Shabbat Shalom & Chag Kasher V'Sameach from BA 4.21.22
04/21/2022 09:57:32 AM
Apr21
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D'var Torah From Rabbi Carnie Shalom Rose
This Week's Torah Portion is
Pesach
Time for a Paradigm Shift: Moving from the Particular to the Universal
Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!
We find ourselves this Shabbat celebrating the 8th and Final Day of the Festival of Pesach, which includes the recitation of the Yizkor, the Memorial Prayers, which are chanted 4 times annually. And yet, though we are knee-deep in our Passover commemorations and celebrations, I find myself thinking back to the joyous holiday of Purim that we enjoyed just a few weeks back and to one of its primary heroes, Mordechai.
Now of course you are asking yourselves, why? What might Mordechai have to do with the Exodus and our Pesach observances?
For those who may have forgotten, according to Rabbinic tradition, Mordechai was a prophet and a member of the famed Jewish legal body known as the Sanhedrin, which gathered in the Chamber of Hewn Stones, and whose members were so well-educated and worldly that they were facile in all seventy languages extant at that time. In this respected capacity, Mordechai helped adjudicate difficult legal matters, and owing to his expertise as an accomplished linguist, he was able to uncover the plot to assassinate King Achashverosh found in the heart of the Purim tale. For this act of bravery, loyalty and patriotism, Mordechai was ultimately elevated to a position of power and prominence in the court of the Persian monarch.
However, there is one more little-known and intriguing tidbit about the life Mordechai that deserves our consideration. According to the Talmud (BT Megillah 16b), once Mordechai was elevated to serve as Prime Minister in Achashverosh’s government, many of his Rabbinic colleagues determined that his involvement with civic/secular affairs and, in particular his focus away from the needs of his fellow Jews and Torah study, made him no longer a viable candidate for serving on the most elevated of Jewish legal bodies. Mordechai’s abiding concern for non-Jews, “gentiles and pagans”, sullied his heretofore stellar reputation and lead to many of his coreligionists turning their backs on him and some even calling for his removal from the vaunted Sanhedrin.
This Talmudic passage gnawed at me as I prepared to retell the tales of our miraculous deliverance from bondage. As you may remember, the Rabbinic Midrash posits that as the Israelites celebrated their victory over the Egyptians, a heavenly voice called out: “My creations, My children, the work of My hands, are dying and you are making merry and singing songs of salvation?!” (BT Megillah 10b)
Passover is indeed a holiday of liberation. And yes, it is unabashedly the story of OUR (Jewish) deliverance. And yet, it would seem to me that as a people chosen by the Creator to serve as an “Or Goyim - a light unto the nations'' (Isiah 42:6), our liberation and deliverance are incomplete until we do whatever we can to secure the release and emancipation of all those mired in servitude and oppression. And, in order to do this, we must reject the criticisms and chastisements of those who see our goal as myopically focused exclusively on Jewish survival and flourishing. This reorientation demands that we, like the hero of the Purim Megillah, Mordechai, engage in the needs of the communities that reside beyond the limited boundaries of our own parochial Jewish concerns and needs. Not, heaven forbid, because we yearn to abandon our Jewish Tradition or neglect our responsibilities to our own People, but rather because we want to live-out the deepest and most profound manifestation of what our Holy Torah comes to teach us. This Passover, as we retell the powerful story of our people’s freedom from the oppression of tyrants, let us pledge to also help hasten the arrival of the time which we allude to thrice daily in our Aleinu prayer by actively working “Letaken Olam BeMalchut Shaddai; Perfecting the entire world so that all of the earth’s inhabitants can experience the awesome power and unequalled beauty of the Almighty''.
May this era be catalyzed by our actions on behalf of all of God’s beloved creations and arrive speedily and in our day! Amen!
Pesach & Shabbat Service Schedule & Candle Lighting Times
Candlelighting:
Thursday, April 21 at 7:26 pm Friday, April 22 at 7:27 pm
Havdalah, Saturday, April 23 at 8:16 pm
Thursday, April 21 - 6th Day of Pesach 7:00 am: Morning Minyan in the Guller Chapel - In Person, Zoom, Livestream, andFB Live 6:15 pm: Afternoon & Evening Minyan as we welcome the 7th Day of Pesach in the Guller Chapel - In Person, Kosher Zoom, Livestream, andFB Live 7:26 pm: Candle Lighting
Friday, April 22 - 7th Day of Pesach 9:00 am: 7th Day of Pesach Services in the Main Sanctuary - In Person, Livestream, andFB Live 6:00 pm: Afternoon and Evening Services for Shabbat & the 8th Day of Pesach in the Guller Chapel - In Person, Kosher Zoom, Livestream, andFB Live 7:27 pm: Candle Lighting
Saturday, April 23 - 8th Day of Pesach 9:00 am: Shabbat and 8th Day of Pesach Services in the Main Sanctuary - In Person, Livestream, andFB Live 10:00 am: Torah for Today with Rabbi Neal Rose in the President's Conference Room - In Person, Kosher Zoom 10:15 am: Mini Minyan with Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham. This program is for you children and their families. 10:45 am: Yizkor in the Main Sanctuary - In Person, Livestream, andFB Live 7:15 pm: Minchah & Ma’ariv in the Guller Chapel - In Person, Kosher Zoom, Livestream, andFB Live 8:15 pm: Havdalah 8:17 pm: Chametz may be consumed
Additional Service Information and Virtual Options Join us In-Person or on Zoom, BA Livestream or Facebook Live
Passover is here! For those wishing to join us on Zoom, please keep in mind the following information:
We will use Kosher Zoom for these Services: April 21: Thursday Afternoon & Evening Services/Erev Passover Day 7 Services at 6:15 pm April 22: Friday Afternoon & Evening Services/Passover Day 8 Services at 6:00 pm April 23: Shabbat Minchah & Ma'ariv Services/End of Passover Services at 7:15 pm
All other Services will utilize our regular Minyan Zoom links.
Regular Morning Minyanim Sunday Morning Minyan: 9:00 am Monday - Friday Morning Minyan: 7:00 am In-Person, Zoom, Livestream, and FB Live Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/97189645201 Meeting ID: 971 8964 5201 This Zoom link is for all morning Minyan Services
Regular Evening Minyanim
Sunday - Thursday Evening Minyan: 6:15 pm via Zoom, Livestream, and FB Live Zoom Link:https://zoom.us/j/97924715014 Meeting ID: 979 2471 5014 This Zoom link is for all evening Minyan Services
In Our Community
MAZEL TOV TO...
The students in our LRECC Panda Class for placing 2nd in this year's Creve Coeur Arbor Day Art Show contest. First place went to Moses Ohana, another student in our LRECC.
WE MOURN THE LOSS OF...
Michael Holbrook; husband of Beth Frohlichstein, father of Jacqueline Holbrook, son-in-law of Louise and Dale Frohlichstein and brother-in-law of David (Amber) Frohlichstein.
Barbara H. Gabris; daughter of Charles (Z"L) and Meta (Z"L) Thomas; loving wife of Chester (Chet) Gabris, mother of Jeff (Julie) Gabris, Timothy (Rebecca) Gabris; grandmother of Ilan, Seraphina, and Bella; sister of Beverly (Lee) Steffen, Ron (Gail) Thomas and Kevin Thomas; sister-in-law of Ollie (John) Kincaid. She was preceded in death by sisters-in-law Elizabeth Brunn (Z"L) and Edna Kelly (Z"L), and brothers-in-law Al Gabris (Z"L) and Herb Brunn (Z"L).
Did you know we have a softball team?! Our co-ed recreational "slow-pitch" team is looking for a few more players. We play against other synagogues at the JCC Staenberg Family Complex on Schuetz Road on Sundays. Our exciting season begins THIS SUNDAY - contact us today!
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