Kallah #1 Make Up Assignment –
Building a Jewish Community
The following are several components for Jewish Communal
Living, with some explanation of each.
From this list, choose 4 that you think are essential, and explain
why you consider them to be indispensable to the life of a Jewish
community in any given city or region. And in your answer, please
use or reference at least one of the Jewish Source quotes listed
below.
A Kosher Deli or Bakery – containing the foods we eat,
and have at celebrations and holidays that are not necessarily
available at normal markets.
A Jewish Community Center – Created in 1854 to help
Jewish immigrants make sure their Jewish culture lived on. All
Jews are welcome. Encourages Jews to live American/Jewish lives.
Is a terrific resource for meetings and cultural events.
A Jewish Federation – primary fund-raising organization to
meet the needs of all segments of the local Jewish Community, and
to send aid to Israel. Encourages volunteerism, trains community
leaders and helps create Jewish programming. Offers Jews a way
of contributing to the greater Jewish community.
A Jewish Funeral Home – offers the Jewish community
access to the traditions and guidelines specific for Jewish rituals
for death and burial; helps maintain the cemetery. Able to perform
the ritual purification of the body, and burial in the traditional
shroud.
A Torah Scroll – The holiest of Jewish objects. The 5 books
of Moses containing the 613 laws of God given to the people of
Israel, and from which all Jewish living comes. Read on holidays,
Shabbat mornings and Bat Mitzvah and Bar Mitzvah ceremonies.
A Synagogue – The center of the Jewish religious community.
A place for prayer, study and education, as well as communal
gathering and celebration. Synagogues have been credited with
holding the Diaspora Jewish Community together. A Jewish home
away from home.
Youth Groups – helping to carry traditions into the future –
through our kids. Provide activities for Jewish teens to connect
with one another, to learn about traditions and culture and explore
their Jewish identity in a safe environment.
A Rabbi – the authoritative teacher of Jewish law and living,
Responsible for the religious and spiritual life of the congregation.
Visits the sick, attends simchas and teaches Torah. Officiates at life
cycle occasions, and is often a spiritual counselor in times of need.
A Cantor – responsible for leading the congregation in worship,
and providing for the musical needs of the synagogue. Teaches Bar
and Bat Mitzvah students. Also performs pastoral functions of
counseling, visiting the sick and officiating at various life cycle
occasions.
A Jewish School – Jews treasure education. Passing on
knowledge and traditions have kept our people alive. More and
more we rely on the Jewish schools to teach kids Hebrew, about
the Holidays, and the values and mitzvot.
Jewish Source Quotes:
Al tifrosh min ha tzibur – do not separate yourself from the
community
Kol Yisrael Aravim zeh l’zeh- All Jews are responsible for each
other.
Hinei ma tov u mah naim, shevet achim gam yachad - behold how
good and pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in
unity.
Zachor et yom haShabbat – Remember the Sabbath day and keep it
holy.
You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and your daughter,
the stranger, the fatherless and the orphan. – Deuteronomy 16
V’shinantam l’vanecha v’dibarta bam - teach them faithfully to
your children…
Find yourself a teacher, and you have acquired a friend for life.
-Rabbinic
As in real estate the rule is “location, location, location” – in
Jewish worship the rule is “music, music, music….”
- Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman
Hafach ba, v’hafach ba, l’chuleh bah – turn it (the Torah) and turn
it again, for all that is in it (ie: read the Torah over and over –
you’ll always learn something new) - Talmudic