Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

covid-19

A Lovely Summer Outside: A Photo Blog

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AARC whole heartedly made some lemonade out of lemons this summer spending lots of time outdoors together after a long time physically apart during the COVID-19 pandemic. It took a little more planning, but we were able to find ways to congregate safely together to observe Shabbat, celebrate holidays, gather for social events, and religious school. Enjoy the photo blog today, and re-live the lovely times spent outdoors!

Outdoor Shabbat Services

Tashlich at Mallet’s Creek

Photo Credit: Emily Eisbruch

Annual Summer Picnic

Youth High Holiday Services in the Courtyard of the UU

photo credit: Aaron Jackson

Sukkot at Carole’s Farm on Jennings

Beit Sefer Field Trip to The Farm Sanctuary Animal Rescue

Shavuot Blintz Party!

photo credit: Cara Spindler

If you have some photos you would like to share, send them my way and I will add them to this blog post! Email aarcgillian@gmail.com

Capturing Learnings as the AARC enters the High Holiday Season

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Written by Rebecca Kanner and Emily Eisbruch for the Washtenaw Jewish News

Hybrid Shabbat, July 2021

Lots changed during the COVID 19 pandemic, including, for many of us, how we worshiped and how we socialized.  What a joy to experience the happy reconnections in the summer of 2021, as vaccines enabled the resumption of many in-person events.  Now, on the brink of the New Year 5782, the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation (AARC) is taking stock of lessons learned during the pandemic and taking steps to capture and continue some of the positive innovations.

Aziza celebrating Tu B’Shvat

As one example, the pandemic inspired an increase in creative outdoor activities for the AARC Beit Sefer (religious school).  A Tu B’Shvat program centered on Ann Arbor’s champion trees and a bike/hike relay experience connecting Beit Sefer families are two examples.  “The healthy connection with the outdoors, and focus on Jewish environmental education is an emphasis we plan to continue,”  says Beit Sefer director Clare Kinberg. “For the upcoming school year we have plans for a monthly Beit Sefer program at The Farm on Jennings, a farm providing a diverse selection of certified naturally grown produce and flowers, owned and operated by AARC member Carole Caplan.”    

At the congregational worship level, we recently invested in state-of-the-art equipment to deliver hybrid worship experiences that are meaningful both for in-person and online participants.  According to Seth Kopald, who is a Board member and part of the AARC’s Tech Committee, “We bought quality equipment so everyone will hear and see things clearly, and hopefully it will help those on Zoom engage on a deeper level. We really want people to feel a part of the services and other events. We are together even when we are apart.”  In July, the AARC was pleased to convene an outdoor Kabbalat Shabbat service and to kick off using the new sound system, with the event streamed live on Facebook.  

In another innovation, color-coded name tags (using green, yellow or red circle stickers) were offered for those in-person at the July Kabbalat Shabbat. The colorful stickers were applied on name tags to indicate an individual’s comfort with hugs versus handshakes versus socially distanced smiles.  The stickers provide an easy mechanism for people to signal their level of readiness (or not) for friendly physical connection.   The congregation will decide whether to continue offering the stickers moving forward. 

Mishpocha groups, formed during COVID to facilitate AARC members keeping in touch, have proved highly successful.   AARC members serve as hosts for small groups that meet weekly or biweekly on Zoom, providing a cohort for check-in, support, and even sometimes for sharing music, poetry and short stories.  The friendships and new bonds continue as we emerge from the pandemic, and the Zoom check-ins may also continue.

Here’s a friendly reminder that High Holiday services are a great time to check out the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation. Our live-streamed services are open to all.   For more details, we invite you to visit the AARC website at https://aarecon.org/ or reach out to Gillian Jackson at aarcgillian@gmail.com. 

To see this article in the September 2021 Washtenaw Jewish News, scroll to Page 8 here.
https://washtenawjewishnews.org/PDFs/WJN-09-21-web.pdf

Passover Recap 5781!

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A Month of Passover Workshops

By Gillian Jackson

Our congregation came prepared this year to make the best of the second Passover holiday during the pandemic. It was a true community effort, with a month of member-led enlightening workshops scheduled in an effort to support a meaningful holiday.

The month started off with a create-your-own-Haggadah workshop with Debbie Zivan and Deb Kraus. Once everyone had a chance to start building their own Haggadah, Sharon Haar and Patti Smith led a class that provided useful tips for navigating Zoom seders. Leading up to Passover, Idelle Hammond-Sass and Carol Levin led congregants in a reflection on the idea of dayenu, or ‘enoughness,’ using art-making as a tool of exploration. Days before Passover, Rabbi Ora taught participants about the meaning and ritual for getting rid of chametz, with a special pizza-making workshop following the lesson. The holiday wrapped up with a ‘Songs of Freedom’ musical hour with Laurie White and Paul Resnick.

It is a blessing that our congregation was able to make use of the myriad talents that our membership embodies. Thank you so much to all of our Passover volunteer workshop leaders. Our community is grateful to you!

Beit Sefer’s Locally Sourced Seder Plate Symbol Search

By Clare Kinberg, director of the Beit Sefer
Photo of locally-sourced seder plate items: Photo Credit Clare Kinberg

Our AARC Beit Sefer students learned this year that the symbols on a seder plate, plus the matzah and grape juice/wine, are not only props to assist the drama of telling the story of the Exodus. Like everything we eat and use, the seder plate symbols come from somewhere and are made by someone. They symbols themselves can express our values such as regard for the environment. Combining this value with the school’s effort to get the kids outside, I devised a “Locally-Sourced Seder Symbol Search.” The requirement was for each seder plate symbol to be made in Michigan, and we succeeded: 

  • Matzah: Homemade by Rosh Clare from whole wheat flour grown in Grand Traverse and milled at Zingerman’s Bakehouse
  • Horseradish: Grown at The Farm on Jennings and dug by the Ullmann/McLane family.
  • Apples for Charoset: Grown organically in Michigan contributed by Moreh Mirel.
  • Eggs: Lain in Ann Arbor on the Brenden and Diana Hayden Farms, and picked up by Brenna and Jack.
  • Sparkling White Grape Juice: Produced and bottled in Paw Paw, and contributed by the Spindler/Nelson family.
  • Greens and Parsley: Grown in Michigan and contributed by the Ball, Dieve, and Levin/Passey families.
  • For the shankbone, I introduced my own tradition of using a Hamsa, the Jewish and Muslim hand of protection.

Rabbi Ora hosts Nachamu (Comfort Us): A Havdalah and Healing Service for the End of Av

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Saturday, August 15, 8-9:15pm via Zoom

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2681450128798066
Karov, by Batya Levine

On Saturday, August 15th, at 8:00pm, we will come together as a community to hold one another in our grief, sadness, and hope. Nachamu (Comfort Us): A Havdalah and Healing Service for the End of Av is an opportunity to put down all we’ve been carrying the last few months and give voice to our experiences.

The healing service will be a mix of meditation, singing, and opportunities to share one-on-one. We’ll conclude with a havdalah that will move us from the emptiness and loss that the Hebrew month of Av commemorates into the powerful call to introspection of the month of Elul.

A zoom link will be sent out the week of August 10th. If you are not on our mailing list and would like to attend, email us for the link.

A prayer for healing:

God of consolation,
Surely you count in heaven,
Just as we count here on earth,
In shock and in sorrow,
The souls sent back to You,
One-by-one,
The dead from the COVID pandemic,
As the ones become tens,
The tens become hundreds,
The hundreds become thousands,
The thousands become ten-thousands
And then hundred-thousands,
Each soul, a heartbreak,
Each soul, a life denied.

God of wisdom,
Surely in the halls of divine justice
You are assembling the courts,
Calling witnesses to testify,
To proclaim
The compassion of some
And the callousness of others
As we’ve struggled to cope.
The souls taken too soon,
Whose funerals were lonely,
Who didn’t need to die,
Who died alone,
Will tell their stories
When You judge
Our triumphs
And our failures
In these hours of need.

God of healing,
Put an end to this pandemic,
And all illness and disease.
Bless those who stand in service to humanity.
Bless those who grieve.
Bless the dead,
So that their souls are bound up in the bond of life eternal.
And grant those still afflicted
With disease or trauma
A completed and lasting healing,
One-by-one,
Until suffering ceases,
And we can stop counting the dead,
In heaven
And on earth.

The prayer above, entitled “One-by-One: A Prayer as the COVID Death Toll Mounts,” is by Alden Solovy, liturgist, poet, and teacher. He is the author of Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. © 2020 Alden Solovy and www.tobendlight.com. Reproduced with permission.

Visit Another Congregation Online for this Saturday Morning’s Shabbat Services

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As is customary, AARC will not host Saturday morning Shabbat services this weekend while Rabbi Ora on break. However, since we are not limited by physical location during this pandemic, we can visit other congregations to honor Shabbat. Please enjoy this list of possibilities and let us know afterward how it went!

The following congregations (all in our time zone!) will hold services this Saturday morning:

We hope these opportunities pique your interest! AARC Saturday services will return on August 8th. In the mean time, we look forward to seeing you on July 24th at Friday evening Shabbat services with guest host Etta Heisler.

Yemenite family reading from the Psalms on Shabbat after lunch.

AARC To Co-Host Rabbi Arik Ascherman Lecture on “The Challenges For Torat Tzedek”

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Co-written by Gillian Jackson and Martha Kransdorf.

On Thursday, May 14th at 1pm, Rabbi Arik Ascherman will give an online lecture about the work of the Israeli human rights organization Torah Tzedek and social justice in Israel in the context of the Coronavirus pandemic. AARC will co-host the event, along with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor, Beth Israel Congregation’s Social Action Committee, the Jewish Cultural Society, Pardes Hanna, and Temple Beth Emeth’s Social Action Committee.

AARC’s Martha Kransdorf has been instrumental in the organization of this event. Martha urges AARC members to sign up on the JCC’s website to reserve a spot for the lecture.

Rabbi Ascherman was scheduled to visit us in late March but like so many, had to cancel his trip. We hope to reschedule his in-person appearance at some point in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, we are lucky to be able to hear his perspective on the current complex developments in Israel. Perhaps you have had a chance to hear and learn from Rabbi Ascherman during previous visits; perhaps this will be your first time. Whatever the case, we are certain you will find him to be an inspirational speaker, particularly in his insistence that peace and human rights are achievable.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Beit Sefer B’Aviv B’Yachad באביב ביחד Sunday Relay

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This Sunday, Beit Sefer students participated in a social distancing relay, B’Aviv B’Yachad (Spring Together!), that symbolized our ancestors’ journey through the desert. Education scholar and Beit Sefer teacher Shlomit Cohen created the relay journey with the goals of involving every family, celebrating Spring, and challenging the students (and their families) – all while observing social distancing requirements!

The race began with one family traveling by foot, bicycle, car or wing (?!?) to another family’s home. In front of that home, the traveling family took a photo of themselves and sent it to the group of Beit Sefer students. The arrival of the photo acted as the “baton,” prompting the family whose home was pictured in the photo to set out for the next household. Beit Sefer families are located in a long string between Ypsilanti Township and Chelsea, but the distance from one home to the next was easily manageable. School Director Clare Kinberg separately carried a replica tablet of the Ten Commandments to each household.

Please enjoy photos from each stop below. It was a joy to watch the photos come in over the morning and see the smiling faces in our beloved community.

Does this post inspire you to join Beit Sefer for next year? If so, please check out our religious school’s website!

First stop at the Pritchards’!
Zander and Eleanor thought it was a great day for a bike ride to stop number three.
Stop number three was a surprise!
Cara made scones and then got the sillies.
The Feinbergs were prepared for us!
Lovely to see Ava and Noah, Aaron and Erika on this spring day.
Thanks to Shlomit for planning the whole thing!
After Shlomit, we got to see Marcy’s Spring flowers.
Next stop, Aaron’s house.
Miles got his picture taken and hopped on his bike.
Next stop, Sappho and Bass.
Onward to Jack and Brenna.
Time for a socially distanced group pic.
Next stop Meadows!
We made it to the edge of town – hey, Sam and Joey!
Last stop, Wes and Wade!

AARC Resilience Apparent in Virtual Seders!

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Jews have a long history of taking rough stones and polishing them into jewels. At one of our recent virtual check-ins, Rabbi Ora mentioned our collective tendency to manifest reliance, selected for by generations of adversity. This trait is much in evidence this Passover!

Leora Druckman’s virtual seder table

The weeks leading up to Passover were marked with not-so-subtle correlations: the scarcity of wheat, the presence of plague, etc. … But in true Reconstructionist style, we used what we had and produced seders that were gems of both levity and gratitude – and virtual ingenuity! Please enjoy these AARC members’ reflections on their seders:

“For what it’s worth, I actually quite liked it a lot. It should’ve felt cold, I suppose, but for some reason it felt extra special to see everyone do extra work to still make it happen, but also by making sure to connect with each other online against the quarantining in these times. That meant a lot for so many and was not taken for granted. It felt like it reaffirmed relationships, values, our holiday … It felt like that extra special desire to still connect and meet anyway we could, was also in our kids. This Pesach really held extra special meaning none of us could’ve ever appreciated on such a level before.”

– Mark Dieve

“It was nice to talk with family we don’t normally get to see this time of year. I took a pic of our table from the angle of the camera before we sat down.”

– Amie Ritchie

“I shared flowers (via Carole Caplan) and food with several people who usually attend our seder. Two of the three chose to attend other seders – so it was just my brother’s family and my mother sharing ours. That’s good because it took us 20 minutes to connect via Google Meet – chosen because it gave my 85 year old mother closed captions.

“Food deliveries included flowers, matzah ball soup, salads, charoset, chicken dinner ready for the oven, and all the fixings for my mother’s seder plate. She made us brisket. We did a physical distanced food exchange and visited in the sunshine with her for a bit. She was very grateful to have a seder with us.

“The computer was placed at the far end of the Seder Table.”

– Carol Lessure
Carol Lessure’s seder plate delivery package!
Carol Lessure’s seder table
Carol Lessure’s flower delivery via Carole Caplan

“The Eisbruch family enjoyed being able to join with family members and friends in time zones from Israel to California. That was a very special treat.”

– Emily Eisbruch
Deb Kraus’s cat drinking from Miriam’s cup (on cue)

So many members were able to make the most of the day and find ways to share in the depth and joy of the seder in unique and meaningful ways. How was your virtual Passover? Please share in the comments!

New COVID-19 page on website with updates and resources

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By Mark Schneyer

AARC’s website now features a page on pandemic-related issues for the benefit of our community. It includes:

  • The latest updates on how we are shifting services and programming online and how you can participate;
  • Links to resources to get or give help in our community; and
  • A cumulative and continually updated list of Rabbi Ora’s links to music, meditation, chanting, and rituals, as shared in her emails.

The page can be reached from the menu throughout the site and directly at https://aarecon.org/covid-19-information-resources/. I hope you’ll check it out soon and continue to seek it out whenever you need it during this challenging time.