Kol HaLev Weekly Bulletin
May 7, 2024
This week's featured video, "Zamru," is by Yoel Sykes, who will be leading Friday night Shabbat services this week. Please see below for more information.
Rabbi Emily's Column
Reflections
Rav Kook, first Chief Rabbi of what would later become Israel, said, “The old shall be new, and the new shall be holy.” This creed encapsulates our upcoming Shabbat, as we revive one of Kol HaLev's customs.
Who remembers KHL members having Shabbat dinners in each other’s homes? For the past few months, people have regularly approached me, reminiscing about those times.Since Laurie and David Rosenberg were the first to mention it to me, we were excited to renew this practice of Friday night potlucks in their home for May 10. At last, a custom from our past has become new again.
Enter my friend Yoel Sykes, an innovative Jewish leader, known for making the new holy. Yoel was in my cohort for Spiritual Direction (Hashpa’ah) and is a well-known Israeli writer and performer of Jewish liturgical music (see his bio below). But, what to do when he told me he was coming to town on May 10?
Laurie and David were not only open to having Yoel come to their home to lead services, but excited to try something new, especially because of their love of music. David Rosenberg is a professional harmonica player, and agreed to play with Yoel’s music. Shabbat Unplugged also leapt at the chance to sing with Yoel. Indeed, you will recognize most of the liturgical music from Shabbat Unplugged services. And, just like that, what was new became even holier.
But that isn’t all — Among other Shabbat excitement, such as Betsy Wexler bringing meditation to the week's Torah portion, Toni Pollin’s presentation on human genetics after Saturday morning Shabbat services brings this teaching to mind. With her immense knowledge of type 2 diabetes, Toni takes something as ancient as our very own genetic code and brings us new advancements in this field. I can't wait!
And so, I bless us this coming Shabbat with Rav Kook’s words— make the old new, and the new holy.
I hope the ancient wisdom of our world will inform our lives now in meaningful ways. And, in turn, may our lives in the present moment become even holier. Information on these upcoming events may be found in this newsletter. We hope you will join us in making the old new and the new holy this Shabbat!
Poem
This day
This day
This very day
Has played
Has played in the world
Before
This world
This world
The story isn’t new
The story isn’t new
But it’s
holy
This war has come
And continues on
Throughout all time
What if time were gone?
When we wake up
And this dream ends
Will this story
Begin again?
This day this day
They call a brand new day
With the freshest start
Leaves dripping with dew
The sunshine peeks
And the world awakens
The story isn’t new
But it’s
holy.
When will we wake up?
When will we wake up
To a brand new light,
To a brand new song?
When will we revive
The ancient ones?
When will the world to come
Come?
This day this day
They call a brand new day
With the freshest start
Leaves dripping with dew
The sunshine peeks
From behind the darkness
The story isn’t new
But it’s
holy.
Copyright- Rabbi Emily Stern
The Bedtime Shema PDF
Our sages felt that night was scary. They believed in demons that came in the night, or when people were vulnerable. And our sages had prayers to reflect this—to keep them safe.
Although many of us don’t fear demons, we have something great from this thinking—the order of prayers before bedtime, a chance to find comfort and invoke protection before sleep.
Well, I am less afraid of what goes on when I’m sleeping than of what is going on in waking life: humanitarian and political crises. This is why, last Shabbat, I made a booklet of the bedtime Shema section of prayers. It is attached here as a PDF for those who would like to work with a powerful protection ritual through prayer before sleep. If you want help knowing how to use these prayers, or if you want to talk about introducing this practice into your life, please feel free to contact me at Rabbi@kolhalevmd.org
This Week
Counting of the Omer
Every night through Monday, June 10, 7:00–7:30 pm — virtual
Join Rabbis Steven and Emily, and Cantor George, in a deep dive into Kabbalah and the mitzvah of counting the Omer. We meet online every night at 7 pm for half an hour of counting and processing the unique mystical coloring of each day. On Friday nights, when we have our Kabbalat Shabbat service, we’ll count the Omer as part of the service.
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Beginners’ Hebrew Class with Shira
Wednesday, May 8, 6:30–7:00 pm - virtual
Class members will learn biblical Hebrew as well as modern conversational Hebrew. We will gain a deeper understanding of the language of Torah, and gain easier access to the Hebrew blessings and prayers that are included in our Siddur. We will also learn to have basic conversations with each other in modern Hebrew. Please contact Shira for more information and to receive your free Hebrew learning materials. Click here to join our virtual class.
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Community Gathering with Rabbi Emily
Wednesday, May 8, 7:30 pm - virtual
A safe space to connect, listen, and check in with each other.
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Abrahamic Faiths Program: Grappling with Evil
Thursday, May 9, 7:00 pm
Oak Crest Senior Center, 8810 Walther Boulevard, Parkville, MD 21234
Rabbi Emily will be one of the presenters at this interfaith event, where representatives from many faiths will speak on the topic of evil in their traditions. All are welcome to attend.
The Service Leadership group will be cancelled that evening.
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Kabbalat Shabbat with Yoel Sykes of Nava Tehila
Friday, May 10, 7:00 pm
At the home of Laurie and David Rosenberg and virtual
Special guest Yoel Sykes is coming to town! You will recognize a lot of his music from Shabbat Unplugged.
Please join us for a special Shabbat service led by Yoel, Rabbi Emily, and Shabbat Unplugged!
Questions? Contact Laurie Rosenberg.
Yoel Sykes (he/him) is a spiritual facilitator who co-creates intentional community through music and prayer, cultivating and teaching deep listening and open-hearted communication. He works with individuals and groups of all sizes, serving the wider Jewish community around the U.S and the world.
Born and raised in Jerusalem, Yoel is known through his work as part of the Nava Tehila leadership team, where he has composed many melodies for Jewish liturgy, and recorded three professional albums. He studied music at the Center for Eastern Music in Jerusalem and flamenco guitar in the Fundacion de Christina Heeren school of Flamenco Arts in Seville, Spain.
Currently living in Boulder, Colorado, Yoel will soon receive s’micha from the ALEPH Rabbinic Ordination Program, by whom he is already ordained as a mashpi’ah (spiritual director). Yoel specializes in holding space for deep embodied presence and views the body as a sacred temple through which spirit can flow, with the intention of opening gateways for people to return home to their hearts and to expand into the spaciousness of the soul, into community, and into the infinite oneness within and beyond.
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Shabbat Morning Service and Torah Mediation
Saturday, May 11, 10 am
CHC Chapel and virtual
Join Cantor George and Rabbis Emily and Steven for heartfelt song and prayer! Betsy Wexler will lead us in a contemplative practice based on this week’s very special Torah portion, Kedoshim, in which God gives us many of the mitzvot (commandments) of Judaism.
(Please remember that the chapel is a fragrance-free zone.)
Torah Portion of the Week
Kedoshim (Second Triennial Cycle) (Leviticus 19:23–20:7)
This portion presents misphatim (judgments, or rulings), ranging from warnings against practicing divination to laws that include defending the elderly, not wronging the stranger, and loving the stranger as yourself. The second triennial reading begins with the teaching of the orlah, which in other contexts means “foreskin.” But here, fruits on a tree planted less than three years ago are called orlah (forbidden). While the content of the laws ranges widely, the central theme of holiness is repeated throughout the portion: “You shall be holy, for I, YHVH, your God, am holy.” And “You shall keep all My laws and rules. I am YHVH.” As we get to know the character of YHVH, and what YHVH values through the laws They promulgate, would you say that They are holy? By this definition, are you holy?
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Shabbat Sandwich
Saturday, May 11, after the Shabbat Morning Service
CHC Library (formerly the Kol HaLev room)
Consisting of a potluck kiddush, a presentation on human genetics by Toni Pollin, and a discussion.
Please bring a dairy, fish, or vegetarian dish for all to enjoy. And be prepared to learn from one
of the knowledgeable members of our community!
We encourage everyone who’s interested to come in person! If that’s impossible, you may
use the Zoom link for the Shabbat Morning Service.
The Life-Changing Effects of Genetic Research
Toni Pollin is an associate professor in the Departments of Medicine and Epidemiology & Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in downtown Baltimore (UMB). She holds an M.S. in genetic counseling and a Ph.D. in human genetics. Toni’s Ph.D. studies focused on understanding the genetics of type 2 diabetes and related conditions in the Lancaster County Old Order Amish population. In 2008, the research group she led at UMB discovered a variant in the APOC3 gene that has been found to be protective against heart disease, helping to clarify the role of high triglycerides as markers of cardiovascular risk.
Toni’s current passion is the study of highly genetic (“monogenic”) and atypical diabetes, including work to improve the classification of the genetic variants implicated and to increase the likelihood of a correct diagnosis. A correct diagnosis can be life-changing, most notably when it enables individuals to be treated with pills rather than insulin shots.
Toni will discuss her work in these areas as examples of advances in health care resulting from the first sequencing of the human genome 20 years ago and subsequent improvements in accuracy and efficiency.
Community Notes: Event Surveys
After each Kol HaLev event, we will be sending out a survey to attendees. The first was for the Community Passover Seder. If you receive a survey form, please fill it out and submit it, so that we can learn what does or doesn’t resonate with you, and continue to provide meaningful Jewish experiences at our gatherings.
Website
For more about Kol HaLev, our people, services, programs, and events,
check out the updated Kol HaLev website at www.kolhalevmd.org!
Newsletter
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