Jewish Storytelling

Volume 34, Number 8 May 2015

the

Iyyar/Sivan 5775

T E M P L E

B E T H

A B R A H A M

JEWISH
STORYTELLING

DIRECTORY

GENERAL INFORMATION: All phone numbers use (510) prefix unless otherwise noted.
SERVICES SCHEDULE

Services, Location, Time

Monday & Thursday Morning Minyan, Chapel, 8:00 a.m. Friday Evening (Kabbalat Shabbat), Chapel, 6:15 p.m. Shabbat Morning, Sanctuary, 9:30 a.m.

Candle Lighting (Friday)

May 1, 7:41 p.m. May 8, 7:48 p.m. May 15, 7:54 p.m. May 22, 8:00 p.m. May 29, 8:05 p.m.

Torah Portions (Saturday)

May 2, Acharei-Kedoshim May 9, Emor May 16, Behar-Bechukotai May 23, Bamidbar

Mailing Address Hours
336 Euclid Ave. Oakland, CA 94610 M-Th: 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Fr: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

832-0936

Office Phone

Office Fax E-Mail
832-4930 [email protected]

763-7528

Gan Avraham

Bet Sefer

663-1683

STAFF

Rabbi (x 213) Cantor
Mark Bloom Richard Kaplan, [email protected]

Marshall Langfeld

Gabbai

Executive Director (x 214) Rayna Arnold Office Manager (x 210) Bet Sefer Director Gan Avraham Director Bookkeeper (x 215)
Virginia Tiger Susan Simon 663-1683 Barbara Kanter 763-7528 Kevin Blattel

May 30, Naso

Facilities Manager (x 211) Joe Lewis Kindergym/ Toddler Program Volunteers (x 229)
Dawn Margolin 547-7726 Herman & Agnes Pencovic

TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM

OFFICERS OF THE BOARD

is proud to support the Conservative Movement by affiliating with The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

President

Mark Fickes 652-8545

Eric Friedman 984-2575 Alice Hale 336-3044
Vice President Vice President Vice President Vice President Secretary
Flo Raskin 653-7947 Laura Wildmann 601-9571 JB Leibovitch 653-7133 Susan Shub 852-2500

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 not accept outside or paid advertising.

Treasurer

COMMITTEES & ORGANIZATIONS: If you would like to contact the committee chairs, please contact the synagogue

office for phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

The Omer is published on paper that is 30%

post-consumer fibers.

Adult Education Chesed Development Dues Evaluation Endowment Fund Finance Gan Avraham Parents Gan Avraham School Committee
Aaron Paul

The Omer (USPS 020299) is published monthly except July and August by Congregation Beth Abraham, 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610.

Warren Gould Leon Bloomfield & Flo Raskin Susan Shub Charles Bernstein Susan Shub

Periodicals Postage Paid at Oakland, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Omer, c/o Temple Beth Abraham, 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610-3232.

Toni Mason Gary Bernstein

House

Stephen Shub

JB Leibovitch Ulli Rotzscher
Israel Affairs Membership Men’s Club Omer Personnel Public Relations Ritual

The Omer is published by Temple Beth Abraham, a non-profit, located at 336 Euclid Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610; telephone (510) 832-0936. It is published monthly 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.

Jeff Ilfeld Rachel Dornhelm Laura Wildmann Lisa Fernandez Eric Friedman

Alice Hale

Schools

Social Action Torah Fund Women of TBA Youth
Marc Bruner Anne Levine Molli Rothman & Jessica Sterling Phil Hankin

To view The Omer in color, visit www.tbaoakland.org.

i

WHAT’S HAPPENING

ANNUAL TBA MEMBER MEETING!
May 17, 2015 9:30 AM
Social Hall

Volunteer Recogniton Lunch with Liba Falafel

Learn Torah with Rabbi Bloom

MAH JONGG

and other TBAers

Each Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. at the Woodminster Cafe.

Join us on the second Shabbat of the month as we gather in the Chapel after Kiddush.

No knowledge of Hebrew is required.

May 9 and June 13

May TODDLER & KINDERGYM Schedule

May 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22
In the TBA Social Hall for under-3s with a loving adult

Toddler Class: 10:30-11 a.m. $12
Kindergym: 11:15-noon $10
Dawn Margolin looks forward to seeing you there! [email protected] or call 510-547-7726

THE TEEN SCENE

The Friendship Circle

Women of TBA Event:

May 12 - Details on page 6.

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 semi-monthly, one and a half hour program on Sunday evenings for teens with special needs to join with loving teen volunteers for a fun, educational group experience.

The program begins with a light dinner and is followed 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,

please contact Devorah Romano, [email protected].

See additional Adult Education events and activities for women on page 6.

Men’s Club Event:

May 13 - Details on page 7.

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FROM THE RABBI

Nachshon, Freddy the Frog, Ariel, and Aquaman

Storytelling is an integral part of the Jewish tradition—from the “oral tradition” of the Talmud with its stories of the rabbinic sages to the Midrash which expands upon the stories of the Torah to the great Yiddish writers such as Shalom Aleichem and YL Peretz, to today’s great Jewish novelists like Michael Chabon and Jonathan Safran Foer.

My contribution is to the preschool set, where one of my favorite parts of the job is to tell stories to the Gan classes during chapel on Shabbat every other week. I love being able to “meet the children where they are,” so I often incorporate the things that make up their fantasy world, such as superheroes, animals, and princes into the stories of the Torah. If they come home confusing some of the Biblical characters with their favorite cartoon characters, don’t worry. It’s part of the joy of being a child. Here is one of my personal favorites.

Everyone knows that when the Israelites fled Egypt God performed the miracle of dividing the sea for the Israelites to walk on dry land. But not so many know that God had a lot of help.

First, there was Nachshon of the Tribe of Judah, who dove into the water first. While the rest of the Israelites were standing around in confusion and Moses was engrossed in prayer, Nachshon took the risk and dove in. Only after he dove in did the Sea split. But what you also don’t know is that Nachshon didn’t dive in in on purpose. He was chasing his frog. You see, Nachshon had a pet frog named Freddie, who he loved dearly. He kept Freddie with him at all times. But once Freddie saw the water, he jumped out of Nachshon’s hands and into the sea. Knowing he had to act quickly to make sure he didn’t lose him, Nachshon chased in after Freddie. That’s why Nachshon dove in first. He was trying to find his pet frog!

Meanwhile, Ariel the Mermaid Princess and Aquaman saw what was going on. They knew they had to do their part to save the Jewish people from Pharaoh and his army. They knew that ordinary humans can’t swim for such long distances and that they would drown if they didn’t do something quickly. So each of them swam back and forth from side to side, communicating in their secret languages with all the creatures of the sea, telling each creature to swim this way and that way. This created a wall on each side of the Red Sea, leaving a great dry patch in the middle for the Israelites to cross. The fish and all the other sea creatures listened to their friends Ariel and Aquaman, and, thankfully, the Israelites made it across.

I’m not saying it wasn’t a miracle by God that the Isralites made it across, but they couldn’t have done it without the help of Nachshon of the Tribe of Judah, Freddie the Frog, Ariel the Mermaid Princess and Aquaman the Superhero.

L’shalom, Rabbi Mark Bloom

Please Join Us for Morning Minyan on Mondays & Thursdays

Join the regulars at our Minyan service, each Monday and Thursday usually starting at 8:00 a.m. The service lasts about an hour, and is really a great way to start the day. As an added bonus, breakfast is served immediately afterwards. To use the old expression – try it, you’ll like it. If not as a regular, just stop in once or twice and see what it’s all about.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Fun Jewish Stories

by Mark Fickes Judaism has such a rich tradition of storytelling. From the Midrashim to the Chasidic Tradition, stories have helped Jews throughout the ages connect to G-d and to tradition. So, this month I decided to share two stories of which I have always been fond.

The Cow That Kept Shabbat

Pesikta Rabbati 14

There was once a Jew who owned a cow with which he plowed his field. Then it came to pass that this Jew became impoverished and was forced to sell his cow to a non-Jew.

The new owner plowed with the cow throughout the week, but when he took her out to the field on Shabbat, she kneeled under the yoke and refused to do any work. He hit her with his whip, but she would not budge from her place.

So he came back to the Jew and said to him, “Take back your cow! All week I worked with her, but today I took her out to the field and she refuses to do anything...”

The Jew said to the cow’s purchaser: “Come with me, and I will get her to plow.” When they arrived to the field the cow lay, the Jew spoke into her ear. “Oh Cow, Cow! When you were in my domain, you rested on Shabbat. But now that my sins have caused me to sell you to this gentile, please, stand up and do the will of your master!”

Immediately the cow stood, prepared to work. Said the gentile to the Jew: “I’m not letting you go until you tell me what you did and what you said to her. Have you bewitched her?” The Jew told him what he said to the cow.

When this man heard this, he was shaken and amazed. He said to himself: “If this creature, which has neither language or intelligence, recognizes her Creator, should not I, whom G-d created in His image and likeness and imbued me with intelligence and understanding?”

So he went and converted to Judaism and merited to study Torah. He became known as Yochanan ben Torta (“Yochanan son of the Cow”)

* * *

The Fox in the Vineyard

From the Midrash

A sly fox passed a lovely vineyard. A tall, thick fence surrounded the vineyard on all sides. As the fox circled around the fence, he found a small hole in the fence, barely large enough for him to push his head through. The fox could see what luscious grapes grew in the vineyard, and his mouth began to water. But the hole was too small for him. So what did the sly fox do? He fasted for three days, until he became so thin that he managed to slip through the hole.

Inside the vineyard, the fox began to eat to his heart’s content. He grew bigger and fatter than ever before. Then he wanted to get out of the vineyard. But alas! The hole was too small again. So what did he do? He fasted for three days again, and then just about managed to slip through the hole and out again.

Turning his head towards the vineyard, the poor fox said: “Vineyard, oh vineyard! How lovely you look, and how lovely are your fruits and vines. But what good are you to me? Just as I came to you, so I leave you...”

And so, our sages say, it is also with this world. It is a beautiful world, but — in the words of King Solomon, the wisest of all men — just as man comes into this world empty handed, so he leaves it. Only the Torah he studied, the mitzvot he performed, and the good deeds he practiced are the real fruits which he can take with him.

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VOLUNTEER BOARD

NEW MEMBERS

Volunteer Opportunities

GIVE A NEW PARENT AN HOUR TO SHOWER

This is a perfect mitzvah for those with daytime flexibility. Volunteers are needed to provide short daytime sits free of charge to our new moms and dads allowing them to shower, get a haircut, or just take a walk.

FEED THE HUNGRY: TBA volunteers at

CityTeam to feed the hungry on the fourth Sunday of each month from 5-7 p.m. If you wish to volunteer contact Caren Shapiro to sign up at [email protected]
Interested sitters should contact us at womenoftba@ tbaoakland.org.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES: There is always

an opportunity to volunteer at TBA. Please consider helping a cause or event you feel a connection to.

WELCOME A NEW MEMBER: Do you have time

to help deliver TBA’s new member baskets? If so, please contact Virginia at virginia@ tbaoakland.org

Welcome New Members

Leah Kurtz Sudran Rich & Mary Berkowitz Joseph Aamidor & Jodi Lerner Jonathan Gordon & Michelle Oppen. Daughters Talia & Daphne

A NOTE TO NEW MEMBERS:

We would like to introduce you to the TBA community in an upcoming newsletter. Please send a short introduction of you and your family, with a digital photo, to [email protected]. Thanks!

THE OMER

We cheerfully accept member submissions. Deadline for articles and letters is the seventh of the month preceding publication.

Jessica Dell’Era, Nadine Joseph, Richard Kauffman, Lori Rosenthal, Jan Silverman, Debbie Spangler
Editor in Chief Rachel Dornhelm
Managing Editor Lisa Fernandez Layout & Design Jessica Sterling
Calendars Jon Golding
Copy Editors Proofreaders
June Brott, Jessica Dell’Era, Charles Feltman, Jeanne Korn, Anne Levine, Stephen Shub, Susan Simon, Debbie Spangler
Distribution Hennie Hecht, Herman and Agnes Pencovic
Mailing Address 336 Euclid Ave. Oakland, CA 94610
E-Mail [email protected]
B’nai Mitzvah Editor Susan Simon
Cover Rachel Dornhelm
Help From People like you!

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SIX WORD MEMOIRS

And from Shosh Blachman a 6 word+ memoir on the theme we just had to include:

Six Word Memoirs: Jewish Storytelling

W e ’d like to put together a book of six word memoirs from our community on topical Jewish themes. We’ll print them, one month at a time, in the Omer until we have enough to compile a book.

Exodus by Leon Uris & my grandfather’s stories of his sojourn from Poland to Palestine (pre WWII) & onto the US helped shape my Jewish identity.

PJ library envelope. “Read it again!” (Rachel Dornhelm, 39)

In coming issues please send us your six word memoirs to [email protected] with the word “six word memoir” in the subject line. Please include your name and your age, because part of the beauty of the book will be seeing how we feel about Judaism at different ages.

This is how I got here. (Rick Heeger, 56) The end. Now go to sleep. (Rick Heeger, 56) Not tired. Tell me another one. (Rick Heeger, 56) Storytelling is in the listening too. (Rick Heeger, 56) Tell Stories? Of course! We’re Jews! (Karen Bloom, 45) Spin the yarn, tell the tale. (Karen Bloom, 45) Tell the tale, what’s on sale? (Karen Bloom, 45) Once upon a time... tell tell (Karen Bloom, 45) Tell me a story, zayda, please (Karen Bloom, 45) Every song tells a unique story. (Karen Bloom, 45) Speak your truth from the heart. (Karen Bloom, 45)

The Six- W o rd Memoirs on Jewish Life is a partnership between Reboot (www.rebooters.net) and Larry Smith. In November 2006, writer and editor Larry Smith issued a challenge to fans of his online publication, SMITH Magazine. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway ’ s l egendary shortest of short stories (“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn”), Smith asked readers to describe their lives in six words. Since then, the Six-Word Memoir® made its debut in 2006, nearly one million short life stories have been shared on the storytelling community SMITH Magazine website.

Slice-of-Life Stories Make Me Cry, And Make Me a Better Jew

by Lisa Fernandez Every Friday morning, I look forward to a good cry at 5:26 a.m. That’s when NPR’s Storycorps comes on, and I look forward to that weekly minute or two, just to hear people sharing snippets of moments in time with each other, which often make me sob in my car on my long, dark commute.

There are stories of cross-dressing husbands whose wives have stuck with them over the years. I cried at that. There was a suicidal man who met up with the cop who saved him from jumping and he just wanted to say thank you. I cried at that.

There was a woman who was mowed down by a speeding driver in high school who wrote him a letter that she forgave him. I cried at that.

And then there was the time when I was surprised to hear the story of TBA member Rebecca Posamentier, who poignantly described her relationship with her mother who had Alzheimer’s. Of course, I cried extra hard at that.

I’m not sure what it is about these stories, and why I am so moved by them. They’re not news in the traditional sense of the word. But they are slices of life that stick with me and teach me things, often about human tragedy and compassion.

That’s how I try to live my Jewish life. By doing small acts of kindness. I can’t take on huge acts. I don’t have a fat bank account to write checks. I don’t have many extra hours in the day to commit to major volunteering commitments. But I can make matzo ball soup. And I can watch your kids if you’re sick or going to marriage counseling.

I’m always looking for “Storycorps” moments to inspire me. So if you have any, share your stories with me. And you might just make me cry, and perhaps make me a better Jew.

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WOMEN OF TBA, OUR SISTERHOOD

WTBA Taco Tuesday

The Lake Chalet
1520 Lakeside Drive, Oakland May 12 • 4:30 - 7 p.m. • $25

RSVP to Jessica Sterling, [email protected] or RSVP and PAY ONLINE at www.womenoftba.com

Please joi n W TBA for our year-end

GIRLS NIGHT OUT

Create a Summer
Reading List

Sponsered by WTBA & Oakland Ruach Hadassah

Monday, May 18
Thursday, May 7

On behalf of The Women of TBA (WTBA) and Oakland Ruach Hadassah, we would like to invite all East Bay Women to join our Rosh Chodesh group. The group meets monthly on the Monday close to Rosh Chodesh, from 9:30-11:30 a.m. at rotating members’ homes. The meetings are facilitated by members of the group.

7:30 - 9:00 p.m.

BaumYouth Center, 341 MacArthur

Girls Night Out is a free, casual, monthly event to gather TBA women together for relaxed and unstructured social time.

Our new text is The Harlot by the Side of the

Road, by Jonathan Kirsch. The meeting will

open with a short discussion about the signifi-

Drop in on the ﬁrst Thursday of most months

to chat, laugh, debate, have a glass of wine and some light goodies, and get to know each other better.

No need to bring a thing!

cance of the new month.

Meet old friends, and make new friends.

Questions? Amy Tessler at [email protected] or (510) 482-1218 to get on the distribution list for the upcoming meeting locations.

There’s a different mix, vibe, & conversation every month.

Come check it out! Questions: [email protected] or [email protected]

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MEN’S CLUB

both essential to the story and the parts they play can change as the telling unfolds. Tangents are followed, listener becomes storyteller, and new stories are created. We create new stories everyday, with every experience and interaction.

Discovery in Storytelling

by Rick Heeger I tell stories for a living. I tell them using video. And while at this point in my career the stories are usually about how one company uses another company’s product to transform their business and achieve their goals and enhance their corporate image and yada, yada, yada, they are stories nonetheless. And each story takes the listener/ viewer on a journey with a beginning, middle and an end. The process itself is a journey and it may not always be clear where it will end. What will I find out when I interview a subject? What will she say that’s unexpected? How will what he tells me change my preconceptions of what the story should be. A large part of storytelling to me is the discovery, and how it shapes the story I’ll tell. I enjoy this work immensely.
Which brings me to the Men’s Club. What new story will you tell after your next Men’s Club event? Will you tell about how you ascended past Karen Bloom on the Men’s Club Poker leader board? Or how you bowled your high game (or just kept the ball out of the gutter) at Jews in Bad Shoes – next event May 13 in Alameda. Or will it be that you caught a foul ball while rooting on the A’s at Jewish Heritage Night on August 4. The point is, that when you attend Men’s Club events, you will leave with a story to tell.

I hope that you’ll join us for our many events, this year and in years to come.
One of the things I love most about storytelling is that the

roles of storyteller and listener are intertwined. They’re

Come join the TBA’s Men’s Club to

Schmooze with Jews in Bad Shoes!

,Wednesday May 13, we’ll meet at Alameda’s Southshore Lanes for bowling, pizza, beer and bragging rights.