Dear Friends,<\/p>\n
I invite you to join me in honoring the memory of the\u00a0six Israeli hostages murdered in cold blood last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n Next week, beginning Sunday September 8, will be the first full week of the month of Elul.\u00a0 Genesis Chapter 1 was the Torah reading on the morning of Simchat Torah on October 7th in Israel.\u00a0 Let us dedicate each day of the week to study a portion of Bereshit Chapter 1 in memory of each of these victims; one day for each soul.<\/p>\n In my own schul<\/em>, each day between mincha and maariv I will give a teaching related to each day of creation and some biographical details about each victim on their respective day.\u00a0 Similarly, I encourage everyone to take a moment each day to study some text and to learn about each of the six hostages.\u00a0 You can follow the links below or search on your own for appropriate texts and for informatin about the hostages.<\/p>\n May we find a small measure of consolation in our grief by leaning into our undying attachment to the God, the Torah, the People, and the Land, of Israel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-5<\/a>)<\/strong> God created light. This day in honor of Ori Danino<\/a>. Ori means “my light.” The daily Ashkenazi liturgy mentions the primordial light, and asks God to shine a new light on Zion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Day 2 (Genesis 1:6-8<\/a>)<\/strong> God divided heaven from earth. This day in honor of Carmel Gat<\/a>. Carmel is a mountain in Israel where the prophet Elijah bridged heaven and earth (1 Kings 18<\/a>).<\/p>\n Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13<\/a>)<\/strong>\u00a0God separated the dry land from the sea. This day in honor of Hersh Goldberg-Polin<\/a>, the dual US-Israeli citizen who united hearts and souls in both lands, across the ocean.<\/p>\n Day 4 (Genesis 1:14-19<\/a>)\u00a0<\/strong> God created the sun and the moon and the stars. This day for Alexander Lobanov<\/a>. Alexander the Great was a philosemitic king who discussed the constellations with the Sages of Israel in the Negev desert. (bottom of Tamid 31b and following<\/a>).<\/p>\n Day 5 (Genesis 1:20-1:23<\/a>)<\/strong> God created sea life. This day for Almog Sarusi<\/a>. Almog means coral. King Solomon used Almog coralwood in the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 10<\/a>, particularly 10:11-12<\/a>)<\/p>\n Day 6 (Genesis 1:24-31)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 God created Man with dust from Jerusalem and placed him in Eden (Rashi on Genesis 2:7<\/a>). This day for Eden Yerushalmi.<\/p>\n Shabbat (Genesis 2:1-3<\/a>)<\/strong> This day in honor of all six martyred souls, and in prayer for healing and consolation for their families.<\/p>\n\n Dear Friends, I invite you to join me in honoring the memory of the\u00a0six Israeli hostages murdered in cold blood last week. Next week, beginning Sunday September 8, will be the first full week of the month of Elul.\u00a0 Genesis Chapter 1 was the Torah reading on the morning of Simchat Torah on October 7th Continue Reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":3818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,78],"tags":[],"coauthors":[147],"class_list":["post-3814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","category-modern-judaism"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t