HEArtbeat

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HEArtbeat + Chai-lights

HEArt-lights? Chai-HEArt? beatlights?

The Hebrew Educational Alliance is fueled by the love, talent, and creative investment of each of our community members. Yet membership dues alone do not cover our growing expenses. We are asking for your help to meet our goal of raising $300,000 – our most ambitious annual campaign ever. We are thrilled to announce that every donation made before December 31 will be matched 1:1, thanks to the generosity of several families in our congregation. Click the image below to play Elana and Andronek Mamayan's Pathways Campaign testimonial video, and hear how the Alliance has impacted their young family.

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MEMBER MILESTONES

Let's celebrate this month's b'nai mitzvahs, birthdays, and anniversaries.

The above link is a secure access page on our website. You must be logged into our website in order to see it. If you haven't completed your online account setup or have trouble logging in, email us at info@HEAdenver.org.

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UPCOMING EVENTS & PROGRAMS

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Support the Annual Pathways Campaign and Save the Date for the HEA Anniversary Celebration

Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald

Supporting One Another 
Our rabbis and staff continue to support individuals and families who have been affected by the tragic events of the past few weeks and we will continue to respond to the needs of our community for as long as it takes.  If you or someone you know has been impacted by the war, we want to know and offer our help.   

In the coming weeks, we will be offering resources and programs, classes and groups, to help our community process, learn, and discuss. We will soon announce the formation of a grief support group led by trained mental health professionals. Please check back as we set up a resource page on the HEA website.   

What Else You Can Do 
Stay informed: Find a trustworthy news site to keep abreast of the news. You can also find many helpful spiritual and practical resources on the website of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.   

Be an advocate: Write an email, send a text, or make a phone call to your elected representatives or leaders of local universities. Your advocacy has a real impact.  Find your elected officials HERE.  

Show Up: The HEA and Denver Jewish communities are ramping up our response to the crisis with programs and events. Showing up sends a message that we will not be deterred from living proudly as Jews.  
 
Give: There are several organizations fundraising for Israel, and we encourage you to find ways to give that match your values and priorities.  JEWISHcolorado has established an Israel Emergency Fund in conjunction with Jewish Federations of North America. These funds are allocated where they are needed most and to an array of relief agencies working on the ground. 
  
Engage in Productive Discourse: Our community is constituted by a membership with a range of political views, both in America and Israel. Now is a time to meet passion with compassion, and to hold together the many ways we express our shared desire for Israel to live at peace with its neighbors. At HEA we value productive open discourse, kindness, curiosity, and generous listening by encouraging inquiry and learning rather than debate and persuasion.    

Reach out: While we cannot remove someone’s pain, the act of letting someone know that they are not alone is an important gesture. Reach out to those impacted by the war here and in Israel. Send a text or email letting them know they are in our hearts. 

Pray: Prayer is how we give expression to our hopes for our world and tilt God’s will towards making those hopes a reality. Our souls need prayers now more than ever. At home, in the synagogue, wherever you are – now is the time to give expression to our feelings through prayer. We will be adding prayers to our daily and Shabbat services throughout this crisis, including the traditional prayer below, which has been recited since the Middle Ages on behalf of Jews in captivity and in crisis.    

Click to play video

Shabbat Shalom, 
Rabbi Gruenwald, Rabbi Shulman, and Caryn Osterman 

HEArtbeat - Anniversary Celebration POSTPONED

Come to HEA 

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Rally for Israel at State Capitol

Give to Israel

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up to accept your donations to Magen David Adom in Israel by Ayelet Kaufman, a young HEA member with family and friends in Israel. Donate HERE.

HEArtbeat - High Holiday Reflections

Want to watch, share, or rewatch one of our rabbis’ inspiring sermons? Find recordings of Rabbi Gruenwald’s and Rabbi Shulman’s Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur sermons HERE.

If you are interested in helping to elevate our weekly Shabbat Experience, please consider joining our Shabbat Task Force.

DON'T MISS THESE UPCOMING EVENTS!

HEArtbeat: High Holiday Music

Eitan Kantor, HEA Music Director

Hello dear ones, 

My favorite time to listen to recorded music is in the last few hours before Shabbat or a holiday. As I scramble to wash dishes, iron clothes, make phone calls and finalize tune selections for services, Jewish music in the background helps me calm down and enter the mindset that I seek during holy times. 

I’ve created a playlist for you of mostly new melodies that I’ve been listening to prepare for the Yamim Nora’im (High Holidays) this year.

You can listen HERE.
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Many of these songs will be featured in our services alongside the classic tunes that I love singing with you year after year. I hope this list gets you in the mindset of forgiveness, compassion and communal care. 

Shabbat Shalom and L’Shana Tova. I look forward to seeing you soon, B”H. 

HEArtbeat: No Matter How Small​​​​​​​

Mordy Kadovitz, Community & Engagement Event Coordinator

Many of us may recall from childhood the well-known Dr. Suess book “Horton Hears a Who.” The story tells of a huge elephant who can hear the voices of the people of Whoville who live on a tiny speck of dust on the smallest fragment of clover. Even though Horton is so big, the Whos cannot see him, and the Whos are so microscopic, yet Horton can hear them.

Horton does everything to protect the Whos as their world experiences calamities even though his life is threatened. They both encounter parallel distress testing their fortitude. It isn’t until the people of Whoville shout as loud as they can crying out “WE ARE HERE!” that they are spared.

WE ARE HERE!

HENEINI! - I AM HERE!

These are the words Abraham responds with when G-d calls upon him to sacrifice Isaac in the story of the Akeda, which we read on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Up to this point, he had faced many tests of faith in G-d. Escaping death for his belief in monotheism, being a stranger in a strange land, famine, wars, the captivity of Sarah, and ultimately Isaac’s end. Albeit Abraham is far greater than the fictional Horton and the Who’s, it is the example of the word HENEINI that matters most when we are called upon to the important moments' life throws at us.

HENEINI - can make all the difference in the world.

In our Machzors, we find an account from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who as a child, became sad when he read the story the Akeda. His rabbi asked him, why he was upset, to which Rabbi Heschel replied, “what if the angel had been late to save Isaac’s life?” His rabbi responded, “Angels are never late. The question is ‘are we on time?” 

As we enter Rosh Hashanah, we always take time to reflect on the year behind us, and the year ahead. How many times have we said “Heneini” this past year? Did we show up when called upon? Did we hold the door for the person behind us? Did we help make the minyan? Did we volunteer when we could at HEA? Did we greet the stranger on the street with a simple smile of acknowledgement? Were we there when our community needed us most? Were we humble? And what will we do to make it “count” in the months ahead?

The most important line in the Horton story is "A person's a person, no matter how small". I want to take that a little further. “A mitzvah is a mitzvah, no matter how big, and no matter how small.”  

Let us welcome this year of 5784 not only with joy and sweetness, mazal and good health, but with kindness – No Matter How Small.  

L’shana Tova!

​​​​​​​If you would like volunteer this year at HEA, please sign-up HERE.

HEArtbeat: A Year of Shabbat 

Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald 

Rabbi Sarah Shulman

Ahad Ha’am, the early 20th-century Zionist thinker, famously wrote, “More than Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.”  
 
Shabbat – the idea that humans must rest, just as God ceased from creating –  is perhaps the greatest gift that the Jewish people have given humanity.  And for Jews, Shabbat has upheld its profound significance throughout history, acting as a vital thread, weaving the Jewish people together across generations. This weekly respite serves as a touchstone for reflection, tradition, and unity, grounding the Jewish people in their identity. 
 
Shabbat offers us the opportunity to step away from the hustle and bustle of our workdays and rededicate ourselves weekly to our friends, family, and our own spirit. Rabbi Abraham Joshuah Heschel described Shabbat as a sanctuary in time, a respite from the ceaseless march of daily life.   
 
This Shabbat, as we usher in the new month of Elul, we kick off “A Year of Shabbat” at Congregation HEA. We will be dedicating the coming year of 5784 to renewing our relationship with Shabbat as a spiritual practice that can bond us to one another and nourish our souls. We will come together as a community through programs, events, and educational opportunities to explore the meaning and beauty of Shabbat and how we can incorporate its practices into our lives.   
 
We invite you to join us this weekend for “Elul in the Shul,” featuring scholar-in-residence Rabbi Corey Helfand of Congregation Ohr Kodesh in suburban DC. Rabbi Helfand will lead us in music, prayer, and learning, inspiring us to explore how Shabbat can enrich our lives as individuals and as a community.   
 
Rabbi Heschel wrote, “Judaism teaches us to be attached to holiness in time, to be attached to sacred events, to learn how to consecrate sanctuaries that emerge from the magnificent stream of a year.” We hope you will find opportunities this year to step into the sanctuary of sacred time with us.   
 
Shabbat Shalom!

HEArtbeat: We Invite You to Re-member

Rabbi Salomon Gruenwald 

Rabbi Sarah Shulman

This past year has felt like a year of re-membering. People are recalling what it was like to belong to sacred community and re-membering – once again re-engaging as members of HEA. After years of societal disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, people are remembering the value of sacred community and spiritual connection. Attendance at worship and programs is growing, volunteers are stepping up in numbers not seen in years. From our Hesed committee that provides care to HEA members in need to our greeter/safety team that ensures a secure and welcoming environment on Shabbat, people are rediscovering the transformative power of joining with others in creating community and connection.   
 
We invite you to re-member this year. Your involvement makes our community possible, and we need you to do your part. “The day is long and the work is boundless…” say Rabbi Tarfon, “You are not obligated to finish the task, but you are also not free to neglect it” (Pirkei Avot 2:15).    

There are countless ways you can be part of this exciting time of re-membering at HEA. The first and most important thing you can do is show up.  Below are links to ways that you can support HEA and re-member: 

Log onto your member account to renew your membership, fulfill your dues commitment and review your contact information to ensure you receive your High Holiday information packet and your family’s tickets for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

Prepare your spirit for the holidays as we kick off the season with Elul in the Shul, August 18-20, featuring scholar-in-residence Rabbi Corey Helfand. Join us for spirited music and learning on the value of Shabbat in our lives.   

Register your kids for youth and family High Holiday programs and worship services.  And, while you’re at it, don’t forget to sign your student up for HEArt – HEA’s religious school programs. Contact Education Director Amanda Eckert. 

Volunteer to help with greeting and ushering on the holidays. Enjoy schmoozing while providing an invaluable service to our community. 

Join our Hesed volunteers to help our elderly and home-bound members connect with community during the holidays. Volunteers prepare meals, offer rides to shul, or just call to wish someone a “Shannah Tova!” 

Participate in services by accepting an honor to open the ark, take an aliyah, or carry the Torah. Please contact Joyce Perlmutter. 

Remember your loved ones by adding their names to our annual Yizkor Book.

Enhance your High Holiday experience by joining us for the Tashlich program on Tuesday, September 19, at Belleview Park or the Healing Service on Yom Kippur afternoon. 

We look forward to celebrating the new year with you and your family and we hope that this year’s High Holidays inspire you to re-member your connection to the HEA community by finding meaningful opportunities to get involved.   

On behalf of the clergy, staff, and volunteers who make up this wonderful community, we wish you and your family a happy, healthy, and meaningful new year filled with opportunities to re-connect, re-discover, and re-member.  
 
L’Shannah tova! 

HEArtbeat: Devarim - Words of Reflection

This week we begin the book of Devarim, which ushers in a spirit of blessing and reflection. The bulk of this final book of the Torah is occupied with Moses’ parting words (devarim) to the Israelite people as they cross over the Jordan river into Eretz Yisrael. Moses blesses the people as he reflects on their journey thus far, the lessons they have learned along the way, and the tools they will need to stay in God’s good grace.
 
I, too, find myself in a reflective mode. The month of Av has begun, leading the path forward to Elul and the High Holidays. As of this past week, I have been here for one year. The devarim, the words that come to me as I look back on this past year, are ones of blessing. For this past year has been full of the blessings of getting to know, learn from, and support the members of HEA. So too, I have been enriched by learning from my partners at HEA–Rabbi Gruenwald, Eitan Kantor, and our talented staff.  And my family has been blessed to build a new, enriching life in Denver. Each day walking home from work, I feel even more blessed to be doing this work in this community in this moment. With blessing abounding, it felt right to celebrate my one-year anniversary of working as a member of the clergy at HEA by offering a blessing to Denver’s new Mayor, Mike Johnston, at his inauguration on Monday. I was honored to represent HEA in this way. As part of my blessing, I shared the following:
 
By blessing others, we channel light into darkness, invite hope and love into the broken, lonely places in us and amongst us. Through blessing, we let go of a do-it-alone attitude and embrace the we of a just city, the we of a community of mutual responsibility.
 
As I look back on this year, I appreciate all I have learned from those who bless our community by shining their light and bringing healing to others:
 
I have learned the power of showing up from the minyaneers who create a holy space each morning for prayer and connection, celebration and mourning.
 
I have learned the radical importance of collective singing to elevate our human experience.
 
I have learned that Tot Shabbat and other youth programs are as vital for grandparents, parents, and other adults as they are for our children to instill hope and wonder in the joyful present and the Jewish future. 
 
I have learned that we are all healing from something and that we are all dealing with the challenges of aging in our own ways.
 
I have learned from our wonderful Hochmat Nashim Torah study group that many in our community are hungry for spiritual learning and personal connection and that these can be effectively fostered together overheated discussion and warm tea in a variety of environments.
 
I have learned that fear is not a sign of weakness but rather an impetus to act; and that a friendly face at the door of our shul not only helps us feel more secure but also more at home.
 
I have learned the power of a phone call and the sanctity of a blessing.
 
And I have learned much more.
 
I wonder, what have you learned this year?
 
On this Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, known as Shabbat Hazon, the Shabbat of Vision, we rededicate ourselves to the vision of building a holy community of mutual responsibility, of inspiring learning, and of healing connections. May we all be blessed with another year of learning, reflecting, and growing together.
 
Shabbat Shalom!

HEArtbeat: Visit Israel with Rabbi Gruenwald, Melanie and Friends This Winter Break

Melanie Gruenwald

As the pandemic waned, we envisioned creating an Israel experience with our HEA community. Many teens missed out on having a community celebration of their bar and bat mitzvah during the pandemic, and other members were having the itch to travel again.
 
With Shira Teed’s leadership, HEA made a connection with the Fuchsberg Center, part of the Masorti (Conservative) movement in Israel and designed a unique Colorado-style Israel adventure for the HEA community. This trip will take place December 17- 28.
 
What does it mean this is a Colorado-style adventure? We will spend as much time as possible active and outdoors, visit off-the-beaten-path sites, spend time at a Conservative kibbutz—Kibbutz haNaton, and visit our partnership community in Ramat haNegev.
 
This experience is designed to be intergenerational. Adults of all ages (with and without children and grandchildren) and families with teens will have specific programming designed for their needs and interests.
 
The key is the EXPERIENCE. If you have ever been part of a camp or a retreat, you know the power of experiential education. The best moments for learning, engaging, and deepening relationships include being immersed in place and community.
 
Before and after the trip, we will have programs specifically for the tour participants-building relationships, familiarity and strengthening our HEA community.
 
We currently have a nice mix of families with teens, empty nesters, single folks, couples and others traveling without children registered. There is space available for you and yours… Registration is due by September 3, and the final payment by October 1.
 
Register today. We’re saving you a seat on the bus! 
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Shabbat Shalom!

HEArtbeat: Do You Pray for Healing?

Eitan Kantor, HEA Music Director

eitan@HEAdenver.org

Listen to Ana El Na by Eitan

Listen on YouTube

Listen on Spotify

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When I was a teenager, I used to pray fervently for my family’s health every night. If I stumbled over a word in my prayer, I would start over. I feared that if I didn’t pray perfectly and messed up even one word, something bad would happen to my family.
 
In my late teens, my prayer compulsion faded, and I mostly stopped praying for health and healing. Praying felt futile. My life experience showed me that no matter how much I prayed, my loved ones would feel pain and eventually die. Why waste my time praying?
 
My relationship with healing prayers has changed since starting my job at the Hebrew Educational Alliance. At weekday morning services, during the healing prayer, I hear folks reading their lists of sick community members. Whether or not an active divine force is listening to these prayers and responding, I feel the power of these lists. When I hear these names, my empathy is activated. I wonder how these sick people might feel, how they spend their morning, and who is with them. I wonder how many of these people know they are being prayed for, and I imagine how this might make those sick people feel less alone, and less forgotten. I overhear conversations at the synagogue that show me that the list of names of sick people inspires phone calls and home visits.
 
As part of my job, I have prayed with people who were in the last hours of their lives. In those moments, I had no hope that the healing prayer would extend someone’s life or take away their pain. But singing healing prayers with these folks really did seem to bring some calm to these folks and to their loved ones.
 
How else do healing prayers work in your experience?
 
In this week’s Torah portion, we read Moses’ simple healing prayer for his sister, Miriam. He prays, “El Na Refa Na La” - “God, heal her, please.” I wrote a melody for this prayer as part of Rabbi Micah Shapiro’s Yetzirah songwriting program, and this melody has been a companion for me as I pray with and for community members. Marni Loffman, Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz, and Andy Curry were kind enough to record this melody with me for Congregation B'nai Amoona’s soon-to-be-released collaborative album, Shirei Amoona. Ana El Na is now available wherever you stream music (Listen on YouTube | Listen on Spotify). I hope this song brings you healing or any of the other benefits of healing prayer.
 
Credits:
Eitan Kantor - vocals, songwriting
Marni Loffman - vocals
Rabbi Deborah Sacks Mintz - vocals
Andy Curry - upright bass
Doron Levary - mixing/mastering
Rachel Bray Spezia - album art
Thank you to the generous donors who have made the Shirei Amoona project possible.

Shabbat Shalom!

HEArtbeat: Summertime at HEA

Mordechai Kadovitz
Community & Engagement Event Coordinator

mordy@HEAdenver.org

Yuri Tavbin
Youth Director

yuri@HEAdenver.org

Summer’s here, and the time is right for activities for all ages at the Alliance! Let’s look at some of the events and programs we’ve got going on over the next 90 or so days…
 
HEA Youth Director Yuri Tavbin will coach Pickleball classes for all skill levels on Tuesday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. beginning June 13.
 
For LGBTQ Pride Month, HEA is proud to be a Jewish Community co-sponsor with the JCC for Pride Shabbat at the JCC on June 23. Our Pride Azamra musical service will take place on Friday, June 16, and we are also sponsoring the community booth at the Pride Festival on Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25. Also, we will be marching in the Pride Parade from Cheeseman Park to Civic Center on Sunday. Visit our HEA Pride resource page for more information.

Amir Kaufman will teach a 10-week Conversational Hebrew class starting Thursday, June 22, at 5:30 p.m. This is a free class for all HEA Members.   
 
Shabbat In the Park – a fun and engaging Shabbat for younger families – will take place on Friday, June 23, at 5:00 p.m. at deKoevend Park in Centennial. 
 
Hochmat Nashim, our Women’s Torah Study group, will meet at the GYC for learning and connection on Sunday, June 25, and Sunday, August 6, at 7:00 p.m. 
 
Living history reenactor Susan Marie Frontczak will portray the late American humorist Erma Bombeck on Tuesday, July 25, at 1:00 p.m., a very special Kavod on the Road Adult Ed program at HEA.
 
And we’ll get together for our July Azamra service on Friday, July 28.   
 
As we head into August, young families can join us for Shabbat In the Park on Friday, August 11, at Silo Park in Greenwood Village.  
 
The month of Elul will kick off with an Elul-In-The-Shul Weekend beginning Friday, August 18, with an Azamra service, Shabbat learning on Saturday, and finishing up with a Sunday BBQ marking the beginning of Religious School.   
 
We hope you have a wonderful summer and look forward to seeing you over the next three months at these and other programs, our weekly Shabbat services and classes, and other community gatherings!  Oh, and for those who enjoy being active in the outdoors, stay tuned for more details about a monthly hike program, Walking Torah, led by Rabbi Shulman later this summer. 
 
Check out our weekly Wednesday HEAdlines email and HEAdenver.org for all the details on services, events, and classes.

Shabbat Shalom!

HEArtbeat: A Look Back at HEArt Religious School

Click the image below to take a video trip through the 2022-2023 HEArt Religious School year!

Shabbat Shalom!