Together we share a sacred journey. This community, our Tent of Meeting, provides the place where in joining hands and hearts and souls we not only meet each other, but make God a very real presence in our lives. I invite you to share the special moments of your journey as a member of this community. Why did you join TAS? What are the occasions, events, friendships that have brought connection and added meaning? What do you look forward to as our journey together continues?
Click on comment. You will be taken to a separate screen where you can add your comments.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Imagine the possibilities
Imagine a place that truly brings spiritual meaning and enrichment to your life.
Imagine a place that inspires you.
Imagine a place that excites you and ignites your passions.
Imagine a place that you can't imagine being without.
Now imagine Ahavat Shalom as that place ... and take a journey.
Arriving at the entrance to TAS, what do you see? How do you feel?
You walk through the doors ... what greets you there?
Walk into the sanctuary. How does it look? What do you hear? How do you feel?
Walk into the office. What happens there?
Journey to the school ...
Stroll the grounds ...
Close your eyes and truly take this journey.
Now extract the essence of your experience.
What made this such a powerful experience for you?
What is it about this place you imagined that makes it so powerful for you?
Thank you for sharing your ideas here and helping us all to imagine our promised land.
Directions:
1. Read Rabbi Lutz's posting below: "Imagine the Possibilities"
2. Close your eyes and take your own journey.
3. Click on "comments" at the bottom of this post.
4. You will be directed to a place to add your own dreams and visions of our TAS promised land.
Imagine a place that inspires you.
Imagine a place that excites you and ignites your passions.
Imagine a place that you can't imagine being without.
Now imagine Ahavat Shalom as that place ... and take a journey.
Arriving at the entrance to TAS, what do you see? How do you feel?
You walk through the doors ... what greets you there?
Walk into the sanctuary. How does it look? What do you hear? How do you feel?
Walk into the office. What happens there?
Journey to the school ...
Stroll the grounds ...
Close your eyes and truly take this journey.
Now extract the essence of your experience.
What made this such a powerful experience for you?
What is it about this place you imagined that makes it so powerful for you?
Thank you for sharing your ideas here and helping us all to imagine our promised land.
Directions:
1. Read Rabbi Lutz's posting below: "Imagine the Possibilities"
2. Close your eyes and take your own journey.
3. Click on "comments" at the bottom of this post.
4. You will be directed to a place to add your own dreams and visions of our TAS promised land.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Imagine Shabbat
At our recent Union of Reform Judaism biennial, URJ president Rabbi Eric Yoffie challenged the Reform movement to take seriously Shabbat as a 24 hour opportunity for rest, reflection and renewal. He suggested that we must go beyond Friday night, to make Shabbat the full day experience that it was meant to be. Below, is a portion of his remarks. You can find the entirety of his statement @ http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=17448 Read on and then let me know what you think!
In our 24/7 culture, the boundary between work time and leisure time has been swept away, and the results are devastating. Do we really want to live in a world where we make love in half the time and cook every meal in the microwave? When work expands to fill all our evenings and weekends, everything suffers, including our health. But families take the worst hit. The average parent spends twice as long dealing with email as playing with his children.
For our stressed-out, sleep-deprived families, the Torah’s mandate to rest looks relevant and sensible. Our tradition does not instruct us to stop working altogether on Shabbat; after all, it takes a certain amount of effort to study, pray and go to synagogue. But we are asked to abstain from the work that we do to earn a living, and instead to reflect, to enjoy and to take a stroll through the neighborhood. We are asked to put aside those Blackberries and stop gathering information, just as the ancient Israelites stopped gathering wood. We are asked to stop running around long enough to see what God is doing.
And this most of all: In synagogue and at home, we are asked to give our kids, our spouse and our friends the undivided attention that they did not get from us the rest of the week. On Shabbat we speak to our children of their hopes and dreams. We show them that we value them for who they are and not for the grades they get or the prizes they win. During the week we pursue our goals; on Shabbat we learn simply to be.
In our 24/7 culture, the boundary between work time and leisure time has been swept away, and the results are devastating. Do we really want to live in a world where we make love in half the time and cook every meal in the microwave? When work expands to fill all our evenings and weekends, everything suffers, including our health. But families take the worst hit. The average parent spends twice as long dealing with email as playing with his children.
For our stressed-out, sleep-deprived families, the Torah’s mandate to rest looks relevant and sensible. Our tradition does not instruct us to stop working altogether on Shabbat; after all, it takes a certain amount of effort to study, pray and go to synagogue. But we are asked to abstain from the work that we do to earn a living, and instead to reflect, to enjoy and to take a stroll through the neighborhood. We are asked to put aside those Blackberries and stop gathering information, just as the ancient Israelites stopped gathering wood. We are asked to stop running around long enough to see what God is doing.
And this most of all: In synagogue and at home, we are asked to give our kids, our spouse and our friends the undivided attention that they did not get from us the rest of the week. On Shabbat we speak to our children of their hopes and dreams. We show them that we value them for who they are and not for the grades they get or the prizes they win. During the week we pursue our goals; on Shabbat we learn simply to be.
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