23: Neilah Service: 6:30 p.m., Havdalah, and break fast: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, NC

High Holy DaysTemple Or Olam does not require tickets for attendance at our services. Suggested donations for guests to defray our rental costs are below:

Suggested donations for non-members:

  • Families: $216
  • Individuals: $108
  • Students: gratis

Please visit www.or-olam.org for more information.