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the Volume 31, Number 7 March 2012 TEMPLE BETH ABRAHAM Adar / Nisan 5772 Volume 37, Number 10 June 2018, Sivan-Tammuz 5778 Sunset over Ocean Beach. Photo by Milah Gammon. R i Pu M WHAT’S HAPPENING SERVICES SCHEDULE MAH JONGG Monday & Thursday Morning Minyan Join a game on the 2nd In the Chapel, 8:00 a.m. On Holidays, start time is 9:00 a.m. Shabbat of each month as we gather in the Chapel after Friday Evening (Kabbalat Shabbat) Kiddush. In the Chapel, 6:15 p.m. June 9; July 14; August 11 Candle Lighting (Friday) 6/1 8:03pm 7/6 8:16pm 8/3 7:57pm This summer come to 6/8 8:07pm 7/13 8:13pm 8/10 7:49pm Limmud 6/15 8:11pm 7/20 8:09pm 8/17 7:41pm 6/22 8:12pm 7/27 8:04pm 8/24 7:31pm Bay Area 6/29 8:13pm 8/31 7:21pm Festival 2018 Shabbat Morning In the Sanctuary, 9:30 a.m. and spend a long weekend (6/29-7/1) in a Jewish enriching and immersive camp for families of all ages Torah Portions (Saturday) and religious movements! Check it out at limmud- June 2 Beha’alotcha bayarea.org, or contact Oded & Dara Pincas (TBA June 9 Sh’lach members) at [email protected] for more details. June 16 Korach Take advantage of a group discount. June 23 Chukat Promotional code: TBA. Additional discounts are available for a full Camp and Teen June 30 Balak programs - request at [email protected]. See pages 25-26 for July & August parshot. TBA Book Club A day at CJM Monday, June 11, 7 p.m. with Women of TBA We will be discussing Sunday, June 24 “Black White and Jewish” Private tour of the Rube Goldberg Exhibit by Rebecca Walker. plus hands on art project. RSVP to Karen Bloom at Everyone invited. [email protected] $10 per person/$25 per family for the location (member’s Questions and to RSVP: home). Kathy at [email protected] MORNING MINYAN on Mondays & Thursdays Join the regulars at our Minyan service, each Monday and Thursday usually starting at 8:00 a.m. (9:00 a.m. start on holidays.) The service lasts about an hour, and is really a great way to start the day. As an added bonus, breakfast is served immediately afterwards. To use the old expression – try it, you’ll like it. If not as a regular, just stop in once or twice and see what it’s all about. Use Amazon and TBA will receive a percentage Go to this link and enjoy your shopping! http://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-1375793 2 i COMMUNITY Jewish Activism, Volunteer of the Year Mendelsohn. The goal of the Round Table is to dimin- By Jacqueline Palchik ish anti-Semitism and hate speech targeted at Jewish students, families, and staff through education and policy TBA Member Alicia Cernitz-Schwartz was named advice; to be a consultative service for the community Alameda Unified School District’s Volunteer of the Year in response to anti-Semitic incidents; and to provide by the Alameda Education Foundation for her work with resources and guidance about Jewish values and holiday the Jewish Education Round Table. observances. “I founded the Jewish Education Round Table in October Two of the proudest accomplishments of this commit- of 2017 after hearing Rabbi Bloom asking us to get to tee are naming Holocaust Remembrance Day for the know our superintendents and our police chiefs at the entire district and designating May as ‘Jewish American Rosh Hashanah sermons focused on anti-Semitism,” Heritage Month,’ which will be celebrated with a challah- Alicia said. baking party and lesson about Shabbat. Alicia took that message to heart. She invited AUSD Sam Tobis, TBA member and Grand Bakery owner, will Superintendent Sean McPhetridge to her sukkah, which be co-hosting this first ever event in Alameda on May gave her an opportunity to discuss the lack of awareness 10 at Island High School. TBA members Helen Fixler around Jewish issues and Israel. Alicia had been work- and Elinor DeKoven recently spoke at a Holocaust ing on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at Otis Remembrance Day panel discussion at Books Inc spon- Elementary and partnering with other elementary diver- sored by the Jewish Education Round Table. sity leads across the district for some time. With support from McPhetridge, Alicia got started recruiting members “I am so grateful for my TBA community – lesson ideas for the Round Table and developing goals for its first from Susan Simon, inspiration from Rabbi Bloom’s ser- year. mons, and above all my friendships. I have learned the only way to make real change is to build relationships.” The Round Table is composed of AUSD parents, staff, teachers, students, clergy, and community members. For more information about the Jewish Education Round TBA members on this committee are Michael Hyman, Table in Alameda visit https://www.alameda.k12.ca.us/ a parent at Alameda High and graduating Senior Julia JERT. Panel speakers from the Holocaust Remembrance Event at Books Inc on April 11. Helen Fixler spoke as Holocaust survivor and Elinor DeKoven provided perspective on living through World War II in the United States. AUSD students Sydney Hyman, Julia Charney, and Danny Charney spoke about how their grandparents’ experiences during the Shoah have impacted their lives. 3 FROM THE RABBI Jewish Thoughts about the Sun I am not quite sure how to organize my thoughts about Judaism and the sun, but they are certainly intimately connected. So instead of commenting, I am going to let the texts speak for themselves, and you can therefore interpret as you wish. From the Creation Story Genesis 1:14,19 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night … And it was evening and it was morning, a fourth day. From the Shacharit Service May a new light shine upon Zion, and may all of us speedily merit its light. Blessed are You, Hashem, Fashioner of the luminaries. From Beit Hamidrash 2:118 When Abraham was three years old, he went out of the cave and, observing the world, wondered in his heart: Who created heaven and earth and me? All that day he prayed to the sun. In the evening, the sun set in the west and the moon rose in the east. Upon see- ing the moon and the stars around it, he said: This one must have created heaven and earth and me—these stars must be the moon’s princes and courtiers. So all night long he stood in prayer to the moon. In the morning, the moon sank in the west and the sun rose in the east. Then he said: There is no might in either of these. There must be a higher Lord over them—to that Lord I will pray. From the Psalms 84:12 For Hashem your God is a sun and a shield. Hashem grants grace and glory, for no good thing will God withhold from those who walk in straight paths. 113:3 From the rising of the sun until its setting, Hashem’s name is to be praised. The Day the Sun Stood Still Then Joshua spoke to Hashem in the day when Hashem delivered the Amorites before the children of Israel and said in the sight of Israel: “Sun, stand still upon Gibeon and moon, the valley of Ayalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until they had avenged themselves of their enemies. Once Every 28 Years—Birkat Hachama Talmud Berachaot 59B: One who sees the sun at its turning point should say, “Blessed is the One who reenacts the works of Creation.” And when is this? Abaya said: “every 28th year.” L’shalom, Rabbi Mark Bloom SPONSOR A KIDDUSH THIS SUMMER Do you have a simcha to celebrate or a person to remember? Share this occasion with your Temple Beth Abraham family. Call or send an email and Rayna, who can help arrange this for you. Rayna Arnold, Executive Director [email protected], (510) 832-0936 4 FROM THE PRESIDENT A nod to “The Sunshine Boys” from TBA’s new president By Alice Hale As I write this, my first Omer column as President of TBA, I am flying back to California after having seen my younger daughter graduate from college in New York City, where we saw a little less of the sun than we would have liked. It was rainy and cold for late spring, which meant my husband and I couldn’t indulge our favorite New York pastime, taking long walks through the city. Fortunately, the big day itself was sunny and bright, which seemed suitable for such as auspicious occasion as a com- mencement. The theme of “The Sun” reminds me of two men who used to be known around TBA as “The Sunshine Boys” – Sid Shaffer and Pinky Pencovic. Two pillars of the commu- nity, and past presidents, they set the standard for what I believe a synagogue president should be. As I start my term as president, I hope I can live up to their legacy – they both embodied the best of Jewish values in their leadership and their dedication to this community. They were, in the best sense of the word, always gentlemen – never dis- playing anything but respect for the staff, the clergy, and for their fellow congregants. Generous and warm, I miss them both and wish they could be here to give me advice.
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