Follow Temple Israel Online, Sign up today!

Subscribe to the Congregation of Temple Israel Blog

Join The Congregation of Temple Israel Facebook Group

Follow Rabbi Eric Linder on Twitter
Follow Wendy Goldberg, Program Director on Twitter

ONLINE WEBCASTS

Did you miss Dr. Ron Wolfson at Temple? Check out the webcasts of his presentations below:

April 24, 2009
Calling All Temple Israel Angels

April 26, 2009
Blessings and Kisses – The Power of Family
Dr. Ron Wolfson

A Breakfast with Sam Fried by Rabbi Aryeh Azriel

Sam Fried has a powerful story to share.  We need to tell our people.  This man’s life project is to establish Heartland Holocaust Educational Fund, is a non-profit entity, in partnership with the Omaha Community Foundation scholarship to teach the holocaust in NE. This amazing treasure the monument commemorating the holocaust in Lincoln.  Our community and the general community should not ignore the need to hear the life stories of the survivors in our community.

Photo from the Jewish Press of Omaha. Frances and Sam Fried stand before the Wall of Remembrance they donated at the Holocaust Memorial in Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln. Fried was awarded an honorary doctorate last month by the University of Nebraska-Omaha for his role in Holocaust education.

Take a trip to Lincoln a half day.  Go and visit, it’s a place for student, teachers, he is organizing a wonderful project.

The Nebraska  Holocaust memorial is located on the grounds
of the Nebraska State Cemetery (WYUKA)
3900 O Street Lincoln Nebraska

Read more about a new fund to offer college courses on Holocaust.

Sometimes life is so hard, you just have to sing.

Today in staff meeting Cantor Shermet gave a compelling D’var.  She shared an article “The Music of Recession” by Goldie Rosenberg. Rosenberg writes about her father’s struggles in tough economic times, his choices, his pressures, his struggles, his relationship with God. It’s a beautiful teaching and so powerful in the midst of our current economic crisis.

As my father told me the story, he said, “It was so bad, I just had to sing.”

“Say again?!” I wasn’t sure I heard right.

He smiled and told me, “Sometimes it is so bad, you just have to sing to God.”

Music is an odd invention; it always employs force. Think about it. The drum is a skin stretched to its tightest which you then pound away at with the drumsticks. The guitar is strings pulled taut, which you then pick or strum at, exerting pressure on the right string. The piano works more or less like the guitar, with strings being stretched and then hit. The flute, the clarinet, the oboe — they take breath pushed strongly through it and constrain it into a narrow space so that there is pressure on that breath, until it escapes through an opening.

All instruments are pressure concepts. As soon as you take away any tension, your instrument won’t work. It needs pressure. (Read the whole article)

As God’s instruments, do we have what it takes to withstand the pressure, to sing a new song to the world?

Thank you for sharing Cantor. Yashar Koach.

The D’var was so powerful we decided to share it with the Board of Trustees as an opening prayer.