REFLECTIONS
REFLECTIONS
Living in a time of fear Rabbi Nancy Rita Myers | Beth David
The Hamas assault on Israel that began on October 7, 2023, on Shabbat and Simchat Torah, was horrific. They launched thousands of rockets, even reaching Tel Aviv. With this ‘distraction’, the terrorists broke through the barrier between Gaza and Israel and committed terrible crimes against humanity. As I write this article, Israel is defending herself with the goal of it Rabbi Nancy Rita Myers never happening again. In the meantime, we are unnerved, anxious, and fearful of anti-Semitic attacks on us and our institutions. What augments our fear is the unfiltered and even purposely altered reports blasting through social media sites. Since the time of Covid, we have been conditioned to hunker down, cancel events, and shelter at home. Fear and anxiety can seem like normative responses given the information on phones, social media sites, and conversing with others. I would like to offer some perspective and Jewish ways of dealing with the angst and panic seizing so many people. The first one is to remember that we live in America. While a number of us have relatives and friends in Israel and we pray for their welfare, we are not on the front lines. I am not afraid that rockets are going to be launched from Santa Monica. I am not worried
that people from Los Alamitos are going to break down the door of my home. Yes, there is anti-Semitism in our country, however, we are at far greater risk just driving our car to the supermarket. We are at far greater risk of diabetes and heart issues. We are at far greater risk of psychological stress impacting our immune system and quality of life. How do Jews live in times of fear? Well, first of all, we need to recognize that Jews have lived through so much worse. Let’s not even talk about the Holocaust. How about the pogroms our people faced living in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia in the twentieth century? The blood libels in Europe were devastating to our communities. The Crusaders pillaged and murdered their way through our towns in the Middle Ages. Our people were expelled from many countries over hundreds, if not thousands, of years. We suffered under Roman oppression and were exiled by the Babylonians. We have it good living in America. This is our country. We can vote, donate, volunteer, and work to affect the direction of our government. We are Americans and we are Jews. And we must act as Jews have always done. We must practice and live fully in the keeping of our traditions and heritage. We will not give the terrorists, whether they be Hamas, Hezbollah, white supremacists, or anti-Semites, victory over us. We will not allow them to dictate what we do or how we live. continued on page 16
Synagogue Directory Beit HaLev I
P.O. Box 2279 Seal Beach, CA 90740 Rabbi Galit Levy-Slater 562.715.0888 duets@icloud.com www.beithalev.com R Beth David
6100 Hefley St. Westminster, CA 92683 Rabbi Nancy Myers 714.892.6623 tbdavid@templebethdavid.org www.templebethdavid.org O Chabad of Los Alamitos & Cypress
12340 Seal Beach Blvd. Suite B-219 Seal Beach, CA 90740 Rabbi Shmuel Marcus 714.828.1851 smarcus@jewishcypress.com www.chabadlosal.com
Chabad of West Orange County/ O Congregation Adat Israel 5052 Warner Ave. Huntington Beach, CA 92649 Rabbi Aron David Berkowitz 714.846.2285 info@chabadhb.com www.chabadhb.com
O Congregation Lubavitch
3981 Atlantic Ave. Long Beach, CA 90807 Rabbi Yitzchok Newman 562.596.1681 yitzyg@aol.com
I Congregation Shir Chadash
6440 Del Amo Blvd. Lakewood, CA 90713 Rabbi Karen Isenberg 562.429.0715 csclakewood@dslextreme.com www.csclakewood.org
Congregation Sholom of Leisure World, Seal Beach C Mail to: PO Box 2901 Seal Beach, CA 90740 1421 Northwood Road Seal Beach, CA 90740 President Carol A. Stern Levine Phone: Direct 562.505.3622 Phone: Membership 562.430.7040 congsholomlwsb@gmail.com I P’nai Or
3955 N. Studebaker Road Long Beach, CA 90808 Email: info@pnaior.org Website: www.pnaior.org
Shul By The Shore O
3801 E. Willow Street Long Beach, California 90815 Rabbi Abba Perelmuter 562.621.9828 rabbi@shulbytheshore.org www.shulbytheshore.org R Temple Beth Ohr
562-233-9934 alan@solarwholesalegroup.com
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NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2023
DRE#01898581
President/Project Manager
Lauren FRIEDMAN 562.506.3352
15721 E. Rosecrans Ave. La Mirada, CA 90638 Rabbi Len Muroff Phone: 714.521.6765 office@tbolm.org www.tbolm.org
C Temple Beth Shalom
3635 Elm Avenue Long Beach, CA 90807 Rabbi Menachem Mirski 562.426.6413 office@tbslb.org www.tbslb.org R Temple Israel
269 Loma Ave. Long Beach, CA 90803 Rabbi Scott Fox 562.434.0996 info@tilb.org www.tilb.org
Temple Ner Tamid of Downey I 10629 Lakewood Boulevard Downey, CA 90241 Rabbi Daniel Mehlman 562.861.9276 C Conservative I Independent O Orthodox R Reform
