Rabbi’s Update 3/20/2026

Dear Friends:

There is a famous Israeli saying מה שרואים מכאן לא רואים משם ( mah she-roeem mi-kan lo roeem mi-sham, “what is seen from here is not what is seen from there”) which might be considered the Israeli version of “where you stand depends on where you sit.” 

Through the miracle of the Internet and of cellphone apps, I listen to the Israeli radio station Reshet Gimmel most Friday mornings. Reshet Gimmel calls itself “the home of Israeli music” and on Friday mornings here, which is Friday afternoon in Israel, they play light Israeli popular music from the 70s and 80s, the years when I lived in Israel. I will also listen to Reshet Gimmel at other times if the security situation is particularly active. You can get a good sense of what’s actually happening in Israel from listening to Reshet Gimmel. If they aren’t playing music but rather news updates, it’s an emergency situation. If they are playing music which is interrupted only by the hourly news and occasional commercials, things are calm. As I write it is an intermediate situation. They are playing music but it is frequently interrupted by automated warnings that pinpoint specific areas of the country where incoming Iranian missiles are imminently expected and where residents should head to their ממ״ד or reinforced security room.

Last week there was a discussion of synagogue security procedures on the email list for Conservative rabbis when an Israeli colleague chimed in about her concern for those of us in the United States. It struck me as the opposite of what usually happens on that list, where American rabbis will express their concern for our brothers and sisters in Israel.

It also reminded me of a story I heard while living in Israel in the mid-1980s. I cannot vouch for every detail although I heard the story from the son of the story’s protagonist, an American Conservative rabbi who had made aliyah.

This rabbi, Moshe Tutnauer, was serving as an Education Officer in the Israeli army. He was serving in Lebanon during the early part of the First Lebanon War in 1982 and was giving a talk on Jewish communities throughout the world. In the course of his talk he mentioned that he was soon going to Buenos Aires to spend a semester teaching in the Seminario Rabbinico Latinoamericano there. Some of the soldiers listening to the talk expressed alarm at their teacher’s plans because they perceived life in Buenos Aires at the time to be quite dangerous, especially for Jews (and they were not wrong, to be honest). Rabbi Tutnauer just looked at them and asked: “where are we right now?” The soldiers perceived that it was too dangerous to travel to Argentina, but they themselves were sitting in an active war zone in enemy territory. מה שרואים מכאן לא רואים משם.

A few reminders repeated from last week:

• With the change to Daylight Saving Time, our Zoom havdalah will no longer be at 7 pm weekly but will change as sunset gets later. Havdalah on Saturday night March 21 will be held at 8:05 pm.

• As a reminder, we “reset” our MiSheberach list every year at Pesach and Rosh Hashanah. If you have asked for a name to be added to our list and want it to remain, please contact the office before Pesach to ask that it be kept

• Names not “renewed” will be removed from the list. And as always, if you have given a name and it no longer needs to be on the list, please let us know.

• Forms for the sale of chametz as well as Passover guidance are now available:

Chametz Sale Form

Passover Guidance

If you or someone you know is in need because of having been laid off, or has  lost benefits of some type and needs immediate help, please let me know. I can access limited funds through the Jewish Federation almost immediately. For longer-term help, the Hebrew Free Loan Society will loan up to $18,000 interest-free and the Jewish Federation has set up a hotline to  access assistance at 703-JCARING.

As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, 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 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; 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. 

Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.

L’shalom,

Rabbi Charles L. Arian