URJ AFFILIATED WITH THE UNON FOR REFORM MARCH 2017 IN THIS ISSUE ASK THE RABBI 13 BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES 15 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 23 CONTRIBUTIONS 3,17,18 LIBRARY NEWS 8 MEMBERSHP 15 MEN’S CLUB 12 ONEG SPONSORS 16 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 3 PROGRAMS 6 PURIM CELEBRATION RABBI’S DESK 2 AND SISTERHOOD 11 SCHPEIL SOCIAL ACTION 7 SPOTLIGHT BETH ISRAEL 4-10 TRIBUTE CARDS 14 NO WORDS SPOKEN, JUST COSTUMES AND YAHRZEITS 19 PANTOMIME SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 7:30 PM Shalom News Published monthly by HAMENTASHEN, GOODIES AND WINE TASTING Beth Israel TO FOLLOW The Jewish Congregation Editor Robin Kitzmiller (813) 645-9154 E-mail
[email protected] PLEASE JOIN ININ THE FUN! Web www.jcscc.org Beth Israel, The Jewish Congregation of Sun City Center, is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism FROM THE RABBI’S DESK Rabbi Carla Freedman Some years, Purim seems like a silly holiday…with costumes, skits and graggers contending for our attention. This year it feels like welcome relief from news that is endlessly challenging to our equilibrium. Purim itself is a strange event on the Jewish calendar. First, it is based on the only book of the Hebrew Bible of which not a scrap has been found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, to date. Second, it does not mention God at all. Third, its story has no relationship to real persons or events known from Persian history, despite the fact that the story is set in the Persian court. The distinguished Bible scholar Robert Alter finds many indications in the narrative that the whole thing was written for entertain- ment purposes.