TST Chai-Lights: Vol. 5783, Issue 2

TST Chai-Lights

Letter from the President

Hello friends, I hope that you are enjoying the mild winter and looking forward to spring. As I write this, I’m feeling gratitude that as we continue to emerge from the pandemic, I have had the opportunity over the last several months to join so many of you during services and events at the temple.

Some highlights over the last few months:

Exploring creative expression and pondering Jewish futurism with Artist in Residence Mike Wirth. Congregants heard from Mike during services, adults were able to participate by creating a mural, and school children played with other creative projects under Mike’s direction. I’m looking forward to unveiling the mural Mike produced, which will beautify our walls!

We had the opportunity to sing and pray with Cantor Rosalie Will as she led different groups of congregants in considering new prayer expressions. Cantor Hollis and Spirituality Trustee Jonathan Zarkower are working through those ideas, and further comments from congregants, and will find ways to bring these ideas to us over the next months.

Our monthly Yeladim and B’Yachad services have drawn ever-growing numbers of people to services, and to sharing pizza dinner. It is so meaningful to join these services, which often include three generations of congregants praying and singing together.

We would love to get your ideas and suggestions for how we could continue to improve Chai-Lights. Please send your ideas and suggestions to Andie Watson at awatson@shirtikva.org.

Letter from the President

Recently we had a full sanctuary as our choir joined their voices with the United Parish of Brookline to celebrate Black History Month. The evening was even more special as we welcomed our new friends from Congregation B’Nai Torah who got to experience our fantastic music and warm and friendly atmosphere.

Reflecting on this most recent choir shabbat, I was reminded that membership in the choir was the path that led me into feeling more engaged as a new member of the congregation. I watched the joy on our choir members faces, and I know that their participation in the choir provides meaning to them, while also providing joy to the congregants listening to them. I see that pattern reflected over and over, as active volunteers give to the community and receive the benefits of belonging back. I have listened to our HVAC team, applying their professional expertise to our project, giving many of them the opportunity to expand their knowledge, while meeting a critical need for us. I watch our dedicated Environmental Action Committee who feel passionately that their activity on this committee is their opportunity to repair the world. Our ACE committee members sharing dinner and playing Mah Jongg with new friends, while giving others the opportunity to do the same. Our Adult Education Committee and Center for Jewish Spirituality Committee expand their minds and hearts through Jewish learning, while providing the opportunity for many others to do the same.

My message to you as your President continues to be that stepping into committees, events, and other volunteer activities provides a path for you to make friends, create meaning, and have a positive impact on our community. Please reach out to me if you have ideas you’d like to get started, or need ideas about how to get involved.

L'shalom (toward peace),

Jackie Loren

jloren@shirtikva.org

Tu B'Shvat

Youth Engagement

By Jenna Friedman

January was a busy month for our Grades 6-12 teens! The month kicked off with our Grades 7+8 Shabbaton at TST, where we made up for the experience our teens missed in their 6th grade year due to the pandemic.

The following weekend, TST teens of all grades rolled up their sleeves and baked lasagnas, built desks, and painted stars of hope at the annual MetroWest MLK Day of Service!

The weekend after the holiday, from January 20th to 22nd, our 6th grade class headed to Eisner Camp in the Berkshires for the return of our annual 6th grader Shabbaton (the first one since the pandemic). Our 6th grade class made

wonderful memories and shared meaningful time with our clergy, Education staff, and excellent Madrichim doing a number of learning programs, exciting activities, Shabbat services, and more.

Rounding out the month, twelve of our 8th12th grade students went back to Eisner Camp the very next weekend, January 27th-29th, for NFTY Northeast and NFTY NAR's Winter Kallah! The weekend was filled with incredible programming designed and run by teen leaders, and "community" was certainly the word of the weekend. We are excited for all of the opportunities in store for our kids and teens the rest of this Spring!

Grade 7 + 8 Shabbaton

Youth Engagement

Grade 6 Shabbaton @ Eisner Camp

TST on the Web

5 Ways to Make People Feel Included At NFTY Kallot

This is an excerpt of an article originally published by URJ NFTY: The Reform Jewish Youth Movement

by Erica O'Donnell,

NFTY Northeast

President, and Nadine Katz, NFTY NAR President

In January, we both got the spectacular opportunity of co-leading a NFTY Winter Kallah at URJ Eisner Camp.

As NFTY leaders across North America continue to engage teens at upcoming Kallot, here are five ways we learned that helped everyone feel included at our Kallah:

Shabbat dinner and mixers first – Shabbat services can be pretty intimidating. So, we pushed services to the end of the night and had dinner and mixers first. This helped everyone feel comfortable and connected as they were settled in and getting to meet the people they would spend the weekend with.

Table mixers – We also assigned tables that first night so no one was left wondering who they would sit with. The first two meals were assigned and the rest were free seating. We have had assigned seating for dinner and breakfast at all of our past events, as it helps to mix up groups who might already know each other. We switched to free seating at lunch on Saturday, so that people can have some free time to spend with their new friends.

Stickers on name tags – In NFTY-NE, there is a tradition where people bring stickers to decorate everyone’s name tags at the beginning of the event. It’s a fun way to get people engaged without a lot of pressure.

Humble leadership – The regional board should be an approachable group that helps people enjoy the event beyond just programming. Be proud of your work as a teen leader, but remember that everyone else is just as important in the NFTY space as you are.

Assigning groups during programming –Like with table groups, this created new bonds to be formed, and for those who came into the event with less friends, this allowed them to come out of their comfort zone, and make new friends during the board-led programming.

São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health

Last January, at a program sponsored by the Environmental Action Committee, our member, Jeremy Pivor, spoke to us about The São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health which he described as "an unprecedented, urgent call for transforming how we live." The Declaration encourages everyone to play a role and clearly lays out instructions for how each person and group can contribute to the Great Transition: a deep, rapid, structural shift in how we live that optimizes the health and well-being of all people and the planet. The Declaration, authored by the Planetary Health Alliance, a global consortium hosted within the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the University of São Paulo, has been signed by over 250 organizations from more than 47 countries representing all sectors of society.

Originally announced in October 2021, with a document that Jeremy co-authored and a conference and signing campaign that Jeremy helped to coordinate, it specifically calls for all signatories to invest in and implement their

own plans for net-zero, Nature-positive upgrades to their organizations.

Most who read the declaration find it eloquent and profound. It begins with a charge for all of us together, and then proposes separate charges to 19 important groups, alphabetically from Agriculture and Artists, to Spiritual Leaders, Universities, and Youth Representatives.

It starts: Set an Intention. We invite you to consider yourself a partner in planetary healing. We all live together in an interconnected world and the actions of each of us inspire others.

We are very pleased to announce that, through Jeremy’s inspired work and resolve, Temple Shir Tikva has become a signatory to this important document.

If you would like to read the full text, click here!

by TST Environmental Action Committee

Center for Jewish Spirituality

Re-Imagining Worship: A Recap of the Recent Scholar-In-Residence Weekend by

Cantor Hollis Schachner

Over the weekend of December 16th through 18th, we were blessed to spend time with our Scholar-in-Residence, Cantor Rosalie Will, who offered TST an opportunity to begin to reimagine how we observe Shabbat, including the role that music and melody play in enhancing our worship experience.

Through Friday night and Saturday morning services, as well as a series of highly interactive discussions, Cantor Rosalie, who has worked with many other congregations, created a space for us to explore important questions surrounding communal prayer and the role it plays in each of our lives. We were reminded that indeed the prayer experience and our liturgy have evolved throughout Jewish history. So, it is quite natural that we should explore ways in which we can continue to enhance our worship experience to best reveal its beauty and meaning.

As our prayer experience evolves, some aspects of our services may change, but ensuring that our services are meaningful and accessible to all members will always be a priority, regardless of how they choose to participate.

Moving forward, together with our clergy and leadership, we will continue to engage as a group, to reflect on these important questions and consider how our Shabbat worship experience might evolve so that it continues to meet the spiritual and other needs of our community. From those conversations, we will determine what modifications, if any, we might want to make to our Shabbat services to ensure that we continue to offer engaging, inclusive, uplifting, and meaningful worship experiences for all who attend.

Those who were unable to attend Scholar-inResidence Weekend but have an active interest in the worship experience at Temple Shir Tikva are invited to add your voices to the conversation as we move forward. If interested, please reach out to Jonathan Zarkower at jzarkower@shirtikva.org.

Community Updates

Natick

Adam Boardman and Sonia Shah

Bernice and David Merola

Trudi Reisner

Daniel and Marissa Robinson

Brian Johnston and Kara Smith

Wayland

Sarah and William Collins

Framingham

Diane and Paul Nyer

Congratulations to Our Simchat HaSiddur Students!

Sam Bauchman

Gabriella Burkeman

Caitlyn Cohn

Juliana Cole

Zeke Copaken

Andrew Dottin

Olivia Eisen

Grethe Fabulich

Rebekah Fabulich

Bea Fineman

Nina Fineman

Theo Finlayson

Douglas Frankel

Zachary Funk

Alana Homer

Isla Krochmal

Natalie Kurson

Amelia Lappin

Hannah Lindstrom

Fern Lupkas

Leah Lustig

Adam Marion

Olivia Mennillo

Benjamin Nable

Serena Palfrey

Isaac Pratt

Sophia Pratt

Cora Shtivelman

Maximus Shtivelman

Bennett Smigler

Emillie Stein

Sophia Sussman

Natalie Townley

Isaac Weiner

Emalia Wolke

Judah Wolke

If you would like to send in photos taken at a recent TST sponsored event or submit an article for the next publication, please email them to Andie Watson (awatson@shirtikva.org).

Rabbi Danny Burkeman

rabbidanny@shirtikva.org

Mary Beth Rettger

Executive Director

mbrettger@shirtikva org

Jenna Friedman

Director of Youth Engagement

jfriedman@shirtikva.org

Christina Loftus

Office Manager

cloftus@shirtikva org

Cantor Hollis Schachner

cantor@shirtikva.org

Alison Weikel

Director of Education

aweikel@shirtikva org

Amy Schulman

Director of Development

aschulman@shirtikva.org

Andie Watson awatson@shirtikva.org Education and Communications Asst.

Thinking of joining our community?

Jacquelyn Loren

Board of Trustees President

jloren@shirtikva.org

Stephanie Lerner

Director of Early Learning

slerner@shirtikva org

Marissa Kaye

ELC Administrator

mkaye@shirtikva org

Karen Edwards

Asst. to the Clergy

kedwards@shirtikva.org

To learn more about what making your home at Temple Shir Tikva would look like, feel free to reach out to our New Membership Trustee, Beth Cohen (bcohen@shirtikva.org) or any of the people mentioned above.