Parashat Emor

April 30, 2021
18 Iyyar 5781
Parashat Emor
33rd day of the Omer
Leviticus 21:1 - 24:23

Dear Friends,

It is at difficult times when we find ourselves in narrow places that we discover who we are, what motivates us, and what allows us to remain upright and continue to move forward with lovingkindness, integrity, and justice.

What are Tehillah Community members doing and/or have done? It's quite a list:

• Finding ways to join others in playing music together;
• Having regular conversations with those who have found this past year to be a particular source of anxiety;
• Filling the Friendly Fridge;
• Working for prison reform;
• Doing errands for those who cannot get out;
• Helping people get vaccine appointments;
• Advocating for New Yorkers in need;
• Reaching out to those who feel isolated;
• Voting;
• Teaching about racial and social justice in active, life changing ways;
• Listening more deeply when others speak;
• Making clothing donations;
• Being part of letter writing campaigns;
• Acknowledging those who teach and work in front-line professions
• Volunteering time and energy to various organizations and causes, in particular securing support for those confronting housing insecurity;
• Working with people around unconscious bias;
• Collecting food scraps at the market. 

As a community made up of amazing individuals, you have all been finding new ways of living in the world and giving it meaning. Take a moment and see the blessing that this community has been, is, and will be.

To be an agent of change means that standing idly by is not an option and that fear and anger are destructive not just to those around us but to ourselves. In the letter to the community below about the recent vandalism, we share with you the many ways that the larger Riverdale community does not bow to fear and anger, and how it has found ways of supporting one another. NOTE: Click on the thumbnail below to read the letter.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn