We read it every year and are urged to practice it every day.
Kahbaid et a’vecha v’et e’mecha. Honor your father and mother is the fifth of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai and which appear first in the Torah in the sedrah Yitro. (Exodus, Chapter 20).
Kahbaid is also the title of the $3-million capital campaign now underway to refurbish the 37-year-old Berger-Goldrich Home at Beth Sholom Village, the area’s only Jewish nursing facility. So, the Home reached out to local synagogues, through the Tidewater Board of Rabbis and Cantors, suggesting that each plan special messages and programming for this year’s reading of Yitro, which happens on Saturday, February 18.
“We thought it was a great request,” says Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz of Congregation Beth El, current chair of the Board of Rabbis and Cantors. “Everyone was eager to participate and I’m pleased that they will do so.”
Rabbi Arnowitz will talk that morning about “how we treat our most senior members of the community” and members of Beth El’s Hazak committee will lead prayers and recite aliyot.
At Temple Israel, several Home residents will attend services, including Jeffrey Snyder, who lives at the Terrace and regularly attends the Village’s daily and Shabbat minyanim. “He is the son of our former gabbai, Harry Snyder, who was a legend at Temple Israel and a resident of Beth Sholom in his final years,” says Rabbi Michael Panitz. Marcia Futterman Brodie, whose father and mother were past presidents of the Home, will speak.
At B’Nai Israel, there will be a special “Chai Kiddush” where for a minimal sponsorship, people will be encouraged to honor parents and elderly members of the community. “We will also have a free dedication page where children can write there own short dedications,” says Rabbi Sender Haber, who adds that Toras Chaim, the Portsmouth based day school, will use the Shabbat to showcase middle school students’ work through the Better Together program with Beth Sholom. “I think it speaks directly to the theme of the weekend,” says Haber.
At Temple Emmanuel, Rabbi Marc Kraus will address the difficult decisions that are necessary as parents age, and a Beth Sholom board leader, who belongs to the synagogue, will speak.
Kempsville Conservative Synagogue (KBH) in Virginia Beach will acknowledge the role of parents in each person’s life and how children honor them by their behavior. “We are encouraging members to provide photos of their parents and note at least one parental saying/experience/ event that impacted their lives and, by the members’ actions, honors their parents,” says congregant Alene Kaufman. “We will create a display wall with these photos and impact statements, having it ready for services on February 18.”
At Beth Chaverim, Rabbi Israel Zoberman will speak on the subject of honoring parents. Rabbi Gershon Litt will do the same at Adath Jeshrun in Newport News, Rabbi Gilat Dror will communicate a strong message on Kahbaid to her congregants at Rodef Sholom in Newport News, and on February 17, a representative from Beth Sholom will relate the value of having a Jewish nursing home in Tidewater to the members of Temple Sinai in Newport News, thanks to the interest of their Rabbi Séverine Sokol.
And finally on the following Friday, February 24, the sermon at Ohef Sholom Temple will be “Transcending Age: the blessings of relationships between the elderly and younger generations in our community.” In his sermon, Chris Kraus, director of Family Learning, will also highlight Ohef Sholom’s Better Together program. “Our students meet once a month for lunch with staff and residents at Beth Sholom to learn together, schmooze, play games, and tell stories,” says Kraus. “Such partnerships with seniors transcend the finality of a lifespan and give meaning to the present.”
“It is so meaningful to us at Beth Sholom Village to have all the synagogues come together within the space of a week to speak to the issue that defines us as an institution every day,” says David Abraham, executive vice president of Beth Sholom Village. “We honor parents and grandparents, which is why we are raising the funds to make our acute care facility the true next generation of care in our community.”