Yes, but Lev Eisha is one step ahead of you! Brought back by popular demand, the Lev Eisha Passover Seder:
On Sunday, March 30th, at 12:30 pm, Lev Eisha will celebrate a Women's Passover Seder, led by Rabbi August with music by Cindy Paley, using our unique Lev Eisha Haggadah. We will enjoy the ritual Seder foods as well as a light lunch prepared with ingredients that mimic "Pesahdika" foods (since the event is a full 3 weeks before the actual holiday.) Ticket prices start at $36 and include a Haggadah to take home for each participant. Higher levels include multiple admissions, and mention in the program, with copies of our new Pesach cookbook for the top levels. (The Seder will be held in lieu of a fundraiser this year, so we really appreciate your generosity.)
Additional haggadot and cookbooks may be purchased in advance or at the Seder. More information will come by mail. Encourage your friends and relatives to participate. And if you want to volunteer to help, contact Sherrill Kushner at 310.394.483
Membership premiums will be distributed at the close of our service this month. We apologize for the delays in delivering your premiums, but they were not shipped on time to us. If you are unable to attend and pick up your gift, please send Julie an email. She will hold it for you and bring it to our February service.
In a teaching inspired by Rabbi Larry Kushner we look at one of our favorite Shabbat morning prayers.. Hallelu, Hallelujah. We know that at Lev Eisha, this prayer is the one where we really get up and dance! Hallelujah!
The Hebrew words from the Psalm say: Let every "soul" praise God. The word "neshamah" which we translate as "soul" also means "breath." The famous Hassidic rabbi Lev of Berdichev understands the idea of "soul" to mean "a breath." And if this is so, just as a breath floats upward, so too, he teaches, our souls, at every moment, want to leave us! In a more sobering explanation, it is almost as if the natural state of life is death. Without some intervening force, our souls would leave us all. Rabbi Berdichev teaches it is as if, what keeps us alive, is that God is pressing down on the lid and keeping our soul from escaping from our bodies into the void!
This is a core expression of spirituality. Every moment is worthy of the simple expression of gratitude for being alive. "I am alive - and am grateful for yet another moment of keeping my soul, my upward breath, from leaving my body!"
So, during this month of January, when it is raining and chilly and we need to look and hear and feel more to see all the beauty, let us appreciate the moment of our breath and say, "Hallelujah....With all my breath, my soul praises God!" Amen.
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