Shabbat Shalom, everyone! Welcome to the first weekly roundup of news, events, and articles from Nefesh. In this issue:
1. Shabbat Tonight 7pm, 12/4: Friday Poem
Shabbat Shalom! Friday December 4, 2020 — 7pm service.
Join us tonight for Goodness, Connection, Community, Soul Rest
Feel free to invite friends and family who are needing spiritual nourishment. All are welcome.
From Rabbi Susan, Friday afternoon poem: Thinking about a plague that ripped through our nation and world that was not seen and named and fought enough. It was World AIDS Day was this past week. This was shared by my beloved friend and Nefesh kin Keiko Lane: one plague, then another.
“Mourning contracts the eye like a camera lens in strong light: the aperture of the soul shrinks to a tiny pinpoint which admits only grief. The past feels diminished when the future seems to shrink. When I am overcome – as I am, about once a week – by the prospect of losing my lover, I can’t see any kind of ongoingness; my vision becomes one-pointed, like looking through the wrong end of a telescope, and the world seems smaller, further away, sad, a difficult place which no one world much want to inhabit.
The grief which sweeps over me is the grief of anticipation. It is a grief in expectation of grief, and it carries with it a certain degree of guilt, since one feels that what one really should be doing is enjoying the moment, being together now while it is possible to do so, rather than giving in to some gloomy sense of incipient loss. And while most of the time I can maintain that sensibility – the preciousness of the present, the importance of not projecting too far ahead, not trying to feel my way blindly toward the future – I can’t sustain it all the time. The future’s an absence, a dark space up ahead like the socket of a pulled tooth. I can’t quite stay away from it, hard as I may try. The space opened up in the future insists on being filled with something: attention, tears, imagination, longing.”
– Mark Doty, Heaven’s Coast (pg 7)
2. Nefesh Boost Sunday 12/6
3. Teen Group Sunday 12/6
Nefesh Teen group meets again Sunday! If you wish to attend, please email Ellen: ekennedy – at – nefeshla.org.
4. Light Up Nefesh Auction ends December 10, First Night of Chanukah!
Thursday, December 10 marks the start of Chanukah and the end of our fun silent auction! Check out these amazing items from our community, bid, PLEASE SHARE in your networks, and then get tickets to COME ON DOWN, YOU’RE ALREADY HERE, the Nefesh Game Night with host Chris Duffy.
5. Nefesh Supports JQY, Jewish Queer Youth: Next Meeting December 9
Nefesh proudly supports JQ International’s Tzelem for LGBTQ+ Jewish Teens, with their next meeting coming up on December 9th! If you’re an LGBTQ+ Jewish teen looking for a safe space to connect with others like yourself, a place where you can be authentically you in a supportive space to make new friends and explore issues like:
- Life transitions
- Healthy Relationships
- Challenging sexism
- Body Positivity
- Self-Compassion
- Mental Health
- Jewish Identity…
then Tzelem for LGBTQ+ Jewish Teens group is for you! In partnership with Moving Traditions, this opportunity was specifically created for queer Jewish teens to explore the topics most meaningful to them. This group is open to all LGBTQ+ teens grades 8 – 12. Learn more and sign up at www.movingtraditions.org/jqsa
6. Nefesh Kin Connect Tuesday, December 8
Nefesh Kin meet Tuesday night 7pm for support.
7. Puppy for Hanukkah – Video
Hamilton star Daveed Diggs released this amazing Chanukah video today, it’s super fun!
