Shabbat Shalom ~ Vayera 2024

Dear WJC Family,

 

I hope you have had a chance to meet our guests, 46 people from Kibbutz Reim, the Civilian Emergency Teams and their families, staying in our members’ homes and enjoying a week filled with fun activities and awesome sites. Their visit has been extraordinary – not only because they have gotten to visit some special NY places , like the Bronx Zoo, Woodbury Commons, and a Knicks Game, but because of the warmth they’ve been shown. This week in NY has shown them how much people around the world, even those who have never met them, care about them and their plight on October 7th and since. 

They were honored at a Gala on Tuesday night, created by Project 24, the organization that coordinated the massive effort of bringing the teams from every Kibbutz and Moshav in the Otef (Gaza Envelope.” I want to share the opening statement of the founder, Daniel Gradus:

We all know you can laugh until you cry, but something new we have learned over this past year is that you can also cry until you laugh. 

I was so moved by this sentiment. It is true, of course. Sometimes, after months and months of sadness and despair, all it takes is a little ray of light, a quick brush with happiness, to make us laugh with joy. And laughter is important. For a lesson about it from this week’s parsha, Vayera, click on the video link below.

But here I want to invite you to join us for comedian Joel Chasnoff on Saturday night November 23rd. Many of you have signed up to share dinner and hear from our Israeli guests on Friday at 8:30pm after Rhythm & Ruach (if you did not register in advance, you are more than welcome to come to the service and/or talk with the folks from Re’im after dinner.) But many fewer of you have signed up for our night of comedy and laughter together. This worries me.

I know, maybe you don’t feel like laughing these days. I get it. But the ability to laugh and to gather in joy, especially during difficult times, has been a hallmark power of the Jewish people for millennia. It helps us survive and even thrive in dark times. We need it now as much as ever. I hope you will click here and register to join us for smiles, laughter, and community, on Saturday the 23rd.

Not only do we have an amazing line up for this Friday night, but next Friday night we will host another Rhythm & Ruach and our guest after will be Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of the JCC Krakow and Creator of the “Ride for the Living” I spoke about on Yom Kippur. Please sign up for that dinner too, especially if you might be interested in joining us in Krakow for the Ride this June, but even if you are simply interested in the fascinating topic of the revival of Judaism in Krakow.

This Saturday morning we have a bar mitzvah, mazal tov to Jonah Barney and his parents Alisa and Glenn. And Saturday afternoon we will celebrate a bat mitzvah, mazal tov to Noa Grill and her parents Laura and Yuval. Please note, there WILL be a separate community Shabbat mincha service in the chapel on Saturday evening. And don’t forget our beautiful Renewal Service meets again Sunday evening at 7pm in the Activity Center. I hope you will join us for a beautiful, spiritual, and accessible evening of music and spirit.

See you in shul,