All are welcome for our Shabbat Healing Service: October 27, 2023

Uncategorized 2 Minutes

Tomorrow night, we will be joining together for our Shabbat (Sabbath) services. Everyone is welcome to join us with a special healing prayer and meditation service in English and Hebrew, tomorrow, Friday, Friday October 27th at 6PM Atlantic (5PM Eastern/6:30 PM NFLD). Please register for the Zoom registration link: https://urj.tfaforms.net/1268

Like our last service, we will be having a reverse worship experience: beginning in collective grief and finding our way back to hope and light. Sometimes, our pathways to healing are indirect or nonlinear… often they have to be in order to survive. In our broken world, we need to be creative in order to find our way toward healing and wholeness.

This Shabbat, the traditional Jewish liturgical calendar invites us to reflect upon this idea of journey, as we reflect upon the themes of Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27; Isaiah 40:27-41:16) which describes the journey of Abram and Sarai who leave their home to go to a place that they did not know in order to become a blessing. Their courage to embark into the unknown, as they pursued their own spiritual journey, led them to becoming the spiritual ancestor of three faith traditions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They were renamed: Abraham and Sarah, with the letter H/”hey” being added to their name in order to reflect this next step in their spiritual journey. The “H” or “hey” reflects one of the sacred Hebrew letters of G!d’s name and the ways in which G!d’s Light is inside of us. This is the basis of the Jewish tradition of having a “Jewish name” as we reflect upon the ways in which we continue to evolve through our spiritual journey.

Mercifully, we have some bright lights that we will be able to celebrate together tomorrow, as we welcome someone who is joining the Jewish people, and the newest human born into our community, as well as celebrate the journey of another member. I am also grateful to welcome a friend and colleague who will be coming to bless me and give me my new Hebrew name: Nachshon. During moments of darkness, as the war in the Middle East is for us all, let us give thanks for the ways that Light can be kindled. Together, may we become a bright Light that radiates ever brighter until our world is illuminated.

May this Shabbat bring Light, healing, hope and wholeness to us and to our world. May we find comfort and solace in knowing that we are not alone in our journeys, and may we, like Abraham, learn to trust our journeys and may they lead us to blessing.

Published by Rabbi Dr. Nachshon Siritsky

This blog was first started when I was known as Rabbi Nadia and when I worked south of the colonial border, in what is known as the United States. I served as a rabbi of several large and small synagogues across Turtle Island (North America) before moving the beautiful unceded Mi'kma'ki (colonial name: Nova Scotia, Canada) where I work as a social worker. I also support a growing group of Jewish communities that are part of The Chavurah Collective: Decolonizing Judaism in Mi'kma'ki and Beyond and use this personal blog to post services that I lead, and which are open to anyone interested in joining. As a second-generation Holocaust survivor and someone who identifies as nonbinary and transgender, I feel called to create a world free from hatred and prejudice. I understand the closet to be a metaphor for the ways that colonization/society has wounded us through intergenerational trauma that manifests in intersectional ways. I believe in the universality of spiritual teachings across traditions and their alignment with contemporary psychological theory. As I transition from serving as a pulpit rabbi to becoming a community rabbi, I've maintained this blog as a platform to share my theology and connect with others, especially as part of my personal sense of Calling to advocate for "tikkun olam" (=the healing of the world). Canada's recent commitment to begin a restorative justice process of Truth and Reconciliation has inspired me to reflect upon the ways that decolonizing one's self can lead to restorative justice and a global healing: this blog reflects my effort to distill these insights. Just as the fringes of a prayer shawl hold its holiness, I believe my greatest contribution lies in guiding others home and towards wholeness. Having exited my gender closet, I have continued to emerge and am committed to doing what I can to help others become who they were created to be. Engaging in the sacred work of beginning to decolonize myself, I seek to share these insights with others and to advocate for the equal rights and healing potential that I believe is what G!d wants for us all. Through this blog, I hope to inspire healing, insight, and empowerment, inviting others to find their voice and path. Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Published