Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation

This week's Mitzvah Monday challenge is to do your taxes! Paying taxes is a social and communal responsibility that helps fund education, build roads, and take care of members of our community who are struggling or need extra support. The deadline is THIS Wednesday, July 15!

This Mitzvah Monday, we’re challenging you to #WearAMask! Wearing a face mask over your nose and mouth while out in public is one of the best ways prevent the spread of COVID-19. Do you have a favorite mask? Where did yours come from? Tell us all about it!

Our challenge for you this Monday is to do just that - affirm and elevate holiness in your own life by confronting whatever challenges you're facing this week not with frustration or rashness, but with calm, courage, and determination.

In our current moment, we are faced with serious global and national crises, not to mention anything that might be happening in our personal lives. By confronting situations with calm and courage, we are able to elevate holiness.

In this week's Torah portion, Chukat-Balak, God instructs Moses to order a rock to produce water for the Israelites. When Moses instead strikes the rock, he is told by God that he cannot enter the Promised Land "Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My holiness...."

We hope you can join us tonight for Shabbat services at 7pm on Zoom, Facebook, or YouTube, and then tomorrow for Shabbat Sustenance at 9am and Havdalah at 8:30pm on Zoom. Shabbat shalom everyone!

Last night, we commemorated Juneteenth with our Juneteenth Tikkun, an evening of reflection, questioning, study, and remembrance. As we enter Shabbat, we take a minute to reflect and rest our minds and bodies to prepare for and recommit to the ongoing work ahead.

In 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, word of liberation from slavery finally reached Galveston, TX on June 19th. This day is known as Juneteenth, and is America’s only holiday dedicated to acknowledging the truth of our national history of slavery.

Feeling overwhelmed? Start here: docs.google.com/document/u/0/d…. This document breaks down a myriad of resources and actions by how much time you have to learn each day and provides a study calendar along with numerous resources to get you started.

Click here (nvhcreston.org/nvhcs-anti-rac…) for a list of resources we've collected so far, and please feel free share any articles, podcasts, movies, or books that you know in the comments below! We are looking to add to this list.

Last Mitzvah Monday, we asked you to share what you were learning with us. This week, we're challenging you to go out and learn some more: this time about race, racial justice, and how you can work to become anti-racist.

There are many explanations, but the most common is that dairy is a reminder of the sweetness of Torah, and that Torah calls the land of Israel a land "flowing with milk and honey" (Exodus 3:8). Click here to read about our Shavuot offerings! ow.ly/qZKl50zOXfi

Shavuot begins this Thursday, and in honor of the custom to eat dairy foods, this week's Mitzvah Monday "challenge" is to share your favorite dairy-based recipe with us! Cheesecake is a particular favorite on Shavuot, but any dairy food will do! Why do we eat dairy on Shavuot?

Then tomorrow, join us to greet Shabbat morning with Shabbat Sustenance at 9:00am and then bring Shabbat to a close at 8:30pm with Havdalah. Both of these will take place on Zoom. Shabbat shalom everyone! May you find space this Shabbat for reflection, change, and growth.

The words above are an excerpt from a poem by our own Rabbi Holzman. The full poem can be found in tonight's Shabbat service handout in your daily email. Join us tonight for Erev Shabbat services at 7pm in one of three ways: on Zoom, YouTube, or on our private Facebook Group.

This week’s Mitzvah Monday Challenge is to Move Your Body – whatever that means to you! You could go for a walk, ride your bike, or even do some stretches on the couch. Do you have a favorite video or routine you’ve been following? How do you keep your body moving?

Tomorrow night at 7:30pm, we come together to mark the closing of Shabbat with Havdalah. The link can be found in your daily email. We wish you a peaceful, joyous, and sweet Shabbat! Shabbat Shalom

Then tomorrow morning, join us for Shabbat Sustenance: Great Texts of America at 9:00am. This month, we will apply the skills and methods we use to study Torah to Herbert Hoover's 1928 speech on "Rugged Individualism," the foundation for much of modern Conservatism.

Join us in one of three ways for Shabbat at 7pm this evening - on Zoom (link in your daily email), on YouTube (ow.ly/n9PW50zuD7t), or over on our private Facebook Group (ow.ly/ywtW50zuD7s).

This Mitzvah Monday, we challenge you to call someone who helped you get where you are today, who helped you grow into who you are. If you'd like, tell us about them in the comments! Be sure to scroll through the pictures on this post for this week's program schedule.