I last wrote about our KI programming and the continuity of our Shabbat Services, Adult Education, Rabbi Talk, Torah Study and support groups that took off when the pandemic began in March of 2020. Personally, I am very proud of the quality of our services and programming and I know that many in our community tune in as regulars. More than listening to services or guest speakers, our Zooming together has become a time for us to socialize. Now I cannot imagine a time before Zoom! I guess we could start referring to ourselves as the Zoom generation.

We all know that despite our most careful planning, life can be filled with a degree of uncertainty, and in spite of calamity, we are urged to think positively, be optimistic and not dwell on the negative. In fact, I have often heard it said, “Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” meaning, “Man Plans, and God Laughs.” This is an old Yiddish saying, interpreted from Proverbs 19:21, “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.”

On Wednesday November 11, 2020 with help from Joan Myerson Shrager, we attempted to continue the Rabbi Talk series that had been advertised as Rabbi Talk Rewind. We set out to host a previously recorded talk by Rabbi Sussman, and settled on an interesting topic that was easily found on YouTube. During the day, I listened to the talk, took some notes so I could host with some knowledge, logged on to Zoom and learned that YouTube was down across the country and unable to be accessed. (I later learned that this outage lasted for an hour and a half – the exact time that we had planned for Rabbi Talk Rewind.)

I am not sure if God was laughing at us or with us as twenty Zoomers joined us for Rabbi Talk Rewind, we explained the situation, switched topics and Joan was able to share one of Rabbi’s PowerPoint presentations based on our Veteran’s Memorial Book, How the Mighty Have Fallen. It was Veteran’s Day after all, a day set aside for us to be mindful and to thank our Veteran’s for their courage and sacrifices. Inspired by this memorial book, we spent the rest of the hour talking about Veterans, and then as a community, we were able to share a memory of a Veteran in our own lives.

Remember to check e-KI every Thursday afternoon to find out what we have scheduled for our upcoming Rabbi Talk Rewind. I look forward to Zooming with you.

Sincerely,

Janice