Music and Poems for All
This Shabbat
The first Shabbat of the month is the time for our community to make sure we have a minyan for those saying Kaddish and to celebrate birthdays and other simchas as a community. So please join Cantor George for Shabbat virtual candle lighting this Friday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. where we will acknowledge yahrzeits and March birthdays. Click on the blue title above to join in.
The Torah portion for this Shabbat is Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11–34:35). In this week’s portion, the people of Israel are told to each contribute exactly half a shekel of silver to the Sanctuary. Instructions are also given regarding the making of the Sanctuary’s water basin, anointing oil and incense. “Wise-hearted” artisans Betzalel and Aholiav are placed in charge of the Sanctuary’s construction, and the people are once again commanded to keep the Shabbat.
When Moses does not return when expected from Mount Sinai, the people make a golden calf and worship it. Moses descends from the mountain carrying the tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments; seeing the people dancing around the golden calf, he breaks the tablets, destroys the golden calf, and has the primary culprits put to death. He then returns to God to say: “If You do not forgive them, blot me out from the book that You have written.”
God forgives, but says that the effect of their sin will be felt for many generations. Moses once more ascends the mountain, and he returns with a second set of tablets. On the mountain, Moses is also granted a vision of the divine thirteen attributes of mercy. So radiant is Moses’ face upon his return, that he must cover it with a veil, which he removes only to speak with God and to teach His laws to the people. Join Cantor George to explore this week’s Torah study on Saturday, March 6 at 10:00 a.m. by clicking on the blue title above.
God forgives, but says that the effect of their sin will be felt for many generations. Moses once more ascends the mountain, and he returns with a second set of tablets. On the mountain, Moses is also granted a vision of the divine thirteen attributes of mercy. So radiant is Moses’ face upon his return, that he must cover it with a veil, which he removes only to speak with God and to teach His laws to the people. Join Cantor George to explore this week’s Torah study on Saturday, March 6 at 10:00 a.m. by clicking on the blue title above.
Literature at Lunch
The next virtual Literature and Lunch gathering will be on Saturday, March 20, from 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Join Gail Lipsitz for a discussion of "Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books" by Aaron Lansky. As a 23-year-old graduate student, Lansky set out on a quest to save abandoned Yiddish books before it was too late. In this engaging book, published in 2005, with his storyteller's flair and great sense of humor, Lansky shares his adventures and the unforgettable people he met as he traveled the country collecting books. The title of the very first chapter, "Out of the Dumpster," is a hint of what follows. Lansky went on to found the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, which is keeping Yiddish language, literature and culture alive. After we discuss the book, Reuben will tell us about the amazing work of the Yiddish Book Center today.
The book is not available in the BCPL system, but used copies in good condition can be purchased for about $4 on Betterworldbooks or at bookfinder.com, and new for $16 from Barnes and Noble. Start reading this book now.
Women's Seder
For the women of KHL and their family and friends, our annual Women's Seder, Sunday, March 21, 2:00 p.m. virtually. This will be a new adventure for us all, as we consider this past year, healing, and gather as women to remember those on whose shoulders we stand while we consider our history and our present—through song, prayer, and meditation. Please mark your calendars now and RSVP to Ricki so we know how many to expect.
Virtual Practical Kabbalah Class
Rabbi Steven Silvern will be leading a virtual Kabbalah class on Mondays at 7:00 p.m. There are many forms of meditation. Practical Kabbalah adopts “focused meditation” and provides a framework for directing one’s focus. As you might imagine there are complexities beyond the simple structure of the Tree of Life (the 10 creative energies/sfirot). R’ Joseph Gikatilla (1248—1305?) in his book Gates of Light brings a system where the various names of God become the focus for meditating/praying and provide keys to understanding. We will use Gates of Light as the basis for exploring meditation focused on the names of God. The class will also take a look at the Ba’al Shem Tov’s practical Kabbalah through monthly explorations of his Torah study. For the virtual meeting link and information click here.
Counting the Omer
From the evening of the second Seder until Shavuot is 7 full weeks. The 7 weeks between freedom and revelation is the period of counting the omer (sfirat ha'omer). Even as this was an important period of preparation for the original receivers of revelation, so too is it an important period for us. This is a time of reflection, self-examination, improvement, and repair. These 7 full weeks can be really full of our effort to make this world a better place.
The technology of counting the omer is a significant tool in our effort at betterment/repair. Each day of the 7 weeks (49 days) represents a different attribute that we can enliven for ourselves and for the world.
Join Cantor George and Steven Silvern as we journey from enslavement to revelation. Each night at 8:00 p.m. from March 28 through May 16 we will virtually gather to count the omer.
An omer counting page with a chart has been created for you to follow. For those of you wanting a text for the counting of the omer, you can download that by clicking here.
The technology of counting the omer is a significant tool in our effort at betterment/repair. Each day of the 7 weeks (49 days) represents a different attribute that we can enliven for ourselves and for the world.
Join Cantor George and Steven Silvern as we journey from enslavement to revelation. Each night at 8:00 p.m. from March 28 through May 16 we will virtually gather to count the omer.
An omer counting page with a chart has been created for you to follow. For those of you wanting a text for the counting of the omer, you can download that by clicking here.
KHL Educational Programs
KHL Sunday School - ENROLL NOW!
Kol HaLev's Sunday School is an educational program serving children entering pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. VIRTUAL classes meet two Sundays a month. For more information about the KHL Sunday School program, click HERE. To enroll now, click HERE.
B'nai Mitzvah Program - 7th graders - ENROLL NOW!
This is the year! Your child is coming of age, and we have a way to do that Jewish-ly, to help shape and inform that emerging adult. If your twelve-year-old is going to become a bar or bat mitzvah, you need to enroll them in this program. Our 7th grade class will meet VIRTUALLY one Sunday per month. For more information on the program click HERE. You must be a KHL member to enroll your child in the B'nai Mitzvah program.
Kol HaLev's Sunday School is an educational program serving children entering pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. VIRTUAL classes meet two Sundays a month. For more information about the KHL Sunday School program, click HERE. To enroll now, click HERE.
B'nai Mitzvah Program - 7th graders - ENROLL NOW!
This is the year! Your child is coming of age, and we have a way to do that Jewish-ly, to help shape and inform that emerging adult. If your twelve-year-old is going to become a bar or bat mitzvah, you need to enroll them in this program. Our 7th grade class will meet VIRTUALLY one Sunday per month. For more information on the program click HERE. You must be a KHL member to enroll your child in the B'nai Mitzvah program.
"Social Distance, But Not Disconnect"
While we are doing what we can to ensure our physical health and safety, let’s think creatively and wisely about our mental and spiritual health and wellbeing. This is quite a strange new world we are adapting to, but let’s not forget what makes life meaningful: our relationships, our sharing of joys and sorrows and ideas and experiences, our caring, our witnessing and accompaniment of each other, our learning and growing together. Something sacred goes on. I have noted before that among the features of a successful community that I most celebrate are the friendships (and the bonds beyond friendship) that are formed and enjoyed. Let’s not let this feature of Kol HaLev wane.
So now is NOT the time to forego the mental and spiritual benefits of our synagogue community. There are many ways to continue and even extend our “religious” practices while we are not meeting together in person. Cantor George, with Shabbat Unplugged, has recorded many of the songs we sing, and you can access them here. Sing or chant uninhibited, in the privacy of your own home. If you do not have a copy of our prayerbook, you can access the Daily Prayerbook, the Shabbat Vehagim, or Prayers for a House of Mourning by clicking on the title of each prayerbook. If you can not access these, we will deliver one to you for your reading / reflecting / contemplating / praying practice. You may follow the weekly Torah-reading schedule. We can all share recommendations for inspirational reading material. Now may be the time to make a concerted effort to learn something new in order to participate more fully.
So now is NOT the time to forego the mental and spiritual benefits of our synagogue community. There are many ways to continue and even extend our “religious” practices while we are not meeting together in person. Cantor George, with Shabbat Unplugged, has recorded many of the songs we sing, and you can access them here. Sing or chant uninhibited, in the privacy of your own home. If you do not have a copy of our prayerbook, you can access the Daily Prayerbook, the Shabbat Vehagim, or Prayers for a House of Mourning by clicking on the title of each prayerbook. If you can not access these, we will deliver one to you for your reading / reflecting / contemplating / praying practice. You may follow the weekly Torah-reading schedule. We can all share recommendations for inspirational reading material. Now may be the time to make a concerted effort to learn something new in order to participate more fully.
It is also true that KHL can continue to be KHL by means of the help we offer to each other. Should a need arise, we’re here for you! We can continue the practice of care and attention, of service and support. Our Chesed (Lovingkindness) network invites everyone to let Lysh, Laurie or Shira know if you need special help during this time. Others have offered to help by shopping and delivering groceries or other needs.
Please know that you are not alone, that we’re all in this together, and we can double down on love of self and neighbor. Commitment to the collective, and to each other, is the source and substance of religious community. It is the special sauce, the most important ingredient, our most important asset. The objective is to thrive, not simply survive.
Calendar of Events
Designate KHL At AmazonSmile
Kol HaLev now has an account with AmazonSmile - basically anyone in the congregation, or elsewhere, can elect to have Amazon donate 0.5% of the purchase price of anything they buy on AmazonSmile credited to Kol HaLev.
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Kol HaLev every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to KHL. To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device. Make sure you are logged in at AmazonSmile each time you shop.
Tue, March 2 2021
18 Adar 5781
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CANCELLATIONS DUE TO CORONA VIRUS
To best protect the members of our community Kol HaLev services and activities AT CHC have been canceled until further notice.
Candle lighting, Torah study, classes, and other gatherings will continue virtually online. Read the weekly bulletin or check on this Kol HaLev website for details on how to connect to these virtual gatherings and for announcements about when we will be meeting again in person.
Shabbat Music
Kol HaLev, with the guidance of Cantor George has been introducing new, exciting, stimulating, joyful music to our services. Much of this music is for Friday nights and is played by Kol HaLev Unplugged on the fourth Friday night of the month. Kol HaLev Unplugged has made recordings so that the community can learn the melodies more easily. This link takes you to the recordings and the lyrics for the songs. You can also check out our latest You Tube video of Kol HaLev Unplugged singing Cantor George's Shalom Rav! Come to Shabbat and enjoy guitar, drum, voices and song!
Black Lives Matter
Kol HaLev has joined over 400 Jewish synagogues and organizations that signed this declaration:
Jewish Organizations and Synagogues say: Black Lives Matter
We are Jewish organizations and synagogues from across the racial and political spectrum; from different streams of Judaism; whose members trace their lineage from countries around the world.
We speak with one voice when we say unequivocally: Black lives matter.
We support the Black-led movement in this country that is calling for accountability and transparency from the government and law enforcement. We know that freedom and safety for any of us depends on the freedom and safety of all of us.
There are politicians and political movements in this country who build power by deliberately manufacturing fear to divide us against each other. All too often, anti-Semitism is at the center of these manufactured divisions.
There is a long history to these attempts: during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, conspiracy theories were used by white supremacists attempting to delegitimize the extraordinary organizing of Black activists. Billboards were erected smearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a communist, signs and flyers claiming that “communist Jews” were behind the civil rights movement were common, and pro-segregation organizations like the John Birch Society popularized these lies.
Black Lives Matter, the recent uprisings across the globe in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others, and the decades of political organizing across the country that have led to this moment are movements led by and for Black people. We see through any attempt to suggest otherwise by pointing fingers, scapegoating, or using anti-Semitic dog whistles.
As Jews, we know how dangerous this is: when politicians target Jewish people and blame us for problems, it leads directly to violence against us. When Black movements are undermined, it leads to more violence against Black people, including Black Jews.
Anti-Semitism is part of the same machinery those politicians use to blame Black and brown people, people who are immigrants, people who are Muslim, and more. But whether they generate division and fear based on our religion, our skin color, or how long we’ve been here, their goal is to keep us from working together to win the things we all need to survive and thrive.
When Jewish people join together with our neighbors across racial and religious differences, as we have in the past, we can protect each other and build the future of freedom and safety we all deserve.
Jewish tradition teaches us that justice is not something that will be bestowed upon us, it is something that we need to pursue, and that the pursuit is itself sacred work. We’ll show up for each other every time one of us is targeted because of our differences, and reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.
The Black lives matter movement is the current day Civil Rights movement in this country, and it is our best chance at equity and justice. By supporting this movement, we can build a country that fulfills the promise of freedom, unity, and safety for all of us, no exceptions.
Jewish Organizations and Synagogues say: Black Lives Matter
We are Jewish organizations and synagogues from across the racial and political spectrum; from different streams of Judaism; whose members trace their lineage from countries around the world.
We speak with one voice when we say unequivocally: Black lives matter.
We support the Black-led movement in this country that is calling for accountability and transparency from the government and law enforcement. We know that freedom and safety for any of us depends on the freedom and safety of all of us.
There are politicians and political movements in this country who build power by deliberately manufacturing fear to divide us against each other. All too often, anti-Semitism is at the center of these manufactured divisions.
There is a long history to these attempts: during the Southern Freedom Movement of the 1950’s and ‘60’s, conspiracy theories were used by white supremacists attempting to delegitimize the extraordinary organizing of Black activists. Billboards were erected smearing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a communist, signs and flyers claiming that “communist Jews” were behind the civil rights movement were common, and pro-segregation organizations like the John Birch Society popularized these lies.
Black Lives Matter, the recent uprisings across the globe in the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and so many others, and the decades of political organizing across the country that have led to this moment are movements led by and for Black people. We see through any attempt to suggest otherwise by pointing fingers, scapegoating, or using anti-Semitic dog whistles.
As Jews, we know how dangerous this is: when politicians target Jewish people and blame us for problems, it leads directly to violence against us. When Black movements are undermined, it leads to more violence against Black people, including Black Jews.
Anti-Semitism is part of the same machinery those politicians use to blame Black and brown people, people who are immigrants, people who are Muslim, and more. But whether they generate division and fear based on our religion, our skin color, or how long we’ve been here, their goal is to keep us from working together to win the things we all need to survive and thrive.
When Jewish people join together with our neighbors across racial and religious differences, as we have in the past, we can protect each other and build the future of freedom and safety we all deserve.
Jewish tradition teaches us that justice is not something that will be bestowed upon us, it is something that we need to pursue, and that the pursuit is itself sacred work. We’ll show up for each other every time one of us is targeted because of our differences, and reject any effort to use fear to divide us against each other.
The Black lives matter movement is the current day Civil Rights movement in this country, and it is our best chance at equity and justice. By supporting this movement, we can build a country that fulfills the promise of freedom, unity, and safety for all of us, no exceptions.
KHL - Please Join Us
We are located in The Church of the Holy Comforter (CHC), 130 W. Seminary Avenue, Lutherville 21093. All Friday and Saturday Shabbat services are handicap accessible. For directions to the Shul please click here.
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Tue, March 2 2021 18 Adar 5781