NO SERVICES AT TVO TONIGHT
Dear TvO community,
I’m sorry to say I have to cancel tonight’s service as I woke up sick and am not well enough to lead. I have been looking forward to being with you all week and am sad to not get together tonight. This week’s Torah portion is Parshah Korach which I find incredibly important for our time. For me, Parshah Korach highlights the theme of dissent, speaking up when power is not serving the people. Our Prophets teach the importance of speaking up from a moral place when we see harm happening in the world or in our community or workplace. It’s more important than ever to make space for dissent as a healthy part of community and relationship.
I offer this Drash and a number of questions to reflect on if you’d like to take a look.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pk2AE3jxScCjxKTTKpUZr1kOZYCAhtuXHc2Jnk2y8t8/edit?usp=drivesdk
It is also Juneteenth today, a reminder of the horrible legacies of violence towards Black people in this country. Juneteenth is a story about how freedom is just the beginning, it takes constant tending and work. When it was declared that enslavement in this country not all enslaves yielded and slavery continued. It want until years later that enslaved people were freed. And as we know the brutal violence towards Black people continued on in different forms to this day. Freedom needs constant tending, a lesson that is so relevant to Jewish people as well for different reasons.
Here is an article that my teacher Rabbi Lynn Gotlieb wrote about Juneteenth and Bree Newsom.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b9iF6n3hEcabWV1g-KtlJI6gBH1jZzhz/view?usp=sharing
And a story about the professor and artist who restored a monument to bear witness to the slave trade in New York City: Dr. Lorenzo Pace.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IoUBK1tIJIM&pp=ugUEEgJlbtIHCQk_CwGHKiGM7w%3D%3D&ra=m
Shabbat Shalom everyone and Juneteenth Shalom
Michael
Most Shabbat services are held in person at Tikkun v’Or and on Zoom. Contact info@tikkunvor.