kol shalomFor members and friends of Mishkan Shalom

January 2016 / Tevet-Sh’vat 5776

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Letter from Rabbi Shawn .............. 2

A Way In ........................................... 4

Letter from Rivkah ......................... 5

Lifelong Learning ............................. 7

B’nai Mitzvah ..................................... 8

Library ............................................... 9

Acts of Caring ................................ 10

Yahrzeits ........................................... 11

T’filot ................................................. 12

At Mishkan Shalom we honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King each time we approach our chapel, sanctuary or library. With each step we take into the Heschel-King Room, we “walk” our values in much the same way that Rabbi Heschel “prayed with his feet.” On this weekend, others join us in honoring the important work done by Dr. King. In true Mishkan fashion, we have many offerings and many ways to celebrate. We hope you join us throughout the weekend.

Friday, Jan. 15 – Shabbat Evening5:45 p.m. Shabbat Potluck (Click here for details)7:30 p.m. MLK Weekend Kabbalat Shabbat service with Rabbi Shawn

Saturday, Jan. 16 – Shabbat Morning9:00 a.m. Torah study with Lennie Perlman10:00 a.m. Service with Rabbi Shawn, Vav class, the Mishkan Shalom Choir and guests: Rev. Mark Tyler & the Mother Bethel AME Choir. Rev.Tyler will be speaking about the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. and racial justice. He is pastor of AME Mother Beth-El and co-chair with Rabbi Shawn of the POWER Clergy Caucus.11:00 a.m. - Shabbat Morning Family Program with Rabbinic Intern Julie Benioff

Sunday, Jan. 17 - School ProgrammingFor details, see the letter from our Education Director, Rivkah Jarosh, pg. 5

Monday, Jan. 184:00 p.m. MLK Day POWER Leadership Assembly: Arch Street United Methodist Church (55 N. Broad Street) for the first leadership assem-bly of the new year! Help launch our next chapter as a transformative voice in Philadelphia.

Ongoing: Mississippi Freedom Summer Exhibit

Over 40 photographs and a narrative, developed by Larry Bush, editor of Jewish Currents magazine, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Mississippi’s Freedom Summer, from the Old Jim Crow to the New.

This photo exhibit, which Mishkan Shalom has permanently purchased, opens as part of our community’s commitment to ending racial injustice and mass incarceration in this country. The exhibit showcases the work of civil rights, then and now, and the Jewish imperative to work for racial equity and justice.

MLK Weekend: Come let us build a new world together! January 15 - 18, 2016

Roots and Branches--MLK, Jr. Weekend, Tu B’Sh’vat, Tikkun Olam

We enter this winter month following record high temperatures in December, in the wake of the International agreement on Climate Change in Paris and intensifying attention to issues of economic and racial justice in our society.

It is very timely that two major programs this month include the commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Weekend at Mishkan Shalom and MLK Day, January 18.

Reverend Mark Tyler, Pastor of Mother Bethel AME, the church choir will join us on Shabbat morning with the Mishkan choir and our Vav Class. I am personally delighted to welcome Reverend Tyler to our community, as we are co-chairs of the Clergy Caucus of POWER, of which Mishkan Shalom is an active member. Our school will devote its activities that Sunday morning to acts of tikkun olam- social justice and compassion for others and the earth.

That Monday, January 18, we will join 46 other Philadelphia congregations for a major assembly of POWER as part of a re-visioning and renewal process underway. If you have not participated

in our work in POWER to date, now is the time. The issues of full fair funding of our education system; challenging racial injustice and ending mass incarceration and economic dignity are front-and-center in our local as well as larger community.

These issues are part of additional tikkun olam initiatives, including the New Sanctuary Immigration Working Group, Ending Mass Incarceration Group, Interfaith Peace Walk, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and new membership in Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light, all led by our inspiring members, with Susan Saxe gratefully stepping in to chair our tikkun olam efforts in the year ahead. It is also an important Jewish value of our community that tikkun olam is an aspect of g’milut hadasdim - acts of caring- and not a separate value of activism in our world.

The elevated celebration of what was once a minor Jewish holiday Tu B’Sh’vat, the ancient Jewish New Year for the Trees is on Sunday evening, January 24 at 7:00 p.m. One of four historical “New Years” in the Jewish calendar - the 15th of the month of Sh’vat is a reminder for the need to honor the cycles of nature and the living trees that we inter-breathe with, reconnect with the earth we are extensions of and have impact on, and look at the Tree of Life as a guiding metaphor for relationship. This year’s Tu B’Sh’vat Seder will, once again, be led by Rabbi Yael and me, in a combined A Way In/Mishkan Shalom program.

The overall health and wellbeing of our ecosystem is fragile and resilient. Paying attention to the nurturing of the parts, while attending to the whole is one of the ecological messages of this holiday, both in terms of trees themselves and the sustenance they offer and need, and also in the macro-spiritual template of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Here the sephirot (or spheres of Divine energy) are only compatible and ultimately sustainable if the web of connective tissue, the “partzufim,” or face-to-face relational dynamics

Rabbi’s Letter

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“We gratefully acknowledge Susan Saxe for stepping in to chair our tikkun olam efforts...”

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by Rabbi Shawn Zevit

connect the spheres. Without this interdependent web of connectivity, the whole structure decays, withdraws and ceases to grow. As for the single tree, so for the forest; as for the individual, so for the community.

As members of Jewish community, our challenge is to discern how to embody all of these values in our personal and professional lives and in our communities. Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan urged us to move beyond self-realization and the ongoing renewal of the Jewish People to see peaceful interdependence and Godly living as, what we would

term today, our global responsibility. In this respect I suggest that the future of the Jewish people can only be found in a globally sustainable, evolving religious culture—interdependent and interconnected with healthy and conscious global systems—environmental, political, social, cultural, economic and spiritual. This is what I mean when I use the word “sustainable”, which is how the U.N. Brutland Commission defined it in 1987, with my addition of the religious or spiritual realm.

While there are a multitude of ongoing and situational concerns that ask for compassionate and committed acts of tikkun (repair) and gemilut hasadim (acts of kindness) in our world, addressing the need for a spiritual, activist approach to

sustainable living is a crucial issue for the Jewish people and for humanity in the 21st century to explore whether we are to have a global future that the Jewish people are part of!

We are hoping this year to re-energize our Sustainable Mishkan team. Please be in touch with Susan, Rabbi Yael or me if you want to get involved in adding a perspective to any and all programming we do in the building, and reclaiming an awareness and greater support for our own existing policies and programs.

I also want to welcome back our rabbinic intern, Julie Benioff from her fall studies in Israel. Julie will be leading services, family programs, working in our school, tikkun olam efforts, pastoral and other work beginning January for this year and next. Julie is a welcome and important addition to our staff/clergy team. Thanks to a matching grant from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Julie will be with us forty hours per month this spring.

We call our Torah “Eytz Hayyim,” the life-giving tree. I look forward to commemorating and celebrating MLK Weekend and Tu B’S’hvat together with you in the month ahead, as well as continuing to plant and reap the bounty of what we are nurturing together in shared conscious community in all our moments of connection, prayer, study, activism and acts of caring.

“...in the Jewish calendar, the 15th day of Sh’vat is a reminder to honor the cycles of nature...and the earth we are extensions of....”

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#2: Don’t be afraid of the dark: Don’t be afraid of your own pain. Don’t be afraid of the pain, the anguish that you feel at the tragedies, at the devastation that fills our world. It makes sense we would feel this pain. It is to be expected that we would feel anguish when we allow ourselves to be aware of the suffering in our world. Acknowledging these feelings connects us with each other. Confronting the pain and despair releases us from its grip and gives us energy to act from our core beliefs and values.

#3: Dare to vision. We will never be able to build what we have not first conceived. Turn towards your imagination, stretch beyond anything you have ever seen and dream up the most vivid, detailed, spectacular image of what could be. Speak these visions. Share these dreams with others.

#4: Roll up your sleeves. Do something. Do anything. There are so many different issues, there are so many causes to work for. What is your passion, what do you love? When seeking where to direct our energy it helps to remember that everything is interconnected. Whatever we do we are adding to the healing of the entire world.

#5: Act Your Age. Every atom, every cell in our body reaches back to the very first bursting forth of light and space. We are all as old as the universe and with the universe and we are continuing to evolve at every moment. So whenever we are acting for the benefit and well being of each other and the earth, we should know we are doing this not out of some personal whim but with the full authority and strength of our 15 billion years.

The life of this planet has desired us into being, and it is through us, it is through our love and our caring that the life of this planet will continue.

In these times everyone needs comfort And would welcome a hand to hold Compassion is the fire that burns the hurt that pains the soul And though my eyes are so polluted By the sight of lost desires Good to have you in these times

May we continue to inspire and nourish each other as we act for healing and peace.

Shalom, Rabbi Yael

A Way InDear Friends,

In these past weeks I have been listening to a lot of music—it helps sooth my soul and reawaken my faith in possibility and connection.

I have been hearing the song “In These Times” by Joan Armatrading echoing in my heart often. It opens with these verses:

These are the times Tears fill the back of your eyes These are the times The birds migrate across the skies These are the times What hope you had, you forget These wicked times You’re bound to feel all sanity is lost In these times everyone needs love In these times do you pray to God In these times everyone needs comfort And would welcome a hand to hold Compassion is the fire that burns the hurt that pains the soul And though my eyes are so polluted By the sight of lost desires I can see you standing by.

Listening to this song one evening helped me return to teachings I had learned from Joanna Macy, a spiritual activist, teacher and guide. Macy teaches that everyday there is something we can do to turn ourselves, each other and our world toward healing and transformation.

“We must live with the radical uncertainty that we don’t know what our actions will ultimately accomplish,” she says. “And we must allow this uncertainty to inspire our creativity, courage and imagination. We must know that no matter what happens, the actions and the risks we take on behalf of all life will bring forth dimensions of world repair and transformation that are beyond anything that we have ever seen.”

Macy suggests five actions we can take, five things we can do everyday to contribute to this transformation, this world repair:

#1: Cultivate gratitude. Notice, and name the blessings in your life. Turn towards what gives you joy.

by Rabbi Yael Levy

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by Rivka JaroshCongregational SchoolDear All,

Happy New Year! The Congregation School gets busy again in 2016 on January 6. There are two holidays we pay special attention to this month. The first is the American holiday of honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. Besides the Vav Class leading several prayers on Saturday, January 16, there will be a family program for all young kids and parents during the service to discuss Torah in a more active way through play acting or puppets. Sunday, January 17, will be a whole day of topics related to social justice. The Gan, Alef and Bet (K,1,2) Classes will make sandwiches for the homeless shelter at 63rd and Market Street. The Gimel, Dalet and Hay Classes will be discussing the environment and activities that they can do. The Vav Class will be continuing to talk about funding for schools. We hope there is money for schools by that time. We will share what we have learned with the whole school, as we gather at the end of the day for a prayer and exchange of activities discussion.

Tot Shabbat is adding a new Pajama Shabbat activity this month too. We received a small grant from the Berger family that gives money toward innovative programming. We are going to have a service and dinner oriented to families with small children on

January 22. We will do some Shabbat singing and Rabbi Shawn will present some guitar-led songs. People will come dressed comfortably with children in pajamas. It should be fun, comfortable and a great way for families to have a Jewish community activity.

January then moves on to our Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat. On January 24, we will honor not just the trees, that the holiday originally was for, but honor the Earth and talk about ways to keep our Earth clean and healthy. Each class will celebrate the holiday in its own way but the environment will be a central theme of all class events.

Finally, we will finish the month with a social gathering of Ice Skating. We will go to the Penn Rink on Sunday, January 31, to enjoy skating, talking together and just having fun. All of Mishkan is invited. Please think about bringing you family and skating with your friends. See flyer on the next page!

Have a great January and hope you are well despite the weather,

B’shalom, Rivka Jarosh

Mystical Tu B’Shvat Seder at Mishkan Shalom

Journey to the Roots of Our souls & Branching Out to Our World

Led by Rabbis Shawn Zevit & Yael Levy Sunday, January 24 • 7:00 to 9:00pm  

• Prayer, Meditation, Song • Ritual eating of fruits & nuts, drinking of wine & grape juice • Journey through the “4 Worlds” imagined by the Jewish Mystics • Exploring our relationship to the planet

Pre-Registration & Prepayment Required

All are Welcome $18 for Mishkan Members & RRC Students $25 for Non-Mishkan Members ~ Additional donations are welcome.

 To Register & Donate:

By check: Payable to Mishkan Shalom c/o 4101 Freeland Ave, Philadelphia PA 19128 By credit card online: www.mishkan.org. Enter “Tu B’Shvat Seder” on the memo line of your check or notes field online.

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All are welcome! Bring Family & Friends!!

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By Susan Richards

By now you may have seen our catalogue describing the diverse range of classes, workshops, and experiences from January through June. In the midst of Winter, it’s hard to look ahead to Spring, so I am highlighting the most immediate offerings.

After several years’ hiatus, Mishkan Shalom will again be offering Beginning Hebrew: Unlock the Aleph Bet! taught by Rabbi Meryl Crean, for 10 Thursdays beginning February 4, 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. This is a special opportunity to reduce your reliance on transliteration and deepen your relationship to liturgy with a teacher who has made Hebrew text accessible to students of all ages for many years!

On January 23, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m., Steve Jones will lead Walk the Talk: Knowing Nature through a Jewish Lens. Steve is a maven of “reading” the Wissahickon landscape as a Jewish text; on this winter walk through the seemingly sleeping forest, you’ll sense the coming spring even through the cold. The group will meet at Mishkan and then carpool to the woods.

Spiritual Direction: A Monthly Open Circle continues on Saturdays, January 3 and February 6, 9:00 a.m. - 9:55 a.m., led by Andrea Madden, Meredith Barber, and Rabbi Shawn.

Finding the Voice Within: Where Creativity and Spirituality Meet, led by Meredith Barber and Julie Lipson, continues its ongoing monthly meeting on Friday, January 15, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Pause & Refresh Your Soul: An Exploration of Shabbat Unplugging continues on Saturday, February 6, 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., led by Rabbi Shawn and Rabbi Simcha at their home. Reflection, study and song that blends Shabbat practice with a new series of Talmud study looking at the foundation of prayer and individual/communal spiritual life.

You can learn details on all these classes and more, including costs, registration info and instructor bios at https://mishkan.org/committee/adult-education/.

No matter your age or expertise, you can try something new, make new friends, share experiences and join a community of learners!

Lifelong Learning/Adult Education

Kol Shalom is published monthly, September through June.Editor: Eileen LevinsonLayout: Maralin Blistein

Distribution: Maria Paranzino

Contributors include:Gene Bishop, Anndee Hochman, Rivka Jarosh,

Eileen Levinson, Yael Levy, Maria Paranzino, Sharon Rhode, Susan Richards, Stephanie Shell, Gari Weilbacher and Shawn Zevit.

Email articles by the 15th of each monthto levinsone@yahoo.com

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prayers before school and say the Shema each night. George cooks latkes with Gabby at Hanukkah and helps mix the haroset for Passover.

But a motor condition makes it hard for him to speak; at his bar mitzvah, he’ll use an iPad communication app to play the aliyah blessing and his Torah portion. Rabbi Shawn and Rabbi Michelle Greenfield helped to design a service that is “very musical, with much less spoken language than in a typical service,” Gabby said.

Both parents marvel at the changes in their son. “He’s constantly progressing, so an off-day feels like a shock,” Fred said. “The main thing I sense from him is that he seems to have pride in what he is doing.” Gabby charts George’s emergence as a teen by his taste in music: Last year, he was all about Taylor Swift and Katy Perry; now, he’s downloading rappers Drake and Jay-Z. “He still is so cuddly, it is sometimes easy to forget he is becoming a teenager,” Fred said.

Gabby and Fred know that having many people in attendance will add to George’s sensory overload; they urge Mishkan members to consider honoring George in other ways—by making a donation to Celebrations! or coming to a Celebrations! service to get to know him in a more intimate setting.

On that Monday—a day honoring dreams, courage and action—Fred hopes that George is “in touch with his bliss…it could be an experience he’ll never forget.”

“Mostly,” Gabby says, “we want George to feel celebrated for exactly who he is.”

George Kaplan-MayerJanuary 18

Gabrielle and Fred Kaplan-Mayer have a dream for January 18.

That Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It is the day Jews chant a story of terror and liberation: the final plagues and the Exodus from Egypt.

It is also the 13th birthday and bar mitzvah of their first-born.

What Gabby and Fred hope for their son, who has autism, is a calm and intimate service, rich with music, an interactive d’var Torah and some of George’s favorite prayers. What they hope for family and friends in attendance is a glimmer of understanding.

“One of our dreams for George’s bar mitzvah is that it will inspire everyone present to learn more about what George’s life is like,” Gabby wrote on a Wiki site she created for the occasion; it includes lists of books, films and other resources about autism.

As a toddler, George attended a special needs pre-school at Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park; later, Gabby started Celebrations!, a Shabbat program for children with special needs and their families, to create a place where George and kids like him could experience Jewish ritual, prayer and community in a setting that was sensitive to their needs.

George has a sensory processing disorder that can make the world—rippling with sound, movement and smells—feel overwhelming. Entering a crowded sanctuary might be “like being blind-folded, wrapped in sandpaper and thrown into a room with snakes and blaring heavy metal music,” Gabby explains.

He’s been immersed in ritual and song since birth: his parents read Jewish books aloud, sing morning

by Anndee HochmanB’nai Mitzvah

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by Sharon RhodeLibrary

One Book, One Jewish Community Reads:A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka

Ninth Annual Kick-off Event & Book Signing with Author Lev GolinkinSunday, January 10, 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.Gratz College (7605 Old York Road, Elkins Park)

It’s always a pleasure to join our wider Jewish community of readers by participating in the largest adult Jewish literacy program in North America! Synagogues and Jewish organizations throughout the region will be offering programs related to this year’s OBOJC selection, starting with the January 10th Kick-Off event.

If you go, you’re invited to bring new backpacks and bears, which will be donated to HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, directed by our own longtime member Judy Bernstein Baker.

To learn more about the book, access resources such as the Reader’s Guide, see a list of programs scheduled throughout the community, and more, please visit the OBOJC site at: http://jewishlearningventure.org/buildingcommunity/onebook/

One Book Mishkan Continues This Spring

Coming in April is our ever-popular movie night. We’re screening films now to find just the right movie to partner with Waveland, Simone Zelitch’s story of Freedom Summer. Stay tuned!

Learn more about the Library and One Book Mishkan at: www.mishkan.org or write library@mishkan.org. See you in the Library!

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By Gene Bishop and Stephanie Shell

Condolences

We extend condolences to Maria Paranzino on the death of her beloved mother Mary Chinnici. May Maria and her family be comforted among all the mourners and all humanity and may the memories of Mary be for a blessing.

Love and Support

This month we send our ongoing love, support, and prayers for healing to Mishkan members Jane Lipton, Adam Tuttle, Claire Needleman, Wendy Horwitz, Bill Grey, Robin Berenholz, Bernice Bricklin, Mark Goodman, Jane Hinkle, Sue Jacobs, Jay Kravitz, Denise Kulp, and Robin Leidner.

We are keeping Sam Chinnici (father of Maria Paranzino); Eleazar Shimon Hakohen ben Shoshana v’Ahron Yosaif (father of Rabbi Shawn Zevit), Sarah Bradley (mother of David Bradley), Debra Singer and Marcus Singer(sister and father of Karen Singer), Patrick Windle (brother of Susan Windle), Sal Berenholz (father of Robin Berenholz), Jackie Berman-Gorvine (daughter-in-law of Natalie & Harold Gorvine), Lorna Michaelson (mother-in-law of Joe Brenman), Eva Galson (mother of Wendy Galson and mother-in-law of Susan Windle), Julie Post (sister of Nancy Post), and Judy Jasper Leicht (friend of Eileen Levinson) in our prayers as well. May they all experience a refuah sh’leimah (full healing).

Please notify us if you want a name added to, or removed from, our “Ongoing love, support, and prayers of healing…” list.

Acts of Caring lets the Mishkan Shalom community learn about significant events in the lives of our members. In this way, we can reach out to one another in times of grief, illness, and joy. To reach us simply email : actsofcaring@mishkan.org.

Are you receiving Acts of Caring via email?

Acts of Caring now goes out to all Mishkan members. It is our communication central for sharing life cycle events and community needs for help. If you are not receiving Acts of Caring, please check your spam, or if you have gmail, your solicitations folder (Acts of Caring is distributed by Constant Contact). If you unsubscribe from Ma Hadash, intentionally or accidentally, you will also be unsubscribed from Acts of Caring. Please contact the office for clarification.

Got Nachas? Sharing your good news is a marvelous way to connect our community! Please don’t be shy - send all lifecycle events you would like to be posted to our email address: actsofcaring@mishkan.org.

G’milut Hasadim/Acts of Caring

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YahrzeitsHelen Roben-1/16-Sh’vat 6 Mother of Brock Roben

Franklin G. (Jerry) Bishop-1/17-Sh’vat 7 Father of Gene Bishop

Polly Brenman-1/17-Sh’vat 7 Mother of Joe Brenman

Jean Kraemer-1/17-Sh’vat 7 Mother of Elise Luce Kraemer

Adele Weiss-1/19-Sh’vat 9 Mother of Ariel Weiss

Fannie Erlick-1/23-Sh’vat 13 Grandmother of Anna Forrester

Elynore Windle-1/26-Sh’vat 16 Mother of Susan Windle

Lawrence Boonin (Lazer)-1/28-Sh’vat 18 Father of Nicholas Boonin

Ann Iser-1/30-Sh’vat 20 Mother of Lynne Iser

Anne Charnow-1/31-Sh’vat 21 Mother of Susan Richards

David Attia-1/2-Tevet 21 Father of Mordechai Attia

Hyman Kraff-1/2-Tevet 21 Father of Sue Ellen Liebman

Albert Schurr-1/3-Tevet 22 Father of Cindy Perkiss

Bernard Kleppel-1/4-Tevet 23 Father of Judy Kleppel

Eve Konow-1/7-Tevet 26 Mother of Andrea Konow

William Iser-1/8-Tevet 27Father of Lynne Iser

Esther Muhlstock-1/8-Tevet 27 Mother of Susan Kershman

Mae Hausman-1/9-Tevet 28 Grandmother of Deenah Loeb

Emanuel Schwager-1/9-Tevet 28 Father of Michael Schwager

Mathias Coburn-1/12-Sh’vat 2 Father of Jennifer Coburn

Baila Nisson-1/13-Sh’vat 3 Aunt of Natalie Gorvine

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Monday, January 18 – 10:00 a.m. – George Kaplan-Meyer will be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah, with Rabbi Shawn

Friday, January 22 – 7:30 p.m. – Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Rabbi Shawn

Saturday, January 23 – Beshalah – 10:00 a.m. – Aa Way In Mindfulness Service with Rabbi Yael; 10:00 a.m. – Celebrations!

Sunday, January 24 – 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. – Erev Tu B’Sh’vat Seder, with Rabbi Shawn and Rabbi Yael

Saturday, January 30 – Yitro – 10:00 a.m. – Shabbat Morning Service, with Rabbi Shawn

Saturday, January 2 – Shemot – 9:00 a.m. – Tot Shabbat, with Rivka; Spiritual Direction-Open Circle – 10:00 a.m. – A Way In Mindfulness Service, with Rabbi Yael

Saturday, January 9 –Vaera – 10:00 a.m. – Shabbat Morning Service, with Julie Benioff

Sunday, January 10 – 7:00 p.m. – Rosh Hodesh Sh’vat Celebration

Friday, January 15 – 7:30 p.m. - Kabbalat Shabbat Service, with Rabbi Shawn

Saturday, January 16 – Bo – 9:00 a.m. - Tot Shabbat, with Rivka – 10:00 a.m. – Shabbat Morning Service, with Vav Class and Rabbi Shawn

T’filotPlease join us for Torah Study each Saturday from 9:00 a.m. – 9:55 a.m.