Holy community,
When we first started convening small groups to dream up a would-be synagogue, so many named wanting to be able to support one another in times of great joy, and in times of personal and wide-spread upheaval. These times are scary, uncertain, and there is great potential here to rely on our tradition and innovation to stay connected and powerful. We are ready.
How we’ll connect
While we cannot meet physically in person, Hinenu is creating Makom Iti (MAH-kom ee-ti): an online community where we can gather whenever possible. A preliminary schedule is below, and will be updated here and on the calendar. Our first Makom Iti gathering will be for erev Shabbat, tomorrow night March 13:
6-6:50pm: Discussion and text study
6:50pm: Candle lighting and blessings
7:00pm: Abbreviated Kabbalat Shabbat
and Maariv service with Mourner’s Kaddish
Click here for login information.
You can stay up to date by checking the calendar, our member listserv, and the Facebook group. Please continue to reach out to fellow members and stay connected!
In the coming weeks we will be moving all our programming online or via phone. (If that immediately makes you nervous about how to use the technology, let us know and we will help you figure it out!). We know that our community has a variety of practices with technology on Shabbat, so we will be offering a range of ways to connect on Shabbat and during the week. While we are not sure how long we’ll be out of “meatspace,” here is a schedule for the upcoming week and a half.
If you have an idea for a class you’d like to teach or conversation you can host, generate those great ideas and we’ll have a way to collect and plan for them in the week ahead. If you can help coordinate these offerings, please be in touch! We imagine yoga classes, “cooking shows,” Torah study, Havdallah, nigun singing, perhaps a talent show. Communities around the world are using online platforms in these ways, and we have a chance to connect internally at Hinenu, and with others. Keep checking your email for details to come!
We are saving all these files in one place, here:
This drive includes links for recorded music, this awesome template for a letter you can use, and more.
Please feel free to add resources you’ve found and want to share.
A Place Near Me: Thoughts on COVID-19 and Parshat Ki Tisa
As a community, we know we are personally obligated for the collective good. In order to act for pikuach nefesh, saving a life, we are physically distancing ourselves from one another for the time being. But this is not social isolation. We refuse to let go of one another, particularly in times of stress and crisis when we need one another most. Last week I spoke about how the sin of Amalek was shared by the Israelites--that they would create a society in which the most vulnerable were at the back of the pack, open for attack. This time, we know we are there together. Those of us who are more vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and those of us who are not, we have a collective responsibility, all of us.
It’s uncanny that when we picked the topic for our High Holy Day services in the fall, we were drawn to a theme so relevant for our current situation. Makom, Divine place, is also a name for that physical closeness of the Divine.
In this week’s parsha, Parshat Ki Tisa, Moses begs to see G!’ds presence, but “you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live.”
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוָ֔ה הִנֵּ֥ה מָק֖וֹם אִתִּ֑י וְנִצַּבְתָּ֖ עַל־הַצּֽוּר׃
וְהָיָה֙ בַּעֲבֹ֣ר כְּבֹדִ֔י וְשַׂמְתִּ֖יךָ בְּנִקְרַ֣ת הַצּ֑וּר וְשַׂכֹּתִ֥י כַפִּ֛י עָלֶ֖יךָ עַד־עָבְרִֽי׃
וַהֲסִרֹתִי֙ אֶת־כַּפִּ֔י וְרָאִ֖יתָ אֶת־אֲחֹרָ֑י וּפָנַ֖י לֹ֥א יֵרָאֽוּ׃ (שמות ל׳׳ג: כ׳א–כ׳ג)
And G!d said, “See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock and, as My Presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.” (Exodus 33:21-23)
Now, thankfully, we are not in times when simply being face to face means mortal peril. This text does show us, however, that there are many ways to be close to holiness. For so many of us, we experience a kind of glimmer when in community, when connecting together. We do not, and cannot, surrender that intimacy, just as we cannot put one another at risk. So, we seek out a sacred place near one another.
With wishes for refuah shlemah,
Rabbi Ariana
Michele Levy, President of the Board of Directors