Rabbi Dr. Janet B. Liss Student Cantor Jenna Mcmillan

TempleTemple FamilyFamily1 NewsNews North Country Reform Temple ~ Ner Tamid Rabbi Dr. Janet B. Liss Student Cantor Jenna McMillan

Phone: (516) 671-4760 • Fax: (516) 676-9180 • E-mail: [email protected] • Web: www.ncrt.org November/December 2019 Cheshvan/Kislev/Tevet 5780 2 A Message From Our Rabbi

I like this time of year when we see the changes in the color of the leaves, the weather cooling down and we look forward to getting together with our families for Thanksgiving and the winter holidays. Each week in our Shabbat Services, we recite a prayer of Thanksgiving to God. The Modim prayer acknowledges the role of God in our lives, morning, noon and night, and by recit- ing this prayer, we acknowledge God and say thank you for all we have in our lives. For those of us who are regular Shabbat attenders, this is part of our weekly routine. How many of us take the time to pause, think about all we have that fulfills us and makes living worthwhile and say thank you? On Shabbat, the liturgy tells us that we do not seek to acquire or to gain, we pause to count our blessings. Many of our congregants come to be with us only on the holidays and an occasional Shabbat. Shabbat Services are so much less formal than the High Holidays and they can provide you with an opportunity to take a step back from the rest of the week. You can put your busy lives and smartphones down for an hour or so and relax. I invite you to join us if you can. Make a commitment to coming even once a month and experience our Shabbat warmth and prayer as a community. So the concept of saying Thank You for Jews does not happen only once a year. The concept of getting together with family does not happen just once a year. Shabbat was created thousands of years ago to fulfill those purposes. The American tradition of coming together to celebrate Thanksgiving; a harvest holiday based on the fall holiday of Sukkot is a time when we do get together for family time, feasting, annual traditions, football watching, shopping and the like. We also have a religious component to the holiday. The Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service will be hosted at NCRT on November 24th at 7 p.m. We welcome clergy from the North Shore area and their congregants to this annual event. Please come. Please bring food with you for the I.N.N. and donations collected during the service go to the North Shore Shelter program. Please join us as we welcome the wider Glen Cove community into our congregation. There are a number of special programs coming up including a special speaker on No- vember 15th Shabbat Services where we will observe Kristallnacht, the Night of the Broken Glass, commemorating the beginning of the Holocaust in 1938. Ruth DeBeer will be speaking about her experiences growing up in Tost, Germany. The Service begins at 7:00. Join us for an adult ed program, a social event, a movie night, a Havdalah program, Shabbat Services, the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, the Shabbat Hanukkah program, etc. all programs you will hear more about as we get closer to the dates. Looking forward to seeing you and celebrating with you.

Rabbi Dr. Janet B. Liss 3 Student Cantor Jenna McMillan

Shalom NCRT!

“Hinei Mah Tov Umah naim shevet achim gam yachad!

How good it is, How sweet it is, to be together on this day!”

I can’t help but to think of the words of Elana Arian’s version of Hinei Mah Tov coming off of a wonderful and meaningful High Holy Day season at North Country Reform Temple.

This time of year is usually spent in our various communities that we choose to dwell in, whether it be having dinner with our families on Erev Rosh Hashanah, spending time with friends in the sukkah, or coming to synagogue and enjoying a Shabbat as a community.

I cherish all of the communities that I am a part of, and lately I have been especially thinking about the kehillah kedoshah, or holy community that we have created at NCRT in these past weeks of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. What we have here at NCRT is truly special, and every person that chooses to come and be a part of it is crucial and important to the whole. I also think about our concept of L’dor V’dor, passing Judaism from generation to generation, and how the future of this community depends on it as I looked into the community at our children’s services. There were so many new, young families that it gives me hope and promise for the future of our religion.

May we be able to focus on building our community, strengthening and fortifying it in order to help our tradition live on for generations to come.

Student Cantor Jenna McMillan 4 5

Scenes from our beautiful & inspiring High Holiday Services…..

Our wonderful choir, in perfect harmony with the magnificent voice of Cantor Jenna and led by our musical director, Zvi Klein.

Shofar? So good! The Fierstein women demonstrate how it’s done L’Dor V’Dor!!

And thanks to Lori Kotkin for creating another scrumptious Break the Fast! 6

EREV ROSH HASHANAH SERMON by Rabbi Dr. Janet B. Liss

On the High Holidays, we are called to take a Chesbon Hanefesh, a spiritual accounting of our souls by reviewing the past year, and seriously considering how we want to move forward differently in the New Year. When I look back at what has happened in America in the last year, it makes me want to cry. I cannot believe there were two synagogue shootings: at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and in the Poway Chabad synagogue. During the Civil Rights Movement era, The Temple in Atlanta was bombed, other southern congregations found faulty bombs before they were detonated and others were threatened. No one was in the synagogue when it was bombed. For years, we have witnessed the horrors of mass shootings in churches, black churches, in mosques and in Sheikh Temples. When will we see any evidence that anyone with the power to stop this cares? We had a couple who started coming to Shabbat Services regularly last fall and making friends. They were invited to a Bat Mitzvah here, and then, after the Pittsburgh shooting they disappeared. I called them a few weeks later and told them we missed seeing them. I asked why they stopped coming. Their answer was they were afraid to come back after the shooting. I explained that while I understood their fear, I thought that we were safe at NCRT. Their response saddens me. It saddens me that we have mass shooting after mass shooting in America and our government, who is elected to protect us, sits on the sidelines and does nothing. In August, Grace and I went to San Miguel De Allende, Mexico and met the Kolberts there. Ana’s extended family was spending a week together leading up to their nephew’s wedding. Ana’s family comes from Quarez, Mexico; the town that bor- ders El Paso, Texas. The Walmart shooting took place 2 days after the wedding. We spent a week getting to know Ana’s family. Hearing that yet another mass shooting took place right after meeting people from Quarez, people who routinely cross the border to go shopping, personalized that shooting for me. Those victims could have just as easily been Ana’s family or their friends. We read in the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy after the Children of Israel had been wandering for 38 years that Moses explains to them that because of the rebel- lious reaction of their fathers, when 38 years earlier the spies returned from scouting the 7

land and reported that giants inhabited Canaan, their fathers complained that they wanted to go back to Egypt. Their punishment was their generation was forbid- den entry to the Promised Land. Their children were promised entry in the Land of Israel if they did not follow in their fathers’ footsteps and rebel against God. Their fathers forfeited their right to enter Israel because of their lack of faith in God. The new generation only had to learn the lesson of history as they stood on Israel’s threshold. Think about this: the old generation forfeited their right to enter Israel because of their actions and the new generation, only had to learn the lesson of history to be able to reap the benefits of a bright future. I have been thinking a lot about this message after reviewing this past year in America. How many generations of American children have been raised with the knowledge of mass shootings in this country? What was the greatest danger you faced when you went to school as a child? I remember getting in trouble if you forgot your homework or were caught chewing gum. Being afraid to go to school, having to pass through security apparatus, buying and owning bullet proof backpacks were something we could have never imagined. So today I wonder, how many more years will have to pass until some lucky generation reaps the benefits of what we are experienc- ing today because gun violence will one day be a few dark pages in American history books. In the Holiness Code, chanted beautifully by our past president, Paula Frome, every Yom Kippur afternoon, we read about the concept of justice. When meting out justice, the Torah tells us not to favor the poor or show deference to the rich. Our Congress is failing us because they who are empowered to enact laws to protect us, absolutely favor the rich. Whether it is in tax benefits or by passing common sense gun reform, they have been bought by the lobbyists. Common sense laws that protect us, that protect the environment, that would guard our children, do not even make it to the Senate floor. They are not governing to protect the American people, they are governing to protect themselves so they can be re-elected. As a song leader growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina in the early 70’s, I was passionately moved by music. The words of popular folk and protest music moved my generation’s soul. We incorporated this music in our Shabbat Services and it spoke to me personally. We sang the lyrics of Blowing in the Wind, “How many 8

deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.” The answer my friends is still blowing in the wind, there have been over 41,000 incidents of gun violence in 2019 resulting in over 11,000 gun deaths and over 21,000 injuries so far this year. There have been 311 mass shootings this year and there are between 8-10 million AR- 15 assault rifles on the streets today. These numbers increase every single day. As we all know, our little synagogue in the woods is deeply hidden in suburbia. Since 9/11, I have felt that we are relatively safe because we are nearly impossible to find even if you are looking for us. I never thought that I would live to see the day in the United States of America when synagogues would spend tens of thousands of dollars on security budgets, where we here at North Country Reform Temple would participate in active shooter training, and people would be afraid of going to temple thinking that they may become the victims of a hate crime. Synagogues are places of refuge. We come together for many reasons as a community to share our simchas, to share our sorrow, to share our joy of being alive. We come to recharge our spiritual souls, we come for community, we come to be comforted and uplifted. We come because we need meaning in our lives. We come to celebrate and usher in a New Year together. We come because we find meaning in our texts, our rituals and our traditions. World Jewry has survived atrocity after atrocity throughout history. ,Justice, Justice you shall pursue. On Yom Kippurצדק צדק תרדוף The Torah teaches us in our Haftarah portion taken from Isaiah chapter 57, we read that God does not want our fasting unless there is a moral and ethical foundation to our ritual behavior. It is not enough to fast, if we do not lead moral and ethical lives. Our fasting and our prayers have to match our actions. Prayer vigils are not the answer to solving the gun control problem in America today. Prayers, my friends, without action are not acceptable. They will not bring back the lives of the victims of El Paso, of Dayton, of Odessa, of Pittsburgh, of Poway, of Christ Church or anywhere. What role do we play as Jews? We are the inheritors of a beautiful tradition that has a profound message of social justice dating back to the Prophets. According to the midrash; early rabbinic teachings, when God went looking for a people, God offered the Torah to many different nations. Every group asked God a different question about the contents of the Torah 9

until God came to the Jewish people. The midrash teaches us that our response was We will do and we will listen. We did not ask what was in the Torah, we acceptedנעשה ונשמה it on blind faith and we said, “We will take action and we will listen.” We have heard. We had heard shots ring out all over this country. As everyone of prominence pointed out back in August, every country in the world has video games and mental illness and no mass shootings, while we are the only country with video games, mental illness, mass shootings and the NRA and politicians who pay lip service to us on this issue or don’t even bother. We have had 311 mass shootings this year alone. That is more than one a day somewhere in the United States. We are now on the International banned country “don’t visit there” list because of all of our mass shootings. As our hearts go out to the victims and we pray for strength for their families, it is time for action. I am proud to live in New York where we have fought for years for better gun control laws and all of our efforts have paid off. Beginning last July, anyone who wants to purchase a gun in New York State must wait 30 days. You cannot buy bump stocks in NY State. “The new law bans the possession, manufacture, transportation, shipment and sale of items that ac- celerate the firing rate of firearms, rifles or shotguns.”1 Senator Luis Sepulveda who spon- sored that bill said, “There is absolutely no need for military-grade weaponry on the streets nor homes of New York.” 2 New York is “leading the way forward to protect our families and our children.”3 New York has reduced gun violence because of our laws. According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, New York has a A- rating and we are 6th out of 50 states for the strength of our gun control laws. Why can’t our federal government enact gun control legislation that at least equals ours and will protect the entire country? It is time that we hold all of our elected officials accountable. There is no reason for any American to own an assault weapon. I believe that your life and my life and the life of every person living in this country is more important than someone’s second amendment right to have assault weapons. Even Colt recently announced that it will no longer manufacture the AR 15 assault weapon and some stores have come out stating that they will no longer sell assault weapons. New Jersey’s Governor is going after gun manufacturers by going after the banks who support them. The polls tell us that the majority of Americans want stricter gun control laws and it is time to for all of us to stand up and make a difference. Think about the difference we could make in this country if more people had the courage Greta Thunberg has shown fighting for climate change. 10

Millions of children throughout the world protested on Friday, September 20 for action on climate change because of the courage of one 15 year old now 16 who took a stand boycotting going to school in order to get noticed and be heard on that issue. She reamed out world leaders on the stage of the U.N. for their failure to take serious steps to curb climate change, and she is now a coveted speaker on the world stage and is in the news every day. When I hear ridiculous statements about how guns don’t kill people, people do, coupled with the fact that the shooter in Dayton killed 9 people in 32 seconds before he was killed, it makes me crazy. Life is the most important value in Judaism. In Nitzavim, which we read on Yom Kippur morning, we read the words, “I place before you the blessing and the curse, choose the blessing and live or the curse and die.” The blessing and the curse are always right in front of us. It is time for this country to stop choosing the curse and start choosing the blessing. In this New Year, 5780 what do we want for ourselves? For me, I want to live in a country that values life more than it’s citizens’ right to own guns. I want to live in a country whose values match mine. I want to live in a country that treasures its children and hopes to keep them far from harm’s way. I want to live in a country that values our prophets of old who teach us to stand up to social injustice and to always seek justice. I want to live in a country that treats everyone justly, with kindness and respect. So the good old Jewish prophet Bob Dylan challenges us in his song with the verse: Yes ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn’t see? We cannot pretend anymore. It is time for Americans to make it clear that enough people have died and it is time for every state in this nation and for Congress to take action and pass sensible gun control laws that will protect us and save lives. No one should be afraid in America to go into a House of Worship. How many of us have relatives or friends who live in states that do not have sensible gun control laws? We can work to help them change that. Will each one of you join me in this effort, if not for yourselves but for future generations so they like the generation of our ancestors who entered the Promised Land can benefit from learning from history and not having to experience actual loss themselves. Let us work to make our generation the last to experience this horrible loss of lives and make sure that something measurable and meaningful comes from these tragedies. Please God help us make these tragedies a thing of the past so that the next generation will read about gun violence as a very sad chapter in American history from the safety of their classrooms. Then we will know that we played a role in making a difference for future lives. Ken yehi ratzon- be this God’s will. Amen 11

FOOTNOTES

1. Gun Control in New York: These new measures just became law. Democrat & Chronicle July 29, 2019 2. Ibid. 3. Op.sid

ROSH HASHANAH SERMON by Rabbi Dr. Janet B. Liss EVERYONE’S LIFE COUNTS

Today Jews all over the world are celebrating the New Year 5780. What is it about Juda- ism that has enabled it to survive this long? Judaism is not just about ritual observance, attest- ed to by the fact that less than 20% of world Jewry is orthodox. Judaism’s focus has been on action, on doing, going back to our acceptance of Torah at Sinai. We are reminded 36 times in the Torah to remember that we were slaves in Egypt and to take care of the widow, the orphan and the stranger in our midst. We are a people who, from our inception, have taken care of the most vulnerable people in our society. Judaism compels us to act and not to sit idly by on the sidelines. The Religious Action Center was founded in Washington in 1961 to be the social action arm of the reform movement. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Act of 1963 were written in its conference room. As a movement, we have been in the forefront of burning social justice issues for decades and this is one of the many differentiators that make us the largest movement in America. I am proud of my reform heritage and I stand proudly as a reform Jew. Three years ago I stood before you having returned from Berlin where I saw first-hand how the country was avidly working absorbing one million Syrian refugees. This was not an easy task and they had a lot of push back. Their government stood by their commitment to be responsive to a world-wide refugee crisis. Many German citizens, including many German Jews happily volunteer in all aspects of the resettlement. Do you remember the famous picture of the little Syrian boy in blue jeans and a red shirt who had drowned and was lying face down on a beach that appeared in newspapers world- wide? That picture stirred the hearts of many to the plight of millions of Syrian refugees and led many countries to soften their stance and open their doors to asylum seekers. Where was the world outcry when Oscar Ramirez and his little toddler Valerie who traveled 1,000 miles to seek asylum in the United States fleeing from the violence in El Salvador, drown in the Rio Grande trying to make it to Brownsville, Texas? Their picture also appeared in every newspaper lying face down in the water. Where was the outrage? Our government’s response is to cut the number of refugees to 18,000 a year, down from 110,000 in 2016. “This administration’s latest message to anyone dreaming of a freer life in America” is stay away. (NYT 9/28/19) 13

Anyone who is a student of American history knows that America has not always wel- comed immigrants. In the 20’s, strict quotas were instituted to limit Jewish immigration that cost many Jewish lives during World War II. America heartlessly turned the ship the St. Louis back to Europe filled with Jewish refugees after Cuba would not let them disembark, sending most of them to their deaths. At time when it was difficult for Jews to gain entry to the United States, Gilbert and El- eanor Kraus, a prominent Jewish couple from Philadelphia, risked their lives to save 50 Ger- man Jewish children bringing them back to the United States after a grueling experience of getting permission from the U.S. government that was against this action and bribing their way through Germany to secure the release of these children. They also faced opposition from the Philadelphia Jewish community. Gilbert, an attorney and his housewife Eleanor were unsung Jewish heroes, who, because of the values inculcated in him by his parents, had the courage to fight opposition from every corner, because he knew in his heart rescuing those children was the right thing to do. Gilbert never waivered. He was not going to sit on the sidelines when he knew that he had a chance of saving 50 Jewish children. The Religious Action Center has honored them posthumously by naming after them: The Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus Initiative for Immigrant and Refugee Justice Action Center. “The new initiative seeks to galvanize action around the current crisis of immigrants and refugees held in detention and at risk of deportation.”1 “Judaism teaches us that everyone is entitled to dignity and honor. In the face of harsh and punitive federal immigration policy, the reform movement is mobilizing to advocate for just and compassionate policies toward undocumented immigrants.” Through the advocacy work of RAC-New York, we were able to get the Green Light Bill passed in Albany in the Spring that allows every New Yorker to be able to get a driver’s license. This new law protects 750,000 undocumented New Yorkers, makes our roads safer, will insure more drivers and does not put without a license. Forty-four reform congregations united across the state to work to get this bill passed. We lobbied, we made phone calls to fight for something that 14 other states have in place because it is morally the right thing to do. Many of you made calls and all of our hard work paid off. 14

In 1883, a young poet was asked to write a poem about the Statue of Liberty to help raise money to build the statue’s pedestal. Emma Lazarus, born into a wealthy Sephardic family in New York City, was a descendant of the original 23 Portuguese Jews who arrived in New Amsterdam fleeing the Inquisition. Emma was tutored privately and studied Ameri- can and British literature, the classics, Greek, Latin, German, French and Italian. She wrote her first poem when she was 11.2 Emma was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson and other prominent writers of her day. In 1881, Emma volunteered working with Eastern European Jewish immigrants through HIAS: the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society aiding Jewish immigrants who had been detained. She taught them English and was their advocate. She was deeply moved by the plight of the Russian Jews, by their suffering and fortitude. She used her literary prominence to call attention to Jewish suffering.3 She wrote about anti-semitism in Russia that forced many Russian Jews to come to the United States. Emma’s sonnet “New Colossus” was inscribed at the Statue of Liberty in 1903, years after her death. Emma’s friend Georgina Schuyler found a book in a bookstore in 1901 containing the sonnet and organized a civic effort to resurrect the lost work. 4 Only part of the sonnet is preserved on the plaque which reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

One missing line of the sonnet reads “a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame; mother of exiles.” This aspirational poem has come to symbolize America as a country who com- passionately welcomes people seeking refuge. Emma’s work with Jewish immigrants, woke Emma, a rich Jewish woman, up to the plight and struggles of poor penniless immigrants who came to America; fleeing persecution, hoping to make news lives for themselves in a country where they would not be persecuted for being Jewish. Her experience helped her universalize America’s role in welcoming immigrants. 15

The acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stirred up a contro- versy in August when asked by a reporter if he agreed that Emma Lazarus’ words, ”Give me your tired, your poor” are also part of the American ethos? Ken Cuccinelli responded, “They certainly are. Give me your tired, and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge.” Cuccinelli wants to rewrite “The New Colossus” to reflect the dastardly new measures by the administration to dramatically change the legal immigration system.5 Annie Polland, the Executive Director of the American Jewish Historical Society is leading a three-year initiative called “the Emma Lazarus project exploring the life of the poet.” The goal, Polland said, is to use Lazarus “as a model of how to encourage students to be civic participants.” When asked about Cuccinelli’s comments, Polland responded, “I think what he said is somewhat reductive. I think it's difficult to take a poem out of context and just apply it to one law. That's not the way a poem and American ideals should be used.” 6 “To see how something so expressive of the country’s greatest ideals, to see how it could be so contorted or distorted, is really, I think dismay is the only word.” Polland views the poem as a sign of hope triumphing against fear, observing that when Lazarus wrote the poem, there was deep anti-semitism, and the country had just established the Chinese Exclusion Act. “When Emma Lazarus wrote that poem, she knew that not all Americans agreed with her,” she said. “So in a way, looking back on that poem and seeing how someone could write so beautifully about this ideal, even at a time that it was challenged, I think, gives us hope.”7 I want to tell you a story by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of London, but first please close your eyes, take a deep breath and get comfortable. “Picture a library filled with books de- scribing various values that you can choose to embrace and life styles that you can choose to embrace. You are free to pull any book off of the shelf and embrace its contents. If you like it, you can read other books by that author or you can put it back and choose another. Imagine coming across a book with your family’s name written on the spine. Intrigued you walk over to it and pull it off the shelf and open it. In it, you see many pages written in different hands in many languages. You start reading it and eventually you begin to understand what it is. It is the story that each generation of your family wrote for the next generation. This was written so that everyone born into your family will understand where they are from, what happened to them, what they lived for and why. As you turn the pages, you reach the 16 last one , and it is the last page just bearing your name.”8 Open your eyes. I know that some of you sitting here today came to the United States as immigrants. But for those of us who were born here, imagine how powerful it would be if we knew the detailed history of our ancestors who reached America’s shores. What was their experience like? What inspired them to come to America? What obstacles did they overcome learning a new language and making it in a new country? We know it wasn’t easy. Most of our ancestors would not be welcome into America with today’s policies. Our own history as Jews impels us to have empathy for those seeking asylum in our country. Meir Stein, a 13-year old Jewish day school student wrote the following: I was brought here to America for a better life. I’m an adoptee who came from Guatemala at five months old. I never want to forget how tenuous life can be. Instead of having a great life in America, I could easily have been one of the children in the migrant camps along the U.S. border. My birth family is still in Guatemala. My birth mom says that making an adoption plan was the hardest thing she’s ever done, but she did it anyway — because she loved me. I now write to her and visit her, and we also send her food every month. We can debate whether families fleeing desperate poverty should be eligible for asylum. We can debate the amount of violence they have to suffer, or how bad their starvation has to be, before we let them immi- grate. But we cannot separate kids from their parents, and we can’t debate the importance of life and the humanity of these refugees. This is just as true ow as it was for my great- grandparents and my nanna, when HIAS brought them here from Germany after World War II. They sailed past the Statue of Liberty, and they knew that America was different. They called it the Golden Land. It was a place where they wouldn’t have to be afraid for their lives, where they could live freely as Jews. America treated people like, well, like people. That shouldn’t be a big deal, but in the history of the world, it is. That is what “makes America great”. These words written by a thirteen year old should give everyone pause in America. One of the most compelling verses for our time from the book of Deuteronomy is zedek, zedek, tirdof– justice, justice shall you pursue. There are many ways as congregants that we can help the immigration plight right now. Whether it is through our work with RAC-NY or Bend the Arc or our own initiative, each one of us can make a difference. 17

May we as a congregation answer the call to action this year to help our country move forward with immigration policies that reflect Jewish values of compassion for the most vulnerable who come here seeking refuge, safety and security; who like our families who fled their homes so that we have the good fortune of being able to celebrate another New Year in America. If you are interested in joining in these efforts, please speak to me or Paula Frome. We are actively working to make sure that our leaders know that our Jewish values compel us to work for a more just and compassionate society. To that end, I am speaking against mass deportation Friday morning at 9:00 am as part of a Days of Awe initiative in Hunting- ton. We cannot sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to speak up. May you too be inspired to join us in this work. Ken Heyi ratzon. Be this God’s will. Amen.

FOOTNOTES 1. RAC.org 2. Wikipedia.org-Emma Lazarus 3. Gvshp.org-Emma Lazarua 4. Op.cit. 5. Cuccinelli rewrites Statue of Liberty poem to make case for limiting immigration,” CNN Politics, by Devan Cole and Caroline Kelly 8-13-19 6. Edition.cnn.com/Transcripts1908/14/CNR.o8.HTML 7. Www.npr.org/2019/08/14/751235950/emma-lazarus-and-the-history-behind-her-poem- the-new-colussus 8. Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality And A Deeper Connection To Life In Judaism Sarah Hurwitz 2019 Audioversion 18

KOL NIDRE 5780 by Rabbi Janet B. Liss inspired by

Rabbi Deborah A. Hirsch It’s Never Too Late to Turn What is it about Kol Nidre that draws us to synagogue; its haunting melody, the cry of the cello, childhood memories of our parents and grandparents on this night? Is it knowing that Jews all over the world enter into sacred space to find some connection with God? Even in Israel, a country that is 80% secular, few betray this night’s solemnity. Our tradition teaches us that Kol Nidre brings us closer to God who serves as our judge; a God who has the power to determine our destiny; a God who we pray, will grant us another year of life. Even if we believe in this image of a judging God only on Yom Kippur, these Days of Awe fill us with a reverence that many do not feel the rest of the year. Perhaps something within beckons us to let go of old habits and inspires us to dream and vow to do something different or better in the New Year. This evening I want to talk you about soul-traits. Soul-traits, are the human character- istics integral to our humanity—graciousness, compassion, love, forgiveness, to name a few. These human qualities must be intentionally honed each day; acting from these soul-traits is hard work. Rabbi Isaiah ben Avraham wrote (Shnai Luchos Habris on Lev 1:18): Correcting one’s defects is the very reason our soul is sent to this world. Maimonides reminds us, “We are each born with a unique mix of abilities, inclinations, circumstances and traits to correct.” (MT Dev. 1:2) Soul-Traits provide the daily checks and balances needed so desperately in our lives… in our world. On this sacred night where do we find soul traits illuminating our paths? Tonight we will learn about three role models who inspire and teach us that through taking action, through Teshuva; repentance and turning, positive change is possible. These three led lives that were diverse and challenged people. These indomitable spirits left the world better because they once walked this earth. The first is Al Vorspan. (Rac.org website) Al served as Vice President of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC, now the Union for Reform Judaism) and was the driving force behind the creation of the Religious Action Center of Reform Juda- ism (RAC). In 1953, Al convinced Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, President of the UAHC that the one million Reform Jews affiliated with the UAHC’s 600 congregations “could be a real force—could transform history” – if only there were someone to organize and mobilize them. 19

Al served as the director for 40 years of the Commission on Social Action that was created to guide and shape social action in Reform synagogues and in Washington, D.C. Vorspan, at 95 died on February 17, 2019. Key moments in his tenure include guiding a UAHC resolution opposing the Vietnam War making the UAHC the first major Jewish organization to do so. Vorspan served in the Navy in WWII and felt that the US involvement in Vietnam constituted an unjust war. In 1988, he published a controversial piece, "Soul Searching," in the NYTimes Magazine, that focused on growing tensions in the Jewish community over the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. A lifelong Zionist, he wrote following the first intifada “Israelis now seem the oppressors, Palestinians the victims." In the face of a furious backlash, Al said, “Behold the turtle: It only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.” Like our Biblical prophets, Al was not afraid to speak truth to power. Al felt commanded by the Torah’s ethical values and a love of humanity. In 1964, Al was jailed with a group of Reform rabbis who responded to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call to join in the Civil Rights protests in St. Augustine, FL. Al later wrote, “We came as Jews who remember the millions of faceless people who stood quietly, watching the smoke rise from Hitler’s crematoria. We came because we know that, second only to si- lence, the greatest danger to man is loss of faith in man’s capacity to act.” When Al retired in 1993, he said: “The history of the Commission on Social Action and the history of the Union is that we stick our necks out when everyone else is hiding. That was true with McCarthyism; that was true in the early days of civil rights; that was true of affirma- tive action; and that was true with Vietnam.” “Behold the turtle,” Al says, “it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.” Al’s life reflected Judaism’s moral compass. Al spent his lifetime speaking out against injustice and working to correct moral wrong doings. His life was about Religious Action. His soul traits included honesty, integrity, fearlessness, compassion and responding to the Jew- ish imperative that calls us to action. Eva Mozes Kor; a Holocaust survivor, possessed powerful soul traits. (JTA obit & YouTube video) Eva and her twin sister Miriam were part of Mengele’s twins experiments in Auschwitz. Eva arrived in Auschwitz in May, 1944 from Romania. Standing with her mother and sister, they heard guards calling out “twins.” Her mother asked a guard if that was a good 20 thing and he said very much so, so she said yes. Her daughters were immediately taken from her and they never saw their parents or sisters again. Twins endured horrible atrocities under Mengele. At one point following a series of injections that caused Eva to have high fevers, Mengele announced to several other doctors that she would not survive the next two weeks. On her first day in Auschwitz, when Eva went to use the latrine, she saw a pile of children’s corpses, and she vowed that she would never be among them. Eva was determined not to die and prove him wrong. After the War, she and Miriam went to Israel. She served in the army and in 1960, Eva met an American tourist Michael Kor, a survivor, they married and she moved to Terra Haute, Indiana. In 1985, Eva founded the CANDLES Holocaust Museum. CANDLES is an acronym for Children of Auschwitz Nazi Deadly Lab Experiments Survivors. Her experiences became public in the 1978 miniseries “The Holocaust.” Following the birth of her first child, Miriam suffered from severe kidney infections; as the doctors discovered that her kidneys never grew larger than the size of a ten year old’s. Eva donated a kidney saying she had two kidneys and one sister, so it was an easy choice. Miriam died in 1993 from cancer, she lost a son to cancer, all because she was injected with unknown substances causing her to be violently ill under Mengele’s “care.” In 1993, Eva was invited to speak in Boston by a professor and was asked if she could bring a Nazi doctor with her. She was stunned by the question and thought about it. She and her sister were featured in a German documentary on Mengele’s twins in 1992 and there was a Nazi doctor from Auschwitz in it. She tracked him down and invited him to come to Boston. He declined inviting her to come to his home in Germany. She went in 1993 to Dr. Munch’s home where she asked him if he ever went by a gas chamber, went in one or knew how they operated, and he said, “uh hum, this is the nightmare I live with every single day of my life.” His job was to watch through the peephole when the gas was dropped and people were dying. Then he would sign a death certificate with the number of people who had died. Kor took annual museum trips to Auschwitz and she asked him to go with her in 1995 to observe 50 years of the liberation of the camp. She had the tenacity to ask Dr. Munch to sign a document at the ruins of the gas chamber in Auschwitz stating what he told her. He agreed immediately. Her goal was to have proof to show any Holocaust denier what happened. She wanted to thank this Nazi doctor for his willingness to document the Nazi gas chamber operation. 21

She did not know how to thank a Nazi, she was uncomfortable and didn’t want to dis- cuss it with anyone because she didn’t want anyone to change her mind. 10 months later she thought about writing Dr. Munch a letter of forgiveness. She knew that it would be a meaningful gift coming from an Auschwitz survivor. While doing this, she discovered something life changing. She had the power to forgive. No one could give it to her or take it away, it was hers to use however she wished. As a victim of 50 years, Eva never thought that she had power over her own life. It took her 4 months to write the letter. Knowing it might be read by others, she called a former English professor and asked if she would read it and correct her spelling. When they finished their final meeting, the professor said, “Your problem is not with Dr. Munch it is with Dr. Mengele.” She challenged Eva to go home and pretend that Mengele was in the room and tell him she was forgiving him. She wanted to know how Eva would feel doing that. Instead, Eva got out a dictionary and wrote down 20 nasty words and read them to the make believe Mengele and then said ”in spite of all that, I forgive you.” She said, “It made me feel good that I, the little guinea pig of 50 years, had the power over the angel of death of Auschwitz.” She and Dr. Munch went with their children to Auschwitz and they each read and signed their powerful documents. She felt free from Auschwitz and free from Mengele. Most survivors denounced her and refused to see her side. She said that her “forgiveness is an act of self healing, self liberation and self empowerment. All victims are hurt and feel hopeless, and feel powerless. You cannot change what happened but you can change how you relate to it.” Eva was in Krakow with the museum’s annual trip to the Nazi camps in July when she tragically died. The CANDLES museum wrote in its announcement of Kor’s death: “The themes of Eva’s life are apparent. We can overcome hardship and tragedy. Forgiveness can help us to heal. And everyone has the power and responsibility to make this world a better place. We hope Eva’s story continues to change the lives of those who hear it for many years to come.” Eva’s soul traits of forgiveness, compassion, passion and courage are all powerful messages for us. Her ability to forgive after what she endured can help each of us reframe our thoughts about forgiveness and repentance. Eva’s story teaches us that the doors of teshuvah are always open, there is no statute of limitations on seeking forgiveness. The following story about Rabbi Zoe Klein Miller’s father illustrates this. (Rabbi Zoe Klein Miles,“The Return of Abraham: A True Story of T’shuvah” Reformjdism.org8/22/18) . 22

In 1970, Barton’s Continental Chocolate Shop took out a full-page ad in the New York Times. Barton’s Candy was founded in New York by chocolatier Stephen Klein, a Viennese Jewish refugee. Barton’s commissioned James Grashow, 27 years old to make a print of "Abraham, the first Jew" for the ad. It was a beautiful woodcut. He made an edition of one hundred prints, signed and numbered. A Swedish art dealer saw the ad and fell in love with the artwork. He contacted Grashow, came to their apartment and wanted to represent him in Europe. Keeping one print for themselves, the Grashows, with trust and naiveté, gave the art dealer 87 prints. On the way out the door Grashow admired the man’s keychain that had a small pair of scissors on it and he gave to him. They never heard from him again. Grashow had a celebrated career: prints in the NY Times, the poster for the Centennial celebration at the Statue of Liberty, album covers for Jethro Tull and the Yardbirds and a PBS documentary on Netflix. July, 2017, 47 years later, Grashow received an email from Norway: “Dear Mr. Grashow, My father passed away a couple of years ago. Now my mother also passed away, and we found a series of “Abraham” when cleaning out their estate. It’s a series of 100, and we’ve got lots of them. We are three siblings that live in Sweden, Norway and California. We would love to have your input, and look forward to hearing from you.” Stunned, the Grashows responded immediately: “Hello and thank you for reaching out. This answers a mystery that started 47 years ago.” They shared the story of how they got a keychain in ex- change for the prints and asked if they would please send a few prints. The art dealer’s three children ages 57, 60 and 62 were mortified. Their father had been in the art business for only about three years when he became a minister. They loved the print. It was framed and hanged over the mantle of their childhood home. When they found the prints, they researched James Grashow on the internet and saw the extent of his work. They had contacted him to find out what they were worth. After learning the truth, the siblings wanted to atone for their father’s wrongdoing. They want to return the prints in person. They arranged a date, flew into New York and took a train to Connecticut. Mr. Grashow met them. They greeted him with smiles and hugs. In his studio, they opened the suitcase with the original cardboard box, and inside were 87 prints. As soon as the box was opened, his wife burst into tears. It was a moment of true, redemptive teshuva; a literal “return.” They shared the day and repeated that they did not understand their father’s actions. The next morning the siblings wrote: 23

This day will stay in our memories for all our lives and we’re so happy that we were able to correct one of our father’s mistakes.” These three siblings teach us that it is never too late for teshuvah. To journey to Connecticut, engage in face to face conversation and repent for their father’s chet—they embodied the soul trait of teshuvah: acknowledging a wrong-doing, having remorse for the action and making it right—even when it wasn’t their chet. The Grashows, displayed the soul-traits of gratitude and forgiveness. It was a ‘pay it forward’ teaching moment for all. Indeed, the doors of teshuvah—true return are always open. And let me return for a moment to wood-cut print of Abraham. Abraham, the first Jew, was 75 when he heard God’s call. He could have said: Thank you but no thank you, God. I’m comfortable---I’m not up for a new adventure. But Abraham’s one act of faith, one moment of turning, literally, in a different direction, birthed the Jewish people. May these stories remind us that change is always possible and seeking forgiveness and wholeness, is a year-long –365 day journey. (Rabbi David Stern; Machzor p.17) “Kol Nidrei grants us the gift of sacred uncertainty: the chance to begin this new year with a sense of what we do not know, rather than a narrow certainty about what we do.” Perhaps, when we least expect it, we will seize the moment, turn anew, and make a difference. Ken Yehi Ratzon- Be this be God’s will. Amen

YOM KIPPUR SERMON by Rabbi Dr. Janet B. Liss Over the years, countless parents have come to me with the following dilemma. My son is on the football team at x local high school. The coach has scheduled a mandatory practice on Yom Kippur. What do we do? The answer to this question is found in a true story entitled Football Victory: A Yom Kippur Story (by Sara Yoheved Rigler; aish.com edited by Rabbi Janet. B. Liss). On November 8, 1921, Zalman Baer Claman was born in Manitoba, Canada. Zalman grew up and became an orthopedic surgeon. At 23, he married Ruth Rusen; an opera singer. Zalman was a Renaissance man. He went from being a country doctor in a remote Canadian province to pioneering for a year in Israel, to establishing a small hospital and a string of medical offices in Los Angeles. He loved poetry, could quote Plato and Dostoevsky, tinkered with plans for a new type of helicopter, designed a balloon from plastic sheeting to protect construc- tion workers in sub-zero temperatures and read from the weekly Torah portion at the family's Shabbat table. The Holocaust had just ended, and Zalman and Ruth felt they had a moral obligation to repopulate the Jewish people. It was an era when traditional but non-observant Jews like the Clamans were bearing an average of 2.1 children. Especially for professionals, large families were considered gauche. Boldly facing the raised eyebrows of their families and friends, they had ten children. Zalman taught his children, that the needs of the group take priority over the needs of the individual. In particular, kindness and sensitivity to those in need is the responsibility of a Jew. He once punished his child for teasing a handicapped girl. "It's the obligation of Jews to fight for the oppressed," he would say. He put his ideology into action by opening medical offices in the black ghettos of Los Angeles. He believed that the poor deserved the same level of medical care as the rich -- and he gave it to them. Prior to Medicaid, he operated on patients whom he knew could not afford to pay him. He never turned anyone away. In the summer of 1965, the Watts riots devastated Los Angeles. With the ruins still smoldering and white people afraid of venturing anywhere near Watts, Zalman decided that he had a moral obligation to treat his patients, many of whom had surely been injured in the riots. His nurses, however, were too scared to come with him. So Zalman, with an armed friend riding shotgun, 25

brought his two oldest children to assist him. Sure enough, as they neared his office, the only building left standing in the whole block of burned-out buildings, they saw a line of patients waiting outside the entrance. They trusted that Doc Claman would come to take care of them. Helping the larger society, however, never took him away Zalman’s primary mission in life: his children. He involved them in everything he did, even encouraging them to miss school in order to go on rounds with him. When he was experimenting with his cold-weather balloon when they lived in Canada, he sent his two oldest children, Alan and Beatty, to check that the plastic sheeting was holding together. When he attempted to build a dune bug- gy from an old car, he taught Alan to use a welder to help him do the job. Sometimes when he finished his rounds early, he would call home and capriciously announce: "Pack the gear! We're going camping!" Getting an emergency call in the middle of the night, Zalman would go into Beatty's room, and ask out loud, "Are you awake?" The sound of her father's voice was a clarion call to adventure. Beatty would jump out of bed and accompany him to the hospital. Afterwards, they would stop at "The Insomniac," an all-night Beatnik coffee shop. While the young teen- ager sipped hot chocolate and gawked at the bohemian scene, Zalman would gather perti- nent information about fishing conditions from the old fishermen. Then they would return home, Zalman would make pancakes for the family, and, in the pre-dawn, the whole family would head out to go fishing. Every night ended with all the younger children cuddling around their father on the parental king-size bed while Zalman told them made up fanciful stories. The stories were invariably morality tales, where the hero was faced with a choice between pursuing self- gratification or helping a person in distress. The child would choose right, complete the al- truistic mission, and be rewarded with a magical treasure. Zalman believed that a human being could accomplish anything he set his mind to, and he drilled this lesson into his children. His would train them, then trust them. When his children reached the age of thirteen, he would bring them to his medical office and teach them how to do filing, billing, developing X-rays, and even lab work. Whenever any child showed a talent, Zalman hired tutors to encourage their potential—in art, piano, math, ice- skating, etc. 26

Values, however, were always more important than skills. Only in the area of morality did he believe in absolutes. Right and wrong were stringent cate- gories, not fuzzy intangibles. Where moral issues were concerned, Zalman Claman brooked no compromise. He punished his children for doing wrong, and he honored them for doing right. He drummed into his children that all people set an example all the time, by everything they do. Every wrongdoing has a ripple effect and negatively impacts the entire public. There is no such thing as a victimless crime. Society always suffers from the moral failures of its constitu- ents. This is a quintessential Jewish concept and is the reason why our confession recited in the synagogue on Yom Kippur is phrased in the plural. When a Jew confesses to a litany of despicable sins she may never have committed, she is not only asserting the collective responsibility of the Jewish people, but on a more profound level, she is recognizing that if she cheats on her exam, or in business dealings, she is collaborating in the moral degradation of the whole society, which ends up with Enron executives cheating. Thus, Zalman insisted that his children act morally and set an example to everyone around them. Unbeknownst to Zalman, time was running out for him. He always considered his primary mission to be raising his children. He would not gauge success in that endeavor by how much money or prestige they amassed, but by their ability to choose the greater good over private gain. Like a football coach, whose success is in the hands of his players on the field, Zalman's ultimate test as a parent lay in the hands of his children. Zalman's first-born son, Alan, was a top athlete in high school, but when he applied to play football in college, no one took him seriously. At 5'9" and 190 pounds, he was laughably small for a football player, who usually weighed in at 230. Sports columnists would later refer to Alan as "the Lilliputian tackle" and the "pocket-sized player," but his father had imbued him with a sense of giant potential. No matter how many times the predominantly Catholic football players at the U.C.L.A. field turned away the little Jewish kid on the pretext that they didn't have enough helmets or shoulder pads, Alan kept coming back, asking to play. When enough guys stopped showing up, because of their grades or the grueling practice was too much for them, Alan was finally given a chance. He played on the freshman team, while always maintaining a 3.4 grade point average. In the spring of 1965, U.C.L.A., one of the lowest ranking teams in America, hired a new coach, Tommy Prothro. After Prothro saw movies of Alan's playing, he told him, 27

“You're exactly the kind of player we want -- quick and aggressive on the field." He offered Alan a full scholarship and promoted him to first string on the varsity team. Alan made it. His status soared, and he became a sought-after date. After months of working out four to five hours a day, Alan was in the starting lineup for the first game of the season. He played well, tackling his opponents with an innovative head-on tackle to the chest instead of the ankles. At 19, Alan was riding on top of the world until he found out that the second game of the season was scheduled for Yom Kippur. Alan, active in a Conservative synagogue, understood that this posed a problem, but he was confident that there was a solution which would enable him to play. He went home and told his father of the scheduling conflict. The refrain of "Whatever makes my child happy... who am I to tell my child what to do?" was already playing on the hit parade of the national conscience. Zalman Claman, however, sang a different tune. He told his son unequivocally: "You're a Jew. You can't play on Yom Kip- pur." The following day, Alan told his coach that he couldn't play. Coach Prothro responded with an ultimatum: "If you don't play in this game, you won't play at all. I'll give your position to someone else, and you'll lose your scholarship." Yom Kippur of 1965 was the same Yom Kippur that Sandy Koufax refused to play in the first game of the World Series. Koufax was at the top of his profession and recognized as the greatest pitcher in America. He faced no personal penalties for standing up for his convictions. Alan was at the very beginning of his collegiate football career, a career which threatened to be over that Yom Kippur. Alan returned to his father. Surely there was some compromise that was acceptable. Per- haps he could fast, as he did every Yom Kippur, and still play. For Zalman Claman, the Torah was the source of all morality. When faced with a moral quandary, he didn't improvise his own subjective solutions. Instead, he consulted an objective source. He took his son to their rabbi. The rabbi understood what Alan stood to lose. He shook his head. A Jew simply couldn’t play on Yom Kippur. Alan would damage himself spiritually, and worse, since he was known as a Jewish football player, he would set a bad example for other Jews. 28

As soon as Alan heard the words, "bad example," he decided that he would not play on Yom Kippur, no matter what it cost him. This was the principle on which he had been raised: the moral obligation to set a good example. On Yom Kippur, Alan accompanied his family to synagogue and remained there all day. When he got home after the final shofar blowing, friends called to tell him that on the radio throughout the game, the sportscaster kept repeating, "Claman is not playing today because of the Jewish holy day." He did set a good example. He scored a moral victory. During practice the next few days, Alan warmed the bench while his replacement played defensive tackle. Coach Prothro quickly ascertained that the substitute was not nearly as fast, strong, nor smart as Alan. By the next game, Alan was back in the starting line-up. Alan was the only Bruins player to play first string for all the remaining games that season, and racked up more time on the field than any other player. The Bruins went on to achieve a stunning season. By the end, they were ranked in the top five teams nationally and played in the Rose Bowl against the undefeated Michigan State. On the eve of the Rose Bowl, the Herald-Examiner wrote: "Alan Claman, sophomore, 5- 9, 194 just might be the shortest, lightest, and bravest starting defensive tackle to play on any Rose Bowl team in recent years." In what was described as "an all-time Rose Bowl thriller," U.C.L.A., against all odds, defeated Michigan State 14-12. As for Alan, the Los Angeles Times quoted Coach Prothro calling him, "the biggest little man in college football." In the words of one sports columnist: "Pound for pound, Claman just might be the best collegiate lineman in the country." Alan became "Honorable Mention All- American," and was voted "Most Valuable Player" in a match against Stanford's acclaimed team. Once, he even tackled U.S.C.'s star player, O. J. Simpson. Incredibly, the "pocket-sized tackle" was the only Bruins player who, in three years of collegiate football, never once suffered an injury. Decades later, living as an observant Jew, Alan would say, "I believe that because I didn't play on Yom Kippur, God protected me throughout my football career." Alan graduated from Harvard Law School. Eventually, he started his own business in commercial aircraft parts. As a corporate executive, as much as a college football player, his father's moral legacy served as a beacon for him. 29

The Yom Kippur of 1965, so fraught with challenge and inner triumph for Alan, turned out to be the next-to-the-last Yom Kippur of his father's life. In March, 1967, Zalman Claman suddenly died of a rare auto-immune disease. He was 46 years old. Among his family, his patients, the many people who admired this larger-than-life figure, there was shock and tears. Alan went on after having a successful business career to move with his wife Pamela to Jerusalem where he founded the organization Thank Israeli Soldiers where they send packages to IDF soldiers and help them transition from the army to civilian life. Every Shabbat, he hosts a different IDF unit for Friday night dinner. (Yom Kippur Dvar Torah- Stan Schroeder Shir Ami newsletter online) His father would have been very proud of his son had he lived to see how Alan lived his life. Alan’s ultimate decision not to play teaches us the value of the strength of our convictions. His father’s strength of character also stood the test of time. His refusal to let his son play was based on a lifetime of inculcating Jew- ish values in his children. For Zalman, the answer was clear. A Jew does not play sports on Yom Kippur. On this Yom Kippur, this Day of Atonement, when we look at our own lives, are we living lives that those who are no longer with us would be proud of? What changes will we make, what will we do in 5780 that will make a difference for others? May we be inspired by the lives Al Vorspan, Eva Kor, Zalman Claman all of blessed memory, and Alan Claman who each in their own way has left us a moral legacy for us to follow. May we find the courage to make the right choices and may we be shining exam- ples for our families, our community and the world. Ken Yehi Ratzon- Be this God’s will. Amen

30 Our President - Amorita M. Snow

Autumn is here, and the cool crisp air is upon us. Soon all the beautifully colored leaves will all be on the ground. Our High Holiday services were even more beautiful this year. I thoroughly enjoyed them, and I hope that you did too. All of our services were well attended. Our Shofar blowers-Kerry Fierstein, Dana Fierstein, Grace Blank and our youngest and newest one Jason Federico were spectacular as always! We had enough people to open the Torah around the sanctuary for Simcha Torah! We are so fortunate to have our beautiful “Temple in the Woods”. Our major holidays are ending and the secular holiday season is beginning. When you are sitting around your Thanksgiving table this year surrounded by family and friends, please give thanks for your Temple and Temple family. It is not too late to give for Kol Nidre if you haven’t already done so.

Before we know it there will be white blankets of snow covering the ground. Our Temple will be warm and cozy inside. Come into the Temple Judaic shop and purchase a new complete Shabbat set: a Kiddush cup, Challah bread plate and of course Shabbat candlesticks. We also have Shabbat candles and challah covers. How about a car Mezzuzah or decorative art, like a house blessing? We can also get whatever you need for your home or any item to be used as a gift this holiday season.

This month we honored immediate past President Dr. Steven Kolbert with a Shabbat dinner. We are going to try some new things this Winter! We will have a Havdalah Bingo night on 11/23/19, a Progressive dinner on 12/7/19, an afternoon of Bowling on 12/8/19 and a game night with Poker/Mah Jonng on 1/12/20. We still have our old favorites: Movie nights on 11/21 and 12/19, an interfaith service on 11/24, and of course our Hanukkah Shabbat service and fun on 12/27/19. Our theater group’s next outing is still TBD for now.

Thank you so much to all who gave for Kol Nidre! It is deeply appreciated and enables us to bring you these programs and develop new ones. It keeps our Temple vibrant and strong and, most im- portantly, to keep our doors open for everyone! Food for thought- The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it- Chinese proverb

B’Shalom

Amorita M. Snow,MD NCRT President

31 32

Many thanks to our High Holy Day Sponsors for their caring and generosity.

And apologies to Ruth Friedman, who was inadvertently omitted from the lobby Honor Roll board.

33 34 NCRT SISTERHOOD / WOMEN OF REFORM JUDAISM

Maxine Mayreis, Sisterhood President

Time marches on!

We are barely recovering from the intensive marathon of end-to-end holidays, starting with our most beautiful and uplifting Rosh Hashanah services, followed by solemn, penetrating Yom Kippur prayers and music, then celebrating the harvest festival of Sukkot with our decorated sukkah and the hop, succeeded by our awe- some and unique Simchat Torah celebration where we unroll and reroll the Torah along our sanctuary walls, and we’re just melting down from all this and catching our breath, when our beloved administrative assistant, Nancy, in her own grief after losing her mother, emails reminders to the board that we should write and submit our bulletin articles.

So I’ll stop breathing awhile and write what’s up with Sisterhood. First, I wish to proclaim that we seriously have the most beautiful and inspirational High Holiday services! A lot of planning went into creating a smooth, enjoyable and effective religious experience for all of us. Thank you to all who worked on it and attended! Kudos to Lori Kotkin who once again provided an eagerly anticipat- ed and bountiful spread for Yom Kippur break-fast!

Please mark on your calendars Friday January 24th, 2020 for our fun, engaging and enlightening Sisterhood Shabbat. We plan a special surprise speaker, whom we will advertise on our flyer once the speaker is confirmed. Please do plan to at- tend, and bring the family and friends! Be audacious and invite someone! Stay tuned . . . !

I wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and New Year, filled with continued good health and abundant nachas! 35 Thank you to our Yom Kippur Nursing Home Volunteers…..

Charlotte Abelson* James Markay Grace Blank Lori Kotkin Jeff Blinkoff Michael Kotkin Barbara Fusco-Spera Maxine Mayreis Eva Jones Felicia Pomerantz

Thank you for sharing your kind hearts and beautiful voices to help others experience the High Holy Days. * Special thanks to the program’s founder, Charlotte Abelson and organizer, Lynn Leslie. 36 Thank you to all our Sukkah builders!!

Steve Bruckman, Felix Espino, David & Kerry Fierstein, Marty Fogel, Eva Jones, Chris Koenig, Ryan Koenig, Ana Kolbert, Dean Mayreis, Jesse Mayreis & David Woska.

Special thanks to Felix Espino, Marty Fogel & Dean Mayreis for dismantling the Sukkah and to Al Rosen for schlepping the corn stalks!

And thank you to our Sukkah decorators— Grace Blank, Kerry & David Fierstein, Cheryl, Ian & Saydie Grossman & Rabbi Liss. 37

With appreciation to all who donated to this year’s food drive. Thanks to you, we collected 930 pounds of food for families in need! And thanks to our volunteers who sorted, weighed and delivered it all: Alex Levin, Natalie Macnow, Jacob Ludmar, Marty Fogel, Barbara & Ron Hoyt, Dean Mayreis, Felix Espino, Nancy Cohen, and, of course, Rabbi & Grace. 38

Thank You For Your Generous Kol Nidre Pledges

Robert & Robin Appel Alan Geller & Melisa Mindich Allen & Susan Bauman Judy Glass Herman Berliner & Annette Schrader Kevin & Terry Glassman Amy Bettan Joseph & Jill Gleicher Robert & Vicki Bialer Stephen Gross Richard & Nili Biondi Monica Hecht Jeanine Briefel David & Judy Herzog Donald & Jadwiga Brown Ron & Barbara Hoyt Stephen Bruckman Michael & Michele Israel Rick & Susan Budd Larry Jacobs Jenny Charno Eva Jones Edward & Donna Chernoff John & Laurie Juettner Mitchell & Nancy Cohen Steven & Cindi Klein Miriam DeLuca Chris & Lisa Koenig Ralph Epstein & Mary George Steven & Ana Kolbert Peggy FitzGerald Michael & Lori Kotkin Louis & Sherri Federico Marcia Kotkin Stephan & Candyce Felder Ernest & Rhonda Kovacs Lawrence & Gail Fish Lee & Donna Launer Sylvia Fishel Chuck & Ronnie Lavine Bernard & Florence Flaton Skip & Beth LeBlang Evelyn Floresta Daniel & Alison Leon Marty & Irene Fogel Al & Lynn Leslie Lynn Fox David & Marilyn Levine Roberta Fox Rabbi Janet Liss & Grace Blank Ruth Friedman Pam Loher Curt Friehs Scott & Marisa Macnow Steve & Paula Frome Barbara Marder Alan Geiss Bart Marksohn & Jan Locketz 39

Thank You For Your Generous Kol Nidre Pledges

Anne Partridge Ira & Doreen Pines Sandy & Felicia Pomerantz Joe & Roberta Rotberg Hiram & Barbara Rothkrug Beverly Safian Cheryl Sherman Wendy Silas Ruth Stearn Nada Tannen Jeremy & Elaine Weinstein David & Alissa Woska Leonard & Myra Zaremba Ruth Zipkin 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47

Yom Huledet Sameach to our birthday celebrants!

November December

1 Matt Rosencrans 3 Jeffrey Snow 1 Raquel Minowitz 5 Joshua Minowitz 3 Lisa Koenig 6 Noah Kolbert 4 Myles Grossman 7 Falyn Juettner 5 Cynthia Rosen 8 Lee Launer 9 Patti Belasco 8 Alan Rosen 11 Carol Davidson 11 Roberta Rotberg 12 Kara Rosencrans 12 Samuel Israel 13 Louisa Ludmar 14 Jack Levin 14 Alan Geller 15 Candyce Felder 14 Molly Ludmar 15 Kathy Jacobson 17 Melisa Mindich 17 Judy Herzog 17 Leonard Rothkrug 18 Lori Kotkin 17 Preston Rothkrug 20 Bernard Flaton 18 Ben Rosen 21 Harrison Israel 19 Jadwiga Brown 22 Hannah FitzGerald 24 Bart Marksohn 22 William FitzGerald 29 Phyllis Edelstein 24 Stephan Felder 31 Miriam DeLuca 25 Donald Brown 27 Steven Klein 28 Denny Kupferman 28 Elizabeth Loher 30 Greg Jones

48 Yom N’suim Sameach to those celebrating anniversaries!

November December

4 Ralph Epstein & Mary George 13 David & Kerry Fierstein 23 Ron & Barbara Hoyt 27 David & Judy Herzog 27 Skip & Beth LeBlang

November/December Yahrzeits 2019: 5780 November 1 November 22 December 6 December 27 Myra Abramson Evelyn Abelson Albert Borish Norma Dicker Tina Shapiro Cohen Charles Berg Rosalind Bruckman Selma Lippert Falk Dimitri Hirschberg Louis Blousman Elsa deBeer Pearl Nolan Samuel Horowitz Eve Geller Frances Fresco Henrietta Wafhaftig Albert Lippert Nettie Gleicher James Hammerling Kate Lippert Rae Goldberg David Lipman Harriet Starky Sidney Henner Edith Marksohn Bella Israel Frank Morton November 8 Yehuda Issaharoff Bernard Press Marcia Berkowitz David Jacobs Mary Ann Rossetti Julia Berler Hortense Kolker Charles Biondi Elynor Lerner December 13 George Grossman Harriet Lipman Michele Apfelbaum

Harry Gruner Donald Macnow Michael Falk

Sam Israel Sylvia Marion Rosen Ida M. Fromm

Howard C. Kotkin William Rosencrans Gerald Kleppel

Meyer Kotkin Murray Levrant Yetta Sherman Marjorie Kramberg Helen Siegel December 20 Barbara Newberger Gertrude Yorsaner Herbert Starky Rose Abramson Emanuel Stern November 29 Shirley Blackman Michael Paul Glass Dennis E. Briefel November 15 Anna Klein Lawrence Charno Tzafi Avraham Bertha Portillo Norman Frome Selma Goodman Minnie Pressburger Rose Grossman Sylvia Landsman Anne Rubinstein Mel Hunter Martin Solomon Isaac Siegel Ted Kolbert Sylvia Stoller Moses Weinstein Fay Krawchick Dana Launer Leah LeBlang Bobby Loughran Alan Macnow Abraham Metelka Jesse Newberger Henry Palkowitz Roslyn Schwartz

50 NCRT sends condolences to:

Lori Kotkin on the loss of her uncle, Henry Patticoff, who died September 13, 2019.

Ralph Epstein on the loss of his aunt, Gertrude Epstein , who died September 19, 2019.

Rhonda Kovacs on the loss of her cousin , Mitchell Cohen , who died September 19, 2019.

Phyllis Edelstein on the loss of her husband, Richard Edelstein , who died September 22, 2019.

Donna Chernoff on the loss of her father, Howard Baillenson , who died in October, 2019.

Nancy Cohen on the loss of her mother, Ruth Lambert, who died October 19, 2019.

May Their Memory Be An Abiding Blessing. 51

With appreciation for your donations to your Temple’s Funds

Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund Lynn Higgins in memory of Myra Levin Higgins; Larry Jacobs in honor of Rabbi Liss; Beverly Safian with thanks to Rabbi Liss for Norman Tully’s unveiling; Marty & Irene Fogel in memory of Mildred Fogel; Sonya & Martin Minkoff.; Larry Jacobs; Shari Clayman-Kerr.

General Fund Dean & Maxine Mayreis in honor of Lori Kotkin & the delicious Break Fast, in honor of Cantor Jenna & her beautiful voice and in memory of Kay Cappel; Victoria & Bob Minowitz in memory of Ruth Lambert; Nili & Richard Biondi in memory of Ruth Lambert; Barbara & Ron Hoyt in memory of Ruth Lambert.

Yahrzeit Fund Nada Tannen in memory of Leonard Tannen; Marcia Kotkin in memory of Emil Grossman and in memory of Betty Radin; Cindi & Steve Klein in memory of Richard Blackman, Harriet Klein and Herbert Starky; Barbara & Ron Hoyt in memory of Louis Hoyt; Jean Dankman in memory of Daniel Dankman; Catherine Stern in memory of Hans Stern. Paula & Steve Frome in memory of Ruth Lambert; Marcia Kotkin in memory of Ruth Lambert; Florence & Bernard Flaton in memory of Selma Goodman; Marcia Kotkin in memory of Howard Kotkin, Meyer Kotkin, George Grossman and Mary Grossman.

Caring Committee Fund Cindi & Steve Klein in memory of Henry Patticoff; Dean & Maxine Mayreis in memory of Milton Cappel and with wishes for a full recovery for Jordan Henner; Jadwiga & Donald Brown in memory of Ruth Lambert.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

- Winston Churchill 52 53 54

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU ACCREDITED 55 56 NORTH COUNTRY REFORM TEMPLE 86 Crescent Beach Road Glen Cove, NY 11542 Phone: 516.671.4760 Fax: 516.676.9180 E-mail: [email protected] Visit our website at www.ncrt.org HappyHanukkah