Friday, November 18, 2016

Rabbi's article and blessing for December issue of synagogue newsletter

Blessings for Unity

How blessed we are in our day and time!  We are free to study about Jewish tradition, learn something of the Hebrew language, offer traditional blessings for babies, for youth at bar or bat mitzvah, for a wedding couple under the chuppah, offer a Jewish purification and burial, and celebrate holy days and Shabbats together. No one stops us or has laws against gathering for worship or classes, or puts us in danger for identifying with our religion, as has happened so many times in our history. 

Please, please, take advantage of this precious freedom, of our teachers willing to pass down our heritage to each other and to the next generation of students. Please bring your own unique presence, talents, and insights to discuss the Torah portion of the week, or to take advantage of the many educational offerings planned for the coming months, or support the variety of cultural activities and social groups of our congregation.

Our country, and indeed the world, is in a tumultuous time of change, with unexpected events happening all around us, violence done to people of color or wearing an ethnic head covering, and amplified by the nightly news and headlines.  Let us unify as a community, and stand firmly for communication, compassion, and cooperation.  I will be wearing a safety pin on my clothing, a signal that is spreading as a symbol of a “safe person” who will come to the aid of anyone who is facing discrimination or attack.  I do not live in a large city and am not on busy streets or in subways or other public transportation, so I do not know how effective this symbol will be, but I hope the idea spreads and we all take responsibility for caring for the stranger, the minority person, the woman... anyone who finds him or herself in a hostile situation.  I call on my congregants, my clergy colleagues, and all in the wider community to proclaim our highest values and not let violence or discrimination be tolerated in our midst.


Let’s be positive and kind to each other….  a light to the nations.

And, in that spirit, you are invited to come to celebrate Hanukkah, festival of light and freedom, on Monday, December 26 at 4 p.m.


Blessing for Kislev  5777 (December 1 - 29, 2016)
At this darkest time of the year, we light candles to bring in light, symbolizing freedom.  May we all gather together to kindle the light of the Hanukkah candles.  May we be like the Shamash, the helper candle that is used to light the other candles, and kindle the soul-spark in those we encounter.  Our own light is never diminished by giving light to others.    – Amen.



Rabbi's article and blessing for December in synagogue newsletter

Blessings for Unity

How blessed we are in our day and time!  We are free to study about Jewish tradition, learn something of the Hebrew language, offer traditional blessings for babies, for youth at bar or bat mitzvah, for a wedding couple under the chuppah, offer a Jewish purification and burial, and celebrate holy days and Shabbats together. No one stops us or has laws against gathering for worship or classes, or puts us in danger for identifying with our religion, as has happened so many times in our history. 

Please, please, take advantage of this precious freedom, of our teachers willing to pass down our heritage to each other and to the next generation of students. Please bring your own unique presence, talents, and insights to discuss the Torah portion of the week, or to take advantage of the many educational offerings planned for the coming months, or support the variety of cultural activities and social groups of our congregation.

Our country, and indeed the world, is in a tumultuous time of change, with unexpected events happening all around us, violence done to people of color or wearing an ethnic head covering, and amplified by the nightly news and headlines.  Let us unify as a community, and stand firmly for communication, compassion, and cooperation.  I will be wearing a safety pin on my clothing, a signal that is spreading as a symbol of a “safe person” who will come to the aid of anyone who is facing discrimination or attack.  I do not live in a large city and am not on busy streets or in subways or other public transportation, so I do not know how effective this symbol will be, but I hope the idea spreads and we all take responsibility for caring for the stranger, the minority person, the woman... anyone who finds him or herself in a hostile situation.  I call on my congregants, my clergy colleagues, and all in the wider community to proclaim our highest values and not let violence or discrimination be tolerated in our midst.


Let’s be positive and kind to each other….  a light to the nations.

And, in that spirit, you are invited to come to celebrate Hanukkah, festival of light and freedom, on Monday, December 26 at 4 p.m.


Blessing for Kislev  5777 (December 1 - 29, 2016)
At this darkest time of the year, we light candles to bring in light, symbolizing freedom.  May we all gather together to kindle the light of the Hanukkah candles.  May we be like the Shamash, the helper candle that is used to light the other candles, and kindle the soul-spark in those we encounter.  Our own light is never diminished by giving light to others.    – Amen.



Thursday, July 28, 2016

Rabbi Magal's Talk Notes at International New Thought Alliance conference, Scottsdale, AZ July 12, 2016




For New Thought talk at INTA conference, July 12, 2016

Embassy Suites Scottsdale

Rabbi Alicia Magal

Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley



It would be very hard to enter on stage in a New Thought audience and be as colorful, forceful, and dazzling as Bishop Dr. Barbara King….

But she does inspire us to make a statement in our own style and not hide!

She was amazing at the Parliament for World Religions in Salt Lake City that I attended, and wrote an article for your New Thought Magazine reporting on my impressions of the speakers, and was so impressed with her fierce authenticity and presence.






(Itzhak blows shofar)

The shofar, ram’s horn, is an ancient instrument that sounded an alarm and gathered the people for assembly, and heralds an important moment.  Today the shofar is blown to WAKE US UP from our waking slumber in the month leading up to the Jewish New Year…and on the Holy Day itself, with various sounds like a wake-up call, sobbing in sorrow and repentance, and then a triumphant long blast of strength for life in the year ahead.  It calls us, down to our very cells, to be more aware of our old patterns and break them, to get back on track, to shed the crusty skin that may have hardened our hearts.

New Thought, as Laurel Lee and Joey Gorka described to me in a detailed chart, and as I researched the many strands and threads that grew out of teachings by Emerson, Quimby, William James, Whitehead, Emmet Fox, Mary Baker Eddy,  Theosophy, Metaphysics, Aldous Huxley, Thoreau,  even Eastern teachings of Confucius, Dao, Vedic teachings and Buddhism, and so any more strands that added to the seeking of truth and the divine nature dwelling within, I saw that these teachings and influences branched out into Science of Mind, Unity, and other related organizations.  The Principles include finding Truth by drawing on sources from the West and East, and the overall title appears to me to be not so much New Thought as RENEWED Thought, taking the rich heritage from 19th century philosophical movements, mind-body connection in healing, and a very wide range of great texts and teachers and constantly seeking to crack open any ritual or shell that has hardened the flowing, vibrant, juicy aliveness of the “AHA” moments that led to these practices. (crack open a nut, loudly. Actually, Itzhak created a really loud racking sound effect as I wielded a huge nut cracker).

In Judaism there are also many streams, one of which has come to be known as Renewal Judaism, in which ancient text and traditions are honored and studied, but the liturgy has been opened up, made egalitarian, with non-gendered God language, not “Him, Lord, Father,” but rather “Holy One, Creator, Source,” all capitals.  Also, ancient practices of Meditation, Chanting, Silence, and mystic practices have been revived and re-introduced along with composing new melodies for verses of Psalms or for prayers on Shabbat and Festivals.  Translating Hebrew prayers into contemporary poetic language also enables people of varying levels of knowledge to “get” the impact of the original Hebrew prayers and biblical verses, and helps cross the language barrier. The intention is to expand the ways in which this generation finds meaning, comfort, and vitality in religion. Part of my mission as a rabbi include “…Bringing Joyful Juicy Judaism to the next generation.”  

In ancient Israel, the Cohanim, the Priestly clan, had the task of lighting the menorah, a 7 branched candelabra, each evening, in the Temple, a constant rededication, rekindling of light.  After the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans and most Jews were exiled from the Holy Land, they kept turning toward Jerusalem in prayer, and the customs developed to place above the ark holding the scrolls of the Torah (perhaps like the INTA archives building in Mesa) an Eternal Light which remains constantly lit.  To usher in the Sabbath on Friday evening, or on the eve of each festival, we kindle 2 candles. On Hanukkah we increase the number of candles lit each night for eight nights, with a helper candle that is used to light the other 8 candles.  The Shamash, or helper candle, is used as a metaphor for each of us… we inspire and kindle a spark in others, and our own light is not diminished.

Rekindling, renewing, cracking open a hardened shell…(another cracking sound effect here) these are all ways in which we reconnect with that divine spark of holiness in each one of us. 
How do you do it in your congregations and organizations? 
How many of you are leaders of services?   

How do you rekindle the spark in each of your members? 

Do you have a ritual that you use with kindling light?  In Sedona, my colleague Rev. Janet Kingsley at the Center for Positive Living, lights 5 votive candles for

1-honoring all faiths, paths, and spiritual leaders  

2- all peoples are connected to the One Universal Spirit

3- unity of all life

4- peace and compassion in the world

5- healing for those we love and those around the world in need of healing blessings

Shondra Jepperson, in charge of the music for that Center for Positive Living,  creates and sings music that is inspiring and gets people up on their feet smiling and lifting their arms in gratitude and joy.  Each of you has to find that tension between creating new rituals, music, uplifting messages, and offering the comfort of recognizable symbols and readings that are rooted in your tradition.  How to find that balance?  That is what you and I and, I think, every caring, aware spiritual leader does:  find that constantly shifting balance between the ancient and abiding wisdom, and the newly rediscovered, cracked-open, raw, juicy, authentic “AHA” in this very moment.

We need a tether and a nut cracker!!! Something that ties us to the rich past and at the same time leaves us free to break free and explore! Again and again… because no matter how juicy and fresh a practice is, it too gets hardened and crusty.. So once again, you have to crack it open, peel it back, and break it loose. It is a constant challenge... and that’s why it is called PRACTICE. It is always unfolding.

We need to be very deeply rooted in the gathered knowing we have inherited and studied, and also bravely willing and capable to re-dig the wells of our ancestors, as Isaac did, to dig down to the life-giving water from the wells that his father Abraham had dug before him.  Water is a symbol of life-giving Torah, and re-digging the wells is interpreted as finding our own path back to that basic understanding of oneness and connection, the underlying Source.

So gathering here for this Renewed Thought Alliance is vital, perfect, necessary, for all who have come here, hungry for additional nourishment for their soul, and thirsty for new pathways of finding that word, that song, that light that will open your hearts and elevate your spirit.  Dig deep. Fly high. Reconnect to the teachings that brought you here in the first place.  Be a shofar, realizing that each one has an individual sound, but all are created by the breath, the gift from the Holy One who breathed life into us. 

There is a prayer that I’d like to invoke now. It is for marking a special moment:    Shehechiyanu:


Baruch Ata Adonai, Eloheynu Melech Ha-olam, Shehechiyanu, v’kiymanu, vehigiyanu la-z’man ha-zeh.

We bless you Source of Life, for giving us life, sustaining us on our path, and bringing us to this most memorable and unique moment, right now. 

Amen.

(Itzhak blows shofar)

Had a moment to show my book and talk with people right after the morning session.









With Rev. Larry Swarz of Unity, Tucson, AZ






---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Set up:


Bring:

Shofar,

Menorah – 7 candlesticks

Nut cracker and sound effect of cracking nuts - Itzhak provides!

2 Candles (they’ll have electric ones)







Rabbi Alicia Magal www.jcsvv.org

928 204-1286
blog:
http://www.redrockrabbi.blogspot.com


"A Jewel of a Shul"


Mission Statement:
The Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley is a welcoming, egalitarian, inclusive congregation dedicated to building a link from the past to the future by providing religious, educational, social and cultural experiences. We choose to remain unaffiliated in order to respect and serve the rich diversity of our members and visitors.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

NOTES:
Following is the script for lighting candles at the Center for Positive Living. I will not quote exactly in my talk, but will have it printed out in case anyone wishes to have it.

PS.  Two people did request it!).


Lighting the Flames of Faith – 5 Candles





We are a spiritual community that honors all teachings, all spiritual teachers, and all paths to God.



We know there is no wrong way to deepen our connection to Spirit – whether it be lighting a candle, facing east, repeating a mantra or offering prayer. 



We respect all the ways there are to draw closer to Spirit, for even though there may appear to be great differences in the path, the destination is the same.



And now we begin the ceremony that celebrates the oneness of life as we light the flames of love.



We light the first candle honoring all churches, all temples, and all mosques.  We honor all priests, all ministers, all rabbis and all spiritual teachers everywhere.



We light the second candle honoring and acknowledging that all peoples and all faiths come from the One Universal Presence, which we call Spirit.



We light the third candle honoring the oneness and unity of all life.  We recognize the Universal Presence within which creates, sustains and inspires us all.



We light the fourth candle in honor of peace, of compassion, and of fostering a world that works for the highest good of all.



As __________ lights the fifth candle, the healing candle, you are invited to bring to your awareness the names of anyone you wish to be included in this healing flame of love and light.