SINAI NEWS Spring-Summer Edition 2010 • Iyyar-Elul 5770 Shavuot Holiday Schedule In this issue Erev Shavuot and Affirmation Come join us Tuesday, May 18, at 7:00 pm as we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot and Affirmation Rabbi’s Corner, 2 of our 10th grade students. The ceremony of Affirmation is a time when our oldest students in the President’s Message school affirm their identities as Jews, a process that was started when they were consecrated and continued past their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. It is a group ceremony that affirms the importance of the Cantor’s Notes 3 "peoplehood of Israel." Come and celebrate with our students as they affirm their participation in both the people of Israel and our Congregation Sinai. Oneg to follow service. Lifelong Jewish Learning 4-5 And then...Study into the night! 9:30 pm Chassidic Texts and Stories with Rabbi David Cohen What’s Happening 6-7 10:15 pm Yummy dairy snack break 10:30 pm Women's Poetry with Dr. Sherry Blumberg “Scene” at Sinai 8 Shavuot Service (with Yizkor) on Wednesday, May 19 at 9:00 am. Sinai Committees 9-10 Spring Shabbat & Holiday Schedule Social Action 11-12 Shabbat Behar May 29 Torah Study 8 am Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34 Morning Minyan 9:30 am May 7 Minyan Katan 5:30 pm Shabbat Sh’lach My Sinai 13-15 K4-2nd Grade & Congregational Numbers 13:1 - 15:41 Dinner 6 pm June 4 Family Shabbat Service 7 pm Family Shabbat Service 7 pm Supporting Sinai 16-17 June 5 Torah Study 8 am May 8 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Rebecca Klippel Bat Mitzvah 10 am Sinai Directory 18-19 Shabbat Bamidbar Shabbat Korach Numbers 1:1 - 4:20 Numbers 16:1 - 18:32 May 14 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm May/June Calendars 20-21 June 11 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm May 15 Torah Study 8 am June 12 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am In the Sinai Family 22 Erev Shavuot Exodus 19:1 - 20:23 & Numbers 28:26 - 28:31 Shabbat Chukat May 18 Shavuot and Affirmation Service 7 pm Numbers 19:1 - 22:1 Those We Remember 23 June 18 Shabbat Limud 6:15 pm Study into the Night begins at 9:30 pm May 19 Shavuot and Yizkor Service 9 am June 19 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am My Sinai Summer 24-26 Shabbat Nasso Numbers 4:21 - 7:89 Shabbat Balak May 21 Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Numbers 22:2 - 25:9 High Holy Days 27 Special Oneg honoring Dr. Blumberg June 25 Wine and Cheese 5:30 pm Outdoor Shabbat Service 6:00 pm May 22 Torah Study 8 am July/August Calendars 28-29 Morning Minyan 9:30 am June 26 Torah Study 8 am Morning Minyan 9:30 am Shabbat Beha’alotcha Numbers 8:1 - 12:16 Contributions 30-31 May 28 Music Shabbat Service 6:15 pm Rabbi David B. Cohen • Cantor Rebecca Robins • Rabbi Emeritus Jay R. Brickman Director of Lifelong Jewish Learning Sherry H. Blumberg, Ph.D., R.J.E. Director of Administration Karen Lancina • Program Coordinator Jen Friedman • 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 May-August 2010 Rabbi’s Corner WHY BELONG TO A SYNAGOGUE? Why do synagogues matter? Simply put, they provide with God. The spiritual quest is alive and well and openly a place to meet three intrinsic human needs: the need to be- embraced. long; the need to believe; and the need to become. Today’s challenge to belief centers less on the nature of It’s been said we Jews are a hopelessly communal God, and more on the truth of the Torah’s moral message. In people. We want to belong, to feel noticed and needed. Unfor- our multicultural society, we are taught that what’s right for tunately, we participate in so many communities, you may be right for you and wrong for me. When we feel only an attenuated sense of allegiance to subjected to the caveat of relativity, the Ten Com- any one group. The soccer team, the civic group, mandments can be reduced to the ten sugges- professional associations, the boy scouts and tions. brownies, each of these lays partial claim to our It’s become impolitic to express the belief that attention, based on a limited set of mutual inter- the Torah speaks clearly and universally about ests. what’s right and wrong. Indeed, I feel the Torah We relate to each as a consumer. The didn’t get it right every time, e.g. the death pen- synagogue is different; it’s a community of cove- alty for Sabbath desecrators or homosexual rela- nant. Relating to a community as a consumer is tions, but Jewish law provided a corrective when different than relating to it as a covenantal part- science overtook ancient erroneous assumptions. ner. Where the consumer approach to community Occasional errors aside, the Torah provides a is transactional, the covenantal approach is relational. Where framework for justice that is True with a capital ―T‖ and the consumer approach is contingent, the covenantal ap- ought not be marginalized through the lens of multicultural- proach is committed. Where the consumer approach is indi- ism. To assert there is an ultimate right and wrong might not vidualistic, the covenantal approach is communal. be politically correct, but it is the irreducible essence of Pro- In contrast to the consumer approach, synagogues phetic Judaism, and if we consider that message seriously, are intended to be a covenantal community of caring, a place we’ll be doubly motivated to act on our beliefs, to bring jus- where each person is noticed and valued, his accomplish- tice and compassion to the world. ments communally celebrated, her losses collectively Last, the synagogue provides not only a place to mourned. Reform synagogues, in particular, present a radically belong and act on our beliefs – it also is a place to become. inclusive approach to community, embracing Jews irrespective Just as Judaism is not a static set of beliefs and behavior, of color, sex, status as an interfaith family, age, or sexual ori- but rather is constantly evolving, each of us is somewhere entation. Such diversity not only strengthens our community; it on our ―Jewish Journey.‖ No matter where you are on that models Judaism’s most central and enduring values. journey – even if you’re at the beginning! - the synagogue An important caveat: as every volunteer knows, the provides a place to experiment, to learn, to reflect, explore laws of physics don’t apply, as we know them – when we get and discover, to be empowered, and to experience life en- involved in the synagogue, we often get back much more than riched with a sense of meaning and a sense of purpose. we give. Belonging. Believing. Becoming; three intrinsic hu- The synagogue is also a place to explore one’s beliefs. man needs, each of which can be met through involvement As Jews, we tend to stress the importance of action over be- in the synagogue. Think about it. The S.S. Sinai sets sail lief, but it’s in a reform synagogue that you would be more soon and we’d love to have you aboard! likely to encounter a conversation about one’s relationship Rabbi David Cohen From the President I have learned from being president of Sinai that ONE resonates for each of us. We want to have our precious each day I have a lot to learn. "I've time commitments to have purpose. Let’s make that happen learned that people will forget what you by being an active participant in synagogue life. This last have said, people will forget month I helped with the Purim festivities. I am always grati- what you have done, but people will fied when I see the tireless dedication of volunteers. Jill, never forget how you made them feel." Bobbi, the Brotherhood, Jenni, Annie………the list is endless. And that speaks to our warm and caring It reminds me that our synagogue is a place where commu- congregation. nity is created and strengthened. Our volunteers come in all Sinai is a blessing. We need to shapes and sizes. Some are retired and choosing to devote care for it and nurture it. We need to time to the synagogue, others are working and raising chil- experience our personal mitzvah mo- dren; yet all manage to find ways to give back to the commu- ments by volunteering. The power of Continued on page 3 May-August 2010 Page 3 Cantor’s Notes In college, I drove a four-door Honda Civic. It was nection. Love to explore new recipes? Jill Weinshel can’t black, and the New York State license plate on the back read wait to welcome you to Sinai Cooks to cook and chat! Ready QTPIE24. No I’m not kidding, and yes, I am slightly embar- to start training for that 5K? Call Carrie Ellerbrock, and she rassed to admit this to you all. Nevertheless, Potsdam was can help you set up a group here at Sinai to train with. about eight hours from Long Island, and every time it came to Under the leadership of Program Coordinator Jen break, my friend Philly Greco and I would get into my Civic Friedman, Membership Committee chairpersons, Elyse Cohn (with whomever needed a ride), and Philly - always proudly in and Carrie Ellerbrock, a dynamic environment of diverse and the front seat, would announce: ―here we go Becca - its all interesting opportunities is emerging at Sinai.