This evening, Monday, April 20, at 7:00 PM, we will gather online using Zoom for a Yom HaShoah v’HaGevurah Memorial Service to honor those who perished in the Holocaust and those who perished in the struggle against the Holocaust. Our siddur will be available online as it is during Shabbat services. It would be appropriate for you to have a small candle available (if safely possible) for this service.
Shalom, Mike Peckman
*NOTE: If the link above doesn’t work for you then you don’t have access to our PRIVATE congregation Facebook page and would need that for access. If you have Facebook and are a member of the congregation then I can help get you access. Just email us here and we will make sure that you get the Zoom instructions to join us!
Join us at the synagogue on Saturday morning, October 27, 2018, at 9:00 AM for services and then stay for the Alef Beats a cappella performance from 10:45 to 11:30 AM. We’ll end with a festive Kiddush/social time in the vestry/lower level. All are welcome. Of course, it’s Shabbat, there is no charge. We’re part of Greater Boston JArts Arts Matter Shabbat programming. More here.
Coming from Brown/RISD Hillel, the Alef Beats perform for us every couple of years and it’s always great to have their musical presence and energy enliven our community. Learn more about them by clicking here. Their repertoire contains some contemporary Israeli songs in Hebrew, a Yiddish classic or two and some recent American offerings.
One featured song for this visit by the Alef Beats is “There Must Be Another Way” which was the Israeli entry to the 2009 Eurovision music contest with Israeli musical artists Noa (Jewish) and Mira Awad (Muslim). The lyrics are in Hebrew, Arabic and English (English translation below the video).
The lyrics “speak” for themselves:
There Must Be Another Way
There must be another
Must be another way
Your eyes, sister
Say all that my heart desires
So far, we’ve gone
A long way, a very difficult way, hand in hand
And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the next day to come
There must be another way
There must be another way
Your eyes say
A day will come and all fear will disappear
In your eyes a determination
That there is a possibility
To carry on the way
As long as it may take
For there is no single address for sorrow
I call out to the plains
To the stubborn heavens
There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way
We will go a long way
A very difficult way
Together to the light
Your eyes say
All fear will disappear
And when I cry, I cry for both of us
My pain has no name
And when I cry, I cry
To the merciless sky and say
There must be another way
And the tears fall, pour in vain
A pain with no name
We wait
Only for the day to come
There must be another way
There must be another way
There must be another
Must be another way
Sweet song by Jane Bordeaux. Part of the ongoing project to document popular Israeli music of many varieties across the 70 years since the founding of the State of Israel in May 1948. An approximate Hebrew-to-English translation from Google Translate appears below the video, with some emendations to render the ideas understandably.
If there is somewhere far away
A small quiet oasis
Even a veranda of wood
And she was busy there.
La la la…
If there is somewhere far away,
And even if there are thousands of horses,
Grandmother to her granddaughter
We will sing a song louder than their thundering noise.
La la la…
Because then I’ll fly there
One evening
And we’ll be together again
Counting the stars
The day before Yom HaAtzma’ut – Israeli Independence Day – is Yom HaZikaron– Israeli Remembrance Day. The Knesset(parliament) in Israel officially designated this as “Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism.”
In 2016, Yom HaZikaron begins at sunset on Tuesday May 10th.
Appropriate observances include relevant readings during services and study of Israel’s history and the sacrifices made by so many. One might light a Yahrzeit candle, recite El Maleh Rahamimand also, with a Minyan, Mourner’s Kaddish.
The highlighted terms above include links to www.myjewishlearning.com – a great site for information about all facets of Jewish life, religion, peoplehood, history and Israel.
Here from 2015 is a poignant, personal teaching about Yom HaZikaron.
The Israeli Bureau of Statistics published its annual population survey just before Rosh Hashanah last week. Read all about it here. Why?
To acquire perspective and to remain informed. News from Israel comes at us “fast and furious” especially when tensions in the area rise. Basic facts can come in handy.
May we see peace in Israel and around the world in our own day – and soon.
Congregation Agudath Achim 