About
Our goal was to create a sanctuary for a more rewarding, enlightening and enriching Jewish experience. The growth of our congregation proves that our path and process truly resonates with Jews looking for an enriching spiritual, intellectual and artistic experience.
More than a congregation, Shir Hadash is a community fulfilling a simple, yet profound, promise: Inspire Meaningful and Contemporary Jewish Living. By embracing the arts, tradition and progressive thought, we have become a haven for those seeking creativity, camaraderie, worship, social action as well as education.
Shir Hadash means A New Song. It reflects our refreshing, inspirational and innovative approach to embracing Jewish life.
Remembering what makes us tick.
One of the teachings of Torah is the respect for struggle. Success through the act of struggling is predicated on one’s own awareness of intellect and heart. Our struggle at most levels of commitment at Shir Hadash is always challenging. Our struggling life of how to make our Shir Hadash life better and more fulfilling is what some of us put a lot of time into. Whether it’s getting the kids to Religious School or the week prior working on their homework and studies. We struggle to use, even to understand aspects of Judaism to get us up, and out to work, to relate to our bosses, our lovers, our friends. We can grasp some aspect of Parsha weekly, even daily and find something to think about, to learn about to wrap our heads around. Torah is learning. Reading it is not an escape, or “weird” it is an example to our selves and our family that we care to be Jewish. I think of the Parsha sometimes as the small little jewels of solid ground. I’m sorry for mixing my metaphors but Torah is one of the stablest of all the strengths in our lives that can help us, guide us, make us better human beings. Kaplan knew this when he premised that communal prayer isn’t about the place where you pray and study but who you pray and study with. I take it a step further it’s who you feel responsible for.
This week the Torah portion is Genesis: Toledot is one of those portions that has everything a good movie has: struggle, suspense, intrigue, deception, Kings, knives, warriors, Angels, even G-d. In a nutshell: the birth of Isaac and Esau, the portion then moves through Esau selling the birthright to Isaac for food then the Parsha continues through Isaac’s marriage to Rebecca and his ensuing prosperity. It ends with THE birthright story during the latter days of Isaac, ends up with the departure of Jacob, and the marriage of Esau.
I don’t mean to slight the portion by offering a nutshell, but it is a cool story.
Now what did I miss. Well for one, there are reminders to Isaac from G-d that “I will keep the oath that I made to your father Abraham.” G-d continues in 26:4 “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky, and grant them all these lands. All the nations on earth shall be blessed through your descendants. And in 26:5 “All this is because Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My decrees, and My laws.”
G-d not only blesses Isaac and us but the world and all the nations on the earth by having the Jews be a strong, prosperous and numerous nation. It is our responsibility to “keep up” with our Jewishness. To “keep up” with our studies, to “keep up” with our responsibility to believe that being Jewish is the right thing to be right n
NEIL chARaK
November 18, 2009
Last Shabbat we were visited by Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat from Philadelphia. Gregarious, musical and effervescent. Weaved the Parsha into relevancy and made us feel whole and centered. Kudos to the sabbatical group for a small step in furthering our folkways and spirituality for another shabbat NEiLc
ncharak
November 19, 2009
Shir Hadash! Shalom!! Facebook Group. For Facebook fans wanting information on upcoming and interesting events on Facebook, please join our Facebook Group.
StaceyZ
May 8, 2010