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"To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner.  I am not a teacher, only a fellow student."  (Soren Kierkegaard)

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Service Schedule

May 14th May 20th

Mon. — Thurs. Evenings
6:00pm
Wed & Thurs Mornings
7:00am
Sunday Morning
8:00am
 
Friday, May 18th
Drum Circle
6:00pm
Candlelighting
7:41pm
 
Saturday, May 19th
Shabbat Services
9:15am
Havdallah
8:41pm
   
Upcoming Events
5/14 Israeli Dance
5/15 Meditation Group
5/16 Limmud
5/17 Lunch and Learn
5/18 Drum Circle
5/19 Anniversary/Bday Shabbat
5/13 Men's Club Minyan
5/19 Anniversary/Bday Shabbat
5/20 Tora Fund Brunch
5/26 Tikkun Leyl Shavuot
5/27 Shavuot
5/28 Shavuot
6/2 Starbucks Shabbat

 

RH 1 - The Battle Against Bitterosity

Strings Attached, 2nd Day RH 2010

KN 2010

YK Day 2010 Justice & Change

Archived Articles:

Good and Evil
Psalms On Our Tongues
Memorial
Torah
Ties That Bind
Happy Birthday Rabbi!
Sderot Journey
Shabbat Hachodesh
Seder 09
June 20, 2009
July 4, 2009
July 18, 2009
August 5, 2009
August 07, 2009
August 14, 2009
August 28, 2009
September 4, 2009
October 22, 2009
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November 24, 2009
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December 17, 2009
December 24, 2009
December 31, 2009
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February 25, 2010
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April 5, 2012
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April 26, 2012
May 3, 2012
May 10, 2012
May 17, 2012

RH Day 1 Sermon - 2011
RH Day 2 Sermon - 2011
Kol Nidre Sermon - 2011
Yom Kippur Sermon - 2011


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A Few Pre-Shabbat Words from Rabbi Aaron

Are Your Hands Clean?

In parashat Behar we read about slavery. Leviticus chapter 25 describes a debtor who has fallen into dire straits. Selling himself may be his sole option for working off the debt. Beyond the confines of this paraha, our scriptures describe additional scenarios for the acquisition of slaves, including war captives, selling a thief into slavery (as a vehicle toward repaying his debts), as well as widows and orphans being enslaved in order to repay debts. Biblical culture lived within a larger ancient Near Eastern culture which viewed slavery as a natural element of life. Consider this pronouncement by Aristotle: "a slave is an animated tool, and a tool is an inanimate slave, whence there is nothing in common (between a master and a slave)..."

We find it quite difficult to enter into this mindset. But we must ask ourselves if our own century is so different (as we'd like to believe) from the worldview of our ancestors. 

In a spare moment, visit iabolish.com

That online portal helps describe worldwide slavery (on every continent except for Antarctica) that is part of the twenty-first century. Country by country: who is lured into slavery, how young are some of these slaves, who is swept into the life of a child-soldier, which U.S. corporations benefit from these practices - 27 million slaves in the world  back in 2001. What does 27 million mean? It means that more people are enslaved now than in any other time in human history. All this information is a few keystrokes away. Whenever we're ready to look... 

The title of this drash comes from a powerful and provocative song by gospel/African tradition-oriented group called Sweet Honey in the Rock. The song traces a shirt or blouse you're wearing all the way back to the cotton fibers growing in a field. We learn who picks the cotton, along with all the hands that move it along it's journey toward becoming the clothing we wear. More importantly, we learn something about the lives of all those faceless invisible workers - many of them slaves (or perhaps just a rung above slavery). The song's title asks the consumer the important question: can you honestly remove yourself from the lives of the people who slave over the products you buy? Does the price - everybody loves a bargain, a steal! - adequately compensate the people people who work to make the product? When a label on a product reads "Fair Trade" what does it mean? Should we care?


Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Aaron

Click any of the images below to view the complete pdf file (some pdf files are more than one page)

 

 

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Note from Rabbi Aaron Kol Foods

Deanna