Going to the same synagogue week after week can be boring for many Jews, myself included. One creative solution exercised by a large number of co-religionists is to eschew synagogues altogether. As a rabbi, I am forbidden to recommend that approach lest my credentials be rescinded, though I understand how you feel, having been there myself many years ago. A different way to deal with the repetitiveness of Shabbat services in a single institution is to shul-hop. If you are fortunate enough to live within easy commute of several synagogues, you might make a decision where to daven each Shabbat based on your mood that day.
Mostly in my physics role, I found myself traveling a fair amount over the past quarter, and I had the opportunity to attend services in several different synagogues. Invariably, at each venue I was exposed to a new idea, an innovative practice, or an inspirational teaching. I look forward to sharing and recreating these experiences both at the Los Alamos Jewish Center and at HaMakom in Santa Fe over the coming months, and if I don’t see you on a regular basis, I’ll assume that you, too, are trying out different synagogues.
My thanks go to Temple Israel of Alameda, California (Rabbi Annette Koch), Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle (Rabbis Jill Borodin and Paula Rose), Or Chadash in Damascus, MD (Rabbi Alison Kobey who gets a special thanks for the extra bag of M&Ms), Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia, MD (Rabbi Susan Grossman), Madison Jewish Center in Brooklyn (Rabbi Shae Kane), and Park Slope Jewish Center, also in Brooklyn (Rabbi Carie Carter).
My own rabbinic leadership this quarter included the usual Shabbat services in New Mexico when I was actually in town, supplemented by a Tu Bi Sh’vat seder, a rousing Purim evening modeled on my experience a decade ago at Or Chadasch in Vienna, Austria, and sadly, presiding over the funeral for a dear friend and wonderful human being, Joe Sapir. May his memory be a blessing.
I also delivered the opening prayer for one session of the New Mexico State Senate, gave a short teaching about generation to generation at a Life and Legacy program (see https://www.jewishlifelegacy.org/), provided a brief introduction to Judaism to seven Berea College students and the pastor who led them on a spring break interfaith week, and delivered three formal talks.
One talk, titled “The Pinyan Minyan: Jews of China Then and Now,” was organized by Oasis in Albuquerque, the second talk was part of the Los Alamos Lenten Series and was called “Reading From Left (Brain) to Right (Brain): Wisdom in the Jewish Texts,” and the third was conducted under the auspices of the HaMakom Continuing Education program. By HaMakom request, I spoke on the relationship between science and religion in a presentation entitled “From Adam to Atom: How Science and Religion Interact in the Mind of a Physicist/Rabbi.”
My deep appreciation goes to members of Los Alamos who came to a hastily convened Yahrzeit ma’ariv minyan on a cold and wintery evening in memory of my mom, Shirley Shlachter, when all my planning about attending a synagogue in the D.C. area came to naught because of flight cancelations due to winter weather.
For a change of pace in your synagogue routine, join in the 130th anniversary celebration of historic Temple Aaron in Trinidad, Colorado, Friday-Sunday, June 21-23rd. Donations to help restore this magnificent building are always welcome—they’ve already raised $75,000! https://www.templeaaron.org/130th-anniv-gala
My travels, as usual, gave me additional reading opportunities. Below is the list from this quarter with a few annotations.
B’shalom, Rabbi Jack
Fiction
The Prophet’s Wife* – Milton Steinberg – an extended Midrash on Hosea
Twilight and Other Stories – Shulamith Hareven – translated from Hebrew
Life is a Parable – Pinhas Sadeh – translated from Hebrew
Jewish Warsaw Between the Wars – Ephraim Kaganovski (tr. from Yiddish by Bracha Weingrod)
The Three Day Departure of Mrs. Annette Zinn – Mary E. Carter (not yet available, but you’ll enjoy it when it comes out)
Essays, Biography, Autobiography
Because G_d Loves Stories – ed. Steve Zeitlin
Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel* – Annie Cohen-Solal
Grand Things to Write a Poem On: A verse autobiography of Shmuel Hanagid – Hillel Halkin
Karl Kraus: In These Great Times – ed. Harry Zohn
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor – Yossi Klein Halevi
Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death* – Lillian Faderman
The Inveterate Dreamer*- Ilan Stavans
Report from a Parisian Paradise: Essays from France* – Joseph Roth
Other non-fiction, Scholarly
Torah in the Observatory: Gersonides, Maimonides, Song of Songs – Menachem Kellner
The Great Partnership – Jonathan Sacks
Isaac Abravanel: Letters – ed., trans., and introduction by Cedric Cohen Skalli
Passover: JPS Popular Judaica Library – ed. Mordell Klein
Photographing the Jewish Nation: Pictures from S. An-Sky’s Ethnographic Expedition* – ed. Avrutin, et.al.
Poetry**
The Poems of H. Leivick and Others – tr. from Yiddish by Leon Gildin
Miracle – Amir Or – tr. from Hebrew
My Blue Piano – Else Lasker-Schuler – tr. from German
* Highly recommended
** Thin books designed to pad my reading list
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
Judaism for Your Nuclear Family
physicsrabbi@gmail.com
www.physicsrabbi.com