MJCBYCHESHVAN - KISLEV 5774 NOVEMBER 2013 NEWSVOLUME 109 NUMBER 3 Happy Thanksgivukkah! Inside Schedule of Services 2 Notes From Your Leaders 3 Synagogue News 5 Family News 10 School News 12 Youth News 14 Sisterhood News 16 Contributions 20 Yahrzeit 21 Calendar 23 Schedule Morristown Jewish Center of Services Beit Yisrael Friday, November 1 5:37pm Candlelighting CLERGY & STAFF Doug Landsman & Todd 6:15pm Services Rabbi David J. Nesson Schleifstein, Men’s Club Cantor Vadim Yucht Kathy Neibart, Membership Gerry Gross, Executive Director Saturday, November 2 Amy Weinstock, Minyonaires Shai Lewitter, USY and Kadima Advisor 9:30am Services Howard Baum & Paul Green, Ritual Karen London, Sababah Advisor 11:15am Tot Shabbat Lynne Rosenfeld & Jill Frankel, Adam Smith, Sababah Junior Advisor Co-Presidents of Sisterhood No Junior Congregation Mia Mutascio, Office Manager Trish Grushkin, Shalom Yeladim Sedra: Toldot Flo Sager, Religious School Administrator Committee Chair Bar Mitzvah of Daniel Bucca Michelle Nulman & Gail Sulkin, Louis Bodian, Social Action Co-Directors of Education Jeffrey Grayzel & Adam Smith, Friday, November 8 Tamara Goldberg, Bookkeeper Youth Groups 4:29pm Candlelighting Richard Gaskins, Custodian Peppi Glass, Adult Education 6:15pm Services EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE SISTERHOOD SUPPORT Saturday, November 9 Robert Berns & Fern Spitzer, Co-Presidents Judaica Gift Shop 9:30am Services Deborah Brody, First Vice President Meryl Balaban (973) 366-6668 No Junior Congregation Dorothy Cohen, Second Vice President Julie Perlow & Rebecca Wanatick, Sharon Barkauskas (973) 285-1877 Sedra: Vayetze Donna Gross (973) 895-5553 Bat Mitzvah of Jillian Kaplan Co-Third Vice Presidents Mark Bender, Treasurer Vivian Laska (973) 984-8178 Eric Weinstock, Immediate Past President Kiddush Committee Friday, November 15 Ira Hammer, Advisor Harriet Sakofs (973) 292-1959 4:22pm Candlelighting David Reingold, Advisor Michelle Usiskin (973) 543-5795 6:15pm Services Sisterhood Torah Fund ARMS OF THE SYNAGOGUE & Beth Hancock (646) 872-7000 Saturday, November 16 COMMITTEE CHAIRS Andrea Needel (973) 895-2807 9:30am Services Michael Needle, AIPAC Chapter Linda Rosenbaum (973) 895-2390 10:00am Junior Congregation Jeremy Diringer & Todd Schleifstein, Flower Fund Sedra: Vayishlach Board of Education Lauren Najarian (973) 343-7419 Bat Mitzvah of Andrea Moussan Mark Bender, Facilities Library Donor Wall Dorothy Cohen & Donna Gross, Fundraising Sharon Barkauskas (973) 285-1877 Friday, November 22 Marcy Needle, Gemilut Hasadim 4:17pm Candlelighting H. Lewis Stone, History Committee NEWSLETTER Keith Usiskin, Kol Nidre Appeal 8:15pm Services Steve Gardberg, Editor Lili Rosenstreich, Designer Saturday, November 23 Rita Fand, Donna Gross, Marcy Needle, 9:30am Services Bailey Rechler, Copy Editors 10:00am Junior Congregation Sedra: Vayeshev Bar Mitzvah of Joshua Zitomer Morristown Jewish Center Beit Yisrael is your community. Friday, November 29 Our clergy is here for you. Please let us know when you need us—if someone is 4:14pm Candlelighting ill or in the hospital—or when you want to share your good news: a new baby, a 6:15pm Services marriage, or other simcha. We want to know; but you have to tell us. Please call Saturday, November 30 the office at (973) 538-9292 or email office@mjcby. 9:30am Services org. When you have experienced the death of a loved No Junior Congregation one, please contact Rabbi Nesson at (973) 538-9292 Sedra: Miketz and Shabbat Hanukkah Bat Mitzvah Gabriella Neibart or (973) 285-9772 before you make any plans. In this way he will be the most helpful in making these preparations in a proper Jewish manner. 2 • CHESHVAN - KISLEV 5774 NOVEMBER 2013 FROM THE DESK OF THE RABBI Gobble Tov, It’s Thanksgivukkah! e have all nearest Plymouth Rock. The Maccabees faced down the “what ifs” Wheard it al- New food ideas like pumpkin latkes, ap- and the “God forbids” with confidence, ac- ready, and everyone ple-cranberry sauce and latke turkey stuff- tion and prayer. is so excited, that Thanksgiving and Hanuk- ing have further connected the holidays. The Pilgrims in their search for religious kah will converge this year. It is an historic There is a serious side, too, to this con- freedom did the same, and both survived moment. nection. As Jews and Americans we crave and thrived, and became powerful mo- The last time it happened was 1888, the core meaning shared by these two ments in the foundational stories of Amer- and the next time may have us lighting overlapping celebrations. ica and of Judaism. our candles from spaceships 79,043 years The Pilgrims and the Maccabees before I invite you join me on Sunday, Novem- from now, by one calculation. them are stories of religious freedom, and ber 24 at 10:30 am, just before the congre- There’s the commerce: A 9-year-old both groups were shaken by the over- gation Hanukkah celebration to more fully New York boy invented the “Menurkey” whelming odds they faced. explore the lessons of religious freedom and others have come up with a menorah After the Assyrian Greeks ruined our that we learn from both of these transfor- shaped like a turkey and have called it the holy temple in Jerusalem, the Maccabees mative moments. “Thanksgivukkah.” had only a small amount of the sacred oil In the meantime, enjoy your Menurkey! Songs have popped up and the Schech- needed for its reconsecration. They could ter Academy in Norwood, Massachusetts, have said, “There is not enough oil for the Rabbi Nesson proudly declares it is the Jewish day school entire task, why bother?” But they didn’t. ShopRite of Parsippany 808 Route 46, Parsippany NJ (973) 335-2625 Announces its New GLATT KOSHER SERVICE MEAT DEPARTMENT under the supervision of the MetroWest Vaad. The same high quality and low prices you expect from ShopRite and now KOSHER too!!! CHESHVAN - KISLEV 5774 NOVEMBER 2013 • 3 FROM THE EXECUTIVE Director Nu, Pew, Who’s a Jew? f you have not words”: JBR (Jews By Religion) and JNR participating in the present, preserving Iyet heard or read (Jews No Religion). JBR is a concept we the legacy of our past, and ensuring the about it, there is a can all understand and can be defined by continuity of our future. new study (just re- some or all of the following attributes: HOW?? leased a few weeks Belief in G-d, attend services, belong to a If each family or member would just at- ago) from the Pew Research Center with the synagogue, keep kosher, observe the holi- tend or assist with one event at MJCBY, title, A Portrait of Jewish Americans (2013). days, etc. However, the term JNR is a bit think about the impact and excitement This has become BIG news throughout the more befuddling. Post 1950s Jewish Amer- that that would generate. Just recently entire Jewish world in both the United ica, especially in major metropolitan areas, we had a Shabbat Dinner in the sukkah at- States and elsewhere, as it lays out a demo- has brought us kosher-style delis, going to tended by 140 adults and children and it graphic profile of Jews in America today as someone’s house for a seder “is enough,” was a “Magical Night.” well as the challenges for us going forward the Hanukkah bush and of course all nine We had two dozen members of the Men’s in the future. Here is a brief excerpt from seasons of Seinfeld. In other words, it is Club help us to raise our sukkah and no matter the study that will give you a sense of our easy to be Jewish as long as you live with- who huffed and puffed, it didn’t blow down. challenges moving forward: in three blocks of a good bagel store. You don’t have to attend nor can you at- “The changing nature of Jewish identity For now I will leave it to everyone else tend every event or activity, but your pres- stands out sharply when the survey’s re- to debate and analyze JBR, JNR and the ence and participation at even one event sults are analyzed by generation. Fully 93% implications of this new study. I suggest a is what makes us alive and a vibrant part of Jews in the aging Greatest Generation third acronym that may be more useful for of your lives. identify as Jewish on the basis of religion us, the members of the Morristown Jew- So bring your kids to Junior Congrega- (called “Jews by religion” in this report); ish Center in 2013, and that is JBC (Jews tion or other Shabbat Services, serve on just 7% describe themselves as having no By Commitment). To be a JBC doesn’t ask a committee or help with a single event. religion (“Jews of no religion”). By contrast, you about your personal beliefs or require Help us feed the hungry (Soup Kitchen) among Jews in the youngest generation of regular Shabbat attendance, although your or assist with those in need (Gemilut U.S. adults—the Millennials—68% identify presence here for any service is alwaysChevra Hasadim). Kadisha - TaharaSign up - Shomerfor Life Long Learn- with Rabbinic Supervision at Funeral Home as Jews by religion, while 32% describe welcome. No, being a JBC is about being ing and Adult Education Programs. Stay themselves as having no religion and iden- an active part of something bigger than in the building on Sunday morning when tify as Jewish on the basis of ancestry,Professional eth- ourselves. In our Friends world of 2013 of JewishMJCBY your kids are school to meet old and new nicity or culture.” You can read this entire America we are busier than ever with work, friends. We will put a pot of Joe(973) up 927-8850 for you. Susan M. Joseph Esq. 22 Route 10 West, Suite 201, Succasunna, NJ 07876 Lovas,report Akselrad by going & Joseph to: http://www.pewforum.