Shabbat Shalom ~ Miketz

Dear WJC Family,

Happy 8th day of Hanukkah! I hope you have had the opportunity to light the candles and bring some light into your lives and the lives of your loved ones. I really enjoyed our community candle lightings on Zoom and Facebook Live, as well as all the wonderful programming from Tricky Tim the Magician to our outdoor Menorah lighting and all of the classes, singing, and prayers in between. These fun celebrations really helped make my holiday joyful (I hope yours as well) and I am so pleased that we brought some extra light into this unusual year’s Festival of Lights. Our challenge now, as the lights fade on Hanukkah 2020, is to continue to find new ways to connect and brighten the next few months for one another.

To do so may mean stepping out of our comfort zones a little, but it’ll be worth it—starting with our WJC Virtual Dance Party this Sunday from 3:00-4:00pm. I hope you’ll log in as DJ David G. plays a nostalgic set list designed to get our feet moving and our heartstrings twanging. It’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a twinkle in your toes.

One of my favorite analogies from Rebbe Nachman of Bratzlav compares life to simcha dancing. People start dancing in a circle, but something holds you back, perhaps you are self-conscious or are afraid you will get the rhythm wrong. Then someone reaches out and grabs your hand and the next thing you know you are in it—dancing and singing and having a great time. But then you notice your insecurities, your sadness, your fear, and depression are still outside the circle mocking you. Rebbe Nachman says the trick to living a happy life is reaching out and pulling them into the circle with you too! We succeed at life when we can dance with the forces, internal and external, that are trying to pull us down.

That is our task right now—to recognize the negative forces in our lives, and at this particular moment they are not hard to list, and dance with them. So dance with us on Sunday and on into the winter. Join us for services on Zoom or the Live Stream this Shabbat, even if it’s out of your comfort zone, join us for a class on Zoom during the week or for one of the excellent speakers being sponsored by our committees and interest groups. You can see our great programming options below in this email and always on our website. It is easy to say, I don’t like virtual this or that, I am not good at connecting online. Now is the time to jump in anyway, bring our insecurities with us and choose light over darkness, connection over isolation. And if you need a more personal connection, I am always here to talk, just a phone call or email away.

Speaking of Shabbat, this Friday we will be back with Temple Israel Center’s clergy presenting a joint Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat service on Zoom at 3:15pm for Mincha and 3:25pm for Kabbalat Shabbat. Then, on Saturday morning, Cantor Goldberg and I will be on the Live Stream from the sanctuary. We will, unfortunately, be without a minyan or Rabbi Dalton (the Covid Task Force has suggested it would be better not to have all three clergy together if it can be avoided), but we will be presenting the service as we did two-weeks ago—9:15am Pesukai D’Zimra and Kabbalat Shabbat service (there will not be an early Torah class), 10:00am Torah reading and learning (both Cantor Ethan and I will present a perspective on the story of the brothers reunion with Joseph after the famine starts and why they do not recognize him—click here for a source sheet to print before Shabbat), and concluding with the musaf service, davened by Cantor Ethan out loud, though without the kedusha. We will include the mourner’s kaddish when appropriate, similar to how we do it at weekday Zoom services. We will then conclude with havdalah at 5:30pm with a drash from Rabbi Dalton, who is also providing the video for this week’s message.

See you online,

 

 

 

 

This Weekend’s Shabbat Services

Kabbalat Shabbat Zoom Service
Friday Mincha at 3:15pm and Kabbalat Shabbat at 3:25pm
This week, Temple Israel Center and Westchester Jewish Center join together for a combined Kabbalat Shabbat service, featuring rabbis and cantors from both synagogues.
Join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/103643770
Passcode: TIC5780

Please note: There will be no Saturday Morning Parsha Study this weekend.

Pesikei D’Zimra and Shacharit services
Saturday at 9:15am
Join us: www.wjcenter.org/wjclive

Saturday Morning Service Live Stream
Saturday at 10:00am
Join us by live-stream from our beautiful Sanctuary for Torah reading and learning. Both Rabbi Arnowitz and Cantor Ethan will present a perspective on the story of the brothers reunion with Joseph after the famine starts and why they do not recognize him—click here for a source sheet to print before Shabbat—and concluding with the musaf service, davened by Cantor Ethan out loud, though without the kedusha.
Join us via our new live steaming service: http://www.wjcenter.org/wjclive/

**To view according to Shabbat rules, before Shabbat on Friday night, go to www.wjcenter.org/wjclive and click play. The stream will be live at that time and become active upon the start of Shabbat services on Saturday morning at 8:30am.

For instructions on how to log in before Shabbat to avoid violations of Shabbat practice, click here. If set up properly, there should be no need to touch your computer on Shabbat itself.

Havdalah with the WJC Clergy
Followed by our Virtual Community Lighting
Saturday at 5:30pm
Join us as we say goodbye to the quiet of Shabbat with the beautiful symbols and music of havdalah with Rabbi Dalton!
Join us via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/335351155