Samantha loved books.  All kinds of books.  Old books, new books, recycled books, used books, books on Judaism and Jews, books on politics, books on social justice, books on feminism, books on politics, books on urban affairs, books on religions, books on philosophy, self-help books, books to help others, books on virtually any topic. 

I say that mostly to be provocative, you know, sort of as a conversation starter. No, but it’s true. Religion, as a discrete, cordoned off area of one’s life is actually a European-Christian concept, borne out of the Religious Wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth-century, in the German Holy Roman Empire, and surrounding kingdoms.

As a part of our building renovation, we decided to build a library adjacent to the main sanctuary. First, we had to design the shelves, which we did with the help of our interior designer Laavu. Then we had to buy the wood, and we decided to use reclaimed oak wood, which we purchased from a local non-profit called Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit. Parenthetically, I’ll note that the wood was actually from Congregation Shaarey Zedek, which donated the wood when they renovated the small chapel a while back.

ANNUAL MEETING INFORMATION:

The Board of Directors voted to recommend for consideration by the Congregation at the Annual Meeting the following items: 

Each Shabbat, when Sam would come into the sanctuary, she would catch my eyes and she would smile. And no matter what I was doing, I couldn’t help but smile back. As many of you know, Sam’s incredible smile was contagious. And on Shabbat morning it was full of joy– affirming she was in a place she loved, doing something she loved, with people that she loved.

This week we read the very first words of the Torah. God creates life in all of its beauty and complexity. God creates human beings, and desires that they be made in the image of God (Genesis 1) and that they find fitting partners for one another (Genesis 2). But in Genesis 4, a human being commits the first murder. By Genesis 6, there is so much violence on Earth that God regrets having created humans and decides to destroy God’s own creation. In the beginning of next week’s Torah portion, we read that the earth was full of hamas (Genesis 6:11), translated as lawlessness, wrongdoing, or violence.