Standing on the Shoulders of the Ones Who Came Before Us
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The VOICE of Hewlett–East Rockaway Jewish Centre/Congregation Etz Chaimkuev May/June 2018 Vol. 68 • No. 5 Iyar/Sivan/Tammuz 5778 Standing on The Shoulders of the Ones Who Came Before Us Hazzan Bonnie Zakarin, the HERJC Kinder Kantors with Assistant Director, Barbara Brand Silverman, and Guest Cantors present a Concert MAY 6TH AT 3:00 PM Suggested Donation: Members: $18 / Non-Members: $25 All proceeds will go towards the Cantor's Assembly and HERJC's CD project. Join us after the concert for a Volunteer Recognition Reception celebrating all of our wonderful volunteers L’Dor Vador L’Dor rusk Means From Generation to Generation. A few of our guest cantors will be performing solos Vador inspired by their ancestry. rusu Hazzan Bonnie Barbara Brand Cantor Barbara Hazzan Steven Hazzan Penny Cantor Annelise Hazzan Michael Zakarin Silverman Haimowitz Hevenstone Myers Ocanto-Romo Weis Assistant Director, Temple Beth Or, Dix Hills Jewish Center, Temple Beth Zion, Ohev Shalom, Highland Park HERJC Kinder Kantors Brick NJ Dix Hills, NY Buffalo, NY Bucks County, PA Conservative Temple- Congregation Anshe Emet, Highland Park, NJ HERJC notes from the hazzan 516–599–2634 Rabbi ANDREW WARMFLASH HAZZAN BONNIE ZAKARIN Ext. 214 [email protected] Could you go three days without sustenance? Surely, we all need food Hazzan and water to survive, but what about spiritual sustenance? BONNIE ZAKARIN In biblical times, Ezra the prophet began the practice of a public Ext. 215 Torah reading in the center of the town square. These readings were [email protected] done on Monday, Thursday, and Shabbat afternoons. Monday and Ritual Director Thursday were market days, and therefore the reading would be heard RENA WOLF by more people on those days. Our people would not let more than [email protected] three days go by before they had their fill of spiritual nourishment. We continue that tradition to this day with our daily morning min- Executive Director yan: our dedicated Minyanaires take on the responsibility of having a group of at least 10 ETHEL LIEBESKIND Ext. 213 men and women every morning, not only on Mondays and Thursdays, so our Torah can be [email protected] read, but every day, so our community members can say Mourners’ Kaddish when necessary. I urge you to come and help support these amazing congregants and join the Minyanaires. Religious School Director All it takes is commitment and dedication to the common goal of a thriving community. DAVID WOOLFE This dedication is also mirrored in our amazing group of Torah readers, which continues 599–0424 or Ext. 219 [email protected] to grow week by week. These Torah readers vary in levels of Hebrew knowledge, musical ability, and religious observance, but one thing they share is a love of Torah and a sense of Nursery School Director responsibility to our community, and to themselves, to do more and to contribute more. CHERYL KARP This past year, we have 599–1169 or Ext. 237 added so many more [email protected] Torah readers including Youth Office our youngest Alef and 599–1148 or Ext. 223 Building Blocks students. [email protected] From one sentence, to one paragraph and more, our readers continue to grow www.herjc.org in knowledge and ability. and Amazon Reading Torah is a teach- able skill and one that I Click on the hope everyone in their life Amazon button found gets to experience. The on the left hand side of the first page of our moment of awe, standing website, www.herjc.org, in front of that holy scroll do your shopping as for the first time is inde- usual and HERJC gets scribable. I open my door a donation! to anyone who wants to Amazingly simple read Torah, from one sen- and wonderful. tence to one paragraph. HERJC is here for your Congratulations to Hazzan Bonnie Streigold on her spiritual nourishment. All marriage to Moshe Zakarin. The beautiful ceremony you have to do is grab hold took place at HERJC on Sunday, February 25. of it and take a big bite! page 2 MAY/JUNE 2018 www.herjc.org HAKOL From the Rabbi’s Study RABBI ANDREW WARMFLASH HAKOL is published by the Hewlett–East What’s it all about? Rockaway Jewish Centre/ Congregation Etz Chaim Why are we here? What is the meaning of our lives? Of all the ques- tions that a person can ask, this one is perhaps the most important, 295 Main Street, profound, and difficult. East Rockaway, NY 11518 Telephone: 516–599–2634 The Jewish tradition raises this question in a midrash that imagines a Fax: 516–599–2851 dialogue between God and the angels. In this rabbinic fantasy, God con- E–mail: [email protected] sults with them as to whether to create humanity. The angels answer is Website: www.herjc.org a resounding “No.” They say that human beings are capable of such great evil that it is better that they not be created. President Fortunately, God rejected their advice and created us anyway. Why? Our tradition offers AUDREY POLINSKY several answers to this question, but they mostly boil Vice Presidents down to the idea that God created us because God come learn with rabbi LEV HERRNSON wanted a partner--someone to love and be loved by DAVID KOFFLER in return. The angels cannot fill this role. They are Basic Judaism Class NANCY LEVITT perfect beings, extensions of the Divine will. Their a Thursday, May 10, 8:00 pm STEPHEN MOELIS love for God is inadequate, because they have no Orthodox, Conservative, Reform. choice but to do God’s bidding. What's the difference? Treasurer STEVEN KREIT a When we choose to serve God in love by leading Talmud Class Secretary lives of holiness, rejecting evil and doing good, a Sunday, May 6, 10:00 am ROBERTA SUGARMAN we are fulfilling our purpose as human beings. What the Talmud and other ancient a When we offer praise and gratitude to God for Jewish texts can teach us about Sisterhood President living an ethical life today. giving us the gift of life and take time to both BARBARA KAPLAN enjoy and preserve the beautiful world that God Bible Class Hakol Editors has given us, we are doing what God created a Mondays, May 7 & 14, 11:00 am LISA COHEN us to do. The Book of Psalms NAOMI DOCTOR JANE NOVORRO a When we bring children into this world and raise Israel Book Club them to be good Jews who love God and live lives Hakol Designer a Monday, June 11, 8:00 pm that embody the teaching of God’s Torah, we are CHERYL MIRKIN “The Coincidence Makers” doing what we were here to do. (See page 7 for details) a When we see every human being as beloved by Periodical postage paid at the East Rockaway, NY Post Office God and created in God’s image, and embrace our role as God’s partners to “fix the world” (#233120). Postmaster: Send by working to alleviate poverty and injustice, we are fulfilling our purpose on earth. address changes to Hewlett– East Rockaway Jewish Centre, 295 Main St., East Rockaway, Essentially, the answer to the question of why we are here is simple: Each of us was created NY 11518. Affiliated with: United by God to express our love for God by being a mensch. Synagogue, National Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs, National Women’s League. The views and opinions expressed herein A Request From The Rabbi do not necessarily reflect the policies of HERJC or the Please keep me informed of significant events in your family life. I want to be of help and service Conservative Movement. to you in times of special need. It is especially important that I know of those in the hospital so that they may be included in a prayer for recovery at Shabbat Services. HAKOL www.herjc.org MAY/JUNE 2018 page 3 Ritual Update RENA WOLF I recently watched an interview with CNN Commentator Van Jones and Oprah Winfrey. During their conversation, Winfrey advised Jones to per- DAILY severe through darkness and despair and “stay as a warrior of the light.” “I need your help,” Jones said. “I wake up in the morning, I am trying SERVICES to be a warrior of the light, and I reach for my cellphone, and I look at Mornings it, and I just start freaking out. And I freak out the whole day….” Unfazed, Oprah answered that when she starts her day, “The first Monday thing I say is, ‘Thank you.’ Even before I’m awake, even before my eyes and Thursday are really fully open, I say, ‘Thank you.’ I can feel the gratitude like, 6:50 am ‘Woo, I’m still here. I’m in a body. Thank you so much. I thank you for that.” Tuesday, Wednesday, I, too, share Oprah’s daily practice, for what she described sounds remarkably similar to and Friday the recitation of the Modeh Ani prayer. 7:00 am The My Jewish Learning website states that “Traditionally, Jews begin each day with Saturday Modeh Ani, a short, two-line prayer which opens by referring to God as the eternal and 9:30 am living king. The prayer speaks of sleeping as a minor type of death in which the soul leaves the body to spend the night with God. The prayer thanks God for returning the soul to the Sunday & Legal Holidays body, enabling the individual to live another day.” 9:00 am Every morning, we begin our morning minyan service with the Modeh Ani prayer. Some of us have been saying it for years, and others have learned this brief prayer by saying it Rosh Chodesh each morning during minyan.