Eight Little Lights and Other Everyday MIRACLES 1 2014-2015 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE BOARD Rabbi Howard Needleman - Reflections .................................................... 3 Temple President: Cantor Mark Goldman .................................................................................. 5 JASON CHALIK Jason Chalik, Temple President ................................................................... 6 Vice President of Administration: Dvir Weiss, Temple Executive Director ......................................................... 6 CRAIG PACKER Dr. Sheldon Harr, Rabbi Emeritus .................................................................. 7 Vice President of Membership: Early Childhood Earns National Ranking .................................................... 7 KAREN SHIEKMAN Welcome New TKAE Members ..................................................................... 8 Run 4 Life Fit Club .......................................................................................... 8 Vice President of Education and Youth: 40 Years Young Gala ..................................................................................... 9 KIM LIEBERMAN Stacey Katz, Early Childhood Director ....................................................... 10 Vice President of Ritual: Pajamas Under the Stars Tot Shabbat ...................................................... 10 GIGI GREENE Take a Journey to the Heart of Judaism .................................................. 11 Treasurer: Simona Sklash, Religious School Director ................................................. 12 KATIE GILDEN The Day That Changed My Life ................................................................. 12 Israel Felt Like Home Despite the Danger ................................................ 12 Financial Secretary: Adult Jewish Learning ................................................................................. 13 JONATHAN STREISFELD - Israel Debrief With Herb Keinon Recording Secretary: - Jewish Film Series: Women Unchained CARA POLLACK - Lunch and Learn: The Book of Maccabees Vice President of Ways and Means: New Members Spotlight - The Zatkowskys ................................................ 14 GARY ELZWEIG Give a unique Haunakah Gift to Someone Who Has Everything ...........14 Become a Temple Ambassador ............................................................... 14 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El’s Sustaining Members .................................... 15 Josh Simon, Youth Director ......................................................................... 16 BEVERLY BACHRACH LINDA GENDLER Keeping College Children Connected with TKAE ................................... 16 CHARISMA GOODMAN Conversation With The Clergy - Risa and Brett Marks’ Home ................ 16 BRYAN HARR TKAE Teens Take College Field Trip ..............................................................17 ADRIENNE KALTMAN Our B’nai Mitzvah Kids ................................................................................ 18 MICHAEL KRASNER Sisterhood .................................................................................................... 20 ART PHILLIPS Community Presentation: Turn Texters Into Talkers - TKAE Adult Ed ....... 20 ROB RICKEL Temple Friends ............................................................................................. 21 BARBARA SHUB The Latest Happenings In Israel - Temple Friends .................................... 21 HOWARD TALENFELD DANIEL WEINGER One Night…Two Events .............................................................................. 22 WALTER WITTE - TKAE Holiday Boutique and AIPAC Speaker Herb Keinon New Member Shabbat .............................................................................. 22 SENIOR STAFF Free Dan Nichols Concert .......................................................................... 23 HOWARD NEEDLEMAN Holiday Stress Breaker - TKAE Adult Ed ..................................................... 24 Senior Rabbi Dinner and a Show ..................................................................................... 24 [email protected] Food For Life - Join Us In The Kitchen - TKAE Adult Ed ............................. 25 5th and 6th Grade Family Outdoor Shabbat Service ............................. 26 MARK GOLDMAN Remembering Pearl Harbor - Temple Friend............................................. 26 Cantor Shabbat of Thanksgiving and Interfaith Thanksgiving Service .............. 27 [email protected] Chanukah, Friday Light Live .........................................................................28 DVIR WEISS College Homecoming Shabbat ................................................................. 28 Executive Director The TKAE Tribe Is Going Camping .............................................................. 29 [email protected] A Vibrant Evening of Voices - Kaskeset .................................................... 30 Special Needs Shabbat ............................................................................. 30 STACEY KATZ Early Childhood Director Personal Growth Book Club - TKAE Adult Ed ........................................... 31 [email protected] In Memoriam ................................................................................................ 31 TKAE Social Action Calendar ...................................................................... 32 SIMONA SKLASH Dr. Martin Luther King Shabbat Service .................................................... 33 Religious School Director 40th Anniversary Mitzvah Day .................................................................... 33 [email protected] Advertisers ..................................................................................................... 34 JOSH SIMON Contributor Acknowledgment ................................................................... 36 Youth Director Engagement - Robins .................................................................................. 37 [email protected] November - December 2014 Events Calendar ........................................ 38 TKAE Invites You to a Tea Honoring Beth Needleman ............................. 40 DR. SHELDON J. HARR Founding Rabbi Emeritus 2 [email protected] RABBI'S REFLECTIONS RABBI HOWARD NEEDLEMAN SEARCHING FOR JEWISH IDENTITY Finding An Unexpected Miraculous Connection I was a devout Zionist who longed to visit the land of even decades become foggy memories, but there my people long before I was able to do so as a are some moments in time that stay with us, becom- college student studying at Tel Aviv University. ing snapshots of time or events. Growing up, I had been on a spiritual and cultural journey as a dedicated member of the Reform Growing up on Long Island in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I was Movement. I prayed with a fervor at youth services confused about the meaning of one’s Jewish identity; at National Federation of Reform Judaism conclaves not in the sense of not knowing I was Jewish, but what and gatherings. I attended the Reform Movement’s it actually meant. In my suburban neighborhood you Camp Eisner as a camper and counselor, learning the were one of three things: Irish, Italian or Jewish – rhythm of the Jewish week and the holiness of all refugees from one of the boroughs of New York shabbat as a sanctuary in time. In college, I began to City that had sought greener pastures for their study Jewish history from an intellectual perspective, children and a yard to mow once a week. seeing the story of our people alongside empires and civilizations that have long since vanished. My confusion stemmed from the fact that we were identified as a Jewish family classified by our religion, In 1988, despite the news of the first intifada, nothing while my Irish and Italian neighbors were identified was going to keep me away from Israel. Not my par- by a county of origin. I could look on a map and see ents’ worries, nor leaving my college friends behind an Ireland or a Italy. But where was the Jew-land or would interrupt my appointment with God. I was on a county? My grandparents had emigrated form Russia spiritual and physical journey to Israel whose seeds and Poland, but we were not Russians or Poles; of inspiration had been planted in my soul at a very we were Jews. Jewish Americans or American Jews, young age. Our memories of our childhood are often but Jews, and proud of it. left with few specific memories as we age. Years and CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 Israel held out this hope to find my people, God and the complexity of Jewish identity. I knew that my journey would be A HOLY ONE, I knew it would be TRANSFORMATIVE, and I knew in my heart that GOD’S PRESENCE would be welcoming me on my arrival. 3 the stirring of Zionism deep within my soul that I re- Reflections CONTINUED turned to Israel two years later to live and volunteer Israel held out this hope for me to find my people, on a Reform kibbutz. as well as God and complexity of Jewish identity. I knew that my journey would be a holy one. I knew it There are two kibbutzim founded by North American would be transformative. I also knew in my heart that Reform Jews in the south of Israel near Eilat. I was a God’s presence would be welcoming me on my volunteer at Kibbutz Yahel and I had a good friend arrival. I got on the plane from New York with hun- on the neighboring Kibbutz Lotan. The two kibbutzim dreds of other college students for our semester are abut 15 kilometers apart and deep in the Arava abroad. All that I remember about the flight was that Desert.