Purim Party Sunday, March 24 5:00 P.M
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The Shofar March, 2019 Congregation House of Israel 24 Adar I - 24 Adar II, 5779 Purim Party Sunday, March 24 5:00 p.m. See Page 2 for details The Shofar Thank You Published monthly by: Congregation House of Israel We would like to thank the following donors (as PO Box 20802 of February 20, 2019) 300 Quapaw Hot Springs, AR 71903 General Fund Hal and Sue Koppel (501) 623-5821 In beloved memory of Sue’s mother, Julia Wigderson Website: http://hschi.org Lenny Mendel Editor: Shelly Kleinman In beloved memory of his Step-father, Milan Webmaster: Shelly Kleinman Mendel Oded Grenman Editorial Assistance: Anita Williams In beloved memory of his parents, Ani Hannah Email to: [email protected] Grenman and Pinhas Grenman Submissions due the 15th of the prior month. Distributed free to members, prospective members, Mishkan T’Filah Fund local clergy and other interested parties. Thank you to the following who have made donations and dedications for the new Mishkan T’filah siddurim: Ross and Ruth Sedler Mary Klompus Condolences Shelly and Carol Kleinman We mourn the passing of Sandy Carrington, Elaine Gartenberg daughter of Betty Forshberg, who passed Sharon and Michael Waxler Sherrill Nicolosi away on the evening of Wednesday, February Mark and Patti Fleischner 20, after a long illness. Stuart and Kay Fleischner Hal and Sue Koppel Purim Party C.R.A.S.E This year our Purim Party will be on Sunday, Civilian Response to March 24 at 5:00 p.m., in Burgauer Hall. We will Active Shooter Event be having Pizza and Beer arranged for you by the CHI Sisterhood. The cost will be a very nominal Congregation House $5.00 per adult member of Congregation House of of Israel hosted Israel. All High School and younger children of C.R.A.S.E training on congregation members are free. Non-members 5 Saturday, February years and above are $10.00 per person. 9. About 25 members and guests attended the Please make your check out to CHI Sisterhood and infoormative event. The mail to: presenter was Officer Ruth Sedler Joey Williams with the 152 Blue Heron Drive Hot Springs Police Department. His Power Hot Springs, AR 71913 Point presentation showed examples of this type event, and how best to be aware and If you are a Congregation member and bringing prepared. Officer Williams gave advice for the children, please give us a number. We will be Congreation to consider in the days ahead. Our providing Pizza based on the number of reservations thanks to him and all the First Responders who we receive by Monday, March 18. face these situations for our safety. Page 2 Reb Shelly’s Desk From the President Purim normally comes at Tu BiShvat has come and the last full moon of winter, gone. an appropriate time for the carnival-like atmosphere However, the trees here in which characterizes the Hot Springs are just starting holiday. to wake up. For my birthday, I was given a green light to go Beyond the pure fun of purchase a bunch of seeds for Purim, however, lie some this year’s garden. important lessons we can all take to heart. Haman denounces the Jews This all makes me yearn for Spring, and all the to King Ahashverosh by pointing out that the new growth and Spring cleaning and blossoms that Jews are different from the other people under accompany the season. his rule. Having been the victims of this type of discrimination, we need to be especially vigilant not For our congregation, we start to think about to make generalizations about groups of people who sweeping the parking lot and repainting the are different from us. stripes. The tombstones at Jewish Rest Cemetery need some soap and water and elbow grease. The The Megillah teaches us the impact that one dishwasher in the kitchen needs a little TLC, as person can make. Esther and Mordecai are two well. individuals. Through their courage they save an entire community from destruction. We should What do you think needs to be done this Spring? never doubt our ability to effect change. We have How can you participate and help? What can you the responsibility to assert ourselves as leaders when do to be a part of this beautiful season? Please let the occasion is warranted, as Rabbi Hillel expressed us know. All we have is time, and we don’t want it, “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a to waste one moment. Keep in mind, more than man.” That goes for women too, as we see Esther’s advice, we need participation. We want to see your willingness to risk her life on behalf of the Jewish smiling face, and we need folks to show up and join people. in the fun! From the Megillah we learn that life is essentiaily We will be organizing some congregation-wide unpredictable. As we read chapter one, we could events soon, and replacing burnt out light bulbs. never imagine where the story will lead and how it will end. When opportunities for celebration The horses are running at Oaklawn, and the present themselves, we must seize the moment. Too Cardinals start Spring Training games in 5 days. often we associate religious observance only with Spring will come and go in a flash, so don’t dilly sober introspection. The Jewish calendar gives us dally. a chance for the full range of emotional expression throughout the year. We owe a big “Thanks You” to Stuart Fleischner, who organized a safety program, that gave us all Purim, with Mordecai and Esther defeating Haman, kinds of food for thought. can reconnect us with a Jewish basic value. It reminds us that Judaism’s cup is half full, which, Paraphrasing from Brian De Palma’s movie, The on Purim means, “fill `er up! It reminds us not to Untouchables, “All right, let’s do some good!” wallow in disbelief and distrust, which on Purim means, “You go girl, Esther!” David Being a Jew is demonstration to the world that hope and optimism do prevail, just as we have over the millennia. The Shofar Page 3 Page PB The Whole Megillah Former Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon created his new party called “Telem” (which means a ARZA - World Union furrow, and also the Hebrew acronym for the Israeli Reform Movement). The big unknown of this election cycle is recent IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz who created “Hosen Yisrael” the “Israel Resilience Party”. Seeing as he has taken It’s Party Time! no positions and not really aligned himself in any Shalom, political camp, he is riding on his accolades as a general, and is thus very popular – predicted to In describing today’s Israeli political climate, The get a healthy number of Knesset mandates. Kinks said it best as “It’s a mixed-up, muddled- up, shook-up world.” The constant here is the Likud and PM Benjamin Netanyahu who the polls predict will remain For those of us who may be used to the two-party where he is (30 seats) and could possibly increase. system and for voting directly for a candidate, This, at a time when he is under continued police nothing will be different than what’s been investigations, which led him to declare that even happening on the Israeli political scene over the if he is indicted ahead of the elections he will still past few days. run. The Zionist Union just went through a bad break Yair Lapid has been playing his cards carefully up on live TV, and now Avi Gabbay as the head of and hopes to catapult himself back into the Labor and Tzipi Livni and her Tnua party will run coalition after a hiatus, and Moshe Kahlon’s separately. It was clear they didn’t get along from Kulanu party is somewhat of a revolving door of the get-go, but usually, such things are reserved for MKs, which will have a hard time distinguishing those backroom smoke-filled negotiations and not itself from the Likud. the prime time. There will be countless other parties running Other Labor MKs and members are looking to (the most was in the 1999 Knesset elections when unseat Gabbay from within, and both parties 33 registered parties ran), and we will hear all could potentially face a situation in which they do about the rest during the scheduled campaign not gain the 3.25% of votes needed to cross the propaganda time 6 weeks prior to the elections threshold into the Knesset. (we’ll refer to that as ‘March Madness’). Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked left their own As the elections get closer here are three things to creation of the “Jewish Home” party and created watch for: “HaYamin HaHadash” (the New Right) party 1. Whether the Prime Minister will actually recruiting right-wing American-born pundit still run post-indictment? Caroline Glick. In doing so they are attempting 2. Who emerges as the leader on the Left (if to distance themselves from the hard-core Settler anyone)? faction of Betzalel Smotrich and Co (who could be 3. And, if there will be a possibility of creating seen yesterday in support of protesters clashing a coalition without the ultra-Orthodox with police, army and border patrol attempting to parties? physically remove them from the Amona outpost). Shaked, the sitting Justice Minister, was overheard Of course, there will be much more to come over saying that she would like to return ‘home’ to the next few months. Stay Tuned… Likud but will be unable to do so long as the current Prime Minister is still at the helm.