|
A visitor came to Israel and saw the Western Wall. Not being too versed in religious aspects, he inquired of another tourist about the significance of the wall. The other tourist explained: "This is a sacred wall. If you pray to it, God may hear you." "Dear Lord," he said, "bring sunshine and warmth to this beautiful land." A commanding voice answered, "I will, my son." The visitor said, "Bring prosperity to this land." "I will, my son." "Let Jews and Arabs live together in peace, dear Lord." The voice answered,
"You are talking to a wall." |
July 01, 2007 - 15 Tamuz 5767
Volume IV, Issue 9
[singalong] [services] [membership/school] [Beit Midrash]
 |
It is so time for the annual summer singalong. No formalities – just fun. Join us as we sing Shabbat out and the weekday in; we’ll also bring the spices, the wine, and the braided candles for our Havdalah services. We’ll bring some handy musical instruments for participants. We’ll ask the kids to bring the Havdalah sets they made last year in Religious School. Parents, please bring something lovely to nosh – we’re thinking fruit and dessert for this event. |
|
Event: |
Annual Summer Singalong |
 |
|
Date: |
Saturday, July 21, 2007 | |
|
Time: |
7:00 p.m. |
|
|
Location: |
5300 Poplar Tent Rd. Concord NC 28027 -9757 map directions > RSVP < |
[Please note that over the summer we'll ask everyone to contribute to our onegs by bringing refreshments!]
Due to the absence of the rabbinic intern, who is off for four weeks of seminary classes this summer, we will be holding one Friday night service in July and one in August.
This month’s Fourth Friday service will feature three congregational leyners and the Ten Commandments, which take a slightly different form in the very last book of Torah. Why? That’s for us to ask and for y’all to consider. Then there’s that other question – why does Moses introduce the commandments by redefining who actually got the covenant in the first place?
Come join us and find the answers to these and other questions during our July service. We’ll be glad to see you there!
|
Event: |
Fourth Friday Family Service |
 |
|
Date: |
Friday, July 27, 2007 | |
|
Time: |
7:00 p.m. |
|
|
Location: |
5300 Poplar Tent Rd. Concord NC 28027 -9757 map directions > RSVP < |
Some of you may wonder how we keep paying the rent. And the babysitter. And such. But most of you probably don’t wonder. You know that our members pay dues.
We’re happy to report that our dues remain among the lowest anywhere in the region, especially given the fact that we offer a full complement of High Holy Day services and bi-monthly Shabbat services, in addition to festival parties and celebrations, Religious School for our children and adult education for the (hopefully) mature set, a Rosh Hodesh group, a ton of fun, and a lot of Yiddishkeit.
For 2007-2008, dues will be as follows:
| Family membership: | $500 |
| Senior family: | $400 |
| Single senior: | S200 |
| Single: | $250 |
Membership dues are due July 1. Those who can afford to pay all dues by July 1 are encouraged to do so. Those who need to pay semi-annually or quarterly may do that.
Please consider joining us (if you haven’t already). Our membership forms are easy to fill out and available on our website.
And parents, if your children are interested in joining our Religious School (which will be combined with the Religious School of the Lake Norman Jewish Congregation this year), please fill out the school registration form. Tuition remains the same as last year for members of the congregation.
All checks can be made out to Havurat Olam.
Please mail forms and checks to our Treasurer Extraordinaire, Samuel Leder, at the address below:
|
Samuel Leder, CPA Potter & Co. 434 Copperfield Blvd. NE Suite A Concord NC 28025 |
We’ve decided to add a category to our Shmoozeletter. From now on, we’ll include a little yidbit of information, and this year we’ll focus mostly on the Jewish liturgical year. Feel free if you have questions you’d like answered – we’ll include them in the next edition of the Shmoozeletter, too.
 |
The Jewish Solar YearMost of us know that the general timing of our festivals and holidays is reckoned by the lunar calendar, which explains why Hanukkah can fall in early December or late December, depending on the year. Still, four of our festivals – the four actually mentioned in Torah – are based on the solar calendar, a seasonal one that relies on a life lived according to agricultural realities. In fact, the very first datable Hebrew inscription is a calendar written on a small tablet of limestone. The Gezer Calendar dates to Solomon’s time (10th century B.C.E.) and was probably inscribed by a child. It appears that the child in question was copying out a school exercise (religious school assignment, from 950 B.C.E.?). The calendar lists agricultural activities appropriate to the various months of the year. So now for the four agricultural holidays – ones you’ll find in Torah! Pesach (Passover) is our spring festival, and marks the annual wake-up call to the earth. The flowers sprout and the first planting begins. We celebrate the earth’s freedom and ours. We’ve left Egypt, (Mitzrayim in Hebrew – the word actually means “narrow place”). We’ve become a nation. Shavuot falls seven weeks and a day after Pesach – right when summer begins and the first harvest is complete. It’s the festival that commemorates the giving of the Law at Sinai, the “wedding” and the covenant made between God and the Jewish people. Sukkot arrives after the second harvest has ripened and can be gathered (so that explains the fruit hanging from the Sukkah???). In biblical times, we would have celebrated the fullness of our agricultural efforts; now we recall the way we were once so attached to land that we slept in mere huts. Shimini Atzeret is almost unknown today, but it marks the onset of the rainy winter. It’s also a time when we take note of Moses’ death and get ready to start the Torah reading year anew with Genesis. The seed goes underground, its fruit to be reaped in spring, at Pesach. |
| Two months for the olive harvest, Two months for planting grain, Two months for late planting, One month for uprooting flax, One month for the barley harvest, One month for the wheat harvest and feasting, Two months for tending vines, One month for summer fruit. |
Next month, we’ll look at the effect of the lunar cycle on the Jewish liturgical year, and at the way these two cycles merge with one another. It’s a crazy, wonderful dance.
|
Feel free to get back to us with comments and suggestions. Shalom, y'all. |