Cantor's Articles

Hi everyone,

I want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year.  I hope that the winter months are only cold on the outside, but your hearts and minds are filled with warmth on the inside, particularly with good learning, good family, and good friends.

Our Kesher and Youth programs continue to grow and our programs continue to expand.  

• · Always remember to check your calendars, emails, and Facebook page for upcoming events, announcements, and great pictures.
• · The next Shabbat School and Shabbat B'Yachad Family Service, as well as Tot Shabbat, will be on Shabbat, February 5^th. We want every child and parent to attend in order to give everyone the best possible Shabbat morning experience. 
• · THE NEW TOT SHABBAT started last month and is being led by our  Kesher music teacher, Samantha Ivins. This wonderful Shabbat experience is for little people (Toddlers through Kindergarten) and their adult friends. The next Tot Shabbat is on Shabbat, January 5th at 11am.
• · Service Attendance is a very important component in our Kesher curriculum. Every student has an attendance card that can be found in a small box in the lobby. When you have attended a Friday night, Shabbat morning, holiday, or weekday service, please pull your name card. We are keeping record each week. Great attendance will come with a reward.
• · We are still looking into creating a new Jr. Congregation service. Please keep an eye out for more information.
• · Wednesday, January 2^nd and 9^th is Hebrew High School.
• · Wednesday, January 16^th is Youth Night for Chaverim, Kadima, and USY.
• · Kesher will not have classes on Sunday, January 6^th since there is Shabbat School on January 5^th. There will be no classes on Sunday, January 20^th for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend.
• · Just an added note that I will be attending the Jewish Educators Assembly Conference in Baltimore, MD from Sunday, January 27^th through Thursday, January 31^st.  I look forward to writing about my experience in an upcoming Recorder.  I know that our Teaching Team will have our school running in good shape while I am away that week.

If you have any questions, please contact me at cantorlarry@ebjc.org

Please share with your friends all the new and wonderful activities happening at Kesher, USY, Kadima and Chaverim, as well as all of the programs being offered at EBJC. It truly is a place for everyone and for everything!

Here are a few of my thoughts with the approaching holiday of Tu Bish’vat.

With the secular New Year upon us, we find ourselves making those hard to keep New Year’s resolutions.  During this month of January, we will enter the new Hebrew month of Sh’vat.  During the month of Sh’vat, we celebrate Tu Bish’vat or Jewish Arbor Day.  However, there is more to understand about this holiday than just about the trees. Tu Bish’vat is an opportunity to make New Year’s resolutions that will not only affect yourself, but the world too.

We worry about taking care of the earth, but that has not always been the case. For hundreds and thousands of years, most people took what they needed from the earth without thinking about the results. Yet, the Torah gave us specific ways in which we should treat God's world.

In the Book of Deuteronomy, the Torah states that when we go to war against another nation, we may not destroy the fruit trees. The fruit trees cannot be touched because they are necessary to feed people.

The Rabbis saw this law as a Mitzvah or commandment and applied it to other situations as well. The Mitzvah is called "Bal Tash-heet" which means do not destroy. Not only should we try to protect our environment, but the Talmud tells us that we should not needlessly destroy things people make. "Whoever breaks vases or tears clothing or destroys a building, or clogs up a fountain, or does away with food in a destructive manner, breaks the law against destroying (Bal Tash-heet)."

The Rabbis interpreted Bal Tash-heet to mean that one could not even shift the course of a stream, if by doing so would cause a tree to dry up and die.

The Rabbis of old would have approved of our modern techniques of recycling.  By following the Mitzvah of Bal Tash-heet, we can leave the world in as good or better shape than we found it.

The Rabbis thought the trees were so important that according to the Talmud, Jews are not supposed to live in a city that does not have trees.  If a person planted a tree, but the tree hadn't yet borne fruit, the person was excused from going to war. Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakkai said: “If you should be standing ready to plant a tree when the Mashiah or Messiah comes, first finish planting the tree, then go and greet the Messiah.”

So make a real resolution this year.  Make it a point to do just one more Mitzvah related to the environment.  Not only will you be saving the world now, but you will be creating a safe world for generations to come.

Cantor Larry I. Brandspiegel