January 2018 14 Tevet - 15 Shevat 5778 KJCC Chanukah Recap - page 35 For the Love of Special Olympics - page 41 Tu Bish’vat, the Second New Year - page 48 Keys Jewish Community Center P.O. Box 1332 • Tavernier, FL 33070 • 305-852-5235 • keysjewishcenter.com Chai-Lights January 2018 1 January 2018 14 Tevet – 15 Shevat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blessing Mindy Agler of the post-Irma Joyce Peckman Fleet counseling Beth Hayden 6–7 p.m. at KJCC 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Shabbaton Mindy Agler Rabbi classes & lunch Sisterhood post-Irma Ed Rosenthal 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. counseling Meeting Shabbaton Havdalah with 10:00 a.m. 6–7 p.m. at dairy dinner KJCC 6:00 p.m. Rabbi Ed Joyce Peckman 5:45 - 6:00 p.m. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Mindy Agler KJCC Board MLK post-Irma Steve Hartz Meeting Federal counseling 10:00 a.m. Holiday 6–7 p.m. at Patricia KJCC Isenberg 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Mindy Agler 6-7 p.m. Rabbi Agler Steve Steinbock Torah Service Art 10:00 a.m. Discussion Steve Steinbock Group 7:00 p.m. 28 29 30 31 Mindy Agler 6-7 p.m. Tu BiShvat (New Year for the Trees) 2 Chai-Lights January 2018 2017 - 2018 KJCC Officers and Board President’s Message President Beth Hayden Beth Hayden Executive Vice President Gloria Avner Shalom uvracha, Thanks to all for a wonder- Vice Presidents ful Channukah and a fabulous shelter. This Marc Bloom • Michael Kaufman • Medina Roy dinner. KJCC is now entering menorah ap- Treasurer Linda Kaplan its “in season” busy time. We pears on the Arch of Titus in have many unique and won- Rome following the destruction Recording Secretary derful activities planned for of the second Temple in 70 Arthur Itkin you, so please pay careful C.E. Even in this early depic- Corresponding Secretary Joyce Peckman attention to Chai-Lights and tion, the base of the menorah the weekly announcements. has changed from the original Financial Secretary Donna Bolton As I watched the Channuki- tripod shape to a solid base. yot being lit at our Channu- Today’s menorah has 7 can- Directors Ken Atlas • Dave Feder • Susan Gordon kah dinner, they brought to dle branches and usually a sol- Steve Hartz • Mitch Harvey mind another similar symbol id base (not the tripod shaped Beth Kaminstein • Linda Pollack of our faith and culture, the base of the original, historical Skip Rose • Gene Silverman • Stuart Smith menorah. So deeply is the menorah). What does the me- Sisterhood symbol of the menorah in- norah symbolize in Jewish his- Susan Gordon grained in our culture, a pic- tory and culture? Is it a symbol Adult Education & Librarian ture of a menorah decorates of defeat as depicted on the Medina Roy the front cover of every Israeli Arch of Titus? No. Long after Historian passport. The artist Bezalel the fall of Rome, the menorah Mary Lee Singer created the first 6-branched has endured as a symbol of Resident Scholar menorah from a solid block of light to be spread throughout Rabbi Richard Agler, DD gold. It is described in the the world. The seven lamps of Past Presidents Book of Exodus (Shemot) and the menorah also allude to Joel S. Cohen Robert Faeges in the Talmud. Six branches knowledge – six of the branch- Ronald Horn curve out from a central post. es stand for human knowledge Lester Nieman One of the best-known histor- and the seventh center branch Irving Stein Myron Rubin ical depictions of this meno- for Divine knowledge. The me- Bea Graham rah shape is found on a floor norah is a reminder of the George Swartz Susan Horn mosaic in Beit-She’an’s an- Temple, a symbol of renewed Jim Boruszak cient synagogue; of note is hope and redemption that Isra- Joel Pollack the clear depiction of the me- el should be “a light unto the Jeff Schocket Steve Steinbock norah’s trident-like base. The nations’. And of course, the Alan Beth first Temple, built by King chanukiyot that we light are a Stuart Sax Bernard Ginsberg Solomon in 1,000 B.C.E., derivative of the menorah. Sam Vinicur housed not one but ten Eight-branched rather than 7 Editor m’norot until its destruction and now available in every Gloria Avner by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 form one can imagine and eve- Design & Production B.C.E. Some 70 years later the ry material from wood to pre- Heather Seal second Temple was built and cious metals. Nevertheless, its CHAI-LIGHTS is the another menorah with 7 can- origin is in the menorah. monthly publication of the dle branches (the current Wishing you a healthy, happy Keys Jewish Community Center form of the menorah) was secular New Year. P.O. Box 1332, Tavernier, Florida 33070 [email protected] created and placed within its –B’shalom, Beth Chai-Lights January 2018 3 comedy and you won’t want to miss it. (Actually, Nosh you won’t want to miss any of this year’s careful selections.) The second film is “A Stranger Rabbi Agler’s Next Torah Service Among Us” and will be shown on January 27th. We had 25 people attend our December On February 3rd we will feature “The Green “Chanukah” Torah service, and if you ask any Prince.” We are grateful to our anonymous do- one of them what it was like, you will get a unan- nor sponsoring half of this year’s Festival and imous, enthusiastic response about how stimulat- would welcome any anyone else who would like ing it was and how much they learned as Rabbi to contribute to this weekly high-season program Agler unwrapped a few verses of the familiar and its delicious post-movie repasts. (Please see Parshah telling the Joseph story to reveal a the poster on page 32.) Many thanks to Medina whole, and much larger, pattern of the cycles in Roy and her Adult Education Committee for pre- Jewish history. (This Parshah is always read paring this thoughtful and entertaining program around Chanukah, and Rabbi Agler showed us all for us once again this year. All films begin at 7:00 the intricate ways the two stories are, for those p.m. and will be shown in the KJCC sanctuary on who look carefully, connected.) Adding in how our beautiful a/v system. There is no charge, and these patterns relate to our mandate to be a guests are welcome. (It’s a great way to introduce “light unto the nations” and to our ongoing potential members to KJCC.) struggle with assimilation made for one fascinat- ing discussion. Each of these monthly sessions led A Gift for You on Tu BiSh’vat by our generous Resident Scholar is engaging, Think about where you would like to plant the enriching and irreplaceable. Try not to miss the young papaya tree that will be available for you to next one, Saturday, January 27th. It will start pre- take home after services on February 2nd. Tu cisely at 10:00 a.m. (Breaking news...service dates BiSh’vat begins on January 31st, but the trees will through April are now set for February 10th, still be grateful that you are celebrating their New March 3rd, and April 7.) Year, and so will we. (Please see the article on Tu BiSh’vat beginning on page 46.) Thanks to our Shabbaton Donors We are very grateful to Joyce Peckman and Pizza and Purim, the Whole Megillah Michael and Lorena Kaufman for helping to sup- We will hold our annual reading of Megillat port our special Shabbaton program of learning Esther (the Purim story) on Wednesday evening, about Kabbalah. Thank you to Joyce for sponsor- Feb. 28th, starting at 6:00 p.m. Please bring masks ing the Dairy dinner that will begin and set the and costumes if you have them. This is always a tone for our Shabbaton. Michael and Lorena have fun evening as well as a chance to perform the our gratitude for helping sponsor the Kabbalah important mitzvah of hearing the gannsa Megillah. classes and teachings. Dinner will lead to a Shab- We’ll have healthy food to eat as well as pizza and bat service led by Rabbi Ed Rosenthal, our gifted a movie. Medina’s selection is “A Matter of Size,” teacher for this program. The service will be an Israeli film about a group who, tired being followed, after the oneg, by Rabbi Ed’s introduc- abused for being overweight, decide to become tion to this special, concentrated course on Kab- Sumo wrestlers. (Upcoming announcements will balah, which will continue on Saturday. (See in- give us any additional info.) And of course there house promo and syllabus on pages 28-29.) will be adult beverages, too. Among the other mitzvot of the holiday (to share a festive meal, to 2nd Annual KJCC Film Fest Begins give gifts of food to our neighbors – in Hebrew Our first film of this winter series begins on Mishloach Manot – and to give charity to the January 20th, with “The Women’s Balcony.” It is a needy), there is the commandment to drink until 4 Chai-Lights January 2018 January Birthdays January Anniversaries 1st…………………………………….Jerry Olsen Years 1st……………………………Justin Wade Gilson 1st Sanford & Nancy Yankow………...27 1st……………………………….Laura Goodman 4th Steve & Amelia Kasinof…………...36 2nd……………………………….Sherrie Willner 12th George & Muriel Swartz…………37 2nd……………………………Stanley Rosenberg 17th Alan & Elaine Schulberg…………..24 4th………………………………..Howard Gilson 26th David & Pamela Marmar………….32 4th…………………………..Randi W.