February 2018 [email protected] TempleTemple IsraelIsrael BulletinBulletin Volume LXXVII February 2018 Bulletin No. 6 / 5778 at B’nai Jacob Rabbi’s message February 28 Purim with the cousins This year we will celebrate Purim together with our Jewish cousins at Congregation B’nai Jacob. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on the Eve of Purim, Wednesday, Feb. 28 at B’nai Jacob Synagogue. Who doesn’t like syllogisms? Given: 1. Purim is a time for making merry; and The return of the 2. The more the merrier; : Therefore: Friday evening 3. We will double our fun this year by joining with our Jewish Feb. 2, after cousins at Congregation B’nai service Jacob for the reading of the Megillah and the celebration of By Rabbi Cohn the legendary victory of the Jewish people over the forces of This year Tu Bishvat falls on Jan. hatred and oppression, as told in Purim 2017 31. In observance of this holiday we will have a covered dish dinner on Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther. Feb. 2. By popular request, the meal You might be familiar with the expression “the whole Megillah” (ganze megillah). will include a Tu Bishvat Seder and That’s what we’ll hear, in Hebrew with English summaries and some fun interpretations. Oneg dessert following the 5:30 p.m. Rabbi Urecki and I promise that a good time will be had by all. service. No reservation is necessary. You can add to the fun by coming in costume. I know I will! Graggers will be Tu Bishvat is a Jewish holiday provided, but feel free to bring your own homemade noisemakers to drown out the occurring on the 15th day of the name of the dastardly Haman. I recall using Band Aid cans filled with dry beans, which Hebrew month of Shevat. It is also made an impressive racket when shaken. But… do Band Aids even come in cans these called “ La’Ilanot” days? A wooden spoon and a metal pot do quite nicely as well. Anyway, you get the idea. (literally “New Year of the Trees”). This event is in keeping with your request that our two In contemporary times, the day congregations get together more often for shared is celebrated as an ecological activities. This one will be pure fun. And it comes awareness day, and so at our just when we need it: when the winter doldrums February dinner we will enjoy the haven’t yet given way to the relief of spring. symbolic foods that bring to See you then/there! Oh, and did I mention consciousness the web of our coming in costume? connections in and with nature.

Rabbi Jim Cohn

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Schedule of February services Any news? Do you have news to Friday, Feb. 2 5:30 p.m. Shabbat service, followed by covered-dish share about births, weddings, dinner and Tu Bishvat Seder or bereavements in your fam- ily? Please email Rabbi Cohn Friday, Feb. 9 5:30 p.m. Shabbat service and we will include it in our print bulletin and our email Friday, Feb. 16 5:30 p.m. Shabbat service announcements.

Friday, Feb. 23 5:30 p.m. Shabbat service Note that we only accept information directly from Wednesday, Feb. 28 6:00 p.m. Joint Temple/Synagogue Purim party and family members and never Megillah reading—held at B’nai Jacob from third parties, in keeping with considerations of priva- cy, accuracy and the Jewish Illustration of a customs of Ethical Speech. Megillah reading from Juedisches Ceremoniel, The Temple office email is a German work. A [email protected] beautifully illustrated description of Jewish — religious ceremonies, Rabbi Cohn's email is rites of passage and feast days, the book [email protected] first appeared in 1716, here in its second edition of 1724. Moving? Please see front page for info on the Temple’s Please let the Temple office joint Purim event with know if you are moving or if B’nai Jacob on Feb. 28, you’re changing your email to be held at B’nai address or telephone Jacob Synagogue . number. That way, you won’t miss any news about what’s going on at Temple Israel. Rabbi Cohn’s “Basic Judaism” Class We also want to make sure “Who is a Jew?” and “What about Jesus?” we have your current contact info for the Rabbi Cohn’s Basic Judaism class continues this month with the exploration of a variety of Jew- Sisterhood yearbook. If ish topics. The public is invited. For other sessions, go to www.templeisraelwv.org and click on you’d like to change the “Learning” tab. Here is this month’s schedule: anything in your listing, Wednesday, Feb. 7 – Beliefs: God, Torah, and Israel (and “Who is a Jew?”) please let the office know. Wednesday, Feb 21 – Jewish views of Jesus and the Jewish Messiah Thanks.

In the event of severe T EMPLE I SRAEL David Shapiro weather: 2312 Kanawha Blvd., E. President Call the Temple at 304- Charleston, W.Va. 25311 James D. Cohn 304-342-5852 Rabbi 342-5852 and follow www.templeisraelwv.org the prompts to hear Israel B. Koller [email protected] about any cancellations. Rabbi Emeritus

2 www.templeisraelwv.org February 2018 [email protected]

FebruaryFebruary yahrzeitsyahrzeits Names are read the Friday evening prior to the yahrzeit date, which is in parenthesis.

February 2nd Sylvia G. Goldman (13) Herbert Frankenberger (3) Alan A. Greenspon (14) Ben Marks (3) Roselind Case (15) John A. Pianfetti (3) Norma Cohn (15) Esther Sloman (3) Dr. Morris I. Mendeloff, Sr. (15) Leora Osgood May (4) Clara Warner Schwabe (15) Louise Parker (5) Melvin H. Hager (16) Ruth Teichman (5) Jacob Kandel (16) John Warren (5) Jerome Warner Schwabe (16) Myron “Mike” Greenwald (6) Leonard Ingraham (6) February 16th Mary Weisberg (6) Doris Lewis (17) February 23rd Nat Jurin (7) Clara Price (17) Sylvia Berman (24) Harry Silverstein (7) Isadore J. Berman (18) Sadie W. Levin (24) Louise Herzog Sclove (8) Doris Mack (18) Hazel Westen (25) Morris Siegler (8) Newton Margolis (18) Annette Cohen Hark (26) Bernard L. Wasserman (8) Miriam Mayer (18) Anne Shore Levinson (27) Joseph Weisberg (8) Aaron Cohen (19) Rebecca Taub Godfrey (28) Fannie Galperin (20) Laura Loeb Small (28) F eb ru a ry 9 Philip Frankenberger (21) Marcus “Bill” Thalheimer (28) Barbara Reinfeld (10) Howard Michael Levinson (21) Frances Sokolovsky (March 1) Lorene Adler (11) Ida Schwartz Preiser (21) Fred A. Bloomberg (March 2) Irving Badner (11) Pauline Reinfeld (22) Natalie Melman (March 2) Helaine Rotgin (11) Irma Rose (22) George Harry Meyer (March 2)

Sunday, Feb. 11 (time to be announced) Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. – Rabbi’s February at a – Combined Sisterhood board Basic Judaism class: Jewish and general membership views of Jesus and the Jewish g l a n c e meeting with luncheon and Messiah, see p. 2 program, see p. 5. NOTE: this is Friday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. – Shabbat Friday, Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. – Shabbat change in date from service service followed by a covered information previously dish dinner and Tu Bishvat Seder published. An email will go out Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. – Joint and Oneg dessert – no RSVP when time is scheduled. Temple/Synagogue Purim necessary, see p. 1 celebration at B’nai Jacob, see Monday, Feb. 12 – Sisterhood Schmooze p. 1 Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. – Rabbi’s Time 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Basic Judaism class: Beliefs: God, Ne x t m o n t h Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m.—Temple Torah, Israel, and “Who is a board meeting March 2 – Covered dish dinner following Jew?”, see p. 2 the Friday evening Shabbat Friday, Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m. Shabbat Friday, Feb. 9 at 5:30 p.m. – Shabbat service service service March 3 – “First Shabbat” morning service and Torah study March 11 – Sisterhood cooking at the Deadline for the March Bulletin is Feb. 15th. Temple for a Sojourner’s Shelter weekend meal, see p. 5

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Thanks for making Shabbat even more special

Oneg Shabbat receptions An Oneg Shabbat, the small reception after services, a “nosh,” gives us time to celebrate Shabbat together, with time to visit old and new friends. If you would like to sponsor an Oneg, you Looking ahead to spring can choose to shop (items are up to you: Temple’s congregational some fruit, pastries, cheese and crackers or Seder to be held anything else you would March 30 — RSVP by March 23 like) to serve about 20 people. Please deliver Temple Israel’s congregational will be held your food to Mary at the Your Oneg here. Friday, March 30 at 6 p.m. Temple by noon on that Due to the expense of the food we must purchase and hav- Friday. If you prefer that ing to order table linens in time for the event, we ask that Seder the Oneg Committee do the shopping, please send a $35 reservations, along with pre-payment, be received in the Temple check made payable to Temple Israel, and write “Oneg” and office no later than Friday, March 23. your date on the memo line. Your check is your reservation. There are only two remaining open dates this year, March 9 and 16. Please call Judy Lundy, Anne Fishkin or Beth Cost of the meal: Winter to reserve your spot.  Adults: $15 We thank these members for making our more  Students (all ages): $5 special in January: Jan. 5 – Brett Radow, in memory of his father, Berle Radow  Pre-kindergarten: $2 Jan. 12 – Sue Eisinger in memory of the birthday of her Please notify us of any special dietary needs well in advance mother, Geneva Mann Sessions of the event. Let us know if you will need a high chair or booster Jan. 19 – Dona Hall and Tiana Hall, in memory of Dona’s seat. Let us know of any seating preference, which will be accom- husband and Tiana’s father, Philip Barnett Hall modated as much as possible. The most we can seat at one table Jan. 26 – Anne Fishkin, in memory of her mother, Judith is 12 people. Pollack The Seder is open to members of the Flowers on the bimah Jewish community and Jan. 5 – Brett Radow, in memory their families. If you wish to bring guests of his father, Berle Radow other than your family, please check with Rab- If you would like to sponsor bi Cohn before inviting Shabbat flowers, please them. contact Betty Stern. Cost is Please make $35. Please make checks checks payable to Tem- payable to Temple Israel ple Israel and mail to Sisterhood. Temple Israel, 2312 Kanawha Blvd. E., Charleston WV 25311.

4 www.templeisraelwv.org February 2018 [email protected]

Sisterhood message Covered dish dinner Feb. 2; general membership meeting and luncheon Feb. 11; Schmooze Feb. 12; cooking for Sojourner’s on March 11; Elder-Beerman coupon books on sale now Is it February already? I responsibility to cook for 80 perishables. There are many Elder-Beerman coupon hope that February is warmer people on the weekend. There ways you can help, so call to books on sale for shopping than January was! is usually a two-hour shopping sign up or make a plan to drop March 1-3 trip during the week before the off things in the Sojourner’s We are continuing our meal and a few hours prep at collection box in the foyer at We will be selling booklets covered dish dinners on the the Temple that day. It is a fun the Temple. Hope to see you with coupons for Elder- first Friday of the month. Our and easy time to work together March 11 and thanks for all of Beerman Stores. The coupon next one will be Feb. 2. Plan to and support this wonderful your continued help. If you booklets cost $5 and each attend and bring a dish serving program. We then transport have questions about booklet has a coupon for $10 10-12 to share. We eat well at the dinner to Sojourner’s by Sojourner’s, please contact off one purchase, plus the these dinners! Thank you to noon that Sunday for the Caroline Ostand. booklet offers a total value of Francine Thalheimer for Sojourner’s staff to serve. $500 in discounts. Sisterhood keeping them going. Next Schmooze Feb. 12 keeps the money from selling Gathering to cook this Last fall, Lois Coleman and the booklets. You can purchase meal has been a simple and fun Our next Schmooze Time Lynn Gattlieb planned a them at our next general event for us. So, bring your will be held Monday, Feb. 12. program for a Sisterhood membership meeting Feb. 11, apron and come hang out with Come any time between 11:30 luncheon, a panel discussion or at Schmooze Time on Feb. us as we duel for best chopper. a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Bring your with Marion Baer, Hedy 12. If you would like to Menu is usually frozen lasagna, lunch; coffee and ice water will Poppelsdorf and Margot purchase booklets but can’t salad, bread and a dessert – be provided. Be thinking if you Jogwick, talking about what it attend on those dates, please “easy-peasy” as our grandkids would prefer a different day was like living in Germany call me at 304-346-9767. The would say. Caroline Ostand instead of Mondays to hold our around the time of the Second sale days are Thursday, March looks forward to hearing from Schmooze Time. We have had a World War. The three women 1 through Saturday, March 3. you if you are interested in request to change the day that have since given this helping, or you could choose to we hold it. Unfortunately, the A nominating committee presentation to Kanawha donate large black trash bags prediction of bad weather on has been formed to find officers County Schools counselors and (30-gallon), breakfast cereal, our January meeting day meant for the Sisterhood’s 2018-2019 will be giving it again to a larger kid-friendly snacks, laundry that not many people showed year. The committee will be group of educators. We thank detergent, personal care items up. Hopefully, the weather will chaired by Ronni Cohen them for sharing these difficult such as shampoo, canned soup cooperate for our February Spudich with Lois Coleman, memories. and many other non- Schmooze. Caroline Ostand, Anne Fishkin, Roberta Levine has asked if and Ina Angel serving with her. the Sisterhood could Next general membership participate in the East End E lde r -Beerman coupon book Family Resource Center’s meeting on Feb. 11 annual Heart and Soul Dip raises money for Sisterhood Our next general Dinner, which takes place this Once again, your membership meeting with a spring, and I told her we would. Sisterhood is offering this luncheon will be held Sunday, Hopefully by our next meeting Feb. 11. Please note: this is a coupon book at a cost of we will know the date it will be change of date from the $5.00. held at the Roosevelt information in our yearbook. Neighborhood Center on Sisterhood retains the full You will receive an email or Ruffner Ave. purchase price of $5. phone call regarding the start The book offers a total time of this meeting. As I write, value of $500 in coupons. the program has not been Cooking for Sojourner’s finalized. Lynn Gattlieb and Lois The first coupon in the book gives a $10-off any purchase. Coleman hope to have a On March 11, women of So, with this purchase you gain back the full amount of your speaker talking about the the Temple and Sisterhood are donation. opioid crisis that our state is invited to cook a main meal for experiencing. Please plan to the YWCA Sojourner’s Shelter The use of the coupons runs March 1 – 3, 2018. join us. for Homeless Women and You can purchase coupon books at our Sisterhood meeting, Families. This will relieve the Sunday, Feb. 11! Sue Eisinger, President shelter’s staff of the

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Passenger drop-off and accessible parking area in semi- circular driveway

The semi-circular driveway at the Temple’s front entrance on Kanawha Boulevard can be used as a passenger drop-off area and as accessible parking, for people with disabilities that make it difficult or impossible to climb steps. If a driver is a person with disabili- ties and needs to park in front of the building, we ask you to pull as close to the edge of the driveway as possible. This will allow other cars to drop off passengers and pass through on their Even before was president 2013-14, the late way to park in one of the Temple’s lots Phil Angel (inset, left, conferring with treasurer or on the street. Jack Levin) made many building improvements, such as the semi-circular driveway at the Temple’s When parking in the semi-circle, Kanawha Boulevard entrance, built August 2012. please don’t block the ramp that Lighting bollards were added April 2015 by Phil’s Build- leads to the front doors. ing and Grounds Committee successor, Jerry Goldberg.

Photos and graphics

Tu Bishvat fruits and nuts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_BiShvat#/media/File:DriedfruitS.jpg By Gilabrand (talk) - en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/ index.php?curid=9019725

Mtzot René Neymann Wasselonne avril 2014 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Matzot_Ren%C3% A9_Neymann_Wasselonne_avril_2014.jpg By Claude Truong-Ngoc / Wikimedia Commons - cc-by-sa-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32071342

Seder plate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_Seder_plate#/media/File:Seder_Plate.jpg By Yoninah - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? curid=798176

Hamantaschen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim#/media/File:Homemade_hamantaschen2.jpg By Yoninah - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php? curid=24750783

Me'ah Berachot, an 18th-century prayerbook on the miracles of Purim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purim#/media/File:Me%27ah_Berachot6.jpg In the public domain Temple website

Illustration from Juedisches Ceremoniel, a German book published in 1724 The Temple website www.templeisraelwv.org https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Megillah_reading#/media/ Is now back online. Please let a Website Committee File:Purim,_1724,_from_Juedisches_Ceremoniel_(4110241535).jpg member know if you have news or suggestions. Contact At the time of upload, the image license was automatically confirmed using the Flickr API. For more information see Flickr API detail. the Temple office for more info.

6 www.templeisraelwv.org February 2018 [email protected]

Social Action report From the Covenant House website Pantry established Food Pantry provides at John Adams food and diapers twice a Middle School for month to those in need food and necessities The Food Pantry, located at Charleston’s First Presbyterian Church, is open weekdays 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday 1 p.m. - 3 p.m. At press time, Sisterhood and the With a referral from the Covenant House Drop-In Center, families and individuals in Social Action Committee planned to meet Kanawha County can receive food and diapers twice a month without fear of in late January judgment or being turned away. to continue exploring how To learn more, contact David Bennett, Assistant Director at 304-344-8053 x24. we can assist local schools in The Drop-In center is a safe space open to need. We all, weekdays 8 planned to meet with a.m. – 4 p.m. Melissa Case, a The heartbeat of Covenant teacher at John Adams Middle School. House, the Drop-In Center provides access to a variety of Our mission is to partner with John Adams in a collective food-and-necessities services, referrals and programs. pantry located within the school. Melissa Referrals to employment, has created the pantry, and it is now in education, counseling services, need of inventory and support. In the and other assistance: contact event Sisterhood and Social Action find this Wilsie Herlihy, Drop-In Center project a viable endeavor, we will examine Coordinator 304-344-8053 x12 The Covenant House annual fundraiser “Chef’s the possibility of expanding our outreach. or Challenge” will be held at the Clay Center on Many students in the Kanawha Valley [email protected] Tuesday, March 27. For sponsorship info, email are coming to school hungry and in need. It Angie at [email protected] is unthinkable this should be happening right in our own back yard, and we intend to do whatever is possible to correct this sad situation. Gayle Twigger Shaw, chair Our Thoughtful Contributors

If you would like to make a donation to a fund. Donations are used to help Temple URJ info Temple or Sisterhood fund, please mail members in financial distress. your check to Temple Israel and tell us to You can find Torah study materials on Unrestricted donations or those to the whom you would like a card to be sent. the Union for Reform Judaism website Library should be made payable to at http://reformjudaism.org/learning/ Donations to a Sisterhood fund (Care Temple Israel. Committee, Floral Fund or Y.E.S. Fund), torah-study Donations received after the Bulletin should be made payable to Temple Israel deadline will be acknowledged in the next Reform Judaism magazine was the Sisterhood with a note on the memo line official voice of the Union for Reform issue. telling us which fund the donation is for. Judaism, linking the institutions and affiliates of Reform Judaism with every Donations to the Temple Israel Social Please write separate Reform Jew. It ceased publication in Action Fund should be made payable to checks when making 2014. Previous content is available that fund. contributions to more online at http:// than one fund or when Donations to the Rabbi’s Discretionary paying membership dues. reformjudaismmag.org/ Fund should be made payable to that

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