Jewish Life - Des Moines, Iowa

Chanukah Party & Thoughts

Today is the Second Day of Chanukah for 5770!  Happy Chanukah to you and your family!  And, here is an invite to come to the Beth El Jacob Chanukah Party later today at 5:00PM!  We'll have live music, a latke bar, ice cream bar and activities.  And, we'll be lighting the THIRD candle.  We're planning for loads of people...so consider it?  Cost is $5 per person or $18 for a family.  And...if you want to make a pillow case....that's an extra $2!   WHAT?  Yep, all the proceeds are going to the Chai Lifeline a charity for seriously ill Jewish children from across the faith spectrum.  Join us?

A quick thought about Chanukah.  You do know that it's not the "Jewish Christmas" right?  Actually, the entire idea of giving gifts for "eight crazy nights" is mostly an American custom with little to no relationship to the holiday that celebrates a military victory...with G-d's help!

We read each day of Chanukah, "...for your people Israel you worked a great victory and salvation as this very day. Then Your children came to the Holy of Holies of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified the site of Your Holiness and kindled the lights in the Courtyards of Your Sanctuary; and they established these eight days of Chanukah to express thanks and praise to Your great Name."

Didn't see anything about "gifts" or "gelt" there did ya?  But...as long as we remember WHY we light the lights and we're true to the reality of the celebration...what's a gift...or eight...among friends?

See you in Shul!

A Rural Thanksgiving - From Iowa

This morning, following services I was trying to explain Thanksgiving.  Maybe this will help.

Tomorrow most Americans will gather around tables for Thanksgiving.  This week has been full of shopping, cooking, cleaning and getting ready for the "big day".  We, like many of our friends, will also mark the date with as many traditions as we can.

Over the years Thanksgiving has changed from being a day set aside to be thankful for the blessings of a good harvest to simply being, "thankful".  That's not surprising because, today, there are so  many folks that have never had a farming experience.  So, I thought I'd infuse a little "rural thanks"...into Thanksgiving.

Tomorrow the kitchens and dining rooms located in the farm homes and acreages that dot this country will be wild with activity.  Folks will rise early to finish chores and then help where they can to prepare the meal.  There will be chopping, slicing, dicing, pie-baking and mixing.  The houses will smell of fresh bread, sage and pumpkin.  Even if it's cold, windows will be open and the smells and sounds will drift out to the pasture, across the fields and a mile down the road to the next home-place where the activity is just as intense.

And then, at a time agreed upon by the adults in charge, people will make their way, quietly to the place where the meal will be served.  And there they will bow their heads and offer a prayer of gratitude.  And some, looking out the window, will see the images of livestock and field stubble and they will forget the hard work, the bills and the struggle it takes to be in agriculture.  With heads bowed and a sense of pride in their hearts coming from the knowlege that they have fed thousands of others...they will quietly say, "Amen".

Thank you...thank you for what you do.

"This Is Between You and Me" Shmini Azeret - 5770

The Beth El Jacob Sabbath Bulletin

Shemini Atzeret - 5770 / October 10, 2009

 

The term "atzeret" as in Shmini Atzeret is often translated as "assembly" but it also has the meaning of holding back or stopping and waiting.  So why bring that up?  The sages describe the final or eighth day of Sukkot in the following parable:

G-d is like a king who invites all his children to a feast to last for just so many days; when the time comes for them to depart, He says to them, "My children, I have a request to make of you.  Stay yet another day; your departure is difficult for me."

On Friday morning our extended service spoke to this issue of G-d being both our Father and our King.  In the story above we begin to understand the relationship between us.  Just as a father loves his children he must also make demands.  Just as a father makes demands he also wishes us to linger longer.  To stay a bit, rest and enjoy the company of a people who loves Him as much as He loves us.

See you in Shul!

Sabbath & Candle Lighting Times:  (All Des Moines, Iowa)

• 6:25PM Candle Lighting - Friday Evening
• 6:30PM Mincha
• 6:43PM Sunset
• 9:00AM - Shabbat Services
• 10:30AM Yiskor
• 6:15PM Shabbat Mincha
• 7:35PM Simhat Torah Begins - Come Dance with the Torah!
• 9:00AM Sunday Morning Services - Simhat Torah

Shakin' in Des Moines

What a wonderful holiday we have in Sukkot.  This year the first two days of the holiday fell on Shabbat and on Sunday so we were not able to shake the lulav and etrog on Saturday...but Sunday?  Look out...it was wonderful as new families joined families who have been in Des Moines for years.  It was an interesting mixture of two different groups attempting to find the sweet spot in our combined Jewish lives.   Some shake one way...others differently.  But oh...what a blessing! We were grateful for not only the new families but also the many guests who came to daven at Beth El Jacob.

And, something else...

Celebrating Sukkot in Iowa is something special.  We get an added kick to the holiday in realizing what it must have been like when our people were part of an agrarian society.  Just a few miles outside of Des Moines combines and tractors and grain carts are rolling through the fields bringing in this year's harvest, reported to be the second best on record.  Imagine that, as a farmer, the bounty that was planted just five months ago is coming to maturity.  And, all during that time the growing was dependent on the gift of a fantastic season.  Now, some will say..."Hey, don't forget about the new genetics in seed and new developments in soil conditioning!"  We are not...but think about it.  Those too are gifts of G-d.  While the science is from Man it is G-d who gave these men and women of discovery the insight and intelligence to expand the science so we might help feed the world.

Over the coming week we'll have the privilege to "dwell" in the Sukkah.  We'll be closer to nature and to G-d.  While we're there we might also say a "thank you" to agriculture and the bounty coming from the Midwest.  It's all right here.  Thanks for reading...

See you in Shul!