PASSOVER by Aileen Fisher

The festival of freedom
comes happily in spring;
freedom for a people
and every living thing.

Freedom from a bitter
bondage, long,long ago;
freedom from the bondage
of winter's ice and snow.

Passover is the very old Jewish holiday which comes in the spring, celebrating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt; a seder is a ritual feast for Passover, held in Jewish communities or families when the story of the Exodus is retold annually through everyone reading a special text called a "Haggadah" together.  The word "seder" literally means "order" and there is a specific order of readings and symbolic foods which are eaten by the participants followed by a more general big meal.
I grew up with almost no contact with Judaism, and knew very little about the traditions of my Jewish friends in college.  My first Passover seders were called "liberation seders" and were moving, learning-filled events during the 70s, held by the Toronto co-counseling community.  That peer-based movement focused on people helping one another to heal from both specific, individual hurts and from societal oppressions, such as anti-Semitism.  I was inspired to learn how the liberation of any one group is essential for the well-being of all humanity.  Listening to the Hebrew prayers and songs in the Haggadah, I also found the seder very beautiful. Talking with friends who were Jewish and others who were allies of Jews, I gained many insights into the riches and biases of the Jewish religion and culture, and came to understand many aspects of Jewish life.  And on the very simplest level of shared food, I came to relish the "charoses" mixture of ground walnuts and grated apple, eaten with the unleavened bread, or matzoh that characterizes the holiday, along with horseradish for "spice."
Because seders include specific roles for children old enough to read and ask significant questions about the steps of the ritual, there are also some activities to engage children, such as searching for the special piece of matzoh called the "afikomen." In the mid-1980s my family had the unique opportunity to attend a family seder in Jerusalem, conducted according to Sephardic Jewish guidelines, and I remember the children getting more and more heavy-eyed as the night wore on --we parents were tired, too, by the late hour that we drove home.  Our seder this year at the Unitarian church will probably use a shorter Haggadah, and it definitely won't be as long an evening as ours was in Jerusalem, but the food will be delicious, the songs fervent, and the group sense of gratitude for our freedom today will be tangible.

November comes, and November goes, with the last red berries and the first white snows . . .

  
     Well, outside, we're shivering a bit this third week in November, and there's some snow on the ground already, which makes the lengthening nights a little less dark --some years the snow comes later.  Inside it is the time for planning our annual Solstice Multigenerational service, which will be on the actual Winter Solstice date this year --December 21st itself.  I have been enjoying an old favourite book in the RE library called While The Bear Sleeps, which has a simple story line about
a little girl who has stumbled into a bear's cave for shelter.
     Out of the dark warmth of the cave the bear character surprises the child by speaking, and he tells her she might as well stay and sleep alongside him, because Winter is "the time when you look inside yourself and remember the important things."  She asks him what those might be, and he rumbles "...that the winter is never so cold when you can share stories with the friends of your heart.  That loneliness is never so lonely if you are used to being alone.  That you need never worry about how you look or what people think about you if you are at home to yourself. That's why I come here."

     I found myself thinking that if I were a member of UCM, I might also give those reasons for why I come to join this church each week -- to meet with my "friends of the heart" and spirit, and to let the people, the music, the readings and sermon, ALL of the richness of a service, remind me that I am "at home to [my]self." And of course I would delight in all the stories I hear here . . . As it happens, the little girl in the book gets entertained and inspired by the bear telling her stories appropriate to many of the holidays of this "dark of the year" season. They go on dream journeys together to celebrations in many corners of the earth, and conclude their period of hibernation at Groundhog's Day (also know as Bear Day among some Native groups) with her learning about the constellation of Ursa Major, which points the way north in the night sky.

May this season bring each of you time to "...look inside yourself and remember the important things," and may we all celebrate bringing back the light as we observe the Solstice!

p.s. the title for this post comes from a favourite poem of mine, called "Goodbye, November, Goodbye," written by Elizabeth Coatsworth

p.p.s. I am not actually a member of this faith community, but of the Society of Friends (see post below), but I certainly love being on the staff here!

Bilingual schools in Israel/Palestine light the way to peace

On October 28th I heard Uri Gopher, the optimistic executive director of the Hajar/Hagar School in Beer Sheva, Israel, http://www.hajar.org.il 

tell his listeners here in Montreal about a sixth (and currently last) unique peace-building, bilingual school operating under the Israeli Ministry of Education; the school's motto is "Jewish-Arab Education for Equality."

The Hagar Association not only says that "peace IS possible," but that "It begins at HAGAR."  They believe that "Jewish-Arab Education for Equality is a springboard for social change, through it's bilingual, multicultural school and community programming. As parents and community members partner in the educational process, we create a community of Arabs and Jews who learn and work together towards a shared and peaceful future."

The last summer has been so horrific in terms of events in the middle east, and I have seen so many sad and infuriating documentaries about Palestinian/Israeli relations, that I confess I have become quite negative and discouraged about whether any change for the better is really possible in that anciently conflict-torn area.  However, Uri was full of energy, good news and good sense, starting with a comment that "Living together is not something you learn about in books, it's something you practice." At the Hajar/Hagar School, adults and children alike clearly practice how to relate well to one another, and it is inspiring!  Uri believes their emphasis on teaching both Arabic and Hebrew is a key to their program, for "When you learn the other's language, you are immediately drawn to him/her."

A former musician who holds an MA in social-political psychology, and with extensive educational experience, including work with Sesame Street International and as director of the Walter Lebcah Institute for Arab-Jewish Coexistence at the school of education in Tel Aviv University, Uri said it took becoming a father himself to push him to look for new ways to build connections with his Arab counterparts. He went on to explain how this extraordinary educational venture was begun in 2006 by some ordinary but social activist parents in Beer Sheva who wanted school environments that were relationship-and-peace-building, not trauma-inflicting, for their children.

Co-sponsored by UCM and the Montreal Dialogue Group, Uri came to Montreal to meet and speak with interested members of the public, plus members of the ICAN program at the McGill School of Social Work.  The International Community Action Network (ICAN), formerly known as the McGill Middle East Program (MMEP), is committed to the belief that social justice is the most reliable foundation for strong, healthy societies.  ICAN offers MSW degrees to persons in the forefront of civil society and social justice in Jordan, Palestine, and Israel.  Seven of these special graduate students attended Uri's talk, and several have connections to/with the Hajar/Hagar School (one is a graduate of "Neve Shalom," the original Jewish-Arab bridge-building school begun in 1979; another woman is a parent whose Gr 2 daughter spoke briefly about her experience at Hajar/Hagar).

Uri Gopher feels Israel has failed its most important challenge, to resolve the conflict between Arabs and Jews, and so he wrote a song (which was quite controversial) about that theme, when Israel celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding. He concluded his presentation with that song, played beautifully on our Laliberte piano, and a photo of his daughter smiling "after an ordinary day at an ordinary school!"

Watch the video of the song here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-DwpSY3or4

COME SHARE A QUIET, CENTRED HOUR OF QUAKER MEETING/MEDITATION ON THURSDAY EARLY EVENINGS AT MCGILL

You will find me here most Thursdays, from 5:30-6:30 pm, Newman Centre, 3484 Peel St., in the second floor library, or Ryan Room.

As many of my UU friends know, I am an active member of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and my home Meeting is in Ottawa.  However, from my early days of employment as a Director of Religious Education,  I have called myself a "Quakertarian," because I feel very comfortable with UU principles and practices, and I very much enjoy Sunday or other UU services. 

Of course, working as I do -- with great pleasure! -- on Sunday mornings (currently at the Unitarian Church of Montreal), I don't get to Sunday "meeting for worship" -- as a Quaker "service" is called -- very often. So over the years that I have been a DRE, I have found various ways to give myself  "sabbath time" for rest and renewal.

This year, to my great delight, a loose group of Montrealers with Quaker connections, under the care of Montreal Friends Meeting, have been working to initiate a mid-week Quaker "meeting for worship"at McGill.  We began last Thursday, September 25th, at 5:30 pm, with the door closing around 5:45, after spending the first l5 minutes settling into the room, our circle of chairs, and the silence.  We "broke worship" at 6:30 with the usual Quaker handshake, but kept holding hands as we sang "Tis A Gift To Be Simple," and then shared a bit about who we are and what our Quaker experiences have been.

We plan to meet weekly, with once a month special sessions for newcomers (though all of the meetings will be friendly to newcomers).  Please drop in to join us, and see if the hour of worship feeds your inner being as it does mine!  Depending on what Quakers would call the movement of the Spirit amongst us, the time together may be wholly one of silent seeking, or one, two or even a few people may "give ministry" or speak from their hearts into the silence.  All are welcome!

Meeting is held in the Ryan room (the library) on the second floor of the Newman Centre, 3484 Peel St., north of Sherbrooke.

 (Go in the main entrance to Newman Centre, which faces south, straight up the stairs, and the Ryan room is at the end of the hall, facing Peel).

BEGINNING the NEW SEASON at UCM!

Every end of summer is the beginning of a "new year" for the UCM community, and especially for the Religious Education, or R.E., program, because we (your DRE, RE Assistant and staff other than childcare givers) are largely inactive from early June through to the week after Labour Day and the Water Ceremony Sunday, which will be September 7th this year.

Naturally, every New Year brings its reflections on what has passed and plans for the future, and this fall those thoughts are especially poignant for me, as I will be retiring next June.  That means I'm aiming to leave our RE program in as overall great shape as I can!  I want to ensure a clear and inspiring sense of purpose is shared among all our RE families, leaders and volunteers, as well as having clear procedures in place for all the usual nitty gritty matters, like who will read for the chalice lighting, how to register or get on RE mailing lists, find name tags or library books . . .

Also, I will continue to have fun with our children and entire UCM community as the main "Time for All Ages" storyteller, while facilitating an expanded list of others who would enjoy that role on occasional Sundays.  The "T4AA" gives us all a wonderful shared aspect of multigenerational worship every week, and I relish my part in it!  As the children are sung out to their more age-specific programs, I intend to exit with them, but step back from the almost weekly classroom teaching I have done in the past two years.  I want to expand my role as mentor/leader with our various very part time RE leaders, both those in the classroom on Sundays and our RE committee members, and I will also be facilitating one of the new church wide theme exploration groups. Those personal relationships are an absorbing, valuable way to share UUism and the many gifts of "spiritual friendships" with one another.

Finally, in this coming year I'll to continue to make what I hope are beautiful and engaging bulletin board displays, on at least three levels of the building (which ones have you noticed?) -- but I would be very pleased to have help with those, so please step up!  We are living in an increasingly visual age in terms of social media, and those boards may be "old school," but they are a vital link to give all ages of attenders a sense of what goes on in our weekly programs in a three dimensional sense -- of course our FaceBook page and web presence are important links, too. [give these?]

An important "P.S." -- Carlene Gardner, our very wise and  experienced Youth Program Coordinator, is not so quiescent during the summer months as other staff.  She and the Lakeshore DRE, Casey Stainsby, have worked out plans to offer a Gr 8&9 OWL series (the UU sexuality and self-identity program called "Our Whole Lives," with a new curriculum).  Children of members and attenders will be able to participate this year in Montreal for the first time since 2007.

Carlene is now in a full time Masters of Education program at McGill, plus in an expanded role at UCM that includes campus ministry.  Although we only pay her for a few hours each week, this responsibility means she's gearing up to be ready to greet incoming students at Dawson College, McGill, Concordia, UQAM, etc. This year we are going to refer to her more often by her full title of Youth Program and Campus Ministries Coordinator -- or "YPCMC."

WHEN WE DANCE TOGETHER...

    Last Sunday at the Canadian Unitarian Council’s ACM Sunday Worship Service, I shared a wonderful reading about working together to weave the ribbons on a maypole, with Casey Stainsby, who was running the ACM children’s program.  The piece was adapted by Rev. Diane Rollert,  who was leading the service, and she says it was inspired by a passage in The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt. 

    I loved the opportunity it provided to review all the dozens of photos we have accumulated from our May First Multigen back in 2011 –and I thought many of you might enjoy finding yourselves in the photos! – some of them were projected behind Casey’s small group of children improvising the pole and dance, which was both delightful and amusing.  If you want to see more photos, please ask (or offer to help make them more accessible to us all!).

Reader one:

One day I saw a young girl in a field with flowers in her hair.

She was dancing all alone, moving in a clockwise circle while holding one end of a ribbon.

The other end of the ribbon was attached to the top of a tall, tall pole.

“What is she doing, moving around and around that pole?” I wondered.

There seemed to be no sense to her movements as she bobbed and weaved in and out, sometimes moving closer to the pole, sometimes moving farther away.

A few steps here, a few steps there, always circling in that same direction.

 “How lonely! How strange!  How ridiculous!” I thought.

Reader two:

But look, don’t you see?  A group of children have joined her.

They’re doing exactly the same thing, holding ribbons attached to the pole,

moving in the same clockwise direction, bobbing and weaving in and out.

Now another group of children have joined them,

they’ve taken up the other ribbons into their hands,

they’re dancing too, but they’re moving in the opposite direction,

counter-clockwise around the pole.

Reader one:

Oh, now I hear the music. [Music begins to play softly.]

It’s starting to make sense to me.

I can see the two groups of children dancing past each other,

facing each other as they circle in opposite directions,

weaving their ribbons in and out around the pole.

Look how the many colours are creating one beautiful tubular cloth.

Reader two:

This, my friend, is what it’s really all about.

One person dancing alone may look like a fool,

but when we dance together,

we are all connected, like those children dancing around a maypole.

Both readers:

Out of many we become one.