Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh – Your Small Local Shul in Portland, Maine
Shaarey Tphiloh Prayers, by Caryl Herzfeld
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh
Please join us in our new location
Saturday morning services
9:30 a.m. Room 4A
400 Deering Avenue
Portland, Maine
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh
Welcome to Shabbat Services
October 29, 2016 – 27 Tishri 5777
Shabbat Bereishit
Candle lighting 5:18 p.m.
Our Kiddush is generously sponsored by Adeline Glovsky Hale in memory of her beloved family members: father, David Glovsky, her aunt, Doris Bornstein, and
her mother-in-law, Fay Hale.
Condolences
Congregation Shaarey Tphiloh extends its heartfelt condolences to Lorraine and Jonas Smith and their family on the death of Lorraine’s brother, Morris Jack Cohen.
Memorial Prayers
David Glovsky, Dovid bar Yakov
Doris Bornstein, Devorah bat Avraham HaLevi
Fay Hale, Feige bat Dovid
Morris Cohen, Moshe bar Shimshon
Ner Lamaore
Lou and Shula Bornstein, in memory of beloved Uncle David Glovsky
Doris and Stan Pollack, in memory of Lorraine Smith’s brother, Morris Cohen
Parashat Bereishit
Genesis and Gender
“…Chapter One of Breshit presents an account of creation that provides the ontological foundation for human rights. God creates human beings in the divine image. And having done so, God proclaims that the entire creation is “very good.”
The great Hasidic teacher the Kedushat Levi, riffing on the line in the morning prayer “yotzer or u’voreh choshech” (Who creates light and shapes darkness—in the present tense), points to creation as an ongoing process. This interpretation provided one of the foundations for my teacher Abraham Joshua Heschel to say that human beings are potentially partners with God in the healing and transformation of the world (tikkun olam), because the creation is not yet finished. We are here in part to do what we can, enabled by being created b’tzelem (in the image).
This same first chapter of the bible tells us that the first adam (human being) was created male and female. Unfortunately, subsequent human beings have not maintained this balance between male and female energies, and in the last ten thousand years patriarchal and class dominated societies have privileged male power over female nurturing. One remnant of this important aspect of life is the divine name El Shadai–the nurturing, breasted God, according to one reading (shadayim are breasts in Hebrew); the God that “is enough,” from the Hebrew word dai, in another reading. Of course, our first experience of “enoughness” is at our mother’s breast.
If there is one powerful imperative for human life today, and the necessary prerequisite for any environmental strategy to work, it is to return to that sense of “enoughness” so that we stop acting as though unlimited growth and accumulation of more things is a reasonable goal. This imperative of expansion built into the logic of the capitalist system has already strained the planet’s capacity to or past the breaking point. A first start in this direction would be to reclaim that balance between male and female energy described in Genesis I and now sorely lacking in the most powerful forces shaping society today…”
Rabbi Michael Lerner
T’ruah
To read more, see Resources at www.Truah.org
CHILDREN’S SHABBAT SERVICES
Led by volunteers Jeff & Abby Halpern
Temple Beth El Youth Lounge/Library (off of the Social Hall)
Joint Temple Beth El and Shaarey Tphiloh children’s Shabbat services will be held on the first and third Saturday every month through June.
– Tefillat Yeladim (K – 5th grade): Starting around 10:30 am. Kids will be collected from each minyan or the halls. We will finish around 11:30 am.
– Tot Shabbat (Toddler – Pre K): Starting at 11:15 am, parents, please drop off your kids at the Youth Lounge (off of the Social Hall). Kids will be returned in time for Adon Olam at the parents’ minyan.
In all programs, children within the age range are welcome to attend while parents are at either shul. Kids older than the age range are welcome to attend as special helpers. Kids younger than the age range are welcome to attend with parent’s company.
We welcome special guests (including parents or grandparents). Please email Jeff at jmh12@nullcase.edu if you want to be listed as a special guest.
Shaarey Tphiloh Deconsecration Ceremony
YouTube Video
Find Shaarey Tphiloh deconsecration ceremony and last service at
76 Noyes St. on YouTube. Search using keywords “Shaarey Tphiloh deconsecration ceremony.”
Sunday Simcha
WMPG 90.9
Sunday mornings from 6:30-8:30am
Long time DJ, Gail Wartell, has left WMPG. Now, two hours of fabulous Jewish music is brought to you by volunteer DJs from the community. Shaarey Tphiloh members, Natan and Yoel Kahn, are your occasional hosts.Listen to recent shows from 9/11 and 9/25 at www.WMPG.org. See Archives.
Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine
The Samspon Center at USM is seeking a new member or two for its Judaica Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee works with the Special Collections department of the Glickman Library in matters related to Jewish issues. Call Chairperson Susan Cummings-Lawrence at 773-0693 for more information.
Piyyut
A piyyut is a Jewish liturgical poem, usually designated to be sung, chanted, or recited during religious services. Piyyutim have been written since Temple times. Most piyyutim are in Hebrew or Aramaic, and most follow some poetic scheme, such as an acrostic following the order of the Hebrew alphabet or spelling out the name of the author.
Many piyyutim are familiar to regular attendees of synagogue services. For example, the best-known piyyut may be Adon Olam (“Master of the World”), sometimes (but almost certainly wrongly) attributed to Solomon ibn Gabirol in 11th century Spain. Its poetic form consists of a repeated rhythmic pattern of short-long-long-long, and it is so beloved that it is often sung at the conclusion of many synagogue services, after the ritual nightly saying of the Shema, and during the morning ritual of putting on tefillin. Another well-beloved piyyut is Yigdal (“May God be Hallowed”), which is based upon the Thirteen Principles of Faith developed by Maimonides.
Important scholars of piyyut today include Shulamit Elizur and Joseph Yahalom, both at Hebrew University.
Google PiyutNorthAmerica and Old Piyyut for information about selichot piyyutim, recordings, chant cards and more. Also, there are many YouTube videos of choirs and individuals singing piyyutim.
Leonard Cohen New Song You Want it Darker
This song will put you in mind of forgiveness, of yourself and others, and redemption, especially at the end of life. He is still writing poetry and music at 82!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/21/leonard-cohen-s-new-biblica
l-dirge-is-among-his-best-songs-ever.html
Holocaust Studies with Anna Wrobel
~ Holocaust Cinema: rare and esoteric films, some from the direct postwar period, most of European origin.
Classes will meet from 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Wednesdays – 10/26; 11/30; 12/21; 1/25; 3/1. Films are listed at the JCA link below
$100.
~ Primo Levi ‘book club’: one book per month (not provided). Books and ordering information are listed at the JCA link below.
Classes will meet from 6:00-8:00pm on Wednesdays – 11/2; 12/7; 1/4; 2/1; 3/8 $100.
All classes held will be at JCA – 57 Ashmont Street, Portland, Maine
Grades 11-12 Community High School Program
Avis Smith
A community monthly class for students in grades 11 and 12 will be offered on Sundays from 5:00-6:30 PM. Registration is now under way.
Everything You Never Knew about Judaism!
(All the things you would not have learned in Religious School…)
We are excited to offer once again a Jewish studies program that is open to all high school juniors and seniors in Southern Maine. Our hope is that this program will provide an opportunity to get to know other Jewish high school students from the region, and to study and learn in an informal but stimulating environment. Teacher: Avis Smith
The classes will meet once a month, for a total of nine sessions, on Sundays, from 5:00 – 6:30 PM (no dinner, only snacks). This year’s dates are: September 25, October 30, November 20, December 18, January 22, February 12, March 25, April 30, and May 14.
The cost is $100. for the year. Classes will meet at Congregation Bet Ha’am in South Portland. For more information and to register call Louise at 879-0028.
Yahrzeits This Week
27 Tishri Sarah Bronstein, Sarah Glen, Samuel Levine, Mary Weisman
28 Tishri Mildred Baker, Rebecca Benjamen, Levi Bernstein, Virginia Greenberg, Lillian Lerman, Louis Santosky
29 Tishri Michael Citrin, Nathan Cope, Saul Ginsberg, Joseph Lewis, Morris Lewis, Marsha Mandoff, Irving Small, Leah Woolf
30 Tishri Howard Berenson, Ida Fireman, Leon Herman, Benjamin Levey, Sadie Serulnick
1 Heshvan Sidney Cox, Irving Feder, Harry Mack, Louis Pinansky, Ruth Rosengard, Lena Seavey, Louis Waterman
2 Heshvan Jennie Garber, Celia Sibolkin
3 Heshvan Max Cope, Samuel Levi, Marianne Levinsky
Shaarey Tphiloh is now celebrating 112 years as a traditional Jewish spiritual home in Maine!
Visit the
Shaarey Tphiloh Facebook Page
