The May 2014 Shmoozeletter is on line (click here). Highlights:
Sing a New Song: Kabbalat Shabbat This FridayWe had planned, if we get enough takers, to get together to sing some well-known prayers to new melodies this Friday night.
Please let us know by no later than Thursday night at 10 p.m. if you would like to join us and we’ll let you know which of our families has volunteered to host. We’ll be meeting in the Harrisburg-University City area, if we have enough interested parties.
Please send an email to templeadmin@or-olam.org if you wish to come to a casual Kabbalat Shabbat this Friday night. Please remember that our deadline is Thursday, May 1 at 10 p.m.!
Just $173 to Go and Three Days Left to Meet TOO’s $1,000 Goal at Relay For Life on April 26thPlease help us meet our goals by making a donation to our community effort at the following link. Our team name is “Erev Rav.” Help our volunteers raise money to fight cancer — we would all like to see that disease eradicated in our lifetimes.
On April 10, a wall of an Odessa Jewish cemetery was defaced with the terrifying statement “Death to the Jews.” On Sunday April 13, antisemitism led to the killing of three innocent human beings visiting Jewish institutions.
Antisemitism is alive.
Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, begins on Sunday at sundown. Please remember the Yom Hashoah candles mailed or delivered to you and please, honor the memories of the six million by lighting the candle.
The congregation pays to supply these to our members each year but we hope that you will consider making a donation to TOO via our Paypal button or a check sent to the address below to help us defray the costs of supplying these candles. Please let us know if that donation is in memory or honor of a particular person. And thank you for helping us finance this project for next year.
We remember.
To make a donation to help defray costs of the yellow Yom Hashoah candle, please use our Paypal button or send a check to:
Treasurer:
Temple Or Olam, Treasurer
PO Box 362
Huntersville, NC 28070-0362
Congregational Passover Seder Just Days Away – Please Volunteer to Help Set-up or Clean-upOur Passover Seder is April 19 at Piedmont Unitarian Universalist Church; we’ll celebrate with song and skits, and with great food! We’ll need some help, though, setting up the sanctuary and cleaning up after our celebration — please let Charlotte Miller, our Temple Administrator know if you can help at:
templeadmin@or-olam.org
Thanks for your support!
Register to join us and/or make a donation to our community effort at the following link. Our team name is “Erev Rav.” Please help our volunteers raise money to fight cancer — we’d like to see that disease eradicated in our lifetimes.
Tonight, many Jews begin counting the Omer, the 49 days between Pesach and Shavuot. Once upon a time, the counting had everything to do with harvesting. Counting the Omer has come to be a spiritual practice, one that helps us be mindful not only of the transitions of spring to summer, of slavery and bondage in Egypt to revelation at Sinai, but from personal spaces of constriction to places of renewal and peace.
Nowadays, you can find sites that will send you reminders, reflections and meditations of all kinds for each day (some are listed below).
But here’s a thought: Remember how we began the year? With an exploration of the sevens of vows, of abundance, of commitments. Counting the Omer asks us to count seven times seven…!
Consider taking time each night – alone or with company – and count what you can count on. A smile from a spouse or family member each day? The knowledge that you yourself hold something or someone precious? Maybe you can name a blessing you have received (or one you have given) that day.
Consider counting your seven times seven this year
If you want to learn about counting the Omer, check these handy sites out:
http://www.jewfaq.org/holidayb.htm
There are plenty of sties that will gladly send you email reminders. One such site can be found here:
http://www.meaningfullife.com/torah/holidays/8b/Your_Guide_to_Personal_Freedom_-_Week_1.php
Feel free to explore on the Internet for others!
The most important part of Passover is something you can do alone or together as a family. It will not require physical work but spiritual work. Just take some time to think through some of the implications of the story we tell on Passover.
For example: Consider the four promises of redemption we associate with the four cups of wine at our seder:
Then, consider yourself as the agent:
Some food for thought for Passover. Chag sameach!
Community Seder Features Great Food, Great Joy, and a Whole Lot of DeliverancePlease don’t forget to respond to our evite for our Passover Seder on April 19 at Piedmont Unitarian Universalist Church; we’ll celebrate with song and skits, and great food!
In our seder, we will name the things we want to take with us into freedom, and walk PUUC’s beautiful sanctuary prepared to celebrate new beginnings and rededicate ourselves to creating the freedom we all long for.
All monies realized over the cost of the seder will be used to support the education of TOO children and ongoing advanced training for TOO’s Religious School teachers.
$36 adults, $18 students, $12 children over 5
The April 2014 Shmoozeletter is on line (here). Highlights:
Kabbalat Shabbat Service April 4: The Joys of Leviticus (Really!)Leviticus, Rabbi Barbara says, is one of her favorite books. A book about skin disease and sacrifice, about cleansing the sanctuary and observing complicated laws around the Jubilee year? Say what?
But at this family-friendly Kabbalat Shabbat, we will learn from that story how and why understanding Leviticus can enrich our lives in immeasurable ways. And Temple Or Olam’s Torah study students will help.
Please join us for a musical and friendly Shabbat this Friday and bring something to share at our oneg!
Time: 7 p.m.
Date: April 4
Location: McGill Baptist Church, 5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord
PBS has been running a new series on the history of Jews and Judaism. You can find the series at the following URL: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/story-jews/video/
Enjoy!
Don’t forget the IMAX movie, “Jerusalem,” at Discovery Place this Saturday at 3:30. Notify Arlene if you want to go! afilkoff@gmail.com.
