From the Cantor - March 2004

Shalom, Chaverim:

Mi she-nich-nas Adar, marbim l'simcha! ("When the month of Adar enters, joy increases.") This month we have a great deal to celebrate at our synagogue. Purim begins on Saturday, March 6, at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary with havdallah, segueing into our Harry Potter Purim Service and megillah reading. You won't want to miss this exciting foray into "Chagwarts," followed by hamentaschen for all. Wear costumes!

Festivities continue Sunday, March 7, with our 11 a.m. Purim assembly and spiel, "Hershel Potter," featuring HaShirah, Rabbi Maslin, me, and other temple folk you previously mistook for Muggles. Wear costumes! Then it's off to "Mordechai's Madness," a fabulous trip into Shushan courtesy of our Sisterhood and Brotherhood. Enjoy games, food, prizes, the raffle, and other treats into the afternoon.

On Shabbat morning, March 27, the anshei mitzvah (adult b'nai mitzvah) class will reaffirm their commitment to Torah, prayer, and acts of lovingkindness. Jay Brown, M. Jennifer Markus and Jeanne Steinberg will lead us in prayer, Torah and Haftarah, and teach us what they've learned about Par'shat VaYikra as we begin the book of Leviticus. You are all invited to stay for a Kiddush lunch afterwards.

For the past several months I have included in my column some text on the theme of healing. At Purim we take the medicine of laughter, which we pray should last all year. Congregation Albert is lucky to have a wide variety of generations among us, and it is with this thought that I leave you with the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: "The test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children; even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless, are the true gold mines of a culture."

B'shalom u-v'shir,
Cantor Jacqueline Shuchat-Marx

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