Temple Beth Sholom, New City, NY

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Confirmed!

Call the airlines. Make sure our flights are on time. Confirmed!
Call Sam's office. We're supposed to get together for lunch tomorrow. Confirmed!
Make sure the package shipped, there are twenty four books on the shelf, the skirts are the right size. Confirmed.
The cruise reservation, the hotel reservation, the massage, spa, dinner reservations - all confirmed.

What about being Jews? Is that confirmed? It is, every Shavuot, seven weeks after Passover, a week of weeks as our tradition says, the holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

Confirmation is the only distinctive Reform observance. It was originally meant to be a graduation from religious as well as secular education at a time when both coincided with the end of High School. Very much on purpose we had no Bar or Bat Mitzvah. Children of that age were considered too young and frivolous to finish their Jewish education. I can't say I disagree.

We never asked our kids if they wanted to be Jewish. We just told them they were, but there comes a time, an age, when we have given our children as much belief as we're going to be able to give them. We can hope and pray that our teaching "took," but there are no guarantees.

That's why it is so wonderful to see the very best of our children walk down the aisle on Shavuot, speaking the words of a service they themselves wrote. That is why of all their peers they have chosen to continue their Jewish education. Most, sometimes all of them will even keep learning in out Post-Confirmation class.

I have a heartfelt request. No matter what your child did or didn't do as far as their Jewish education is concerned, please, please come to services Sunday night, June 8 at 7PM to support our Confirmands, to support our students who loudly and clearly say in regard to their Judaism: confirmed!

And let me tell you a secret. When I bless them on the pulpit that night, I'm not the one confirming them. They're the ones confirming us.

Please be there. Support the future of our people. Let them look out at a full sanctuary and realize they have made the proper choice: Confirmed!

Jewish Worship And Musical Instruments

Since Biblical times, instrumental music has played a very important role in Jewish worship. In the book of Numbers we read, "And on your joyous occasions, your festivals and on your new moon days, you shall sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your sacrifices of well being." With Alexander the Great conquering the Middle East, and Jerusalem as part of Persian Empire, the new era of "Hellinization" began. Greek philosophy caused a significant change in the Jewish way of thinking. More and more Jews adopted "Hellenistic" ideas and assimilated into Greek culture. As a counter-reaction, the rabbis called for a return to traditional ritual procedures. Many viewed instrumental accompaniment as a sign of adopting Hellenistic ideas. As a result, over a period of 400 years, use of instruments in Jewish worship steadily declined. Finally, when the second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., instruments were forbidden. Only vocal music was allowed. Only in the 19th century, with the emergence of Reform Judaism in Germany, Jewish music again began to be harmonized and accompanied by the organ. And today many reform and Conservative congregations use piano, organ, guitar and other instruments in their worship services. Today many congregations have introduced musical upbeat Shabbat services that feature a live band. Temple Beth Sholom has enjoyed these kind of services for the past five years. Our monthly Shabbat Rinah services attract a multi-generational crowd and are very special events. This year our Temple's band has included our own congregants Barry Kuperman (bass clarinet), Tobi Mathios (flute), John Kenney (guitar) and Ziv Schwartz (drums). I would like to express my gratitude to our volunteers on behalf of the congregation. If you haven't had an opportunity to attend our Shabbat Rinah services you must do so, both to enjoy great music and to broaden your Jewish musical horizon. Our next Shabbat Rinah services will be dedicated to Israel's 60th birthday and will be held on Friday, May 9 at 7:30 PM.

And….if you play any instrument on a sufficient level please join the band and enjoy making music with us!

Rabbi David Fass has been the Spiritual Leader of Temple Beth Sholom of New City for the past twenty-six years. In the local Jewish community, he is a Vice President of the United Jewish Federation, serves as a volunteer Chaplain with the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department and on the Clarkstown Board of Ethics. Rabbi Fass has established interfaith dialogues between Temple Beth Sholom and the First Baptist Church of Spring Valley and the Islamic Center of Rockland. Under the auspices of the Rockland Federation, the national Rabbinic Cabinet of the UJA, the American Reform Zionist Association, and the International Committee for Peace in the Middle East, he has visited Jewish communities in Israel, Cuba, Morocco, Spain, Turkey, Argentina and Brazil, and has met with officials in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the PLO on the West Bank.

A prolific writer, Rabbi Fass has published a children’s book (The Shofar that Lost Its Voice), numerous journal articles and book reviews, and many of his sermons have appeared in the major homiletic journals. His CD of 2,000 pages of sermon illustrations is used by Rabbis of all denominations. His story-telling, particularly the tales of the Wise Men of Chelm, is now delighting a second generation of children.

Ordained in 1973 from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Rabbi Fass has undergraduate degrees in Philosophy and in Hebrew Letters, and Masters degrees in Hebrew Letters and in the Sociology of American Religion. Married to the former Marian Kirtchik, they have three children, Melinda, Evan, and Pamela, a wonderful son-in-law, Eric, the best machatunim anywhere, and three extremely blond granddaughters, Mara, Sabrina, and Jadyn.

Cantor Sergei Schwartz was born in 1971 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine and has been singing since the age of six. Despite religious prohibitions and restrictions, Jewish music was always heard in his home. After graduation from the College of Music with a major in Choral Conducting in 1990 he and his family emigrated to Israel. There he was immediately accepted to the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music. He graduated with a bachelor degree in 1995 with a major in Choral Conducting. Soon after coming to Jerusalem Cantor Schwartz joined the Jerusalem Great Synagogue Choir where he absorbed an ever-deepening love of cantorial music.

In 1995 he started studying in the Jerusalem School of Cantorial Art under the direction of the famous conductor and cantor, Elli Jaffe. In Jerusalem, Cantor Schwartz studied with world renowned Cantor Naftali Herstik, Chief Cantor of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue. In 1996, Cantor Sergei Schwartz was accepted to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, from which he successfully graduated with a Master of Sacred Music Degree and Investiture as Cantor in May 2000. Cantor Sergei Schwartz has appeared at concert halls across Europe, Israel and the United States and has performed both as a Cantor and as a member and soloist of the Jerusalem Great Synagogue Choir. Since 2000 Sergei Schwartz has served as the Cantor of Temple Beth Sholom in New City, New York. Before coming to Temple Beth Sholom, Cantor Schwartz served as a cantor in Beer-Sheba Reform Congregation (Israel); Temple Emanuel, Baltimore, Maryland and Temple Beth-El, Jersey City, New Jersey.

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Complete High Holy Day sermons are available by clicking the "•" links below.

	Sermon Themes	Rosh Hashanah Evening	Rosh Hashanah Morning	Rosh Hashanah Day	Yom Kippur Evening	Yom Kippur Morning	Yom Kippur Yizkor	Shabbbat Shuvah
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Here is a sampling of some of Cantor Schwartz' beautiful musical renditions: