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BULLETIN Volume 103, Number 4 • April 2016 Inside Observations from Rick Powell

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BULLETIN Volume 103, Number 4 • April 2016 Inside Observations from Rick Powell WILSHIRE BOULEVARD TEMPLE BULLETIN Volume 103, Number 4 • April 2016 Inside Observations from Rick Powell ne of the benefits of being rabbis or cantors if you find yourself in need of some spiritual Opresident is that I get to spend guidance or a sympathetic ear. You won’t be disappointed. more time at the Temple viewing With the opening of the Karsh Family Social Service how it works from the inside. I Center at the Glazer Campus, we have expanded the definition am pleased to see a great deal of of what it means to be a synagogue; thus, our Board is working forward momentum and to report on the governance issues that are impacted by this exciting new that the Board, our schools’ parent venture. In addition, the Karsh Center provides great volunteer associations, and our congregational opportunities for all of us to truly make a difference in the lives leadership are all working together of our neighbors. Jodi Berman, our Director of Engagement Rick Powell, Temple to examine every possible way to and Leadership, tells me that April is National Volunteer President improve what we do. We continually Appreciation Month, so please contact Jodi at (424) 208-8970 strive to provide the best possible schools, fascinating adult or [email protected] to see how you can help. programs, the most engaging Shabbat services, the finest I look forward to meeting new members and getting to security, and a great community for you to be part of. know each of you. Feel free to email me at Based on my observations, I want to share with you how [email protected] with any questions, comments, or impressed I am by the commitment of our clergy. When a concerns (I’ll take compliments too!). And, of course, I wish family member is sick, when a marriage hits some bumps, when you and your family a very happy Passover! a business goes under—or simply when a congregant’s soul Rick Powell, Temple Board President is burdened—a member of our clergy is right there to help. I urge you to pick up the phone and ask to speak with any of our This Month Special Film Event: Build-a-Bike ADULT SEDER SECOND SEDER Restoring Tomorrow More on page 7 FAMILY DAY More on page 11 More on page 5 Friday, April 22 Thursday, April 7 Sunday, April 17 Irmas Campus Saturday, April 23 Irmas Campus Irmas Campus 6:30 p.m. Camp Hess Kramer 7:30 p.m. 1:00 p.m. More on page 5 11:00 a.m. Torah Portion Tell Your Story Passover here are two primary mitzvot (commandments) we reformer John Dewey (1859–1952) articulated it this way: Tare obligated to fulfill during Passover: The first is to “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting tell the story of the redemption from Egypt. The second is on experience.” to avoid eating chameitz (leaven). The salty taste of the tears The Passover tradition encourages us to engage in and the sharp horseradish ask us to experience the story now. such reflection in our own lives. When we take our life We eat the story as we tell it to help us fully integrate and experiences, particularly those of challenge and struggle, and understand what it meant for our ancestors then—and what integrate them into a coherent narrative, this act of telling it means in our lives today. The Passover seder is designed our stories becomes the journey of freedom. When we draw to help us embody the telling of our story. The rabbis hoped meaning from our past, we can shape and reshape our present that when we tell the story this way, with intention and and future. This is true for us both collectively, as a people, meaning, the telling would change us. and as individuals. Storytelling itself thus shines a pathway The field of education has taught us that intentional to freedom. efforts to synthesize, abstract, and articulate what we Happy Passover! Chag Sameach! experience make learning more effective. Influential Rabbi Susan Goldberg American philosopher, psychologist, and education Save the Date Shabbat on the Fly with Rabbi Leder This annual trip to Idaho is a sell-out every year! Check out what some of our congregants have been saying about this amazing experience! July 29 – August 1, 2016 $2,525 per person (all-inclusive except airfare) Limited spots available Email [email protected] to RSVP “If interesting people, spectacular scenery, “It was my first time on a fly-fishing trip world-class lodging, great food, and yes— and I so thoroughly enjoyed being on the we do actually catch fish—sound like fun, river each day. The best part was meeting then this is the trip for you.” – Mike Gilbert the other Temple members, telling jokes around the campfire, and enjoying great wine and food with them each night.” – Lorin Michaels “It was simply a wonderful confluence of trout, conversation, religion, humor, wine, whiskey, cigars, weather, and “Torah and trout make for a companionship. An experience great vacation.” worthy of annual repetition.” – Thomas Schiff – Andrew Safir 2 Glazer and Mann Early Childhood Centers Gala 2016 Nursery School Rock, held on February 20 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, raised funds to support scholarships and enrichment for our Early Childhood Centers. Many thanks to all our generous supporters and brilliant committee for this investment in our future. The Dukes of Doo Wop Parents enjoying the Gala! Left to right: Stacie Cohen (PA President), Rochelle Glucksman Top Row (left to right): Rebecca Nelken, Cookies by Mann Family parent Caroline Kuperstock and Jennifer Smiley (two of the Gala co-chairs) Behnoosh Farzam, Carrie Rifkin. Bottom Row (left to right): Lauren Lundy, Dina Cohen, Erica Sesar. Table setting Left to right: Erica Felsenthal, Rochelle Glucksman, Erica Sesar, Left to right: Rochelle Glucksman, Carol Bovill, Lauren Lundy, Jessica Liberman, and Samantha Milner Maria Sussman, Jennifer Smiley 3 Camps Dr. Mom Volunteers emple member, camp and Brawerman East mom, and (age 7) and son, Eli (age 5). While her time at camp was spent Tcamp doctor Jenny Zipkin is a wonderful example of the primarily in the infirmary, working with the nursing staff to essence of the word volunteer. Jenny spent a week last summer manage the medical needs of the campers and the counselors, as camp doctor at Camp Hess Jenny was able to join her family for camp activities, including Kramer and returned as Winter Camp Shabbat, meals in the dining hall, song sessions, Israeli Camp doctor at Gindling Hilltop this past December. dancing, campfires, andHavdalah . “It’s a way to give back and be part of the community,” Jenny hopes to return as Jenny explained when asked her reason for filling this camp doctor and looks forward important volunteer position. “I was surprised by how much to sending her own kids to camp too—for experiences she energy the campers and counselors had, and the excitement knows firsthand to be joyful as well the kids felt in celebrating Shabbat at camp.” Jenny and her as transformative. husband, Ronen, both pediatricians at Children’s Hospital Cheri Lauterbach Los Angeles, are the parents of three young children: daughters Camp Alumni and Development Director Talia (age 9) and Maya Religious School My Kids Love It! f you’re ever looking for me on Wednesdays around 6:00 there may be thinking, “What kid loves religious school?!” The Ip.m., you can usually find me at the Marcia Israel Chapel/ answer is: mine. And so do the friends they see there each week. Auditorium at the Irmas Campus, enjoying t’filah with my What Rabbi Raff has accomplished is amazing. Focused kids, Jordana (age 10) and Amelia (age 7), at the end of on ensuring that our kids are spending time with the most their Religious School session. It has become a weekly ritual, lively, warm, and engaging teachers each week, he and his team and I am grateful for the time set aside to share in my kids’ know that religious school has to be both meaningful and fun. experience of community and prayer. With each passing year, And that this can be accomplished in two and a half hours they become stronger at chanting the prayers, and it’s such a once a week, as long as we parents support their efforts, and joy to see them singing the songs I love from my own years of make sure our kids show up. religious school and camp. It is my privilege to support the Temple’s Religious On the ride home afterward, they tell me about their School by sharing my positive experience here. And, as always, classroom debate on whether God should have destroyed I’m looking forward to t’filah this week. If you’re considering Nineveh, or the project they’re working on in the art studio. I enrolling your kids, I hope you’ll join me and check it out. couldn’t be happier to see that even after a long day at school, Deborah Dragon, Religious School parent they’re totally excited about Religious School. The cynics out 4 Brawerman Elementary School See You on the Pier! f you want to see a child’s face light up, just ask to play, such as the Goblet Toss and Balloon Bust, to win Ihim or her about the annual Santa Monica Pier stuffed animals, basketballs, and other prizes. To help foster Family Fun-Raiser. This wonderful event, open to the Temple’s tradition of tikkun olam, bins will be located the entire Wilshire Boulevard Temple community, on-site for donations of these prizes to Children’s Bureau, a is painstakingly planned and fully staffed each local charity that distributes such gifts to children in need.
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