Achrei Mot-Kedoshim 5775

This week's parsha begins with the phrase kedoshim tihiyu - you, in the plural shall all be holy. Due to the plural phrasing of these two words, our rabbis traditionally assume that this Torah portion was uniquely recited with all of the Israelites gathered together. (Vayikra Rabbah 24:5)

We, similarly, are so proud of our USY chapter, and how they were publicly gathered and celebrated this past weekend. At CHUSY's (Chicago Region of United Synagogue Youth) regional convention, our teens were recognized as the Chicago area's chapter of the year!! We are so proud of all of you. Please see the moving letter from Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould by clicking here.

Dear Anshe Emet: 

We are filled with overflowing pride as we share the incredible news that on Sunday, April 26 our USY Chapter was awarded the Chicago region's Chapter of the Year award! This is an incredible honor for Anshe Emet and we cannot stop smiling and kvelling.
Mazal tov to all our SHMUSY kids and their parents! An especially hearty Mazal Tov to SHMUSY President Aaron Kamel who led the chapter to such growth and success this year. Mazal Tov also to the SHMUSY board of 2014-2015: Emma Siegel, Emily Schwartz, Meredith Leon, Sydney Schwartz, Ryder Kamins, and Bryson Shelist. Our youth leadership is simply stellar! 

In celebrating our youth, we ask the community to please mark your calendars for Saturday, May 2. On May 2, we will celebrate Senior Shabbat by honoring all our 12th graders in the main sanctuary service. Rabbi Siegel will bless the seniors. Gabrielle Xilas, recipient of this year's Rabbi Seymour Cohen award, will deliver a D'var Torah on behalf of the senior class. Aaron Kamel, our outstanding USY president will be honored for his role in our youth programs and will lead the Prayer for the Country. SHMUSY members, Emily Schwartz, Meredith Leon, and Adina Cohen will read Torah. ALL our seniors will be celebrated. Don't miss out! 

A private Shabbat lunch for high schoolers and their friends and family will serve as an Awards Ceremony for SHMUSY. The outgoing board will be celebrated. The incoming board will be honored. The basketball team will be lauded (winner of the Annual Sportsmanship Trophy!). All parents, siblings, special friends, and family of high schoolers are welcome. RSVP to Rabbi D'ror (dcgould@ansheemet.org) 

Finally, May 2 will conclude with a SHMUSY v. Men's Club Basketball Game. All are welcome to cheer on your favorite team (or both!) 

Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould
Youth Director, Anshe Emet Synagogue 

Noach 5775

Shabbat Shalom!

In Sunday’s outstanding SHMUSY play, one of the hilarious scenes involved an older gentleman being quizzed on his knowledge of brachot (blessings) by Rabbi Russo before partaking of food from the Shabbos Kiddush table. The kids and Rabbi Russo enacted the scene with humor and passion. 

As I reflect back on the question of blessings, this week, my heart is drawn to the beauty of the blessing our tradition offers upon seeing a rainbow, “Blessed are You, Ruler of the Universe, who Remember the Covenant.” What covenant does God remember and do we remember when we see a rainbow? Not the much acclaimed covenant of Abraham and God. No, not the particular covenant between the Jewish people and the Divine. Rather, the covenant we remember when we see the rainbow, naturally, is the covenant that God made with Noah after the Flood. Precisely the topic of this week’s Torah portion.

In Genesis, Chapter 9, verse 13, the Torah reads, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.” The rainbow is God’s covenant not with the Jewish people (Abraham has yet to be born) but rather with the whole of humanity. Looking upon the rainbow, we are reminded that we too are covenanted not only with our Jewish brothers and sisters, but also with all those children of God, all those children of Noah, who survived the same Flood, who came from the same Source, and who deep within our collective past witnessed the same miracle of a dove, an olive branch, and a rainbow saying, “life goes on… there is hope… God loves you always.”

In Aharon Yaakov Greenberg’s collection of Chasidic commentary, Iturei Torah, Zion Hillel is quoted sharing this insight: “How does the rainbow symbolize peace, unity, and the continuing existence of the world? Because the rainbow is composed of many colors and shades and they all merge into one unity!  And so it is with the differences between people, in all their groups, tribes, and nations.  Life is based on understanding and mutual tolerance, on harmony and on peace, and they are the foundation of the continuing existence of the world. "

This Sunday, SHMUSY President Aaron Kamel and I will be joining Pastor Michael Neal’s community of Glorious Light Church at 9:30am to deliver the 1500 books donated by the AES community over the High Holidays to Real Men Read. This project, inspired by our own youth leader, symbolizes a moment of “remembering the covenant.” We are partnering with our African American Christian brothers and sisters on the South Side to provide literacy to those in need of education and encouragement. We are demonstrating that we remember that we come from one God and that we have one destiny as children of Noah. We are living out the wisdom of Zion Hillel in celebrating the Rainbow of Humanity, with all its colors and shades, of which we are an integral but not a singular part. If you are so moved, we would be honored to have you join us as we celebrate the coming together of our two communities, and our shared faith in the covenant of God shown in Noah’s rainbow, “life goes on…there is hope… God loves you always.”

-Rabbi D'ror Chankin-Gould

Ki Tavo 5774

There is a fascinating rabbinic tale that is told about the most moving verse in this week’s parasha:

Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings (Deuteronomy 28:6). 

In the Talmud (Ta’anit 5b-6a), we are taught: When Rabbi Nahman and Rabbi Isaac were about to part, Rabbi Nahman asked Rabbi Isaac to bless him. Rabbi Isaac replied: “Let me tell you a parable. To what may this be compared? To a man who was traveling in the desert. He was hungry, tired, and thirsty, when suddenly he came upon a tree whose fruits were sweet, its shade pleasant, and a stream of water was flowing beneath it. The man ate of the tree’s fruits, drank of the water, and sat in the tree’s shade. When he was about to continue his journey, he turned to the tree and said: ‘Tree, O tree, with what shall I bless you? Shall I say to you may your fruits be sweet? They already are sweet. That your shade be pleasant? It already is pleasant. That a stream of water flow by you? A stream of water already flows by you. Therefore, this is my blessing, ‘May it be God’s will that all the shoots planted from you be just like you.’” “So it is with you” [Rabbi Isaac said to Rabbi Nahman]. “With what shall I bless you? Shall I wish you Torah learning? You already have learning. Wealth? You already have wealth. Children? You already have children. Therefore, this is my blessing: May it be God’s will that your offspring will be will be like you.”

Similarly, Anshe Emet is blessed with so many things: a community that looks out for one another, a community with great adult education, an outstanding religious school and youth program, various types of tefillot (services) for people of all types, and more. So what blessing can we possibly add? That our children will receive those blessings and pass them on to others.

We are lucky to have two people who recently joined our team to help transmit our passion for Jewish education for children. Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould just began this past week as our synagogue’s youth director. He is a brilliant and caring person, and we are so excited to have him on the team. We also have Shaqued Gavriel, who just arrived from Israel as our shinshinit, which stands for shnat sherut, meaning year of service. Shaqued will be bringing her passion for Israel and Jewish life to all of our youth programming over the coming year.

I hope that you will join us this week at Shabbat is Awesome, September 13th, so that you can meet Rabbi Chankin-Gould, and spend time with Shaqued, as we bless our community with the gift of transmitting Jewish values to our youth.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Russo

Shoftim 5774

I am always moved, every time that I am in Jerusalem, by the sign that stands next to the Supreme Court of the State of Israel. The sign conveys the opening verse from this week’s parasha:

“You shall appoint shoftim,  judges, and shotrim, officials, for your tribes… and they shall govern the people with due justice” (Deut 16:18). 

This verse identifies the biblical imperative of having wise leaders and thoughtful and able enforcers to ensure that the law is established morally and ethically in the land.

This stands in stark contrast to what appears in the middle of the parasha:

“If, after you have entered the land that the Lord your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, ‘I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,’ you shall set a king over yourself, one chosen by the Lord your God… he shall not keep many horses… and he shall not have many wives… when he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life…” (Deut 17:14-19)

Rabbinic commentators disagree as to whether there is a positive commandment to have a king, or rather a concession to human frailty (Etz Hayim, pg. 1092). But as you read the passage, it becomes abundantly clear that the Torah is anxious about the power, and possibility of future abuse of power, that this king may have. And so, to ensure that the king does not go astray, the Torah instructs the king to keep the Torah close by, emphasizing adherence to Torah, without ever avoiding the Torah’s commands.

We at Anshe Emet are very lucky to have two incoming leaders to our youth world who epitomize the wisdom and thoughtfulness that the Torah enjoins about the judges, rather than the kings. Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould will begin on Sunday, September 7th as your synagogue’s youth director. He is a brilliant and caring person, and we are so excited to have him on the team. We also have Shaqued Gavriel, who just arrived from Israel as our shinshinit, which stands for shnat sherut, meaning year of service. Shaqued will be bringing her passion for Israel and Jewish life to all of our youth programming over the coming year.

I hope that as we read about great leadership in this week’s parasha, that you will join me in welcoming these two stellar leaders to our community.

Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi David Russo