August 2003
Dear Friends,
There is an unusual sense of excitement and anticipation
at BAJC as we approach the New Year. I’m sure some
of you can feel it. I sense it every time I walk on to the
Greenleaf property (where our Monday minyans have now become
a meaningful congregational tradition). I sense it in the
planning already underway for fall events. I sense it in
the enthusiasm over the possibility of a BAJC musical. I
sense it in the new spirit of volunteerism that seems to
be emerging in our congregation.
There are several important themes which are evoked as we
approach the New Year. One of them is the spirit of Tzedakah.
I sometimes hear it said that Jewish congregations are less
attentive to the needy in the world and in our communities
because, unlike our Christian neighbors, we don’t pass
the collection plate at our services. My response is that
we, as Jews, have our own uniquely Jewish ways of offering
tzedakah, and that this is done (1) in the home, (2) collectively
as a community, and (3) individually. Let me speak briefly
about ways in which BAJC will actively be encouraging all
three of these in the coming year.
Many of us remember – and we cherish the memories – of
tzedakah boxes – the blue and white boxes in our
homes growing up. We called them “pushkis,” and
we were regularly dropping coins inside, sometimes when
something special happened, but often as an automatic reflex
when we took change out of our pockets. Wouldn’t
it be a beautiful thing to renew that tradition with intentionality,
and to share it fully with our children and other loved
ones!
This fall, our Education Director Janice Colbert and our
teachers will work with the kids to make tzedakah boxes for
our homes and for our classrooms, and will spend time explaining
and underlining the importance of tzedakah in our Jewish
tradition. Children will be encouraged to help make the tzedakah
box an integral part of our home lives and then will speak
together about ways money raised in our homes has supported
people in need. At the same time, our children will be encouraged
to bring in coins each week for the class tzedakah boxes,
and will decide, on the basis of class discussion and some
first hand exposure, how the class tzedakah will be used.
(We may also have the class tzedakah boxes available at our
services in which our Hebrew School classes will be increasingly
involved.)
Collectively, as a community, we will be having two important
tzedakah-related events this fall, both lending themselves
to families. The first, which we want to take very seriously
this year, is our Yom Kippur food drive. Our local Brattleboro
Drop-in Center, as some of you know, is facing particular
difficulty. We want to make a difference as a congregation
in helping them restock their shelves for low income families
and individuals in our area. Let me urge everyone reading
this newsletter to begin preparing now to fill to the brim
with non-perishables the bags we will be distributing on
Rosh Hashanah. For any of you who will miss Rosh Hashanah
or Yom Kippur, please make it a point to contact our social
action chairs (socialaction@bajcvermont.org).
Our other major fall tzedakah-related event is the Hunger
Banquet which will be carried out jointly with our friends
at All Souls Church. Please put a big red circle around the
weekend of November 14! The Hunger
Banquet will take place
early evening on Sunday the 16th. Long time members will
remember the one BAJC organized ten years ago. For others
of you, let me say only that no one who attends a Hunger
Banquet, particularly children, ever forgets it. The impression
it makes, particularly on children, is vivid and it is permanent.
Much more information on this will be forthcoming. The funds
raised will support our local Drop in Center and also international
projects with which member of BAJC and All Souls have been
associated.
The other reason to circle that weekend, is that on Friday
November 14 we be having another jointly sponsored service
with our friends at SIT emphasizing Jewish Muslim linkages.
As you recall, it was just such a service last year which
brought our congregation national recognition and the Irving
Fain Social Justice Award. Earlier in that week (date to
be announced), BAJC and SIT will sponsor an evening of dialogue
exploring our experiences as two religious minorities in
America.
Once again, this year, our congregation will be devoting particular
attention to the Hebrew month of Ellul, the month during which we
are asked to begin preparing ourselves for the Days of Awe, by doing
our Random Acts of Kindness. And this is a prime opportunity for
individual tzedakah. You will recall the magical moment during Rosh
Hashanah when we read out anonymously our remarkable collection
of Random Acts of Kindness and then sent them heavenward. You can
fill out the online form
or e-mail Faith or to
me – we’ll remove your names when we receive them.
(One act all of us adults can do in 30 seconds is to check off the
organ donation box on the back of our driver’s license. The
life of Paula Fielding, Esther’s daughter-in-law, was saved
last month by just such an act.) (Please talk with me if you have
any questions about halachic aspects of organ donation. It’s
a non-issue.)
This leads me to the High Holidays themselves, for which
active preparation is already underway. Andi Weisman will
once again be joining me on the bimah with her kavanah-filled
prayer, and once again the services will be full of opportunities
for participation. Continuing the tradition begun last year,
our BAJC chorus will be lending inspiration to the services.
We shall have a special guest offering the sermon during
the Rosh Hashanah morning service. Van Lanckton, President
of a large congregation in Newton Massachusetts and former
president of the United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism,
will share with us the absolutely remarkable story of his
journey to Judaism. I will be speaking on Erev Rosh Hashanah
and at our Kol Nidre service. The sermon at the Yom Kippur
morning service is a surprise.
Let me wish you all a lovely end of the summer, as we prepare
for an unusually rich New Year. I continue to consider myself
so privileged to be part of this community.
B’shalom,
Jim
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