By Bryna Rosman Rubinger
What stands out to me about these last months of adapting to the pandemic, is how I have learned, at an advanced age, to really understand the meaning of gratitude. Of course, I was taught good manners at an early age, to say “thank you” to send “thank you” cards, and so on. But, to really feel a profound sense of gratitude is something I had not really experienced until the arrival of Covid. And much of this acquired sense I owe to my interactions with my co-congregants at Dorshei Emet. I have been overwhelmed, since the beginning of the lock-down in March. by telephone calls enquiring about my health, to offers of help with anything I might require -shopping, appointments, driving and so on. From a message from a new-ish ( to me) Board Member called Chaim Colman, to welcome Emails, and to a personal phone call from President, Elana Cooperberg, at one point, urging me to attend each of my parents’ Yarzeitim on the Shabbat ‘Zoom”. There, on one Shabbat, I was fortunate also to attend an extraordinary Bat Mitzvah. I don’t remember the wonderful girl’s name, but I was overcome by this memorable event. She, from her living room, reading from the actual Torah scroll taken there from the shul, telling her story of her family’s coming to Montreal, and her parents and brother surrounding her in the intimacy of their apartment, her father thanking us for coming to their “simchah”, while someone in their own home (in Israel?, I believe), singing Hatikvah at the end, accompanied by a guitar. The intimacy generated during these events, unscripted, and genuine were a revelation. These acts of kindness alone were reassuring. But, what gave me a profound sense of gratitude was “attending” the two days of Dorshei Emet’s Zoom Rosh Hashanah participatory services last week. I was moved by seeing Archie Feinberg on the bima in full regalia singing,- in the same familiar melody,- the part of the Musaf service that I so associate with Hillel Becker. I was touched hearing, and seeing Mark Berner, praying prostrate before the ark. I laughed out loud seeing Mark Bassell, pre-recorded, blowing the Shofar on Shabbat in the sanctuary. And, yes, I felt truly IN a sanctuary. I marvelled at Rabbi Boris technically orchestrating all this, and the “technical” (and office) “crew” behind the scenes, being able to marshal the resources to divide us on line, at home into groups of 4, to discuss how the pandemic has altered our lives. It was all life-affirming and positive. It has been an unforgettable Rosh Hashanah. And, I am truly grateful to be part of this community.
0 Comments
|
AuthorYou! The Dorshei Emet Community. Archives
November 2020
Categories |