In recent months the Women of Reform Judaism have been creating a study guide to enhance the use of the Women’s Torah Commentary. They have been selecting one Parasha each month. When Rabbi Chapin, Cantor Offenkrantz and the Religious Practices Committee added the Shabbat morning services to our prayer schedule, it opened new doors to study. Coincidentally, Feburary 7th was on both of the study schedules. It was bashert that Sisterhood take part in this service.

Join with Sisterhood and be part of the Shabbat morning service on February 7th at 10:30 a.m. On this morning, we will study the Parashat B’Shalach, Exodus 13:17-17:16 which recounts the events of the exodus from Egypt. This has been described as “the culmination of the story of the Israelite sojourn.” As Temple Israel is on its own sojourn, this portion is most appropriate to study.

Parashat B’shalach presents two accounts of the crossing of the Red Sea, one in prose and the other in poetry. At the crossing of the sea, women play an important role in the plot, just as they have in Moses’ life from the beginning. The prophetess Miriam , who stood at the river’s edge and protected her baby brother when he was placed into the Nile, now stands alongside the Sea of Reeds and leads the people in the rejoicing over their victory.

A light lunch will follow services.

See you in shul.

Ellen Salth
588-1842

Rabbi Shapiro’s Sisterhood Bookshelf

In June, when we celebrated Rabbi Shapiro’s retirement, Sisterhood presented him with a gift so that every time he buys a book for himself, he is to buy a companion book for the Temple. The first three books now sit on “Rabbi Shapiro’s Sisterhood Bookshelf” in our Harvard Circle office.

The three books are:

My Father’s Paradise; A son’s search for his Jewish past in Kurdish Iraq
by Ariel Sabar
A mysterious corner of Iraq. An ancient language. A tribe of mystics and magic men, peasants and storytellers. A vanished history. And a son’s epic journey back to his father’s lost homeland.

Songs for the Butcher’s Daughter
By Peter Manseau
Ranging from pogroms to poetry, from the purity of sex to the impurity of translation, from the Pale of Settlement to the Lower East Side to Eretz Yisroael, and written with utmost integrity as well as dramatic momentum.

This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared;
The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation
By Alan Lew
Take a journey of spiritual transformation-”from birth to death and back to renewal again.” This book is hard-hitting yet a compassionate cry for spiritual renewal during the High Holy Days as well as the rest of the year.


If you would like to borrow one of these books, please call the temple office and see if they are available.