THE BULLETIN TEMPLE SHOLOM OF GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT www.templesholom.com March • April • May 2018 203-869-7191 Adar/Nissan/Iyar/Sivan 5778 COMEDY NIGHT IS BACK! SELMA MAISEL NURSERY Temple Sholom will host its 2nd SCHOOL EXPANDS FOR Annual Comedy Night on Saturday, March 3 at 8:00 pm. The event will 2018-2019 SCHOOL YEAR be headlined by stand-up comedian and television writer Matt Koff, with opener Carmen Lagala. Matt Koff currently writes for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and won an Emmy for his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He has also written for IFC's Onion News Network, Comedy Central's Onion SportsDome, GSN's The Newlywed Game, and the White House Correspondents' Dinner with Hasan Minhaj. In 2011, he received the "Joke of the Year" award by Time Out New York based on a reader poll. Koff’s appearances include Adam Devine’s House Party on Comedy Central and The History Channel series I Love the 1880s. He has had the opportunity to tour with John Oliver, Michael Ian Black and Bo Burnham, and can be seen performing regularly at clubs in New York City, where he currently lives. The Temple Sholom Selma Maisel Nursery School (SMNS) is excited to announce the expansion of its current offerings to Tickets for Comedy Night cost $25 per adult and include the include a full-day program for children as young as six weeks old cabaret-style show, dessert and drinks. Last year’s event with through Pre-K, beginning September 2018. comedian Josh Gondelman sold-out, so be sure to reserve your seats or a full table soon by visiting www.templesholom.com or by “The results of this expansion will include a school brimming contacting Gina Pernicano, [email protected] with activity throughout the whole day, as well as dozens of or 203-542-7169. new families, increased flexibility, and greater resources for our entire Temple Sholom community,” said David Cohen, Nursery School Director. STARRY NIGHT GALA Over the years, the school has evolved to accommodate the needs of its community by adding classes for two-year-olds, diverse after- school enrichments, non-separating programs for young children and their parents, and most recently a STEAM curriculum to stay on the cutting edge of early childhood education. The expansion will provide families with varying needs — including those looking for a quality infant and toddler program — access to the same exceptional pre-school experience. “We are recognizing and responding to a growing need in our community, especially for dual-working parents, for longer hours and a stimulating educational environment for infants and toddlers,” said Eileen Robin, Temple Sholom’s Executive Director. The full-day program, which will operate from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, will contain mixed-age classes categorized by infant/ toddler and pre-school, as compared to the part-day program which is structured by grade. Regardless of the length of their To view more pictures from this year's Gala, visit: day, all children at SMNS will enjoy the same individualized, www.templesholom.com/gallery (Continued on page 5) Table of Contents a 2 MARCH•APRIL•MAY 2018 Senior Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz Rabbi Emeritus Hillel E. Silverman FROM OUR RABBI Youth Director/ Senior Rabbinic Fellow Chaya Bender Hazzan Sheni/Ritual Director Ezra Konigsberg The holiday of Passover has four names: people from the tenth and final plague; the Executive Director “Slaying of the First Born.” • Chag Ha-Pesach (the Festival of Passover) Eileen Robin Thus we remember both the catalyst of God’s • Chag Ha-Matzot (the Festival of historic redemption of our People, and then Associate Executive Director Unleavened Bread) Lori Baden the willingness of our People to “Go Quickly” • Chag Ha-Aviv (the Festival of Spring) to follow God. Director of Finance • Z’man Cheiruteinu (the Time of our Freedom) God makes for the possibilities of our Nori Goldsmith redemption, but we have to be willing to The Torah most often refers to the holiday as take the necessary steps by which to secure Nursery School Director Chag Ha-Matzot (the Festival of Unleavened the needed redemption. David Cohen Bread) even though we usually refer to the holiday as Passover. By referring to our holiday as both Chag Nursery School Director Ha-Pesach and Chag Ha-Matzot, we remind Emeritus It's within these two terms that we can best ourselves of the need to constantly work Phyllis Lyons discern a special Passover/Unleavened Bread with God to make for better possibilities spiritual message. within our lives. Director of Congregational Learning Matzah symbolizes that our ancestors left The primary goal of the Passover Seder is to Barry Gruber Egypt in haste and did not even have time experience our Exodus from Egypt. for their bread to rise, and so they left with unleavened bread. As we celebrate Passover together with our Congregational Coordinator family and friends, let us remember that the Alice Schoen When the Torah refers to the holiday as Exodus was only possible because of Divine Chag Ha-Matzot, we recall that we quickly opportunity, and human willingness to take Public Relations, Programming leaped so that we might follow God into advantage of the opportunity. and Event Coordinator the wilderness. Gina Pernicano And, with this historic remembrance, let us And, with this reminder, we wish to recall our actively seek out the Godly opportunities President historical faith in God. available by which we can quickly seek to Ben Kriegler make the world a better place. The name by which we call the holiday, Sisterhood Co-Presidents “Passover,” is a reminder that God “passed Chag Sameach – Happy Passover! Debbie Finkelstein over” the Jewish homes, sparing the Jewish Rabbi Mitch Lauren Wels Temple Sholom Purim Festivities IN CASE OF AN Costumes encouraged! EMERGENCY Purim Eve Trip to the Jewish Theological Seminary in NYC Wednesday, February 28 • Bus departs at 5:00 pm RABBI MITCH CAN BE A fun and festive full megillah reading and Purim shpiel. REACHED ON THE Registration required to Alice Schoen at [email protected]. AFTER HOURS PHONE Harry Potter and the Magical Purim Carnival BY CALLING Sunday, March 4, 11:00 am–12:30 pm Carnival games and prizes, an obstacle course, face painting and more! 203-869-7191, EXT. 3 Purchase tickets in advance at: www.templesholom.com/PurimTickets2018 Table of Contents a www.templesholom.com 3 A NOTE FROM OUR PRESIDENT The five letters of the Hebrew name Yisrael have been the Gala Committee, led by event chair Hillary Rosenthal, interpreted to be an acronym for all seven patriarchs and for giving their time and energy to create a memorable and matriarchs. The Yud stands for Yaakov (Jacob) and Yitzchak enjoyable evening for all. This year’s Gala honorees — Phyliss (Isaac). The Sin stands for Sarah. The Resh is for Rivkah Rakowitz, Beth Cutler and Travis Azous — also represent the (Rebecca) and Rachael. The Alef is for Avraham. And the Lamed finest in community service, care and concern, and we thank is for Leah. All seven accounted for. them for their commitment to making Temple Sholom better each and every day. When I think of Yisrael/Israel, I envision the Biblical kingdom of Israel, the land of Israel, the people of Israel and the modern We are also very grateful to our Cantorial Search Committee, State of Israel. led by Shane Leahey and Meryl Sole, for working diligently to identify the most qualified candidates for our synagogue. When I think of Temple Sholom I think of all of you — our They’ve organized a number of candidate visits and matriarchs and patriarchs, and your families — and how performances over the past year, and we appreciate their together we make up the Temple Sholom community. ongoing efforts. It’s your spiritual involvement, financial participation and I’d also like to recognize Derek Kaufman, our new Chair of volunteer work that makes us a vibrant and prosperous the Education Committee. Through his leadership and vision, Jewish congregation. we have new momentum and a reinvigorated Education Committee with a mission to achieve best practices for our When individuals commit themselves to volunteering on a children's education and effective school operation. consistent basis, they have chosen to donate their own time to support an activity that benefits others. Time is a very precious commodity; we can’t create, accumulate, acquire, buy As we head into spring, I wanted to pass on a note of or borrow time. Some of the strongest values — service and thanks from the Board of Trustees and myself to our entire sacrifice — are shown when one places the needs of another congregation for your 2017/5778 Kol Nidre support. Because of above their own, including sharing their personal time. your continued generosity and involvement, we are the leading conservative synagogue in our area and we continue to grow. Volunteers are critical for ensuring that Temple Sholom continues to be a beacon of Judaism and a place where all are Wishing you good health, happiness and enjoyment of freedom welcome to pray, learn and belong to a greater community. To in this season that celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish all of our volunteers, thank you. people from slavery in Egypt. It is this selfless volunteerism that recently made our 2018 B’Shalom Starry Night Gala such a huge success. We would like to thank Ben Kriegler, President IN THIS ISSUE… From Our Rabbi . 2 May Calendar . 8 Note from Our President . 3 Mazel Tov to our B‘nai Mitzvah . 9-11 Winter Programming Highlights . 4 Donations .