7pm - How to make youse house kosher for Passover

9pm - Klezmerfest! band

Klezmerfest! is a outstanding klezmer band in the great Eastern European tradition. Klezmer music is festive dance music, the joyous sounds of celebration from the old country insuring revelers reach ecstatic heights. Klezmerfest! celebrates the great tradition of yiddish instrumental music-from the shtetls of the old country to the contemporary sounds of today’s Lower East Side revival.Freylachs, bulgars, doynas and chassidls, along with old favorites from the days of Yiddish theater make for an enjoyable, heart warming and foot stomping evening of music.

Klezmerfest! has been delighting audiences for years at such venues as the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Eldridge Street Project, the Knitting Factory, and synagogues and schools throughout the Northeast. Their latest CD is entitled “Life of the Party” , a follow up to their critically acclaimed “Party Music.

Klezmerfest! is well know for their award winning Klez for Kidz program.

www.klezmerfest.com

Pesach is here! The deepest, most liberating, ritualistic, theatrical, fun Jewish holiday - the Sixth Street Shul will be hosting both seiders. Swinging between tradition and utter hipness, Rabbi Greg Wall will lead community through these wonderful meaningful nights. The first night will recap the very basics of the tradition, in the most user-friendly warm fashion. The second night will delve deeper - into the mystical, creative underpinnings of the holiday.

First Seider: Monday March 29th at 7pm

Second Seider: Tuesday March 30th at 7pm

Please register now - the space is limited.

To register for the first night:

To register for the second night:

This Sunday, March 14th, you’re most cordially invited to our Sundays @ Sixth Street series, featuring the String Nucleus Project.

There will be a FREE masterclass with the band at 1.30pm, followed by the concert at 3pm. To purchase tickets for the concert, click here.

String Nucleus, appropriately named, is an acoustic/electric string trio, designed by nature to be expansive from the core. The core members include string players, Jon Weber, Earl Maneein and Jessie Reagen Mann, whose versatile, musical range spans multiple areas. These three musicians began working together in 2003, collaborating in the genre-bending ensemble DBR & The Mission (Opus 3 Artists). Since then, they went on to serve as leaders of Jay Z’s Hustler Symphony Orchestra, which performed with Jay-Z, Beyonce Knowles and ?uestlove, live at Radio City Musical Hall in 2006. Additional projects include performing with and recording for Cole Gentles Symphonic Rock Revival, as well as being featured as improvisers with Albert Hammond Jr (The Strokes), on his second album “¿Cómo Te Llama?”. In addition, String Nucleus has performed with Sonos Chamber Orchestra and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  Most recently, String Nucleus performed as part of the Pioneers for a Cure project, a unique organization that raises money for cancer through musical downloads. String Nucleus is featured on several recorded tracksEach of these players, classically trained by members of the renowned Orion String Quartet, views chamber music with a broad sense, respecting and integrating the core values of classical chamber music, while expanding those values to explore the uncharted, cutting edge territories that chamber music can offer audiences of all generations. http://www.myspace.com/stringnucleus

“Lord Almighty I feel my temp’rature rising,
Higher and higher it’s burning through to my soul”
The Tupelo Rebbe

Our  sidra (a double !) opens with yet another mention of the mitzvah of Shabbat. It seems that Shabbat is a running sub theme of the entire tabernacle (mishkan)  section, woven throughout the text like a design in a flowing tapestry. It is no surprise that the entire methodology of tabernacle  building is what we use to codify the specifics of shabbat observation.
The Talmud (Shabbat 49B) teaches that the specific activities involved in building the mishkan are the source of the 39  catagories of creative activity (melachot) that are to be curtailed on the shabbat.

Curiously, the text of our parasha does not present us with a list of these activities, only (after threatening blatant scofflaws) a directive to refrain from building a fire on shabbat.
Why was fire singled out from among the 39 melachot? Perhaps we can learn something from the nature of fire itself.

Rabbi Ovadia Sforno (1470-1550) points out that fire can be  destructive   or  constructive. Fire was  a necessary component of  processing mishkan materials, and it was this beneficial use of fire that the Torah prohibits on Shabbat.  It was the intention that turned a potentially destructive act into a creative endeavor.

This concept is discussed at length again in tractate Shabbat (105B), as well as many other places in the Talmud. Melachot done for the wrong reason, or without intention are not considered significant.
I think we can play with this idea a bit, and apply this approach to all our activities, and the observance of shabbat itself.
Through sincere intention our activities can turn from a trivial exercise into a significant statement. Mindless ritual, especially of the type that would seem to technically avoid shabbat desecration actually is destructive-it removes us from the “zone” that is shabbat itself.

We have a choice: we can look at the cessation of creative labor as a prison, and a parallel reality emerges. Our activities and rituals can become spiritually destructive, and create a harmful fire inside that prevents us from experiencing our taste of heaven on earth.

Alternatively, we can choose to perform or refrain from the same activities, with an intention of  immersing ourselves in shabbat and basking in a glimpse of revealed light.  This can actually have the constructive benefit of giving our bodies pleasure, our minds stimulation, and letting our spirits soar.

That same burning fire, while capable of reducing a house to ashes, can heat a home, and warm our hearts.

“You light my morning sky with burning love
With burning love (hunka hunka burning love Ha)”
ibid.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg

For more info on the Tupelo Rebbe:
www.amazon.com/Schmelvis-Search-Elvis-Presleys-Jewish/dp/155022462X

Monday March 8
Class-7PM “How to prepare your kitchen for Pesach
Concert-9PM Jazz Rabbi’s Monday Night Invitational featuring New American Quartet
$10 cover

Sunday March 14 - String Nucleus Band
1.30 Master Class with the Band
3.00 Concert

Master class is FREE; the concert is $15. Register here: http://sixthstreetsundays.eventbrite.com/

String Nucleus is an acoustic/electric string trio, designed by nature to be expansive from the core. The core members include string players, Jon Weber, Earl Maneein and Jessie Reagen Mann, whose versatile, musical range spans multiple areas. These three musicians began working together in 2003, collaborating in the genre-bending ensemble DBR & The Mission (Opus 3 Artists). Since then, they went on to serve as leaders of Jay Z’s Hustler Symphony Orchestra, which performed with Jay-Z, Beyonce Knowles and ?uestlove, live at Radio City Musical Hall in 2006. Additional projects include performing with and recording for Cole Gentles Symphonic Rock Revival, as well as being featured as improvisers with Albert Hammond Jr. (The Strokes), on his second album “Cmo Te Llama?”. In addition, String Nucleus has performed with Sonos Chamber Orchestra and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Most recently, they performed as part of the Pioneers for a Cure project, a unique organization that raises money for cancer through musical downloads. String Nucleus is featured on several recorded tracks. Each of these players, classically trained by members of the renowned Orion String Quartet, views chamber music with a broad sense, respecting and integrating the core values of classical chamber music, while expanding those values to explore the uncharted, cutting edge territories that chamber music can offer audiences of all generations.

Monday March 15th

Class-7PM “How to prepare your kitchen for Pesach”
Concert-9PM Jazz Rabbi’s Monday Night Invitational featuring Klezmerfest!
$10 cover

Klezmerfest! is a outstanding klezmer band in the great Eastern European tradition. Klezmer music is festive dance music, the joyous sounds of celebration from the old country insuring revelers reach ecstatic heights. Klezmerfest! celebrates the great tradition of yiddish instrumental music-from the shtetls of the old country to the contemporary sounds of today’s Lower East Side revival.

Freylachs, bulgars, doynas and chassidls, along with old favorites from the days of Yiddish theater make for an enjoyable, heart warming and foot stomping evening of music.

Klezmerfest! has been delighting audiences for years at such venues as the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the Eldridge Street Project, the Knitting Factory, and synagogues and schools throughout the Northeast. Their latest CD is entitled “Life of the Party” , a follow up to their critically acclaimed “Party Music.

Klezmerfest! is well know for their award winning Klez for Kidz program.

http://www.klezmerfest.com

Monday March 22nd

Class-7PM “How to prepare your kitchen for Pesach”
Concert-9PM Jazz Rabbi’s Monday Night Invitational featuring the Ayn Sof Archestra, 15-piece Jewish Big Band!
$10 cover

Parashat Ki Tisa

As an artist I am quite used to being in conflict with procedural issues. I don’t mind trying to follow directions, but not without first looking at the directive from all possible angles, and trying to find the best way to ensure that the results reflect my personal spin on things. Of course this approach is essential in music, or writing, but what about my practice of traditional Judaism? Is my creative nature forced to be subservient to the details  of living a life informed by Jewish law?

In this weeks parasha we are introduced to one of the most inspiring figures in the Torah, the master artist Bezalel.  “ And I have filled him with the spirit of G-d, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and skill” (Ex 31:3).

Why the need to add a new face to the team? Certainly between Moshe, Aaron, the elders, and tribal leaders, there was quite a brain trust. Couldn’t they grasp the details of the building of the mishkan on their own?

It seems that the Torah realizes that there needs to be someone who can think out of the box, with great aesthetic instincts, to reflect artistically on the details of fulfilling the divine imperative.  Even King Solomon, the wisest of all human beings, needed to send for Hiram “….and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill….” (1 Kings 7:14). [Note the exact same language was used to describe Bezalel, except for Bezalel’s being “…filled with the spirit of  G-d….” That was reserved only for Bezalel, who was selected by G-d directly.]

We all have a part of Bezalel in each of us, and even in quite limited ways our truly creative urges never fail  to satisfy. What better way to honor our Creator than our own creativity?

Directly after the appointment of  Bezalel and his assistant Oholiav we get a set of conditional terms, details concerning creativity and the sanctity of Shabbat. Creative endeavors are to be subservient to the Shabbat, our efforts to act G-d like during the week are contrasted with our efforts to refrain from creating on Shabbat. The Torah does not use the word Avodah, meaning menial work, but rather melacha, meaning creative, transformative work. I can use my creative energy, the primal force that causes me to exert my individuality in the world, to help me avoid creating. This is the time to delve deep into the details of Jewish law, and the reward is the added appreciation of the gift of creativity itself.

If we choose to disregard this paradigm then the alternative is an Aigel Masaicha, a Golden Calf- a commercial replacement for spiritual creativity. This is a very powerful and seductive force, but not our true essence. In our narrative the results are catastrophic, causing the divine spirit to retreat. After some impassioned petitioning by Moshe, the people are given another chance,  an opportunity to grow from their flirtation with pagan practice, with shallow creativity.

G-d instructs the Israelites not to make any more “elohay masaicha”, molten gods. It is interesting that in modern Hebrew the word masaicha can also mean “mask”. Do not practice an anonymous, inauthentic creativity, take your mask off if you want to truly have a spiritually fulfilling life.

The very next verse is the commandment to observe the festival of Pesach, to eat only leaven free matza for seven days. Leaven is an enhancement to the natural qualities of our basic food, a creative addition . By abstaining from leaven during Pesach we are removing our masks, reexamining our roles not as creators, but as create-ees.

The laws of Pesach are very detailed, much more complicated than Shabbat. Here the Torah is giving us a week-long opportunity to realign ourselves, to hone our sensitivity to the power of creation, and truly delight in having been created ourselves. This awareness is holiness itself, an immersion in a  mikvah of time. We can look forward to the transitional moment of each week, the “havdalah”, or separation we make at the end of Shabbat and holidays, knowing we can forge ahead as creative beings, with G-d’s blessing upon us.
Details to follow…

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg

Parashat Tetzaveh

Who was the greatest musician of all time?
What is the greatest  recording of all time? What was the most important event in history? Who was the greatest  thinker?  Who was the fastest runner?

Any definitive collection of superlatives is certainly  disputable, yet we delight in compiling lists, and making statements that reflect our confidence in ourselves.
It is only natural that sooner or later someone would want to proclaim a certain verse the “most important verse in the Torah”!

In his introduction to the classic medieval work, “Ein Yaakov”, Rabbi Yaakov Ibn Haviv quotes a midrash that summarizes a discussion of that very topic.
What is the most important verse (pasuk) in the entire Torah?  The midrash quotes three opinions.

According to the sage Ben Zoma, it is “”Shema Yisrael, Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Ekhad- Hear  O Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One..”
(Deut. 6:4)

Ben Nannas (and also Rabbi Akiva) said, “v’Ahavta l’Reakha k’Mokha.- You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18)

Ben Pazai said: ” Et ha-keves ha-echad ta’aseh
va-bOKER ve-et ha-keves ha-sheini
ta’aseh bein ha-arbayim….And one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other in the afternoon” (Ex. 29:32)

This last entry, from this week’s parasha, is a bit puzzling…nevertheless, the midrash concludes that Ben Pazai is corrrect, that this is in fact the most important verse in the Torah.

How can the commandment to bring the Korban Tamid, the daily offering, even make it to the top ten?

And isn’t this verse, with its reference to sacrificial offerings to be placed on the altar, out of place here in our parasha, with its description of the contents of the mishkan, the holy tabernacle?

The Maharal of Prague (Rabbi Yehuda Loew- remember the Golem?) writing about our discussion, says that consistency is the essence of relationship with our creator.
A peek into this week’s reading reinforces that view.

The me’ulim (the one time inaugural offerings) described in our parasha are no guarantee that our special relationship can last past the initial infatuation stage. Judaism-whether the biblical version described here, or the rabbinic version we have inherited to sustain us in exile- requires practice. A lot of practice…

As a musician, I can relate. It’s no surprise that we use the same term for both disciplines. I practice my saxophone, I practice Judaism, I have a spiritual practice…As the saying goes, art is one percent inspiration, and ninety nine percent perspiration.

In addition to the obvious benefits of refinement and technique, the commitment demonstrates a deeper connection. We were taken out of Egypt not to founder in a listless freedom, but rather to accept the loving servitude of our creator. This relationship can only mature through constant attention. And, there is an art to it.

Actually, the word “tamid” meaning constant,  is used in our parasha to describe two other components of the divine service of the mishkan.

The menorah, the first commandment given in our parasha, is to burn continually. We connect to G-d by continually referencing G-d’s first creation described in the Torah- “Let There be light….”, the first of the “ten utterances” that brought the world into being.

Likewise the incense (ketoret) described at the end of the parasha is a ketoret tamid- a constant fragrance.
The ketoret, meaning “binding” is a blend of eleven ingredients, representing a transcendence of the ten stages of creating the physical world. That transcendence  is our attachment to G-d.

When the minute details of our lives get in the way we may not always grasp the feeling that we are reaching our potential.
We need to reflect on the fact that the continuity of effort WILL sustain us between the fleeting moments of inspiration.
With experience, those moments will be closer and closer together. It just takes a bit of practice…

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg

Please reserve dinner tix: