From
The
Rabbi
Rabbi Jerry Seidler, Temple Sinai


Divrei Rabbi Jerry
Rabbi Jerry Seidler
TempleSinai

 Summer Living

Summer is for me a time of rejuvenation. I love to run and hike outdoors, visit quaint towns and villages, swim in mountain lakes, catch up with reading and, well, simply be with my soul. It is not that I do not set aside sufficient time during the rest of the year to be in daily touch with my soul, but somehow summer is different since there are fewer distractions and less busyness. Perhaps it also has something to do with wearing less clothing and having to bother less with layers of material that cover my body and insulate my soul from the world even more. I can only say that in summer I feel more like me. Oh yes, and I do so much like to close off the outside world and read some good book, especially because my Yankees seem to have the summer off.

So, what does a rabbi read over the summer? Well, I am reading four books: Israeli novelist David Grossman's Someone to Run With, Natan Slifkin's The Challenge of Creation: Judaism's Encounter with Science, Cosmology, and Evolution, Dov Peretz Elkins' The Wisdom of Judaism, and Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

Kathy and I are enjoying several summer weeks home alone, as both Arielle and Lydia are away at camp. Ari is a ropes course instructor at Young Judaea Camp Sprout Lake near Poughkeepsie, and Lydia is in a leadership development program with Washington DC JCC-based Capital Camps in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. I am overjoyed for them since I always had a great time at summer camp (mainly scout camps), as did Kathy (at Camp White Pine in Canada). As parents we do get an extra kick out of seeing our children create their own sets of experiences and memories in settings that we found so special and wondrous.

The private time together is really great, though we miss our girls, of course. But we are working on the house, especially on new plantings as the old ones did not survive last fall's storm well, and just enjoying being outside with each other in the sun and the breeze. We also are able to take short trips here and there in the area, and explore the wonders and pleasures of Western New York. What a terrific place this is to live!

So Kathy and I got to talking, and we both thought how delightful it would be to open our home up to everyone to celebrate summer and our congregation. And that is exactly what we are going to do, now that we feel our home is (finally, sort of) up to having folks over. We are, therefore, excited to invite the Temple Sinai community to our home at 233 Hunters Lane in Williamsville for a Rabbinic Family Open House on Sunday afternoon, August 12 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome!

We hope you can join us on the twelfth for friendship, family, community and summer living. See you all then (and hopefully, too, at other times and occasions as well).

Reconstructionist Judaism Makes the Heart Joyful, Sharpens the Mind, Brings Peace to the World. A Teaching from Rabbi Jerry

Blessings,
 Rabbi Jerry
Rabbi Jerry H. Seidler
Temple Sinai
50 Alberta Drive
Amherst ,  NY 14221
(716) 834-0708
www.jrf.org/templesinai


 Return to Main Page