Dear Friends:
I want to thank everyone who worked so hard to make the Kiddush and panel discussion last Shabbat so successful and so well-attended. It’s nice to get back to having more events in the synagogue and look forward to this Sunday’s Chanukah party as well as a restoration of our weekly Kiddush after Shabbat morning services which will happen soon. If you missed the discussion between Dr. Mark Komrad, Rev. Dr. Chris Dreisbach and me -- or if you want to see it again -- the video of the discussion is available here. By the way, you may not realize that closed captioning is available on most YouTube videos -- click on the “CC” button on the lower right beneath the video.
Tomorrow night’s “Contemporary Jewish Controversies” class will be an “Ask the Rabbi” session. Pre-pandemic we would occasionally have these sessions as a Kiddush Konversation. Come prepared with your questions on current events, Jewish practices, or anything else relevant that might interest you.
A reminder concerning Chanukah candles and Shabbat candles: this Friday afternoon be sure to light your Chanukah candles before you light your Shabbat candles. The reason for this is that once we have lit the Shabbat candles, we have ushered in Shabbat and are no longer allowed to light the Chanukah candles. On Saturday night we follow the opposite practice: we do not light the Chanukah candles until after we have said Havdalah. Again, the reasoning is that it’s still Shabbat for us until we have said Havdalah and therefore we can’t light the Chanukah candles.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4 at the shul. You do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment. I have been spending more time in the synagogue recently but if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian