Archive
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Mitzvah Day 2024 at Temple David
Temple David Congregation completed two projects for the 2024 Mitzvah Day: supplying and cooking breakfast for 60 at Ronald McDonald House, Nedlands. Volunteers were Alexandra & Leonel Valladares, Bernie Williams, Brenda Austin, Clive Hesse, Eva Richardson, Hilary Silbert, Franco Andreone.
The other project consisted of asking members and friends to donate items for personal use, cleaning or food to be delivered to Zonta Refuge House. Jo-Ann Chenik and Hilary Silbert sorted the items ready for delivery.
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A WHO’S WHO LAUDS LOU
Temple David is so very proud of our member, Prof. Lou Landau and of his wife, Miriam, a talent in her own right. Mazeltov on receiving well deserved recognition and honours. May Telethon Kids continue forever in your honour.
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Perth homecoming for Rabbi Ettlinger
Rabbi Kim Ettlinger has been inducted as the rabbi of Progressive congregation Temple David in Perth.
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Dvar Torah - Ki Teitzei - Kathryn Teale
I love travelling. I love both the thrill of finding something new and the comfort of recognising things that are familiar. I seek out the quirky and the beautiful things around me, and I experience things that maybe I haven’t experienced before.
Marcel Proust wrote, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” It seems like my eyes are more open when I step out of my regular routine. -
Dvar Torah - Devarim - Kathryn Teale
We are the People of the Book. We are a nation of storytellers. We know the power of words to construct and illuminate, even as God used words to create light from darkness. We write midrashim about the stories we inherit, turning the words over and over to find new meaning. We read in the Torah about using words to bless and to curse. Do we still believe in blessings and curses? I remember as a child learning a rhyme in the playground: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. I didn’t understand at that time, how much pain and lasting damage could be done by words. Anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs, racist taunts and verbal sexual harassment, internet trolling and fake news are curses of the modern age. At the same time, words give us the power to teach and share, to connect us to our origins and with our tribe, to heal division and give comfort. If we cannot communicate, if we do not have a voice, if we cannot share our words, then we are powerless.
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Dvar Torah - Pinchas - Kathryn Teale
How often do we look around us and see inequity and injustice? Sadly, it is not hard to find examples. In the news just recently we’ve seen sexual harassment in parliament, the difficulty for rural Australians to access adequate healthcare, and ongoing discrimination against people of colour, and people with disabilities. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
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From the President
While many Temple activities continued to hum away in the background during the COVID-19 restrictions, lifting them seems to have brought new energy to the shule. Services have been well attended and several innovations introduced: a dinner after one Kabbalat Shabbat service; coffee and cake before another, both likely to be repeated as they were much enjoyed, extending the social aspect of services much the way coffee in the boardroom precedes Saturday morning services.
It has been a relief to hear that most of you have not suffered seriously from the economic fallout of the pandemic, although the jobs of some members remain at risk and others of you will have friends and family who may be struggling. Our hearts also go out to all the Year 12 students whose next steps have been made less secure…. -
D'var Torah - Talia Wise
My parsha is from the start of Vayakhel-Pekudei, and it tells us about the Children of Israel after the exodus from Egypt. It includes several verses about keeping the Shabbat, before moving onto a detailed list of parts the Israelites donated to build the Tabernacle. At first, I was more into in the first of those two sections, the verses about keeping Shabbat, as I wasn’t particularly interested in searching through what is essentially Ye Olde IKEA Catalogue.
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Enduring the Unknown
I know that many of you may be worried or anxious at this time, and so most importantly, I want you to know that we at Temple David are here to offer our support and our prayers, even while we may not be able to offer our physical presence. As a synagogue community, we are here to provide comfort, support and inspiration to one another, whether we are in each other’s physical presence, or not.
In difficult times, our Jewish traditions and faith have nourished our spirits to endure the unknown. I believe our Jewish values should guide us
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Parashat Hashavua for Sh'mini - Leadership in times of crisis
“Fire came forth from before the Eternal and consumed the burnt offering and the fat parts on the altar. And all the people saw, and shouted, and fell on their faces. Now Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the Eternal alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the Eternal and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the Eternal.” (Leviticus 9:23-10:2) In times of global crisis, each and every one of us is called to take leadership to be pro-active and to practice our values. Parashat Sh’mini offers us an insight to some of Moshe’s leadership qualities dealing with a crisis. At a sublime moment of the first ritual, at the tent of meeting, Moshe and Aaron are confronted with both a personal and a public crisis. Two of Aaron sons are killed and consumed by the holy fire in front of the whole young nation.