Rabbi's Message
04/01/2022 05:55:07 PM
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Chodesh tov! This evening brings in the Hebrew month of Nisan, during which Pesach falls, z’man heyruteinu, the season of our freedom. I look forward to spending the second night of Passover with many of you over Zoom. Details are in the e-bulletin.
One way that many people are coming out from narrow places (mitzrayim) in our culture is through the expansion of gender identity....Read more...
Rabbi's Message
03/18/2022 06:22:14 PM
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Dear Chevre,
I hope that you had a joyous Purim! If you did not get a chance to join KHN in person or online, you can watch the recording and enjoy Rabbi Jonah’s fantastically creative offerings as well as the Megillah readings and musical talents of many in our community: https://www.kehilathanahar.org/purim2022
Like many of...Read more...
Rabbi's Message (March 11, Part 2)
03/11/2022 05:37:11 PM
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Hi everyone,
I realize that I did not specifically include ways to help the Jews of Ukraine in my last email.
I have attached an article by Natasha Hirschhorn, my former Brooklyn Brownstone community chorus director who is now a hazzan in Manhattan. Embedded in her reflections about growing up in Kyiv, there are ways to support both the Jewish communities in Ukraine and the general...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
03/11/2022 05:17:33 PM
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“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder.
Help someone’s soul heal.
Walk out of your house, like a shepherd.”
Jalal al-Din Rumi
Cry aloud; do not be silent. Lift up your voice like a shofar. — Isaiah 58:1
Dear Chevre,
Read more...
Rabbi's Message
02/25/2022 04:25:42 PM
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Dear Chevre,
Many of us are heartbroken and anguished about the war unfolding in Ukraine. Our hearts and prayers are with the Ukrainian people. Many of us have roots there, and some of us know people living there.
We condemn the unprovoked and brutal Russian military invasion of Ukraine.
We may feel helpless...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
02/18/2022 05:22:10 PM
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Dear Chevre,
Sometimes we feel weighed down by our responsibilities, overwhelmed by how much we have to do. No space exists between our thoughts which adds to the feeling of being weighted down, with no refreshing breeze able to enter.
In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Ki Tissa, when Moses comes down the mountain and sees the Israelites dancing...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
02/11/2022 04:59:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
The Reconstructionist movement is piloting an adult education learning opportunity on the topic of reparations.
From the movement: "Reparations can mean many things. It is policy, theology, a moral obligation, history, and a demand for truth and reconciliation. The National African-American Commission on Reparations (NAACR)...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
02/04/2022 05:33:17 PM
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Va'asu li mikdash, v'shochanti b'tocham: Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. Exodus 25:8
Dear Chevre,
As we mature into adults [a process which hopefully continues throughout our lifetime!], we need to untangle ourselves from narrow places and habits, we need to make ourselves open to hearing wisdom from...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/28/2022 11:56:35 AM
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Dear Chevre,
The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has designated this Shabbat as “Repro Shabbat” as a way of bringing the whole Jewish community together to mark the critical importance of advocating for reproductive freedom, ensuring that we all have access to the quality, comprehensive care that we need to thrive with dignity. Repro Shabbat takes place on Parshat...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/21/2022 04:44:00 PM
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Beloved Chevre,
We enter Shabbat again, exhaling. Just a week ago, Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas experienced an acutely distressing marathon day that was felt by Jewish communities around the country and the world. Earlier today I was on a phone call with the White House along with thousands of clergy which was led by several professionals and officials...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/14/2022 04:43:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
Sometimes we need vision, sometimes we need faith and sometimes we need both of them.
In this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Beshalach, the newly free Israelites cross the sea, moving into their unknown future. There’s the miracle of God splitting the sea, and then there’s the rabbinic innovation of Nachshon who courageously walks...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/06/2022 09:47:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
We mourn the tragic death of 13 Philadelphians, eight of them children. As a way to honor their memories and to ensure future life, let us all check our smoke detectors.
As we are facing a time in our country when we are looking for thoughtful, determined leadership, I am reminded of a prayer that I find meaningful called...Read more...
******* 2021 - 2022
01/01/2022 10:34:20 AM
Messages from 2022
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Messages from 2021 below, from 2022 above
Read more...Rabbi's Message
12/24/2021 04:24:19 PM
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You get the sense that it’s possible simply to go through life noticing things and writing them down and that this is OK, it’s worth doing. That the seemingly insignificant things that most of us spend our days noticing are really significant, have meaning, and tell us something. – The Paris Review interview (2006) Joan Didion, z’l.
Dear Chevre,
Read more...
Rabbi Message
12/17/2021 04:44:02 AM
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Dear Chevre,
This Shabbat we conclude Breishit, Genesis with the reading of Parashat Vayechi. As each book of the Torah is completed, we say Chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek, “Be strong, be strong and let us strengthen each other!”
It can feel hard to be strong when we are worried...Read more...
Rabbi Message
12/10/2021 03:56:00 PM
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Dear KHN Chevre,
***Just a reminder that we are not having services through KHN this evening. We will be joining other Reconstructionist communities. Please sign up before 5 pm to gain a password. Zoom services begin at 8:00 pm this evening. Meeting ID: 441 857 610. To receive the password, please send an email to info@adatshalom.net
As we...Read more...
Rabbi's Message: Gratitude and Light
11/21/2021 09:31:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
I want to wish everybody an early Happy Thanksgiving, and Happy Chanukah, as the first evening of the Festival of Lights takes place at the tail end of the Thanksgiving weekend on Sunday the 28th.
I am enormously grateful that Kehilat HaNahar is my community. You inspire me, and I am always learning from and with you. I am honored to be...Read more...
Rabbi Message
11/11/2021 09:26:25 PM
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Dear Chevre,
To all of our KHN members and family members who are veterans of military service: Thank you for protecting and defending our country and our democracy.
This week was the 83rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, which took place on November 9th and 10th, 1938 in Nazi Germany. Jewish homes, hospitals, schools and...Read more...
Chanukah Drive and Rabbi's Message
11/05/2021 03:20:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
As many of you know, there are still enormous needs in our local communities after the ravages of Ida and the pandemic, along with the ongoing needs of those who are food insecure.
In response to those needs, I’m delighted to announce that KHN congregants Steven and Ricki Fisher have stepped up with a $10,000 gift to KHN to start a...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
10/29/2021 05:47:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
We remember the tragic killing of eleven Jewish people three years ago, October 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. May the memories of Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil and David Rosenthal, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger be for a blessing.
Read more...
Rabbi's Message/Services Zoom only Tonight
10/22/2021 03:46:07 PM
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Dear Chevre,
This evening at 7:00 pm Shabbat Services will be on Zoom ONLY. I am getting over a cold and have energy to lead but not to project. Thank you for understanding!
Summer of 2019, I was sitting in Central Park at the end of the Reclaim Pride gathering, a segment of the 50thAnniversary of the Stonewall riot commemoration that did not include...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
10/15/2021 03:43:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
In this week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha, God tells Avram to go forth from his native land and from his father's house to the land which God will show him. Avram does not know where he is going. He is leaving everything familiar behind, going on faith that the Holy One will lead him to where he needs to go.
We have...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
10/08/2021 06:16:00 PM
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Dear Chevre,
The Talmud explains that each Jewish community must establish a public fund to provide food for the hungry, and our sages explain that feeding the hungry is one of our most important responsibilities on earth: “When you are asked in the world to come, ‘What was your work?’ and you answer: ‘I fed the hungry,’ you will be told: ‘This is the gate of the Lord,...Read more...
Rabbi's Message/Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah
09/24/2021 06:24:57 PM
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Dear Chevre,
Sukkot is z’man simchateinu, the season of our rejoicing, when we gather under a Sukkah and eat, drink and enjoy each others’ company.
Now that it looks like we are going to enjoy great weather for the last few days of Sukkot, I want to extend some outdoor (and a few indoor) opportunities to be together.
Read more...
************MESSAGES FROM 2020******************
12/31/2020 12:00:00 PM
Messages from 2020
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Rabbi's Message
05/08/2020 06:32:09 PM
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Dear Chevre,
As we go into this weekend of Mothers' Day, I want to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to mothers out there of all kinds, however you have created your family, as well as to those celebrating their mothers whether in person or more likely, virtually.
Read more...
Rabbi's Message
05/01/2020 05:26:37 PM
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Dear Chevre,
On this journey through the wilderness between Passover and Shavuot, we are in the Omer week of the kabbalistic quality of Netzach, which means eternity and endurance. In our current times, we have to keep perspective, take the long view, be reminded that we won’t be in this situation forever. At the same time, we...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
04/24/2020 05:15:57 PM
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Dear Chevre,
Chodesh Tov! We have entered the new Hebrew month of Iyar, a month of healing.
Rabbi Yael Levy teaches,
When the Israelites crossed the sea
Read more...
Rabbi's Message
04/10/2020 06:32:37 PM
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Dear chevreh,
I hope that you had meaningful and joyful seders even as they were not how we would have imagined them to be a month ago. It was wonderful to see so many of your faces at our KHN CyberSeder. Thank you to Allyson Zacharoff, Howard Parker, the Lerman family and all those who participated.
Read more...
Rabbi's Message
04/03/2020 04:16:43 PM
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Dear Chevreh,
We are living in times unlike any we have ever experienced before. And still, as it does every year, Passover is arriving. We may be exhausted from taking care of little ones or elderly parents or other family members in need of care. We may be scared, alone, grieving what we had hoped we’d be doing this spring;...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
03/27/2020 05:45:10 PM
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Dear chevreh,
Thank you for your patience and hanging in there with me as I am learning how to create appropriate Zoom invitations! I will be lighting candles this evening at 7:15 pm and services will begin with me and Allyson at 7:30 pm at https://zoom.us/j/412061997 (Meeting ID: 412 061 997) or by phone: 929-205-6099 (Meeting...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
03/20/2020 04:28:44 PM
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My dear KHN community,
The Book of Exodus closes this week with a double portion, Vayakhel- Pekudai, where in the Israelites have completed the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. We read, “And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan/Tabernacle. And Moses could not...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
03/06/2020 02:19:10 PM
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Dear chevre,
We are closely monitoring information from public health authorities regarding the spread of the coronavirus.
We may be calm, concerned, or nervous about COVID-19, the coronavirus, especially as it has come closer to home with five...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
02/07/2020 04:50:38 PM
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Dear chevreh,
This Shabbat is called Shabbat Shirah, the Sabbath of Song, because the Torah reading includes the Song of the Sea, sung by the Israelites after they crossed the Sea of Reeds jubilantly.
I’m thinking about collective liberation, and I’m thinking about courage. In Parshat Beshalach, the Israelites arrive at the Sea of Reeds, miraculously cross the sea and take steps forward to becoming a spiritual people. As we get closer to Mt. Sinai where we will receive our Torah, we will not only be physically free, but spiritually free and purposeful.Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/31/2020 05:32:39 PM
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Dear chevreh,
This past week, there has been a dizzying and disturbing amount of national and world news and commemorations including the impeachment hearings, the announcement of the peace plan, and the “public charge” ruling from the Supreme Court, all in the same week as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/17/2020 08:53:07 AM
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Dear chevreh,
There is a dispute in the Talmud between Ben Zoma and the Sages where Ben Zoma wonders if when the Messiah arrives whether the Exodus from Egypt-- a foundational narrative to the Jewish people--will still be mentioned, citing a verse from Jeremiah’s prophecy which could be read to suggest that it won’t. The...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/10/2020 04:45:09 PM
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Dear chevreh,
***It appears that my KHN-generated email address has been hacked so please ignore any strange request you may have received from me. We are working on changing the password.
It has been a very tense week, not knowing whether we are...Read more...
Rabbi's Message
01/03/2020 04:45:08 PM
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Dear KHN community,
Many of us are wondering what to do with our sadness, outrage, fear and desire to connect with others in light of the Jew-hatred that has been taking place in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere. This Sunday, there is an opportunity to travel to New York City for the No Hate No Fear Solidarity March. Together with thousands of others, march across the Brooklyn...Read more...
Rabbi Weekly Message
01/03/2020 09:44:08 AM
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Dear KHN community,
It is a scary and vulnerable time for the Jewish people in America. While our KHN community may not be as visible targets as our brothers and sisters in Brooklyn or Monsey, we are aware that hate crimes against Jews in the United States have risen dramatically and disproportionally.
We have a strong and active security committee...Read more...
Sat, April 20 2024
12 Nisan 5784
