AND STILL GROWING 65 STRONG Temple Beth Sholom 401 Roslyn Road, Roslyn Heights, NY • www.tbsroslyn.org • 516-621-2288 November/December 2016 • Tishri Cheshvan 5777/Keslev Tevet 5777 presenting... Club TBS DISCO NIGHT an evening of casino, dinner and dancing Saturday, December 3, 2016 7:30pm - midnight Temple Beth Sholom | 401 Roslyn Road Party Attire Raffles | Silent Auction | Vendors | Open Bar $136 per person Sponsorships Available Bronze $360 | Silver $500 | Gold $1000 | Platinum $1800 BRONZE & SILVER INCLUDE TWO TICKETS GOLD & PLATINUM INCLUDE FOUR TICKETS AND TEMPLE RECOGNITION AND TEMPLE RECOGNITION FROM THE RABBI’S DESK by Rabbi Alan B. Lucas Heshvan or Marheshvan? What is the real name of this month? he new Hebrew month But, the Pri Hadash gives us yet another opportunity to of Heshvan begins Tues- consider this month’s unique status. Fall is seen by many T day evening, November as a sad (dare I say bitter) time. It is associated with death 1 and Wednesday, November and decay: the leaves fall, plants die, the weather turns 2. Heshvan is the eighth month in the Hebrew calendar. cold and gloomy and soon the ground will be covered by In the secular calendar January 1 marks the first day of snow. One of the original biblical names for this month is the first month of the new year (1/1). But in the Hebrew Blul – which seems to capture this notion – as it means calendar the first month is Nisan celebrating Passover and “drying up.” the “beginning of our history as But for those of us who have seen a people.” Rosh Hashanah which our share of falls and winters, we celebrates the beginning of a new " ...the turning inward that is know that this is not a bitter time year is the first day of the seventh represented by fall and winter are at all. Fall and winter are a neces- month – Tishrei (7/1). Tishrei is a just as important as the turning sary preparation for next year’s month filled with holy days: Rosh outward that is typical of spring spring and summer. From a spiri- Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, tual perspective – the turning in- Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. and summer. We hibernate in ward that is represented by fall Our cup runneth over in Tishrei; order to cultivate the self, renew and winter is just as important as not so in Heshvan. Heshvan is the our inner energies, nurture and the turning outward that is typical only month of the year that does of spring and summer. We hiber- not contain a single holiday. nourish our souls so that when the warmth of summer sunshine nate in order to cultivate the self, There is a bit of a controversy as to renew our inner energies, nurture whether the name of the month is returns we will have something and nourish our souls so that when actually Heshvan or Marheshvan. to shine forth, a cultivated the warmth of summer sunshine A common popular explanation is soul.....The cycle of seasons, returns we will have something to that Mar which means “bitter” in mirrors a cycle in our souls, the shine forth: a cultivated soul. We Hebrew was an appellation that also know that there is a beauty to was added to the original Heshvan transformation of the external the dying leaves of fall and the win- name to emphasize the bitterness world teaches us much about the ter snows that are every bit as ma- of a month without any holidays to transformation of our internal jestic as the beauty of a summer celebrate. It is a cute explanation, day and the fresh smell of spring. but like many cute explanations, is world...there is work to be done Heshvan begins the extended peri- probably not true. Scholars believe inside our souls as we prepare od that exists between the festival that some formulation of Marhesh- and anticipate the renewal of life of Sukkot which we just completed van was probably the original name outside our souls." and the festival of Pesach which, of the month and a derivative of God willing, we will be privileged the Akkadian for 8th month. __ Rabbi Alan B. Lucas to celebrate together in the spring. The Pri Hadash (Even Ha’ezer In the meantime – during this ex- 126:7) born in Livorno in 1691, offers the only explanation tended period of time that begins with Heshvan, the spiri- that I know of for calling this month by the two-word name tual seeds which were planted on the High Holy Days and Mar Cheshvan. He suggests that the name Mar Cheshvan on Sukkot have time to germinate, and grow – so they will is based on the fact that it is the beginning of the rainy finally bear fruit in Nisan with our observance of Passover. season in Israel. The Targum translated mar as a drop, as The cycle of seasons mirrors a cycle in our souls, the trans- in the verse “Hen goyim k’mar midli — Behold, the nations formation of the external world teaches us much about are as a drop of [water from] a bucket” (Isaiah 40:15). As the transformation of our internal world. The summer has such, the name means the “rainy Heshvan,” and far from passed, the fall is here and the winter will soon be upon us. mar meaning bitter, it connotes a month of blessed rain. There is work to be done inside our souls; as we prepare Pulpit rabbis have long been reluctant to characterize and anticipate the renewal of life outside our souls. Heshvan as a bitter month. After the long holiday season Bitter Heshvan? I think not. I wish you all a “rainy” which began with Rosh Hodesh Elul back on August 23 – Heshvan; a fruitful, fertile, prolific, abundant rewarding the “holiday” season is a wonderful but challenging time and effective fall and winter. for rabbis and Heshvan is usually a welcome respite and hardly bitter. Rabbi Alan B. Lucas Temple Beth Sholom 2 CANTOR'S NOTES by Cantor Ofer Barnoy Poverty and Hunger in Israel t’s almost hard to fathom them goes directly to feed children and the elderly via their that in countries like Israel meals-on-wheels programs which deliver daily meals direct- Iand America, where ev- ly to schools and homes. They also run a number of “soup erything is in abundance, that kitchen restaurants” across Israel. You can check out all the there are still thousands of people living in the shadows of work they do at their website, MeirPanim.org poverty, not even able to have enough food at home to ade- Last month we mailed an invitation to the benefit concert quately feed their children, and this is assuming they with a reply card to the entire membership. In ad- aren’t homeless to begin with. Homelessness dition to TBS there are a few other local syna- is largely a problem for single individuals gogues who are joining forces with us for but poverty is a financial disease that " In Israel, there are this cause and it is my hope that you will strikes entire families. Due to un- many programs that support join me together with all the mem- foreseen events such as job loss, disabled people and wounded army bers of these synagogues so that business failure or medical crises, veterans but the government finds it our event is packed with 100’s of parents can no longer afford to very difficult to adequately deal with its people to enjoy the evening and provide for the basic needs of growing poverty problem... Poverty has show our support for the every- their family and are forced to implications for whole communities beyond day heroes in Israel who are become part of the unfortu- doing amazing work through nate tier of society which are those people that it touches personally... Why do I bring this up? Because on Sunday, the Meir Panim organization. often the last to be handled Perhaps together we can help by government and social as- November 6th we will have a benefit concert to help the Israeli society deal with this to ease the burden of poverty sistance programs. In Israel, in Israel. Our goal is to raise there are many programs that issue. Many private organizations have set $150,000 for Meir Panim and I support disabled people and up programs across Israel to deal with am proud to say that by the time wounded army veterans but the Poverty and the organization that we I sat down to write this on Octo- government finds it very difficult have chosen to support this time ber 20th we were well on our way to adequately deal with its grow- is 'Meir Panim'." to meeting it. ing poverty problem. Poverty has ex- panded to every corner of Israel, even to __ Cantor Ofer Barnoy I want to thank all my colleagues from the largest cities where people in the high our neighboring synagogues for helping me tech industries, doctors, lawyers and business and for participating in the concert and fundrais- owners alike live quite comfortably in gated communi- ing effort and especially to Cantor Avi Albrecht for spear- ties and luxury high-rises alongside low income communi- heading this benefit. Cantor Albrecht will be our special ties where families are struggling to meet daily and monthly guest star artist and I hope you will not miss it! expenses. In outlying and desert communities the problem is even worse because people literally get trapped in those Cantor Ofer Barnoy areas by poverty which can last into their next generations, creating hopelessness and breeding violence like we see in our own inner cities and government housing “projects”.