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RABBI'S BLOG

Choose Life!

8/31/2013

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I got a strange phone call from a dear friend in Israel yesterday morning. She asked me, "What do you hear in your American media? When are they going to bomb?" It took me a split second to understand that the topic she was asking about was the civil war in Syria and the chemical bombing of their citizens. I informed her that by this point the media talks about when, not if, the Allies bombing is going to take place.
 
I placed the phone down, and my emotional being went into "high alert" to the happening in Israel. Late last night when I was finally able to watch my Israeli satellite TV, to my horror, I saw a large gathering of fearful people waiting to get their gas masks. Israel's civil defense unit had created centers for gas mask distribution in post offices and special centers throughout Israel. WHAT???  AGAIN???

Thoughts where running in my head, oh, my God, we just celebrated a family wedding, many of my family members are still here is L.A. All of them had tickets to go back to Israel today or tomorrow. I called them and asked them to delay their return just for one week... they were laughing. "What are you worried about?" they asked me. "We are not worried. Remember the Yom-Kippur War? It has happened before that they wanted to kill us. God is on our side, don't worry." Wow, this is a lesson in life, I thought. This is what we need in a  relationship, complete trust. This is a relationship of conviction. This is the faith one needs to have in a covenantal relationship between God and His people.
 
Yet, my heart, and my emotional alert system called me to watch my Israeli satellite TV this morning. The focus of the Israeli media this time was on the Patriot anti-missile rockets the army already placed all over Israel; the frightening fact that there are only enough gas masks for six out of ten Israelis; and the growing crowds in the gas mask distribution centers. Suddenly, while being in one of these mask centers, almost by accident, the camera scanned the growing crowd and scanned the back of a worker's T-Shirt, it read, "Gas Mask Center. Choose Life!" 
 
Shivers went up my spine. This line is in our Torah portion this week!!! "I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life!" Deut. 30:19. At this point, tears were running down my face. Later, trying to console myself, I took a deep breath and thought about the pleading words of the Avinu Malkenu prayer, when we are beseeching God, 

"Avinu Malkenu let the gates of heaven be open to our plea...
 do not turn us away empty handed from Your presence...
 have compassion on us and on our children...
give strength to Your people of  Israel...
make an end to all oppression...
 treat us generously and with kindness, 
and  be our help."
 Amen.

 
As we gather this coming Saturday for early  learning (see separate flier), Shabbat service, evening Slihot-Healing service (see separate flier), and Wednesday evening and Thursday morning in honor of Rosh HaShanah, we, your loving Rabbi, Gary, Kimberly and other holiday guests wish you a Shanah Tovah. May God bless you with a good year, a year of good health and peace.  Amen.
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Thirteen Divine Attributes

8/24/2013

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Next Saturday evening we will be getting together  for our special program of Selihot.      

The main prayer of this healing and soulful service is the chanting of the Thirteen Divine Attributes. This is the prayer God taught Moses after the people of Israel had committed the horrific sin of the Golden Calf.  Moses tried to gain atonement for their crime, and God responded by revealing to him the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, adding, “Whenever the people of Israel will sin, let them perform this service of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, and I will forgive them.” In other words, God’s mercy reassures us that repentance is ALWAYS possible, and God is always waiting for us to return the right path if we deviate from it. As I like to always reassure my early morning Mussar-Ethics classes on Saturday mornings, all we need to do is to open our hearts as wide as the eye of the needle, and God would stream through to be with us.  

A question is begged to be asked, why is it written in the Torah, “perform the service” and not “recite the service of the Thirteen Attributes?” One of the answers is that performance-action is what really counts. If a person tries the hardest to emulate God’s qualities, then according to our tradition, his wrong doings will be forgiven.  

Next week we will recite and do all we can to perform the special chanting of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. Our synagogue’s tradition is to recite the attributes and then perform it seven times, each time from a different inner voice within each of us. Every year we are all deeply affected by our soulful voices crying out to God to forgive and heal us.  

- Adonai is merciful before a person does wrong! Even though aware that future  evil lies dormant within him.
- Adonai is merciful after the wrong doer has gone astray.
- El Compassionate (rahum)--God is filled with loving sympathy for human frailty does not put people into situations of extreme temptation, and eases the punishment of the guilty.
- Gracious (v'hanun)--God shows mercy even to those who do not deserve it consoling the afflicted and raising up the oppressed.
- Slow to anger (ereh apayim)--God gives the sinner ample time to reflect, improve, and repent.
- Abundant in Kindness (v'rav hesed)--God is kind toward those who lack personal merits, providing more gifts and blessings than they deserve; if one's personal behavior is evenly balanced between virtue and sin, God tips the
scales of justice toward the good.
- Truth (v'emet)--God never reneges on His word to reward those who in a true relationship with Him.
- Preserver of kindness for thousands of generations (notzeir hesed la-alafim)--God remembers the deeds of the righteous for the benefit of their less virtuous generations of offspring (thus we constantly invoke the merit of the Patriarchs).
-  Forgiver of iniquity (nosei avon)--God forgives intentional sin resulting from
an evil disposition, as long as the sinner repents.
- Forgiver of willful sin (pesha)--God allows even those who commit a sin with the malicious intent of rebelling against and angering Him the opportunity to repent.
- Forgiver of error (v'hata'ah)--God forgives a sin committed out of carelessness,
thoughtlessness, or apathy.
- Who cleanses (v'nakeh)--God is merciful, gracious, and forgiving, wiping away the sins of those who truly repent; however, if one does not repent, God does not cleanse.
 
May we all be together in the healing and forgiving House of God next Saturday
evening. Amen. 

The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy are adapted from http://www.myjewishlearning.com
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Remember that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were immigrants to Egypt . . . .

8/17/2013

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This week, I attended the Board of Rabbis’ Yom Iyun (day of study). Every year, rabbis from the larger Los Angeles metropolitan area gather before the High Holy Days for a day of study. It is always a wonderful day, filled with camaraderie and stimulating study topics. 

One of the workshops I attended was about immigration. A panel of four colleagues discussed the need to change some of the current U.S. immigration laws. One common denominator was our responsibility to remember that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were immigrants to Egypt, looking for food for their families because of famine in their own country of Canaan. Many immigrants today are leaving their home for the same reason. They are looking for food.

 Each one of us has an American family immigration story. Some of us are blessed to possess four generations of stories, while others have very current immigration stories. Some are sad, having to be separated from the family, and some are very happy, where families after many years of separation finally reunite. The question we are challenged with is whether our own families would have made it to the U.S., under the current immigration laws?  
 
Our Jewish memory is strong.  In our Torah portion this week, we are asked, once we are in Israel to take a basket of the first fruits to the Temple and make a declaration that is somewhat troubling. Moses instructs the people to say, “My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there… The Egyptians dealt harshly with us… We cried to God and God heard our plea and freed us from Egypt… and gave us this land.” 

Many commentators have asked why the Israelites need to constantly relive the immigration history of their ancestors, even while they are living in a ‘land flowing with milk and honey’, such as the “Golden Medina”? We all know the answer, right? It is gratitude! 

Yes, we should help make immigration laws caring and kind and, at the same time, also accountable and responsible. I would not want to see the U.S. in a few years in the same predicament that England, Sweden, and other European countries are facing. Yet, when we remember our immigrant ancestors and their life transforming experiences coming here, we identify with their sacrifices, which guarantee us, their next generation, to have it better than they had it. My basket is full with fruits of gratitude, I know yours is also. May we continue to enjoy gratitude through God’s love, grace and mercy. Amen.

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    About Rabbi Miriam

    Rabbi Miriam E. Hamrell MHL, M.Ed., has served as  our religious and spiritual leader at Ahavat Torah Congregation and helped it grow since it was founded in 2003.

    She is loved for being a wise and compassionate leader who brings a remarkable variety of experiences and gifts to her calling as our Rabbi. 

    Rabbi Miriam provides classes throughout the world on Jewish Ethics, the Spiritual and Inner Meaning of Prayer, Holy Days, Torah, Talmud, Mishnah, Conversion to Judaism, and advice on interpersonal relationships.


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  • Ahavat Torah
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    • High Holidays Services 2020/5581
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  • Tikkun Olam
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  • FUNDRAISING
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    • JNF Trees
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  • New Videos