“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
– Ecclesiastes 3:1
We are blessed to be part of a sacred community, in which we are called to witness and support one another as we move through different seasons of our lives. This past weekend, Rabbi Zeff and I began teaching a course on “Jewish Practices in Death & Mourning.” The course will continue to meet on Sundays during the month of February including 2/9, 2/16 and 2/23 from 10:00 -11:30 AM. We encourage you to join us for important conversations about the end of life, the path of mourning, and the mitzvah of nichum aveilim, of being present for those who are in mourning. The final session of the class, on Sunday, February, 23rd, will be open to the whole community as Simcha Raphael presents “Jewish Views of the Afterlife: Implications for Walking the Grief Journey.” Simcha will explore Judaism’s teachings on the afterlife journey of the soul, including contemporary applications to help deal with end-of-life issues and concerns. As we come together to talk about the end of life and beyond, we pray that our synagogue community will always hold one another with compassion in times of mourning, times of dancing and in all life brings.