NOVEMBER 2017 | Cheshvan/Kislev 5778 | Vol. 44 No. 2 COVER STORY, PP. 10-11 Nefesh Mountain and Mama Doni Bring on the Bluegrass! NOVEMBER 10-12, P. 19 CLERGY MESSAGE To Toss or Not Reflections on Editing of te vid S rn Da i Sermons and Life b b a R rabbi’s life: I write this page: “In memory of Rabbi Jacob Philip Rudin, Class of on the day after Yom 1924, established by his loving family.” I was looking for Kippur, still digesting. Mecklenburg, but my grandfather showed up. I’m pretty Digesting everything I ate sure that whatever I found that day did not make it into my forA break-the-fast (my first sin of the term paper. But what a light shone in the stacks that winter new year is generally gluttony), digesting afternoon, and that was all I needed. what happened over the last 10 days and the The Talmud gives us the phrase, “I am searching for months preceding, and confronting my annual post-Yom what I have not lost” (BT Shabbat 152a); sometimes in life, Kippur dilemma: What to do with the piles of drafts and we rejoice to find what we didn’t know we were looking for. scribbled notes that didn’t make the sermon cut? But what to keep of the early drafts and unused notes? At I take comfort in the surplus notes. If I have material that times, I take the Marie Kondo approach: Come up with a ended up on the study floor, that means I actually showed nice farewell blessing, delete/dispose, and move on. But I also some editorial discipline; and the piles serve as tangible keep files of notes from year to year, just in case. (This year reminder of how much I have read and learned over these I ended up using a quotation I had scribbled back in 2015.) weeks, regardless of what did or didn’t make it to Temple. But on the day after Yom Kippur, it’s worth noting that the I learned recently that writing instructors offer polarized question of drafts and piles isn’t just for rabbis and writers. As approaches to the dilemma of the piles. Writer Sara Manguso Jews, we have just finished the High Holy Days, when again reports that some teachers say, “Throw everything away” and again we assert the value of remembering, for a while, while others insist, “Save everything. When your archive gets the rough drafts of our intentions and behaviors—the words bought, they pay by the cubic foot.” that didn’t come out right or at all, the mistaken choices and I, like most rabbi-types, land somewhere in the middle. I unrefined moments, the things we would redo if we could begin with the premise that I am reading and scribbling notes and still can. to learn something, not just to write something. That means We will toss out some of those drafts of earlier behaviors that the notes that don’t make it in were an investment of and say good riddance. And some we will file away as lessons, time, not a waste of it. Rabbi Jerome Malino, alav hashalom, for light and wisdom on an unsuspecting afternoon. That’s our professor of preaching in rabbinic school, told us to the blessing of the notes and drafts, on our laptops and in read as much as we could, because you never know what will our lives. They teach us something, and you never know what float to the surface of your consciousness and come in handy wisdom will float back up for blessing. someday. Rabbi Malino’s instruction fits nicely into my bad habits. When faced with a blank computer screen, I am a devoted practitioner of procrastination by over-reading. Who knows? Maybe chasing down this reference, clicking on this link, reading a favorite poem to clear my head, looking up this verb to see where else it shows up in the Torah, might lead me somewhere. My college thesis advisor used to urge us to always look to the right and to the left of the book we were pulling from the open stacks. He said never come back with only the volume you went to retrieve. He called it “vagrant scholarship” and praised it as the highest form. One discouraged afternoon while on sabbatical at Harvard Divinity School, I was in the stacks searching for a translation of a work by Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg because I was struggling mightily with the assigned Hebrew. I pulled a volume from the shelf, and then noticed the dedication 2 The Window • NOVEMBER 2017 COMMUNITY IN THIS ISSUE HOLIDAYS & PRAYER PAGE Shabbat Services 8 Tot Shabbat 17 FOR FAMILIES PAGE Y L + E Focus 10-11 Proud to be American 16 AFTER CHARLOTTESVILLE Hanukkah 2017 17 ECEC Visiting Days 17 A Jewish Action Plan The Spiritual Child 17 Rock with Mama Doni 19 Thursday, Nov. 9 | 7-8:30PM | Linz Hall FOR 20S AND 30S PAGE Friends-Giving 5 This distinguished panel of experts, sponsored by Brotherhood, will explore lessons learned Cooking Class 5 Late Night Shabbat 5 from Charlottesville, and how our community is prepared to respond if it should happen to us. Havdalah and Special Program 5 RSVP: participate.tedallas.org/aftercharlottesville EMPTY NESTERS PLUS PAGE g2g 5 Sh’ma Group Opportunity 5 COMMUNITY PAGE After Charlottesville 3 Our Community 4 Sh’ma Group Opportunity 7 Immigration-Themed Programs 7 Mah Nishmah: What's Up?! 9 High Holy Days Volunteers 12 Cheryl Drazin Faith Johnson Ladd Hirsch Rabbi Debra Robbins Mike Sims Hanukkah 2017 17 Texas Executive Director, District Attorney, Dallas Past President, American Temple Emanu-El President, Temple Israel@70 events 18 Anti-Defamation League Jewish Committee Emanu-El Nefesh Mountian Concert 19 WRJ AND BROTHERHOOD PAGE Bazaar 3 Brotherhood Monthly Meeting 6 An Evening With Maggie Anton 6 Girls Night Out 6 WRJ Events 6 Social Justice Live 13 SOCIAL JUSTICE PAGE Social Justice Live 8 Coats Wanted 8 Volunteer Spotlight 8 Proud to be American 16 ADULT LEARNING PAGE Classes 7 PHILANTHROPY Contributions 14-16 Annual Campaign 16 sponsored by Women of Reform Judaism Confidential financial assistance is Sunday, December 3 • 9AM-3PM • Temple Emanu-El available for most Temple events, tuition www.tesisterhood.org and dues. Contact: Meredith Pryzant, [email protected] NOVEMBER 2017 • The Window 3 COMMUNITY OUR COMMUNITY IN MEMORIAM NEW & RETURNING BECOMING B’NAI MITZVAH Shirley Barak MEMBERS Mother of Gayle Ranen and Dr. Andrew Barak and Hilary Blake Barbara Barak Michael Braun Ethel Bondy Gary, Stefani, Lauren & Grandmother of Kristen Jessica Rachel Aftergut Adam Leybovich-Glikin Kara Eisenstat Fagelman Nov. 4 Nov. 4 Daughter of Kent and Janet Cohen Mario & Danelle Estrada Son of Cantor Vicky Glikin and Amy Aftergut Mother of Harley Cohen and Michelle Hicks, Justin & Vlad Leybovich Hockaday School Susie Cohen-Kaye Sofie Tortorice Highland Park Middle School Tikkun Olam: Tot Shabbat Tikkun Olam: North Texas Louis Gillespie Erskine Ryan, Kimberly & Brooke Food Bank Father of Terry Ray, Birks Kahn Erskine and Gip Erskine Jason Kesten & Becky Golub Sam Fagin Grant, Valerie, Natalie & Father of Milton Fagin Jacob Kornman Frances Glazer Dana & Gail Lawrence Mother of Bennett Glazer Sylvie Maeve Henry, Nov. 18 and Betty Silverman Bill Mexic Daughter of Mia Bitterman Julia Elizabeth Steckler Harriet Gold Joshua Ozer & Miriam & Aaron Henry Nov. 25 Mother of Matt Gold and Kaplan Highland Park Middle School Daughter of Debbie and Tikkun Olam: Vogel Alcove Bruce Steckler Jeff Gold Howie & Gayle Ranen Sister of David Welz Parish Episcopal School Jeffrey, Natalie, Jude & Tikkun Olam: D'Feet Stanley Golman Jolie Rosenzweig Breast Cancer Husband of Lois Golman Father of Michael Golman, Jonathan, Karen, Michael & Beth Goldstein and Wendy Hannah Schildkraut Golman Mark, Ruth & Adam Schor Martin Jacobs Tina Sheyman Noah Elliott Kashar Father of Dr. Arlene Nov. 25 Jacobs-Feltman Jack & Charilyne Siegel Son of Jennifer and Michael, Melanie, Harley & Mark Kashar Denise Marie Rosenstein Doris Metz Levine Academy Nov. 11 Wife of Joseph Metz William Silberman Tikkun Olam: Friendship Circle, Daughter of Daniel Rosenstein Mother of Dr. Allan Metz and Howard, Sylvia, Deanna & Lone Soldiers Renner Middle School Gloria Simon Sophia Smith Tikkun Olam: SPCA of Texas Richard Alvin Polakoff Lindsay & Zachary Steinberg Husband of Roslyn Polakoff Sister of Maxine Waldman Madeline Teig & Lauren Kahn Lily Rachman Anna & Clay Thomas Mother of Julian Rachman Ken & Phyllis Umansky and Doreen Stecker Trish Weisberg BABY NAMINGS MAZEL TOV Charles Ross Mike, Kim, Dylan & Chloe Spencer Lindley Beshear To Macki and Paul Ellenbogen Husband of Katherine Weiss Son of Julie Wolf-Beshear on the marriage of their son, (Kitty) Ross and Mark Beshear Jeff, to Eva Teague Brother of Carolea Stephen Willey & Zebib Greenberg Paulos Michael Rubin Epstein and Jared Hirsch Epstein To Women of Reform Stansel Gertrude Stephens Sons of Andrea and Judaism, for earning an Sister of Dr. Leonora Stephens Robbie Epstein Honorable Mention for the Chai Tea program in the Dr. Isaac (Ike) Trachtenberg CONVERSIONS Grandsons of Susan and Father of Michael Allyn Kramer 2018 Or Ami Awards for outstanding programming. Trachtenberg Nicki Kerksieck Great-grandsons of Former husband of Eleanor Katherine Bauer Trachtenberg Frank Zaber Judah Leo Utley Former husband of Helaine Laura Zaber Son of Rachel and Rabbi Trachtenberg Dan Utley 4 The Window • NOVEMBER 2017 COMMUNITY Save the Date! Temple’s social group for those 60 and up. Open to all. Good Things Come in Small Groups “Was Jack Kennedy a Marked Man?” Two new small groups are forming. Check them out to Tuesday, Nov. 28 | 12PM see if they’re a fit for you.