Newsletter 24 Adar I - 24 Adar II, 5779 March 2019
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Newsletter 24 Adar I - 24 Adar II, 5779 March 2019 A MESSAGE FROM YOUR RABBI... written somewhere that the seventh This month, I share with you this letter to the makers of day is for resting. I would think you the Jewish calendar. might be able to schedule Shabbat for a more convenient day. And March 1, 2019 before you get any ideas, Sundays Jewish Calendar Company are for football and grocery 1836 Mishenichanas Lane shopping. Rabbi Craig Lewis Compton, IL 61318 Your continued carelessness shines through, year after Dear Jewish Calendar Company, year. After 5779 years, one would think you could finally get it right. Oh, and by the way, in your recent edition, I would like to register a complaint. Once again, you you printed the month of Adar TWICE! Proofread much? have shown little to no regard for my family in scheduling holidays. Most currently, I see that you have managed to If you have read this far, you may have figured out this is place Purim right in the middle of my child’s school’s all in jest for the month of Adar, when we celebrate Spring Break, forcing us to choose between a ski Purim. It is a month for frivolity and silliness, and in 5779, vacation and the annual masquerade and carnival at our a Jewish leap year, we get two months of Adar; so like Temple. Naturally, we chose the ski vacation because an old chewing gum commercial, we double our fun. how many chances do you get to hit the slopes? Make sure you plan to attend our Purim events on March 20 for the creative Megilla reading and March Still, I would rather see a Jewish world where I do not 24 for the spiel and carnival. Yes, we are aware that have to make such choices. Consider this past fall when this is Hamilton County Spring break, but we don’t write you scheduled Rosh Hashanah on the same night as the Jewish calendar. We just live by it. parent-teacher conferences. No teacher should have to choose between meeting their students’ parents and “Whoever enters the month of Adar increases in joy!” honoring the Jewish New Year. Likewise, I resent Kol Nidre running opposite the baseball playoffs. Seriously? Sincerely, What if my team were in it this year? That goes for the Final Four as well. Please stop putting Passover in and Rabbi Craig Lewis around March Madness. We like to serve pizza at our watch parties. Matzah crust just isn’t going to cut it. While we’re at it, I’d bet market research would tell you that people prefer having Hanukkah closer to December 25. Schools are out, and company holiday parties make a lot more sense when we actually celebrate multiple holidays at the same time. Why you consistently refuse to line these up is beyond me. And furthermore, Shabbat consistently runs up against our Symphony season tickets; and every single Bar or Bat Mitzvah interrupts our day of rest. Don’t you know we work all week, and our kids need the extra sleep? I seem to recall it being SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE AT MIZPAH Mark your calendars! Don’t miss an exciting weekend May 3-5, 2019 Scholar-in-Residence: Jamie Downing, PhD, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric at Georgia College and State University will be presenting on the topic of “American Judaism- A Process of Becoming.” Dr. Downing is a wonderful scholar and a magnificent teacher. You will not want to miss these sessions. Dr. Dowling will offer the sermon on Friday night, lead a special session of Torah Study on Shabbat and join us Shabbat afternoon at 6:30 pm for Havdallah, dinner and learning. Mark your calendars! 1 A MESSAGE FROM YOUR TEMPLE PRESIDENT... WHY? service at Mizpah makes an impact on such an important Within the next few weeks you will receive your part of our Community is a darn Membership Commitment Letter. The Letter will give good reason for us to give you an opportunity to tell us the level of your financial thoughtful consideration to the commitment to Mizpah for the upcoming year. This level of our Financial article serves as a supplement to the Commitment Commitment. Letter. I would like to explore with you the WHY of our collective membership and WHY each of us should So, whatever your reason or Alan Richelson thoughtfully consider our financial commitment to WHY - please give thoughtful consideration to the level Mizpah. of your Financial Commitment. Lynn and I have a deep appreciation for our Mizpah THESE ARE EXCITING TIMES AT MIZPAH! membership. Simply, Mizpah and Reform Judaism was available for Lynn and me. Reform Judaism met our Sincerely, spiritual, ethical and theological needs and Mizpah met our congregant needs. We thank those numerous Alan Richelson members and leaders over the many years who by their President financial and volunteer commitments made it possible for Mizpah and Reform Judaism to be an integral part of Chattanooga Jewry when we needed it. So, I ask, what may be in your, your children, or your grandchildren’s future that is unforeseen? Will having Mizpah and MIZPAH-B’NAI ZION BUILDING UPDATE Reform Judaism available make a difference? Having a vibrant Reform Congregation in Chattanooga could With regard to the possibility that B’nai Zion will share make a very significant impact on the lives of those we our building—at this time there has been no significant cannot currently name. Like those who made Mizpah development to report to you. We have appointed a available for Lynn and me, we have a responsibility to Mizpah Working Group consisting of: Gary Chazen, make it available for those we cannot yet name. Stefanie DeOlloqui, Warren Dropkin, Frank Miller, Henry Schulson, and myself. We will formulate the There are more tangible and immediate reasons for us most basic questions that we must address before we to give thoughtful consideration to our level of Financial start to consider the many details. We will work with a Commitment. It could be our energetic and brilliant similar group from B’nai Zion. I understand that B’nai Rabbi, our outstanding Educational Staff led by Lily Zion will be making some temporary “shoring up” of their Dropkin, or it could be our beautiful and historic building. building in order to continue to occupy it while decisions In addition the various educational opportunities to learn are being made. And B’nai Zion has a Congregational more about Judaism, the engaging and meaningful meeting scheduled for March 10 to update their worship observances, the social events, and even our membership. fundraising events all give us a connection to our Congregational family and to our faith. Let me remind you that NOTHING will be done without the approval of the Mizpah Board and Membership. There is another element of our Membership for us to I will keep the process open and transparent. You may consider. It has to do with those personal needs that our always let me know if you have any questions or membership at Mizpah guides us through. It could be a concerns. birth, a B’nai Mitzvah, a wedding, an illness, a need for personal counseling, a time of bereavement, or just Alan Richelson having a familiar place to connect with friends. These President are some of the advantages that are available to you as a Mizpah member. And our membership also offers us an opportunity to offer our service; speaking from my experience, having a place to provide service to others is, itself, a reason for membership. The personal reward of making a positive impact is compelling. As strange as it may sound, having a place where our 2 A MESSAGE FROM YOUR YOUTH AND FAMILY COORDINATOR… Hi all! extra height before putting it in the oven, thinking that I’d give So, I recently tried out someone else’s recipe for them an extra advantage. When mandelbrot. For anyone who isn’t sure what that is, it came out of the oven, I mandelbrot is a tasty version of a biscotti cookie that all nitpicked. Even though they the bubbeleh seem to magically make every year. It’s hadn’t melted into a puddle in super versatile - you can make it with nuts, with fruit, the oven, they had weird splits even with chocolate chips! Everyone has their own tried that my recipe didn’t. But I was and true recipe; for me, once I start using a recipe, I wrong! The mandelbrot tasted Lily Dropkin don’t want to change! fine, if not the way I would have made it. It did not melt in the oven. It sliced and crisped up fine. Honestly, it was While running a cooking elective in Machanooga, our kind of a blow to my ego. I’d been so sure that I was Sunday program, a friend sent me their recipe to use, right - that my way was better - that I got tunnel vision. I telling me, “it did not require a mixer so it would be easy wasn't open to this recipe, to changing my ways. to do with kids.” “Great!” “That’ll be so easy”, I thought. My recipe uses a mixer, so I thought that it would be a great fit. Then I kept thinking: my recipe (and most that I had seen) requires putting the dough in the refrigerator. So, I looked again at the recipe that I had been given. I told myself that there was no way it could work - that the mandelbrot would just melt into nothing when you put it in the oven.