Message from the Rabbi

I want to wish a warm welcome to those who have just joined Temple Israel and to all the newcomers of the Scranton community. I also want to thank all of you who have been members of Temple Israel through the years – you have kept our Temple Israel family a viable Jewish institution – one that we all can be proud of. As a family institution, we have served the religious, educational and social needs of our members for the past 80 years.

Passover is over, and we are counting the Omer to Shavuot. While this time is traditionally a time of semi-mourning (see below), we at Temple Israel are also counting our blessings – a caring leadership, b’nai mitzvah, a Lag b’Omer picnic, a wide range of families approaching Judaism from all perspectives, participation in community events and a beautiful building where we celebrate our Judaism.

My function as rabbi is to help you define, celebrate and develop your Judaism – your approach to Judaism, your theology, your practices and the spirituality that weaves its way through everything we do. My goal is to take the Judaism we know and love and make it the basis for our decision making, the support when we are challenged and the framework for our celebrations. As we move through the spring and summer months, please join us for enjoy a nosh and parashah study with Bible and Bagels each Shabbat morning before services, daily morning and evening minyanim and especially our Lag B’Omer picnic at Nay Aug Park Sunday, May 22.

One of my pleasures is to help you celebrate life cycle events – in the home or at the Temple. Let me know how I can make your Jewish experience in Scranton meaningful and enjoyable. Please stop by my office and let me know what is important to you.

-- Rabbi Joseph Mendelsohn

Sefirat ha-Omer is a strange time in the Jewish calendar. Sefirah means “counting”, and an omer is a measure equaling approximately a fistful of wheat or barley. Beginning the second day of Pesah, we count each evening, forty-nine days (a week of weeks) in total, until the major festival of Shavuot. Our tradition has determined that this period is one of mourning – not deep mourning, but a gently subdued mourning defined by our refraining from participation in joyous events during this period. We do not schedule weddings, nor do we cut our hair or listen to (live) music.

Why do we mourn? According to the Talmud, this is because during this one year period between Pesah and Shavuot, Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students, who lived 1,850 years ago in the Roman dominated Land of Israel, died from a mysterious God-sent plague. Why did they die? Because the Talmud teaches, “they did not show proper respect to one another.” [B. Yeb. 62b; Otsar Hage'onim, Yebamot] Lag B’Omer is celebrated on the thirty-third day because on that day the plague ended and Rabbi Akiva’s students stopped dying.

Rabbi David Golinkin suggests that this practice of semi-mourning is probably a response to (and re-symbolization of) the Roman practice of forbidding marriages during the month of May. It’s interesting to note that the early Sages rebelled against this practice, calling it a minhag shtut – “a foolish custom.” But the people insisted, and so it has become halakhah.

Short Story

One who occupies himself with the needs of the community is as if he occupies himself with Torah. [Brakhot – Talmud Yerushalmi]

In this quote, Torah represents more than the written scroll. It represents the entire teachings given to us through the years – treating another as we would want to be treated, protecting the disabled, repairing the world… Temple Israel Scranton exemplifies this concept by being heavily involved in the community, both the NEPA Jewish community and in the greater Scranton community.

Temple Israel, Scranton 2010