September 15, 2006 – Elul 22, 5766

Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

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Please give generously to our High Holy Day Appeal!

Contents of the Shabbat O Gram:

(Click to scroll down)

Just the Facts (service schedule)

The (Occasionally) Ranting Rabbi

Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunities

Ask the Rabbi

Spiritual Journey on the Web

Required Reading and Action Items (links to key articles on Israel and Jewish life)

Announcements (goings on in and around TBE)

TBE Youth Programming

Joke for the Week

This week is very exciting, with our teen programs getting into gear with a barbecue and a bonfire, Selichot services featuring Cantor Littman and Hazzan Rabinowitz, preceded by the acclaimed movie “Ushpizin,” Havdalah at the Beach, the annual Bima and Sukkah Raising, Tot Shabbat, Bar Mitzvah Parents meeting, back-t-School meeting for K and 2 parents, cemetery service, and much more! Details below…

These programs happen because of the hard work of volunteers – too many to mention here without leaving someone out. Literally, there are scores of adults and teens who are responsible for making the above events happen. Thank you to all who have stepped up to make ours such an exciting, warm and active place to be.

Quote for the Week

The Bend in the Shofar

“The bend in the shofar is supposed to represent how a human heart, in true repentance, bends before the Lord. The ram's horn serves to remind the pious how Abraham, offering his son Isaac in sacrifice, was reprieved when God decided that Abraham could sacrifice a ram instead. The person who blows the shofar is required to be of blameless character and conspicuous devotion; s/he must blow blasts of different timbre, some deep, some high, some quavering.”

-- Leo Rosten

JUST THE FACTS

Bring your car ready to be washed on Sunday just before noon

Our USYers will be out there in force, ready to cleanse your auto for the New Year!

Friday Evening

Candle lighting: 6:45 pm on Friday, September 15 - Havdalah is at 7:45 pm on Saturday evening. For candle lighting times, other Jewish calendar information, and to download a Jewish calendar to your PDA, click on http://www.hebcal.com/. To see the festivals of other faiths as well, go to http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/

Kabbalat Shabbat: 6:30 PM – looks like we’ll be in the sanctuary, unless it clears

Tot Shabbat at TBE – 6:45 PM – in the CHAPEL (note the change)

Stamford’s longest running Tot service (18 years and counting). 

Led by Nurit Avigdor.

Stories!  Songs! Torah procession! Snacks! Puppets!

And lots of fun. 

Meets three times each month, on the 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th weeks, at 6:45 on Friday evening.

(this month, Tot Shabbat will meet on the 15^th and 29^th)

Contact the temple office at TempleSec@tbe.org to be included on our Tot Shabbat e-mail list.

AND SIGN UP NOW TO HOST A TOT SHABBAT FOR THE NEW YEAR!!! Contact Jeff Trell at jefft@acmesignco.com or our Tot Shabbat committee contacts:

Jeff Trell                              203-322-1531

Deb Goldberg:                    203-323-3307

Stuart Nekritz:                     203-322-0872

Shabbat Morning: 9:30 AM – Mazal Tov to Andrew Madwed, son of Bert and Ilene Madwed, who becomes Bar Mitzvah this Shabbat morning. Mazal Tov to Douglas and Jordana Lubiner on the naming of their daughter Keira Jaiden this Shabbat morning.

Children’s services: 10:30 AM – (jr. congregation service in the chapel begins this week, along with Tot Shabbat morning downstairs. 6^th and 7^th graders are expected to be in the main sanctuary)

Torah Portion: Nitzavim - Vayelech Deuteronomy 29:9 - 31:30

1: 30:1-3
2: 30:4-6
3: 30:7-10
4: 30:11-14
5: 30:15-20
6: 31:1-3
7: 31:4-6
maf: 31:4-6

Haftarah Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9

See a weekly commentary from the UJC Rabbinic Cabinet, at www.ujc.org/mekorchaim. Read the Masorti commentary at http://www.masorti.org/mason/torah/index.asp. University of Judaism, JTS commentary is at: http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/parashah/. USCJ Torah Sparks can be found at http://uscj.org/item20_467.html. UAHC Shabbat Table Talk discussions are at http://uahc.org/torah/exodus.shtml. Other divrei Torah via the Torahnet home page: http://uahcweb.org/torahnet/. Test your Parasha I.Q.: http://www.ou.org/jewishiq/parsha/default.htm. CLAL’s Torah commentary archive: http://click.topica.com/maaaiRtaaRvQhbV2AtLb/. World Zionist Organization Education page, including Nehama Liebowitz archives of parsha commentaries: http://www.moreshet.net/web/index.asp?f=1 For a more Kabbalistic/Zionist/Orthodox perspective from Rav Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, go to http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/ravkook/index.html. For some probing questions and meditations on key verses of the portion, with a liberal kabbalistic bent, go to http://www.jewishealing.com/learning.html or, for Kabbalistic commentaries from the Zohar itself, go to http://www.kabbalah.com/k/index.php/p=zohar/weekly/intro. Also, try http://home.utah.edu/~rfs4/jkmfc.htm. To see the weekly commentary from Hillel, geared to college students and others, go to http://www.hillel.org/hillel/NewHille.nsf/FCB8259CA861AE57852567D30043BA26/DF7D129F15B3DF0885256AB80058E9C3?OpenDocument. For a Jewish Renewal and feminist approach go to http://rabbishefagold.hypermart.net/Torah1.html . For a comprehensive Orthodox viewpoint from the Israeli rabbi, Yaakov Fogelman, go to the Torah Outreach Program at http://israelvisit.co.il/top/previous.shtml. Guided meditations for each portion by Judith Abrams at http://www.maqom.com/kavannah.pdf For online Parsha quizzes from Pardes in Israel, go to http://www.pardes.org.il/online_learning/parsha_quizzes/ Torah for Kids: http://www.torah4kids.net/ Weekly Lesson of Popular Israeli Rabbi Mordechai Elon: http://www.elon.org/archives/archives.htm - and his parsha sheets: http://www.mibereshit.org/special/download_eng_pdf.htm From Bar Ilan University: http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/; http://www.torahproductions.com/weekly_article.jsp

Saturday evening: Havdalah at the Beach – 6 PM, Selichot film and service - 8:30 PM

THE ENTIRE HEBREW BIBLE (AS WELL AS OTHER JEWISH SOURCES) CAN BE FOUND WITH SIDE-BY-SIDE TRANSLATION AT

http://www.mechon-mamre.org/

Morning Minyan: Weekdays at 7:30, Sundays at 9:30 AM

TO ENSURE A “GUARANTEED MINYAN” FOR THE DAY OF YOUR YAHRZEIT – GO TO THE ROSNER MINYAN MAKER AT WWW.TBE.ORG AND ALSO CONTACT ME AT RABBI@TBE.ORG.

We’ve had several people coming lately who are saying kaddish following recent deaths in the family. We want to make sure we have a minyan each day. Your presence any morning is greatly appreciated!

A Guaranteed Minyan has been requiested for Friday, Sept. 29. Please sign up at the Rosner Minyan Maker at www.tbe.org (for those who have had problems, it’s been fixed).

The

(occasionally)

Ranting Rabbi

Preparing for the Days of Awe

Here are some nice materials for us to look at as we do our spiritual preparations for the Days of Awe – “Heshbon ha-Nefesh” as it is called in Hebrew.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/112/story_11256_1.html A story on Heshbon ha-nefesh from Beliefnet.

Check out www.myjewishlearing.com for lots of super articles about the High Holidays, including

Multimedia: How to listen to the shofar meaningfully

Guided Meditation: Focusing on the past year

Spiritual Preparations…

Here are five tips to help you get in the right frame of mind.

And Intention & Prayer How important is kavvanah--direction or intention--when praying?

On Teshuvah – from the Jewish Encyclopedia:  http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=216&letter=R

http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/diduknow/jrpguide/12_part2.shtml, http://learn.jtsa.edu/topics/diduknow/jrpguide/12_part3.shtml -- Rabbi Isaac Klein’s (Conservative) Guide to Jewish Practice – on Elul and teshuvah

http://www.ou.org/chagim/elul/default.htm -- from the Orthodox Union

http://www.inner.org/times/elul/elul.htm -- a Kabbalistic approach

http://www.franion.com/StarElul_pages/week1.html -- material (excellent) from a STAR project on Elul, in which our synagogue participated

http://www.ritualwell.org/Rituals/search.html -- Creative new rituals and meditations for the holidays.

CLAL Holy Days: Rosh Ha'Shanah
"On Rosh Ha'Shanah, Jews proclaim that God is creator and ruler of the universe. But while Rosh Ha'Shanah celebrates cosmic Creation, its central message is addressed to the individual: You are not fixed by your past. Through Creation, the world came into being; it has a beginning and an end. The individual also has a beginning and an end. In the dramatic imagery of the High Holy Days, each person is on trial for his/her life in this period. "On Rosh Ha'Shanah it is written, and on Yom Kippur, it is sealed; who shall live, and who shall die?" Facing death, would you live your life the same way? Or would you be more considerate and loving, more ethical, more adventurous, more creative?" By Yitz Greenberg (from CLAL)

Mitzvah/Tzedakkah Opportunties

 
Beth El Cares
 
Cathy Satz (968-9191; csscounsel@yahoo.com)
Cheryl Wolff (968-6361; cwolff@optonline.net)
BETH EL CARES co-chairs

We hope you all enjoyed your summer.

Please give generously to the 2006

HIGH HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE!

September 22- October 2, 2006

Each year TBE members help to start the New Year off with a Mitzvah. You can join the team by bringing in food that will stock the pantry at PERSON to PERSON in Darien. Bags will once again be available for pick up at temple on ROSH HASHANAH. Please take one or more and fill it up with non-perishable, unopened and not expired food. Then, bring it back to temple by Yom Kippur. Your donation will then be delivered on Tuesday, October 3, 2006. Volunteers will be needed that day at PERSON TO PERSON to help unload, sort food and stock the shelves. To help, contact Cheryl Wolff (968-6361) or Cathy Satz (968-9191).

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Habitat for Humanity is recruiting volunteers to assist with the planning and building of 6 to 9 housing units on West Main Street in Stamford (near the Kentucky Fried Chicken). The actual timing of the building depends on site plan and other approvals, but the ceremonial ground breaking should take place in October 2006. Please contact bknebal@habitatcfc.org if you want to help in any way. Assistance is needed now in the formation stages, as well as later with the building. Bob Knebel, CEO, can tell you what jobs are available.

LOCKS OF LOVE HAIR DONATIONS CONTINUED

Any one wishing to donate 10 or more inches of hair to Locks of Love can contact Cathy or Cheryl for more information on how to donate and how to get your before and after photo on the TBE web sit

Cheryl Wolff

Cathy Satz

Multiple Sclerosis Sponsorship

For the past two years I have taken a role in the fight against multiple sclerosis (MS). On Sunday, September 17, I will be participating again in the MS Bike Tour and I am asking you to join me in this important fight by sponsoring me.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) usually strikes adults in the prime of life - between the ages of 20 and 50. It is a chronic disease of the central nervous system affecting the brain and spinal cord. Imagine, one day you are ready to take on the world... and the next you are faced with the diagnosis of an incurable and debilitating disease. One new case of MS is diagnosed every hour. It comes and goes unpredictably, leaving people to wonder, "Will I become paralyzed, blind or have trouble walking? Will I be able to raise my family and continue my career?"

The National MS Society invests more money into MS research than any other voluntary health organization in the world. This investment is paying off in significant advances in treating MS, such as the new medications, which may reduce or delay future disability for people with MS. Researchers are also making advances in diagnosis, rehabilitation, and symptomatic therapies for people with all forms of MS, and are bringing us ever closer to a cure.

MS researchers have made extraordinary progress these last few years in developing new treatments for MS that can slow the progression of the disease and in searching for a cure, and your contribution will help support these vital efforts. Funds will also be used to support local programs for people with MS and their families.

You can help me reach my fundraising goal of $500 by sponsoring me in the MS Bike Tour. Support me as I ride 30 miles to find a cure. It’s easy. Please click on the "To Sponsor Me" link below and sponsor me online today.

Your support will mean so much to me, and the over 400,000 Americans living with MS. Can I count on your help?

Warmest regards,

Mark D. Plotzky

To sponsor me:
Click here

To visit My Personal Page :
Click here

For more information about this event:
Click here

For more information about the National MS Society:
Click here


If the links above appear as URLs instead of text links, please copy and paste the URLs into your web browser.

How Can I Help Israel?

Stand With Israel

Speak Out Against Global Terrorism
and its State Sponsors.

National Israel Solidarity Rally

Wednesday, September 20, 12 Noon
Second Ave. and 47th St., New York City

Send a message to the Leaders of the World
as they gather at the UN General Assembly.

Dear Friends:

We often ask ourselves how we can help Israel.  After all, we are all committed to the safety of Israel and of her citizens.  There is a high-impact charity near and dear to our hearts committed to therapy for trauma victims -- EMDR-Israel, the humanitarian assistance program in Israel dedicated to doing frontline trauma work for her citizens.

So, we are inviting you to a fundraiser on Sunday September 17th to hear a speaker, Dr. Billy Eisenberg, talk about what is happening in Israel and how people in the North have been affected by the constant bombing.  Dr. Eisenberg, himself a 9/11 survivor, does a significant amount of work with psychotrauma units in hospitals throughout Israel.  These victims - civilians and soldiers - desperately need psychological intervention and support.  In addition, Dr. Karen Alter-Reid will specifically address the type of trauma treatment being used  and how it helps alleviate and resolve post-traumatic stress symptoms.  She will also talk about how the EMDR-Israel organization uses the donated monies to provide this treatment for both acute onset and delayed post-traumatic stress syptoms and to provide trauma training for mental health professionals in Israel. All services provided by EMDR-Israel are provided by teams of volunteers.

We are asking for a donation of $50.00 to EMDR-Israel, the humanitarian assistance program in Israel.  Of course, if you could afford to give more, it would be greatly appreciated.

When: Sunday, September 17, 2006
Where: Bonnie's house: 220 West Trail, Stamford CT  06903
Time: 10:30 - 12:00 (brunch will be served)
RSVP: kalterreid@aol.com OR bonnieb@gmail.com

If you cannot attend, please feel free to send a check made out to "EMDR-Israel" and mail to Karen Alter-Reid at 66 Big Oak Road, Stamford, CT 06903 or to Bonnie Bachar at the address above.  Please also feel free to forward and extend this invitation to any interested friends and colleagues.


Directions:  Merritt Parkway to Exit 35, make left turn onto High Ridge Rd (from north or south) - drive approximately 3 miles and make a left on Sunset Road, at the stop sign make a right onto West Trail.  Drive .6 miles down - house is #220, on the left side.  Home tel # 203.968.0310.

Look forward to seeing you,

Karen Alter-Reid & Bonnie Kintzer Bachar

ISRAEL. Taking you higher.

Visiting Israel takes you higher. It heightens your senses. It heightens your awareness.

It heightens your sense of self. It heightens your faith.

And it heightens your sense of identification with a land, thousands of miles away, a land that is so very dear to us all.

We urge you to visit Israel now. To take you higher. To start planning your visit this very moment.

Experience Jerusalem, visit Tel Aviv, float in the Dead Sea, tour the Negev, and relax in Eilat.

But this time, go north too.

Take yourself to a higher plane. Visit Safed, the highest town in Israel, one of the four holy cities of Judaism.

To Haifa, majestically draped around the slopes of Mount Carmel.

Drive into the Galilee hills to admire the sculpture park at Teffen, to ride the cable car at Rosh Hanikra,

to journey through Kiryat Shmona to the waterfalls at Banias.

Israelis are waiting to greet you with open arms.

Make the decision now to visit Israel now, soon. Start planning now by calling 1-888-77-Israel and say “Take me higher.”

Or visit www.goisrael.com.

 
 
 
Take a virtual trip to Jerusalem! http://films.izfone.com
 
 

Are you between 18-26??

FREE BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL TRIP TO ISRAEL!!

Taglit-birthright Israel registration opened on September 12, at 9am EST.

Never been to Israel on a peer educational trip? If you are post high school, 18-26 and looking for a wonderful winter break experience, join KOACH for our winter 2007 birthright israel program.

This year we are excited to also offer a second specialty track, designed for students with Asperger's Syndrome. This trip will have a modified itinerary and specially trained staff.

Both groups depart the first week of January; exact dates will be available soon.

Spaces are limited, so sign up right away at www.koach.org!

These 10 days can change your life...

Questions? Contact Becky Adelberg, KOACH Field Worker at koachbirthright@uscj.org or 847 714 9130

-The KOACH birthright israel trip is offered in cooperation with Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and is a project of Taglit-birthright israel. KOACH is a department of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. Richard S. Moline, KOACH Director; Rosalind Judd, KOACH Chair; Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein, USCJ Executive Vice-President; Dr. Raymond B. Goldstein, USCJ President.

 
 
HELP ME HELP OTHERS WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY WHO NEED OUR ASSISTANCE 
BY DONATING TO PERSON TO PERSON.
 
Person to Person located in Darien, Connecticut is an organization that collects new or worn items
such as clothing for babies, kids and adults.
They are looking for donations for only Spring and Summer items.
Needy families in emergency situations will go to Person to Person for assistance.
Person to Person services the Stamford, Norwalk and Darien areas.
 
You may donate clothing, food (canned items) and only brand new unopened toys.
 
We will be bringing a large donation of items on the first of every month.
Please help me with any donations that you would like to make.
I would greatly appreciate it.
I am hoping you can help me with this for my Mitzvah Project
because it is important for us to help others who may need it.
 
This is how you can help:
Please bring your donation to my house, 116 Wedgemere Road,
or e-mail coopbry@aol.com to make arrangements for us to pick it up.
We will do this during June, July and August.
 
Thank you so much for helping the needy. Eric Cooper 968-9591
 
Save Darfur Now




 
Voices to Stop Genocide.




 
Join the Save Darfur Coalition on




 
Sunday, September 17, 2:00pm




 
Central Park, New York City