‘You know rabbi, I never had a real Bar/Bat Mitzvah. I never even chanted my haftarah.’ –anonymous congregant of nearly every synagogue in the entire world
The above sentiment is problematic for at least two reasons. The first is that despite what Adam Sandler would have you believe, the modern Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a remarkably recent phenomenon in Jewish history clocking in at less than 100 years old. There is no real Bar/Bat Mitzvah anymore than there is a real hora dance. A multitude of modalities exists for both.
The haftarah forming a core component of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah experience is even more of a head-scratcher. The Talmud is crystal clear about a minor being permitted to chant the haftarah as part of the synagogue service removing any added significance from the coming-of-age ceremony.
While much is understood about how the Bar/Bat Mitzvah came to assume such an immense place of prominence in the contemporary Jewish experience (suburban caterers and their boat payments), the haftarah’s origins are less well-known. Simply put, we have no idea how or when it started and why. There are theories and best guesses but finding a compelling answer remains murky at best.
The most widely accepted hypothesis ties into the upcoming holiday of Hanukkah. As anyone who has spun a dreidel no doubt learnt, the spinning tops were created when King Antiochus forbade teaching Torah. When the guards approached Hebrew School classrooms, the teacher instructed the class to put their scripture away and play with dreidels so as not to arouse any suspicion of lawbreaking.
Saturday morning service presented a similar conundrum namely how to pray in synagogue without reading the Torah? The rabbis chose selections from the Prophets to chant that thematically matched up with the week’s Torah portion. Even after the ban on reading Torah was lifted, the practice of reading haftarah stuck making many a synagogue ‘Kiddush Club’ that much more lush until the present day.
Again, the above is uncertain except for the part about boozy Kiddush Clubs. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, a forebear of Ralph Kestenbaum whoe formed the religious identity of our JCC, writes that the haftarah started as a revolt against Sadducees, Samaritans and Karaites who viewed only the Torah’s Five Books of Moses as authoritative. Reading from the Prophets emphasized their centrality in the Jewish canon as well.
So why are we talking about the haftarah if there is not a Bar/Bat Mitzvah for months? In two weeks’ time, we will celebrate the ancient Beta Israel/Ethiopian Jewish holiday of Sigd. Since 2021, we’ve come up with different ways of marking Sigd at the JCC from a Zoom lesson on the holiday’s rituals and customs to raising our glasses of Tej/honey wine in a communal L’Chaim at kiddush.
Last year our Hebrew School snack time was transformed into a smorgasbord of Ethiopian Jewish cuisine with dabo and injera made with teff served alongside spreads without no cutlery in the traditional style.
This year, we are going back to Gondar, the ancestral home of Beta Israel, at least in form and style. There is a little-known tradition that dates back thousands of years for the haftarah to be translated into Aramaic verse by verse. The practice was abandoned by nearly all communities except Yemenites thousands of years ago.
In celebration of Sigd, we will revive two customs simultaneously. As the Talmud teaches, the haftarah will be translated for the community three verses at a time. However, instead of Aramaic the translation will be read by JCC member Yonas Seme into Amharic marking the perpetual, unbroken tradition of the Beta Israel community.
Not only will our community be the first to bring in Sigd in 5785, we will likely be the only ones outside of Ethiopia and Israel to celebrate in such a sacred and joyoys manner. Looking forward to seeing you at Sigd on Saturday morning, November 30.
መልካም የስግድ በዓል חג סיגד שמח Happy Sigd!
Services
Kabbalat Shabbat
Thanksgiving Dinner
Friday, November 29
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Toldot – Sigd
Kiddush sponsored by the Walzer and Rosenberg Families celebrating the visit of Lisa Barret who was a fixture at the JCCJ in the early 1990s
Haftarah in Amharic translation in honor of Sigd
Saturday, November 30
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, December 6
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Vayetze
Kiddush open for sponsorship
Saturday, December 7
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, December 13
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat
Scholar-in-Residence Professor Sam Fleishacker
Between Gossip and Lashon Hara: Why Some Gossip is a Good Thing
Friday, December 20
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Lecture: 8:00pm
Shabbat Parshat Vayeshev
Kiddush open for sponsorship
Saturday, December 21
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Kabbalat Shabbat Hanukkah
Friday, December 27
Services: 6:00pm
Dinner by reservation: 7:00pm
Shabbat Hanukkah Parshat Miketz
Kiddush open for sponsorship
Saturday, December 28
Services: 10:00am
Kiddush: 12:00pm
Friday Night Dinner Reservations: https://jccjapan.jp/shabbat-meals-sign-up/
Events
Silent Tears – The Last Yiddish Tango (live performance)
Sunday, December 8 3:00pm-5:00pm
Event Registration Page: https://jccjapan.jp/event-registration/
If you have an idea for an event or a topic you would like to share with others, please visit our website: https://jccjapan.jp/event-committee-inquiry/
Announcements
The JCC will be closed Shabbat November 22-23 in observance of Labor Thanksgiving Day.
Are you an American far from home worried about how you’re going to celebrate Thanksgiving? Not to worry, the JCC has you covered with our Friday night dinner on November 29. We’ve secured a kosher 18lb (chai!) turkey along with canned pumpkin, jellied cranberries and all the fix-ins.
On Shabbat December 20-21 we will welcome Professor Sam Fleischacker as Scholar-in-Residence. Professor Fleishacker’s Friday night lecture ‘Between Gossip and Lashon Hara: Why Some Gossip is a Good Thing’ promises to enlighten us and challenge our conventionally held wisdom.
Our JCC ‘Getting Ready for Hanukkah’ Celebration will take place Saturday night, December 21. Considering Hanukkah starts the evening of December 25, we thought it would help to get the party started a few days early. Signup link will be live once we figure out what the party entails (read: how much it will cost).
Do not adjust your phone’s brightness level. You read that right. We are going for minyan on Saturday morning, December 28. Damn the shōgatsu torpedoes of everyone flying all over the world. It’s Hanukkah. It’s Shabbat. We don’t yet know how, but we plan to make it happen. If you will still be in Tokyo or even this hemisphere please try and show up.
Yiddish Club with Jack Halpern: Please contact Jack at jack@cjki.org if you are interested to join. All levels are welcome, from beginner to advanced. Much more than just language, the club’s monthly meetings explore Yiddish culture as well.
Shabbat Parshat Chayei Sarah
Candle Lighting: 4:12pm
Havdala: 5:11pm