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T E M P L E B E T H a B R a H Volume 33, Number 6 the February 2014 Volume 31, Number 7 Adar 1 5774 March 2012 TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM Adar / Nisan 5772 R i Pu M DIRECTORY GENERAL INFORMATION: Services Schedule All phone numbers use (510) prefix unless otherwise noted. Services Location Time Mailing Address 336 Euclid Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 Monday & Thursday Hours M-Th: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., Fr: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Morning Minyan Chapel 8:00 a.m. Friday Evening (Kabbalat Shabbat) Chapel 6:15 p.m. Office Phone 832-0936 Shabbat Morning Sanctuary 9:30 a.m. Office Fax 832-4930 E-Mail [email protected] Candle Lighting (Friday) Gan Avraham 763-7528 Bet Sefer 663-1683 February 7 5:22 p.m. February 14 5:29 p.m. STAFF February 21 5:37 p.m. Rabbi (x 213) Mark Bloom Cantor (x 218) Richard Kaplan February 28 5:44 p.m. Gabbi Marshall Langfeld Executive Director (x 214) Rayna Arnold Office Coordinator (x 210) Virginia Tiger Torah Portions (Saturday) Bet Sefer Director Susan Simon 663-1683 February 1 Terumah Gan Avraham Director Barbara Kanter 763-7528 February 8 Tetzaveh Bookkeeper (x 215) Kevin Blattel February 15 Ki Tisa Custodian (x 211) Joe Lewis February 22 Vayakhel Kindergym/Toddler Program Dawn Margolin 547-7726 Volunteers (x 229) Herman & Agnes Pencovic OFFICERS OF THE BOARD President Mark Fickes 652-8545 Vice President Eric Friedman 984-2575 TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM Vice President Lynn Langfeld 769-6970 is proud to support the Conservative Vice President Flo Raskin 653-7947 Movement by affiliating with The United Vice President Laura Wildmann 601-9571 Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Secretary JB Leibovitch 653-7133 Treasurer Susan Shub 852-2500 COMMITTEES & ORGANIZATIONS: Advertising Policy: Anyone may sponsor an issue of The If you would like to contact the committee chairs, please contact the Omer and receive a dedication for their business or loved synagogue office for phone numbers and e-mail addresses. one. Contact us for details. We do not accept outside or paid advertising. Adult Education Steve Glaser & Aaron Paul The Omer is published on paper that is 30% post-consumer Chesed Warren Gould fibers. Development Steve Grossman & Flo Raskin The Omer (USPS 020299) is published monthly except Dues Evaluation Susan Shub July and August by Congregation Beth Abraham, 336 Endowment Fund Herman Pencovic Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610. Finance Susan Shub Periodicals Postage Paid at Oakland, CA. Gan Avraham Parents Cori Constantine & Rebecca Skiles Gan Avraham School Committee Rebecca Posamentier POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Omer, c/o House Stephen Shub Temple Beth Abraham, 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610-3232. Israel Affairs J.B. Leibovitch Membership Ulli Rotzscher © 2014. Temple Beth Abraham. Men’s Club Jeff Ilfeld The Omer is published by Temple Beth Abraham, a non- Omer Rachel Dornhelm profit, located at 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610; Personnel Laura Wildmann telephone (510) 832-0936. It is published monthly except Public Relations Lisa Fernandez for the months of July and August for a total of ten issues Ritual Eric Friedman per annum. It is sent as a requester publication and there Schools Lynn Langfeld is no paid distribution. Social Action Marc Bruner Torah Fund Anne Levine To view The Omer in color, visit Web Site Liz Willner Women of TBA Jeanne Korn & Lori Rosenthal www.tbaoakland.org. Youth Phil Hankin i WHAT’S HAPPENING Women on the Move Sisterhood Shabbat Sunday, February 9 February 1, 2014 WTBA hikes happen the second Sunday of every Services begin at 9:30 a.m. month. We meet at 9:45 and depart promptly at 10:00. Hikes end by 11:30. Kiddush luncheon following the service We will meet at the Skyline Parashat Terumah Gate on Skyline just south of All WTBA members are invited to be part of this Snake and hike in Redwood service. If you are not yet a member, this is a great Regional Park. For details, time to join. You can choose to lead an English contact Deena Aerenson or Hebrew prayer, read Torah or Haftarah, have an at (510) 225-5107 or aliyah, present the drash; or select a non-speaking [email protected]. honor such as opening/closing the ark or dressing the Torah. Educational support, if needed, will be provided. If you are interested in becoming a member of WTBA, contact Jo Ilfeld at [email protected]. Mah Jongg 1:00 p.m. after Kiddush in the Baum Youth Center just come on by!! February 8 for Beginners February 15 for Experienced players THE TEEN SCENE The Friendship Circle Friendship Circle programs present families of individuals with special needs and teen volunteers the opportunity to form real friendships within a non-judgmental and supportive community. Teen Scene: Teen Scene is a semimonthly, one and a half hour program on Sunday evenings for teens with special needs to join with loving teen volunteers for a fun, JEWS OF INDIA educational group experience. Presented by Bryan Schwartz The program begins with a light dinner and is followed Sunday, February 2, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. by an hour of activities and Jewish discussion. Teens enjoy various activities, which include dancing, basketball, yoga, drum circle and more... For more information, including Teen Scene dates, See additional WTBA sponsored Adult please contact Devorah Romano, [email protected]. Education activities on page 6. 1 FROM THE RABBI Understanding today’s Israel through music by Mark Bloom Many of us first fell in love with Israel through song. Songs about pioneers working the land (Zum Gali Gali), soldiers returning from battle (Tzena Tzena), recapturing the Western Wall (Yerushalyim Shel Zahav), longing for peace (Shalom Al Yisrael, Shir l’Shalom, Od Yavo Shalom), or longing for the good life (Halleluyah) were very much a part of Israeli culture as well as American Jews’ relationship to Israel. Israeli songs from the last decade are much less idealistic, but they still have much to tell us about Israel and our relationship to it. Here are three examples. Shirat Hasticker—The Sticker Song Written by a group named Hadag Nachash in 2004, it is essentially just a list of the bumper stickers that appeared around Israel at the time sung in the form of a rap. This gritty song does not pull punches—whether religious, secular, dovish, hawkish, crucial, or trivial. These lyrics/ stickers include messages as diverse as “a strong nation makes peace” to “there’s no peace with Arabs” to “Long live the Messiah” to “Smog Test in Yarka.” The song is ten years old now, but it still resonates. What it teaches us about Israel is how diverse, complex, and vibrant life really is there. Adama v’Shamayim—Earth and Sky Also known as the “Heya” song by thousands of American Jewish kids, this song was written by a singer named Shimon Lev Tahor in 2008 but popularized as an Israeli dance/song at American Jewish summer camps in 2012. This Hebrew song is based on a New Zealand Maori chant. It’s lyrics are about nature: “love the earth and the sky, heat of fire, drop of water, I can feel it in my body, in my spirit and my soul.” What it teaches us about Israel is how diverse Israel is culturally. Since Israeli people truly come from so many different lands, their art forms are influenced by a variety of different cultures. This song is a metaphor for that in many ways. Ozi v’Zimrat Yah—My Strength and Might (or Song) is God This song written by Shefa Gold is actually not an Israeli song, but rather an American song that the “Women of the Wall” have adapted as their theme song. The words come from the Hallel Psalm 118 and mean “my strength and my might (or possibly song, the word zimra has a dual meaning) is God, and God is my deliverance.” The women sing this song as both a prayer and a protest. While some are attempting to prevent women’s voices from praying out loud near the men at the Western Wall, the women are saying/singing that God inspires both their strength and song. I encourage you to look these songs up on YouTube or Spotify. Their music and their messages tell us a story about the complexity, diversity, and ultimately, the beauty of life in Israel today. As mentioned in a sermon on Yom Kippur, TBA will be focusing on the problem of Human Trafficking with a series of sessions designed to educate our community about this critical problem facing our world. All classes are at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel. Wednesday, January 29--The Slave, The Stranger, and the Child: The Jewish Textual Basis of the Human Trafficking Problem. Wednesday, February 5--The Problem of Human Trafficking and Child Prostitution in Oakland: A Presentation by Nola Brantley, Executive Director of Misssey (Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting, and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth). Her presentation will focus on sex trafficking in general and on how deep the problem is with children right here in Oakland. Wednesday, February 12--Panel Discussion on Human Trafficking in Oakland, followed by Congregational Brainstorming Session. Panelists include: Ruth Silver Taube, who is the Legal Services Chair of the South Bay Coalition to End Human Trafficking and will focus primarily on Labor Trafficking; Khanh Nguyen, who is a Lawyer with the Pacific Islander Legal Outreach Agency, will speak about specific cases she has seen in her community throughout the Bay Area; and Nancy Goldberg, who is the Chair of the Jewish Coalition to End Human Trafficking. She will focus on efforts the Jewish community has undertaken so far and how synagogues like ours can get involved.
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