Temple B'nai Jeshurun

TBJ’s Early Childhood Center and Kindergarten were featured on the URJ blog this week. Check out our mitzvah adventures when Benny the Bear came to visit!

“When Benny the Mitzvah Bear arrived in Short Hills, New Jersey, the children in our Kindergarten class were beyond excited. They had been expecting this special visitor and were well prepared for his arrival.  You see, Benny’s cousins Shumuli and Sigal are permanent characters in our Kindergarten family. Each child gets a turn to bring home one of these little animals on their special Shabbat. They are able to take them home in  the Kindergarten Shabbat bag, equipped with a Mitzvah log and storybook, to share with their families one time  during the school year…” click here for the whole article:

He was one of the first embedded TV reporters during the Iraq War.

He covered the 2004 Presidential Election.

He was on the front lines during the Economic Collapse.

He was CBS’s Chief White House Correspondent and regularly contributes to the CBS Evening News.

He is Jim Axelrod and you won’t want to miss him.

Our Shabbat Speaker Series continues

March 18th, 7pm.

Read his bio here

Check out his forthcoming memoir here

Watch his report on Former President Bush’s Decision Points here

I (like many of you reading, I assume), love a snow day. I love getting an early morning phone call telling me to go back to sleep, not being at work or school, enjoying a relaxing day with family and  friends, playing outside in the snow, warning up with some hot chocolate and ending the day feel refreshed and rejuvenated…just the thought of a snow day makes most people, of any age, giddy with joy.

Indeed, that is how I felt on our first snow day four weeks ago. Then we had another one the next week. A half day the following week, and another the next week. And another this past week. Four snow days in four weeks.

By the time this past week’s snow day rolled around, I was plain bored. I didn’t want to go outside and play in the snow (or ice, this time around), I didn’t want to curl up with a good book or watch a movie on TV. To be honest, I wanted to be at work. I wanted to teach Hebrew to our ECC students, plan for next year’s Adult Education program and work on my Torah study for this coming Shabbat. I wanted my routine.

During this past week’s snow day, I tried to find some meaning in the time off. I began thinking of the commandment to observe Shabbat which we read a few weeks ago in our annual Torah reading cycle. Shabbat is one of the ways we are guided toward the practice of self-care, toward taking care of our physical, mental and spiritual selves. When we slow down on Shabbat, be it eating meals with family and friends, doing activities we love but rarely have time for or simply taking the day a bit slower, we are fulfilling the commandment to “observe Shabbat.”

I have often wondered why the Jewish people had to be commanded to rest on Shabbat. If human beings were granted wisdom and understanding, why wouldn’t we have the insight to know when we need to slow down?

The answer, I believe, is connected to my snow day frustrations. Just as Shabbat gives each of us a chance to slow down, appreciate the world we live in, and connect with other people, so too, the same can be done on a snow day. A snow day can be a day to recharge our batteries, even if we don’t think we need to. Just as Shabbat comes every week, this winter we have had the chance to have a mini-Shabbat during the week.

As tempting as it can be to try and override nature or time or even God, sometimes we need to put our feet up, get that good book or simply sit still for a few minutes and enjoy the rest we are forced to take.

Shabbat Shalom vYom Sheleg Tov (good snow day)!

After my sermon on October 8th (email me above if you’d like a copy) about my 12-day summer experience in Senegal with AJWS, many of you expressed interest in how my new Africa talit came to be. While I told you the story of Ken Kayre, the extraordinary woman I met there, I didn’t give so many details about the talit itself.

Creating a talit is not as complicated as one might think. You need a four-cornered garment and special tzit-tzit strings (available at a Judaica store). The fabric for my talit was bought in a shop on Goree Island, off the coast of Senegal and I chose this specific fabric to look like Ken Kayre’s traditional garb (see picture below). Once I purchased the fabric, I had it hemmed and had four button holes constructed on the four corners. From there I tied the tzit-tzit. If you’ve never tied tzit-tzit before, it takes some practice, but is not impossible. For the visual learners out there, there are also you-tube videos which demonstrate how to tie them.

While this talit may not be as grand and beautiful as others I own, and certainly is not as elaborate, wearing it reconnects me to my experience in Senegal, to meeting Ken Kayre and to our people’s commitment to doing tikkun olam- working to repair the world. I look forward to sharing more about my Senegal experience and welcome your questions and comments.

-Rabbi Karen Perolman

with Ken Kayre, Keur Ibra Fall, Senegal

with my Senegal-inspired Talit.

close-up of the Talit.