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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Maccabeats in Denver! 12-25-16

We went to see the Maccabeats Live in Denver on 12-25-16! I filmed most of the songs. Enjoy! The Maccabeats were incredible!

 

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Special and Wonderful Happy Hannukah Gift 2016!

This was a gift to my family from my sister-in-law Amy and my brother Billy and my niece Phoebe and nephew Charlie Schneider. It was hand made by Amy's dad, Jim Sutherland, before he passed away in 2016. It made me cry when Amy told me her dad made this. So much love went into this gift. Thank you Amy. Huge hugs to all of the Sutherlands. Thank you for being a part of my life for the past 25 years.


Saturday, December 17, 2016

Shabbat Service 12-16-16 - Temple Israel Long Beach

If you are snowed in somewhere in Colorado like my family is, take the time to watch this wonderful Shabbat evening service from last night from Temple Israel, Long Beach CA! Cantor Sara Hass did an amazing job as usual!

My Uncle Norman Kadison's name was said at the end of the service in his memory.
Stream Videos

Friday, December 9, 2016

Got Shabbat! 11-18-16

I LOVE Got Shabbat! It is such a lively and fun service! Online Video

Shabbat Services Live! 12-9-16

I am so grateful that my family can watch this service while we are in the Colorado mountains! Bill Shafton did an amazing job tonight! Shabbat Shalom!


Streaming Video

Friday, November 25, 2016

Shabbat - Day After Thanksgiving 2016 - November 25, 2016

It was fun to try to use up yesterday's leftovers for Shabbat Dinner 11-25-16. After dinner, we watched the recorded service from Temple Israel.

  Live Broadcasting

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Some Videos and Reflections From Shabbat HaNefesh Temple Israel Long Beach 11-11-16

There was a wonderful Shabbat musical service at Temple Israel in Long Beach, California on Friday, November 11, 2016. Cantor Sara Hass and her musical team, including Bill Shafton, cellist Daniel Smith, and percussionist Christo Pellani did an amazing job.

Unfortunately, the complete record of that service did not successfully upload to the synagogue's video archives, but I did take a few videos of the service, so those who read this blog can just get a small glimpse of that memorable evening.

The next morning, a lady named Heather came to the morning Torah study and summed up and shared with the study group how moving the experience was.  Her summary is exactly what was felt by everyone.

Most people came inside filled with heavy hearts and burdens after the recent presidential election, but almost as soon as the service began, something magical happened to everyone! It was like all worries and burdens were taken away and a tremendous feeling of unity was felt in the temple and everyone knew that G-d was and is in charge!

The service opened with everyone singing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and ended with "What the World Needs Now, Is Love Sweet Love!"

  On Thursday, November 10, 2016, the following letter was sent to all members of the Temple Israel congregation from Rabbi Steven Moskowitz and Cantor Sara Hass.  I believe that that letter brought many people to what I consider to be a "healing service."

I was so very moved and felt so much love and a sense of community on this particular Shabbat evening.  thank you Cantor Sara Hass for working so hard to help so many with your beautiful voice and incredible energy!

Post-Election Reflection:

Sh'ma Yisrael

At the very heart of Jewish wisdom are words we recite at the morning and evening prayer services and before going to bed: Sh'ma Yisrael, "Listen, Israel." The spiritually powerful dimension of this prayer is not that we merely hear the words of instruction being conveyed but that we acknowledge and experience the presence of the one who is speaking. This encounter is transformative. There is one who cares enough about me to seek to elevate me with a call to love and to ethics. I am taken out of my isolation and embraced in covenantal relationship. It is a relationship that is not just about me or the other. It is about us. We are brought closer, not by our similarity but by the quality of our encounter and commitment. Sacred listening, attentiveness to the presence of the one before us, is a central spiritual practice in Judaism.

This election season has been characterized by a catastrophic lack of sacred listening. In the absence of such heightened and respectful attentiveness, the differences among us have expanded into seemingly unbridgeable chasms. The degree of fear, anxiety, loss, and resentment that has surfaced is palpable. The divisions are real, and they are deep. Our democratic society has the tools necessary for reweaving our frayed social fabric into a new design of the optimism that has always been at the heart of what America represents. Foremost among those are freedom of expression, respect for differences, equality of opportunity, and a readiness to help our neighbor in times of difficulty.

The days and months ahead will provide us all with many opportunities to elevate the practice of attentive listening bequeathed to us by Jewish tradition: where we are indebted to the one before us for the differing insights they bring and where mutual advancement is our goal. Every family exchange, every visit with a friend, every committee meeting here at the synagogue is such an opportunity.

The words from Torah, Sh'ma Yisrael, are written without punctuation. They can be read either as "Hear, O Israel" or as "Hear Israel." In the former, we are the ones doing the listening; in the latter, we are the ones being heard. And that reciprocity is at the very heart of both sacred listening and prayer.

It is with our sincerest hearts that we invite you to join Cantor Hass, Bill Shafton, Christo Pellani, and Daniel Smith tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. for Shabbat HaNefesh - a service full of song, prayer, meditation, and the opportunity to come together as a community as we open our hearts and embrace each other.

In closing, we offer you these words from Rabbi Zoe Klein:

When God offered King Solomon anything he wished in I Kings 3:9, King Solomon asked for one thing only: "Give me a listening heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?" He didn't ask for might. He didn't ask for wealth. He didn't even ask for wisdom. He asked for a listening heart.



May the new Leader of the Free World be blessed with a listening heart. 


A heart that listens to the pain of a divided people. A heart that listens for commonalities. A heart that listens to those whose voices are tiny and soft. A heart that listens for the weeping at the margins. A heart that listens to the dreams of the poor, the hopes of the young, and the faint prayer of the dying. A heart that listens to the call of the earth and the haunting song of the sea. A heart that listens past language, dialects and differences to the very pulse of humanity. A heart that listens to the resounding message of history. A heart that listens to the spirits of our ancestors and the hum of the future. A heart that listens to you and listens to me and hears the mysterious harmonies that are so often hidden from us.

May we all be blessed with listening hearts, and step into tomorrow together with a commitment to hear one another. To receive each other's presence with hearts that are open and compassionate. With hearts that listen to one another's fears. With hearts that listen to one another's devotion. With hearts that listen to one another's achievements. With hearts that listen to one another's disappointments. With hearts that listen to one another's beauty. With hearts that listen to one another's goodness. With hearts that listen to one another's pride. Let us step into tomorrow with our hearts channeling Solomon's gift. With our hearts attuned to one another's precious and unique music, and learn to sing in harmony.

Bless us that we may bless each other.

L'Shalom,

Rabbi Steven Moskowitz and Cantor Hass

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Rainbow After the Flood and at Chuck Smith's Paddle Out

Today, at the torah study at Temple Israel, we talked about the rainbow that appeared after The Flood and I remembered the rainbow that appeared three years ago at the Paddle Out for Chuck Smith at the Huntington Beach Pier. This photo was taken with my cheap point and shoot camera from the pier!


The song Chuck Smith ended his services with was sung by the surfers around the time the rainbow appeared!

May G‑d bless you and guard you.
May G‑d shine His countenance upon you and be gracious to you.
May G‑d turn His countenance toward you and grant you peace.
(Numbers 6:24-26)

Temple Israel Shabbat at the Park - Blessing of the Animals 11-4-16

I think my favorite event of the year is when the Parsha Noach is read and when the animals are blessed.  The service was wonderful too...especially the enthusiastic children's choir.  What a fun night it was!



 


Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Beyond by Dan Nichols

I woke up this morning singing this song. Then, I played it on the piano.

What puzzles me today is how some people would say that since this is sung and written by a Jewish musician (not Christian), that this music is not true "worship" music.  It is so beautiful and does speak of God's greatness and wonder!

  Anyway...I do love this song and it's what is on my mind of this beautiful morning!

 

BEYOND

Lyrics adapted by Dan Nichols from Chatzi Kaddish, Music: Dan Nichols © 2004 Dan Nichols

From the CD, My Heart is in The East by Dan Nichols and Eighteen


May Your wonder be celebrated, may Your name be consecrated 

May Your brilliance never fade, from the magnificent world You made 

May Your ways prevail in our own days, in our own lives 

And in the life of all Israel 

And let us say, let us say, amen 

And let us say, let us say, amen 

May Your name receive the same beauty that You bring 

Though You are far beyond the sweetest song we could ever sing 

And let us say, and let us say, a-men 

And let us say, and let us say, a-men 

And let us say, and let us say, a-men 

And let us say, and let us say, a-men


Monday, October 17, 2016

Do You Want to Build a Sukkah?

I really enjoyed this!  It's to the music "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" from Frozen!

 

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Yom Kippur Prayer

I really like this Yom Kippur prayer:

To those I may have wronged,
I ask forgiveness.

To those I may have helped, 
I wish I had done more.

To those I neglected to help, 
I asked for understanding.

To those who have helped me,
I thank you with all my heart.


Sunday, October 9, 2016

How to Make the Most of Your Life! - Yom Kippur Video

As Yom Kippur approaches, I stumbled on this video.  I like its message!

 

What It Means to Be Jewish - By Andrew Lustig

This is an excellent video!  I've cut and pasted the transcript below.  What this young man says sums what it means to be Jewish.  It is very well done and I have found myself watching this over and over again.



I Am Jewish By Andrew Lustig, ©2011 Performance Transcript


I am the collective pride and excitement that is felt when we find out that that new actor, that great athlete, his chief of staff ... is Jewish  

And I am the collective guilt and shame that is felt when we find out that that serial killer, that Ponzi schemer, that wife beater ... is Jewish  

I am the Jewish star tattooed on the chest of the teenager who chooses to rebel against his parents' and grandparents' warnings of a lonely goyim cemetery by embracing that same Judaism and making permanent his Jewish identity  

I am all the words in Yiddish I've been called all my life that I still don't understand  

I am going to all three Phish shows this weekend  

I am my melody of Adon Olam. I am my melody of Adon Olam. The words may be the same, but I am my melody of Adon Olam  

I am not getting Bar Mitzvahed ... I am a Bar Mitzvah  

I am a concept foreign to the rest of the world. I am not Judaism. I am sleep‐away camp  

I am your grandmother who's seen Chortkov and Auschwitz, who's seen '49, '67 and '73 and who’s tired of trying to make peace with those people who just want to blow up buses and destroy her people  

I am the nineteen‐year‐old who's seen Budrus, Don't Mess with the Zohan, and Waltz with Bashir and who thinks ‐‐ who knows ‐‐ peace is possible

I am the complicated reason you take the cheese off the burger you eat at the Saturday morning tailgate  

I am constantly struggling to understand my Jewish identity outside of religion  

I am the Torah and not the Old Testament  

I am a Kippah and not a Skullcap  

I am a Jew and not an Israeli … 5,000 years old, not 60 … a religion, not a country  

I’m never asked if I have horns or a pot of gold, if I rule the world or why I killed Jesus. I am asked where my black hat is, if I really get eight presents on my Christmas, why my sideburns aren't super long, and if I've really never tried bacon  

I am asked what a Gefilte Fish is. I say, "I don't know. I don't like it. Nobody does. But we eat it because it’s what we do"  

I am asked if my dad's a lawyer. I say "No … my mom is … my dad's an accountant"  

I am asked if my grandparents were in the Holocaust, as if it was a movie. "Yeah, they were. But luckily they were also on Schindler's List"  

I am on JDate and not Match.com because, well … it's just easier that way  

I’m that feeling of obligation to buy the Dead Sea salt at the mall kiosk because you know the woman's Israeli  

I’m an IDF sweatshirt and the Chai around your neck  

I’m a hundred‐dollar challah cover that you will never use and a five‐shekel piece of red string that you will wear until it withers away  

I am your Hebrew name  

I am your Israeli cousins  

I am your Torah portion and your thirteen candles  

I am your Bat Mitzvah dress and the cute Israeli soldier on your Birthright trip  

I am eighteen when I discover that Israel is not actually a Garden of Eden, of milk and honey where Jews of all backgrounds, ethnicities, and styles of worship come together, eternally happy and appreciative, to do a constant Hora in the streets of the Holy Land … I am still confident that it will be  

I am the way your stomach forgets to be hungry and your lungs forget to breathe when the Rabbi commands the final Tekiah Gedolah and an entire congregation ‐‐ a congregation that is not any one synagogue but an entire people ‐‐ listens to what on January first is a ball dropping in Times Square, but today ‐‐ any day in late September or early October for the 5,770th time is a Ram's horn being blown into for what seems like ten minutes, like the eight days the oil burned, and how David defeated Goliath, and how Moses parted the seas … it would have been enough, Dayenu. How we won the war, and how your grandparents survived, Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, Shana Tova. Time for bagels and lox because I am Jewish  

My Three Children Have Grown Up

I have devoted the past 20 plus years to my three children.  I gave up pursuing a career to be a homeschool-unschool mom who gave my children and their activities priority.  Recently, I've realized that that "job" is just about done.

As I took these photos of my three children hiking together on Spruce Mountain on October 8, 2016, I realized that they are about to go out into the world and begin their adult lives.

I cherish the time I gave them and I'm also glad that they will be one another's best friends for life.

This is a hard time for me though. I do hope I can figure out now how to continue to be there for them when they need me, but also I need to figure out what I am supposed to do now.



Friday, October 7, 2016

I Refuse to Get Cloned....

Been thinking about this a lot lately...yes it does sum "it" up....

I refuse...I can't....and I won't get cloned....

I've had it.


Steve Taylor's I WANT TO BE A CLONE

I'd gone through so much other stuff 
that walking down the aisle was tough 
but now I know it's not enough 
I want to be a clone

I asked the Lord into my heart 
they said that was the way to start 
but now you've got to play the part 
I want to be a clone

chorus:

Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight 
cloneliness is next to Godliness, right? 
I'm grateful that they show the way 
'cause I could never know the way 
to serve him on my own 
I want to be a clone

They told me that I'd fall away 
unless I followed what they say 
who needs the Bible anyway? 
I want to be a clone

Their language it was new to me 
but Christianese got through to me 
now I can speak it fluently 
I want to be a clone

(chorus)

Send in the clones 

Ah, I kind of wanted to tell my friends and people about it, you know 
What? 
You're still a babe 
you have to grow 
give it twenty years or so 
'cause if you want to be one of his got to act like one of us

(chorus)

So now I see the whole design 
my church is an assmebly line 
the parts are there I'm feeling fine 
I want to be a clone

I've learned enough to stay afloat 
but not so much I rock the boat 
I'm glad they shoved it down my throat 
I want to be a clone

Everybody must get cloned


Sunday, October 2, 2016

L'Shana Tovah - Happy New Year 2016/5777

May you have a sweet new year! L'Shana Tovah! Annabelle made a homemade round challah and it was great to have Joel with us tonight (October 2, 2016).

 

After dinner, we watched the evening service from Temple Israel in Long Beach on our Roku tv!

  Employee Communications

A New Year!

I love this video!

 Happy New Year! In the video, cantors and choirs from all over the world sing together.
  (Lyrics - sing it at your dinner table this Rosh Hashannah)

A NEW YEAR
May this be a year of love and kindness
May strangers come to be friends
May truth and compassion always guide us a
h-ah-ah-ah-ah-meyn

May this be a year of hope and healing for all of those in need
may all of our deeds be a blessing
 ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-meyn

a new year, a good year,
a chance to start all over a new year,
a sweet year, a chance to bring us closer

May this be a year of selfless giving may this be a year of peace
and may we forgive and be forgiven
ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-meyn

a new year, a good year,
a chance to start all over a new year,
a sweet year, a chance to bring us closer

a new year, a good year,
a chance to start all over a new year,
a sweet year, a chance to bring us closer

Closer to the ones we love a world that we can be proud of as long as there are stars above

there comes a new year
ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-meyn

Friday, September 30, 2016

Shabbat 9-30-16 From Temple Israel Long Beach

It was really nice for my family to watch this service live together on our big screen television tonight....I figured out to cast it from my phone!  This modern world full of technology is great...

As usual, the music was wonderful and I felt I was there with the friends I've made at Temple Israel!

Webcast

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

The Sound That Cannot Be Seen - I think I figured out what it means!

A song that was sung at the beginning of the Shabbat HaNefesh service at Temple Israel last Friday, 9-23-16, called Nothing More, has been stuck in my head.  I've been trying to figure out what it means since I keep singing the song to myself and playing it on the piano.

The lyrics go like this:

NOTHING MORE

If there is any secret to this life I live...this is it...this is it

The sound that cannot be seen Sings within everything that can

And there is nothing more to it than that

There is nothing more to it than that

--------------------------------------
I get it ....finally...

The "sound that cannot be seen" is God's presence!  And...yes...God's presence does "sing within everything!"

How so very wonderful and yes, that quote is "the secret to my life!"



Sunday, September 25, 2016

Nothing More

Cantor Sara Hass at Temple Israel sang this song at the beginning of the Shabbat HaNefesh service on 9-23-16. I really like it. It's by a Jewish musician named Dan Nichols.