The Talmud (BT Shab. 30a) says that “there is no marriage contract and
wedding in which contentiousness does not arise,” but I find all
weddings to be joyous affairs nonetheless. Beverly and I spent a week
and a half in New Mexico in October, where I was privileged to officiate
at not one but two weddings and meet with two other couples whose
weddings are slated for 2022.
I then headed into Brooklyn two days after our return to New York to
perform another wedding ceremony. The process of registering to conduct
weddings in New York City was complex, and it required that I muster
both patience and persistence. Fortunately, I was ultimately successful
and am now proud to have an officiant registration number from NYC. I
suspect that there is a pandemic backlog of wedding ceremonies in the
offing, and I hope to help share in the joy of as many couples as
possible.
Recently, I was a student in a wonderful 8-lecture course taught by
Rabbi Shai Held on the theme of Love and Judaism (I’m ever grateful that
lifelong learning has been facilitated by the ubiquity of Zoom –
perhaps this is the KAVOD [honor] of COVID). The love that G_d
expresses toward people can be transformed into the love we demonstrate
toward each other, and I find that wedding ceremonies provide a powerful
opportunity to witness this transformation.
I also participated in other life cycle events over the past quarter
including holding Beverly’s newest great nephew at a brit milah (I
didn’t even come close to dropping him!), officiating at a Bar Mitzvah
ceremony at the Jewish Center of the Moriches, and attending a funeral
service for a JCM congregant, Michael Schondorf. Mike was a sweet,
sweet man whom I met at High Holiday services in 2019, and although he
was trapped in Puerto Rico during much of the pandemic, it was always a
treat when he was able to phone in to our Shabbat evening services.
Sadly, my first cousin, David Sherman, also passed away recently. I was
honored to be able to support the family by leading a shiva minyan in
the Chicago area. The presence of Beverly, my brother, Ted, my Aunt
Bobbie, and my other cousins plus scores of David and Sue’s friends and
family mitigated a bit of the grief in our loss of this special person.
May Mike’s and David’s memories serve as blessings.
Various other rabbinic responsibilities continued to keep me out of
trouble. I enjoyed leading the plethora of Tishrei holiday services in
hybrid mode (in-person plus Zoom) at the Jewish Center of the Moriches,
taught some classes in advance of the High Holidays, worked a few times
with the Sunday School, and even led a delegation to an exhibition
baseball game featuring the Israeli Olympic team. I got to chant a
chapter of the Book of Lamentations as well as Haftarot at a few nearby
synagogues on Long Island and co-led services in Santa Fe on our New
Mexico trip.
But the real highlight of my rabbi-ing is to chant the wedding
blessings. May the gates of Jerusalem ring with the sounds of joy,
song, merriment, and delight – the voice of the groom and the voice of
the bride, the happy shouts of their friends and companions.
B’shalom,
Rabbi Jack
Scroll down for last quarter’s reading list.
Last quarter’s reading list, with highlights denoted by an asterisk*
Petty Business* – Yirmi Pinkus, tr. Evan Fallenberg and Yardenne Greenspan
With Roots in Heaven – Tirzah Firestone
Maybe You Will Survive – Aron Goldfarb and Graham Diamond
The Conversion of Chaplain Cohen – Herbert Tarr
The Abandoned Book and Other Yiddish Stories – ed. Eitan Krensky
The Jewish Wife and Other Short Plays – Bertolt Brecht, tr. Eric Bentley
The Silver Candelabra and Other Stories: A Century of Jewish Argentine Literature – ed. Rita Gardiol
The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud – Jeffrey Rubenstein
Last Bullet Calls It – Amir Gutfreund, tr. Evan Fallenberg and Yardenne Greenspan
Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream – Michael Shnayerson
Burnt Pearls: Ghetto Poems – Abraham Sutzkever, tr. Seymour Mayne
Responsa in War Time – Division of Religious Activities National Jewish Welfare Board
Apiqoros: The Last Essays of Salomon Maimon – tr. Timothy Sean Quinn
The Greatest Story Ever Sold – A Considered and Whimsical Illumination
of the Really Good Parts of the Holy Writ – Reed Martin and Austin
Tichenor
The Modern Family and Jewish Law – ed. Walter Jacob
Oreo* – Fran Ross (If you are the person who suggested this book to me, I am very grateful to you)
Genesis – Bill Moyers
The Beijing Haggadah* – created by Leon Fenster
Sage Tales: Wisdom and Wonder from the Rabbis of the Talmud* – Burton Visotzky
On Cosmic Religion and Other Opinions and Aphorisms – Albert Einstein
Tel Aviv Noir – ed. Etgar Keret and Assaf Gavron, tr. Yardenne Greenspan
Stanley Kubrick: American Filmmaker – David Mikics
