VOL. 16, NO. 8 CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL • BELLINGHAM, WA 98225 • (360)(360) 733-8890 • APRIL 2012 • NISSAN — IYAR 5772 Holiday Office Closure : In observance of Pesach, the synagogue office will be closed on Friday, April 13, 2012 Shabbat Service Schedule A complete schedule of services is printed on the back page PESACH 5772 Israeli Dancing at Beth Israel AT th CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL Sunday, Apr. 15 6:30/7 PM - Come early if you’re a beginner, and join in Friday, April 6 First Night of Pesach. NO SHABBAT SERVICE at the synagogue. some folk-dancing fun. Cost: $5 do- nation to the Building Fund. Saturday, April 7 10:00 AM First Day of Pesach Festival Morning Service, followed by a catered Kosher l’Pesach luncheon (not a potluck) A Service for Yom HaShoah Friday, April 13 6:30 PM Shabbat and Festival Evening Service th Wednesday, Apr. 18 7:00 PM - Rabbi Saturday, April 14 10:00 AM Eighth Day of Pesach Festival Morning Service with Enger will lead a special commemora- Yizkor, followed by a catered Kosher l’Pesach luncheon (not a potluck) tive service in observance of Holo- The following is from Clal - The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. caust Remembrance Day (pg. 6) The Seder invites us to go back in time and see ourselves as those leaving Egypt. Why not also bring the past to life and invite the people who have left us, or who we have left Amy Evans Bat Mitzvah behind? They can still be with us, so why not have them join the Seder? It’s so st Saturday, Apr. 21 10 AM (pg. 4) traditional! Inviting guests to our tables, or being guests of others, is a custom as old as Passover itself — from the biblical invitation to come together to share the Paschal lamb, to the rabbinic tradition of opening the Seder by inviting all who are hungry to come and eat . Religious School Community Mtg For many people, the Seder is the largest gathering in their homes all year, and we th Wednesday, Apr. 25 7:00 PM Par- already set the table with a cup of Elijah and, in more recent years, of Miriam. Why not set ents of students, and other inter- an extra place at the table, and invite a person of your choice to join your Seder, even if ested members, are invited to attend they cannot be there in person? Who do you wish could be at your Seder this year? A this presentation/community meet- relative who cannot be with you? A friend with whom you have lost touch? Perhaps a ing (pg. 6) character from history who presence would add meaning to your conversation about freedom and redemption? Set a place for them, open your heart to them, and let them in. This year, invite each person at your Seder to continue the tradition of welcoming Yom HaAtzmaut Celebration guests to the table. Give everybody the opportunity to share who they wished were sitting th Friday, Apr. 27 6:00 PM - Following alongside of them. What question, memory, or story would you share with them? What Shabbat services, we will celebrate would they say to you about Passover, or about life? ... Invite them, and see. the 64th Anniversary of Israeli Inde- pedence with a festive dinner and a The Seder is also an appropriate time to raise awareness about the injustice of hunger and to remember those less fortunate. Go to page 5 to read how you can help. community sing-along (pg. 6) of obligation. Informed choice can be liberating, but it I remember one Shabbat afternoon, also carries with it responsibility. We don't always know during the year I lived in Jerusalem for the what's right. It's not easy to continuously ask and first year of rabbinical school, when I evaluate and decide whether our practice is in a state of walked from my apartment on King integrity -- with Jewish tradition and with our own sense George Street past Mahaneh Yehudah of rhythm and balance and what is right. It's not easy to through several neighborhoods into the Orthodox have the responsibility to decide what is right.” neighborhood where my father's cousin Leah and her “I never thought about it that way,” Leah said when I family lived. As Leah and I sat down for a late Shabbat finished. “That would not be easy.” afternoon nosh and visit, at some point in the conversation, she noted some of the various obligations Reform Judaism is not easy. Nor is it “Judaism light.” of an Orthodox Shabbat practice and added something When the early Reformers boldly declared that their like, “You Reform Jews have it easy.” relationship with Jewish law, halachah , would become I looked at her, thought for a moment or two, and one of guidance and instruction and an essential starting replied, “Not really.” There was a moment of quiet and point for ritual practice and all sorts of other then I continued on. “It's not easy to be a Reform Jew. decisionmaking -- but not the binding, determining, last We don't always have the clarity or the boundaries that say -- they changed Jewish life for so many of us, but they halachah provides. Each person individually and each did not make being Jewish, living as Jews, “doing Jewish” congregation as a community is ongoingly evaluating and easier. making decisions about practice and ritual and our sense (See FROM THE RABBI on page 2) Page 2 April 2012 The Shul Shofar CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL It was a cold and foggy night. The fog was getting thicker as we made our way into the county. At the point when I could no longer read the street signs, I The Shul Shofar turned on the GPS so that I would know when to turn the corner. We were on Volume 16, Number 8 our way to do a mitzvah: we were going to a shivah minyan to remember a April 2012 congregant’s mother. Nissan — Iyar 5772 The Shul Shofar is the bulletin of When I knew that we weren’t getting a minyan, I made a phone call to round up Congregation Beth Israel . It is published the tenth Jew so that we could recite Kaddish. The only one I could get to come monthly except in July, and distributed to wasn’t even a member of Congregation Beth Israel. all congregation members. Non-members may subscribe for $35/year (payable to We as a community are supposed to be there for each other during these CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL ). Advertising space (business card size) is pivotal moments of life. Even our mission statement affirms this. Where are available for $20/issue, or $15/issue for we as a community, and what is important to us? Are we lost in the fog? And an annual contract. what are we using for our GPS? Deadline for submission of all articles and calendar events for the TH T’tzlihu, May issue is A PRIL 15 . You are encouraged to submit your items via e- Jeff Jaffe mail. Please call the office at 733-8890 for more information. CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL From the Rabbi (Continued from page 1) Rabbi: Cindy G. Enger Not necessarily. “Anything goes” was never the Reform plan or intention. Executive Board Reform Jewish practice calls for making informed choices. To be informed, we President: Jeff Jaffe must engage with our texts and traditions as well as our practices. Study, Vice President: Mitch Press dialogue, debate and decisionmaking are both personal and communal. We still Secretary: Melissa Schapiro develop customs and practices in our personal lives, in our families and homes, Treasurer: Debbie Adelstein and in our synagogue communities. The custom of the place is the minhag hamakom. The challenge for us as a synagogue community is to articulate, Board Members decide upon, and communicate expected norms and practices. We may need to Katie Edelstein Gary Lazarus re-examine our practices from time to time. But we need to know what our Sylvia Fragner Marcia Lippman practices are and why we do what we do as well. Sabrina Freeman Dan Ohms The Religious Practice Leadership Team is currently exploring the question David Goldman Shelly Pravda of what our synagogue's practices are. Other committees and the Board of Steve Spitzer Directors, in other aspects of synagogue life, are looking at these questions as well. Now is an excellent time to do so. I encourage all of us to participate in Youth Representative: Julie Siegfried this type of exploration -- in our individual lives and in the life of the Brotherhood President: Alan Stone congregation. What is my Jewish practice -- in areas of prayer and study, in the Sisterhood Contact: Bonnie Stone giving of tzedakah and the doing of gemilut hasadim, acts of lovingkindness -- and why do I engage in these sacred obligations? What does it mean to be a Shofar Editor: Mary Somerville member of a synagogue community? And what does it mean to be Jewish You can reach us at: today? The spring holidays of Pesach and Shavuot are festivals of springtime as Congregation Beth Israel well as moments of Jewish identity; of opting in, taking stands that, by doing so, 2200 Broadway render us part of the Jewish people. We gather in our homes for Pesach sedarim Bellingham, WA 98225 to remember the exodus from Egypt and tell the story in ways that are phone: (360) 733-8890 meaningful and personal to us today. We take our rightful place at Mount Sinai fax: (360) 733-9842 with all of the Jewish people -- to receive God's love and gift of Torah, to renew e-mail: [email protected] the Covenant, to affirm our participation in Jewish life and peoplehood today.