Volume 29, Number 5 • January 2010 • Tevet/Shevat 5770
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
VolumeVROXPH1XPEHU-DQXDU\ 29, Number 5 • January 2010T HYHW6KHYDW• Tevet/Shevat 5770 directory TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM Services Schedule is proud to support the Conservative Movement by Services/ Time Location affiliating with The United Synagogue of Conservative Monday & Thursday Judaism. Morning Minyan Chapel 8:00 a.m. Friday Evening (Kabbalat Shabbat) Chapel 6:15 p.m. Advertising Policy: Anyone may sponsor an issue of The Omer and receive a dedication for their business or loved one. Contact us for details. We do Shabbat Morning Sanctuary 9:30 a.m. not accept outside or paid advertising. The Omer is published on paper that is 30% post-consumer fibers. Candle Lighting (Friday) The Omer (USPS 020299) is published monthly except July and August January 1 4:43 p.m. by Congregation Beth Abraham, 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610. January 8 4:49 p.m. Periodicals Postage Paid at Oakland, CA. January 15 4:56 p.m. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Omer, c/o Temple Beth January 22 5:03 p.m. Abraham, 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610-3232. January 29 5:11 p.m. © 2010. Temple Beth Abraham. The Omer is published by Temple Beth Abraham, a non-profit, located at 336 Euclid Torah Portions (Saturday) Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610; telephone 510-832-0936. It is published monthly January 2 Vayechi except for the months of July and August for a total of ten issues per annum. It is sent as a requester publication and there is no paid distribution. Our press run for the January 9 Sh’mot preceding 12 months averaged 495 copies and the most current issue nearest the fil- January 16 Vaera ing date was 504 copies. Outside county requested copies were an average of 83 and January 23 Bo the current number was 86 while the in county numbers were 405 and 410 respec- January 30 B’Shalah tively, with a total requested circulation of 488 average and 496 currently. There were 7 copies on average not distributed and 8 on the most current issue. GENERAL INFORMATION COMMITTEES & ORGANIZATIONS All phone numbers use (510) prefix unless otherwise noted. If you would like to contact the committee chairs, please contact the synagogue office for phone numbers Mailing Address 336 Euclid Ave. and e-mail addresses. Oakland, CA 94610 Hours M-Th: 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Adult Education Women of TBA Fr: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. Bet Sefer Parents Miriam Green Office Phone 832-0936 Bet Sefer Subcommittee Barbara Gross Office Fax 832-4930 Centennial Fund Raising Paul & Flo Raskin and E-Mail [email protected] Alan & Cheryl Silver Gan Avraham 763-7528 Centennial Steering Committee Sandy Margolin Bet Sefer 663-1683 Chesed Warren Gould STAFF Development Laura Wildmann Dues Evaluation Marshall Langfeld Rabbi (ext. 213) Mark Bloom Endowment Fund Herman Pencovic Cantor (ext. 218) Richard Kaplan Finance Marshall Langfeld Gabai David Galant Gan Avraham Parents Jo Ilfeld and Mala Johnson Executive Director (ext. 214) Art Rosenberg Gan Avraham Jenny Michaelson Office Coordinator (ext. 210) Aliza Schechter Schools Committee Bet Sefer Director Susan Simon House Stephen Shub Gan Avraham Director Wendy Siver Israel Affairs David Marinoff Bookkeeper (ext. 215) Christine Tripod Membership Stacy Margolin and Custodians (ext. 211) Joe Lewis, Dennis Moore Jill Rosenthal Kindergym/Toddler Program Dawn Margolin 547-7726 Men’s Club Eric Friedman Volunteers (ext. 229) Herman & Agnes Pencovic Publicity & Promotion Sally Ann Berk OFFICERS Ritual Sally Ann Berk President Stephen Shub 339-3614 Schools Stacy Margolin Vice President Mark Fickes 652-8545 Social Action Bryan Schwartz Vice President Jerry Levine 336-0565 Torah Fund Anne Levine Vice President Stacy Margolin 482-3153 Tree of Life Open Vice President Bryan Schwartz 350-7681 Web Site Outi Gould Secretary Laura Wildmann 601-9571 Women of TBA Judith Klinger Treasurer Marshall Langfeld 769-6970 Youth Steve Fankuchen i what’s happening Night Out at a Cal Bears Game It’s time for family basketball! Come join TBA CELEBRATE TU B’SHEVAT Men’s Club for a great time at Haas Pavilion watch- ing one of college basketball’s most promising WITH SAVE THE BAY AND TBA teams! Come with your family (children included) and hang out with your TBA friends. Cheer on the January 24 • 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cal Bears as they battle USC. They’re starting the On Sunday, January 24, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., season with more promise than any season this decade and are favored to win the PAC-10! Temple Beth Abraham will continue our tradition of service for the Earth by joining Save the Bay in restoring Saturday January 9 wetlands at Arrowhead Marsh here in Oakland. Since 6:00 p.m. snacks, 7:30 p.m. game time. 2002, Temple Beth Abraham members have participated in annual workdays at this site. The Martin Luther King Regional Shoreline Park includes some of the last remain- Cost: $15 adults, $10 kids: We have 40 seats, first come-first served. ing wetland habitat in the East Bay, including 50-acre Arrowhead Marsh and a 72-acre wetland restoration proj- Meet at Manny’s Tap Room on Telegraph Avenue ect that provides a home for many species, including the for snacks and drinks beforehand (more details to endangered California clapper rail and burrowing owls. come). Save The Bay partners with the East Bay Regional Park District to offer community-based restoration projects For ticket information, contact Jeff Ilfeld: ilfeld@ email.com or Ben Persin: [email protected], in the wetlands and at an onsite native plant nursery. or call (510) 685-1349. In the many years we have been working here, TBA members have helped clear non-native plants (remember that giant shelf of ice plant?), collected seeds from native plants, helped grow those seeds in the nursery, and then planted seedlings in the wetlands area. Due to popular Feeling Hot? Think Ski! request, we have for the past two years made this activity part of our Tu B’Shevat observance. This event is appro- The NASoS (Next Annual Schlemiels on Skis) priate for everyone, and Save the Bay provides all the Outing will be Sunday, Jan. 31 - Monday Feb. 1, 2010. equipment and supplies. Join men of good cheer and all athletic abilities from Temple Beth Abraham and Netivot Shalom for two days Because the areas where the restoration work is occurring of skiing, schmoozing, and dining. are sensitive, we are asked to respect a 50-person limit on the number of participants. Please contact Jody London Sugarbowl is a delightful old-world resort in north Lake Tahoe, reached by gondola from the road. no later than Monday, January 17 to reserve your space at (510) 658-2100 or by email at [email protected]. We’ll carpool up early Sunday a.m., ski for most of a day, enjoy a fireside drink (with the option to watch the SuperBowl on Sunday), then have dinner in the lodge. Monday, Sugarbowl offers free lessons – and we’ll ski Save The Date most of the day, driving home in the late afternoon. So excuse yourself from a day of work, and come chill out! Sugarbowl is taking room reservations now – and there are quite a few rooms open at the incredible discount TBA Annual “midweek” rates of 50% off, or $74. Blood Drive Email [email protected] to let me know you’re thinking about coming, and make a reservation while there are still discount rooms! February 21 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 1 from the rabbi Conservative Movement’s New Beginnings In November, Rabbi Steven Wernick, the new Executive Vice President of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), met with all the Conservative rabbis of the Bay Area. Rabbi Wernick is not only the new “head” of the main body of Conservative Judaism, he spent a good part of his childhood at Beth Abraham, when his father Gene Wernick served as rabbi here in the late seventies. Rabbi Wernick, the younger, has spent the last six months traveling the country learning about what congregations and members would like to see the United Synagogue doing. His goal is to make the USCJ more helpful to synagogues in a very direct way. He told our group that four main themes are emerging. 1. People want the USCJ to be an organization whose primary purpose is to help synagogues with the nuts and bolts. This includes everything from how to operate a building to how to fund- raise to how to create meaningful, inspiring service. 2. People want the USCJ to serve as a programming bank for best practices. 3. We need to do something for people between the ages of 18 and 35. We do well training our young people, even engaging them in teen activities, and we do well when people come back to synagogues when they have children. But what are we doing for this critical age population? Things are happening all over the Jewish community (J-Date, independent minyanim, and more), but little is happening inside Conservative synagogues. 4. People want to know what exactly Conservative Judaism is and how that matters. 5. I then shared these findings with our Saturday morning service crowd, who had many more questions and concerns. The sentiment expressed at services that morning was that the orga- nization should be changing more quickly and that these four things were not significant enough. People wanted to see the USCJ doing more in terms of Israel, anti-Semitism, GLBT rights, social action, and more. In short, they seemed to want the USCJ to think bigger.