Highlights May J U N E /J U
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m is “Honoring Tradition, Celebrating Diversity, and Building a Jewish Future” da U form J Re on for I Un E h t r of hIghlIghts be m E Thursday, May 3 at 7:30 pm—PErspectIves on ISraEl. First of a series on Israel and its challenges from viewpoints across the political spectrum. a m This presentation is by Matthew Gabe, AIPAC East Bay Director. See Page 8. is Sunday, May 6 at 10:00 am—annUal MeetIng of thE CongrEgatIon. th El E This event will include election of new officers for the Beth El Board B and a review of the synagogue’s finances. See Page 6 for more details. on I gat Friday, May 11 at 6:15 pm (for appetizers)—CElebratIon of EducatIon honoring Beth El’s E B’nei Mitzvah class, Confirmation class and high school (Midrasha) graduates. Dinner at 6:30 pm with the Shabbat service at 7:30 pm. Join us in celebrating May our students as they lead us in prayer and share with us their insights and reflections. Congr Please sign up for dinner at: https://bethelyouthed.wufoo.com/forms/z7x2s9/ Sunday, May 20 at 10:15 am—MidraSha gradUatIon. Celebrate with the 15 high school students from eight different synagogues who will be graduating this year. For more details, see Page 17. Friday, June 1 at 8:00 pm--CommEmoratIon of thE 100th birthday of raoUl WallEnberg, as one of the Righteous Gentiles who saved a large number of Hungarian Jewish children, including our Emeritus Rabbi Raj, during the Holocaust. For background information, refer to Page 12. We will also be honoring Board members and all of our volunteers at this Shabbat Service. Sunday, June 3 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm—a fIrSt gathErIng of thE WomEn of BEth El to eat, drink and schmooze and get to know one another. Join us to discuss starting a new organization within the synagogue just for women. Come to the Beit Midrash for wine, cheese and chocolate and help decide the future direction for the new group. For information, email Nancy Turak at [email protected] Hope to see you there! Sunday, July 22 at 1:05 pm—Men’S Club day at thE BallPark. Come see the Oakland A’s vs. New York Yankees. June/July Tickets are available now and may sell out quickly. For more information, see Page 14. r 2012 In thIs Issue E From the Rabbi p.2 News p.8 Purim p.16 mm Member Spotlight p.3 New Members p.10-11 Midrasha & Pantry Chug p.17 U S President’s Message p.4 Opinion p.12 Tzedakah p.18-19 Youth & Family Education p.5 B’nei Mitzvah & New Books p.13 Torah Study Schedule p.20 Annual Meeting p.6 Upcoming Events p.14 Calendars p.21-23 Staff Profile - Zach Landres-Schnur p.7 Youth Groups p.15 Gift Shop 24 ISSUE 131 • CongrEGATIon BEth El 1301 Oxford Street FROM THE rabbi Berkeley, CA 94709-1424 Phone: 510-848-3988 JoIn Me In Israel Fax: 510-848-2707 AT PASSOvER WE DEClARED as Jews have for over two thousand youth and family Education office Direct Line: 510-848-2122 years, “Next year in Jerusalem!” While Jews have made their way to Jerusalem at every period in our history, for most of the last two nursery School office millennia, “Jerusalem” was primarily an idealized place, symbolizing Direct Line: 510-848-9428 our people’s hope for a better future. Today, our prayers for Camp kee tov office Jerusalem continue but we also have the opportunity to encounter the contemporary city of Direct Line: 510-848-2372 Jerusalem—and modern Israel—as “real” places, locations with deeply nuanced and rich midrasha office history, a vibrant and complicated present and future promises yet to be realized. Direct Line 510-843-4667 last year, a representative group of Beth El members met to learn about and practice how to have difficult conversations around Israel–-and how to learn to respectfully listen and ClERGY & STAFF take in perspectives and points of view that were radically different from their own. Their hard work has had an impact on the participants and also on our wider Beth El community; rabbi yoEl h. kahn I have experienced a renewed connection to Israel through the work of our group on Senior Rabbi “civil discourse” and, this year, through the hard work of our Israel Committee. In May, ext. 215 - [email protected] the Israel Committee is presenting a series of speakers, representing a range of ideas rabbi Reuben ZEllman and relationships to Israel that reflect the diverse commitments within our congregational Assistant Rabbi & Music Director community. [Please see page 8 for more details.] ext. 228 - [email protected] norm frankEl I am also delighted that so many of you have or are considering visiting Israel, whether as Executive Director an individual or as a family, with an organized tour, or on Birthright or on one of our high ext. 212 - [email protected] school programs. If you have never been to Israel before or if you haven’t been yet this Debra Sagan massey calendar year, I especially want to invite you to join me and the East Bay Jewish community Director of Education on our community-wide trip in April 2013. Sponsored by Beth El in cooperation with other ext. 213 - [email protected] synagogues and the East Bay Jewish Community Federation, this will be an exceptional trip, departing Wednesday, April 10, 2013 and returning Friday, April 19. While you are, of BarBara kantEr Nursery School Director course, welcome to extend your trip, the itinerary is set so as to minimize the days you may ext. 219 - [email protected] need to take off work while packing in the fullest possible experience. ZaCh landres-SChnUr There are three special features of this trip which set it apart from others: 1) Each day of the Camp Kee Tov Director ext. 217 - [email protected] trip will include at least three distinct itineraries, including social justice, politics and society; culture and art; high tech and ecology; and a “classic” track for newcomers who don’t want tamEka yoUng-DiaBy to miss out on all the famous sites that they have heard about. The best part of this itinerary Bookkeeper is that you need not commit to any particular track; every day, you can see what is being ext. 210 - [email protected] offered and choose where you want to go for the day; 2) We will be part of a larger group Rebecca DePalma of East Bay Jews and their families. Not only will we encounter and explore how Israelis YAFE Administrative Coordinator are like and unlike us, so too will we have the opportunity to spend time with and get to & Youth Group Advisor know others from our own community whom we might otherwise never have met; 3) In the ext. 214 - [email protected] context of the wider trip, we will also have our own “Beth El” experience. There will be some JUliet gardnEr special briefings and activities designed exclusively for our Beth El travelers and we will be Clergy Assistant enhancing the itinerary as we seek out the members of our extended Beth El family—from ext. 235 - [email protected] Palestinian-Israeli Christians in Nazareth to Orthodox yeshiva teachers in the Old City to the AshlEy WarnEr adult children of Beth El members who are still living on the kibbutz where their Berkeley Administrative Coordinator, Main Office parents grew up. I can assure you that the range of places, peoples and ideas you will ext. 211 - [email protected] encounter on this trip will be diverse and exciting, and open you to perspectives you had not EmILY SCHNItZEr previously considered. Camp Kee Tov Admin. Coordinator ext. 223 - [email protected] I will be hosting an informational gathering about the Beth El/East Bay Jewish Community trip on Tuesday evening, June 5, 7:30–8:30 pm. If you are wondering whether this is the DianE BErnBaUm Midrasha Director trip for you, please join me. If you are interested in learning more about this trip but cannot 510-843-4667 - [email protected] attend this meeting, please contact Juliet Gardner at the Beth El office to receive future updates. odEttE BlaChman Gift Shop ext. 240 - [email protected] rabbi FerEnC raJ Rabbi Yoel Kahn Rabbi Emeritus [email protected] 2 the builder: summer 2012 MeMber spotlIght Stan & Miriam Schiffman Are in The Fast Lane on Aging and Healthcare By Elisabeth Wechsler FOR A COuPlE WHO HAvE BASED THEIR CAREERS ON aging AND HEAlTHCARE, Stan and Miriam have had plenty of time to plan their post-retirement lives. And guess what? They’re as active as teenagers and yet have made peace with this chapter of their lives. “You can’t stop the aging at the Arch/vine sanctuary in 1961. They are both uC Berkeley process, so you might as well keep busy and make sure you’ve graduates and maintain high enthusiasm for Cal’s men’s and resolved the big issues in your life,” Stan said. women’s basketball teams. Three times a week Stan runs, swims and sculls on San leandro Stan’s career took him to New York for graduate school (Columbia) Bay offshore of where they live in Alameda—weather permitting— and work for 10 years, Baltimore for four years, and Pittsburgh for with Miriam joining him for sculling. Only on Shabbat are their 26 years. In Pittsburgh, Stan managed a large Orthodox home physical activities voluntarily set aside.