From Cantor Lee 

At a recent congregation gathering some of our members were trying to answer a question posed by a guest,  “Tell me, what is Congregation Shirat Shalom all about?” I don’t remember too much of the conversation except for one bit of information that caught my attention.   One member explained, “There isn’t any judgment.”  “Exactly….” the others confirmed and explained further.

Being nonjudgmental of others which includes myself is a part of my spiritual practice I have been working on for years. I am not saying this is easy,  but practice really does help! It has become more of a natural state of being than in the past.

Being non-judgmental goes hand in hand with the Jewish spiritual practice of avoiding, “Lashon Harah” which translates as “Evil Tongue or as we know it, “Gossip.” We are asked to not speak about or criticize others.  I like to take it a step further and not even think negative thoughts about others which includes myself. When I do, I try to catch myself and use an imaginary chalkboard eraser to erase the thoughts.  Yes, I grew up with chalkboards in school!

One assignment I always give our older Hebrew School students  is to spend 24 hours not  saying anything negative about anyone else. I also ask them to just observe t how much time people spend talking about others but not to be judgmental about this. Just observe. The results and discussion are always pretty amazing.

I always feel that things are brought to my awareness for a reason and the original conversation about non-judgment within our congregation is no exception. For my New Year’s’ resolution, I am going to pay more attention to  being non-judgmental.   This is actually a beautiful gift I am giving myself for  I have discovered that this practice brings with it a sense of Inner Peace.  And I know that the more Peaceful I am, the more Peace I bring to the world. And yes, that includes you!

May we all be blessed with Peace in this new secular year of 2015.

From Rabbi David aka The Reb

Today is the first  day of the secular new year,  January  1st,  2015. This first day of the year is traditionally a day of resolutions  and promises  to one’s self  and perhaps to others.  Resolutions  are a good thing as they are a way  for us  to improve ourselves to live a better, wholesome life.

But today is a special day in the Jewish calendar as well, the 10th day of the Jewish month of Tevet, a day of fasting  when we remember the destruction of our Temple. It was  2603 years  ago that  the mighty army of the enormous  Babylon empire led by Nebuchadnezzar arrived  in Jerusalem  and began  laying a siege on its city walls. Despite its massive  size the Babylonian  army  could not break into the city due to the amazing  bravery of the Jewish defenders. It took three years  to finally  break into the city.  Once inside it still  took the Babylonian army   about  three weeks to force  their way into the Temple and  destroy it.  It was a blood  bath for the Jewish population. The Babylonians were  furious because of the huge amount  of their soldiers lost during  the siege.  Some 70 years  later  the Jews did return from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem  to rebuild  the Temple  with the permission of the Persian emperor.  Almost  600 years later it was destroyed again  by the Romans.

Despite  the forced exile which  the Babylonians and the Romans imposed on the Jews,  Jerusalem  remained Jewish. Over the centuries  many empires conquered  Jerusalem; Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines,  Moslems , Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans  and  British, to name a few.  They all came and went disappearing  from the earth. They ruled for a while  and vanished. On many occasions  over the centuries  the Jews  were  exiled  from the city  and were forbidden  to live in it.  Amazingly we always  returned

The story of our Holy City is the story of its sons and daughter, we the Jewish people,  who refused to surrender it to  foreign hands  despite  the great effort of so many empires.  We will never cave in to mass killings, forced conversion  and exile as in past centuries  or in these modern days, terrorist  killings, UN threats or European pressure.

One can not have Jerusalem  without the Jewish people. It has been  proven  time  and time  again over the centuries.  For us  the city itself,  its stones, its walls,  are a living  soul  and as such  these stones will not tolerate  being without their beloved  sons  and daughters.  Ever.

It is not coincidence,  you see,  that this year the memorial day of the ancient  Babylonian  destruction of Jerusalem  coincides with the first day of the secular year. Our sages explained  that the only reason our  ancestors  were forced out of our eternal city and country only to return back over and over again is because  we did not learn  to live in harmony with each other. “Shalom”, as we all know, is about peace in our hearts and among ourselves.  Our sages  explained that our two Temples were destroyed  because of “Sinaat Chinam,”  senseless hatred among ourselves through hateful  thoughts and hateful words of gossiping,  jealousy, intolerance – you get  the idea.

Therefore  for the sake  of my beloved  eternal  city of  Jerusalem  and on behalf of our third Holy Temple that is now being built within our hearts,  I  pledge to use Cantor Lee’s chalkboard eraser to erase all negative and derogatory thoughts about anyone from my mind and watch my words extremely closely in case gossip of any kind finds its way there.

I believe that this practice  will bring  “Ahavat Chinam”  Love for its own sake among us. It will strengthen  the ancient spirit of “Am Yisrael” the Jewish people,  to overcome  all the turmoil and anti-semitism  around us here in the US, in Europe and in Israel.

May this civil year be a year of peace, health,  prosperity and redemption for all of us.

Amen.