Hamentaschen Schmooze!
Friday, February 26, noon – 2:00pm
Wear your Purim costume, eat some hamentaschen, buy some hamentaschen, and give an elbow or wave to some of your CBI family. Please RSVP to director@bethisraelnc.org so we can be sure to have enough hamentaschen on hand.
The Noon Study Group will not meet on Friday, February 26 (Chag Sameach Purim)
On February 19, we concluded our discussion of the Book of Esther with a look at its closing chapters (7-10). In our previous sessions we looked at this text as a bawdy burlesque, a satire on bureaucracy, a testament to female intelligence and assertiveness, a call for standing up against injustice, and as an excuse to make merry. This week we examined the Book of Esther by considering the graphic violence of the concluding chapters, the demise of Haman, his family, and many others, and the halachic connection between Haman and the arch-villain Amalek.
The central question discussed on Friday was ”Are the darker chapters of Megillat Esther a justification for, or an incitement to, violence—to fight for our lives—a sanction for mass murder? Given its context–the maftir reading on the Shabbat before Purim (enjoining us to ”Remember Amalek”–and the haftarah for that Shabbat Zachor (revealing King Saul’s being deposed because of his failure to remember Amalek)–a paradigm for using violence to respond to any opponent? Can these chapters be read more metaphorically, or as warnings against the oppressed becoming oppressors? Responses were rich and we agreed that there is much more that can be explored in our search for answers.
Our group will resume on Friday, March 5, when we begin a new topic of study–
Rabbi Arthur Waskow’s Dancing in God’s Earthquake: The Coming Transformation of Religion
Consult this site next week for more information. Rabbi Waskow’s book can be ordered through a variety of Internet sources.
Our informal discussion group is held online every Friday from 12-1. All are welcome to join us, regardless of their level of expertise or attendance at previous noon study group discussions. If you have questions, or would like the Zoom link, please contact Jay Jacoby at jbjacoby@uncc.edu.
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With services unavoidably cancelled, the Ritual Committee is working hard to find ways we can support each other as a community when we can’t be together in person. It’s very distressing to be unable to say Kaddish for a loved one, or to contemplate not sharing a Seder meal with friends and family. We’d like to share with you some plans we have for filling these gaps in our lives.
Please join us for Kabbalat Shabbat services via Zoom. As long as at least 10 adults log in, we’ll be able to say Kaddish, so please consider attending, even if you’re not a Friday night regular.
You can join the service by going to Our Virtual Community here, then scroll down and click on the blue Kabbalat Shabbat Service button.
If you’d like to borrow a siddur for use at home while services are cancelled, we’ll be happy to lend you one! Please contact the office for details.
Just as healthy foods nourish us through the blood stream, so Jewish meditation nourishes our “soul stream.” Meditation can be transformative, taking us from the intellectual awareness of ourselves to a deeper spiritual practice that links us to Judaism in the most profound way. Each mitzvah, holy day and cycle of life has its own rhythm, nuance, taste and character. Jewish meditation is a practice of infusing their essence into our daily spiritual lives.
Ready to give it a try? Join us via Zoom (every Sunday from 2:30pm – 4pm. No previous meditation experience necessary. This opportunity is free and open to all. Please contact Linda Wolf at linda@networktype.com for the online meeting information.
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