Thursday, February 13

7:00 PM

 

As winter chills us the Jewish calendar anticipates spring as we plan to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, (the day 15^th of the Hebrew month Shevat) the annual Jewish arbor day, a “New Year of Trees.” Join us  for a lovely evening of learning and lore.

 

Rabbi Spitz will teach how Psalms have served as the playlist of Jewish life across 2,000 years. How Psalm 1 describes “happiness” as the goal of psalms and the religious life and how Psalm 23, the best known of these classic poems to God, describes phases in our lives. Rabbi Spitz taught all 150 psalms during COVID, which can be found here: www.eliespitz.com.

 

To compliment Rabbi Spitz presentation about Pslams, David Lipsitz and Craig Parks will set the poetic words of Psalms to music, as was done in Biblical days. As Psalm 150 declares, we praise God with instruments and song. Come sing along!

 

The purpose of Tu B’Shevat is to appreciate more consciously the beauty of the natural world in which we live and to care for the environment.

 

It was the 16th century Jewish mystics of Tzfat, Israel who first created imaginative food rituals to celebrate Tu B’Shevat. Our evening will include seasonal snacks for Tu B’Shevat and cups of wine to symbolize the seasons of nature.

 

 

Elie Spitz served as the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Israel of Tustin, CA for over 33 years and as a member of the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee of Jewish Law and Standards for 20 years. He has taught courses at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies of American Jewish University and Chapman University. He has published four books: Does the Soul Survive? Jewish Views of the Afterlife, Past Lives, and Living with Purpose (2000, 2015); Healing from Despair: Choosing Wholeness in a Broken World (2008), and Increasing Wholeness: Jewish Wisdom and Guided Meditations to Strengthen and Calm Body, Heart, Mind and Spirit (2015), and Duets on Psalms: Drawing New Meanings from Ancient Words (2023). His writings address topics of both Jewish and universal concern, including: How would a contemporary juror view survival of the soul? How are Biblical writings, such as Psalms, relevant to us today?

 

Contact dvinick@cbe.org for more information.