SINAI NEWS A bi-monthly publication Issue 12, Volume 1 November-December 2012 • Cheshvan-Tevet 5773 Hannah Halaska, In this issue Zoe Styler and Jordan Arenzon Rabbi’s Corner 2 enjoy sufganiyot at the 2011 Latke Reflections, From the Cantor 3 Lunch. Search Committee Join us Lifelong Jewish Learning 4-9 December 9th! Women at Sinai 10 Brotherhood 11 Shabbat & Holiday Schedule Green Team 12 Shabbat Vayera Shabbat Vayeshev Genesis 18:1 - 22:24 Genesis 37:1 - 40:23 Chesed 13 Nov 2 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Dec 7 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Nov 3 Torah Study 8 am Dec 8 Torah Study 8 am Social Action Committee 13-14 Morning Minyan 9:30 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Shabbat Chayei Sara Shabbat Miketz Israel Committee 15 Genesis 23:1 - 25:18 Genesis 41:1 - 44:17 Nov 9 Rockin’ Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Dec 14 Chanukah Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Congregational Dinner 7:15 pm My Sinai 16 Dec 15 Torah Study 8 am Nov 10 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am “Scene” at Sinai 16-18 Shabbat Vayigash Shabbat Toldot Genesis 44:18 - 47:27 Genesis 25:19 - 28:9 Dec 21 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm What’s Happening 19 Nov 16 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Dec 22 Torah Study 8 am Nov 17 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Supporting Sinai 20-21 Morning Minyan 9:30 am Shabbat Vayechi Shabbat Vayetzei Genesis 47:28 - 50:26 November Calendar 22 Genesis 28:10 - 32:3 Dec 28 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Nov 23 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm December Calendar 23 Dec 29 Torah Study 8 am Nov 24 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am In the Sinai Family 24 Shabbat Vayishlach Genesis 32:4 - 36:43 Those We Remember 25 Nov 30 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Dec 1 Torah Study 8 am Contributions 26-28 Morning Minyan 9:30 am Rabbi David B. Cohen • Rabbi Emeritus Jay R. Brickman Director of Youth Education Barb Shimansky, MSW • Director of Administration Karen Lancina • Program Coordinator Jen Friedman Assistant to Rabbi Cohen Karen Hintz• School Administrator Jeri Danz • Bookkeeper Ilene Wasserman • Sinai News Nicole Sether Congregation Sinai • 8223 N. Port Washington Road• Fox Point, WI 53217 414.352.2970• 414.352.0944 (fax)• www.congregationsinai.org Page 2 November-December 2012 Rabbi’s Corner A Time for Every Experience Under Heaven: Embracing Sacred Aging If I had a nickel for every time, over the years, some- situation and needs. While the Chesed Committee won’t be one was surprised to learn my age (currently fifty two and able to address every need, we will be able to direct families holding steady), I’d be a very wealthy man. to resources within the wider community. “But you look so young!” comes the incredulous · As an adjunct to the rabbi and cantor’s pastoral response. efforts, a Bikkur Kholim team to visit congre- “I’m lucky to have good genes,” I reply gants who are limited in their ability to leave their modestly. Were I more truthful, I’d share the irony homes or care facilities. that my young looks are, in fact, a liability as a rabbi, a vocation in which one is assumed to have · Finding ways to connect our older congregants hit one’s stride and gained wisdom in one’s sev- to the younger generations. Some are blessed to enties. have attentive family in town; others would enjoy Believe me, I am not complaining. I had meaningful interaction with other congregants. grandparents who lived long, fulfilling lives. Yet, · Sponsor a support group for those caring for given what I have experienced with many Sinai’s their older parents and relatives. families, I am fully aware that, as Mae West is said to have put it: “getting old is not for sissies.” · Creating opportunities to honor the wisdom and We are all getting older. I was born at the tail end of experience of our older congregants. the baby boom, a part of history’s largest demographic shift · A series of book discussions led by Rabbi Cohen focusing on into older age. First with our parents and then for ourselves, books like Daniel Boorstin’s The Discoverers, in which he we are confronting the challenge of aging and mortality, and addresses the invention of time and how humans created it addressing existential questions of the highest order. to break free of being imprisoned by nature; or Mitch Albom’s As Rabbi Richard Address writes: “Who am I? Why wonderful recent allegory The Time Keeper (2012) in which am I here?” These are questions that guide us – or haunt us he writes how we are the only creatures that “mark” time, – our entire lives. As we age, these questions take on new fear is that we will run out of time, yet make concerted efforts relevance, all the more so as we face the daunting challeng- to, as the Bible puts it, “…number our days that we may ac- es of our aging society. We are seeing the health of our par- quire a heart of wisdom”; and Heschel’s essay on “The Sab- ents decline. We are deferring retirement in a difficult econo- bath: Holiness in Time” that brings the particular Jewish ap- my. We are becoming caregivers for loved ones. We are strug- proach to time into focus. gling with our own issues of health and wellness. Where do we turn for guidance in navigating these uncharted waters? · Finding ways to provide transportation to enable older mem- Where do we now seek meaning in our lives? bers to attend Shabbat services. Jewish tradition is a place to inquire and our Sinai There are myriad ways we can meet the challenges community has begun to ask ourselves, in the midst of such and opportunities of growing older together. We are limited a demographic shift, how can we best embrace these chal- only by our imagination and willingness to help. Growing old lenges and opportunities? The Chesed (loving kindness) Com- is a sacred opportunity and each of us is positioned to realize mittee, chaired by Amy Newman, and with the help of Sally “sacred aging”, that is, aging with a growing sense of mean- Moskol, are spearheading the process of assessing the ing and purpose, for ourselves and for others. I hope you will needs, identifying the opportunities and meeting the chal- join us in this sacred task. lenges. You are invited to join us at Sinai Monday night, No- Rabbi David B. Cohen vember 19th, at 7:15 pm. to talk, brainstorm, and identify issues, resources, and ways we can respond as a community. What might some of those responses look like? Here are some examples: · Inviting congregants with older relatives to contact Amy New- man or Sally Moskol to let us know about their loved ones’ Sacred Aging Meeting Join us at Sinai Monday, November 19th, 7:15 PM We’ll talk, brainstorm, and identify issues, resources and ways we can respond as a community. November-December 2012 Page 3 Reflections American higher education is in crisis. Students spend on the average of $100,000, far more for an advanced degree, and emerge, unable to find employment. My solution is to establish a college with a sharp division between occupational training and study of the liberal arts. By way of precedent, there are two examples that are suggested by historic Jewish experience. Our tradition teaches that in addition to the “Written Law”, the Five Books revealed to Moses, there was revealed at the same time an Oral Law, i.e. an authentic method of interpretation. The intellectual and political leaders in the tra- ditional Jewish community were the rabbis, who interpreted the law to address contemporary circum- stances. Rabbis in the early centuries were not paid for their services. They made a living as crafts- men: shoemakers, carpenters, doctors. My first visit to the Holy Land was in 1947, just prior to the establishment of a Jewish state. The economy was primitive. There were few academic positions for those with advanced degrees from European universities. As a consequence, world leaders in Jewish scholarship pursued their studies, published articles and books, on their own time. Like the rabbis of old, their livelihood was gained, in many instances, as craftsmen or trades people. In the institute of higher learning which I envision, one half of the students’ time will be spent preparing for a trade. In our High-tech society, many available positions now go unfulfilled for want of trained applicants. Occu- pational study, which will occupy two full years of training, will be limited to situations for which help is in demand. The balance of the student’s study time will be directed to study of the liberal arts, affording him or her the basic knowledge of: art, history, literature, science. Graduates will possess prerequisites essential both to gaining a livelihood, and being enlightened and re- sponsible citizens of a world community. Rabbi Jay R. Brickman President’s Report-From the Cantor Search Committee The President’s report this At its first meeting, committee members brain- month comes from Rick Meyer, on stormed key values that the congregation seeks in a new can- behalf of the Cantor Search Commit- tor. Over fifty (50) characteristics were listed in eight (8) ma- tee in order to keep you informed. jor categories. These characteristics will be prioritized and are part of the criteria which will serve as the basis for sub- The search for a new Congre- mission of a formal position application that will be filed with gation Sinai cantor is officially under- and used by the ACC with interested potential applicants.