Dear Friends:
I don’t usually send a “Rabbi’s Update” on Thursday morning but I did not send one yesterday because of New Year’s Day and I will not be able to send one tomorrow morning because I have an early doctor’s appointment in Largo.
Tonight after minyan I am going to present a session of my occasional series on “Contemporary Jewish Controversies” exploring the breakdown of the American Jewish consensus on Israel. (This class was originally scheduled for last month but was not held because I was recuperating from being hit by a car.) There have been a number of indications in the past few weeks that this consensus has indeed broken down. As a few examples: a number of mainstream Jewish organizations (including the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue) last week issued a statement opposing any Israeli attempt to reestablish Jewish settlements in Gaza; last month, nineteen senators -- including a number of Jewish senators -- voted for an unsuccessful resolution to withhold offensive weapons from Israel because of civilian deaths and injuries in Gaza; and also last week, 77 House members -- many of them Jewish, including Jamie Raskin -- sent a letter to Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin encouraging them to force Israel to allow more humanitarian assistance into Gaza. As of this writing I have not seen anything from the JCRC, ADL, or the American Jewish Committee, condemning the House members who signed this letter. Please note that my intention here is neither to criticize nor endorse any of the above-cited examples but simply to point out how things have changed in the last few months.
Yesterday I attended the funeral for Rabbi Matthew Bellas z”l, who died on Monday at the age of 49. Rabbi Bellas was the lower school principal at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School for the last 11 years, and he was a deeply beloved figure both at CESJDS and at B’nai Shalom of Olney where he was an active member along with his wife Oksana and their three children. The shul was packed all the way to the back of the social hall with so many current and past CESJDS lower school students and parents, and I saw almost every Conservative rabbi in our community there as well. Rabbi Bellas died tragically after a brief and untreatable illness.
I knew Matt and Oksana when I was a faculty member and administrator at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and they were both undergraduates there. (They began dating at the beginning of their freshman year, got married the summer before their senior year, and they already had a child when Matt began his rabbinical studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary at age 23.) I did not see Rabbi Bellas often during his eleven years at JDS since rabbis who work in day schools rarely have the opportunity to attend Board of Rabbis programs, but I did see him on occasion when we joined together with B’nai Shalom and other area shuls for Tisha B’Av and Selichot. From even those rare and brief interactions, it was clear why he was so beloved. He had an infectious smile, a creative sense of humor, and a deep enthusiasm for everything Jewish.
Yesterday during one of the eulogies, hundreds of those present repeated something that Rabbi Bellas apparently said every day during morning announcements: “Ask a good question, learn something new, and be kind to everyone.” It is a good way to approach every day, and I am glad that for so many of his students it seems deeply ingrained. Y’hi zichro baruch -- may his memory be a blessing.
As a reminder, I am having drop-in hours on Thursday afternoons from 2 to 4 at the shul. For my drop-in hours, you do not need to make an appointment -- that would negate the whole point of drop-in hours -- but I’d urge you to check and make sure I am there regardless as sometimes there are unavoidable pastoral or other emergencies which might take me away from the building.
As always, if I can do anything for you or you need to talk, please contact me at rabbi@kehilatshalom.org or 301-977-0768 rather than through the synagogue office. I am happy to meet you at the synagogue by appointment; if you want to speak with me it’s best to make an appointment rather than assuming I will be there when you stop by.
Additionally, if you know of a Kehilat Shalom congregant or another member of our Jewish community who could use a phone call, please let me know.
L’shalom,
Rabbi Charles L. Arian
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