L ifestyles /C ulture
Finding Strength in Yoga and Judaism
designed to help people cope
with the stress and uncertainty
of their new reality.

SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
Shabbhakti emerged as
a way
for Glassman to bring
2020 HAS BEEN anything
more embodiment
to Jewish
but relaxing, and Deborah
ritual. Glassman wants you to breathe.

“I call it ‘prayer in motion’
Glassman, a urologist at
because, truly, Judaism started
Jefferson Medical College and
as an
embodied practice.

registered yoga teacher, began
We brought
sacrifices to the
practicing yoga to manage her
Temple, and
it was much more
mental and physical health as
physical and
about our being
a medical student. Twenty-five
in touch
with how
we hold
years later, she is still using it
ourselves in
the world,
rather to center herself and others
than prayer-based,”
she said.

in a world that is even more
“Over the
last three
years, I’ve
stressful than her medical
really developed
the program
to school days.

try to
hold to
that and
have that
Glassman leads Shabbhakti,
a series of Jewish-inspired yoga be my mission, to live Judaism
workshops, at Temple Beth through our physical self.”
Glassman begins each of her
Zion-Beth Israel. Now that the
pandemic has forced partic- practices with a short d’var
Deborah Glassman practices yoga at Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel.
ipants into isolation, she has Torah on the weekly parsha
moved the classes to Zoom that introduces the theme of the
and created new programming session. Poses and sequencing are centered around the theme.

However, Shabbhakti’s
On Rosh Hashanah, Glassman coronavirus pivot is more than
led a class focused on the simply transferring in-person
Name: Rothenburg
binding of Isaac and themes classes online. Glassman is also
Width: 3.625 in
of trust.

reenvisioning the role yoga can
Depth: 5.5 in
“We talk about how it is really play in her students’ lives with
Color: Black
a test for Abraham and Isaac and the creation of the workshop
Comment: -
Ad Number: -
that it was truly about letting go “Finding the Chutzpah to
of ego, learning to trust and Exist in this Meshugganah
simultaneously learning that by World.” This new class, which
being bound to something we Glassman plans to run in the
can find greater freedom,” she winter, focuses not simply on
said. “Where can we use our stress relief but on cultivating
body to hold ourselves and find inner strength and courage in
greater freedom of movement? the face of adversity.

® Where can we, when we are
“It’s still using all of the
 challenged, let go of our ego and same principles of Jewish spiri-
realize that we are in a space tuality with the intention of
that we need to be in?”
finding the chutzpah, finding
Sharri Horowitz,
a the nerve, finding our guts to
Shabbhakti participant, enjoys navigate this uncertain world
traditional services at BZBI but we’re living in right now,”
OUR ROOFTOP SUKKAH
appreciates Glassman’s alter- Glassman said.

native approach to prayer and
She plans to expand her
WILL BE OPEN THIS YEAR
spirituality. For her, the physical roster of Jewish yoga workshops,
From October 5th to October 9th | 9AM - 5PM
aspect of yoga emphasizes the either online or in-person if
*weather permitting
presence of God in individuals, circumstances allow, in the
Rothenberg Center
and the mind-body connection coming months.

feels moving and spiritual.

Glassman is not the only
1420 Walnut Street | Second Floor
Like many
classes during
the instructor
combining Judaism
Single-serving, pre-packaged light refreshments will be provided
pandemic, Glassman’s Zoom and yoga practice.

Social Distancing and Face Mask Required
sessions are still attracting
Jewish communities all
participants, with people from over the country offer yoga
PHILADELPHIA | CHERRY HILL | LAKEWOOD
Massachusetts and Florida classes at synagogues, Jewish
NEW YORK | HACKENSACK | MONSEY
joining the BZBI regulars.

mindfulness retreats, stress
ARTS חמש גח
20 OCTOBER 1, 2020
JEWISH EXPONENT
Photo by Josh Thornton.

relief sessions and other forms
of yoga practice designed to
appeal to those who want to
take a different approach to
their spirituality. Judaism
and yoga also have certain
practices in common, like
meditation. “Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Moses and many more Jewish
holy men were shepherds who
spent long hours in meditation,
while the tradition of medita-
tion before prayer was common
for the sages, the mystical
Kabbalists, and for many
Chassidim from the days of the
Ba’al Shem Tov to the present,”
Rea Bochner wrote in Jewish
Community Voice in 2019.

Glassman expects the
trend to continue to grow. She
believes there are many people
who, whether due to the social
isolation of the pandemic or
other personal reasons, find it
difficult to connect to tradi-
tional prayer now.

“My goal is to help people
find their Jewish spirituality in
a way they may not have been
able to previously,” she said. l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



T orah P ortion
Making the Most of Sukkot
BY RABBI BARRY DOV LERNER
Sukkot THESE ARE TOUGH TIMES
for everyone. Only two weeks
ago, we recited “who shall live
and who shall die.” This year
we really feel our vulnerability
to those awful propositions:
“Who shall live and who shall
die” and “who by fire” in the
West, “who by storm and
water” in our South and “who
by pandemic” in all 50 states.

In this time of COVID-19,
this liturgy asks us to examine
our lives, just as it often can cause
depression, anxiety for the future
and uncertainty for our future.

Why then is Sukkot so
problematic? We began with Rosh
Hashanah, defined in our liturgy
as a “Day of Remembrance” and
then Yom Kippur labeled as a
“Day of Judgment.” But Sukkot
is called zeman simchateinu, a
“Day of Joy.”
To be honest, how joyful do
we all feel right now, hunkering
down at home, afraid — or at
least cautious — about doing
anything in a public setting?
Other than joyful gratitude
for survival in a pandemic, we
are still apprehensive about the
future. We have already lost
200,000 American lives.

Why should we be so joyful
now, virtually locked out of the
synagogue for Sukkot? How
can we regain peace of mind
or emotional equilibrium when
too many Americans refuse to
agree to the minimal disciplines
Oak Hill
Continued from Page 6
before moving to an apartment
complex in King of Prussia,
which she found through her
insurance company.

She has been frustrated
by communication from the
building management and condo
board, which she described as
unhelpful and inconsistent.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
Oct. 2
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6:11 p.m.

of masking, social distancing
and washing our hands just to
avoid losing our lives?
We all feel this need for
delivery from our loneliness and
the rigor of medically directed
separation from others.

How does Sukkot follow with
any promise of relief? How can
we focus on the now and find
moments of joy and positive
peace of mind in Sukkot?
In short, when one is
unhappy, even depressed —
how can we lift up our spirits
and relieve our apprehension
about tomorrow and the days
to come? Is there a path away
from the uncertainty about the
future and to find our way back
to optimism and confidence?
My suggestion is to find
renewed enthusiasm for life in
a “nachas box.” Create a nachas
box — a repository for cards,
notes, emails and expressions
of gratitude we receive for what
we have done for others. An
additional definition includes
pride for our children and for
others, and what they have
achieved. Creating a nachas box was
a suggestion from a colleague
decades ago. He said there
will be days when you will be
challenged for your decisions
and choices — anxious and
depressed perhaps. At that
moment, take out your nachas
box and review the notes and
letters you received describing
the impact you had in their
lives. It will not take long. You
will be uplifted.

I created my nachas box
decades ago. Well, really,
it was a large file folder, and
then a second file. Today, you
might create it digitally. But
the impact will be the same:
You open it up, read and
smile, recalling the moment,
the people and the memories.

You are worthwhile; you are
meaningful in the lives of
friends and family.

How then does this relate
to Sukkot? I must be personal:
Our sukkah is also a nachas
box, which renews my feelings
of pride, meaning and hope.

As a family, before there
were children, my wife Barbara
and I built a sukkah. Two were
memorable and we talked
about our first experiments.

We built one for the High
Holidays in Great Neck and
brought out Rabbi Mordecai
Waxman to appreciate it.

With me was the committee
youth chairman, and together
we watched the vertical cube
slowly become a parallelogram
with decreasing internal angles
until it was a pile of two-by-
fours on the ground. We had
designed the first self-folding
sukkah, and the chairman
went on to become an architect
in San Francisco.

Our first home sukkah was
so strong and remained vertical
that it survived snowstorms
into the winter. This leads to a
question: What is the name of
the day on which the Sukkah is
taken down? Chanukah.

Over the years, our children
helped decorate the sukkah,
and we still put up their
creations — except for those
we gifted to them. We also
remember the decorations we
no longer can use. There was a
year when, to surprise Barbara,
who complained about the
weather, I installed a window
in one wall with a sliding storm
panel that could be closed.

I bought a chandelier with
candle-like bulbs, and when
she came into the sukkah, I
hit the switch. Unfortunately,
weather and years took their
toll, and we just remember the
surprise moment and laughter.

In recent years, we even
had high school students from
Cheltenham High School come
to our sukkah to eat their
lunch. Not this year.

The annual purchase of a
lulav and etrog set led to holding
on to one of the etrogim; drying
it and saving it marked with the
Hebrew year, while the other
etrogim we purchased were
turned into etrog liqueur which
we could serve to sukkah guests.

Since I made it with potato
vodka, it was also kosher for
Passover, linking our holidays.

You get it now. Sukkot for
the Lerner family is a living,
breathing nachas box, and it
offers us joy and happiness in
moments recalled from the
past 55 years.

The nachas memories
remind you to forget that you
have been productive, a positive
force in the lives of congre-
gants, community and family.

Above all, you are grateful for
the kindness of others who took
the time and effort to express
their gratitude to you.

And Sukkot is a natural,
annual nachas box. One can sit
in the sukkah as a moment of
balancing the past as an antidote
for worry about the future.

To conclude, Rabbi Lord
Jonathan Sacks of the United
Kingdom wrote: “Happiness is
an attitude to life, while joy lives
in the moment. Happiness is
something you pursue. But joy
is not. It discovers you. It has to
do with a sense of connection
to other people or to God. It
comes from a different realm
than happiness. It is a social
emotion. It is the exhilaration we
feel when we merge with others.”
This year we may be at
home. Find joy in Sukkot this
year as the beginning of your
nachas box. We can really say:
Chag Sameach and next year in
your own sukkah. l
Rayfield is heartbroken by
the loss of her home, which
she bought with her retirement
savings and renovated 11 years
ago. She is still pained by the
injuries she sustained when
she collapsed in a smoke-filled
hallway and had to be rescued
by firefighters.

“My eyes were bright blood
red for two weeks. It was killing
me to even squint. My throat, I
couldn’t even talk, it was so
burned,” she said.

Her esophagus and vocal
cords were damaged by smoke
inhalation. Her rescuers had to
drag her down a flight of stairs
to get her out of the building,
and the impact aggravated her
arthritis, especially in her hips.

“Now I’m in a lot of pain
when I walk,” she said. “I’m
80 years old. So, you know, it’s
really left its mark on me.”
She has suffered from acute
vertigo for several weeks,
which makes any movement
difficult. She also has night-
mares about being trapped in
the hallway, unable to find the
exit. She is going to physical
therapy for her injuries and
speaking with a clinical social
worker about the upheaval she
has experienced.

She is not sure when she will
be able to return to Oak Hill,
but she expects it will not be
until 2021.

“I feel like I don’t have control
over anything anymore,” she
said. “I’m praying that my
insurance will cover it all. You
know, it’s scary.” l
JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner is the editor
and president of JewishFreeware.org
and president and rav hamakhshir
of Traditional Kosher Supervision
LLC. The Board of Rabbis of
Greater Philadelphia is proud to
provide diverse perspectives on
Torah commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed in
this column are the author’s own and
do not reflect the view of the Board
of Rabbis.

spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
OCTOBER 1, 2020
21