When I spent a week at Greene Family Camp not long ago, I led a program for a bunk where we turned a prayer into a "mad lib." We changed a few words of the prayer into whatever the 5th grade girls came up with and the results were quite humorous. But when I asked if our new prayer would be a good wa7y to actually pray to God, they laughed even more. We talked about how our prayers are more than mumbo-jumbo - when we slow down and look at the words of our prayers we find that they have real meaning, but we can miss a lot if we rush right through.
I've been thinking about this as we begin to prepare for the Days of Awe, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Because it's not just our prayers that we can rush through without thinking - it's our life itself. There are many days when we seem to move from one struggle to the next and our goal is simply to keep our heads above water. There are times when we look back and ask, where did that week go? Or that summer?
The weeks ahead are an opportunity to slow down and reflect on the meaning of our lives. Unfortunately, this often gets understood as a time to beat ourselves up for our faults, so we put it off because who wants to do that? But it's actually much more positive and forward thinking, as reflected in the following conversation found in the rabbinic work, Avot de Rabbi Natan, that takes place after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem:
They beheld the Temple ruins. "Woe is us!" cried Rabbi Joshua, "that the place where the iniquities of Israel were atoned for is now laid waste!" "My son," replied Rabbi Yohanan, "do not be grieved. We have atonement as effective as this. And what is it? Acts of loving-kindness."
Atonement through sacrifice was no longer feasible after the Temple was destroyed, but our rabbis did not wallow in the past. And when we slow down to reflect on our lives we likewise do so with an eye to the future. We are encouraged to take responsibility for our actions and focus on repentance so we can make amends, cut out the negativity, and begin the New Year in a more positive light. In addition, the passage specifies acts of loving-kindness as a form of atonement, indicating that this time we should strive to reach out to others, strengthening our community and bettering our world. Loving-kindness also means showing kindness to ourselves, forgiving our own mistakes and moving forward with a sense of hope.
As we take the time to consider this past year, we do so looking ahead to new beginnings. And God willing, may the New Year be a sweet year for us, filled with health, happiness, and joy!
L'shana Tova Tikateivu!
Rabbi Charlie
News & Views
President's Letter
Friends,
On behalf of the Board of Trustees of Congregation Beth Israel I want to let you know that we are busy planning for the fall season and particularly the high Holidays. Preparations have been afoot for some time and we look forward to sharing those meaningful days together as a congregation. I am confident you will find our High Holiday services to be bother inspiring and meaningful, led as in the past by Rabbi Charlie and Guest Cantor Marta Stern. We will soon be sending you a packet of information concerning High Holidays. I would ask you to help us by returning them to the office as soon as possible.
This is also a time for us to join together as a kehilah kedoshah, a sacred community.The Days of Awe are not only of personal significance to us and our families and friends, but they are a time to think of the community as a whole.
The High Holiday period can be seen as a time to kick off more than just footballs.The High Holidays offer each of us incredible opportunities—chances not just to look at the year just past but also to prepare ourselves for the year to come.This can include a chance to be introspective regarding our lives and those of our families and friends.It can offer a fresh start in helping the many among us who are in need.We should all ask: what can we do differently, what can we do that makes a difference? Just give it some thought—perhaps donating some time, helping a congregant in need of employment, giving blood, working at a homeless shelter or a senior citizens facility.
In other words, I hope that in whatever way works for you, you will help us reach out as a community to make a difference in the year to come.Many need our help—some are your friends, neighbors and fellow congregants.As you prepare for the coming of our new year please remember that part of the mission of all congregations is to do our share to repair our world, to participate in tikkun olam.We will continue food drives and blood drives and to encourage our adult and B’nai Mitzvah age youth to stand strong in helping others in need.
I look forward to us continuing a dialog during High Holidays and beyond about what we can do to benefit not only the area in which we live but what we can do to help our own community—how we can simply “do the right thing.”
I hope the year to come will bring health and happiness to you and those close to you. I also hope you will find the High Holidays to be a meaningful beginning to our year at CBI and during that year we can together decide what we can do to help others.
L’shanah Tova
Howard Rosenthal
President
Announcements
Priest and rabbi will preach to each other's congregations in Colleyville
In a pulpit exchange, a priest and a rabbi will preach to each other’s congregations in Colleyville
COLLEYVILLE —The Rev. Richard Eldredge and Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker are about to trade congregations. On the last Friday of this month, Eldredge will stand in the pulpit to address worshippers at Congregation Beth Israel. Two days later, Cytron-Walker will fill Eldredge’s usual space at Good Shepherd Catholic Church.
Though the sermon swap will be brief, the two men hope it will have a lasting effect.
"I think it’s important for us to get synagogues and our Christian denominations to learn from each other," said Eldredge, a priest in Colleyville for a little more than a year. He tried a pulpit exchange at his previous post in the farm and ranch community of Seymour and said, "I thought it would be an interesting thing to do here, too."
The two Colleyville congregations meet about half a mile apart, and the rabbi and priest have struck up a friendship. "At times there can be a be a hostile environment for some of our members in this community," Cytron-Walker said. "It’s important for our congregation to know we are not isolated, that there are plenty of friends in the community."
The exchange follows an open forum in the spring, when Cytron-Walker and Eldredge spoke and took questions from about 300 people curious about the differences between Judaism and Christianity. "You can’t really understand Christianity without understanding the Jewishness of Jesus," Eldredge said.
Each Sunday, he preaches a passage from Hebrew Scripture — the Old Testament — as well as Christian ones in the New Testament, he said. Much of the church’s liturgy also is based on the Jewish faith, and Eldredge noted that the late Pope John Paul II referred to Jews as the "older brothers and sisters" of Christians. "Our church places a very strong emphasis on not targeting the Jewish people as a whole," Eldredge said. "We’re not out to say that all Jews are to become Christians or Catholics. We’re looking to bring down prejudicial barriers between our young people and theirs."
At the spring forum, "We really learned a lot about each other," he said. "One of the [Jewish] congregation asked me whether we [Catholics] were ever going to have women priests. I said, 'As soon as we have permission to " Eldredge do that, I’ll be the first to embrace it,’ said Eldredge. "Personally, I’m not offended, but I don’t think it’s coming. But the role of women has expanded greatly in the Catholic Church."Listeners also asked questions about why Jews do not accept Jesus as the Messiah, about differences in Jewish and Christian mourning rituals and about differing views on immortality.
Cytron-Walker said Eldredge has been a "real ally," even preaching a sermon at Good Shepherd against hostility toward Jews. "It wasn’t asked for; it wasn’t expected," Cytron-Walker said. "But he was appalled and felt compelled to speak out about the positive relationship Jews and Catholics should have, and that was wonderful."He said the spring forum was "very open with a spirit of friendliness as well as frank questions. We didn’t beat around the bush."
Though the practice of pulpit exchange between Jews and Christians is not common, it is not a new idea. An article in The New York Times on Jan. 7, 1918, told of a pulpit exchange in Carnegie Hall in which the Rev. John Holmes said that Rabbi Stephen Wise "is nearer to me in the things that count than are 999 out of every 1,000 Christian ministers." He attacked prejudice and hatred between Jews and Christians as "the death’s head — the scourge of humanity."
Eldredge said he hopes to invite an imam for a pulpit exchange. Another goal is an area day of prayer with Jews, Catholics and Protestants taking part."We’re a pluralistic society," he said. "We need to learn to love and respect each other. Star-Telegram.com, Sat., Jan. 10,2009 http://www.star-telegram.com/religion/story/1134478.html
Church and Synagogue Exchange Pulpits The Courier, Nov. 28, 2008, p. 6A
Heritage United Methodist Church of Grapevine and Congregation Beth Israel of Colleyville recently experienced a mutual pulpit and congregation exchange. The Rev. Randy Scrivener of Heritage UMC and church members were invited to worship at Congregation Beth Israel’s Friday evening Shabbat service. In turn, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker was the guest speaker at Heritage UMC at both of the church’s Sunday services. Cytron-Walker was accompanied by members of his congregation.
Rabbi Cytron-Walker said he welcomed the opportunity to recognize the similarities between the two congregations while appreciating the differences in Christian and Jewish traditions, “as it reminds us that we are connected.” Congregation Beth Israel has reached out to other churches, including an information exchange with Good Shepherd Catholic Community in Colleyville. Cytron-Walker said Good Shepherd and Congregation Beth Israel plan to have a pulpit swap in January.
Cytron-Walker said at Heritage United Methodist he spoke about the two sides of the Book of Daniel. He said regardless of the motivation, all religions encourage people to live a good life and help others. On the other hand, Cytron-Walker noted that many people facing great challenges today.Those who are able should help those in need, Cytron-Walker said, and those in need must let the community know that they need help.
More congregation exchanges are welcome, Cytron-Walker said. “It gave both our congregations a chance to experience each other’s worship style and see a different perspective,” he said. “There was real appreciation from both sides. “Although we may come from different perspectives, we can still appreciate our differences. I certainly hope we can find ways to come together, and we seek out those opportunities. It enriches our lives,” Cytron-Walker said.
It was the Rev. Scrivener’s first opportunity to preach in a synagogue service. In an article in the church’s weekly newsletter, he commented that “in a world that is so fractured along religious and ideological lines, this kind of engagement between peoples is the kind of thing that God likes to see, and indeed demands of us.”
HeritageChurch is located on 4344 Heritage Ave., next door to the Heritage Elementary School in Grapevine. Congregation Beth Israel is located at 6100 Pleasant Run Road.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, left, and Rev. Randy Scrivener, participated in a pulpit exchange this month, along with some of their congregants at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville and HeritageUnitedMethodistChurch in Grapevine.
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR VERY OWN MARY SMITH
COLLEYVILLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANNOUNCES NEW PRESIDENT
The Board of Directors of the Colleyville Chamber of Commerce announced their new President, Mary Smith. She has served with the Forth Worth Chamber and the Fort Worth Convention & Visitors Bureau as well as the Irving CVB. Mary and her husband, Richard moved to Colleyville in December 2007 to be close to her parents in Fort Worth.
They are active members of CBI and Mary is truly an integral part of Sisterhood. She is excited about the opportunity to bring her expertise and enthusiasm to the Colleyville Area Chamber of Commerce and we are truly excited to have Mary & Richard part of our CBI Family.
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