MAY 2021 I Iyyar/Sivan 5781 VOLUME 87 NO.9 TBITablet. online Shalom Friends, INSIDE THIS ISSUE Later this month (May 15th), we will begin the fourth Book of the Torah – The Book of Numbers. The Book of Numbers Rabbi Michael Mishkin opens with Moses taking a census of the Israelites. Why did Rita Shumsky God want Moses to do this? According to a midrash (a rab- B’nai Mitzvot binic story), God commanded that Moses do this counting, because God loved each and every Israelite. The midrash Mark Schneider The Bronx says, to understand this, think of a king who had a treasure chest full of jewels. Religious School Siddur Every once in a while, the king would open the chest, and count each jewel. Be- Ceremony cause the king considered each jewel beautiful in its own right, this activity gave Preschool Happenings the king great pleasure. (Numbers Rabbah 4:2) So it is with God and the Jewish Simchas and Condolences People (and expanding the midrash a little—so it is with God and all people.) This image of each person being a jewel, beautifully captures the spirit of TBI. Thankfully, TBI is full of members who are “jewels,” each in their own right. How- ever, some of our jewels are more well-known than others. One of our jewels, who most of us know, is David Volpe. David is our Ritual Chair (VP of the Ritual Committee). It’s a position he has held for more than a decade. And it’s a posi- tion that has enabled David to do thousands of acts of kindness for members and guests of our community. If you were to construct the ideal Ritual Chair, you would want a person who has a strong connection to their Jewish identity, a great affection for the services, a deep appreciation for role of the synagogue, and a great love for the members of the congregation. That is David Volpe in a nutshell. Although when talking about David, I need to add, that he is a talented chef, who enjoys making delicious to this month’s Shabbat dinners for the community. David learned how to be an exceptional Rit- ual Chair from his predecessor, Harvey Aiges, of blessed memory. Harvey had a B’nai Mitzvot kind soul, and he possessed these same attributes as David. In this way, through David’s many, many years of dedicated service to TBI, he has honored Harvey’s Amanda Mellow memory in a meaningful and lasting way. It’s another gift, among the many, that David has given to the congregation. ...Continued page 4 May 8th Joshua Engel May 15th DID YOU KNOW... Leo Schwartz Rita lived and grew up in Atlantic City? May 22nd Her family owned and operated a local restaurant named Noah Gould SHUMSKY'S where she was a hostess at 14. May 29th ...and there is a lot more to learn about our president.... join us for the TBI Hybrid Gala as we pay tribute to Rita Shumsky! This issue of the TBI Tabletonline is generously sponsored by: Sunday, June 13th 2021 3:00pm-4:00pm Meet and Greet The Engel, The Schwartz and the Gould families 7:00pm The Main Event At Home on Zoom RSVP [email protected] Visit us online: www.tbiport.org Contact us: 516-767-1708 Director of the Preschool, pulled out three years the Administrative Suite, all the stops to make sure our learners home to the Rabbi Mishkin, Cantor continued their education on Zoom. Grainer, Cathy Seldin and Julie You know, “Necessity is the mother of Cheever’s was completed. Our beau- invention,” and Anya and Diana came tiful Multipurpose Space was finally up with some very amazing opportuni- done after a few (HA-HA) delays. Alt- ties for learning. Cooking and crafting hough the congregation hasn’t been on Zoom became part of the curricu- able to use it yet, our learners from lum, complete with all of the neces- the Religious school have put it to sary supplies. Our teachers all good use. It’s a beautiful space and stepped up to learn how to educate on we’ll enjoy it for years to come. Zoom. The Preschool and Religious Schools resumed in person learning in The Emergency Pre- paredness Committee (EPC) was es- September of 2020. We closely follow the CDC guidelines for keeping every- tablished to develop policy and proce- It’s hard to believe that my one safe from Covid-19 and we’ve dures to keep us safe after the massa- presidency of three years at TBI is really done an outstanding job doing cres in Pittsburgh. We received a coming to a close at the end of this that! Anya has brought the teaching $100,000 grant to harden the building month. My term started out with lots of of the Religious School to new highs security. When the world closed due goals and hopes for our wonderful with her innovative teaching ideas. to the pandemic, the EPC also helped congregation. Who knew that in the Thanks to the hard work of Diana en- to develop the practices we’ve been past three years two crises would rollment for our Preschool for 2021- using throughout this time to continue change the way we pray, live, and 2022 has doubled in the last three to keep us safe. Part of the commit- learn – Pittsburgh and Covid- 19! years to 72 students! tee then became the TBI Neighbor These were the defining challenges Network that helped so many congre- we faced; how we responded to them The Life Long Learning for gants at the beginning of the lock- would foretell our future. Our main adults continued on Zoom with Rabbi down. goal was to keep us safe first in our Sharyn Perlman, Dr. Annette Kasle and Rabbi Mishkin. Their presenta- It takes many people physical space and then safe from to accomplish all of our achievements Covid-19. tions were wonderful and very well attended. The Library Committee also and good deeds. Special thanks to: IN SPITE OF IT ALL WE continued to present wonderful speak- David Volpe our VP of SURVIVED AND THRIVED ON ers some in conjunction with the So- Ritual for the past 11 years. Always MANY LEVELS! cial Action Committee. kind and welcoming. I’d like to review what we Synagogue finance is always The members of the Board of achieved in prayer, learning, finances, a challenge. Dues account for ap- Trustees David Cooper, Louis Silfin, our physical space and our safety dur- proximately 40% of our income while Susan Levin, Jenny Markman, Debi ing the challenges of the last three the other dollars come from donations Gewirtz, John Teeger, Helene Hecht- years. and school tuition. It’s a real balancing kopf, Jack Mishan, Adam Smith, Mark act to have enough money for sala- While our sanctuary was not Fridman, Alan Doubert, Jill Mellow, ries, which account for the majority of open, TBI was. As of the middle of Steve Castar, Ed Friedman, Leslie the budget, and keeping the lights on. March 2020 we no longer held ser- Naschek, Jen Lattner, Scott Tashlik, When there is a mortgage on top of vices in person. Zoom was the vehi- Matt Engel, Michael Nerenberg, Alisa other expenditures it becomes even cle we used to keep us together and Schindler, and Michelle Mondschein. more challenging. In my Rosh Hasha- enabled us to pray on Shabbat, the na speech of 2019, I opened a new Jon White for his continued twice a week Minyan, Shiva Minyan, campaign to pay off the $1.2 million support and efforts for the Capital the High Holidays, and to celebrate dollar mortgage. By December of Campaign and chairing the Cantor the Bnai Mitzvot of our children. Rabbi 2019 $700,000 had been donated to Search Committee. Mishkin and Cantor Grainer led us in do just that. The donations have con- prayer and song during this very dark Matt Engel for being a good tinued and as of this writing we only time in our lives. Rabbi Mishkin was role model and David Cooper for tak- need to collect $125,000 to retire the there when we needed him for all our ing on the role of President. mortgage! This year because of Covid life cycle events. Now we have begun -19 we applied for the Payroll Protec- Bob Epstein, Library Commit- to come back for in person services tion Plan (PPP). We were awarded a tee; Allison White Social Action; and to celebrate the Bnai Mitzvot of substantial amount which allowed us Louise Cooper and Ilyse Wofse, Most- our children. I always loved our sanc- to pay salaries and certain qualifying ly Mitzvahs; Debbie Mishan and Gail tuary with its view on nature, now I expenses such as utilities. With the Seiden for all their efforts in collecting appreciate it more than ever. combination of dues, contributions, food, clothing and household items for Our Preschool and Religious tuition and paying down our mortgage the underserved members of our com- Schools went virtual from March 2020 we are closing out our fiscal year in munity; Betsy Golan and Ed Friedman until the end of the school year. Our the BLACK for the first time in years! and the gardening group for providing two outstanding school leaders, Anya fresh vegetables to help alleviate food Over the years our Morgulis, Director of Education and insecurity. physical space has gone through sev- Engagement and Diana Snaider, eral stages of renovation. In the last Continued page 5... PAGE 2/ TBI TABLET MAY 2021 Cathy Seldin for all you do and all of your support.