Betsy Frank is UHC para-rabbinic fellow and president.
In just a week or so, we will be reading about Joseph and his coat of many colors. We all know the story: Joseph receives a coat with many colors and his brothers are most jealous and throw Joseph in a pit.
Whenever I read or hear this story, I think of Donny Osmond, who played Joseph in the musical, Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Such a beautiful coat caused so much trouble!
You might be asking why, with our membership aging and few new members — one or two each year — are we conducting a capital campaign? To put it bluntly, if we want the building to stand and remain safe for its occupants, we must act to repair the facade and the interior.
But why should we put out the effort to maintain the building? Here is the answer:
The Jewish community has been an integral part of the Wabash Valley for almost 170 years.
People look to our community to share our faith with them.
Our prayer book says that on Shabbat we should pray, rest and attend to the House of Study.
Yes, you can do all these things in the privacy of your home. And, yes, the practice of Judaism includes personal practices.
But…. Judaism also stresses the need to practice our rituals in community. The minyan is evidence of that. Our weekly Shabbat services allow us to gather as a community and pray together.
During Sukkot there is a tradition of welcoming guests or strangers into our sukkah. The tradition comes from the story in Genesis wherein Abraham welcomes guests he doesn’t know.
In our partisan world, what does it mean to welcome the stranger? Welcoming the stranger can mean a radical action such as housing a refugee or a more common action such as welcoming a visitor to our synagogue.