The Sisterhood Scoop – October 2018
The Sisterhood Scoop – October 2018
SISTERHOOD ELECTIONS ARE COMING!
If you are a member of Sisterhood, you are eligible to vote in the elections that will take place Sunday, November 18 This is your opportunity to help determine the leadership of NHBZ Sisterhood, as well as to help shape the activities and programs for next year. Any woman who would like more information about becoming a Sisterhood Officer or Board Member contact Amy Feit.
Parshas Noah: The Rainbow in the Clouds The rainbow is not just a natural phenomenon caused by the refraction of light. The “rainbow in the clouds” represents a paradigm shift in humanity’s spiritual development. Before the devastation of the Flood, the world was different than the world we know—people lived longer lives; the intellect was also very powerful; awareness of G-d’s presence was enough to enlighten and direct one’s actions to live a moral life. This was the potential of the pristine world of the Garden of Eden. Rampant violence and immorality in Noah’s generation, however, demonstrated that humanity fell abysmally short of its moral and spiritual potential. After the Flood, G-d fundamentally changed the nature of ethical guidance for the human soul. The sign that G-d showed Noah, the “rainbow in the clouds,” is a metaphor for this change.
The rainbow represents divine enlightenment, a refraction of G-d’s light, as it penetrates into our physical world. The Torah emphasizes that the rainbow is “in the clouds.” Clouds represent our emotional and physical aspects, just as clouds are heavy and dark (“geshem” means both ‘rain’ and ‘physical matter’). The covenant of the “rainbow in the clouds” indicates that the Divine enlightenment (the rainbow) now extended from the realm of the intellect, where it existed before the Flood, to the emotional and physical spheres (the clouds). G-d’s rainbow of light now also penetrated the thick clouds of the material world. How was this accomplished? The Divine light became ‘clothed’ in a more physical form—concrete mitzvot. G-d gave to Noah the first and most basic moral code: the seven laws of the Noahide code. These commandments served to bridge the divide between intellect and deed, between the metaphysical and the physical. Thus, G-d promised never again to flood the world.
After the Flood, a total destruction of mankind became unnecessary, as the very nature of human ethical conduct was altered. Our inner spiritual life became more tightly connected to our external physical actions. As a result, the need for such a vast destruction of life, as occurred in the Flood, would not be repeated. Of course, individuals—and even nations—may still choose to sink to the level of savages and barbarians. But the degree of immorality will never again reach the scope of Noah’s generation, where only a single family deserved to be saved. — adapted from RavKookTorah.org (from Gold from the Land of Israel pp. 34-36. Adapted from Ein Eyah vol. II, pp. 318-319)
Monday, October 22nd Book Club Selection:
Home in the Morning by Mary Glickman
7:15-8:45 PM
HOSTED BY: Sallie Volotzky
FACILITATED BY: Terri Schnitzer
Mon., Dec.17 Book Club Selection: Sisters Weiss by Naomi Ragen
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT Fran Alper
For information or to join Sisterhood, call the NHBZ office at 314-991-2100, ext. 3, or email: sisterhood@nhbz.org
Download the Sisterhood Scoop October 2018
For information or to join Sisterhood, call the NHBZ office at 314-991-2100, ext. 3, or email: sisterhood@nhbz.org
