***Comedy Show at JCC tonight. 8pm English 9pm Hebrew***
Toronto’s visionary 20th century Rabbi Gedaliah Felder received an interesting question in one of the earlier pulpits he served. A congregant asked whether he and his wife could celebrate their 50th (Golden) wedding anniversary with a big party and a renewal of vows.
Despite his ecumenical undertakings, including founding the interdenominational Toronto Rabbinical Fellowship and WWII era service as a chaplain in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Felder was still very much an old-school, Polish yeshiva trained rabbi. To use a Yiddishism, he was a frum guy. As with many scholars of Jewish law sent from European Jewry’s most hallowed institutions to the New World, Rabbi Felder was constantly forced to reckon with ideas he did not encounter in the shtetl’s rabbinical school training.
Noticing a disconnect between rabbinic education and the lived realities of pulpit rabbinate, Rabbi Felder published eight volumes of questions he received and answers he provided to help future generations navigate the thorny interplay between tradition and modernity. Bridging Talmudic analogies with historical precedents, Rabbi Felder sought to preserve a Judaism deeply rooted in faith and law but equally balanced with compassion and even humor.
For example, the question about anniversaries and renewal of vows. Rabbi Felder describes how thousands of years ago the great Rabbi Yosef threw a 60th birthday party for himself and invited all his fellow sages for what was presumably a rabbinic rager. The lack of pushback surrounding the event indicates a permissiveness towards anniversary celebrations.
However, the renewal of vows hit a bit of a snag. Referencing numerous prohibitions including reciting blessings unnecessarily and a wariness towards popular fads in the secular world, Rabbi Felder could not condone the ceremony. Not giving up, he found a loophole that the couple could use if they so decided. Demonstrating his erudition, Rabbi Felder cites a case brought by the 11th century Venetian Talmudist Isaiah di Trani who wrote about a couple that wanted to renew their vows, presumably over the Rialto Bridge and finishing with a gondola ride and some overpriced gelato. The couple was advised not to renew their vows but if they really wanted, they could get a religious divorce, the husband would provide his wife a get and they would be free to remarry if so they so decided.
Sensing the Canadian couple would not heed this ancient Italian counsel, Rabbi Felder wished them well saying that to hold a 50th anniversary dinner would be fitting given that each year a married couple spends together is no less than a miracle from above.
While there will be no renewal of vows tomorrow at the JCC, you are invited to celebrate Blair Perilman and Alan Roth’s 16th wedding anniversary with a kiddush sponsored by the happy couple. Given their wedding took place in San Francisco’s Japantown the cuisine will be distinctly of the nihon variety with hopes for an epic cake smash at the end. Mazal Tov!
Services
Kabbalat Shabbat – Friday Night Live!
Guest comedian Kandi Abelson following dinner
Friday, September 13th
6:00pm Services
7:00pm Dinner by reservation
8:00pm English Comedy Show
9:00pm Hebrew Comedy Show
Shabbat Parshat Ki Teitzei
Kiddush sponsored by Blair Perilman and Alan Roth in celebration of their wedding anniversary
Saturday, September 14th
10:00am Services
12:00pm Kiddush
Kabbalat Shabbat
Friday, September 20th
6:00pm Services
7:00pm Dinner by reservation
Shabbat Parshat Ki Tavo
Kiddush sponsored anonymously in honor of welcoming back our Rabbi, Rebbetzin, Asher and Akiva to Tokyo
Saturday, September 21st
10:00am Services
12:00pm Kiddush
Friday Night and Dinner Reservations can made on our website: https://jccjapan.jp/shabbat-meals-sign-up/
Events
Unlock Your Inner Self: Enneagram Personality Workshop
Sunday, September 25th from 12:30pm-5:30pm
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
Thank you to David Mirchin for leading Kabbalat Shabbat last week. Everyone who attended enjoyed a rousing service, a fitful dinner and the rabbi’s furusato nozei Shine Muscat grapes were the proverbial cherry on top.
Mazal Tov to the Zoot Family on Japan’s second Jewish kendo nanadan. Kendo Shabbat will happen at some undetermined point in the future.
Tokyo was selected as the host city for this year’s BBYO Convention of Jewish Teens in Asia. Building off the success of the chapter’s inaugural laser tag event, our teens and their parents are planning a jam-packed itinerary for participants from Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei. If you would like to register, help out, contribute or learn more please reply to this email.
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 Ki Teitzei
Candle Lighting: 5:33pm
Havdala: 6:28pm