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reminder that jack black is One Of Us.

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eleventh plague. emails. 

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Still here, still true!

This is Congregation Ner Shalom.

We are the only synagogue in Prince William County.

We are a congregation that supports a wide range of programs and activities for members of all ages.

We are dedicated to preserving the traditions of the past, pledged to serving the spiritual, cultural, educational and social needs of our congregation and the community in the present, and committed to providing innovative and progressive ideas to meet the challenges of the future.

We are a diverse congregation reaching out to all people and making a conscious effort to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome. We welcome everyone who is interested in participating in the lively, vibrant world of Reform Judaism. Judaism stresses community. Ner Shalom is your Jewish community, as well as your extended family in Prince William County, Virginia.

We STRIVE to build a community based on inclusiveness, where everyone is welcome, regardless of race, age, ability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, a Jew by birth or by choice, to seek religious learning and experiences, life cycle rituals, and spiritual guidance.

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Learning that in Judaism I was allowed to argue with G-d was such a liberating experience.

Like, finally… A worthy opponent.

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Congregation Ner Shalom turned 3 today!

I feel like I have forgotten to post in the last year, but we’re still here in Northern Virginia!

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no but like there’s something so special about when ur studying with conversion students and they’re very polite and a little bit bashful because they don’t want to impose or anything, a completely normal impulse. but like deep down you can just TELL that they have so much interesting shit to say under the initial hesitance, so you keep poking around torah topics until you strike gold and find the one that they’re very personally interested and suddenly they’re incredibly loud and intense and articulate and sound like a bonified torah scholar and you’re like AHA! my devious plan has worked! i triggered the super Jewish Passion Gene that has lain dormant within! i knew it was there all along!!! rise, young padawan!!!! rise and become tHE MACHLOKET MASTER YOU WERE ALWAYS DESTINED TO BE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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love shabbos. jews were like what if i just chilled and g-d said dude. you are SO right.

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Reblogging our origin story in honor of our birthday

This is Congregation Ner Shalom.

We are the only synagogue in Prince William County.

We are a congregation that supports a wide range of programs and activities for members of all ages.

We are dedicated to preserving the traditions of the past, pledged to serving the spiritual, cultural, educational and social needs of our congregation and the community in the present, and committed to providing innovative and progressive ideas to meet the challenges of the future.

We are a diverse congregation reaching out to all people and making a conscious effort to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome. We welcome everyone who is interested in participating in the lively, vibrant world of Reform Judaism. Judaism stresses community. Ner Shalom is your Jewish community, as well as your extended family in Prince William County, Virginia.

We STRIVE to build a community based on inclusiveness, where everyone is welcome, regardless of race, age, ability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, a Jew by birth or by choice, to seek religious learning and experiences, life cycle rituals, and spiritual guidance.

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Congregation Ner Shalom’s Tumblr turned 2 today!

Maybe by Year 3 I’ll figure out how to use it more effectively.

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when you’re saying the bracha on shabbos candles

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Judaism and Life

I’m thinking about one of the rallying cries of the Jewish people. Our slogan, if you will. We speak it, we shout it, we sing it: עם ישראל חי. Am Yisrael Chai. The people of Israel live.

It says a lot, I think, that this of all phrases is among our defining anthems. Out of all the possibilities, this is our motto, our catchphrase, our affirmation: a simple, defiant declaration of our own continued existence against the odds.

I’m also thinking of our traditional exclamation of celebration. The classic, quintessential, go-to Jewish toast, so characteristic as to have reached popular culture through a Broadway musical: לחיים. L’chaim. To life.

One of our primary “good luck” symbols, found on medallions and amulets: the single word, חי. Chai. Life. Our “lucky number” is 18, the number with the gematria value of life. We give momentary gifts and make donations in multiples of 18: giving chai, giving life.

It’s pretty straightforward, really. We just want to live. As people, as Jews, as a community.

I’m thinking about how many ways our culture and traditions repeatedly highlight the centrality of life — both the preservation of individual lives, and the continuation of our collective life. Thinking how terrifyingly often both categories of life fall under threat. And how we still keep going.

מיר וועלן זיי איבערלעבן. Mir veln zey iberlebn. We will outlive them, sung in a field with soldiers and no escape, worst come to worst but singing out defiance anyway.

… and they didn’t survive, those singers, physically they did not outlive their attackers, and too many others didn’t either. But they were still right: we, we as a collective, we did outlive. Barely, and with indescribable and lasting loss… but we did. We’re still here. Existent. Alive. Affirming that and hanging on for dear life, as individual people and as a people.

Am Yisrael Chai. Mir veln zey iberlebn. L’chaim.

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Some Shabbats are just felt more deeply, you know? 

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I reblogged that tongs made from tongs post hours ago and only just now realized something. I've heard that Gd also made sheydim just before the first Shabbat and didn't quite finish before the sun started to go down, hence why they're like that. So the question is: was Gd procrastinating on sheydim by making miracle items instead? Did Gd get distracted clicking the very first pair of tongs?

anything and everything is valid when it comes to sheydim. gd gets distracted easily, see the flying oven and abraham. but im gonna take this opportunity to maintain and justify my belief in ghosts and demons. if we look at the Rabbis (capital R for a reason) as forces of order and control then it only makes sense that there's some force of chaos and entropy at work in the universe. that, dear reader, is demons. and ghosts. trouble makers and tricksters designed to throw a wrench into the order and maintenance at work by the Rabbis. anyway this is how i justify my scary and eerie beliefs

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