March 2025
Letter from the Rabbi
Dear Temple Israel Community,
“When we enter Adar, we multiply joy!” (Babylonian Talmud Ta’anit 29a)
This year the ancient early Spring month of Adar aligns with March and invites us to do our part to magnify the joy and goodwill in the world. This year, many of us may find this particularly challenging. Our cold winter seems like it will continue for a while longer. In our community, along with much of the world, we are coping with a great deal of uncertainty and concern for the immediate and long term future. In our people’s ancient homeland Eretz Yisrael, this is particularly pronounced as the hostage exchange and ceasefire deal are currently stalled.
So, while our tradition teaches this is a season of joy, our experience may not naturally lead us to increased joy. How can we reconcile this tension?
We can come together to join in the life of our community, of course! In this month ahead, we will have opportunities to sing our hearts out together as we celebrate Purim as well as to comfort grieving members of our community. We will have the opportunity to wrestle with how Torah shines light into current events as well as to welcome new children to our community. We will raise funds for the future of our synagogue as well as for the immediate needs of hungry people in our local community.
As we come together to engage in the Mitzvot through which our tradition offers structures of support for the years and seasons of our lives, we can cultivate a deep sense of joy and goodwill. This deep joy derived from our deep connections with each other, with G-d and Torah, is a core ingredient for resilience of heart and spirit. It may very well be that this resilience born from the joy of community that has enabled our people to persevere throughout the generations.
This month, please consider how you would like to embrace these opportunities to join together with your Temple Israel community. May we together magnify our joy!
L’shalom,
Rabbi Micah R. Friedman
הרב מיכה שמחה פרידמן
