Dear Kol Rinah Family,
I was sorry to miss you all last Shabbat. I felt pretty lousy over Shabbat, and was glad to be home and in bed. But I'm feeling just about all better, have been back in the office since Wednesday. If I continue to test positive, I will continue to mask through Sunday, per the CDC and for your health!
Two reflections on this all. First, just a reminder--if you're not feeling well, or starting not to feel well, please stay home! You don't want to get others sick, and you also don't want to wind up feeling really ill when you're out.
Second, I'm so grateful to Karen Kern, Will Soll and Rabbi Scott Shafrin for covering everything in my absence over Shabbat. They were scheduled to be there anyway, but they did it without me, without missing a beat, or so I hear--no surprise, because they're all superb! We have a strong team and a deep bench here at Kol Rinah, and I'm so grateful to have such wonderful support from them, as well as from so many others, including our executive director Stacey Hudson and our KoREH director Cindy Kalachek, and of course, Micki Kinglsey all the time!
Nothing makes me appreciate good health like sickness. Parashat Beshallach, which has the famous Song at the Sea in Exodus 15, has a great, if odd, mention of health and healing.
I remember many years ago, learning the Torah reading for Beshallach's Song at the Sea, and noticing that the aliya (the reading) does not end with the end of the song, but rather it goes on a bit longer, and concludes with Exodus 15:26, "God said, if you heed my voice... I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer."
While doctors and scientists have a decent understanding of the immune system, there's still so much that remains to be learned. Moreover, as we (or at least I) experience it, the immune system works naturally but rather magically. I can't *feel* or *see* it working, but nonetheless it is working--I can see it's effects. It's kind of like wind, or love, whose effects you can feel, but which you cannot see. God is often compared to wind or love, for this reason--we mnay feel God, or God's effects, but we can't see God, much like the immune system (at least if we're not under microscopes!).
Candle lighting tonight is at 4:58pm.
I'll be leading a no-instruments Kabbalat Shabbat and ma'ariv here at 6pm tonight.
Tomorrow morning, services begin at 9am. It's an "Enchanting Shabbat," when congregants will be reading Torah.
I'll be speaking about the accretion of nuance in the story told by the Song at the Sea.
There will not be Torah Talk, Tot Shabbat or Kiddush.
Shabbat ends at 5:59pm.
There will be no KoREH this Sunday, while teachers do intruder/safety training with the Clayton Police Department. Instead, everyone (KoREH families, folks with kids, and adults too!) is invited to bring the whole family to the St. Louis Art Museum for a self-guided tour of the various objects in the museum's collection that are created by Jewish artists or have Jewish subject matter. You might even see a friendly face from Kol Rinah (our Shinshinit Or and me) when you're at the museum from 10am-12pm. Admission is free; hours on Sunday are 10am-5pm.
Sunday afternoon at 4pm, Verein's series on the history of the Yiddish theater continues on Zoom. Details and sign-up here.
Our next intruder safety training with the Clayton Police Department will be on Sunday, February 4 from 4-6pm. For anyone who is at Kol Rinah regularly, and especially anyone who ever serves as a greeter, your coming to this training will make you and all of us safer! Details and RSVP here.
Looking ahead to Saturday evening, February 10, musician, filmmaker, writer and teacher Alica Jo Rabins will be at Kol Rinah for Havdalah and an evening of music and storytelling. Put it on your calendars and sign up now!
For more and collected Israel information, see this page on our website, as well as the Jewish Federation of St. Louis's Israel Resources page.
Every Shabbat morning, we are still reciting a prayer for the State of Israel, a prayer for Israel Defense Forces soldiers, and a prayer for hostages.
May the one who makes peace in the heavens make peace over us, and over all Israel, and over all who dwell in the world.
See you in shul,
Rabbi Noah Arnow
ZOOM AND STREAMING LINKS
To join our Zoom Minyanim or classes, click on the desired meeting link, or call into either of the following numbers:
+1 312 626 6799
+1 646 558 8656
Then, when prompted, enter the Meeting ID of the desired minyan/class then press #. Then, when prompted, enter the password then press #.
Services (all times Central)
Evening Minyan on Zoom
Sunday-Thursday evenings at 6pm (but not on Jewish holidays)
Morning Minyan on Zoom
Monday-Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7am; Sunday mornings and national holidays at 8am (not including Jewish holidays)
(Please note that Thursday morning minyan is now being held in-person at 7am (8am on national holidays) and is not on Zoom)
Friday nights and Shabbat mornings
Fridays, 6pm in the chapel (no streaming)
Saturdays, 9:00am (9:30am when we are doing our musical Kol Chadash service)
Click the link below, for the stream, as well as for additional instructions:
https://www.kolrinahstl.org/kr-streaming
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