Archive for year: 2012

We have several terrific opportunities which need your help!

 

FVJN Garden in Geneva

FVJN volunteers of all ages are needed to help with planting on Saturday, Saturday, Aug. 11, starting at 8 a.m. Meet at the SW corner of Third St. and State St. (Rt. 38)

 

FVS students and families are especially encouraged to come help as well as learn about the art, design, nature, prayer and more, which all contribute to our garden.

 

The garden we are responsible for is on the southwest corner of State St. (Rt. 38) and Third St., in Geneva. You can just show up or contact our volunteer garden coordinator: marci@worddesigner.net.

If able, please bring gardening gloves, shovel, trowel, clippers, etc.

 

FVJN Volunteers at the Food Bank

Saturday, Aug. 25, 9 – 11 a.m.

FVJN families and individuals will have the opportunity to work a Youth Volunteer session at NIFB (Northern Illinois Food Bank). 

If you wish to participate please let Rachel know, ASAP (rachely@fvjn.org). For this session, volunteers can be as young as 8 years of age! If you’ve done this with us before, you know how fun it is, and it’s a terrific way to help our greater community!

 

FVJN Lazarus House Volunteer Project

FVJN Volunteers needed once a month

We need your help in continuing to provide dinner the first Wednesday 

of each month to the guests of Lazarus House, a shelter located in 

St. Charles. 

Please consider helping with this FVJN Volunteer Project 

and sign up, now! Volunteers are currently needed for July, August 

and September.

Past FVJN families who’ve prepared and provided dinners include 

the Weinbergers, the Kurals, and the Evans families.

For info, tips and more, please RSVP to Tammie: tammiew@fvjn.org.

Jewish FAQ:

Tishah B’Av (9 Av) 

Begins at sundown on July 28th.

Tisha B’Av, which occurs on the 9th of Av, is a traditional day of mourning 

the destruction of both ancient Temples in Jerusalem.

 

In contrast to Orthodoxy, Reform Judaism has never assigned a central 

religious role to the ancient Temple. Therefore, mourning the destruction 

of the Temple in such an elaborate fashion did not seem meaningful. More 

recently, in Reform Judaism Tishah B’Av has been transformed into a day 

to remember many Jewish tragedies that have occurred throughout history.

 

Jews fast on this day until the following sundown. In the synagogue, the Book 

of lamentations is changed, as are kinot, dirges written during the Middle Ages. 

Congregants also read sections of the books of Jeremiah and Job, as well as 

biblical and talmudic passages dealing with the Temples’ destruction.

 

To the early Reformers, mourning the destruction of the Temple in such elaborate 

fashion did not seem meaningful, especially since Reform has not idealized the 

rebuilding of the Temple, as has Jewish tradition. 

In order to understand the mournful nature of Tishah B’Av, then, we must enter the 

traditional mind as we look back into history.

 

The First Temple in Jerusalem was constructed during the reign of King Solomon 

(965 b.c.e.–925 b.c.e.). Solomon’s father, King David, had wished to build the Temple, 

but was not allowed to do so. The Bible relates that God disqualified David because 

of his many military campaigns. The Temple was to be a holy place, a place of peace. 

Therefore, only a king who had not shed blood could bring it into being. Thus, Solomon, 

whose Hebrew name was Shlomo (from shalom, peace), inherited this sacred task.

 

Solomon built the First Temple with the assistance of King Hiram of Tyre. Hiram sent his 

Phoenician artists and builders magnificent stone from his nation’s quarries and the beautiful 

cedars of Lebanon to aid in the task.

 

The finished Temple was an awesome structure. Situated on a mountain 2/500 feet high, 

it had courtyard, a sanctuary, and a small room called the Holy of Holies, entered only once 

a year by the high priest. It was in the Temple that the kohanim (priests) offered the ancient 

sacrifices on behalf of the people, assisted by the Levites.

 

In 586 b.c.e., the Babylonian army surrounded Jerusalem. Led by their general, 

Bebuchadnezzar, they broke into the city and conquered it. Then, on the Ninth of Av, 

they destroyed the Temple. The Jews were sent into exile, crushed and despondent. 

According to some scholars, the prophet Jeremiah, grieving for the Temple, composed 

Psalm 137, in which he wrote: “By the waters of Babylon, we lay down and wept for thee Zion.” 

A people who had grounded their entire religious system in a priestly Temple structure 

suddenly had it torn away from them.

 

Some sixty years later, Persia conquered Babylonia, and the Persian King Cyrus 

allowed the Jews to return home. They rebuilt the Temple but it was not nearly as 

magnificent as Solomon’s Temple had been. Still, the Jews rejoiced, for once again 

they had an opportunity to be led by their priests and to offer sacrifices in their holiest site. 

It was this rebuilt Temple that King Antiochus defiled in 168 b.c.e., and which the 

Maccabees reconsecrated three years later. But the Building of the Second Temple was yet to come.

 

The Second Temple was enhanced and expanded during the first century b.c.e 

by King Herod, one of the cruelest rulers in Jewish history. Deciding that the rebuilt 

Temple was not to his liking, Herod decided to expand it. He partially leveled the previous 

site, then oversaw the construction of a Temple that rivaled that of Solomon’s in grandeur.

 

In 70 c.e., Roman legions, led by the General Titus, conquered Jerusalem and destroyed 

the Temple. It was the Ninth of Av. Once again, the Jews were sent into exile, this time to Rome.

 

Some historians have expressed doubt that the actual destruction of both Temples 

occurred on the Ninth of Av, but there is no disputing the fact that the day became a 

symbol of Jewish tragedy. The synagogue ultimately replaced the Temple. But Jews 

continued to hope and pray that the Temple would be restored. The prayer book and 

songs expressed this yearning, and Tishah B’Av became a vehicle for expressing that deep sorrow.

 

(adapted from http://urj.org)

Staff Time Off

Our Administrator, Rachel Yackley, will be out-of-town until July 30. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please email info@fvjn.org, and someone will respond to you as quickly as possible. Thank you!