Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation
I started Sunday off with a nasty argument with Jon, my life partner, over something relatively unimportant. We were coping with daylight savings time, a mysterious rash on the face of our eldest son, while the younger one was late for religious school. I was trying to get us out the door because I planned to attend a Sunday morning text study. So I left in a huff, not feeling very kindly towards Jon. [Read more…] about Rebukes and Sacred Disagreements
Are we reading the Megillah/Scroll of Esther? Yes! This year, the AARC will be reading the Megillah, the scroll of Esther, during the 4th Friday Shabbat service, on March 25 beginning at 6:30 pm. Rabbi Michael Strassfeld will lead us in Shabbat songs and members of the congregation and the rabbi will chant and read an abbreviated version of the Whole Megillah, primarily in English. You won’t want to miss being part of the beautiful, creative and fun costumes of kids, members and service leaders alike. Plus you will be thrilled by the Band’s scoring of the evening.
Will there be a Tot Shabbat beforehand like usual? Yes! There will be a Tot Shabbat from 5:45 to 6:15 preceding the service.
Will we have a potluck afterward service? Yes, but with a Purim twist! We’ll be serving Middle Eastern food, and we need you to bring salads, some little kid friendly dishes, and desserts! Nutfree, please. Potluck at 8 pm.
Will there be a Purimshpiel? A special addition to the evening will be “All the World’s a Stage” a brief, family-friendly Purimshpiel (play) presented during the potluck dinner by the post-Bnei Mitzvah group while we munch away on home-made hamantaschen.
Speaking of Hamantaschen…. You can make them at home, or join the baking fun at the Lessure/Engelbert’s on March 19, 3-6pm. Get the full deal here and rsvp.
Should I come in costume? Yes! Not required of course, but so much fun. Need ideas? See Rachel’s blog on that!
What should I bring? Come, one and all. Bring a friend, a generously portioned vegetarian, nut-free, potluck dish (salad, kid-friendly main dish, or dessert), come in costume or grab a mask at the JCC, come ready to laugh and sing. Come for the service, stay for the Purimshpiel.
Should I bring the household items I have bought for the Welcome baskets? Yes! Read about it here. Sign up here.
Is this evening appropriate for young children? This family friendly service will be fun, entertaining, less formal, and certainly more noisy than a traditional Friday night service. That said, it is great if parents remain mindful of their children’s participation during the service, the potluck and the Purimshpiel. Please let me know (ckinberg@gmail.com) if your kids need childcare or pizza before the service.
March 25 to 26 is our year’s last Shabbaton with Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, who has visited us from New York and led terrific services and events. He and we will be busy this last weekend: Our Fourth Friday March 25 will be our community’s Purim celebration–Megillah reading, dinner theatre, shtick, etc. More details here and here. Please join us!
For March 26, we’ll focus on Shabbat. At 3 pm, Rabbi Michael will lead text study on the topic of the “Just City.”
He writes: “What makes for a ‘just city’ according to Jewish tradition? What is the overall responsibility of its citizens to those who are in need? Is there a limit to that responsibility? How do you balance legitimate self-interest with helping the poor? How do you navigate endless needs and issues of fraud? What institutions are necessary for a just city? We will look at rabbinical and biblical texts to help us explore these questions.”
And we’ll conclude with a Mincha service at 4 pm (sharp — it’s a short service), followed by seudah shlishit (shabbat snack). Rabbi Michael, Erica Ackerman, and Debbie Zivan will read Torah. All are welcome, at the JCC. PLEASE RSVP, here. (We need to make minyan, and estimate food.)
Please join us for this discussion, and to say farewell to Rabbi Michael and thank him for his time with us.
With Purim fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about costume Dos and Don’ts! Friday March 25 Megillah/Scroll of Esther reading at the JCC is an all-family costume affair. Here are some tips to get ready for the festivities:
We are happy to welcome rabbi-candidate Shelley Goldman for a Shabbaton on March 11-13 — this coming weekend!
This is an excellent opportunity to get to know Shelley better and to show her, and her partner Kieran Kiley, all that our community has to offer. Non-members are very welcome, but we particularly urge members to come to at least one event.
There are five open-to-all events scheduled for the weekend. In order to facilitate planning and set up, we ask that you RSVP to let us know which of these events you will attend. The link is here. In fact, if you’re an AARC member, there’s a column in the RSVP to let us know you’re not coming to anything.
1. Friday, 5:45-6:15 pm: Tot Shabbat, with preschoolers and their parents, JCC
2. Friday, 6:30 pm: Kabbalat Shabbat and Potluck, JCC
3. Saturday, 10:00 am – 12 Noon: Shabbat Morning service (with Torah service), JCC
4. Saturday, 7:00 – 8:30 pm: Family-friendly Havdalah with wine & desserts (provided by AARC) at the home of Caroline Richardson and Paul Resnick. (If you don’t have trouble walking, please park in the VA parking lot across the street and 50 yards to the west.)
5. Sunday, 10:30 – 11:30 am: Adult learning session on “Love Your Neighbor As Yourself: The Art of Tochecha (Rebuke),” JCC
Here is what our hard-working rabbinic search committee said about Shelley in their letter of February 12:
“After graduating from Oberlin in 2003, she worked in social justice and community organizing jobs for several years at a number of organizations, including Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and the LGBT Community Center in New York. Since enrolling at RRC in 2010, Shelley has worked as a rabbinic intern and student rabbi at a number of congregations, while continuing to do human rights and organizing work. She also has found time to study the leadership of sacred chant with Rabbi Shefa Gold. In the encounters we have had, and in our conversations with those who have worked with her, we have found Shelley’s combination of activism, intellectualism, and spirituality extremely impressive, and we were taken by her thoughtfulness and maturity.”
This is an exciting time of change for AARC and we need the enthusiastic participation of the whole community to make the weekend a success. We hope that each member will attend at least one of the events; the search committee and Board will be asking for your feedback in the days that follow.
B’Shalom
Margo Schlanger and Debbie Field
AARC Board Chairs
Once upon a time, my friend Beth–a charming book club hostess–served this dish for dinner on a cold winter evening, and I went nuts for it. I think of barley as a wonderful hearty and healthy grain, but it’s rarely served except as part of a beef barley soup. Barley has a rich nutlike flavor and an appealing chewy, pasta-like consistency. It’s quite versatile; you can use it as a breakfast cereal, as a substitute for rice in pilafs and risottos, in cold salads, and in hot soups and stews. Or in this casserole-like dish.
Beth said she loves serving this dish which she found in a very old, dog-eared cookbook; the kids eat it, it’s healthy with barley and lots of veggies, but it tastes like lasagna. What’s not to love about that? You can use whatever combination of veggies suits your fancy or your leftovers. You just need approximately 10 cups of chopped vegetables in all. If you have bits of different vegetables leftover in the refrigerator or freezer, this recipe is perfect for cleaning them up.
As I mentioned I went a little nuts for this dish, and have made many variations. Here are some versions:
The Veggie Barley Bake Formula
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 average carrots, sliced
- 9 – 10 cups chopped frozen or fresh vegetables
- 3/4 cup barley
- 15 oz frozen stewed tomatoes, thawed + ½ cup water *or* 1 1/2 cups tomato broth *or* 15 oz can of diced tomatoes plus a little water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat oil in large heavy skillet and sauté garlic and onion until softened, 3 -5 minutes. Add remaining vegetables and sauté, stirring a few times, for 5 minutes. If using all fresh vegetables, may want to add a little cooking time here, maybe 3 extra minutes. Add barley, tomatoes/tomato broth, and seasonings; bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Transfer contents of the skillet to a shallow 4 quart casserole; stir in 1 cup of the cheese. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Veggies and barley should be tender. If not, cover and cook longer. Top casserole with remaining cup of shredded cheese if desired and return to oven uncovered for about 10 minutes.
More reasons to love barley: It’s good for you! It’s tasty! It’s full of fiber and nutrients! It can be used to make beer! Nice place to read up on barley’s health benefits is here.
AARC Beit Sefer teacher Sharon Alvandi is a student in the UMich Jewish Communal Leadership Program, and an intern at Jewish Family Service learning to work with refugee families. Sharon has been very inspired by our AARC congregation, particularly the ways that the Beit Sefer students, parents and other community members come together to share learning and activities, investing in the character of the children. Through her work with JFS, Sharon is organizing a way for us to practice the mitzvot of Purim, giving gifts of tasty treats to one another/mishloach manot, and gifts to the poor/mattanot le-evyonim (for more about how these two mitzvot are related see this). Sharon writes:
There are many reasons to celebrate Purim and sort through a narrative that’s truly unlike any other in Jewish scripture. On Purim- the holiday of “lots”- we celebrate more than simply the idea of chance. When we listen to Esther’s story, we collectively celebrate character, resolve, and integrity. By presenting her true self–her Jewish self–to king Ahasuerus to appeal for the fate of the Jewish people of Shushan (present day Susa, Iran), Esther is a model of advocacy for herself and others. As a developing social worker, this story helps me think about what it takes to act in a way that integrates all parts of who I am.
Purim also commemorates what it means to survive genocide or the threat of genocide. Each day when I work at JFS, I have the opportunity to observe the strength of character of the clients and the meticulous work of the case managers to serve a community of refugees in making the best choices in their first days in the U.S.
JFS has resettled over 350 refugees since 2009. Countries range from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iran, Syria, and Burma. JFS is set to resettle 150 individuals by October 1, 2016. AARC can help with the resettlement of families by joining with JFS to assemble and donate Welcome Baskets for refugee families in Washtenaw County. We can do more than discuss violence that is taking place abroad. We can welcome those in our community who have found refuge in a new place. This Purim, we can help make a space of comfort for their true selves.
Sharon has put together a list of personal care and household items the new families need upon arrival to set up their new homes. Check with this registry to see what is needed. We ask that you buy these items new and when you have, check off the registry. We will assemble the Welcome Baskets some time during the Purim Shabbaton March 25-27.
Purim is a joyous, chaotic and raucous holiday. In this Jewish leap year, there are two months of Adar (I and II) and we celebrate Purim in Adar II. This year that will be in late March. Even in leap years, Purim is followed one month later by Passover (they both occur on the full moon).
Purim is a harbinger of spring. Like spring holidays celebrated in other cultures and religions–the Hindu celebration of Holi, Carnivale in Brazil and the Caribbean and Mardi Gras in New Orleans for examples–the elation over the departure of winter and the rebirth of the Earth is intoxicating. And Purim is clearly a holiday to be observed in the millennium, where identifying the difference between good and evil is at times totally challenging.
So MARK YOUR CALENDARS! The AARC brings you a smorgasbord of preparatory events leading up to our Purim observance, which will culminate with Rabbi Michael Strassfeld joining us for the 4th Friday in March. Stay tuned for RSVP details!
Have an idea of how to add to the fun? Contact Dina Kurz [dinakurz@gmail.com] (on behalf of the Purim Planning Committee) if you want to add an event (such as baking, costume or mask workshop, sangria making, etc.) to increase the merriment in advance of March 25.
Links to Purim last year here and here.
Renewed thanks to Idelle Hammond-Sass for donating her time and creativity to make AARC’s yad, and to Emily Eisbruch and Clare Kinberg for writing this article in the Washtenaw Jewish News.
