Chesed and Opportunities of Kindness
While communal gatherings and interactions are being suspended, our ability to act as a community can be amplified in many ways including the following:
[#6 is no longer advisable but you get the point.]
In addition, please make a point to reach out to community members to check-in. Many of us might be feeling isolated and alone, but together, we can ensure that we are not lonely.
We are saving lives and the Halachic guidance of Rav Hershel Shachter
a. Rabbi Mordechai Willig, in the name of Rav Solovetchik said that a Jew is allowed to be stricter than the health experts guidance but not more lenient.
b. Rav Hershel Schachter’s clear instructions for shuls and communal gatherings and the halachic requirement to daven alone rather than convene for a minyan.
Life Enhancing Activities
1. Grab onto the mitzvah of writing KOT’s Etz Chaim (Tree of Life) and purchase a section of our Torah- https://www.ohrtzion.org/new-torah
2. The Gemara teaches that tzedaka (charity) adds life, particularly to people in need.
3. Learn Torah which is called “a Torah of life”. Take part in KOT’s learning challenge and log your minutes learned here- https://www.ohrtzion.org/10-000-minutes
4. Stay healthy!!! Sleep well, eat well, keep moving, read, learn and appreciate what you DO HAVE in light of what we can no longer take for granted.
Online Classes at KOT
All KOT classes will be held both via zoom and phone as follows:
1. Download zoom web chat at https://zoom.us/ OR download the app at the app store and sign up then
2. Open up the following link which will take you right to the session- https://zoom.us/j/8109156125
3. If you prefer to CALL IN and not use video, you can dial: 646-568-7788 and enter meeting ID: 810-915-6125
The following classes and community “gatherings” will be held virtually (zoom/phone):
1. Sunday at 9:30 am- Preparing for the Holiday of Passover- A Review of Pertinent Halachot/Laws
2. Tuesday at 1 pm- Parsha Class
3. Thursday at 4:30- Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism
4. Thursday at 8:00 PM- Community Passover Prep- Q&A and what we need to know to be ready- physically, spiritually, emotionally…
5. Join our Virtual Singing Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday at 5:45-6:30 pm inc. Dvar Torah and Paul’s Joke
– please note, we will NOT be accepting shabbat and will stop the tefilla just prior to the point when Shabbat would regularly be accepted.
Pray
You can receite the following prayer
אָבִינוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ זְכרׁ רַחֲמֶיךָ וּכְבשׁ כַּעַסְךָ וְכַלֵּה דֶבֶר וְחֶרֶב וְרָעָב וּשְׁבִי וּמַשְׁחִית וְעָוׂן וּמַגֵּפָה וּפֶגַע רַע וְכָל מַחֲלָה וְכָל תַּקָּלָה וְכָל קְטָטָה וְכָל מִינֵי פֻרְעָנֻיּות וְכָל גְּזֵרָה רָעָה וְשִׂנְאַת חִנָּם מֵעָלֵינוּ מֵעַל כָּל בְּנֵי בְרִיתֶךָ, וּמֵעַל כָּל הַעוֹלָם:
שיר למעלות אשא עיני אל ההרים מאין יבוא עזרי. עזרי מעם יהוה עשה שמים וארץ. אל יתן למוט רגלך אל ינום שמרך. הנה לא ינום ולא ישן שומר ישראל. יהוה שמרך יהוה צלך על יד ימינך. יומם השמש לא יככה וירח בלילה. יהוה ישמרך מכל רע ישמר את נפשך. יהוה ישמר צאתך ובואך מעתה ועד עולם.
I will lift up my eyes into the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from G-d which made heaven and earth. He will suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. G-d is thy keeper. G-d is the shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon bi night. G-d shall preserve thee from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. G-d shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from time forth and even for evermore.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”