]]> http://www.templeemanuelnj.com/2011/12/december-2011-service-schedule/feed/ 0 http://www.templeemanuelnj.com/2011/12/519/ http://www.templeemanuelnj.com/2011/12/519/#comments Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:20:04 +0000 Susan Levin-Barclay http://www.templeemanuelnj.com/?p=519 …

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One of the easiest holidays to enjoy is Hanukah, because it is so secular, so ecumenical, so undemanding. Take a few mo-ments each evening for eight nights to light the Hanukkah (Menorah), sing some songs, and for the rest of the time you can just go about your regular business.  No changing dishes and pots and pans. No fasting. No 6-hour services. No all-night Seder. A winter wonderland that invites decorating or not, gifting or not, cooking and baking and entertaining or not, to your heart’s content.  On the other hand, one of the most difficult of Jewish red-letter days to celebrate is Hanukkah, because it expects of you to believe in a jug of olive oil that did not stop burning for 8 days. It expects you to believe that a rag-tag army of untrain-ed, ill-armed volunteers could overwhelm and drive out a disciplined professional army equipped with the weapons of mass destruction of that time. It expects that you believe that a small minority of Jews devoted to religious studies and keeping kosher, Sabbath and circumci-sion, prevailed over an over-whelming majority of Jews more than happy to give up berit milah and Talmud Torah, Shabbat and monotheism. What enlightened 21st-century Ameri-can Jew can believe in such far-fetched, once-in-history excep-tions to the laws of nature?  Hanukkah celebrates miracles, but they need not violate the laws of nature. Jews are expected to believe in miracles that we experience day and night. In each of our services, in the very spot where we insert “Al ha-nissim” for Hanukah and Purim and Israel’s Independence, we recite “Modim anaHnu lakh,” thanking the Eternal One for wonderful & amazing bles-sings that we enjoy “every day, evening and morning and afternoon.”   Think about it: Do you believe that being able to see and hear and taste and smell and enjoy tactile sensations is wonderful? Do you believe that respiratory and circulatory and reproductive and digestive systems that work for most people most of the time, are amazing? Do you believe that living and loving and learning are fantastic gifts? If you are thankful for all these every day miracles, then celebrate the miracles we witness now as much as long ago, here no less than far away.

Happy Hanukkah!

Rabbi Clifford B. Miller

Todah Rabbah
(thank you)!

Mazal Tov!

Temple Emanu-El
735 Kennedy Blvd. • Bayonne, NJ 07002.

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We value your loyalty & support over the years, and apologize for the need for this decision. Sadly, it is a sign of the times. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Temple Emanu-El Staff