Why Not Make it a Jewish Summer…

By Rabbi Teri Appleby.

As Gershwin wrote, Summer time and the Livin’ is easy… For many of us, summer often feels more relaxed than the rest of the year – maybe the longer days just give us a sense of more breathing space.

Summer is a great time to explore and expand your Jewish knowledge, identity, expression, and, for the lack of a better word, spirituality. Why not take the summer to do something new, to learn something new, to think about something new?

I’d like to offer a mixed bag of activities for your consideration. Don’t feel limited by my list – it may look exhaustive, but it’s not.

Jewish Texts
– If you’ve never read the TaNaKh, the Jewish Bible, why not start now? A good place to start is with the weekly Torah reading (see the Temple calendar for the name of the parashah and chapters/verses).
– Buy a TaNaKh (Hebrew Bible) and/or a Torah commentary such as The
Torah: A Modern Commentary by Plaut or The Women’s Commentary (both are published by URJ Press).
– Sign up for the URJ’s 10 Minutes of Torah a Day www.urj.org/learning/Torah/ten. You have a choice of receiving 1-page emails
(M-F) on Torah Study, Israel Connections, Liturgy, WRJ Centennial, and Jewish
World & Social Action.

Shabbat
– Read Abraham Heschel’s The Sabbath.
– Really take notice of the 25 hours of Shabbat and make them special in some way.
– Try doing Havdalah with family or friends outdoors. The Gates of Shabbat (CCAR Press) has the blessings, nice readings, and the music.

Art, Literature & Film
– Read works by Israeli writers and poets, such as Amos Oz, David Grossman, Meir Shalev, A.B. Yehoshua, and Yehuda Amichai.
– Read a book by a North American author, such as Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Elie Wiesel, Chaim Potok, Michael Chabon, Steve Stern.
– Visit a Jewish Museum.
– Rent or see movies with Jewish themes.

Music & Dance
– Learn Israeli Folkdance.
– Discover the variety of Jewish music: Bernstein, Copland, Milhaud, Mahler, Philip Glass, Schoenberg, Kurt Weill, Salomone Rossi; Gershwin, Irving Berlin, John Zorn; Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Steven Sondheim; Sephardic, Ladino, Klezmer and Yiddish; and Israeli (Ofra Haza, Noa, David Broza, Boaz Sharabi).

Jewish Food
– Try old and new recipes from around the Jewish world in books such as those by Joan Nathan, Claudia Roden, Tina Wasserman, and Joyce Goldstein.

Jewish Spirituality
– Peruse the myriad of books on Jewish spirituality and expression at www.JewishLights.com and find something that fits you or stretches you.
– Visit a mikvah (the Reform mikvah is at the North Campus of Leo Baeck Day School)

Social Justice
– Donate – or volunteer your time — to a food bank, a women’s shelter, or a charity/cause of your choice.
– Make it a point to purchase free-trade coffee and cottage-industry crafts.

Please click here and share with me (and one another) what you did over the summer; I’d love to know.

L’Shalom,
Rabbi Appleby