This week: Tisha b’Av and Shabbat Va’etchanan

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Shavua tov – a good new week to you!

This week our Zoom offerings include Rabbinic Drop-In Hour (1pm Mondays), Tisha b’Av (Thursday 5pm),  Friday Morning Meditation (9am Fridays), and Shabbat Morning services (9:30am Saturday) led this week by R’ Pam Wax, all in the CBI Zoom room with the usual password.

Links and password will go out out in the CBI Announcements email (and are the same as previous weeks) but if you don’t have them, contact the office.

Tisha b’Av is coming up. Here is a set of five new kinnot / poems / resources for Tisha B’Av this year, curated by Rabbi Rachel — five new variations on Lamentations, plus one recording and one sketchnote visual — all crafted through the lens of this year’s pandemic. They are here: Megillat Covid.

Here’s a reminder of our two Tisha b’Av offerings this year:

Two Ways to Experience Tisha b’Av: On July 29 at 8pm we’ll meet at the labyrinth for a silent, masked, socially distant labyrinth walk while listening to Eicha / Lamentations – an opportunity to reflect in silence on exile, on the loss of the Temples long ago, and on the loss of being able to gather together in person during this covid-19 era. On July 30 we’ll meet on Zoom at 5pm. Honoring the tradition that says that moshiach will be born on the afternoon of Tisha b’Av (which I take to mean that we must find the seeds of hope in our most hopeless places), R’ Pam Wax and I will lead a discussion of two podcasts: Resmaa Menakem ‘Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence’ and Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem In Conversation. Please listen to the podcasts beforehand.

Meanwhile, speaking of Zoom…

 

Help With Zoom: Do You Need It? Can You Offer It?
 

Need a hand? Are you unfamiliar with Zoom and uncertain how to join our online programs (Shabbat and festival services, book group meetings, and more)? Let the office know and we’ll match you with someone who can walk you through installing the software and learning how to use it.

Lend  a hand! Are you familiar with Zoom and willing to teach someone else how to use it? Let the office know and we’ll match you with someone who wants to learn.

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Seeking “Zoom Angels” For High Holidays

Are you comfortable with Zoom (or are you willing to learn)? We’re looking for (at least) one person to be a “Zoom Angel” for each of our seven High Holiday services. (Erev Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah morning 1 and 2, Kol Nidre, Yom Kippur morning, Y”K afternoon, and Ne’ilah / Yom Kippur’s closing service.) Each Zoom Angel will be made “co-host” of the Zoom room for the service(s) when they sign up to help. They will manage the virtual door / waiting room (letting people in as they arrive) and will be asked to mute and unmute the room from time to time. Does this sound feasible to you, or would you be willing to learn some Zoom tips in order to lend a hand in this way? Please let Rabbi Rachel know!

This week we’re  reading from parashat Vaetchanan in the book of Deuteronomy. If you’d like to read some commentaries on this week’s parsha, here are a few:

Here’s commentary at Builders Blog, a project of Bayit: Building Jewish, this week written by Rabbi Jennifer Singer:

And here are commentaries from the URJ:

Hope to see you soon via Zoom at CBI!

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