OrH Newsletter

Biweekly Newsletter

5 January 2022

A Fresh Start

January - oh, January. For many of us, this month may feel less like a “fresh start” and more like “didn’t we just do this?” It’s hard. We hope you will dig deep with us and enjoy some of our virtual gatherings - Tu Bishvat will be a delight, Liturgy 101 is starting soon (please RSVP!) and our Schmooze ‘n Learn this Sunday will be one of those discussions that shifts your perspective. We hear you, we love you, we’ve got this.

OrH Annual Fundraiser

We have passed the halfway mark on our annual fundraising campaign! Thank you all so much for your generous contributions - we couldn’t do it without you. Why are we holding a fundraiser? As a small congregation, the cost of running a shul adds up quickly. If you would like to contribute, visit our 5782 Annual Campaign page, where you can see the donation tracker update in real time. Payment can be made by credit card, etransfer or cheque. All donations are eligible for a tax receipt, which will be issued at the end of the year. If you have any questions, or need help navigating the donation process, please email our treasurer, who will be happy to assist you.

Words of the Spirit 
“FOR SHE TOO IS LIKE A TREE”

Looking back on some previous reflections on Tu Bishvat, I found this message, one that feels keenly relevant to this year:

We find ourselves, deep in winter, in the month of the Jewish New Year of the Trees, Tu Bishvat. At this time of the year the trees seem to the eye to be life-less. Where do we find a connection to this observance? In what sense can we engage that transcendent awe-power in the full grip of frozen times? 

A Hassidic teacher, Rabbi Yisrael of Chortkov, says: 
"When a person is down on her fortune and has lost all hope, she should ponder a tree in winter. Its leaves have fallen, its moisture has dried up, it is almost a dead stump in the ground. Then, suddenly, it begins to revive and to draw moisture from the earth. Slowly, it blossoms, then brings forth fruits. A Person should learn from this not to despair, but to take hope and have courage, for she too is like a tree."

If the lack of awe is despair, then hope must be the bridge between winter and spring, between lifelessness and revival. Awe always is - in the universe, and in our very near surroundings. To seek it is to connect to the everyday blessings of humans, trees, and all that lives. 

These times, this week, could hardly feel any more “frozen” with the coldest days of winter yet, along with rafts of cancellations and new closures due to the explosive rates of infection from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Announced on Rosh Hodesh Shvat, the beginning of month marking the new year of trees, a harbinger of rebirth that is to come in the greenery of spring.

So, Reb Yisrael, there are a lot of us mighty low on hope at the moment. We’re tired of it all, more than tired. Lethargic. Struggling. Anxious. Defeated. What’s that you say? Connect with a tree? Visit a tree? Visualize a tree? 

Approaching Tu Bishvat this year of our almost 2 years of a global pandemic, I recalled a mini-retreat from almost four years ago, an outdoor experience on the Appalachian Trail with a group of rabbinic colleagues. It integrated activities one might expect, like hiking and canoeing, with contemplative practices. One practice stuck with me. On a “silent hike,” we were guided to communicate with a tree, to ask and listen for its permission to touch or embrace it.

With messages like the title of Peter Wohlleben’s book The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World, amid reports of scientific work that has been made accessible to the broader public of late, we are learning that this is not a matter of fantasy. The connections and possibilities from human-to-tree communication extend from what is being learned from tree-to-tree communication.

Hope must be the bridge between winter and spring, that leads us from the bleak inner and outer landscapes towards the awesomeness embedded in the natural world, there for us to cherish, nurture, be fed by, and protect. And once we make our way onto that bridge, we can join hands, reach out, make sure that anyone who needs and everyone who yearns can know that they too are like a tree – fruitful just as they are, where they are, in any season.

Rabbi Liz

Experience Tu Bishvat!

“Tu Bishvat comes at precisely the most precarious moment in the cycle of nature.” (Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Seasons of our Joy)

It is the New Year of the Trees, but here
the ground is frozen under the crust of snow. . . . 
In the white and green north of the diaspora
I am stirred by a season that will not arrive
for six weeks, as wines on far continents prickle
to bubbles when their vines bloom.  (Marge Piercy)

On January 16, let’s join together to plant seeds of the spirit. We will build a multi-dimensional “tree of life” on a structure created by the rabbis of Sefat in the Middle Ages, which mirrors the “four cups” and special foods ritual format of the Passover seder. We will share four cups, deepening from white to red, while blessing and munching on fruits and nuts; we will sing and read and create our tree for this New Year of the Trees. And, if you wish, you can plant actual seeds for your seders in the spring. Join in this hands-on, creative, participatory experience.

HAVE AVAILABLE SOME OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: 

red and white fruit of the vine:  wine or grape juice (about two “cups” each per person)
something from one of the “Seven Species”:  wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates, olives, dates
fruit or nut with a hard shell: bananas, almonds, walnuts, oranges, pineapple; 
fruit or nut with a hard center: avocado, peach, date, cherry; 
fruit soft in and out: grape, strawberry, fig
Optional:  parsley and radish seeds with pots and earth to plant them in

See our event listings for more info. 

New in Our Service Schedule:

4th Shabbat Morning Services
 
Starting January 29, join Shira as she davens (prays) a traditional Shabbat morning service on Zoom. Traditional but still Reconstructionist, these services will be conducted with more Hebrew and lots of singing. These services will be slightly less interactive and will include less English, but provide a chance to sink into the melodies and prayers and to enjoy the flow of morning blessings, psalms of praise, the Shema and the Amidah. As time and interest permits there will be an informal discussion of the parashah. These services will be listed in our events as we get closer to the date.

Liturgy 101 - A Practical Course
 
What exactly goes on in a Shabbat morning service? What is the structure of the service? What are the essential prayers? This course is for anyone who would like to know more about our Reconstructionist Shabbat liturgy but will be aimed particularly toward those just beginning to explore Jewish liturgy. The course is intended to be practical, enabling people to participate and even lead elements of a service. A familiarity with the Hebrew alphabet is helpful but not necessary. (A free course to learn or review the alphabet can be found here.) The course will include learning melodies, blessings, and essential liturgical terms. Class sessions will be recorded to be posted on the OrH website along with course resources. The course is free to members (with donations suggested and appreciated). Questions and registration: email rituals@orh.ca
 
This class is starting Monday, January 17, 7:30-8:45 PM Zoom (and every other Monday thereafter: January 31, February 14, March 1, March 14 - more dates to be scheduled as needed)

Upcoming Services and Events

Shabbat Morning Torah Service - Shabbat Bo
Saturday, January 8 10:30am to noon
This shabbat, we’ll consider what we consider vital in our narratives, how we tell our stories, and what it can mean to us today to center the Exodus story. Join Rabbi Liz and our member  Zoom team to gather in, sing, read, pray and reflect.
Zoom  
 
Schmooze ‘n Learn
Sunday, January 9 10:30-noon
Zoom  
Reimagining our future:  Climate change and Racism: How climate change is racist, how we benefit from that, and how we can start thinking differently about it. Jean will lead this thought-provoking, interactive workshop.

Tu Bishvat Seder 
Sunday, January 16th 7:30pm to 9pm
Zoom  

Reconstructionist News and Events

“Reconstructionism Without Zionism”   
Wednesday, January 12 - 8:00-9:30 
OrH members must register (free)
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert is Professor of Religion at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. She was among the first women ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she served as Dean of Students. She is the co-author of Exploring Judaism: A Reconstructionist Approach, author of Like Bread on the Seder Plate: Jewish Lesbians and the Transformation of Tradition and Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism as well as several edited volumes and numerous articles. 

Convention 2022 
B'Yachad: Reconstructing Judaism Together
Convention Registration opens Sunday, September 26!
Come gather together from March 23 – 27, 2022 for B’Yachad: Reconstructing Judaism Together. Over these four days, both in person and virtually, we will learn from and with experts, scholars and lay leaders. We will engage in conversations, ask questions, and listen. We will pray together, sing together, dance together and celebrate all that we do every day in our communities to reconstruct Judaism. Our convention will take place in the versatile spaces of the beautiful Hilton McLean Tysons Corner hotel, located in the Chesapeake region. Reserve a hotel room for our convention at a special rate.

In The Ottawa Community
* = New item this week
 
Community Events and Announcements

Kamionkowski Bet Midrash is offering 50% off their online Classic Hebrew Fundamentals course. This class is for folks who can read Hebrew, but who may not understand it. Take advantage of this amazing deal!
The school is also offering a new webinar series which will run for four sessions on Mondays. The series is an introduction to the Book of Exodus as understood by biblical scholars. There are careful readings of the plague narratives, the famous Hollywood splitting of the sea, and more! If you can't make a session, no problem - you can access the recordings. You can sign up for the webinar series here .

Donations to OrH

Donations are a significant part of the funding for activities and rabbinic support in our community. You can direct your contribution to different areas of Or Haneshamah’s activity, including: general donations to fund programming, rabbinic leadership, donations in honor or in memory of a person or event, or dedication of ritual objects. We also welcome donations to the Gita (Tova) & Zvi Taub Memorial Fund, the Rabbi's Discretionary Fund, the Or Haneshamah Endowment Fund. Federal employees or retirees can also give to OrH through the Annual Government of Canada Workplace Charitable Campaign. Information on all these programs and how to give can be found at this link, or by clicking on the "Donate" tab on the main menu of the OrH website.

Board of Directors

Chair: Carolyn, president@orh.ca 
Treasurer: Elijah, treasurer@orh.ca
Secretary: Nicola, secretary@orh.ca
Communications: Andrea, communications@orh.ca
Membership: Myrna, membership@orh.ca
Learning: Diana, learning@orh.ca
Ritual/Many Hands: Shira, rituals@orh.ca ​​​​​​​
Interim Member-at-Large: Lyn


Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton: rabbi@orh.ca
OrH Members are welcome to contact Rabbi Liz, the Hesed team (hesed@orh.ca),
or any member of the board, regarding pastoral needs.

Or Haneshamah
30 Cleary Ave., Ottawa, ON, K2A 4A1
613-239-4988
www.orh.ca
info@orh.ca

** Disclaimer Regarding Community Event Postings **

Or Haneshamah frequently receives requests to post notices of upcoming events in the community at-large.  These events run the range from cultural, educational, and in some cases explorations of topical political issues.  In the interest of providing information to our congregation about the diversity of interesting events in the Ottawa community we will post notices of these events in our regular newsletter.

We recognize also that from time to time we are requested to post notices of events which are highly controversial in nature and reflect a wide range of opinions among our congregation on particular issues.  We are, however, of the opinion that it is appropriate for us to post events taking place in the community which may challenge us, which may cause discomfort, and which may cause us to reflect on some of our beliefs.  Our openness to post notices for a wide range of community events, however, does not mean that we have abdicated our responsibility to show discernment and to distinguish between those events which demonstrate an open-minded and thoughtful approach to specific issues and those which do not appear to reflect such values.  So, we will make judgments about what notices we believe are appropriate to post and those which we believe will not contribute to a thoughtful and balanced exploration of ideas and issues.

Will we make mistakes along the way?  Probably.  But the possibility of errors of judgment does not mean that we can excuse ourselves from the responsibility to show judgment in posting notices about events in the community and we promise to do so with openness tempered by a sense of responsibility.

In agreeing to post any notice of an event in the community, Or Haneshamah does not endorse, support or promote any perspectives, positions or ideas expressed in the events which are posted in our newsletter.