Schiff Preschool, nestled in the warm embrace of Temple Emanu-El, provides an extraordinary educational experience for students aged 6 weeks through pre-k. Phenomenal teachers, small class sizes, flexible full and half day options, and learning experiences designed for YOUR child are just part of what make Schiff so special. For registration information, and to schedule your visit, call 770.352.9303 today.
Random Test Content – Everyone Welcome at Temple Emanu-El
The initiative will offer three children with complementary mild developmental differences the opportunity to be part of one of the school’s pre-K classes, for which an additional support teacher trained in working with learning differences will work collaboratively with the teachers and all students on a daily basis. The other classroom teachers and key staff at the school will receive additional training to provide the best possible experience for all the children and families.
“Our preschool is built on a strong foundation that children should have the opportunity and right to be successful and valued for what they can gain and give back to the classroom environment,” said Sheila Purdin, director. “While we’ve had many children with special needs participate in our programs in the past, we saw this as a significant way to create a structured, collaborative classroom experience that benefits all children.”
The families of the three students will share the cost of the facilitator teacher but will also have the option of applying for tuition scholarship to help offset some of the expenses. Schiff administrators are also working with Jewish Family & Career Services to help facilitate the screening and evaluation process.
The school will be utilizing the resources of the Union of Reform Judaism’s Early Childhood Education Community of Practice group to gain peer input from preschool administrators and lay leaders across North America.
For more information, visit templeemanuelatlanta.org.
The Mirror of Rosh Hashanah
On Rosh HaShanah we are tasked to look in the mirror, with eyes wide open, and to recognize the reality of what we see.
Mirrors are strange things.
Especially, when we look into them. Really look into them.
On the surface, what you first see is merely a reflection of your appearance, but if you can hold your gaze, and look softly into your own eyes, the mirror will show you much, much more.
If you let it, the mirror will show you a picture of yourself next to pictures of who you used to be. One from when you were a child. Another, is of you as a young adult, confident that you have a long life ahead of you. A 3rd image from a few years later. A 4th… All of them the ‘you’ of your past, each staring back at you in this moment, right now, this Rosh HaShanah day.
Mirrors are strange things.
Especially, when we look into them. Really look into them.
If you let it, if you continue to face your reflection, you will see that you, in this moment, are much more than an image, but rather you are a set of experiences. At first it looks like some sort of highlight reel, the big moments that one would deem worth capturing. But when you focus, you see the small moments as well. Some may seem inconsequential. But each moment, each experience, builds into the next, eventually to culminate in your cornerstone life events that define who you are in your essence, in your soul.
Mirrors are strange things.
Especially, when we look into them. Really look into them.
For now, you see that each image of you is set in a landscape. Each landscape around you are the times in which you have lived. Each age contains different challenges. Some challenges are microscopic and intensely personal, with the quality of your life, or even life itself, on the line. Other challenges reflected in the mirror are so huge that they seem impossible. They are not yours alone, but belong to the entire society. These, too, are part of the landscape of who you are today, for they influence the quality of your life, and perhaps your literal existential existence.
The ‘you’ of each moment does not appear in the mirror alone, but rather surrounded by other people. Those who were part of your life before. Some of them are clearly identifiable, and others are almost shadows of influence that expand beyond recognition, names, or even conscious awareness.
If your mirror were to speak, it would remind you that ‘No man is an island. No woman is an island.’ We are all connected to one another, through our personal history, and through infinite time.” Shmah Yisrael Adaonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. You are part of a Jewish story that goes back millennia, and our story continues to shape the world in a way most profound.
May this New Year bring you and your family, and our entire congregation a year of health, love, and profound meaning.
L’shanah tovah tikateivu-v’teichateimu!
“Do You Hear That?”
Long ago there was a young man traveling from village to village. There was a day when this young man had arrived in a particular village, not far from his own. The village had a watchtower, high up above the other buildings, and a watchman who sat and waited, looking here and there at all times. If the watchman ever saw smoke or a fire, he immediately sounded the alarm by blowing into his horn.
Just as the young man approached this particular village a horn sound throughout the town – a fire had begun in one of the village homes! The horn sounded from the watchtower and the fire was put out. The young man was fascinated, what a great solution! He was going to bring this back to his own village!
The next day, the young man headed back to his own village with a new horn in hand. He called all the villagers together and told them to no longer fear the fire, for he had a solution. The young man set fire to a small hut near the crowd, and as the fire spread he told the people not to be alarmed. He raised his horn and blew into it with all his might. But the fire did not cease, and the fire began to spread. He yelled, “Wait, wait, the fire will be out soon,” and he blew into his horn once more with every breath. The villagers began to curse him, calling him a fool! They cried to him, “Did you expect that the blowing of a horn would put out the fire?
The horn is only the alarm to wake the people, to tell them to take a break, to call them together and put them to work to put out the fire! The horn is a wake-up call!”
The shofar will sound this Rosh HaShanah, as it does every year as our call to wake up — to enjoy the New Year, to better ourselves, and to better the world.
Join Temple Emanu-El for all our services and events this Rosh HaShanah and High Holy Day season. Hear the sound of the shofar and awaken your soul!
In the words of Psalm 57:9 “Awake, O my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will wake the dawn.” May we all come together in joy and leave with a fullness of heart and soul.
September 14, 2017 A Message from Cantor Adesnik
Many of you know I have been experiencing laryngitis in recent weeks. Thankfully it is just the result of allergies and sinuses, which is being treated aggressively. I am so pleased to welcome my good friend, Cantor Barbara Margulis who will join me and the rest of our clergy team on the over the chagim, so I can continue healing towards an expected full recovery. I cannot thank you enough for your kind words of concern and thoughts of healing. I am very humbled and grateful to be your Cantor.
For those of you who are moving through sickness and healing, I would like to share this poem with you, by Maya Angelou. May you find strength, courage, hope and healing from these words:
Father, Mother, God,
Thank you for your presence
during the hard and mean days.
For then we have you to lean upon.
Thank you for your presence
during the bright and sunny days,
for then we can share that which we have
with those who have less.
And thank you for your presence
during the Holy Days, for then we are able
to celebrate you and our families
and our friends.
For those who have no voice,
we ask you to speak.
For those who feel unworthy,
we ask you to pour your love out
in waterfalls of tenderness.
For those who live in pain,
we ask you to bathe them
in the river of your healing.
For those who are lonely, we ask
you to keep them company.
For those who are depressed,
we ask you to shower upon them
the light of hope.
Dear Creator, You, the borderless
sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the
world that which we need most — Peace.
~ Maya Angelou, “Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer”
Come and Learn With Us!
The High Holy Days come with both joy and trepidation. We welcome Rosh Hashanah with bombastic blasts and fanfare. We anxiously anticipate the day we atone for that which we have done wrong, and ask for forgiveness. These Yamim Noraim, ten days of awe, can be quite an emotional rollercoaster.
Last year, to great success, we tried something new in addition to our simple Selichot service. We learned together as a congregation. We had a great time together and, as requested, we are bringing it back this year with the opportunity for more in depth study time!!
So that we can embrace the rollercoaster, and explore the many facets and motifs present throughout the chagim, we have two exciting opportunities to learn together! Join us on Selichot for some light food and schmoozing, followed by an in-depth study session and short service. Choose one from the following four (amazing!) sessions. Join Rabbi Anderson to “Hear the Shofar of Your Soul.” Enjoy some “Food for Thought” with Cantor Adesnik, and learn about the different flavors, textures, and tastes of High Holy Day motifs, themes and music. “Uncover the 13 Attributes of Mercy” with Rabbi Rachael Miller, and experience “The Power of the Day and Empowering our Prayers” with Rabbi Max Miller.
Join us again for a very special Mincha (afternoon) study session on Yom Kippur. In lieu of a formal service (and of course, of eating physical food) we will enjoy the spiritual sustenance of study. Choose two out of the four sessions. Learn about the sacred texts that are a part of Yom Kippur afternoon. Learn about Jonah with Rabbi Rachael and learn what the Torah says about Holiness with Cantor Lauren. In Ask the Rabbi, Rabbi Max will tell you everything you want to know about Judaism! Want some fabulous stories? Join Rabbi Spike for some Yom Kippur Vignettes.
We hope these two unique study sessions will open your minds, hearts and souls, and create a wonderful sense of community together.
