Friday Night Service, Central Synagogue - March 19th, 2021

[Music] um [Music] shalom [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] shine on my left [Music] me [Music] wow it is so very good to be back truly like it just fills my heart i was having to hold myself back from crying through that whole opening song thank you everyone it's so good to be with you and singing really really missed being at services with you although in a sense i was with you i was watching on the other side where so many of our community are watching through their screens from their homes i would turn on my central live streaming and i loved every week i was surprised by beautiful things our incredible confirmation class watching and marveling this team naming babies and great speakers like reverend otis moss who was able to speak to our congregation i was listening for people who were on our misha bay rock list and praying for their health and the too many names of our lost loved ones with the kaddish list i felt deeply connected to all of you even when i was not here physically and in a week like this past one um where i felt cracked open by the shootings that happened in atlanta this week i thought to myself there is no place i want to be but here i need to be with my community i need the support of being surrounded by a congregation that i know respects the dignity of all people a community of people that i know work to actually bring more love into the world to build bridges of understanding and connection with others and and so it feels like of all weeks for me to be able to come back now and feel the support of everyone has been it's a gift to be back with you um so thank you for embracing your korean rabbi who um and together we've built this i think very diverse community that stretches out to new york and beyond and all around the world all of you watching so i want to say shabbat shalom to all of you in all the many many places that you are i'm rabbi angela book doll if you join live streaming in the last four months you don't know who i am i'm one of the rabbis at central synagogue and i'm joined tonight by my colleagues rabbi ari lordch by cantor julia kadrine our incredible music director dave strickland and our amazing crew of musicians i want to thank our tech and av team who make us sound good always and and say shabbat shalom to all of you so whatever you bring into the space tonight whether you are feeling heartbreak over the news or worrying about preparing for your passover seders or maybe feeling really excited because you're vaccinated and maybe you're going to see family and friends for this seder for the first time whatever you are feeling i invite you to be present and bring all of that into this moment to feel the joy and peace of shabbat and this time of not just striving but just being so if you don't quite feel settled and ready yet let the music take you there and let's the let's bring in the glow of our shabbat candles that will also help us bring a little that shabbat spirit in i'm really pleased to invite amy glickman who was a board member and an incredible leader on our um central organizing team and her husband andy karitsky's to join us for leading the shabbat candle there you are nice to see you both um if you will help us by lighting the shabbat candles we'll join in blessing with you [Music] is [Music] shall [Music] thank you amy and andy it's beautiful to see you both i think we're now ready to let some of that shabbat spirit descend and let this psalm we'll begin with psalm 96 help us get there page 13. we're going to announce that sorry [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] we continue with roulette [Music] [Music] know [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] [Music] i am [Applause] [Music] [Applause] i [Music] [Music] [Music] tv [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] page 20 and 21 we will now welcome in the sabbath bride no matter where you are we will face your doorway when we get to the last verse if you're able so that we might actually physically greet the sabbath with our hearts soul body mind and our voices will join in verses one two five and nine [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] my [Music] i is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] remain standing if we're able turn to our call to worship on page [Music] my [Music] invite you to please be seated we continue on page 30. adonai um um [Music] [Music] me if you have your prayer books i invite you to turn to page 33 and join me at the top of the page in reading as you taught torah to those whose names i bear teach me torah too its mystery beckons yet i struggle with its truth you meant torah for me did you mean the struggle for me to don't let me struggle alone help me to understand to be wise to listen to know lead me into the mystery [Music] [Music] they are [Music] [Music] uh [Music] [Music] m [Music] i [Music] we turn to page 39 as we sing our redemption prayer and as we approach the holiday of passover our holiday redemption let us remember that we can only do this together not just for our people but for all people who need to be freed please join with us standing on the parted shores of history we still believe what we were taught before ever we stood at sinai's foot that wherever we go it's eternally egypt and that there's a better places through the wilderness that there's no way to get from here to there except my joining hands marching together [Music] [Applause] [Music] i [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] lord [Music] we asked for god's sheltering presence i think you have more to say rabbit books all about that that's right well when we ask for that sheltering presence we call it a sukkot shalom and you might imagine when you want a sheltering presence that you've got a sturdy home but if you think about a sukkah well it's got wooden posts and a flimsy roof and not very strong walls i was reminded of that this week how a sukkah of peace can feel shattered so maybe we should not be seeking our sukkah of peace in physical structures that we build around us maybe a sukkah of peace is made by the people that we fill in that in that home and i was really touched this week to receive so many emails from friends and colleagues from people i haven't heard from some of them from since rabbinical school or from a long time ago just reaching out to say i hope you're doing okay and i was so touched by that and i realized that that is the way we bring a sukkah of wholeness a shelter of peace by bringing our compassion and our presence to each other so let us do that together for one another right now bring our sukkah shalom right now this loving presence of peace [Music] [Music] hush [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] which helps us with our amidah these words of prayer we turn to page 155 and rise if you're able to [Music] a [Music] me [Music] [Music] day [Music] hello [Music] [Music] [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] i invite you to continue through using the words in this prayer book or perhaps closing them and offering the words of your heart or just taking in some moments of silence [Music] [Music] as we approach spring and passover which is around the corner it's traditional to sing and to read lines from our beautiful ancient love poetry song of songs and this beautiful text dodee lee which means i am my beloveds and my beloved is mine comes from that tradition from song of songs [Music] my [Music] me [Music] but [Music] [Music] more [Music] is [Music] we begin a new book of torah this week the opening words of that book of torah puzzled the ancient rabbis it starts god called out to moses and spoke to him this puzzled the rabbis and our sages because so often almost everywhere else in torah we hear over and over again god spoke to moses god spoke with moshe so why here does it tell us that god first calls out to moses and then speaks to him amongst the mountains of commentary i would lift up one idea which is that it's meant to remind us that god is constantly calling to us always and ever calling out waiting for us to heed that call and initiate a dialogue no matter how alone or embittered how pained how distant we might feel god is still there calling hoping that we will hear and respond in turn never the cause of our trouble god is there always the source of our strength and support and if we listen ever ready with words of comfort and love and we know there are moments when we are not in the position to heed god's call not ready to hear and that's why we as a community give voice to god's loving words like we do now each week in our misha barach leholim in our prayer for healing speaking these words on god's behalf drawing near as we do on this week to these dear ones members of our armed forces labish abba rifka bracha bhat avraham kathy barron eileen berger donald brief jerry calderon lou chen irwin diamond alexandra duran marsha firestone corey flaum jerry friedman janie first ashley goodman alex hochberg howard hochberg anna kaufman marjorie lentz roy lippman irwin mercat sophia monosavian ronnie oppenheim fajita perez prado sharon resnick carol roman leslie rosenberg sandy shuffer bill smith alan wolf pamyan and the aapi community letting you know that we stand with you against hate always we invite you to add your loved ones to these dear ones from our community we pray that the holy one might have mercy upon them and send to them a speedy healing of body mind and spirit as we join together with these loving words calling out to you those who will reap [Music] always [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is and so every week we take time to lift up that joy knowing that when we have celebrations or momentous moments when we share them in community we enrich one another so we'll lift up some blessings and if they're true for you i'll invite you to stand and remain standing and no matter where we are we'll be a community on our feet in recognition of the blessings around us if you are marking a birthday in the week ahead or you've marked one in the week behind we'll invite you to rise or if you're marking an anniversary or have marked one this past week we'll invite you to rise if you're celebrating some other simcha some other joyous occasion maybe a wedding in your family a new life born into your community in a moment we'll be naming uh a new member of our community who was recently born will invite you to rise if you received a vaccine this week we'll invite you to rise or if you helped someone get a slot so they could be vaccinated we'll invite you to rise if you've already begun passover cooking we'll invite you to rise we want to also mention something that our community is celebrating which is the passage of the halt solitary bill that passed this week in new york state this bill limits the use of segregated confinement in new york jails and prisons and our community alongs with a wide diverse community came together led by men and women who experienced ears and solitary confinement some as teenagers others as elders some even while pregnant in that terrible condition serving sentences so this law will ensure that new york's jails and prisons conform to international standards of humane treatment we are grateful for that and grateful to our members who were a part of that coalition that helped that bill pass we also want to mark what i know so many of you are probably already on your feet waiting to hear and i i peaked at the comments at the very beginning of the service you had a lot of people very excited about your return so if you are grateful and excited that rabbi book doll is back returned from her well-deserved sabbatical and bringing her voice and torah back to our community i think all of us will be on our feet and being able to offer this prayer a blessing and gratitude for god for allowing us to reach this moment [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] ah [Music] i'm so we're going to ask rabbi reuben now to introduce this wonderful new individual into our community for the reception of this hebrew name thank you rabbi lord it is such a pleasure to be here with jonathan and brittany sirolnick and their daughter sloane it is so wonderful to be zooming in for this simcha johnny and brittany i know that you have so many friends and family watching tonight and we welcome them and we're so grateful for this technology that allows us to celebrate together we're so thrilled by the growth of your family and we will now bring your beautiful baby look at that baby your daughter sloane mackenzie cerelnik into the covenant of the jewish people a little historical context god promised abraham that the jewish people would live forever that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and sloane is living proof that this promise is being renewed again her hebrew name will designate her as a link among the generations of our people i love that you have chosen names that honor both of your families sloan's middle name in english mackenzie is your maiden name brittany and so she will always know what a strong and loving family she comes from on her mother's side and in hebrew you two have chosen the name malcha for her in honor of johnny your paternal grandmother mildred or marcy as she was often called was generous and sweet and hosted your family holiday meals which you shared with me you remember very fondly from your childhood and we hope that malka also will inherit this love of family hospitality and generosity it is my honor to give her the hebrew naming blessing now eloheinu velohe avo tenu vimo tenu kayem etael da hazot la viha god and god of our ancestors sustain this child through her parents loving care let her be known among our people by the name malcha may her name be a source of joy to her and inspire her to serve our people and all humankind may her parents rejoice in the growth of body and soul as they have brought her into the covenant of the jewish people so may they with wisdom and patience lead her to a life filled with torah the blessing of learning and community chupa a loving relationship worthy of god's blessing and maaseem tovin the pursuit of good deeds and together as a community we say amen johnny and brittany i have no doubt that sloane malcha as we have named her tonight will shine a distinctive light for humanity it is a new chapter in the life of your family you have blessed our community with your daughter and now we'd like to bless you with the oldest benedictions in judaism may god bless you and keep you may god's presence shine upon you and be gracious to you [Music] may god be with you malcha and your parents and your grandparents and grant you peace amen and mazel tov to your entire family thank you rabbi rubin for leading that beautiful naming and to johnny and brittany i hope you can hear me i just want to say mazeltov i feel like i remember when it wasn't that long ago that we were having a conversation before you were married and now you have this beautiful child and your family is grown and um it is so touching for me to see it and um to know also that you're that sloan's grandparents sandy and jill are such beloved members of this congregation to have three generations is such a blessing for us in this in this community so um i just want to say to you sloan that you've come into an amazing family but i want you to know it's not just your parents and grandparents you've got all of us here at central as part of your extended family so we welcome you and we send you much love and mazel tov we are in a new book vayikra the book of leviticus and it reads a little bit like a sacrificial handbook for the priests but before we move to week after week after week of sacrifices i wanted to examine just the very first word in the book it has an oddity in the script you see the first word is written where the last letter is very small a tiny little aleph in every torah scroll it's written this way now even though the aleph is a silent letter and it's very small if that letter was removed altogether it would radically change the meaning of this first word you see if it says vayikra el moshe with the aleph the sentence translates as and god called moses but without the aleph it becomes vaikar and the sentence reads and god happened upon moses as if by accident the baal hathurim a spanish commentator from the middle ages explains that this small aleph is to moses's credit he was so humble and so unassuming he didn't want anyone to think that god especially picked him called on him rather he frames this meeting as if it were a chance encounter by god could have happened to anyone now most years when i come across these opening words of our book i admire the humility and the self-abasement of our leader moses but this week in the wake of the horrific shootings in asian massage parlors in atlanta i feel chastened by this little olive there are moments when being silent attempting invisibility not taking up your proper space can become a liability an impediment to action maybe even an abdication of leadership i will admit this week when i got some emails from the jewish press from uja from the cardinals office they were wanting responses to the shooting and there aren't a lot of asian rabbis to call upon i'll admit the first thing i wanted to do was go back to my sabbatical i felt deficient do i have to be the spokesperson but i felt that in this moment it was a vayikra moment i realized that even though i am not a leader of an asian community i am an asian leader and it doesn't serve this moment for me to demur and say who am i to speak and for the first time in my life i actually worry about my korean mother taking a walk outside alone this week's horrific shooting follows a year of surging anti-asian hate crime stop aapi hate reports over 3 800 racist incidents against asians in the last year hate crimes are not always easy to identify and while the media has been cautious in calling this a racially motivated crime the chosen ilbo which is a korean newspaper interviewed a witness who said that the killer shouted i'm going to kill all asians as he has he shot his victims now the asian community's response in the face of indignity and violence has often been to be quiet i was part of an interfaith rally yesterday in support of the asian community and the reverend drew hyun a korean american explained what he had always been taught when you're bullied or harassed just keep your head down don't look right or left don't make waves drew runs a thriving church here in midtown he was born in this country but he shared a story of taking a friend of his who was visiting from latvia around new york city and he said that as they were walking through tourists would come up and approach his friend from latvia and ask for directions that when they went to restaurants that the waiters would always address his friend from latvia first and give him the check drew said my friend was the foreigner but i as an asian american am the perpetual stranger asian stories are underrepresented in the media and in american culture generally it took to when i was 46 years old that i could see the first movie that actually had multiple asian leads in it crazy rich asians the only movie that i actually paid for to see in a theater twice now it wasn't so great and the characters were a little bit over the top but at least they weren't only the asian seductress or the bumbling long duck dong whose arrival was announced with a chinese gong the way asians have long been portrayed and pigeonholed now it might sound superficial but these caricatures and the absence of asian american stories in our culture has made it really easy to stereotype and ignore and what most americans don't know is that the rash of hate crimes and the horrific shooting is only the most recent of many struggles that are in the asian american community do you know that the poorest ethnic group in new york city are asian americans i was surprised to learn this statistic three years ago at the korean american cultural foundation's first giving summit the kacf provides social services and emergency assistance in the korean community and beyond it is like the uja of the korean community i checked in with the director of kacf this week she shared with me that before the pandemic the unemployment rate in the new york korean community was about three percent and it shot up to 26 within two months of the pandemic the forced closure of delis dry cleaners nail salons and more had a disproportionate economic impact on the asian community in new york but that's still a story that is not being told the media has given a lot of attention to the sadistic atlantic shooter atlanta shooter but very little to the victims but my mother shared a story that she read in her korean language daily newspaper which gave life to the victims and one detail she told me just broke me that many of the victims of the shooting not only worked but actually lived in those salons they slept in small rooms in the back in a nondescript building on a strip mall this image or this reality is very far from the model minority stereotype of asians who are good at math and take all the spots at stuyvesant and harvard so how do we move forward what can we do the jewish community knows particularly well what it feels like to be the scapegoat we know that words have consequences and can lead to dehumanization and harassment and even violence so one of the first things we can do is not only condemn the violence but also speak out against the dangerous rhetoric if you hear someone calling covid the kung flu or the china virus help them understand that those words unfairly inflame and blame it's also no small gesture to ask ourselves how do we together create a bulwark against bigotry and hatred in all its forms we should not have to make a hierarchy of who has it worse right now hate is hate and we cannot allow the model minority myth of the asian community to become a wedge between asians and other historically oppressed communities and there is another thing i want to ask the jewish community in particular to do right now take passover seriously to explain what i mean i want to end with a story this past fall my 18 year old son eli took a semester in korea to learn korean and meet my relatives it was the first time that eli was spending significant time living outside of new york city now he spent his first 14 days in the country in quarantine in a tiny little nine by 12 government sanctioned motel room and he emerged into sunlight after 14 days on air of rosh hashanah which he spent with a small progressive community in seoul he spent tash with chabad and part of the holidays all alone he called me afterward and he reflected mom you know in some ways these were my least jewish high holidays i wasn't with my family i didn't go to all the services and there are like no jews here he said but in another way he said i've never felt more jewish in my life how so i asked him he said now i really understand what it feels like to be a stranger well if that is all he ever took from all his years of jewish education dayenu as we say it would be enough in a week's time we will all be sitting around our seder tables we will not only recount a story of ancestors who were slaves but we are going to retell and recount a story of ourselves as slaves we eat the bread of affliction we taste our tears we tell our experience as a stranger can you remember what it feels like to have the soul of a stranger the more we can truly inhabit this story the more we will cultivate our radical empathy the more we will feel commanded to look out for and even love the stranger because we too were that stranger right now for the asian american and pacific islander communities who feel like the perpetual strangers in america listening to their stories and empathizing with them would be transformative we have an opportunity here as we celebrate our freedom to make this story alive right now in our time to remember that our liberation is tied to the redemption of all people and that stepping into the shoes of the stranger is our religious mandate god expects us to pay attention who is still in mitzrayim in the narrow places we have to remember our tradition foundational story remember we were once there we're so grateful for those words and that teaching thank you we rise together now in body or in spirit we join together for ali new on page 282 dreaming of a day when all people will be free and will be at peace [Music] m [Music] [Music] our is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] this week and in the weeks moving forward we'll be inviting members observing their first yard sights of their loved ones to join us virtually to light our communal yacht-sight candles deborah cantor and the cone family lit tonight in honor of the first yard sight of their loved ones whose names will read shortly we're thinking of you and we're thinking of them as we prepare to write recite kaddish i'm reminded of a tale in the ancient writings of our sages that when humanity was driven out of gonaden out of the garden of eden out of paradise that god was still gracious god still loved us and knowing that we would face sorrow having found mortality god gave to adam and eve something special god said here take this it shall comfort you and god gave to them the first tear and so it was that as we lost paradise we also gained suffering's chief antidote so as we light these yardside candles bringing to mind sorrows some of which perhaps have dulled over time some still sharp we remember the tears we wept and the tears we still weep as we remember these dear ones we've lost in recent weeks carol grossman abramson niece of suzanne de arzara sai baum husband of judy father of andrew theodore cohn father of karen don jordan and brother of amy gerald fengle father of cheryl bryan and elisa harvey grossman pearl hendler mother of susan mark michelle and richard barbara linhart mother of ted and peter charles lutky stepfather of peter blum miriam shaffer mother of leslie perkins arlene kattischer westreich mother of neil and marjorie renee weiss mother of deborah weiner jeffrey and cheryl and we weep for the 23 of our neighbors killed this week in mass shootings in america as of the outset of shabbat no members of our armed services died this week and for that we are relieved we remember these names of those whose yard sights occur on this shabbat helen mcburger herbert bijour gene blackman margot bakoza stanley brill susan buxbaum victor karade shirley trafkin mimi cohn richard cohen sydney cohen pauline dick seymour duel cecile eric fred eric tilly ellen jane erdos edward falk bruno farjon mark finkelstein joseph flame tim flint ethel friedman irwin gilston siddell ginsburg carol goldshaw betty stern green dorothy hannenberg hortens attends helfenbein lee hoffman bert horwitz alexander hun shirley kahan irwin canner david cantor henrietta castanowicz lillian cones dana koplin morris lindy abraham lipsky faye marco henry m marco john miller alvin newborn george oppenheim rose orenberg arlene orenstein david paley mildred perlstadt harry powers donna press larry reisfeldt herbert rein doris roberts viola rosman bruce roswick david roth julius roth kate rothkoff edmund o rothschild abraham rubin sylvia julian sander sandler ginger sassone jesse schantz bell schwartz jeffrey silver martin i silverman bernard snower patricia speer lewis sternberg melvin swigg david tanner herb tarrowski dottie vogel sally blaufeld volkman michael warner edward weil diana gothelf-weinberg joseph weiss francis weinberg daniel yole jill joel may all their memories be for a blessing we'd invite you if you're in a period of shiva the first seven days of mourning the loss of your loved one to rise and if you're in a period of shloshim the first 30 days of mourning the loss of your loved one would invite you to rise we invite you to rise if you're within the first year of mourning your loss and all those whose yard sights occur on the shabbat we'd invite you to rise as well as we your community rise to surround you and support you together we'll join in words of kadhisha tom warner's kaddish on page 294 294. it could all be [Music] me [Music] r [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] shabbat shalom in a moment we'll close together in song a few brief announcements between now and then first it's a joy to have so many of you joining us as part of our virtual community and we hope that you'll join us for future worship services if you're wondering about tomorrow morning you can find information about our shabbat morning worship online i'm on for mishkan tomorrow i hope you'll join me so i mean that's a that's a really good endorsement but yes now that you're all really interested go ahead and find that information online you can always always join us though on facebook live our youtube channel and jbs as well and uh i think uh other programming coming up maybe we just want to mention on on sunday robert booked off do you want to say a word i think you know more details okay uh sunday we have an incredible interfaith program that is uh um around helping end mass incarceration and the kind of current enslavement in our own time spiritual preparation and we have we have senator raphael warnock is actually kicking off the program um uh rabbi hilly haber and rabbi nicole auerbach has been have been planning this and been the leads with our um organizing team but we have a array of speakers some wonderful ways that people will be able to be in conversation we really hope you'll join us what time um it's a it's most of the day and i actually don't know the exact timing so you want to look at it on our facebook page you can find information or on our website please join us so we're going to continue now with kittish and mozi i'm so excited i'm so excited too i it's been a few weeks since i've been the clergy person closest to the wine in the falla so i've not had any um and my daughters are going to be thrilled right because once you touch the holla you get to take it home you know we can't share it i actually wish i could share because it's a lot for one family but um i just got lucky tonight so if you have a glass of anything at all at home i invite you to raise it with me and we'll bless together [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] i [Music] have you ever heard of more beautiful amen how's the best down man guys thank you i want to bless this falla as i've done in recent weeks in honor of all of our children who used to fill our bema in pre-covert times and god willing may they may they again they will again soon [Music] our closing song is on page 321 i didn't request this melody but it is my favorite so i'm fine cantor crean knows this is one of my top five so as a little present for me coming back she put this on the cue sheet which i really appreciate thank you and uh just kind of sweating it when you haven't been here for for four months i was like worried i would forget what i was supposed to do but you know what it's like riding a bike as they say especially when you're all with us so please join [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] m [Music] i know that our spirit is in god's hands and so we shall not be afraid may we go forward with strength love being back with all of you shabbat shalom everyone shabbat shalom [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

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Length: 83min 30sec (5010 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 19 2021