CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL “A Family of Families” June & July 2015 CALENDAR OF RELIGIOUS SERVICES >>> B’nai Mitzvah of Friday, June 5 Friday, July 3 Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Alex & Samantha Saturday, June 6 Saturday, July 4 Ryan Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am Shabbat Service @ 9:00am Saturday, June 13, 2015 Friday, June 12 Friday, July 10 Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Shabbat Service @ 6:00pm Alex and Samantha Ryan Saturday, June 13 Saturday, July 11 Shabbat Service @ 10:00 am Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am will be called to the Torah B’nai Mitzvah of Samantha & Alex Ryan Friday, July 17 as a Bar/Bat Mitzvah on Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Friday, June 19 Saturday, June 13, 2015 Shabbat Service @ 6:00pm Saturday, July 18 at 10:00 am. Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am Saturday, June 20 Shabbat Service @ 9:00 am Friday, July 24 Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Friday, June 26 Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Saturday, July 25 Shabbat Service @ 9:00am Saturday, June 27 Shabbat Service @ 9:00am Friday, July 31 Shabbat Service @ 6:00 pm Saturday, August 1 Shabbat Service @ 9:00am Torah Study Saturdays @ 11:00am Please come and join us PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE As I write my final article for the bulletin, I can’t help but reflect on my last two years as your president. It has been both better and more difficult than I could imagine. Attending more congregational events has been very fulfilling and meaningful and has truly made me more spiritual, and for that I am very CONGREGATION BETH ISRAEL appreciative. I must say, one of the best parts of being president is being behind the scenes and discovering the very 4402 Saratoga Blvd best in people. There are several people that spend many hours Telephone:361.857.8181 doing things for our congregation, and most members have no Fax: 361.857.8227 idea this occurs. I have been blessed to discover these little Email: [email protected] secrets. Special thanks to Susan Martin, Julia Noble and Bill Website: bethisraelcc.com Adams for all the little things you do behind the scenes. We are also fortunate to have staff that often goes beyond the scope of their regular duties. Thanks so much to Debbie Rabbis Bustillo, Mike Trimyer, Linda Bustillo and Natalie Honigbaum Ilan Emanuel, Rabbi for taking such good care of our congregation. Rabbi Kenneth Roseman, Rabbi Emeritus I have been fortunate to have been given a board that cares Staff deeply for their congregation and they have tried diligently to Debbie Bustillo, Office Administrator do what is right both religiously and financially. Together, we Meredith Ryan, Religious School Director have put in many hours to make Congregation Beth Israel a special place. Speaking of special, I feel fortunate to have Leslie Green, Shabbat Dinner Coordinator worked with two great spiritual leaders during my two years as president. I was honored to work with Rabbi Ken Roseman in CBI Executive Board his final year as our Rabbi, and then to work with Rabbi Ilan President Suzy Hilliard Emanuel in his first year here at CBI. I have learned a great First Vice President Chris Adler deal from my association with these two men. Second Vice President Mike Hiatt Secretary Chris Kuehn June will find us busily preparing for the annual congregational Treasurer Robin Adams meeting. We will be electing our new officers, hearing end of year reports, honoring some exemplary members and Past President Jim Gold approving a difficult budget. I feel the last two years have seen Sisterhood Representative Susan Martin a great deal of positive change and growth for our Committee Chairs congregation, but running a business the size of Congregation Adult Education Chair David Jacobs Beth Israel is expensive. If we want to continue to have a Cemetery Chairs Robert Adler wonderful religious school, great adult programming, Carl Kuehn, additional social activities and a beautiful facility, we will all Gary Blum need to share in the costs. And I truly believe that having all of these things and a great Rabbi are worth every penny. I am Ritual Committee Chairs Andrew Sheinberg asking that you help us by increasing both your financial Jim Gold support and your personal time commitments to our family of Membership Committee Chair Susan Martin families. Social Action Committee Chair Jim Gold Dues Committee Chairs Ann Engel Thank you again for all your support over these past two years. Leslie Kane Suzy Hilliard Building Chair Bill Adams Suzy Hilliard Grounds Chair Rikki Schmitchel President, Congregation Beth Israel Fine Arts Chair Laurie Mintz Page 2 Congregation Beth Israel Newsletter Alex & Samantha Ryan B’nai Mitzvah Samantha Margaret Ryan is a 6th grade straight A student at St. James Episcopal School. Her interests include reading, riding horses and most of all playing soccer. She has been the captain of her competitive girls soccer team for 3 seasons now and has proven to be a formidable player. Alexander Ian Ryan is a 6th grade student at St. James Episcopal School. He has played competitive soccer for the past two years and is currently the captain of his travelling team. When Alex isn't kicking the ball around and working on mastering his skills, he enjoys reading and spending time with his friends. Both Alex and Sam have chosen to raise money for the Corpus Christi Food Bank. They believe that it is critical to support the hungry in our own community and feel that their B'nai mitzvah is a perfect opportunity to make a difference. The Food Bank is a very efficient organization that can turn a small donation into many meals for needy people. There will be a designated box at Congregation Beth Israel where you can make a monetary donation to this very worthwhile cause. Samantha and Alex's very proud family consists of their parents, David and Meredith Ryan, their sister, Madeline, their brother, Jacob, their great grandmothers Alice Phelps of Chicago, IL and Bonnie Meeker of Phoenix, AZ, their grandparents Gordon and Susan Ryan of Virginia Beach, VA and their grandmother, Maggie McVety of Phoenix, AZ. They are also very loved by their aunts, uncles and many, many cousins. Please join us for a Kiddush Luncheon following services Saturday morning. Congratulations to our Confirmands Alex Fedder David Fedder Joe Fedder Neil Levens Madeline Ryan Lucy Silverman Sammy Susser Nathan Zager Congregation Beth Israel Newsletter Page 3 RABBI’S MESSAGE Summer is here again as is our summer bulletin. Summer is a time for fun and relaxation (hopefully!) and the time many big summer movies come out. So while you are enjoying the great blockbuster movies over the summer, I want to suggest some great Jewish movies to accompany them! First, of course, there is Fiddler on the Roof, the granddaddy of all Jewish movies and arguably the best. No other movie combines drama, comedy, sadness and sentimentality along with great songs in such a wonderful combination, while also dealing with the serious questions for Jews in America of balancing tradition and change. On a similar theme, but in a very different style is the hilariously funny The Frisco Kid starring the wonderful Gene Wilder as a bumbling but very committed Polish shtetl Rabbi who is literally mugged by America and learn to adapt to life as a Jew in the Wild West. For film history buffs, you might want to check out the first ever talking movie. That’s right, the first ever talking movie was a Jewish themed movie called The Jazz Singer, about the son of an orthodox cantor who wants to sing jazz rather than Kol Nidre and who assimilates, falls out, and eventually reconciles with his traditional father. The later remake with Neil Diamond is less historic but still quite enjoyable and the basic story was even used in the Simpsons when it turns out that Krusty the Clown is the son of a disapproving Rabbi Krustovski (voiced, of course, by Jackie Mason). For biblical epics, you cannot go far wrong with Cecil B De Mille’s The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston as arguably the toughest Moses ever. It’s long but truly epic in a way that movies cannot quite manage today. Alternatively, for the kids (and a lot of the adults!) you can’t go wrong with animated The Prince of Egypt that tells the story of Moses with a modern sensibility and some great songs. This one is my personal favorite and certainly much better than the most recent attempt at portraying Moses on the big screen. It also contains a wonderful performance by the late Ofra Haza, the great diva of Israeli pop, as Moses’ mother. On a sadder note there are of course numerous Holocaust themed movies. Obviously this theme does not lend itself to light summer viewing, but there few such movies that are touching and sometimes uplifting despite the horrifying background. One such movie is Au Revoir les Enfants a touching French film, based on true events, about a Catholic School Principal who hides Jewish children and the friendship between one of those children and a non Jewish classmate. Another foreign movie on this subject is Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella), Roberto Benigni’s poignant and surprisingly humorous film about a Jewish man in a concentration camp who tries to shield his son from the horror of what is happening around them by convincing him that this is all an elaborate game, eventually sacrificing himself to save his son’s life and innocence. Another poignant and sad selection is the documentary Trembling Before G-d, a documentary about the struggles of Orthodox gays and lesbians, who have tried or continue to try to live an orthodox Jewish life in a community that, at best, does not understand them and pities them, and at worst rejects them altogether.