The Conservative community gathered last month at Temple Emanuel to celebrate the second night of Shavuot with a Kabbalat Shabbat service, a simple but delicious dinner, and a communal Shavuot-teach from its rabbis and cantor.
More than 50 people from all four Conservative synagogues – Temple Emanuel, Temple Israel, Kehillat Bet Hamidrash (KBH), and Congregation Beth El – participated, along with Rabbis Ari Oliszewski, Michael Panitz, and Ron Koas and Chazan David Proser. Rabbi Ari and Chazan Proser led the Kabbalat Shabbat services with a mix of traditional and new melodies. Ken Kievit and the Temple Emanuel kitchen crew prepared and served the Shabbat dinner.
After dinner, the clergy led remarkably different and relevant discussions of Shavuot. Rabbi Ari presented a text-based exegesis of why Ruth is revered. Rabbi Panitz discussed aspects of biblical movies, including how each movie reflects the spirit of its era and the similarity between movies filling in back-stories to provide motivation for the story and rabbis filling in back-stories to provide motivation for the story, aka Midrash. Cantor Proser talked about Shavuot traditions and Rabbi Koas spoke about the Ten Commandments and learning to be parents and honoring children.
The final event was a brief presentation of a beautiful biblical-era pot. And the miracle of this Shavuot is that the event was finished by 9 pm!
–Lawrence Weinstein