Kol Beth El ADAR-IYAR 5778
M AY / J U N E / J U LY 2 0 1 8
Passover and Yizkor: Bringing the Past into our Present From the desk of Rabbi Schwab
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Shabbat Schedule....................2 President’s Corner...................3 Notes from Hazzan Tisser ......4 Informal Education..................5 Pre-School.................................5 Cultural Learning Center.........6 Beth El History Quiz.................6 Development ...........................7 Sisterhood Gift Shop...............7 Sisterhood.................................8 Men’s Club................................9 Youth Community....................10 Religious School.......................11 Rabbi Schwab cont..................12 Shavuot Schedule....................13 Todah Rabbah..........................14 May Calendar ..........................18 June Calendar ..........................19 July Calendar.............................20 Save the Dates..........................21 Events at a Glance....................22 All in the Beth El Family...........24
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Last year, before the Yizkor of Pesach, I began my sermon with the following: “Rabbi David Wolpe told a sweet story that at a family seder, one of his nephews asked, “Why was there a cup for Elijah at the seder?” His father’s response was that the cup was there to invite Elijah, who dwells on high in heaven, to join us at the seder and perhaps even bring the Messiah with him. His nephew listened, smiled and then innocently replied, “Zaide is also in heaven; he just went there last year. Shouldn’t we also have a cup for him and invite him too?” A sense of intense emotion suddenly gripped the seder participants as the presence of their beloved Zaide began to permeate the room. With that one comment, the significance of Elijah’s cup took on a whole new meaning. A loved one who had passed was now tangibly present.
in the story, that I would be sitting at my seder table looking at Elijah’s cup thinking similarly, that my grandfather and grandmother went to heaven just this past year, and would that I could invite them to be with me at this year’s seders. Many of us peer around the seder table, or experience other important events, and miss the presence of a loved one who used to play such a large role. You see, for me personally, my earliest childhood memories of Passover revolve around my grandparents. I fondly recall that they would drive up in their white Ford Taurus on the day before Pesach, my grandfather accompanied by his books, cigars, and newspapers and my grandmother by her garment bag. They followed the classic gender stereotypes. My grandmother helped my mother as they worked tirelessly in the kitchen to prepare the huge seder meals. I still recall that my grandmother would take breaks, find us grandchildren around the house just to check in on us and
And that is what Many of us peer around the seder table, or experience Yizkor does for us; it is our other important events, and miss the presence of a invitation to our loved one who used to play such a large role. deceased loved ones to traverse get hugs, and to tell us how wonderful the barrier between this life and the next, we were. I always knew what I would get to travel from heaven to earth, to join in each interaction with my grandmother us for a few meaningful and sacred -- pure unadulterated love. (Ironically what moments, so that our loved ones can made this even more special was that she dwell with us, even when we know they was capable of levying criticism. It became can no longer physically stand by our side. a joke in our family how loudly she would Little did I know then, like the nephew
call my grandfather’s name when she continued on page12
MAY/JUNE/JULY 2018 | KOL BETH EL | 1