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Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: December 2020
Your Virtual Shabbat Box holds many ways to celebrate the day. Choose what nurtures you: listen, watch or read. Looking for Shabbat services? Check out Recon Connect for virtual Shabbat services and other live, online programs throughout the week.
December 25-26
Read: Found
Suzanne Sabransky writes, “On Shabbat, we rest with intention.” Sourced from Ritualwell
Read: ‘There Is a Portal’
In her poem, Tiferet Welch tells us that in difficult times like these, portals open to wonderous things. Sourced from Ritualwell
Read: Prophets and Sages
Rabbi Lewis Eron teaches that we need prophets to point our way to the future and sages to help us appreciate our past. In his d’var Torah, he shows how Joseph is a model of both. Sourced from ReconstructingJudaism.org
Listen: Singing Together
Ready to take on 2021? Listen to Rabbis Deborah Waxman and Jeffrey Summit reveal how music will cultivate your “resistance of the heart against business as usual.” Sourced from Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience
Watch: Going Up in Holiness: How Hillel’s Method of Lighting the Menorah is the Secret to Living a Good Life
In the Talmud’s debate over the lighting of the hanukkiah, Shammai starts with eight candles and goes down to one, while Hillel starts with one and goes up to eight. It matters not just for our celebration of Hanukkah, but in everything we do as well. Rabbi Alex Lazarus-Klein explores how going above and beyond our expectations can be a pathway to a better life. Sourced from Recon Connect Beit Midrash
December 18-19
Listen: “One Becomes Two Becomes More”: A Hanukkah Song
RRC student Jonathan Cohen wrote this song for his family and shares it with us for our Hanukkah celebrations. Sourced from Ritualwell
Read: “Chanukah Gifts”
There are many ways to give meaningful gifts. Rabbi Rona Shapiro has some thoughts on gift-giving during a season when our culture is immersed in materialism. Sourced from Ritualwell
Listen: “Bendigamos al Altísimo”: A Ladino Hanukkah Blessing for the Seventh Night
“Bendigamos” is the Ladino version of the traditional Hallel and is sung on the seventh night of Hanukkah, which is traditionally observed by women with a Hag ha-Banot or “Festival of the Daughters.” This version was written and sung by Rabbi Barbara Aiello. Sourced from Ritualwell
Listen: Rock of My Heart
This meditation by Megan Madison uses a rock and a mirror to ground the listener in grounding, centering and finding divinity within. Sourced from Reset, providing Jewish activists with accessible spiritual practice and teachings. Learn more here.
Read: Love Trumps Power
In his d’var Torah for Shabbat Hanukkah, Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz reminds us that Hanukkah is a holiday of resistance to the establishment of a uniformity that would deny Jews (and others) the right to be different. Sourced from ReconstructingJudaism.org.
December 11-12
Read: Light One Candle for Freedom, Dignity and Justice
Dedicate one night of Hanukkah to the millions of people across the world struggling to live with freedom, dignity and justice with this reading from the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). Sourced from Ritualwell
Listen: Refuah Sheleimah
As the days grow shorter and colder, and the pandemic spreads wider and deeper, we are all in need of some healing. Rahel (Ann R. Silverman-Limor) offers this prayer. Sourced from Ritualwell
Read: Who Is a Jew?
Hanukkah always brings up issues of Jewish identity. It is a good time to ponder the thoughts of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan on this perennial question — Who is a Jew? Sourced from Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
Read: Eight Nights of Wellness: A Hanukkah Inventory
Temple Israel in Minneapolis adds new meaning to Hanukkah candle-lighting with a truly needed focus on self-care and well-being — eight dimensions of wellness in which each candle becomes a light for self-care. Sourced from Ritualwell
Watch: Justice. Relationships. Spiritual Practice.
The prophet Micah teaches us a basic formula for living a good life. Rabbi Barbara Penzner explores how we can learn from the life and the wise words of this prophet to give our lives meaning every day. Sourced from Recon Connect Beit Midrash
December 4-5
Read: Contemporary Shabbat Evening Kiddush
Rabbi Brant Rosen offers a kiddush prayer to inspire us “with the possibilities of a world yet to be.” Sourced from Ritualwell
Listen: Morning Berakhot with Lesser-Known Names for G-d
Rachie Lewis leads a meditation on the traditional morning blessings using some lesser-known names for God as part of these berakhot. Sourced from Reset, providing Jewish activists with accessible spiritual practice and teachings. Learn more here.
Read: How to Breathe You
With her poem/meditation, Amy Steingart makes a space between the anxiety of the week and the comforting support that Shabbat brings. Sourced from Ritualwell
Watch: My Journey Through the Wilderness: What I Learned About Patience, Suffering and Resilience
After a 21-year journey from his ordination to taking his first full-time congregational position, Rabbi Dan Aronson shares what he learned about patience, suffering and resilience that finds echoes in our sacred texts, and suggests how we might deal with adversity and the postponement of our dreams. Sourced from Recon Connect Beit Midrash
Listen: Creativity and Counterculture
Rabbi Michael Strassfeld discusses the theme of disruption as an opportunity for Jewish creativity. While this was recorded before the pandemic, it still speaks to our current moment. Sourced from Hashivenu: Jewish teachings on resilience
These resources were drawn from:
- Evolve: Groundbreaking Jewish Conversations
- Hashivenu: Jewish Teachings on Resilience
- Recon Connect Beit Midrash
- Reset: Providing Jewish activists with accessible spiritual practice and teachings
- Ritualwell
- The Center for Jewish Ethics
Previous Virtual Shabbat Boxes by month:
