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"God's plan all along is to get God's people together. When you get God's people together, there should be an expectation that something is going to change...Can you still be faithful even if the only thing changing is you? Your views, your perspectives, your thoughts. Hanging with people who have a different lived experience might change you. So let us get together, let us unify, and let us expect change."

At our February 24th Friday Night Shabbat service, we welcomed our friends from Lawndale Christian Community Church to services. Pastor Jonathan "Pastah J" Brooks co-led services with Rabbi Lizzi and then delivered a moving sermon about his community's perspective that the Bible is a story of God's people being called to change.

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For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

What did the ancient rabbis have to say about abortion? And how are Jewish organizers today drawing inspiration from the tradition they handed down? On Friday, February 17th, we celebrated Repro Shabbat with a panel on reproductive justice hosted by Rabbi Steven and featuring two Mishkanites with extensive experience on this issue — Sarah Garza Resnick and Elizabeth Posner.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

At our February 10th Friday Night Shabbat service, we celebrated Jewish Disability, Awareness, and Inclusion Month. After a message on the timeless wisdom embedded in the Ten Commandments, Rabbi Lizzi welcomed Mishkanite Anna Giuliano to share her experiences as a member of the disability community.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Even with a charismatic, visionary leader like Moshe, big changes are impossible without ordinary people choosing to bravely place their faith in a better future.

Today’s Shabbat Replay is from our February 4th Saturday morning service. Rabbi Lizzi welcomed friends and family of BMitzvah Julius, shared some updates on what to expect from Mishkan in February, wished us all a happy Tu B’Shevat (the birthday of the trees), and then delivered a powerful sermon connecting the story of the first person to gingerly dip a toe into the Sea of Reeds with other brave pioneers in the long history of liberation.

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For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

In anticipation of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, Rabbi Steven spoke with Hans Detweiler, a member of the Mishkan Sustainability Team with an impressive environmental activism resume, for a conversation about small things you can do to decarbonize your life. Check out the show notes below for links to resources about decarbonization curated by the Mishkan Sustainability Team.

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So you are ready to work on decarbonizing your home? Here’s a great consumer guide to think through all the pieces:

https://www.buildingdecarb.org/store/p194/A_Pocket_Guide_to_All-Electric_Retrofits_of_Single-Family_Homes.html

What is next for decarbonization in Chicago? Chicago is exempt from Illinois’ building code, and is entirely responsible to develop its own code. This is a great opportunity, as the current code needs a lot of help! Learn more about Chicago’s decarbonization plan here:
https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/progs/env/2022/Final-2022-Building-Decarb-City-Document.pdf

Why is Mishkan’s Sustainability team excited about “electrify everything?” Read this great explanation from energy guru Saul Griffith. Pour a cup of coffee first: this article from Vox is intense and captures the big picture and the urgency.

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/21349200/climate-change-fossil-fuels-rewiring-america-electrify

If you read the Vox article above, you understand the importance of switching from gas furnaces to heat pumps. Heat pumps that work well throughout a Chicago winter are now available! Consumer Reports asks the question of how well they work in cold climates in the article below, and finds they work well. By the way, if your HVAC contractor says “no,” they are wrong! The sustainability committee can recommend up-to-date firms.

https://www.consumerreports.org/heat-pumps/can-heat-pumps-actually-work-in-cold-climates-a4929629430/

Decarbonization is a great challenge. How can we do it with equity? To finish you reading list, here is a moving case study from Pembroke IL about equity and the Heat Pump Revolution in Illinois:

https://rmi.org/from-poverty-to-power-in-pembroke/

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For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

At our Friday Night service on January 27th, Rabbi Lizzi offered a welcoming message of decompression from this painful week of mass shootings. Then, Rabbi Deena delivered a drash on this week’s parsha from Exodus, comparing its plagues of death to our own.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

At our Saturday Morning Shabbat service on January 21st, we welcomed Jenny Schaffer, a Mishkanite running for Police District Council, a new position for civilian oversight of the police created by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance, who taught us about the long fight for police reform.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

At our Virtual Friday Night service on January 20th, Rabbi Lizzi spoke on this week’s parsha from Exodus, and explored the idea of plagues as a wakeup call. She also gave mini-drash on angels who perform a similar warning function in the Torah.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

In honor of MLK Day weekend, Rabbi Lizzi welcomed beloved former Mishkan Davening Team member Rachel Goldberg, who is back from rabbinical school in Israel, to deliver a sermon connecting the ongoing struggle for justice in Israel and Palestine to the Exodus narrative in this week's parsha.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Today’s episode of Shabbat Replay is a new recording of Rabbi Lizzi’s drash from our Saturday Morning Shabbat service on January 7th. Her sermon addresses the themes of suffering and redemption in Parsahat Vayechi, as well as in the greatest masterpiece in modern cinema — Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

For upcoming Shabbat services and programs, check our event calendar, and see our Accessibility & Inclusion page for information about our venues. Follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook for more updates.

Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.