Parashat Mikketz (Genesis 41:1-44:17)

Reflections on Chanukah – Rabbi Andy Vogel

Tonight, the sixth night of Chanukah, we perform a new ritual, lighting the “Ner Shel Tzedakah,” the candle of tzedakah.  In recent years Reform Jews created a special blessing for the 6th candle of Chanukah, and focused poverty awareness on this 6th night of the holiday.  After lighting the 6th candle, and adding another blessing (see below), we sit down with family members (especially children) to give tzedakah to those in need, with direct financial gifts to organizations that fight hunger, house the homeless, or work to alleviate poverty in our country.  Also, some Reform Jews now deliver gifts on the 6th night of Chanukah to children whose family’s cannot afford gifts (whether those children celebrate Chanukah or not).   This is an opportunity to teach children about the mitzvah of tzedakah, and remember the good fortune that is ours, our gift of being free to celebrate our religious tradition in this country of great affluence and wealth, which needs to reach all its citizens.

On this 6th night of Chanukah, I strongly encourage you to recite this additional blessing for the “Ner Shel Tzedakah” in your home, and open your heart with generosity and give tzedakah. I wish you and your family a very happy Chanukah!

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel 

Sinai Update – Week of December 10-16, 2006

Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 37:1-40:21)

Reflections on the Jewish Calendar – Rabbi Andy Vogel

The first candle of Chanukah is lit this Friday, December 15, and this year as I think about the message of the holiday, I am especially moved by the words from the prophet Zechariah, which are read as the Haftarah reading during Chanukah:  “Not by might, and not by power, but by My spirit alone, says God…” (Zechariah 4:6). Although Chanukah is originally a holiday celebrating the militarism of the Maccabees, future generations of rabbis emphasized that it is not military might or force that are the saving “power” of the Jewish people, but rather our spirituality and our spiritual resources that give our people its “power.”  We Jews are meant to define “might” and “strength” beyond the standard physical or military definitions.  Finding our spiritual connections to the One God of the universe is the essence what it means to be a Jew.

As you light your Chanukah candles this year, I invite you to consider what the spiritual power of Judaism holds in store for you.  Where can you gain strength from our unique religious perspective as Reform Jews?  What kinds of Jewish spiritual behavior, values, and acts can enrich your life as a Jew?  How can the spiritual power of being part of a religious community, like our synagogue community, bring to fruition your own vision of our world repaired?

My family and I wish you a wonderful Festival of Lights!

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel

Sinai Update – Week of December 3, 2006 – December 9, 2006

Parashat Vayishlach  (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Reflections on Jewish Values & Tikkun Olam – Rabbi Andy Vogel

This week in Boston, the temperature began to drop and winter seems to have arrived.  The temperature read 28° F as I arrived at the Temple this morning.  But we shouldn’t be fooled; global warming continues on a macro-scale.  We might be tempted during this first cold spell to crank up the heat in our homes and workplaces, but as Jews, we should remember the obligation alluded to in Genesis 2:15, which states that “human beings were put in the Garden of Eden to till and to tend it,” our obligation to care for the earth and its environment.  This winter, we must careful about how much energy we consume and its effect on global warming.

The Reform movement’s rabbinic organization recently overwhelmingly affirmed that Reform Jews should “promote and provide resources to conduct energy audits of private homes and communal facilities, including synagogues, schools, community centers and commercial buildings and to promote eco-friendly purchasing.”  (CCAR Resolution on Climate Change, March 2005)  As the holiday of light, Chanukah, nears, the Reform movement has begun a campaign called “How Many Jews Does It Take to Screw In a Lightbulb”, urging us to replace standard lightbulbs in our homes and workplaces with the more efficient CFL bulbs (compact fluorescent light bulbs), which consume far less energy.  (Click to www.coejl.org/climatechange/cc_cfl.php for more information.)  Replacing light bulbs is one small, concrete step – just one – we must take to protect our planet and its environment as a cold Massachusetts winter approaches.  We Reform Jews can certainly embrace this mitzvah, as an obligation upon ourselves.

            - Rabbi Andy Vogel