May 2018 16 Iyar - 17 Sivan 5778 The 2018 Dave Feder Concert - page 17 A Look Back at This Year’s Seders - page 31 Shavuot and Lag B’Omer - page 45 Keys Jewish Community Center P.O. Box 1332 • Tavernier, FL 33070 • 305-852-5235 • keysjewishcenter.com Chai-Lights May 2018 1 May 2018 16 Iyar – 17 Sivan Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 Film Lag Joyce Peckman 7 p.m. B’Omer Zero Sisterhood Motivation 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Sisterhood Film Meeting Erica Lieberman- 7 p.m. 9 a.m. Garrett The Story Board of the Meeting Bernie Ginsberg & Six-Day 11 a.m. Medina Roy War 13 14 15 16 17 18 Shavuot Dinner 19 Yom Yizkor Armed Yerushalayim Rosh Tikkun Leil Learning Forces Chodesh Bernie Ginsberg Day Mother’s Day Sivan & Jeffrey Schocket Sisterhood 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Sam Vinicur & Gloria Avner Medina Roy 27 28 29 30 31 Memorial Day 2 Chai-Lights May 2018 2018 - 2019 KJCC Officers and Board President’s Message President Beth Hayden Beth Hayden Executive Vice President Shalom u’vracha, Susan Gordon KJCC has just completed its the start of Vice Presidents annual round of Seders. It was the last report- Gloria Avner • Michael Kaufman • Medina Roy indeed a whirlwind of celebra- ed rosh chodesh and the newly Treasurer tion with the Women’s Seder, reported rosh chodesh. Festi- Linda Kaplan KJCC First Night Seder and the vals and holydays were then Recording Secretary Islamorada Fishing Club sec- calculated for the new month Arthur Itkin ond night Community Seder. and word was sent out from Corresponding Secretary To Sisterhood and all the won- Jerusalem. It took time for Joyce Peckman derful KJCC cooks and helpers word to be circulated and mis- Financial Secretary – heartfelt thanks for your will- takes had to be taken into Donna Bolton ingness to move tables, deco- consideration, therefore an Directors rate, set tables, review hagga- extra day was added for cele- Ken Atlas • Marc Bloom • Jane Friedman Steve Hartz • Mitch Harvey dahs, print haggadahs, and brations outside the land to Beth Kaminstein • Erica Lieberman-Garrett perform the myriad tasks that ensure festivals were not Linda Pollack • Skip Rose • Stuart Smith need performing in order to ended too early. Sisterhood make an event successful. Not Pesach is also one of the - shalosh regalim שלוש רגלים -Susan Gordon only did you succeed, you ex Adult Education & Librarian celled in creating a wonderful (three pilgrimage) festivals Medina Roy Pesach for all. which include Pesach, Shavuot Historian Pesach (Passover) begins and Sukkot. Pesach is the first Mary Lee Singer on the 15th of the Hebrew of the “pilgrimage festivals”, so Resident Scholar month of Nisan and lasts for called because in ancient times Rabbi Richard Agler, DD seven days (in Israel and for when the Temple stood, Jews Past Presidents progressive Jews) or eight traveled to Jerusalem during Joel S. Cohen days for Orthodox, Hasidic, these agriculture related festi- Robert Faeges Ronald Horn and most Conservative Jews vals in order to pray and sacri- chutz l'aretz- fice. Thus, on the second day) חוץ לארץ Lester Nieman living in Irving Stein Myron Rubin outside the land of Israel). of Pesach, we begin counting Bea Graham Exodus commands the Israel- the Omer so that in 7 weeks George Swartz ites to celebrate Pesach for times 7 days we arrive at the Susan Horn Jim Boruszak seven days. So why eight days festival of Shavuot (aptly Joel Pollack outside the land? The answer named “weeks”). Shavuot is Jeff Schocket Steve Steinbock lies in the way our forefathers also known as chag ha- Alan Beth observed and decreed bikkurim (festival of first fruits) Stuart Sax Bernard Ginsberg holydays. The Jewish calendar, and chag matan Toratainu Sam Vinicur as we all know, is a lunar cal- (Festival of the giving of our endar. The beginning of a new Torah). Traditionally Jews ab- Editor Gloria Avner month required two eyewit- stain during the Counting of nesses to view a full moon the Omer from parties, wed- Design & Production Heather Seal (rosh chodesh – head or “start” dings, cutting hair. Ashkenazi of the month) and report back Jews relax this observance on CHAI-LIGHTS is the rd monthly publication of the to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, the 33 day of the Omer and Keys Jewish Community Center which would then determine Sephardim on the 34th day – P.O. Box 1332, Tavernier, Florida 33070 [email protected] how many days fell between known as Lag B’Omer. ◊ Chai-Lights May 2018 3 Shavuot and Torah Learning Nosh We may not be having Torah learning with Rabbi Agler at Shabbat morning services again Book Club Meets Again until the fall, but we will have another chance to The ten women who attended the Sisterhood engage with Torah study under his guidance on book club meeting at Mangrove Mike’s on April May 18th. Come to our Shavuot dinner at 6:00 30th enjoyed a vigorous discussion. Gloria p.m., eat delicious dairy foods, stay for Shabbat Goldreich’s richly imagined and well researched and Yizkor services (the last Yizkor until Yom Kip- book about the lives of the Chagall family (Marc, pur), and along with an oneg dessert of fruit and Bella, and daughter Ida) in France at the time of cheesecake, join Rabbi Agler for Tikkun Leil Shavu- Hitler’s rise to power in Europe gives one a real ot. Tikkun means repair. Leil Shavuot means Shavu- feel for the country and the struggles faced by ot night. We will make up for our sleepy people Jews, whatever their social status. We heartily at the foot of Mount Sinai millennia ago nearly recommend it whether you are interested in the failing to waken for the moment of receiving the lives of Jews, art and artists of that fertile but gift of Torah. The Torah giving (sorry, not the dangerous period, or if you just like a well- cheesecake) is the true high point of this holiday written story with high drama, colorful charac- and signifies our covenant, the signing on to be ters and important Jewish themes. Next month’s God’s “chosen” people. We were chosen to selection will be “The Book Club” by Mary Alice shoulder tremendous responsibility. (Actually, Monroe. The group will meet on Monday, May “selected” or “appointed” would be better terms, 21st at noon; the location has yet to be decided as they don’t have the historical baggage.) This so watch Beth’s Tuesday announcements. Randi will be our night to stay awake and study, just as Grant assures us that the club will continue the mystics of Tsfat decided to do, from the meeting monthly throughout the summer. Brava. 1600s forward, from nighttime until dawn. (We’ll hopefully make it through to ten p.m. :-) Jane’s Garden Grows The Food Bank at Burton Memorial Church The Return of Sofers on Site has never been able to offer as much fresh or- More than two years ago we (Sam, Bernie, ganic produce as it has during this past month. Gene and I, Gloria) took our Holocaust Torah to Each week Jane Friedman, organic farmer extraor- Miami for a physical exam. Letters were flaking, dinaire, harvests large overflowing boxes of eve- some stitching was weak, places were faded or rything from baby eggplants to bunches of bok stained, and our sacred trust had lost its standing choy, tomatoes, herbs and colorful peppers, and in terms of kashrut, or kosherness. The scribes then hand delivers it, at the peak of freshness, to (sofrim, in Hebrew) unrolled it (in what seemed to Betsy at Burton. (The gratitude goes both ways. us a magical much too fast dance at the time), They have been very kind in allowing us shower declared it beautiful, validated its time period and privileges for our Scubi Jews when they visit.) origin, told us what it would take to make it wor- If you have attended any Shabbat evening ser- vices recently, you know that we have been re- Leaf on the Tree of Life cipients of garden bounty as well. Gigantic bowls of artistic salads and sautéed mixed vegetable To celebrate the marriage of curries regularly appear on our tables, created by Jane with whatever is ripe that week. Our after- Gerri & Frank Emkey service oneg noshes have become more like ten years and going strong healthy mini-dinners. Thank you, Jane. Another by Linda and Skip reason to come to KJCC on Erev Shabbat? 4 Chai-Lights May 2018 May Birthdays thy again, and then, as a congregation, we com- mitted not merely to making it whole and kosher 1st………………………………Cheryl Margulies but to enhance its stunning beauty by removing 2nd………………………………Barney Coltman stains and creating an event in which all of us 2nd…………………………….Raymond K. Hess could take part. Everyone whose hand touched 4th……………………………Laura Leigh Tallent the scribe’s feather that day as he wrote a letter, th 5th………………………………Richard Palacino got credit for the 613 commandment, or mitz- 7th……………………………...Murray Rapoport vah: “Write for yourself a new song.” 7th…………………………………Scott M. Pearl Rabbi Moshe Druin, who oversaw our resto- 7th…………………………..Skyler Bella Strasser ration, will be visiting us soon, to inspect, and if 8th……………………………...Kelley Greenman required, to repair whatever needs updating for 8th………………………………Sidney Boruszak our scroll to retain its “kasher” status. We trust 9th…………………………………Gary Margolis that our periodic unrolling and airing out (thank 9th…………………………………….Reid Schur you if you were one of the helpers) will have 11th………………………………...Richard Agler kept up its good condition.