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Service Schedule
March 8th - March 14th |
| Wed, & Thurs Morn |
7:00am |
| Mon - Thurs Evenings |
6:00pm |
| Sunday Mornings |
8:00am |
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| Friday, March 12th |
| Kabbalat Shabbat Services |
6:00pm |
| Candlelighting |
5:46pm |
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| Saturday, March 13th |
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| Shabbat Services |
9:15am |
| Jr. Congregation |
10:30am |
| Havdallah |
6:46pm |
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| Upcoming Events |
| 3/8 |
Israeli Dance |
| 3/9 |
Meditation Group |
| 3/10 |
Lunch & Learn |
| 3/10 |
Adult Hebrew with Judy Holzer |
| 3/11 |
Old Enough Evening of Laughter |
| 3/13 |
Jr. Congregation |
| 3/14 |
Sisterhood Women's Seder |
| 3/16 |
Men's Club at the Grizzlies |
| 3/19 |
Rubinstein's Rockin' Ruach |
| 3/20 |
Anniversary/Birthday Shabbat |
| 3/20 |
Learners' Minyan |
| 3/21 |
USY Pre-Pesach Car Wash |
| 3/21 |
Chocolate Seder |
| 3/29 |
First Seder |
| 3/30 |
First Day of Passover |
| 4/3 |
Starbucks Shabbat - Passover Style |
| 4/3 |
Shabbat First |
| 4/4 |
Pesach in the Park |
| 4/8 |
Lifelong Jewish Learning Program |
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
November 4, 2009
November 15, 2009
November 19, 2009
November 24, 2009
December 4, 2009
December 10, 2009
December 17, 2009
December 24, 2009
December 31, 2009
January 8, 2010
January 15, 2010
January 21, 2010
January 29, 2010
February 5, 2010
February 12, 2010
February 18, 2010
February 25, 2010
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A FEW PRE-SHABBAT WORDS FROM RABBI AARON
What Makes Us Tick?
Last week we started the Torah over again with Breishit. Our Bar Mitzvah, Aaron Canales, shared his insights into man's ambivalent nature. God endowed us with dominion over all the other creatures. Free will makes it possible for us to achieve staggering greatness as well as shameful ruin. And yet...despite the divine gamble humanity represents, God insisted upon creating us - even over the (midrashic) vehement objections of the angels! Well, just one parasha later, the Author of the Cosmos decides to destroy the world with a horrifying flood. Noah, his family, and all the animals [clearly, all this is way before OSHA and the fire marshall...] float through the catastrophe in their shelter. Upon leaving the Ark, Noah will offer animal sacrifice to God, who "smells the savory odor" and says to Himself: "no longer will I curse the Earth [adamah] because of the Earthling [adam], for the imagination of Man's heart is evil from his youth."
STOP.
This divine utterance is too important for us to gloss over. What can we make of it?
Adam (Man) was shaped from the Adamah (Earth), and it appears that while the Flood punishes all living creatures for their corrupt ways, the failings of humanity were the tipping point; God wouldn't have brought the Flood if humanity weren’t so tragically debased. Nachmanides (Ramban) says this explicitly. After the flood, God decides that the Earth should no longer be held accountable for humanity's transgressions.
Rubinstein's 2 Cents
Well, that's fine, but, unfortunately, humans have become quite a force to be reckoned with, and most of us understand that our collective actions most definitely are impacting our planet and its future. God is not mucking things up; we are.
yetser lev ha'adam - man's inclination... How do we understand human nature? Throughout the ages, theologians, philosophers and psychologists [to name a few interested parties...] have been arguing about human character and how it functions. In one of our morning prayers, we pray..."v'chof et yitsreinu l'hisht'abed lach..." Translation: "...bend our will; force us, compel us to serve You [!!!]"
Rubinstein's 2 Cents
Clearly, our sages struggled with the human proclivity to make a terrible mess wherever we go. Centuries later, with all our so-called progress, we are struggling, as well. But think about the prayer I just cited: Aren't we asking God to do something rather strange, maybe even disturbing? Do we want to be puppets on a string? I highly recommend a recent New York Times column by David Brooks,[Op-Ed Columnist: Where the Wild Things Are ] which sketches a couple of models for human “character.” While we continue to probe the mysteries of the magnificent human brain, it is not yet clear to us just what makes us tick.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Aaron
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