Jewish Perspectives : Interfaith Event

Offerings of Thanksgiving

Temple Israel of Manchester — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:54:00 GMT

Giving thanks is one of the most universal of religious expressions. Every religion and culture has rituals, holidays, and customs that allow people to acknowledge the many gifts with which the Almighty has blessed us. The Jewish tradition is no exception. In ancient times numerous animal sacrifices, meal offerings, and libations were placed upon the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem to thank God and celebrate His goodness as well as to seek forgiveness for sin and wrongdoing. The sacrificial system was abolished with the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in the year 70. Many Jews continue to pray these many centuries for a restoration of the Temple and its sacrifices while others believe that prayer, righteous deeds, study, and meditation not only take the place of those sacrificial offerings now, but represent higher expressions of worship for Jews. While they pray for the rebuilding of the Temple as a central shrine for Jewish reflection, they do not desire a return to what is seen as a more primitive form of worship. Even the ancient rabbis concede that one day all of the sacrifices will be abolished, except for one, and that is the thanksgiving offering. We may reach a time of perfection when we no longer require sin-offerings and guilt-offerings, but we always will need to give thanks.

Three times each day, as the traditional Jew prays for the return of God’s Presence to Zion, he or she offers thanks for all of the miracles and wonders which we experience in this world, “evening, morn, and noon.” Beyond this, we are told that we should acknowledge God at least one hundred times daily with the familiar blessing formula of “Baruch ata Adonay Eloheinu Melech HaOlam…” “Praised are You, Lord our God, Sovereign of the universe….” Not only do we thank God for the food we eat with appropriate blessings before and after our meals, but we acknowledge His graciousness at every step of our morning preparations and again before we go to bed. In formal prayer services, three times a day, more than three-quarters of the hundred blessings appear. There are blessings when we smell pleasant fragrances, hear good news or bad, experience wondrous phenomena of nature, thunder, lightning, earthquakes and comets. We say a blessing even after going to the bathroom, praising the Lord who keeps our bodies functioning properly.

Each week, we set aside the Sabbath Day as a tribute to God who created all that exists and ceased His work on the seventh day so that we, as partners of the Divine, might complete the work of creation on the other six. We feast and celebrate at a weekly thanksgiving dinner on Friday night and again on Saturday. So important is this family gathering week after week, that some very traditional Jews fail to understand the significance of holding a secular Thanksgiving dinner on the last Thursday of November. It seems a bit redundant perhaps.

I would disagree. Truly there is no end to God’s blessings of us in this world and another opportunity to thank the Almighty for all He does for us is always welcome. We can never thank God enough. More significantly, however, our national day of thanksgiving provides us Jews with an opportunity to emphasize all that we share with our non-Jewish neighbors, our common traditions, aspirations, and prayers. As unique as our rituals may seem and as strange as the Hebrew words of our prayers may sound, our tradition teaches similar values to those taught by other faiths practiced by our neighbors and indeed we all share the impulse to offer thanks to God.

We are pleased this year at Temple Israel to be able to host the first of what is anticipated to be an annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service sponsored by the Manchester Interfaith Clergy Association. This service will take place on Sunday evening, November 18^th at 7:00 p.m. at Temple Israel, 66 Salmon Street, Manchester. People of all faiths are invited. The service will include reflections on Thanksgiving by a Catholic priest, a rabbi, and a Muslim professor. Songs, hymns and chants from different traditions will be heard and some of the Thanksgiving standards will be sung. Other Christian clergy and a Unitarian minister will be taking part in the service as well. We hope that our neighbors regardless of religious affiliation will find this gathering to be meaningful as we approach our national day of thanksgiving and emphasize how much more brings us together than divides us. The Temple will provide a reception and fellowship gathering following the service.

Temple Israel to Offer Meditation and Yoga Classes - Postponed to Spring

Temple Israel of Manchester — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:09:00 GMT

Due to critical illness in the family, these classes have been postponed until the Spring. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please check with the Temple for the new dates.

Beginning later this month, Temple Israel will be opening its social hall to the community for Meditation and Yoga classes offered by Janice Wald Friedman, a Reiki Master and Yoga Instructor who has twenty years of experience in meditation practice. Janice, the wife of the Temple's Rabbi Edward Friedman, runs the Hands to Hearts Healing and Retreat Center in Goffstown. She plans to offer six sessions of Meditation Practice for Peace and Well-Being and six sessions of Gentle Yoga to anyone in the community who is interested. There is nothing distinctively Jewish about these courses. They are appropriate for people of all backgrounds and religious affiliations.

The Gentle Yoga Classes offer breathing, balance, and flexibility training and are safe and easy for people of all ages and abilities. They are scheduled to begin on Thursday, October 18th from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the Temple at 66 Salmon Street in Manchester. There will be a charge of $12 per session with a discount price for six sessions paid in advance of $60. Participants are urged to bring a yoga mat for safety as well as a pillow, towel or blanket for comfort. They should wear loose, comfortable clothing.

The Meditation Practice for Peace and Well-Being will allow people to learn to heal and restore their inner world. It is perfect for beginners or for experienced practitioners. The class will be exploring many different forms of meditation: guided imagery, mindfulness meditation, loving-kindness meditation and more. Janice writes that "our entire body benefits every time we meditate...blood pressure drops, breathing regulates, thinking slows down, the frantic and uncertain world disappears for awhile - and we are at peace. Meditation can be life-saving and is certainly sanity-saving!" The class is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, October 17th at 7:00 p.m. at Temple Israel. It also is offered for $12 per session or $60 for six sessions paid in advance.

For further information about either course, contact Janice Friedman directly at 860-214-2779. Because of current illness in the family, some of the sessions may need to be rescheduled. Please check in advance with Janice or with the Temple office before coming to class.

Community Holocaust Observance Rescheduled due to Weather

Temple Israel of Manchester — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:35:00 GMT

The planned Community Observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, at Temple Israel of Manchester, originally scheduled for Sunday evening, April 15th at 7:00 p.m. has been postponed due to the threatening weather. The event will take place next Sunday evening, April 22nd, at 7:00 p.m.

The weather forecast calls for mixed precipitation, rain, sleet, snow, high winds, and possible power outages due to a massive storm hitting the east coast this evening. Because of the weather, the guest speaker canceled her appearance and the planning committee decided to reschedule to the following week. That evening, April 22nd, is observed in many places as Israel's Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, on which those who have fallen in the various wars of Israel and in the terrorist attacks upon the state are memorialized each year. It seems appropriate to remember the victims of the Holocaust that night along with those who have fallen in defense of the Jewish State.

The rescheduled event will once again be open to the public and all are encouraged to participate.

Manchester Community Holocaust Observance

Temple Israel of Manchester — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 14:50:00 GMT

This year, the Manchester Community Observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, will take place at Temple Israel of Manchester, 66 Salmon Streeet, on Sunday, April 15th at 7:00 p.m. This year's observance will focus on the Kindertransport program which rescued some 10,000 Jewish children prior to World War II. The Kindertransport was an effort organized by the British government after the Kristallnacht riots of November 1938, to save Jewish children up to age 17 from the ***. The British agreed to accept what they then thought would be temporarily unaccompanied children into foster homes and temporary housing until their parents could reunite with them.

As events unfolded, many of these children ended up in British foster homes for up to six years until the end of the war. The majority never saw their parents again. Other families were reunited after the war, but sometimes found it difficult to pick up life where it had left off. The little children who had been sent away had grown into teenagers; teenagers had become adults. Often their family members had suffered terribly under the Nazi regime. The events of the missing years were hard to overcome.

The guest speaker at our commemoration will be Helen Wertheimer, whose parents sent her out of Nazi Germany at age 7, along with her brother, on the Kindertransport to live in England. In her case, she was unusually fortunate to be reunited with her parents in England shortly after and eventually to get into the United States under the quota then in effect. Many of her other relatives were not so fortunate and perished in the Holocaust. Mrs. Werthheimer, who now lives in Andover, MA, with her husband Walter, will share her story with us.

The stories of the children of the Kindertransport are all different. Some of these stories have been told in the Academy Award-winning documentary Into the Arms of Strangers which will be shown earlier in the week, on Wednesday, April 11th, at Temple Israel. There is no admission charge for the film. The entire community is invited to view this exceptional documentary with its incredible archival footage on Wednesday and to join in the annual memorial observance on Sunday. We hope that the film will help provide additional background for the program on Sunday. For further information contact the Temple at 603/622-6171.