We had another Limmud (learning session) with a candidate for Senior Rabbi at Shir Hadash this evening. Even though Hanukkah ended earlier today, the candidate talked about the lights of Hanukkah and their meaning and how they relate to the lights of Creation – it got rather Kabbalistic at times, but it was quite interesting and led to some good discussions.

Today was the Shir Hadash Board Retreat, an all-day event where the Board focuses on important issues for the synagogue. It’s usually held in the summer to help the new Board strengthen its ties, but that was infeasible this year for the obvious reason.

It was a productive day; we drafted a new mission statement for the synagogue and used that to establish goals to bring the statement to life. There is still a lot of work ahead (and a Board Work Day to come in January), of course – I’m looking forward to it.

After I got home, we lit the menorah for the last time this year. We were a little nervous having 9 candles burning without being in the room, but we didn’t want to stay there – so I set up the world’s most boring Zoom meeting so we could watch the candles while doing other things (mostly watching TV).

Happy Hanukkah!

It was Shabbat and I spent most of the day doing things with Shir Hadash. This morning we attended Torah Study and Shir Shabbat, on Zoom as usual; we’re getting deep into the Joseph story which always leads to interesting discussions.

This afternoon, we were physically on campus for a Limmud (learning session) led by one of the candidates for the Senior Rabbi position. The candidate took us through the evolution of the Hanukkah story, looking at texts from I and II Maccabees, Josephus, and the Babylonian Talmud and discussing the similarities and differences. I hadn’t realized that the “miracle of the oil” wasn’t part of the original story – it was added in Talmudic days (about 500 CE). It was a very interesting session, followed by wine, snacks, and Havdalah.

And I got the first paper issue of my revised Economist subscription today – fortunately, it’s one without bonus sections so there’s a chance I’ll finish it before the next one arrives!

Tonight was the Hanukkah Shabbat Service at Shir Hadash, and I was pressed into service as camera operator for our livestream. The service was outside because of Covid, so we couldn’t use the cameras and microphones in the sanctuary; instead, the whole thing was streamed from my iPhone (mounted, fortunately, on a tripod).

It worked surprisingly well – the audio was clear (thanks to the PA system), and the video was mostly acceptable. I had to back away fairly far to be able to fit everyone into the shot, and that meant people were in front of the camera at times. And I couldn’t resist the urge to try to zoom in or pan occasionally – luckily, the app we used (Switcher) limits the speed of the zoom, and having the phone on a tripod mount made it pretty easy to move slowly and steadily when I panned.

It was windy, so the candles in the various menorahs didn’t burn too well, but that’s probably the worst problem we had by being outside. They’d set up a tent over the chairs, and there were enough patio heaters to make it quite pleasantly warm in there.

Shabbat Shalom!

I was the Toastmaster of the Day today at the Cats; I chose “Food, Glorious Food” as my theme, and people seemed to enjoy it. We only had two speakers, but I’d warned the Table Topics Master and she had enough time to ask nine different food-related questions, ranging from “What is your favorite food?” to “What was your most disastrous cooking experience?” (the answer to that question won the “Best Table Topics” vote).

Yesterday, I mentioned that Facebook wasn’t letting me tag Diane (or Jeff, or quite a few others) on the computer, no matter what browser I used. Today, it decided to see if it could get me in trouble and offered me this new service:

I was especially impressed that there’s no way to tell them “no” – and the ad showed up at the top of the screen every time I opened the app or went to the site. Good thing I can’t keep a secret!