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NEWS & EVENTS
April 16, 2024
Next Edition: May 7
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WHAT REALLY INSPIRED
THE EXODUS TALE?
A SUPPLEMENT TO YOUR HAGGADAH
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✦ May 3, 7PM
▶︎ A SERVICE OF CELEBRATION!
THE ORDINATION OF SECULAR HUMANISTIC RABBIS AND GRADUATION OF NEW LEADERS AND LIFE CYCLE OFFICIANTS
We welcome faculty, staff, and alumni of the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism - the educational arm of our movement - to share with our congregation a special Shabbat of celebration and learning.
The events begin with a FRIDAY NIGHT SHABBAT SERVICE OF CELEBRATION on Friday evening at 7pm...
... and will continue on Shabbat morning, Saturday, May 4.
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FRIDAY SERVICE
IN PERSON OR ON YOUTUBE:
Click HERE or on the graphic for YouTube (live & recorded).
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Saturday morning learning activies will be Zoomed live at links made available through the institute.
CLICK DIRECTLY ON the graphic below or CLICK THIS LINK for a complete schedule and Zoom links to the Saturday, May 4 sessions (available in person or online) and further details.
NO CHARGE FOR ANY OF THESE GREAT EVENTS!
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YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THESE WONDERFUL DAYS OF CELEBRATION AND LEARNING WITH HUMANISTIC JEWS FROM AROUND N. AMERICA! | |
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✦ May 10, 7PM
▶︎ YOM HA-SHOAH /
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY
A SERVICE OF MUSICAL REMEMBRANCE
This year's service of remembrance will feature musical selections performed by Joseph Palazzolo, including: pieces by Jewish composers of the Holocaust era such as Mieczysław Weinberg and Gideon Klein; music performed for themselves by Jews in Theresienstadt Ghetto and elsewhere; and post-Holocaust music set to Jewish poems.
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TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 6:30PM
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Please note new date!
Wed., May 8, Noon
BOOK SELECTION:
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
by James McBride
Beginning with the 1972 discovery of a decades-old murder, this novel tells the story of Black and Jewish residents of the Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in the 1920s and '30s.
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Join our Program Committee for an ongoing series of discussions & presentations on a variety of topics.
Begins Sunday, June 2
10:30 - Noon
First Topic:
"A Community Discussion on the Future of Israel and its Neighbors"
Contact Bruce Hillenberg, drhillenberg@gmail.com or 248.892.4364 with any questions.
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NEXT LUNCH BUNCH
WED., APRIL 24, 12:30PM
Guest Speaker: Libby Carpenter
Preparing for Life’s Transitions
Please bring your own lunch.
Coffee and tea service - and Matzah! - will be available.
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Thursdays, 1-3PM
Lessons for novices and games for seasoned players!
For more information, please contact Debbie Lopas at 248.331.3480 / debbielopas@gmail.com or Cathy Radner at 248.229.8954 / radner210@gmail.com.
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ALL SESSIONS AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT THIS LINK | |
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THE WORLD'S OLDEST HATRED
WITH RABBI FALICK
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WHAT REALLY INSPIRED THE EXODUS TALE?
A SUPPLEMENT TO YOUR HAGGADAH
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Every year at this time I offer a supplement to Humanistic (and other) seders that re-tells the Passover story from a somewhat more historical point of view. I originally wrote it as an addendum to the traditional narrative and when I finally created my own Haggadah, I placed it after dinner when the endless prayers and praises are traditionally recited. While very short (much briefer than the familiar tale) it presents conclusions suggested by sound archeological discoveries, some important literary hints in the Hebrew Bible, and even a few geological and meteorological pieces of evidence. Recently, one of the suggestions I included (the Levite connection) became even more popular when famed biblical scholar Richard Elliott Friedman came out with his 2017 book, "The Exodus."
There's a reason that this year more than ever I recommend incorporating it into your seder. With the recent growth of antisemitism in certain quarters there's been an attack on the origins of the Hebrew / Jewish / Israelite people. What science has revealed is that our ancestors were unquestionably natives of the ancient Mideast, even if their origin story didn't take place in quite the same way as we once thought.
Feel free to re-print and share this widely!
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A Modern Maggid (Telling)
Historical Supplement to the Passover Haggadah
The great scientist Carl Sagan wrote:
Just when we’ve finally understood something [that] scientists are talking about, they tell us it isn’t any longer true. And even if it is, there’s a slew of new things – things we never heard of, things difficult to believe, things with disquieting implications – that they claim to have discovered recently. Scientists can be perceived as toying with us….
Sagan was writing about physics, but he just as well might have been referring to historical archeology. Less than 100 years ago, most scholars still believed that the tale was true in many of its details. Then they started digging ... literally ... with shovels and pails.
It eventually became clear that the story we had told ourselves for millennia did not take place. There had been no mass flight from Egypt, no conquest of the land of Israel, otherwise known as Canaan. The Israelites were natives of the land; they were Canaanites themselves!
So how did the story come to be?
In the late second millennium B.C.E., Egypt dominated Canaan. The pharaohs demanded regular tribute from vassal kings who in turn exploited their own peasant populations.
According to some scholars, in the thirteenth century B.C.E. the region experienced significant upheavals and power shifts. Taking advantage of these changes, many peasants rebelled, throwing off the yoke of their vassal kings. Archeological remains reveal that some fled to and cleared Israel’s central highlands, where tribes and towns began to form. In a long, complicated and gradual process they became known as the Israelites. Did this contribute to inspiring our story?
If so, the Exodus tale may have served as an allegory about liberation from Egypt’s ongoing domination and exploitation of Canaan’s populace. The narrative may also reflect other ancient regional instabilities. Famines and droughts provoked repeated migrations. The Torah’s stories about Abraham and Sara’s journey to Canaan and their grandchildren’s descent to Egypt may disclose memories of these population shifts.
Other historians suggest an alternative possibility. They propose that the Exodus story was influenced by the experience of one tribe, the Levites, that may have come to Israel from Egypt. Many Levite names, including Moses and Aaron, are Egyptian in origin. The Levites were cultic experts and possessed no territory. Were they the outsiders who circulated the original Exodus tale?
The details are buried in history, but history gives wings to legends and legends yield heroes like Moses. Over hundreds of years, our story emerged with its account of one great man, dedicated to justice and to the liberation of his people. He challenged Pharaoh and led the Israelites to freedom. For millennia he has inspired many others who have been downtrodden or enslaved to bring about their own deliverance.
And that’s why we told it tonight!
© 2015 by Jeffrey L. Falick
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HUMANISTIC JEWISH MUSSAR...
THE VIRTUE OF SILENCE
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Over the past few months, I have defined the importance of humility, gratitude, and equanimity to understanding Humanistic Jewish Mussar. These virtues include being humble when the situation warrants it, intentionally finding things to be grateful for, and finding emotional balance in rough waters. I have also pointed to the importance of reflecting on these virtues daily and intentionally trying to find balance within each virtue.
Extremes of any virtue can reduce flexibility across situations. For example, sometimes it is best to listen, at other times it is best to advocate with a strong voice. Both are flexible dimensions of humility. Most of the time it is healthy to find gratitude, but there are injustices that we can not tolerate. The proper, healthy response to injustice is speaking out and voicing our anger.
Living wisely through Mussar practice pushes us to find the right amount of each virtue across situations with the goal of actualizing our humanistic potential and effectiveness.
Today I will discuss silence. The Oxford Language Dictionary defines silence as a complete lack of noise or sound. Silence can be found externally (a quiet forest, early morning standing by a calm lake, taking a stroll by oneself, a moment of solitude, etc.,) or internally (quiet reflection on one’s breath, watching a sunset without a thought, tracking a group of birds across the sky, enjoying the lyrical beauty of a Motown song, listening intently to what someone is saying, etc.).
A healthy relationship with silence, requires a degree of comfort with oneself. As Lao Tzu stated: “Silence is a source of Great Strength.” Silent moments offer an opportunity for relaxation and reflection. We need both. We need to press the pause button and take breaks of quiet and carefreeness. We need to stop and use silence to be with our feelings, history, meaning, vision, and goals. As Socrates stated: “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
Rumi, a 13th Century poet, can guide our understanding. He said: “Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. When the ocean is searching for you, don’t walk into the river. Listen to the ocean.” I am confident Rumi was guiding us to regard silence as the best path toward understanding ourselves and our world. Silence allows us to view things logically and objectively, to find gratitude, to freely think without the clutter of narratives that betray the facts of our inner and outer world, to listen rather than speak. We look at ourselves honestly and experience the wonder of nature.
Clinical Psychologist Amy Sullivan, PsyD, ABPP from the Cleveland Clinic, reviewed the benefits of purposeful silence for mental and physical health. On the clinic website’s health page (2020) she described how creating periods of silence can “lower physical stress responses, reduce muscle tension, improve mental focus, identify our wants and needs, take an accounting of our values, increase creativity, and improve our communication.”
To practice silence, we must learn to be sensitive and aware. As Rabbi Sherwin Wine stated in his book, A Ceremonial and Philosophic Guide for Humanists and Humanistic Jews: “Wise people are sensitive people. They understand their own needs and the needs of others. They understand their own feelings and the feelings of others. Freedom is the power to know ourselves. Without self-insight there is no liberty. Freedom is the power to understand others.” Throughout history, wise individuals have highlighted the value of intentional silence as a quiet well-spring of insight and committed action aligned with personal values. Silence allows us to become more acquainted with ourselves, to notice the alignment between our stated virtues and our actual behavior, to allow gratitude to fill the screen of our awareness, and to reap greater intention to improve the world by first improving ourselves.
And yet, with the Mussar goal of flexibility in expressing virtues, there are times (such as when we are confronted by trauma, emotional pain, injustice, etc.), when silence is the opposite of what we should be. Therefore, silence can be a means to wisdom as stated above or an experience of imprisonment. Use silence, but do not allow silence to use you!
As stated by Nadezhda Mandelstam—who died under the ruthless Stalin Regime— "I decided it is better to scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity.” And as stated by James Baldwin in a letter to Angela Davis: “ Since we live in an age in which silence is not only criminal but suicidal, I have been making as much noise as I can, here in Europe, on radio and television—in fact, have just returned from a land, Germany, which was made notorious by a silent majority not so very long ago (An Open Letter to My Sister, Miss Angela Davis, January, 7, 1971, The New York Review).
More questions for your journey. Can you utilize silence as a space for reflection, appreciation, and growth? Can you lower the volume and the rate of thoughts and find rest? Can you feel calm in the present moment? Can you speak up when silence is unhealthy? Can you advocate for yourself or others?
Edited by Esther Ingber
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DAY OF SERVICE & CELEBRATION
THANK YOU!!
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The Social Justice Committee THANKS all who contributed to the success of this year's Day of Service and Celebration including those who helped plan, set up, clean up, who contributed food for the luncheon, asked businesses for gift card donations, who gardened, worked on the assembly line, did knitting, took pictures, donated items for our collections, helped publicize, came and enjoyed the event, invited guests, helped organization reps and guests feel welcome, acted as MC, helped deliver lunches to NOAH, helped serve those lunches. You made possible a wonderful event with many positive effects. Other meaningful SJC happenings are coming up. Interested in being in on the planning: come to our next meeting.
We would like to express deep appreciation to Office Lady Michele for her efficient help (all that printing), to Caterer Julie for her GENEROUS donation of time and talent (She made the delicious nachos and help deliver lunches ) and to the amazing Ann-Marie, who is both Superwoman and Wonder Woman: Super Woman for the unbelievable amount of work she does and Wonder Woman for the wonders she achieves. We are so fortunate to have these amazing people on our team.
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Photos provided by Jean Klarich and Arthur Liebhaber | |
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COLLECTIONS UNDERWAY
Help us to clothe and supply those in need...
...with toiletries, new or gently used spring clothing, toys, children's items for other needs, household items, etc. Drop off in lobby.
If donating items from other categories or larger items, please first contact Audrey Pleasant (audreypleasant@gmail.com) for more information.
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KNIT / CROCHET / CRAFT FOR A CAUSE
Next Session:
April 27, 1-3PM
All welcome; no skill needed. Will include a beginners' lesson in crocheting!
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An array of recent warm hats knitted by our group! | |
JEWS FOR A SECULAR DEMOCRACY | |
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Join us on May 5 for a nosh in support of Michigan Jews for a Secular Democracy! JFASD is a pluralistic initiative (sponsored by the Society for Humanistic Judaism) to educate and advocate around the separation of religion and government through Jewish perspectives. We are working hard collaborating with congregations across denominations, other Jewish organizations, and interfaith and nonsectarian social justice activists to protect reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and educational freedom such as fighting book bans.
Enjoy a delicious vegetarian lunch (Krishna Indian Restaurant, Farmington Hills), great company, and support a cause essential to protecting our democracy and religious freedom for all. Tickets range from $50-$1000. You can purchase your ticket here.
We are also seeking more people to join the host committee. All hosts will be listed on our website and invitations.
BECOME A SPONSOR! Sponsor: $200; Ozer/Helper: $500; Mensch: $750; Macher: $1,000; Democracy Hero: $2,000
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: NOMI JOYRICH, MICHIGAN DIRECTOR, JFASD, 248.497.1226
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BENEFIT CONCERT AT CHJ!
Les Écuries du Roy
A Baroque Ensemble
A Concert of French and English Music
Saturday, May 25, 7:30PM
to Benefit:
Alternatives for Girls and
Freedom House Detroit
Suggested Donation: $20
Advance tickets: office@chj-detroit.org
or 248.477.1410 / or purchase at the door
Linda Munch, Soprano
Rob Burns, Baroque Flute and Recorder
Christopher Brodersen, Baroque Oboe and Bassoon David Schreiner, Baroque Bassoon and Recorder Janet Cannon, Viola da Gamba
Diana Munch, Harpsichord
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MAZEL TOV
TO...
Melanie Goldberg
on her upcoming May 3 Graduation as Life Cycle Officiant conferred by the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.
Melanie has now completed all of the requirements enabling her to serve as a substitute officiant for Rabbi Falick in the event that he is unavailable.
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WELL WISHES
BEST WISHES FOR A SPEEDY RECOVERY TO:
Jim Walker
Please inform us if you know that someone is ill or in need.
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ONLINE, IN-PERSON & BOTH!
Classes are for members only or by arrangement with Rabbi Falick or Ann-Marie Fisher, exec. director.
RABBI FALICK'S MONDAY CLASS
Summer announcement coming soon.
Mondays, 1PM.
RABBI FALICK'S SATURDAY CLASS:
JOURNEY THROUGH THE TORAH
Join this exploration of the iconic narratives of the Torah through both critical and traditional perspectives.
Saturdays, 10AM, On Hiatus.
HISTORY CLASSES WITH NATAN FUCHS
Sundays, 10:30AM, In Person Only. On hiatus.
SOCRATES CAFE
Tuesdays, 11AM
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/182488428
MAH-JONGG
Tuesdays, 1-2:30PM, In-Person
For more information, contact Denise Parker, 248.321.9428
YOGA
Fridays, 11:30AM In-Person
with Karen Lutz
Wednesdays, 9:30AM, In-Person
with Connie Grossman
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ZOOM REQUIRES A PASSWORD!
The password was sent under separate cover. Please contact rabbi@chj-detroit.org if you need it.
ONLINE VIDEOS OF PROGRAMS & CLASSES
Visit LibrarySHJ.com and our YouTube page for videos of past services, classes, lectures, and more!
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