Submission #70
Steve Sirkin
stevejew18@frontier.com
Sun, 2015-11-15
See above.
Bruce Stern and Joe Goodman contacted our members both directly and through directing them to a website to register. A number of the participants offered a comment relating to the significance of the part they were reading.
Bruce Stern and Joe Goodman contacted our members both directly and through directing them to a website to register. A number of the participants offered a comment relating to the significance of the part they were reading.
We covered each part in a Friday night service including the Divorah Torah, see below. Our Rabbi was not planning to speak but gave a very heartfelt off the cuff sermon on the terror attack in Paris that was unfolding that night.
Men’s Club Shabbat 11-15-15
Shabbat Shalom.
With the events that have unfolded in Paris this evening our hearts are heavy and our prayers go to those whose lives have been impacted by the violence and to share our appreciation for those who work so hard to keep violence from our lives.
So it is appropriate tonight, recalling that this past Wednesday was Veterans Day, that we recognize and honor the veterans who have joined us here tonight. Would you please rise and share which branch of the military you served in and, if you like, when.
I’d like to ask Bruce Stern to join me at the Bima.
Neveh Shalom’s FJMC’s Western Region Man of the Year award. (Present/Read Plaque)
Thanks to Bruce Stern and Joe Goodman for their collective efforts in planning and organizing this Shabbat as well as all the Men who are participating in the service.
Now changing the tone considerably, my formal remarks:
You might X (xsk) Y (vhy) we are here tonight beyond it’s being Shabbat? So vhy de accent? Tonight is about family, with emphasis on the XY chromosome pair half of our family, the men of our Neveh community.
Our men who regularly come together as family. To share a Sunday nosh. To gain a little knowledge from a learned speaker on topics from Torah to taxes. Men working towards common goals. Lending a hand as brothers to build our Sukkah or to paint a house. Praying together. And just getting along as brothers do…
Which leads us, somewhat circuitously, to this week’s Torah portion, Toldot. It’s about twin brothers. No doubt cute ones. We’ll maybe not so cute. One’s name has the biblical meaning “He that acts or finishes” or, curiously in Hebrew, “hairy.” Sounds a little bit like something out of a Harry Potterstein movie. Meanwhile, the meaning of his twin brother’s name was "holder of the heel." Clearly not a meaning one he would like to carry throughout his life. That will be taken care of a little bit later in the Torah but that’s a story we will have to “wrestle” with in the future.
By now you may have gotten the hint that there something a bit familiar it should remind you of the story of Jacob holding Esau’s heel as followed his brother out of Rebecca’s womb.
Growing up these brothers didn’t always get along. Esau, the first born, inherited a special birthright… eventually all of his Isaac’s estate. Jacob, the finagler, catches Esau at a weak point, when he’s hungry, and negotiates a trade. The birthright for a savory bowl of red lentil stew. Such a deal!
Over time Isaac goes blind and the time comes to bless his first born, Esau. Seems the earlier story about Esau giving up his birthright had no impact on Isaac. However Rebecca concocts a scheme to dress Jacob so he looks like Esau to his vision challenged father and so it is Jacob who receives the blessing.
Esau returns from a hunt and discovers what has happened. We learn that blessings, once they are made even if incorrectly, apparently cannot be reversed. The only way he can get the inheritance is after Jacob dies.
Jacob realizes this is not a good situation, especially since Esau quite capable of doing him harm, so Jacob heads for Charan to get away and co-incidentally to find a wife. An adventure that will become rather complicated story as well.
The good news is we know the brothers will eventually have a peaceful, if somewhat uncomfortable, reunion and Jacob’s “wrestling” with angels along the way will lead to a name change.
Our Men’s Club is also wrestling…with changes in our society. The Men’s Club experience of my generation is distant to those of the generations that have followed. Speakers and nosh on Sunday mornings don’t have the same appeal to these younger men.
This year we’ve begun an experiment to reach out and learn. We co-sponsored with Sisterhood, an organization with which I have a close personal connection, a bagels and brew reception for Aliyah parents on the first day of school. We’ve co-sponsored a raffle with the USY. We sponsored a Dads and Kids event featuring bowling and laser tag.
We will be there at the Hanukkah party, which will culminate our toilet paper project with the construction of perhaps the world’s first, largest, and possibly last toilet paper Chanukkiah. Each of these activities has allowed us to connect with younger men and let them know that Men’s Club is supporting activities that are important to them and their families.
Key to this, and all that Men’s Club does, is the “pronoun” “we.” Each member of our Board, along with so many of our rank and file members, has taken both leadership roles in our activities as well as been active participants. They have crafted our program for the year, reached out to solidify our membership, organized all the aspects of building Neveh’s Sukkah, followed through on an inspiration to create our successful joint USY Men’s Club raffle, organized our finances, developed interfaith relationships through Habitat for Humanity and organized our participation in many of their builds.
In the months to come we will gain political insights from Jonathan Singer who worked in the White House, learn about “Law and Politics at the State” from Misha Isaak, wrap tefillin together, get views on the sports scene from Rob Neyer of Fox News sports, hear from folks from the Oregon Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity, learn from Rabbi Kosak, get a little preventative health advice from Dr. Singer, be guided through Portland’s Holocaust Memorial by Harold Lesch and learn a little bit about the history of phonographs from Albert Menashe.
We will also join with Sisterhood for speakers on Wednesday nights including hearing from the leader of Portland’s Black Lives Matter movement and Mayor Hales on his visit to the Vatican’s for the Pope’s environmental encyclical.
Bringing men together in brotherhood, serving our synagogue community, and having a good time along the way. That’s the mitzvah and blessing that is Neveh Shalom’s Men’s Club.
Shabbat Shalom…
Men’s Club Shabbat 11-15-15
Shabbat Shalom.
With the events that have unfolded in Paris this evening our hearts are heavy and our prayers go to those whose lives have been impacted by the violence and to share our appreciation for those who work so hard to keep violence from our lives.
So it is appropriate tonight, recalling that this past Wednesday was Veterans Day, that we recognize and honor the veterans who have joined us here tonight. Would you please rise and share which branch of the military you served in and, if you like, when.
I’d like to ask Bruce Stern to join me at the Bima.
Neveh Shalom’s FJMC’s Western Region Man of the Year award. (Present/Read Plaque)
Thanks to Bruce Stern and Joe Goodman for their collective efforts in planning and organizing this Shabbat as well as all the Men who are participating in the service.
Now changing the tone considerably, my formal remarks:
You might X (xsk) Y (vhy) we are here tonight beyond it’s being Shabbat? So vhy de accent? Tonight is about family, with emphasis on the XY chromosome pair half of our family, the men of our Neveh community.
Our men who regularly come together as family. To share a Sunday nosh. To gain a little knowledge from a learned speaker on topics from Torah to taxes. Men working towards common goals. Lending a hand as brothers to build our Sukkah or to paint a house. Praying together. And just getting along as brothers do…
Which leads us, somewhat circuitously, to this week’s Torah portion, Toldot. It’s about twin brothers. No doubt cute ones. We’ll maybe not so cute. One’s name has the biblical meaning “He that acts or finishes” or, curiously in Hebrew, “hairy.” Sounds a little bit like something out of a Harry Potterstein movie. Meanwhile, the meaning of his twin brother’s name was "holder of the heel." Clearly not a meaning one he would like to carry throughout his life. That will be taken care of a little bit later in the Torah but that’s a story we will have to “wrestle” with in the future.
By now you may have gotten the hint that there something a bit familiar it should remind you of the story of Jacob holding Esau’s heel as followed his brother out of Rebecca’s womb.
Growing up these brothers didn’t always get along. Esau, the first born, inherited a special birthright… eventually all of his Isaac’s estate. Jacob, the finagler, catches Esau at a weak point, when he’s hungry, and negotiates a trade. The birthright for a savory bowl of red lentil stew. Such a deal!
Over time Isaac goes blind and the time comes to bless his first born, Esau. Seems the earlier story about Esau giving up his birthright had no impact on Isaac. However Rebecca concocts a scheme to dress Jacob so he looks like Esau to his vision challenged father and so it is Jacob who receives the blessing.
Esau returns from a hunt and discovers what has happened. We learn that blessings, once they are made even if incorrectly, apparently cannot be reversed. The only way he can get the inheritance is after Jacob dies.
Jacob realizes this is not a good situation, especially since Esau quite capable of doing him harm, so Jacob heads for Charan to get away and co-incidentally to find a wife. An adventure that will become rather complicated story as well.
The good news is we know the brothers will eventually have a peaceful, if somewhat uncomfortable, reunion and Jacob’s “wrestling” with angels along the way will lead to a name change.
Our Men’s Club is also wrestling…with changes in our society. The Men’s Club experience of my generation is distant to those of the generations that have followed. Speakers and nosh on Sunday mornings don’t have the same appeal to these younger men.
This year we’ve begun an experiment to reach out and learn. We co-sponsored with Sisterhood, an organization with which I have a close personal connection, a bagels and brew reception for Aliyah parents on the first day of school. We’ve co-sponsored a raffle with the USY. We sponsored a Dads and Kids event featuring bowling and laser tag.
We will be there at the Hanukkah party, which will culminate our toilet paper project with the construction of perhaps the world’s first, largest, and possibly last toilet paper Chanukkiah. Each of these activities has allowed us to connect with younger men and let them know that Men’s Club is supporting activities that are important to them and their families.
Key to this, and all that Men’s Club does, is the “pronoun” “we.” Each member of our Board, along with so many of our rank and file members, has taken both leadership roles in our activities as well as been active participants. They have crafted our program for the year, reached out to solidify our membership, organized all the aspects of building Neveh’s Sukkah, followed through on an inspiration to create our successful joint USY Men’s Club raffle, organized our finances, developed interfaith relationships through Habitat for Humanity and organized our participation in many of their builds.
In the months to come we will gain political insights from Jonathan Singer who worked in the White House, learn about “Law and Politics at the State” from Misha Isaak, wrap tefillin together, get views on the sports scene from Rob Neyer of Fox News sports, hear from folks from the Oregon Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity, learn from Rabbi Kosak, get a little preventative health advice from Dr. Singer, be guided through Portland’s Holocaust Memorial by Harold Lesch and learn a little bit about the history of phonographs from Albert Menashe.
We will also join with Sisterhood for speakers on Wednesday nights including hearing from the leader of Portland’s Black Lives Matter movement and Mayor Hales on his visit to the Vatican’s for the Pope’s environmental encyclical.
Bringing men together in brotherhood, serving our synagogue community, and having a good time along the way. That’s the mitzvah and blessing that is Neveh Shalom’s Men’s Club.
Shabbat Shalom…
Very positively.