West Suburban Temple Har Zion: Special Weekly Announcements

Kabbalat Shabbat Services on Friday, May 2nd, will begin at 6:30 pm in the Goldstine Sanctuary.

Sisterhood Shabbat Saturday, May 3rd. Please join us at 10:00 am for Shabbat Services led by Members of our Sisterhood. Following Services, please stay to socialize and join us for a bountiful Kiddush, sponsored by the West Suburban Temple Har Zion Sisterhood, in honor of Sisterhood Shabbat. Following Kiddush, plan to stay for welcoming remarks from Sisterhood co-Presidents, Allison Bernard and Lisa Browdy, and for a short, timely presentation from the chair of our new Green Committee, Cindy Banai. Sisterhood Shabbat is an eagerly awaited annual event during which we strive to forge deeper connections to each other and to our Temple community. All Temple Members are invited and encouraged to attend this joyous and spiritually rewarding event. Following Kiddush, the Shabbat Talmud group will meet in the library.

The Shohet Daily Minyan will meet Sunday morning at 9:30 am; on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings at 7:30 am; and on Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:45 am.

Kabbalat Shabbat Services on Friday, May 9th, will begin at 6:30 pm in the Goldstine Sanctuary.

Shabbat Services on Saturday, May 10th, will begin at 10:00 am in the Goldstine Sanctuary. Gideon Ticho, son of Ben and Kathy Ticho will come to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah. Following Kiddush, the Shabbat Talmud group will meet in the library. Junior Congregation will meet at 10:30, and Tot Shabbat at 11:00.

Rabbi Mirelman's Tuesday Morning Bible Class will meet at 10:30 am, and the Wednesday Afternoon Talmud Class will meet at 4:30 pm.

Join us in our observation of Yom Hashoah, on Wednesday, April 30th, 6:00 to 7:30 pm in the Goldstine Sanctuary. Our guest will be Julie Kohner, a Jewish educator for over thirty years. After Julie's mother, Hanna, a Holocaust survivor, passed away in 1990, Julie created a program that would teach the history of the Holocaust to her 7th grade b'nai mitzvah classes. Her goal was to teach the Holocaust as seen through the eyes of her mother. This was the beginning of "Voices of the Generations" which Julie Kohner has presented for the last 16 years.

2008 Israel Solidarity Day featuring the Walk With Israel will take place on Sunday, May 4th, at the McCormick Place Lakeside Center, starting at 8:30 am. Along with the Walk With Israel, there will be entertainment, food and fun for the entire family. WST is sponsoring a kids' booth! Buses will leave and return to the temple. Call the temple office for reservations.

Please join us for a very special evening on Friday May 9th, as our temple community celebrates Israel's 60th birthday. The Friday night service will be led by our third grade class. Israeli dinner catered by Aviv Catering and dancing led by professional dance leader, Phil Moss, follows immediately after the service in Gottlieb Hall. Forms and more info available at the temple office. Please RSVP as soon as possible. Questions? Contact Heidi Kieselstein at 708 366-1474.

Art Auction: On Saturday, May 10th, and art auction will be held at WST. The event, ARTrageous, will display over 200 pieces of artwork by artists including Chagall, Thomas McKnight, Tarkay, and many others. On Sunday morning, May 11th, there will also be an opportunity to buy art. Prices begin below retail, and proceeds will benefit the synagogue.

Join Rabbi Mirelman for a private guided tour of the beautiful new Spertus building and museum in downtown Chicago, on Tuesday, May 13th. Meet at West Suburban Temple. Join us: 10:30 am Rabbi Mirelman's Bible Class, 11:30 am Light Lunch, and 12:30 pm leave for Spertus Museum. Cost is $8.00. Volunteer Drivers are needed. Parking will be paid for by a special grant. RSVP to 708.366.9000 by May 9th.

Our Sisterhood Cultural Events committee has planned two outings for the month of May. Join Sisterhood on Wednesday, May 14th, 7:30 pm, at the Abbey Pub, 3420 West Grace St, Chicago, for a "Simply Marvelous Evening of Magic". Tickets are $8.00. Join Sisterhood on Sunday, May 25th, 7:00 pm, at the Royal George Theater, 1641 N Halsted, Chicago, for an evening of rollicking good musical fun in a presentation of "Russian on the Side". Tickets are $34.50. For information, contact Carol Flank.

The Lucille Jaffe Memorial Book Review will be held on Sunday, May 18th. Brunch will be available ($7.00) at 10:00, book review at 10:30. Rabbi Mirelman will review "The Septembers of Shiraz," a novel by Dalia Sofer. The novel centers around the plight of a Jewish family in Iran in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Wrongly accused of being a spy, the main character and his family reconcile to a world of cruelty, chaos, and the collapse of a society that gave them opportunity to progress. The acclaimed book deals with questions of identity, alienation, and love, not only for spouse and child, but for many intangible sights and smells of the place the characters call home. RSVP before May 13th.

Our Sisterhood Life Cycle Series continues this month with part four: Weddings, Marriage, and Divorce in Judaism. Whether you are a June bride or celebrating your golden anniversary, you will be interested in learning the reasons for the customs and rules of these important moments in life. As always, Rabbi Mirelman will moderate the discussion and answer questions. Please join us in the chapel at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 20th.

Join us for the 16th annual Ruth Horwich Memorial Lecture on Sunday, June 8th. Brunch at 10:00 am ($7.00), lecture at 10:30. Our guest speaker will be Rick Krosnick, the National Campaign Coordinator and Midwest Director of Jewish National Fund. The topic of the lecture will be "The Case for Negev Development." Rick's understanding of Israel and the political and socio-economic tensions of the Middle East were shaped by his work outside of the Jewish community. Beginning in 1985, for a nine-year period both on active-duty and in the reserve forces, Rick was an Intelligence Specialist in the United States Navy, serving aboard the aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Much of Rick's tenure in the Navy was spent confronting issues of state-sponsored terrorism and other threats to the security of the United States and our allies. RSVP for brunch to 708.366.9000 by June 2nd.

SCHOOL NEWS

Classes resume on Wednesday, April 30th.

Mark your calendars: Last Day of School, Sunday, June 1; Confirmation Service, Sunday, June 8 at 6:00 p.m.

ESPECIALLY (BUT NOT ONLY) FOR SENIORS

Calling all RETIREES:

DROP IN THURSDAYS, 1:00-3:00pm at West Suburban Temple: Give a talk on what interests you. Call Sheryl 386-8289 or e-mail sgstoller@yahoo.com.

If you have an expertise in an area that you would like to share with others please contact Hene Waterbury at henerichard@earthlink.net or Sheryl Stoller at sgstoller@yahoo.com.

SAVE THE DATES:

May 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, & 29th - Each Drop-in includes one half hour of deep relaxation with yoga instructor Donata Finley-Boykin

June 12th - Therapeutic Laughter

INTERGENERATIONAL CONVERSATIONS:

Call Cindy or Alene 386-3937 to give your name so we can arrange for you to have a conversation with one of our teenagers. You'll be amazed how much you will enjoy talking with the teens.

Field-trip to the new SPERTUS MUSEUM

Join us for a private guided tour of the new SPERTUS MUSEUM on Tuesday, May 13th. Meet at West Suburban Temple. You can begin at any of these three starting times:

10:30 a.m. Rabbi Mirelman's Bible Class
11:30 a.m. Light Lunch
12:30 p.m. Leave for Spertus Museum

Approx. Cost $8. Volunteer Drivers are needed. Parking will be paid for by a special grant. RSVP (708) 366-9000 as soon as possible.

Free CARING CALLS - TELECARE

Call Agie DeCanniere (773) 973-1000 x246 Offered by The ARK. One volunteer knows and cares how you are doing, every day. You give them back-up emergency numbers. If you don't answer repeated tries to reach you during the day, they contact whomever you have given them to contact. SO CALL at (773) 973-1000 x246. You'll be so glad you did.

WEEKLY PORTION

April 19, 2008 - 14 Nisan, 5768
Torah Reading: Leviticus 19:1-20:27, page 693
Haftarah Reading: Amos 9:7-15, page 705

PARSHA COMMENTARY

Shabbat Kedoshim
By: Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson
Holiness Takes Many Forms

With Parashat K'doshim, we begin what the rabbis of the Midrash recognized to be a distinct section of the Torah, "the section dealing with holiness". In this estimation, they anticipated modern scholarship, which also recognizes a distinct "Holiness Code" within the various strands that comprise our Torah. Characteristic of this portion of Scripture is the repeated injunction, "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

I can think of no more sublime religious imperative. Yet, its lofty elegance and moral rigor notwithstanding, it also raises a problem for us and for our ancestors. In repeating the instruction to be holy, the Torah tells us what to be without telling us what that attribute entails. What exactly does being "holy" mean?

We are not the first generation to be perplexed. In Midrash Va-Yikra Rabbah, different rabbis perceived different definitions lurking underneath this enigmatic term. Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai links holiness to a sense of justice, quoting the prophet Isaiah that "the Lord of hosts is exalted through justice." Rabbi Judah reads a notion of distinctiveness into the term "holy," saying "the distinction You (God) conferred in Your world is eternal." Rabbi Levi understood holiness as inextricably connected to the unique status of the Land of Israel, or--like Rabbi Judah--to distinctiveness. Thus, Rabbi Levi quotes God as saying to the Jewish People: "My children, as I am separate, so you be separate; as I am holy, so you be holy." While this ancient rabbinic debate about holiness shows no sign of slowing down in our own time, one ancient discussion about holiness bears particular relevance to the reality of Jewish life in America.

Much grief and regret is expressed in print and in rabbinic sermons about the abysmal level of Jewish learning in America. Through the loving blur of nostalgia, Jews look back to the "good old days" of Eastern Europe when every male was a yeshivah bochur (a rabbinic student), everyone was pious, and everyone was observant. (Never mind that millions left that community at the first available opportunity!)

Time and again, we are scolded that all Jews must be learning Jews, and that American Jewry is only a pale imitation of "real" Jewish life, meaning one in which every Jew is a Torah scholar of sorts.

As laudable as that goal may be, it never represented the reality of Jewish living. Nor, according to the rabbis of Midrash Va-Yikra Rabbah, did it represent the only way to embody holiness.

Recognizing that holiness comes from the Torah, they noticed that the Torah itself says, "She is a tree of life to them that hold fast to her," and they understood the "she" in question to be self-referential. They are quick to recognize that the Torah doesn't claim to be a source of life only for those who study it, or even just for those who observe it, but rather for all who hold fast to it." Anyone who contributes, in whatever way they can, to the collective relationship between the Jewish people and the Torah merits inclusion in our ultimate redemption.

Rabbi Huna is explicit on that point: "If a person feels weighed down by transgression, what action will merit life? If accustomed to read one page of Scripture, let that person read two pages. If accustomed to study one chapter of Mishnah, study two chapters.

"But what if that person was not accustomed to read Scripture or to study Mishnah at all? What then should that person do to merit life? Such a one should get an appointment as a communal leader or as an administrator of tzedakah and will thereby merit life."

While learning remains the ideal, Rabbi Huna and his colleagues, our Sages of blessed memory, recognize that not everyone would be able to study our sacred writings. That deficiency, while regrettable, does not sunder a Jew from our collective heritage of Torah and its rewards. Rather, the rabbis instruct, let those who cannot study perform acts of charity to support Jewish institutions, thereby perpetuating the values and learning of our ancient heritage. Let those who cannot themselves learn assist other Jews by strengthening our synagogues, our religious schools and day schools, our rabbinical schools and Universities. Let those who cannot learn volunteer their time to serve on the endless committees, boards, and organizations that keep the Jewish people coherent and vibrant wherever we may dwell.

Not being able to study Torah does not sunder a Jew from membership in the Jewish People, nor in our redemption. Any Jew who supports Jewish living and Jewish community, who makes Torah study possible for others or who devotes time to protecting the interests and needs of the Jewish community remains inseparably linked to our ancient covenant with God and our ever-renewing folk.

May all of us, joined in a single band, soon merit the redemption of our people, of all humanity, and of all the earth.

Shabbat Shalom!

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Last Updated:
Thursday, May 01, 2008, 10:19pm