The Bulletin TEMPLE BNAI ISRAEL’S MEMBERS & FRIENDS NEWSLETTER
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The Bulletin TEMPLE BNAI ISRAEL’S MEMBERS & FRIENDS NEWSLETTER “...to do justly, love mercy, and NISAN - IYAR 5776 MAY 2016 walk humbly with thy God.” 106 Years and growing! . Board of Directors 2 Help Celebrate Israel @ 68! 12 President’s Message 3 Traveling Dinner 14,15 Rabbinic Reflections & Weekly Readings 4 THANK YOU TODD & MONA! 17 Services 5 Rav J’s Adult Learning at UCONN Hillel 19 Committee Updates 6 In this issue Sephardic Cooking & Culture Follow up 19, 21, 24 Temple Family News 7 Yahrzeits 18, 20 Repairing our World; Healing our Souls 7 Donations 23 Library & Religious School 8,9 Auditorium Rental, Thanks to our advertisers 25 The Bat Mitzvah of Willow Golden 10 May Jewry Duty, Calendar 27 Visioning & Task Force Reports 11 JFEC 22nd Annual International Film Festival Back cover OFFICERS & BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Immediate Past President David Golden David Stoloff THE BULLETIN is a publication of Vice President, Mishkan/Building & Operations TEMPLE BNAI ISRAEL Jim Baber 345 Jackson Street PO Box 61 Kesher/Secretary & Communications Willimantic, CT 06226 Marilyn Moir Phone: 860.423.3743 Fax: 860.423.7594 Secretary-Elect Submission deadline: 3rd Monday of each month. Gloria Gerald Rabbi Jeremy Schwartz Tikkun Olam Office hours: Anne Willenborg Tuesday through Friday To schedule an appointment call Brit/Community & Membership 860.423.3743 Ext. 0 or e-mail Mona Friedland [email protected] Confidential Voice Mail: Torah/Education & Programming 860.423.3743 Ext. 1 Karen Drazen [email protected] Affiliations: Avodah/Religious Life The Jewish Reconstructionist Movement Judy Stein www.jewishrecon.org Kemah/Treasurer Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut Glenn Blumenstein www.jfec.com Windham Area Interfaith Financial Secretary Ministry (WAIM) Fran Jaffe www.waimct.org Mazon: Members at Large: A Jewish Response to Hunger Gerry Berkowitz www.mazon.org Alex Nishball Religious Ellie Shane School Administrator Doreen Simonsen Morah Dara Bowling Email: [email protected] Thank you for your service to our shul. Office Administrator Marlene Aulten 860.423.3743 Ext. 0 [email protected] Monday 10am-3pm Tues/Wed/Thurs noon to 5 2 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Shalom, fellow congregants. I hope all is well with Other than that, I'll see you all at services, at the Temple's you and yours. many May events, and at religious school. I am going to keep my message very brief this Take care, be well, and do good! month, as my daughter Willow's Bat Mitzvah is imminent and there is so much to do before she David Golden is called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, May 14th. (See page 10 for the official invitation). I hope to see you there to share in my family's joy. I’d also like to welcome Rabbi J.D. Sandberg as the newest member of our congregation. Rabbi Sandberg and his wife, Mary Ann Sandberg, reside in West Hartford, and you’ll be meeting them soon at services and events, if you haven’t already. I also have a special request this month. We are once again looking for a group to rent the Greer Auditorium. We were happy to have Weight Watches and Fit Club on board previously. Please refer to the auditorium rental information on page 25, and spread the word. Thank you! MISSION STATEMENT Temple Bnai Israel is a welcoming Jewish community which offers a spiritual, religious, and social home for all Jews. We cherish a belief in one God, the Torah, prayer and the music and beauty of our Jewish culture. We are commanded and committed to passing these blessings on to all future generations. We observe and celebrate Jewish traditions and laws, while remaining open to change which meets the needs of our time, and which will stand the test of time. We intend to be a force for good and comfort as individuals and as a whole. We seek to offer justice, tolerance, and charity within the Temple Bnai Israel community, the larger Jewish community, and the non-Jewish worlds within which we live. Our synagogue recognizes the equality of all Jews. Jewish men and women, including those Jews in interfaith marriages, are entitled to participate equally in all religious rites, and all secular and religious leadership positions. Our congregation also reaches out to all who welcome Judaism into their lives. We believe in the ancient teaching: “to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.” 3 RABBINIC REFLECTIONS Rav Jeremy Schwartz A committee I’m serving on for the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association asked its members to share a one-page statement of their “Torah” about Israel – what “is” Israel in our understanding? With Israel Independence Day (Yom Ha’atzma’ut) coming up this month the evening of May 11, I thought I’d share a version of what I wrote: It’s hard to have a clear understanding of what Israel is because the Jewish historical experience, as well as the way the Jews have understood themselves and have been understood by others, is very unusual, and possibly unique, in the world. So the usual categories of nation, ethnicity, religion, even civilization fit their situation imprecisely. And even for groups other than the Jews, those terms are ambiguous and contested. The Zionists used to say that the Jews should have a Jewish state just like the French have France. But who are “the French?” If one rejects racism, it’s no longer so clear. For me, Israel represents an opportunity that I support and cherish for Jewish civilization to develop in a country where that civilization is ‘in the roots’ and ‘in the air.’ I think that the Israeli Jewish community, while it produces some civilization that I rather dislike, is also in a unique position to ‘evolve’ Jewish civilization in wonderful and fascinating ways and has often done so. I support the conditions that make that evolution possible and want to be an active partner in that evolution. An important part of my understanding of Israel is that I feel a deep kinship with the Jewish community of Israel. They’re part of one of my concentric circles of family. I think it’s right for Jews to be particularly concerned about the half of the Jewish people that live in Israel. I think that democratic principles and Zionist principles (as I understand them) dictate that the Israeli state should largely get out of the business of Judaizing Eretz Yisrael. It should say “We did it; We created a country that’s as Jewish as France is French (whatever that means). And now we’ll get on to the business of democratically serving all the citizens of the state.” I do, however, think that a special relationship between the State and the Jews retains two areas of relevancy: First, I think that the history of anti-Semitism and the odd place of the Jewish diaspora in the world justify a special relationship between Israel and the Jewish diaspora. I think Israel should remain a refuge and a protector when possible for Jews around the world. And I think that the traumatic history of the Jews along with Jewish claims to the right to a civilizational home justified the establishment of Israel, with its unique relationship to the Jews and that, therefore, a two-state agreement with the Palestinians, the only way I can see for Israel to continue to exist as a democracy and “Jewish country” (like France is French), is a justified and important “Judaizing” goal for the State of Israel. Turn to page 13 MAY READINGS SATURDAY, MAY 7 SATURDAY, MAY 14 Parashat Acharei Mot Parashat Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1 - 18:30 Leviticus 19:1 - 20:27 This year: 17:1 - 18:30 This year: 19:23 - 20:27 Haftarah: 1 Samuel: 20:18 - 20:42 Haftarah: Amos 9:7-15 SATURDAY, MAY 21 Parashat Emor SATURDAY, MAY 28 Leviticus 21:1 - 24:23 Parashat Behar This year: 23:23 - 24:23 Leviticus 25:1 - 26:2 Haftarah: Zephaniah 1:16 - 2:3 This Year: 25:29 - 26:2 Haftarah: 2 Samuel 15:7-26 4 SERVICES, BAGEL & BIBLE, T.G.I. SHABBES, DROP-IN KABBALAH HOST/HOSTESS NEEDED FOR MAY 27. Bagel & Bible: Saturday, May 7, 9:30am - Friendship We’ll learn friendship Torah from the Slonimer Rebbe Shalom Noach Berezovsky of blessed memory, who bases his teaching partly on the story of David and Jonathan that we will read about during Shabbat services. T.G.I. Shabbes, Friday, May 13, 6:15pm - Around The World with Jewish Music The T.G.I.Shabbes format remains the same, with kiddush over not-your-grandmother’s wine, substantial nosh, and schmoozing while listening to tunes. Instead of a service, at the end, we learn a little about one of the songs we’ve heard ,and that provides an opportunity for kaddish. Rav Jeremy’s excited about the new ‘mix’ of tunes he’s put together, focusing on the languages other than Hebrew in which Jews have exercised substantial literary and musical creativity, including Aramaic, Arabic, Ladino, and Yiddish. Come be a part of the tour! Your presence will add to the joy! Drop-in Kabbalah, Thursday, May 19, 7:30pm - The Tree of Life The “Sefirot” - Layers/Stages/Flavors/Colors of God’s Emanation/Self-Revelation and our own Spiritual Landscape. 5 COMMITTEE NEWS TIKKUN OLAM ACTIVITIES, Anne Willenborg DAUGHTERS OF ABRAHAM BOOK CLUB [email protected] 860.429.8725 Carol Kraus [email protected] PLEAE NOTE: Our next meeting is May 15 at 9:30. Our next book club meeting will be: Tuesday, May 17, at 7:00pm at Right Trac (office of Gail & Joe While we do not have a report this month, stay tuned Petrowsky) 110 Main Street, Manchester, CT for one in the June edition of our Bulletin, and thanks to all who attended our Climate Change Conversation and Brunch! Our book discussion will be The Jew Store by Stella Suberman CARING COMMITTEE Fran Jaffe Ellie Shane Caring for each other in times of need 860.228.2390 860.423.7418 [email protected] [email protected] This is the first time since our Caring Committee formed that I cannot personally thank our leaders last month.